All around Amber, other students started making bubble tunnels. She cleared her mind and connected to her magic. Her scales tingled as it flowed up into her hands. Amber swirled the sea and, just like that, a perfectly round tunnel entrance opened up.
To our fin-tastic agents, Polly Nolan and Philippa Milnes-Smith, for being with us every step of the way and who love unicorns and mermaids as much as we do!
J.S and L.C.
To Ayla, with love. I hope you enjoy the fun and magic x L.T.
First published in the UK in 2024 by Nosy Crow Ltd Wheat Wharf, 27a Shad Thames, London, SE1 2XZ, UK
Nosy Crow Eireann Ltd 44 Orchard Grove, Kenmare, Co Kerry, V93 FY22, Ireland
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text © Julie Sykes and Linda Chapman, 2024 Illustrations © Lucy Truman, 2024
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All rights reserved
ISBN: 978 1 83994 955 5
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CHAPTER ONE
“I did it! I turned ten somersaults without stopping!” Amber exclaimed, swooshing to a stop in a cloud of bubbles and steadying herself with a flick of her tail. Her cheeks were flushed and her hazel eyes were sparkling. “That makes me the winner, unless anyone else wants another go?”
Pushing her long plait back over her shoulder, she looked at her friends from Moon Pearl dorm. They were messing about in The Singing Circle – a circular courtyard enclosed by the majestic coral walls of Mermaid Academy. Stone benches, statues, and orange and red sea fans were
dotted around. Large open windows led into the classrooms and dorms, and on the pedestal in the centre was an enormous golden harp. Shoals of tiny, brightly coloured fish swooped around the groups of students who were relaxing after their day’s lessons.
“Well?” Amber demanded.
“Not me. I’m out,” said Maya, laughing.
“Me too,” added Cora.
Isla grinned. “And me. Congratulations, Amber. I declare you the winner of Moon Pearl’s turningsomersaults competition!”
Everyone cheered and Flash, Amber’s dolphin, swished up beside her and kissed her nose.
Amber beamed. She was naturally good at sport, just like she was naturally good at most things, and she loved competitions. “How about a swimming race next? First to swim three times round the golden harp and reach the dining hall wins. Who’s in?”
“Me!” Flash whistled eagerly.
“Hang on, Amber!” said Maya. “What about your homework? Have you finished the assignment on The Healing Properties of Ocean Plants yet?”
Amber shrugged. “Not yet.”
Maya looked anxious. “But you promised Mr Wakame you’d hand it in before dinner. You’ll get a behaviour mark if it’s late again and then Moon Pearl will lose a sea-star point. It’s only four days until the end of term, when the dorm with the most sea-star points will get the trophy. We’re two points below Lilac Star. We could still beat them but not if you start losing us marks!”
Amber sighed. Sometimes Maya fussed way too much! “Maya, chill! It’s not that big a deal. I just need to collect some sea herbs and label them.
I’ll do that after dinner. Mr Wakame won’t care. Now,” she grinned. “Who’s ready for a swimming race?”
“Er, Amber, isn’t that Mr Wakame? I think he’s looking for someone. Could it be you?” Isla asked, pointing across The Singing Circle to where Mr Wakame, the Ocean Botany and Mer Medicine teacher, had swum out of one of the classroom
windows and was looking around.
Amber groaned. She had a sinking feeling Isla was right. There was only one thing to do – hide! But where? She darted behind a nearby sea fan but realised it wasn’t big enough to conceal her properly. Clattering clams! she thought, smacking her tail on the seabed in frustration as Mr Wakame swam over. If I lose us a sea-star point, Maya will be so upset!
Mr Wakame reached the group. “Ah, Moon Pearl. Where’s Amber? She owes me an assignment.” His gaze passed over both Amber and the sea fan. “Have you seen her?”
Amber was puzzled. Why was Mr Wakame pretending he couldn’t see her? He was a kind but serious teacher, not one for making jokes, especially about overdue work.
Her friends glanced round. “Um, sorry, Mr Wakame,” said Maya, looking surprised. “She was here a moment ago but she seems to have gone.”
“Maybe she went back to our dorm,” Isla put in.
Mr Wakame sighed. “Well, please tell her I expect her assignment on my desk before bedtime. If it’s not handed in by then, I will have to give her a behaviour point.”
Amber blinked, astonished, as the teacher swam away. What was going on? “Well, that was weird,” she said, popping out from behind the coral.
Cora squealed. “Jumping jellyfish! Where did you spring from?”
Maya gaped like a guppy. “How did you do that, Amber? Where were you hiding?”
