Maya sensed a jolt of magic that tingled along her fingertips and made her feel as if she was glowing. Then suddenly she was tumbling over and over through darkness. Gasping as she fell, she shut her eyes and hung on tightly to Rainbow and Flash.
For Antonia, Iola and Amany, who would love to be students at Mermaid Academy
J.S. and L.C.
Dearest Ruby, happy reading, may all your dreams come true x L.T.
First published in the UK in 2023 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, 2023 Illustrations © Lucy Truman, 2023
The right of Julie Sykes, Linda Chapman and Lucy Truman to be identified as the authors and illustrator of this work has been asserted.
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978 1 83994 933 3
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CHAPTER ONE
Rainbow swooshed up to Maya and nudged her arm. “Maya, the others want us to go and play fin-ball!”
Maya looked up from her book and wriggled.
“Rainbow, you’re tickling me!” She gave her dolphin a gentle push, and spotted her friends from Moon Pearl dorm – Amber, Isla and Cora –treading water a little way off with their dolphins, Flash, Bubble and Sparkle.
“Come on,” said Rainbow. “Let’s go and play.” She wriggled her nose under Maya’s arm.
“Pleeeeeease!”
Maya hesitated. Lessons had finished for the day and the first-year students were relaxing in The Singing Circle, but Maya had been hoping to read her new library book, Bubble Tunnels for Beginners. After that she planned to sketch the little nibbler fish who liked to chomp on the coral walls of Mermaid Academy.
“Get a swish on, Maya!” called Isla. “The boys from Sea Jet have challenged us to a rematch.”
“This time we are definitely going to win!” said Amber.
Maya felt torn. Fin-ball was fun but she really did want to finish her book before tomorrow’s lesson. Making bubble tunnels was a new topic and Maya liked to get things right first time, even if it meant putting extra work in. She’d been awarded two sea-star points by her teachers that day for being prepared for her lessons, and she hoped to get some more the next day. “You lot go
on without me,” she said, her eyes already straying back to the page.
“No, Maya,” protested Amber, swimming over. “We won’t be such a good team without you.”
“Pleeeeeease come!” chorused Isla and Cora, joining her.
Rainbow swooshed her tail through Maya’s hair then used her nose to flip the book shut. She gave Maya a cheeky smile. “Don’t be a boring barnacle, Maya! Let’s have some fun.”
“I’m not a boring barnacle!” Maya protested. “I just want to make sure I’m ready for tomorrow’s lesson.”
“You will be. You’re always top of every class. Come on,” Rainbow said. Slapping her flippers against her sides, she chanted, “Play! Play! Play!”
Maya gave in. Rainbow, a pretty pink dolphin who was patterned with bright rainbows, loved having a good time and Maya knew Rainbow wouldn’t stop until she got her own way.
“OK, I’ll carry on reading after dinner,” Maya said, slipping her book into her bag. As she got up, her tail tingled with anticipation and she realised she was really looking forward to the game. Since joining Mermaid Academy, she’d been practising fin-ball whenever she had spare time and now was an opportunity to test out her moves.
Her friends high-fived her and Rainbow turned a delighted somersault then pushed her back fin into Maya’s hand. “Let’s go!”
Following her friends, Maya let Rainbow pull her through the sparkling turquoise water, her purple, blue and pink hair streaming out behind her. Moon Pearl dorm whooshed out of The Singing Circle, dodging between two of Mermaid Academy’s majestic coral towers. Beyond the buildings, the grounds of the school stretched in all directions. Maya and her friends passed the playpark with its awesome spinning clams and twisty mother-of-pearl slides, then glided through the Tranquillity Haven with its winding shell paths and beds of gently waving anemones.
“Who wants to race?” called Amber, smiling at her dolphin, Flash.
“Me!” shouted Isla and Bubble together, and the four of them sped ahead in a swirl of bubbles.
Maya and Cora grinned at each other as they continued to swim along with their dolphins. Cora liked to look at wildlife as she swam and Maya wasn’t keen on racing, so she was content to chat to Cora and look at the creatures she pointed out.
Catching up with Isla and Amber at the fin-ball pitches, they saw the merboys from Sea Jet dorm practising their tail passes, flicking the sponge ball between themselves and their dolphins.
“We were starting to think you’d changed your mind about a rematch,” said Obasi, catching the ball and spinning it on one finger.
“As if!” said Amber with a grin.
As they launched into the game, Maya quickly forgot about bubble tunnels. She charged up and down the pitch, ducking and diving their opponents, and when she finally won the ball, she executed a perfect upside-down tail flick, smashing the sponge ball into their goal!
It was a fast and furious match and by the time the two teams gathered at the centre for the last throw, it was three goals each. Nimesh got the ball but Amber caught it during his pass and flicked it to Flash, who nosed it on to Maya. Maya looked for Rainbow but she was too far away, so Maya whacked the ball to Isla. Bubble swam for the goal and Isla flicked him the ball so he could hit it into the net.
