As far as she could see, blue water stretched all around. Up above, bright sky matched the sparkling sea.

“We’re swimming in the air!” Echo screamed. And they were. For just a minute. And then they started falling.

“Don’t let go!” Shelly yelled.

Kiki squeezed Orman’s knob hard. The water felt like a rock when they hit it, and it was all Kiki could do to stay on Orman’s back. But she did. And right beside her, she could see that Shelly and Echo had stayed on Mortimer.

When they were safely back under the water, Echo giggled. “We did it!”

Kiki couldn’t believe it. Thanks to Orman and her merfriends, she had done something she’d never thought she could do. She hugged Orman. “Thank you, my lucky pal. I hope I get to see you again.”

Orman winked at Kiki, and Kiki knew she had a friend for life.

Trouble Time?

YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!” Rocky told the girls after their whale rides.

“Yeah,” added Pearl. “No more ocean trips for you. Ha!”

Mrs. Karp blew the conch shell, signaling that it was time to leave. All the merstudents gathered around her. Kiki gulped when Mrs. Karp glared at her.

“All right, class,” Mrs. Karp said. “Let’s descend.”

Nobody said a word as they swam downward together. It took a minute for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, and Echo jumped when a small basketweave cusk-eel slithered by her.

“Let’s assemble in the classroom,” Mrs. Karp told the class. “We have a few more minutes left before the end of the school day.”

The merstudents groaned. “I thought she would let us go home early,” Shelly whispered.

“Nope,” Rocky said, swimming by the three mergirls. “She wants to yell at you first.”

Kiki glanced at Mrs. Karp, who had a serious look on her face. Kiki was afraid Rocky was right.

“What do you think Mrs. Karp will do to us?” Echo whispered as the class floated down the hallway.

Kiki shrugged. Her parents wouldn’t mind that she’d ridden Orman, but they would be upset if she got in trouble at school. They always told her to do her best in her studies, but that even if she couldn’t get good grades, she could behave herself. It had been a huge honor for her to win a Trident Academy scholarship. She was the first one in her family to attend the prestigious school. It would be terrible if she was sent home in disgrace. Kiki held her breath as Mrs. Karp addressed the class.

“You may take a few minutes to write about the humpback whales,” she said. All the merkids bent over their pieces of seaweed to begin their essays. Everyone except Rocky.

“What about Kiki, Shelly, and Echo?” Rocky asked. “Aren’t they going to get sent to the headmaster for riding those whales?”