Aqua's Splash, page 1
The Pegasus Princesses series
Mist’s Maze
Aqua’s Splash
The Unicorn Princesses series
Sunbeam’s Shine
Flash’s Dash
Bloom’s Ball
Prism’s Paint
Breeze’s Blast
Moon’s Dance
Firefly’s Glow
Feather’s Flight
The Moonbeams
The Wing Spell
For Phoenix and Lynx
Contents
Pegasus Princesses Aqua’s Splash
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
About the Author
Pegasus
Princesses
AQUA’S SPLASH
On a warm Saturday morning, Clara Griffin slid on her belly across her blue living-room carpet, paddling with her arms. Her black hair was in a tight ponytail. She wore pink goggles, a pair of teal flippers, and her favorite bathing suit—lime green with a ruffle and a shiny picture of a violet mermaid on the front. Clara pinched her nose—just the way she did when she jumped into a swimming pool—and did two somersaults. She pulled a large hardcover book off the coffee table and held it out in front of her like a kickboard. Then she kicked and pretended to blow bubbles.
Clara’s younger sister, Miranda, lay nearby on their family’s yellow corduroy living room couch and looked at an animal encyclopedia. She turned a page, stared for a few seconds at the photographs, and raised her eyebrows. “What in the world are these weird-looking animals?” she whispered. “M-m-m-” she began, trying to sound out a word at the top of the page. Then she looked at Clara. “Will you please read this to me?”
Clara lifted her head and pretended to gasp for breath. “I’ll read it to you as soon as it’s adult swim,” she said. Adult swim was Clara and Miranda’s least favorite time at their neighborhood pool because all the kids had to get out of the water for fifteen minutes. Clara kicked for a few more seconds. She made a loud, high-pitched noise meant to sound like a lifeguard’s whistle. And then she paddled over to the couch.
Clara hoisted herself up onto the cushions and sat next to her sister. She took off her flippers and goggles. She pretended to wrap herself in a towel. And then she looked down at the encyclopedia.
“Those animals are called moles,” Clara said, reading the word at the top of the page. For a few seconds, she and Miranda studied the photographs of mouse-sized creatures with gray fur, pink noses, stubby tails, small squinty eyes, and giant front paws that looked like pink flippers.
“What does it say about them?” Miranda asked.
Clara read out loud: “Moles live mostly underground. They use their large front paws to dig tunnels. While many people believe moles are blind, it turns out that’s a myth. Moles can’t see color, and it’s true they can’t see very well. But they can see light and movement.”
“Thanks,” Miranda said, sitting up and grabbing her sketch pad and pencil case from the coffee table.
“No problem,” Clara said.
Miranda opened her pencil case and paused. “I think I’ve made a plan for the morning,” she said. “First I’m going to sketch a mole. After that I’m going to practice my ukulele. Next I’m going to reorganize my sock drawer. And then I’m going to pack up my swimming bag for when we go to the pool later. If I have time, I might also do the math flashcards I made for myself.”
Clara thought about what to do next. She felt finished with pretending to swim. She wasn’t in the mood for drawing realistic pictures or practicing the ukulele. She had no plans to ever reorganize her sock drawer. She had already packed her swimming bag. And even though she liked math, she hated flashcards. She glanced down at the photographs of the moles and smiled at their huge, flipper-like paws. The paws were so large and strange that moles looked to Clara like they ought to be magical creatures. And then Clara had an idea. She leaped off the couch. She twirled in a circle and hopped from one foot to the other with excitement.
“Let me guess,” Miranda said. “Did you just have an idea for a creative project?”
“Yes!” Clara sang out. “I’m going to make a family of magic, flying moles. Then I’m going to build a magic tunnel world under my bed out of old paper towel tubes. I’ll call it the Mole Realm! And I’m going to do it right now so it will be finished by the time we go to the pool.”
“That sounds really neat,” Miranda said. “Have fun making the Mole Realm. I’d love to see it when you’re finished.”
