Echo recognized the note as the one they’d found near the Manta Ray Express Station a few days ago. “A nice lady dropped it by accident. We tried to give it back to her, but she swam away too quickly,” she added.

Mr. Fangtooth opened the letter. His eyes got wide and he smiled, something he rarely ever did.

Without a word he dropped his big serving shell and swam out of the cafeteria. “That was weird. I wonder where he went,” Kiki said as she helped herself to some ribbon worms.

“I can’t believe it! I think we made him happy,” Shelly said. “But someone else needs cheering up today.”

Echo looked around the large lunchroom. Carvings of famous merpeople hung on the walls. Merstudents of all ages sat around the polished granite tables with the gold Trident Academy logo in the centers. Everyone chatted in between bites of food. No one looked sad. “Who?” Echo asked.

“You!” Shelly said as she sat down at the corner table she always shared with Kiki and Echo.

“Me?” Echo said.

Kiki nodded. Her long dark hair swirled in the water around her face. “You’ve been acting gloomy ever since Mrs. Karp told us about the spelling test.”

Echo groaned. “You know how much I hate spelling!”

“Don’t worry,” Shelly said. “We’ll help you.”

Echo smiled. “Really?”

“Of course,” Kiki said. “That’s what friends are for.”

Shelly took a bite of her hagfish jelly sandwich. After she’d swallowed she said, “Okay, Echo. Let’s get started. The first word is ‘pipefish.’ It’s pretty easy. Just put ‘pipe’ and ‘fish’ together.”

Echo tried it. “P-I-P-F-I-S-H.”

“Close,” Kiki told her. “You only left out one letter.”

Echo groaned again. “It’s so hard. I don’t see why we have to have spelling tests, anyway. I’ve heard that humans don’t have them.”

“It doesn’t matter, because you aren’t human,” Shelly said. “You are a mermaid, and you have a test on Wednesday, so you’d just better study.”

Echo sighed. “What’s the next word?”

Kiki thought for a minute. “I think it is ‘sea horse.’ Try ‘sea’ and then ‘horse.’ ”

“That’s the one word I know how to spell!” Echo said. “S-E-A H-O-R-S-E!”

“That’s perfect,” Kiki said. “I knew you could do it.”

Echo smiled. “Wouldn’t it be cool to own a sea horse?”

“Do you know the legend of the sea horse?” Kiki asked.

Echo and Shelly shook their heads.

Kiki grinned. “Then let me tell you.”

About Debbie Dadey