“She’d make a better bottom sucker,” Pearl said. “She’d rather explore the ocean and be friends with a disgusting lizardfish than be a princess.”

Shelly didn’t like agreeing with know-it-all Pearl, but she knew this time Pearl was right. Shelly couldn’t be a princess, and she really would rather play with ocean animals than wear a glittery crown.

“There must be some mistake,” Shelly said, looking at Madame hopefully. “My grandfather would definitely have told me if I was a princess.”

Madame did not nod her head in agreement. She simply continued, teaching them the king and queen of the Northern Oceans.

Shelly looked down at her blue tail. She couldn’t listen to the lesson anymore. She kept hearing Madame’s words in her head: Why, it’s Shelly Siren, of course. Her stomach felt funny and her scales shook. Maybe her grandfather had made her learn about royalty because she was royalty. Her parents had died when she was young, and she’d never met many of her relatives. Could it be true? Could she really be a princess?

Empress!

WHEN IT WAS TIME FOR lunch, Echo, Kiki, and Shelly swam into the cafeteria. Shelly was glad to be surrounded by her closest friends after the big news of the morning.

“I always knew you were special, but I didn’t know you were royalty!” Echo said.

“Look,” yelled Rocky, “it’s Shelly, princess of Trident Academy!” Every merkid in the cafeteria, from grade three to grade ten, stopped eating and stared at Shelly.

“Shhhh, Rocky,” Shelly hissed. “You don’t even know if that’s true!”

Kiki stopped eating her hagfish jelly sandwich and asked, “What if it’s not a mistake? You would make a great ruler. I mean, you could be an empress someday.”

“Empress!” Shelly squealed. “Are you kidding?” Immediately, she was sorry that she’d been so loud. Rocky grinned and nudged his friends at the merboys’ table. He made a low bow in Shelly’s direction, and all the merboys laughed.

Shelly took a deep breath and gazed at the carvings of merfolk history on the cafeteria walls. She had stared at them every day since she’d started Trident Academy a few weeks ago. Now she looked at them differently. The famous kings and queens in the carvings could be her uncles and aunts! She couldn’t believe it.

“It’s all right,” Kiki told her, patting her arm.

Echo nodded. “Come on. Let’s go ask Mr. Fangtooth to tell us about his days with the Shark Patrol.”

“That’s a great idea,” Shelly said, glad to have something to take her mind off Madame Hippocampus’s news and everyone’s whispers.