Chapter One VisitorsAaron was excited. His mom had told him that guests were coming for dinner! And even better, his best friends, Emily and Shona, would be visiting, too.
Aaron lived in a castle on an island in the middle of the ocean, so he didn’t have many guests. Aaron had met Emily and Shona when they were exploring one day. They’d discovered the castle and the three of them had been best friends ever since.
Aaron looked out his bedroom window.
Were those tails sparkling in the waves?
Yes! They were here.
Aaron ran to the pool underneath the castle.
He slipped into the water and began to swim.
As he swam, a familiar feeling spread through his legs. They stiffened up, joined together . . . and turned into a tail!
Aaron was a semi-mer like his friend Emily. That meant he was a boy on land but when he was in water he became a merboy.
Aaron flicked his tail and headed into the tunnel that led out to the ocean.
He swam to the surface and saw two heads pop up nearby.
“Emily! Shona!” he called.
They swam over.
“We passed a ship on our way here,” Emily said.
“It was HUGE!” Shona added. “And it looked like it was coming to the castle.”
“That must be our dinner guests,” Aaron said.
“Your guests have a very fancy ship!” Emily said.
“Let’s get a closer look,” said Aaron.
They dived under the water, laughing and splashing and chatting.
Chapter Two The ShipAs they swam, the three friends talked about what they had been up to.
“Shona won the Shiprock School talent show with her singing!” Emily said.
“That’s amazing!” Aaron said.
Shona blushed, then said, “Well, Emily swam at the beach in front of everyone!”
“They all got to see my tail. It was swishy!” Emily added.
Aaron smiled. He was glad they were happy, but he didn’t have anything exciting to share. There were no other kids at the castle to have adventures with. He wished he had some news he could tell his friends, something special he had done.
Then suddenly the ship was right in front of them.
It
was fancy . . . and huge! The hull gleamed with gold, and the mast stretched up into the clouds. A pod of dolphins swam behind it.
The three friends swam closer. They could hear voices on the deck above them.
“I think we should tell him to give up the search,” they heard someone say.
“I agree. He still expects us to locate this precious thing, but we’ve been looking for years. We’ll never find it.”
“What was that about?” Emily asked after they dived back under the water.
“Maybe they’re pirates!” Shona said, her eyes wide.
“Or smugglers,” Aaron added.
“Or just plain thieves,” Emily finished.
“Come on, let’s get back to the castle,” Aaron said. He wasn’t excited about their dinner guests now. He was worried.
“Meet us in the pool after dinner,” Emily said, “so you can tell us all about them!”
CHAPTER THREE Dinnertime After the ship docked, the crew came ashore to the castle. They greeted Aaron’s mother.
Then one of the men came over to Aaron.
“That’s a nice necklace you have there,” the man said to Aaron.
He was pointing to the silver chain around Aaron’s neck. It had a pendant shaped like a big fork with three prongs.
“It was his father’s,” Aaron’s mom said sadly. “He wore it every day.”
“It’s a very unusual pendant,” the man said. “May I show it to some of my shipmates?”
“Aaron, take it off so they can have a good look at it,” his mom said.
Aaron took the necklace off and gave it to the man, who walked back to the rest of the crew. They looked at the pendant, speaking in low voices.
Then someone announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served.”
Suddenly Aaron realized how hungry he was. He’d been too busy having fun with Emily and Shona to eat lunch!
When dinner was over and the crew had returned to their ship, Aaron went to meet Emily and Shona at the pool. Then he realized something terrible.
“What’s wrong?” Shona asked when she saw the look on his face.
Aaron pointed at his bare neck. “One of the men asked to see my necklace at dinner, but he never gave it back!”
Copyright © 2023 by Liz Kessler; Illustrated by Joanie Stone. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