Clara galloped across the living room, bounded up the stairs two at a time, skipped down the hallway, and burst into her bedroom.
The first thing Clara needed was the modeling clay her grandparents had given her on their last visit. She raced over to her desk and opened the bottom drawer. Underneath five rocks she had found on a hike, sea shells from her last trip to the beach, a few interesting twigs, acorns she had painted gold, a pinecone, and a long strand of braided yarn, Clara found a package of peach-colored modeling clay still in its plastic wrapper.
She sat down on her bed and opened the modeling clay. She began to sculpt a family of magic moles with giant flipper-paws, fairy wings, and unicorn horns. As she paused to consider adding triangular stegosaurus spikes to the moles’ backs, she heard a humming noise. At first, Clara ignored the sound, thinking it was Miranda practicing her ukulele. But as the humming grew louder and louder, Clara realized it wasn’t coming from the living room, or even Miranda’s room down the hall. Instead, it was coming from under her bed!
Clara slid onto the floor. She reached under her bed and pulled out a shoebox she had decorated with paint and sequins. She opened the box, and inside it was just one item: a large silver feather.
Glittery light shot up and down the feather’s spine as it hummed louder and louder.
Clara grinned from ear to ear. The feather had been a gift from the pegasus princesses—eight royal pegasus sisters who ruled over the Wing Realm, a magical world where all the creatures had wings. Just a few days before, Clara had visited the Wing Realm for the first time. There she had made friends with silver Princess Mist, teal Princess Aqua, white Princess Snow, green Princess Stitch, pink Princess Rosie, peach Princess Flip, black Princess Star, and lavender Princess Dash.
Clara had learned that each princess had a unique power: Mist could turn invisible; Aqua could breathe underwater and make magic bubbles; Snow could freeze water and create winter weather; Stitch could use magic to sew, knit, weave, and crochet almost anything; Rosie, whose real name was Rosetta, could speak and understand any language; Flip could do a magical somersault that would turn her into any animal; Star had extraordinary senses of sight, smell, taste, and hearing; and Dash could instantly transport herself anywhere in the Wing Realm. Each pegasus princess had a special, magical tiara with a gemstone design that matched her powers. The pegasus princesses lived with their pet cat, Lucinda, in Feather Palace, a giant silver castle that hovered in the sky above a forest.
At the end of Clara’s visit to the Wing Realm, the pegasus princesses had told her she could use the silver feather to come visit them again any time. All she had to do was run, holding the feather, into the woods surrounding her family’s house. Then a light-green armchair with wings would appear and take her to Feather Palace. Mist had also told Clara that if the pegasus princesses ever wanted to invite her to the Wing Realm for a special occasion, they would make the feather shimmer and hum—just the way it was shimmering and humming right then!
Clara couldn’t wait to visit the Wing Realm and the pegasus princesses again. She picked up the feather, stood up, and raced to her bedroom door. But before she could open it, she looked down and realized she was still wearing her bathing suit. Clara scanned the floor of her bedroom for clothes she could quickly put on. Amid piles of crayons, building toys, books, and stuffed animals, Clara found a crumpled pair of pink pants and a rolled-up turquoise T-shirt she had been using as a pillow for her stuffed alligator. She pulled on the pants and T-shirt over her bathing suit. She pushed her feet, without socks, into her lime-green canvas sneakers. And then she put the feather in her back pocket.
Clara raced out of her room, down the hall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, where her father was humming along to music as he cut a head of broccoli into florets. “I’m going outside to play in the woods. I’ll be back soon,” Clara said. Time in the human world froze while she visited the Wing Realm, meaning that even if she was there for hours, her father would only think she had been gone for a few minutes.
“Sounds good,” her father said. “Just be back in time to go to the pool.” He whistled along with a trumpet solo and began to peel a carrot.
