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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Mermaids Rock
- Sprache: Englisch
Welcome to Mermaids Rock! The entrance to the mermaid realm in the deep, blue ocean…When animals start disappearing from the reef into the mysterious Midnight Realm, Naya and her friends investigate! There they find a glowing cave with a tentacled monster lurking within. Then it traps Luna and the friends launch into action. Naya will have to get inventive if she's going to pull off her rescue mission...The fourth book in an exciting new series about the wonders of the ocean, perfect for fans of RAINBOW MAGIC, AMELIA FANG and Holly Webb.
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Seitenzahl: 80
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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Luca, Lara, Milly, Alfie and Erin - cool cousins, always ready for an adventure – LC
To my grandma, who kept buying tiny notebooks for me to doodle in – MO
Contents
Chapter One
“Our project’s looking great!” said Naya, admiring the poster about coral that she and her best friends were working on. They’d been making it for a couple of weeks now and Naya was really proud of what they’d done. They had been able to combine all their skills! Coralie and Kai, who were the best at art, had drawn pictures of different types of coral and Marina and Naya had written out lots of information. Luna, Coralie’s younger cousin, had designed the poster, doing a big heading 2in bubble writing and sticking everything on.
“When we add our secret you-know-whats, it will look even more clam-tastic!” said Coralie with a swish of her purple tail.
Naya felt a rush of excitement. Everyone’s projects looked good but she hoped theirs would win.
3“I wonder what the prize will be…” said Kai, the only merboy in their gang. He had dark hair and a red tail. “I hope it’s going to be something exciting like a day off school or a massive clamshell filled with sweets!”
“I wouldn’t worry about the prize, Kai Stormchaser,” said Glenda, giving him a snooty look over her shoulder. She sat in front with her friends, Jazeela and Racquel. “There’s no way you lot are going to win this competition. Our poster is much better than yours. Look!”
She swam back to reveal the almost finished project her group were working on. “My dad visited lots of different places through the magic whirlpool and got us some proper coral from each one to stick on to our poster. We don’t just have boring drawings – we’ve got the actual coral itself.”
Naya frowned. “But we’re not supposed to collect coral. It takes thousands of years for a 4reef to form and each coral only grows a tiny amount every year.”
Glenda rolled her eyes. “Of course my dad didn’t break the coral off! He found the broken pieces on the seabed.”
“But this is a project we’re supposed to do by ourselves,” Naya protested. “Your dad shouldn’t have helped you. It’s wrong.”
“You’re just jealous.” Glenda tossed her long blond hair. “Get ready for us to win, losers!”
5Marina put her hands on her hips. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Glenda Seaglass.”
Just then Sylvie, their teacher, clapped her hands. “Right, everyone. Please can you look this way? I have an exciting announcement to make.” With a flick of her silvery tail, she swam to the front of the classroom and waited for everyone to give her their full attention.
Naya put the top on her squid-ink pen and laid it down on the desk, lining it up neatly with her other pens. What was Sylvie going to tell them?
“I wonder what this is about,” Luna whispered from her seat beside Naya.
“I hope it’s something fun. Maybe we’re going to get to do some experiments or spend a whole week doing nothing but science projects!” Naya whispered back.
Everyone fell quiet.
“As you know, it is vital that you learn about coral,” Sylvie began. “When you’re older, you will be responsible for helping to protect 6the coral reefs, along with other marine environments – the kelp forests, the polar regions, the mangrove swamps, the deep sea.”
Naya nodded. Merpeople had to look after all the oceans. Some travelled round the world, helping wherever there were natural or man-made disasters. Others stayed on the remote tropical reef where the merpeople had their home. There they could join the merguard who protected the reef, work with sea creatures in the Marine Sanctuary or become teachers or scientists. When the merchildren were twelve, they went to a different school where they could learn more about these jobs. Naya’s dream was to become either an inventor or a research scientist like Marina’s dad, Tarak.
“Your projects on types of coral must be handed in on Monday morning,” Sylvie continued. “After that, we shall start to study the different types of coral reefs – platform 7reefs, barrier reefs, fringing reefs, atolls…”
Glenda rolled her eyes at Racquel and Jazeela. “I thought Sylvie said she was going to tell us something exciting.”