“Yaaay! Four-three to us!” whooped Amber. “We win!”
Maya looked round for Rainbow as all her friends high-finned their dolphins. She thought Rainbow might congratulate her on her improved goal-scoring ability, but Rainbow was busy teasing Arlo’s dolphin for losing the match. Maya’s happiness faded a little as she trod water. Rainbow sometimes got so distracted that she seemed to forget about her.
Maybe it will be different when we bond, Maya thought, glancing at Isla and Cora’s tails. When a student and a dolphin bonded, their tail fins changed colour to match. Isla and Bubble’s tail fins were now both violet and yellow while Cora and Sparkle’s fins were light blue and green. Since bonding, they and their dolphins were barely apart and they seemed so in tune with each other. Maya wondered if she and Rainbow would ever be so close. They were very different. Rainbow came from a large, noisy family and loved being surrounded by friends – the more the better. She was also easily distracted, always looking for the next fun thing to do. Maya, an only mermaid, was a planner who never rushed into things tail first and, while she loved having friends, she also needed lots of quiet time. A worrying thought crept into Maya’s mind. When the students and dolphins had chosen
each other at the start of term, Dr Oceania, the school’s headteacher, had said that students and their dolphins nearly always bonded. But what if she and Rainbow didn’t? What if they were one of the few pairs who were just too different to ever become true partners? A knot of anxiety twisted in her tummy. She hoped that wouldn’t be the case. We must try harder, she thought.
“Rainbow!” she called.
Rainbow whistled happily and started to swim over, but at the last moment she was distracted by a feathery piece of seaweed.
Snatching it up in her mouth, she swam silently up behind Bubble and tickled him with it, making him squeal with laughter.
Spinning round, he retaliated by blowing a stream of bubbles that bounced off Rainbow’s head. Rainbow twirled in the water, giggling as she popped the bubbles.
Maya sighed with frustration. Rainbow was always so distracted, it was no wonder they hadn’t bonded yet. I need to make it happen, she decided. But how?
CHAPTER
TWO
Maya woke up early the next morning with an idea. If she and Rainbow spent more time together without any distractions, then perhaps they would bond. Pushing back her duvet, she got up to make a list of the activities they could do as a pair.
Everyone else in Moon Pearl dorm was still asleep. Isla and Cora were neatly tucked up inside their clamshell beds and curled beneath their pink and silver duvets, looking like happy little puff ball shrimps. In the bed next to Maya’s, Amber lay half out of her duvet, her arms hanging off the
edge, and her raspberry-pink, orange and yellow hair lying in a tangled braid across her pillow.
Maya made her bed quietly, trying not to wake the others. She liked being the first one up. Although she loved being at Mermaid Academy, spending every second of every day with other people sometimes made her feel on edge. She missed her tidy bedroom at home and her thoughtful, kind parents who never interrupted or teased her.
Maya changed her pyjama top for a sparkly day top and swam to her dressing table for her comb. She always kept her dressing table neat and tidy, so she felt a stab of dismay when she saw that someone had dumped a sponge ball there. It had knocked her pots of drawing pencils over and dropped strands of seaweed on her sketch pad. In case she was in any doubt who the culprit was, lying next to it were two of Amber’s hair bobbles
with strands of long raspberry-pink, yellow and orange hair wrapped round them.
“Amber!” Maya exclaimed in frustration. Carrying the ball and bobbles over to Amber, she dumped them on her bed.
“What’s going on?” Amber’s eyes flew open. “Oh, it’s you, Maya.” She stretched, knocking her hair brush and a collection of slides off her bedside table. “What’s up?”
“You’re so untidy,” said Maya. “Why can’t you put things away where they belong?”
Amber groaned. “Chill, Maya. There wasn’t time to put the ball back in the sports cupboard last night. I’ll do it on the way to breakfast.”
Maya waved the bobbles at Amber. “These aren’t mine either.”
Isla and Cora were awake now. “What’s going on?” asked Isla, yawning.
“Amber’s messed up my desk,” Maya said crossly. She swam back to her dressing table and set about tidying it. Soon everything was in place but she couldn’t find her favourite pen.
“Where’s my purple squink pen?” she said in frustration.
Amber swam over, holding Maya’s pen out. “Here you go,” she said cheerfully, without any hint of embarrassment. “I borrowed it last night to make a note of the score in the match. Soz, Maya.”
Maya took a deep breath. She didn’t like getting cross with people but Amber could be so annoying at times!
Swallowing her irritation, she sat down and
began to write out a list of activities for her and Rainbow to do together – observing the woolly sea horses on the wildlife reef, telling stories to each other in the Tranquillity Haven, visiting the coral nursery…
When she’d finished, she read through the list with a smile. Doing some of these activities together would definitely help her and Rainbow bond quicker. And maybe it’ll help me discover my magic too, she thought hopefully.