“Duh! Behind this sea fan, of course,” said Amber. “You must have been able to see me.”
Her friends exchanged confused glances. “Nope,” said Isla.
“Seriously?” said Amber, her forehead wrinkling. “I mean, come on! It’s not exactly the best hiding place ever!”
She darted behind the sea fan again, and this time she noticed a strange sensation. It felt like a ripple of water was flowing over her, from her tail fin up to her head.
“Amber, you’ve disappeared!” shrieked Isla.
“What are you talking about? I’m here,” said Amber, poking her head out from behind the fan.
They all gasped.
“We ... we can see your head,” breathed Cora, her green eyes as wide as clamshells. “But nothing else!”
“Amber!” Flash whistled, his eyes shining with
excitement. “I think you’ve found your magic at last! You’ve got camouflage magic. It means you can blend into backgrounds so that it looks like you’ve vanished.”
As her friends squealed in delight, Amber felt stunned.
All merfolk could pull mermaid fire from the seabed, which gave them enough magic to make things like bubble tunnels, but each mermaid also had to discover their own unique magic power. Isla, Maya and Cora had already found theirs.
Isla could make bubbles, Cora could conjure whirlwaves and Maya could heal. Amber had been wondering if her magic would ever appear!
“Whizzing whales!” she cried, turning a delighted somersault as she thought of all the tricks she could play. “Camouflage magic will be awesome!”
“Look at your tail!” said Cora.
Amber glanced down. When someone discovered their magic, a symbol appeared on their tail in gold scales.
“It’s half a mermaid beside a rock!” said Isla, inspecting it. “Only half her tail is showing because some of it is camouflaged.”
Flash whistled. “If you practise, you’ll be able to camouflage me as well, or anyone else who’s near enough to you and—” He broke off and frowned. “Amber, where did you go?”
“BOO!” shouted Amber, leaping off the seabed where she had been lying, camouflaging herself against a barnacle-covered rock. Her friends shrieked out loud. Clutching her middle, Amber doubled over with laughter. “I don’t need to practise, Flash. I’m brilliant at it already! We’re going to have so much fun with my camouflage magic!”
CHAPTER TWO
Amber spotted two prefects from the final year swimming along together. “Look,” she said. “There’s Marianna and Tinto. Let’s give them a fright.”
“Amber, no! You might get into trouble,” said Maya.
But Amber couldn’t resist showing off her new talent. She swam quickly over to a statue of a seahorse and imagined herself the same colour. She felt the same weird rippling sensation she’d felt before and then waved at her friends with both hands. Their gazes slid over her as if she
wasn’t there. Amber forced back a giggle as the prefects came closer. When they were almost touching her, she pushed herself away from the statue. “Hello!” she said brightly.
With a piercing scream Marianna shot backwards, throwing up her arms as she fell into Tinto.
“Whoa! Steady, Marianna.” Tinto put out a hand to stabilise her. He grinned at Amber.
“Where did you spring from?”
“Nowhere,” said Amber innocently. “I was here all along. Didn’t you see me?”
“For Neptune’s sake, Amber!” Marianna pushed her long black hair, streaked with green and gold, away from her face. Frowning at Amber, she straightened her prefect badge. “You can’t go around scaring people like that!”
“I wasn’t. I was just looking at this lovely statue. We’re supposed to appreciate the art, aren’t we?” Amber said.
Marianna couldn’t argue. “Hmmm,” she said grumpily, and she pulled Tinto on, passing Flash, who was hovering nearby.
Amber giggled as he swam up to her. “Did you see that? Marianna almost fainted with fright!”
“She looked like she’d seen a sea ghost!” said Flash, his eyes sparkling.
“I’m so good at camouflage magic!” said Amber
happily. She knew some of the students like Cora had found it hard to control and use their magic at first.
Flash’s expression grew serious. “You really are but you must still practise. You need to learn how to camouflage me at the same time and how to keep the camouflage up for longer.”
Amber smiled and stroked his head. Flash was so cute when he was trying to be serious and helpful – which was pretty much all of the time! She was lucky to have him for a partner. They liked the same things and both loved sport, although Flash was much better at practising than she was. He would practise racing or perfecting a turn for ages. Not like me, thought Amber. It’s so boring to do the same thing over and over.
“You will practise, won’t you?” he asked earnestly.
“Of course,” said Amber airily.
His expression relaxed. “Now you’ve got your magic, do you think we’ll bond?” he asked hopefully. When a student and dolphin bonded, they became partners for life and their tail fins changed colour to match. Amber and Flash were the only pair left in Moon Pearl who hadn’t bonded yet.