Clara pulled open the kitchen’s screen door and leaped outside. She hopped along the slate stepping-stones that led across her backyard and skipped into the forest. For a second, she paused and closed her eyes. She breathed in the smells of moss and pine needles and felt the warmth of the sun against her face and shoulders. Clara opened her eyes and grinned. She pulled the feather from her back pocket and, holding it gently in her hands, ran down a hill, jumped across a tiny creek, and sprinted to a small clearing near a giant pine tree.
As soon as Clara saw the clearing, a comet of glittery green light swirled above a bed of pine needles. The light flashed. And then, ten feet in front of Clara, there appeared a green velvet armchair with two silver-feathered wings on its back. The
The chair lurched forward. Its wings began to flap. Clara tightened her grip on the chair’s arms as it sailed into the air and landed on top of a tree. It leaped again and paused on the roof of Clara’s family’s house. And then, flapping its wings even more, it soared upward and began to spin, faster and faster. Everything went pitch black. And then the chair landed with a clatter on a tile floor.
The front hall of Feather Palace looked just the way Clara remembered it from her first visit. Gauzy curtains fluttered in the breeze over feather-shaped windows. Portraits of the eight pegasus princesses and Lucinda hung on magenta walls. Light danced and glittered on the shiny black marble floors. On stone pedestals, pegasus statues reared up, wings outstretched. Pegasus fountains spouted rainbow water. Eight empty thrones—each with a color and design that matched one of the pegasus princesses—were arranged in a horseshoe shape in the center of the room. Clara grinned when she saw that Lucinda’s small silver sofa, with its back shaped like a cat head, was pushed right next to Aqua’s teal throne.
At first Clara thought she was alone in the front hall. But then she heard a voice above her call out, “At the count of three, start kicking.” Clara looked up. Just below the front hall’s vaulted ceiling, all eight pegasus princesses were flying in a giant circle. They were all wearing large teal flippers strapped to their hooves. And they were so immersed in their swimming lesson they didn’t notice Clara had arrived.
Aqua swished her tail and said, “One. Two. Three. Kick!”
The pegasus princesses began to kick their front and back legs as they flew.
“Those kicks look great,” Aqua said. “Now, start paddling with your wings like this.” She swept her wings from front to back.
Mist, Stitch, Rosie, Star, and Dash all began to paddle their wings as they kicked. But Snow jabbed a flipper into her wing, stopped kicking, and then flew sideways as she tried to paddle. Flip swept her wings from back to front and bolted backward, flailing her legs in every direction. After a few seconds, Flip and Snow crashed into each other.
“Oops! Sorry!” Flip said to Snow.
“That was at least half my fault,” Snow said, sighing. “I’m sorry too.”
Flip groaned in frustration. “Every time I try to paddle, it’s a disaster,” she said.
Snow shook her head and snorted. “I feel so frustrated,” she said. “I need to take a break from this swimming lesson.”
“Wait!” Aqua called out, hurrying over to Flip and Snow. “You can’t give up now. I know you can learn to swim. You just need to keep trying.”
Flip and Snow glared at Aqua.
“I’m trying my hardest,” Snow said. “Right now, it’s just not working.”
“I’m trying my hardest too,” Flip said. “And I’m getting so frustrated that I need to do something else for a little while. Otherwise, I feel like I might explode!”
Aqua’s face looked panicked. “I know you’re both trying your hardest. And I really appreciate it. But you can’t quit now. The Merthday Splash is this afternoon. If you can’t swim by the time the celebration begins, the whole thing will be ruined,” she said. “Could you please try again? I really think you’ve almost got it.”
Flip groaned and flared her nostrils. “I promise I will keep trying,” she said. “But not right now.”
Snow nodded. “I’m willing to try swimming one more time before the Merthday Splash,” she said. “But first I’m taking a break with Flip.”
