After the language lesson, Dr. Mousteau said, “If you are very lucky tomorrow, three things might happen.”

“What are they?” Pearl asked. “I want to be lucky.”

Dr. Mousteau smiled, showing the one tooth in the middle of his mouth. “First, you may see a whale jumping out of the water.”

“That’s known as breaching,” added Mrs. Karp.

“Cool,” Rocky said.

“Number two,” Dr. Mousteau said, “you may hear the males sing.”

“Do the females sing?” Shelly asked.

“No,” Dr. Mousteau said.

“That’s not fair. Why not?” Shelly asked.

Mrs. Karp explained, “The males sing to attract females.”

Dr. Mousteau nodded in agreement before continuing. “And three, if you are very lucky, you may see a baby whale.”

Echo looked at Kiki. “Wouldn’t that be great? Babies are so cute.”

Kiki swallowed hard. “Sure,” she said. But Kiki didn’t think baby whales would be cute at all. In fact, whales of any size absolutely terrified her.

Funny Noises

THIS IS AWESOME,” ECHO TOLD Kiki and Shelly in the Trident Academy lunchroom that afternoon.

Kiki looked up from her lunch of polka-dot batfish sushi in surprise. “What do you mean? This is the worst sushi they’ve served all year.”

“I’m not talking about the food, Kiki,” Echo said. “I mean the ocean trip. Maybe I’ll finally get to see people! I’d like to see a baby whale, and I’ve never been to the surface before. It’s exciting.”

Shelly swallowed her octopus legs and licked her fingers. “I can’t wait. I’ve always wanted to swim with whales.”

“Swim with them? I could never do that!” Echo squealed. “My dad made me do a report on them last year in second grade. Do you know how big they are?”

Kiki nodded. “Whales are the largest creatures that have ever lived. That’s why Mrs. Karp wants us to study them.” Kiki didn’t tell the girls that she was scared, but she was glad to hear that Echo was a little bit afraid too.

“They do this thing called bubble netting, where they trap their food!” Echo told her friends. Kiki stopped eating and stared at her.

Shelly shook her head. “Don’t worry. Whales only eat fish and krill.”

Echo flipped her pink mermaid tail. “Excuse me, but don’t we look like big fish?”

Kiki looked down at her purple tail and gulped. Humpback whales were huge. All they had to do to swallow a mermaid was open their gigantic mouths wide. She was the smallest merkid in their class. What if a whale mistook her for a snack? Kiki closed her eyes for a moment and shuddered.

“I thought you wanted to see humans,” Shelly said to Echo.

Echo smiled and pushed her dark, curly hair off her forehead. “You know it.”

“Well, this could be your only chance,” Shelly said. “My grandfather says humans love to watch whales.”