Pulling him closer, Amber planted a kiss on his nose.
“Why wouldn’t we? You’re my best friend.”
“And you’re mine,” said Flash, kissing her back.
A conch sounded. “Ooh, good. Dinner time. I’m starving!” Amber pulled away. “Are you going to the surface?” Dolphins couldn’t stay underwater all the time like merfolk; every so often they had
to go up for air. When Flash nodded, she said, “OK, well, let’s meet up at the Bubble Whirlpool after dinner.”
“What about your assignment?” asked Flash. “I can help you to collect the plant samples if you want.”
“Boring snoring!” Amber yawned theatrically. “But I suppose I’d better finish it. If I don’t hand it in, I’ll lose a sea-star point and that’s not fair on Moon Pearl. OK, meet me back here after dinner.”
“Hurry up, Amber,” called Isla from the dining hall entrance.
“Coming! Bye, Flash!” Amber shot after the others. Her long pink, yellow and orange plait streamed behind her as she caught up. She felt like she was fizzing with happiness. She loved being at Mermaid Academy and now she had found her magic it would be even better!
The dining hall was a very large room with sconces of green mermaid fire and pictures of ancient, mysterious sea creatures on giant reed scrolls on the walls. The delicious smell of kelp chips wafted towards Amber, making her stomach growl with hunger.
As Amber tucked into herby seaweed burgers, kelp chips and salad, she completely forgot about her overdue assignment. Before long, their conversation turned, as it often did, to the Mal
Mer, a secretive clan of merfolk who lived in the Malmari Ocean. The Mal Mer didn’t mix with the other clans or send their children to Mermaid Academy. It was rumoured that they’d taken everything that was precious and beautiful from their own ocean and used it to decorate their huge mansions. It was also said that they kept sea creatures in cages and used mind control to make others do their bidding.
Although the Mal Mer supposedly never left their own ocean, Amber and her friends were sure they had spotted some of them several times since they’d started at the academy. Isla had glimpsed one, just before they’d found a herd of woolly seahorses mysteriously trapped in a cave.
Another time, Cora had seen one when they had discovered sword sharks with weird glowing green eyes plundering rare coral in the Glass Ocean. More recently, while visiting the Northern Fjords,
Maya had come across two Mal Mer before she had seen some huge creeping slackjaw fish, also with strange green eyes, stealing rare pearls.
Moon Pearl were convinced that all the bad things they had discovered were down to the Mal Mer, and that now the Mal Mer’s own ocean was so barren and bare they were stealing from other oceans. Dr Oceania, the headteacher of Mermaid Academy, had asked them not to share their concerns with other pupils in case it caused panic and worry. She had reassured them that she would deal with it. She’d promised to send guards to protect the environments that were being damaged but she couldn’t do anything else without proof that the Mal Mer were to blame.
“I wonder if the Mal Mer are up to anything at the moment?” whispered Maya.
“If only we could catch them in action,” said
Isla. “Then we could get the evidence that Dr Oceania needs.”
“But how?” asked Maya. “It’s not like they’re going to come to the academy and try anything here. We only discovered what they were doing by accident, because we were on school trips.”
“And we only caught a glimpse of them each time,” added Cora.
An idea popped into Amber’s head – an awesome, wonderful, mermazing idea. “I know! Why don’t I use my camouflage magic to go to the Malmari Ocean and spy on the Mal Mer?” Triumphantly, she looked around at her friends, sure they’d agree.
“Amber!” gasped Maya. “That would be far too dangerous. What if they caught you?”
Amber shrugged. “They wouldn’t. I’m brilliant at camouflage magic.”
“You know, it could work,” said Isla thoughtfully.
“No!” exclaimed Maya. “What if the Mal Mer caught Amber and used mind control?”
“That won’t happen,” said Amber.
“You can’t know that for sure,” argued Maya.
“Oh, Maya, don’t be such a boring barnacle!” Amber said in frustration.
Maya’s face tightened. Through gritted teeth she said, “I am not a boring barnacle. You are being—”
“Whoa!” said Cora, holding up her hands. “Let’s not argue. Look, why don’t we ask the Sea Sphinx? She’s given us good advice in the past. She’ll tell us not to go if she thinks it’s too dangerous.”
The Sea Sphinx was a living statue, halfmermaid and half-octopus, who knew the answer to everything. She would answer questions with a riddle but only if she felt the question was an important one.
“That’s a really good idea, Cor,” said Isla. “How about it?” she asked Amber and Maya.
“We do what the Sea Sphinx says. Agreed?” Maya and Amber exchanged a grin, then nodded. “Agreed!” they chorused.