Aqua bit her lip and flattened her ears with worry as Flip and Snow dived down to their thrones. They snorted and frowned as they pushed off their flippers and shoved them onto the floor. And then, as they looked back up at each other, they both noticed Clara sitting in the green armchair opposite them. Flip and Snow’s eyes widened in surprise. Their frowns turned into enormous grins. And then they both leaped off their thrones and galloped over to Clara.
“Clara is here!” Flip called out.
“We’re so happy to see you,” Snow said, trotting in an excited circle around Clara’s chair. “Welcome back to Feather Palace.”
“I’m very happy to see you too,” Clara said, laughing.
Mist, Aqua, Stitch, Rosie, Star, and Dash all looked down from just below the ceiling. They grinned and whinnied with delight. And then they swooped down, landed in a circle around Clara, and pushed off their flippers.
“I’m thrilled you’re here,” Aqua said, flapping her wings with excitement. “You’ve arrived just in time.”
“We were hoping you would be able to come,” Star gushed.
“I was crossing my hooves you’d be able to join us,” Stitch said.
“Welcome back, human friend,” Mist said with twinkling eyes.
Dash and Rosie swished their tales and reared up.
“I’m so glad to be here,” Clara said. “Thank you for inviting me back to the Wing Realm.”
“I can’t wait to tell you what we’re doing today,” Aqua gushed, twirling in a circle on one of her rear hooves. “It’s going to be amazing and perfect! I’ve helped to organize the first ever Merthday Splash. It will be a special celebration for the baby merfairies, who will hatch this afternoon. I’ve spent weeks making plans with the merfairies and teaching my sisters to swim so we can all dive into the merfairies’ new hatching pond together. Will you join us?”
“I would love to,” Clara said, standing up and jumping with excitement. “But I do have one question. What is a merfairy?”
Aqua’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You don’t have merfairies in Gardenview, New Jersey?” Gardenview, New Jersey, was the name of the town where Clara’s family lived.
“We have pet canaries and libraries in Gardenview. But we definitely don’t have merfairies,” she said.
The pegasus princesses’ eyes widened in surprise. “The human world must be such a strange place,” Rosie whispered.
“I can’t even imagine it,” Dash whispered back.
“Well,” Aqua said, “a merfairy is a magical creature that’s half fairy and half fish. They’re kind of like mermaids, but they’re smaller and have wings. Every year, the baby merfairies hatch inside the merfairies’ underwater castle, and we have never been able to watch. But this year will be different and extra special. The merfairies dug a special hatching pool on Heart Island in the Sky Sea so my sisters and I can watch the eggs hatch and hold the first ever Merthday Splash.”
“That sounds amazing,” Clara said.
“I’m so glad you can join us,” Aqua said. “I was thinking I’d leave for the Sky Sea in just a few minutes. I spent all morning painting decorations for the Merthday Splash, and I want to make sure they’re perfectly arranged around the hatching pool. Would you like to come help me?”
“I’d love to,” Clara said.
Just then a voice purred, “Wait! Don’t go quite yet!”
Clara smiled and turned around to see Lucinda flying into the front hall. She flapped her silver-feathered wings as she soared in a circle around a chandelier. She did two somersaults in the air. And she then landed right on Clara’s head. Clara giggled as the cat swished her soft silver tail across Clara’s face and batted Clara’s ponytail with her front paws.
“Will you please, please, please play a guessing game with me before you go to Heart Island with Aqua?” Lucinda asked.
“Of course,” Clara said.
“How about if I guess how old you are in three guesses?” Lucinda asked.
“Okay,” Clara said.
Lucinda jumped off Clara’s head and hovered right in front of Clara’s face. The cat touched her cool, wet nose to Clara’s, and Clara smiled as Lucinda’s whiskers tickled her cheeks. “My first guess,” Lucinda said slowly, “is 119.”
Clara shook her head.
“Rats!” Lucinda said. “Am I close?”
“Well,” Clara said. “Not really.”
“Hmm,” Lucinda said. She fluttered her wings and turned upside down in the air. “In that case, my next guess is 643.”