All merfolk could use magic to create bubble tunnels that would transport them places, and they could also take mermaid fire from the seabed by touching it and willing the green magic fire that was hidden there to flow from the rocks out into their hands. The flames didn’t burn merfolk and they used them for light and warmth. They each also had their own special magic, which they usually discovered when they were at school.
So far, Isla had found she had bubble magic and Cora had whirlwave magic. Maya couldn’t wait to find out what her magic was!
The breakfast conch rang. After a quick check of her bag to make sure she had everything she needed, Maya followed the others to the cavernous dining hall. The walls were decorated with paintings on giant reed scrolls showing strange and wonderful sea creatures, and there was a long table piled high with food for students to help themselves to. Breakfast that day was delicious as always – bowls of creamy sea porridge, juicy tide berries and mugs of steaming kelp juice. They were clearing their plates when Obasi from Sea Jet swam up.
“Have you heard the news? There’s going to be a special announcement for all first-years at the assembly after breakfast.”
“I wonder what it’s about,” said Isla.
“Maybe they’ve realised what great players we are so they’re organising a massive fin-ball tournament!” said Obasi.
Amber grinned. “Who cares what it is so long as it gets us out of lessons!”
Maya opened her mouth to say she liked lessons but then thought better of it. She knew that Amber would only tease her if she said something like that, and she hated being laughed at.
It took ages to file into the Grand Cavern.
Marianna, the prefect on duty, was waiting at the entrance, checking all students looked presentable and had the notebooks and pens they were supposed to bring with them to every morning assembly. As Moon Pearl waited in line, Maya noticed Amber rummaging in her bag, frowning.
“Have you lost something?” she asked.
“I forgot to bring a pen,” whispered Amber.
Luckily, Maya always carried spares! “Here,”
she offered, taking one out of her own bag. “Use this one.”
“Thanks, Maya.” Amber grinned. “You’re so organised. You always have everything we need!”
Maya smoothed out the wrinkles in her sparkly top and Marianna called her forward. Maya produced her pen and notebook and then waited, hands behind her back and chin up while Marianna looked her up and down. “Good,” the prefect said with a rare smile. “You are a model student as always, Maya. You may continue.”
Maya swam into the Grand Cavern. It was a vast space with a ceiling that arched above them. Strange shadows flickered on the walls, cast by the green mermaid fire that burned in golden sconces. Maya always felt very small when she was in the Grand Cavern. It made her think of all the students who had swum here before her. In the centre of the high ceiling the giant Magical Globe was suspended. It
twirled gently, showing all the bodies of water in the merfolk world – oceans, seas, lochs, lagoons. Merfolk could use it to travel anywhere they wanted.
Isla and Cora swished through the seaweed curtain and joined Maya, but Marianna stopped Amber.
“This isn’t good enough, Amber,” she said crossly. “You’ve got tide berry juice on your top and you are wearing your necklace back-to-front.”
Amber straightened her necklace then rubbed at the stain with a finger. “It’s coming off,” she said. “See, it’s gone now.”
Marianna’s nose wrinkled as she studied Amber’s top. “Hmmm. This is the third time you’ve come to assembly in an unacceptable state. I shall deduct one sea-star point from Moon Pearl’s total.”
Maya groaned with frustration. Sea-star points were awarded for good behaviour and academic achievement, and at the end of the term the dorm with the most points would receive a trophy. Maya really wanted Moon Pearl to win it but they weren’t going to if Amber kept losing points almost as fast as Maya gained them!
As usual, Amber seemed unconcerned about being told off and losing a point. “Whoops! Sorry, everyone!” she said to the rest of them with a sheepish grin. As they all swam away to join the
other first-years, she started imitating Marianna’s high-pitched voice. “You’re a naughty mermaid, Amber!”
Isla and Cora giggled but Maya didn’t. Losing sea-star points was definitely nothing to laugh about!
“I wonder what Dr O called the assembly for,” Isla said as they got into line with the other first-years. She dropped her voice. “Maybe it’s something to do with the Mal Mer?”
They swapped worried looks. The Mal Mer were a secretive mer clan who lived in the Malmari Ocean. They wouldn’t work with the other mer clans and they refused to take part in protecting the oceans, choosing instead to raid them for whatever they wanted. They were rarely seen outside of their ocean and little was known about them apart from the fact they had learned to use mind control on sea creatures and other merpeople.
Maya and the rest of her dorm thought they might have spotted a Mal Mer twice. Isla had seen one just before they found a herd of woolly seahorses trapped in a cave in the Sea Fir forest, and Cora had spotted one near a group of sword sharks and gulper eels which were taking rare corals from the Glass Ocean. Moon Pearl weren’t sure how the Mal Mer were connected to both things, but it was a mystery they were determined to solve!
“Do you think someone else has seen one of the Mal Mer?” whispered Cora.
“Or something bad has happened in another ocean?” said Isla.
Maya felt an icy shiver run across her scales as they joined the end of the line of first-years. What was Dr Oceania going to say?