Chapter Five

“Whitecaps surge with sea-foam bright, la, la, la . . .” Marnie hummed the catchy little cheerleading tune the whole way through oceanography.

“Who is ’umming?” demanded Mr. Scampi, the large black lobster who taught oceanography. “Stop! We cannot concentrate on our coral samples.”

Pearl sneezed sadly. She loved oceanography, but she had forgotten to take her allergy medicine that morning and her eyes were so red and puffy from the coral that she could hardly see what she was doing. Marnie passed her a seaweed handkerchief and tried her best to stop humming.

The magical Golden Glory Crown shimmered in her mind like a beautiful sparkly dream. If they found it, they would be heroes. She couldn’t wait for the lesson to end so that they could start their treasure hunt.

Finally it was over and they could leave once they’d cleared away their samples. “I never want to hear about coral again,” said Orla. “Polyps this and polyps that. It’s like Mr. Scampi was doing it on PURPOSE.”

Pearl blew her nose so loudly that a nearby scallop clattered into the rocky wall. “Teaching us about coral polyps is Mr. Scampi’s job,” she pointed out.

“But finding the Golden Glory Crown is MUCH more important,” said Orla impatiently. “If we find it, you could wish for all the oceanography knowledge in the whole world. You’d never need to go to another oceanography class in your life.”

Marnie had meant to ask her mom how the wish worked last night. There was something about the Crown that she had forgotten . . .

“Where shall we start looking?” said Pearl.

“Lady Sealia’s office,” Orla said immediately.

Marnie blinked. The only time she’d ever been in Lady Sealia’s office was when she was in trouble.

“Think about it,” said Orla. “Where’s the LAST place you’d look for it? Right under Lady Sealia’s nose, of course.”

Marnie and Pearl looked at each other. This didn’t sound like a good idea at all.

“Wait, Orla—” Marnie tried, but Orla had already swum away down the corridor.

There was nothing else to do. They followed her.

Lady Sealia’s door was closed.

“What’s the plan?” said Pearl, looking at Marnie.

“I don’t HAVE a plan,” Marnie said. She felt as if a shoal of clownfish was doing somersaults in her tummy. “This wasn’t my idea!”

“Let’s just knock and see what happens,” said Orla confidently.

She raised her fist and banged on Lady Sealia’s door.

To everyone’s surprise, the door swung open. Dilys, Lady Sealia’s pet dogfish, slowly raised her head from her sea-moss cushion and peered down her long snout at them. There was no sign of the headteacher.

“Lady Sealia must have forgotten to shut the door properly,” Pearl guessed.

Orla clapped her hands. “Perfect! We can search the office before she gets back.”

“I don’t think we should be in here, Orla,” said Marnie anxiously.

“Marnie’s right,” Pearl said, hovering by the door. “We’ll get in a lot of trouble.”

“And when we find the Crown, we can simply wish ourselves OUT of trouble,” Orla said. “Pearl, keep watch. I’ll start with Lady Sealia’s desk. Marnie, check out that big cupboard over there.”

There was a snarling noise. Dilys was growling from her corner, her lips curled back from her sharp little teeth.

Marnie gulped. “Dilys doesn’t want us in here.”

“She’s just a dopey dogfish,” Orla said, peering under Lady Sealia’s desk. “When have you seen her do anything except sleep? Ignore her.”

“A dogfish is a kind of shark,” Pearl pointed out from the doorway. “And sharks can be unpredictable. Just ask Miss Haddock.”

Orla put her hands on her hips. “Do you want to find the Crown or not?”

For a dopey dogfish, Dilys was unbelievably fast. In a flash of silver-grey, she darted off her cushion and shot toward the door. Marnie jumped out of the way in case the little dogfish bit her. So did Pearl. With a flick of her long tail, Dilys escaped into the corridor—and vanished from sight.

There was a long and nasty silence.

“She’ll come back,” said Orla.

They waited.

“She’s not coming back,” Pearl moaned.

“I knew we shouldn’t have gone into Lady Sealia’s office, I knew it!” Marnie burst out. “And now Dilys has swum away and Lady Sealia is going to be so MAD!”

Marnie, Orla and Pearl rushed out of the office and down the corridor, calling the little dogfish’s name. “Dilys! DILYS!”

Marnie was swimming so fast that she almost smacked into someone coming around the corner. Someone tall, and regal, with long white hair and a silver-white tail. Someone holding a little dogfish, who had gone back to sleep already.

“It is very unseemly for mermaids to rush about in this manner, Marnie Blue,” said Lady Sealia. “You could have injured Dilys.” She frowned down at the dogfish curled in her arms. “How did she escape from my office ?”

Marnie swallowed. “Um,” she began.

“Your door was open, Lady Sealia,” said Orla, swimming to Marnie’s rescue. “We knocked and you weren’t there but your door opened and then . . . Dilys swam away.”

It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. Lady Sealia stroked Dilys behind her fins.

“Why did you knock on my door?” she said.

“It doesn’t matter now,” said Marnie quickly. She grabbed her friends’ hands to drag them away. “Sorry Lady Sealia. We’re glad Dilys is OK. Bye.”

“That,” said Pearl, when they were a safe distance from Lady Sealia, “was close.”

“And very annoying,” Orla grumbled. “We’ll have to try again— OH!”

She suddenly pointed at something. Something perched on a ledge in the corridor wall. Something round, and spiky-looking.

“The Crown!” Orla cried.

Pearl frowned. “Wait—”

Orla beat her tail and shot up the corridor wall. “I found it!” she shouted, waving her arms. “Thrills and gills, I found the Crown!” Lifting it in the air, she looked triumphantly down at Marnie and Pearl. “I’m going to make the BEST wish—”

“No Orla, put it down!” said Pearl suddenly. “It’s not the Crown, it’s a venomous—”

But Orla had already put it on her head. She opened her mouth in surprise.

“OW,” she said faintly and fell to the floor.

Marnie clapped her hands to her mouth.

“—starfish,” Pearl finished unhappily.