Sylvie’s gaze snapped in their direction. Naya sat up straight, hoping that Sylvie didn’t think it had been her speaking. That was one of the worst things about having to sit behind Glenda in class. Not only was she mean but sometimes she said things or messed around and Naya and her friends got the blame because they sat near her. Glenda never owned up when they got into trouble – she was so annoying!
Sylvie frowned at them for a moment but then she continued. “To help you develop a real understanding of reefs, I have decided it would be very useful to go on a field trip.” A murmur of excitement ran round the class. “So next week we’re going on a three-day excursion – we’ll be camping on a deserted atoll in the South Pacific Ocean. What do you think 8about that?” Sylvie’s smile spread into a broad grin as the murmur became a chorus of excited exclamations.
“Camping!”
“We’re going to the South Pacific!”
“Oh, bubbles!”
“I wonder what sea creatures we’ll see!” Luna said to Naya. She had a special knack with animals whether they had fins, fur or feathers. They always wanted to be her friend!
“I bet we’ll see loads of different creatures. This is going to be amazing!” exclaimed Naya. There would be so much to see and learn in a new place. “I’ve got some books on atolls. Did you know they usually form round the crater of an underwater volcano and when the volcano erodes, all that’s left is the reef? Most of them are found in the Pacific Ocean.”
9Glenda looked round. “Seriously? Could you be any more dull, Naya?”
“Nerdy Naya!” giggled Racquel. “As boring as a sea slug!”
Naya looked embarrassed.
“Ignore them, Naya,” said Marina loyally. “You’re right. Atolls are really fascinating. You can bring your books on the trip and tell us about them.”
“We can also have midnight feasts!” said Coralie, her eyes gleaming.
“And tell ghost stories!” Kai chipped in.
“I’ve been to the South Pacific before. It’s beautiful,” said Marina. She had spent most of her life travelling all over the world with her dad. “It’ll be great to go there on a trip!”
“Reef-ly great in fact!” said Coralie. They all looked at her blankly. “Reefly? Instead of really,” she said. “Reefly great – get it?”
Naya hit her forehead with her hands as they groaned. Coralie loved telling bad jokes! 10
Sylvie started speaking again. “Obviously you’ll need to get permission from your parents. I also want to make it quite clear that anyone who misbehaves between now and then will not be coming. So best behaviour, please! Now get cracking and finish off your projects. I’ll be marking them on Monday and the prize for the group whose poster gets the highest mark will be first choice of a camping spot at the atoll – as well as a giant bag of sea humbugs!”
Luna put her hand up.
“Yes, Luna?”
“Can we bring our pets on the trip?” she asked hopefully. Lots of the merchildren – including all of the gang – had sea creatures as pets.
Naya crossed her fingers, willing Sylvie to say yes. Octavia, her clever octopus, would love to come with them.
“Yes, you can,” said Sylvie. She lifted her voice above the chorus of cheers. “Provided they’re well behaved and well trained.” 11
Kai poked Glenda in the back as everyone set to work. “Guess you won’t be bringing Silver, that porpoise you entered in the talent contest,” he said cheekily.
“Not unless you want to end up covered in cake!” Coralie giggled.
Glenda’s face darkened. A few weeks ago, there had been a competition to find the most talented pet. Glenda had cheated by asking her dad to get her a highly trained guard porpoise. Unfortunately, she hadn’t realized that these animals were only obedient when they had their special work harnesses on. She’d taken Silver, her porpoise, to the competition using only a lead of ribbon seaweed and he had ignored all her commands. Then he had towed her straight into the cake stall, leaving her covered in cream and icing.
“It was a total cake-tastrophe!” Coralie said.
“Oh, ha ha,” Glenda said sarcastically. “You’re about as funny as a jellyfish sting, 12Coralie Glittertail!”
Kai grinned. “You should wear cream on your face more often, Glenda. It suits you!”
Glenda’s eyes flashed with fury and she reached out and knocked a pot of ink over. It spilled on the drawing of staghorn coral that Kai had been working on all lesson. “Now who’s laughing?” she said spitefully as the paint spread across the seaweed parchment.
13“Glenda, that was horrible!” said Marina, outraged.
“You’ve just ruined Kai’s picture!” cried Naya.
“Whatever’s going on here?” Sylvie’s voice cut across them.
Glenda gave the teacher her best I’m-such-a-perfect-mergirl look that grown-ups nearly always fell for. “Oh, Sylvie, I’m so
