Aqua's Splash, page 4
Clara gasped in wonder and delight as cracks began to form in the eggs. The cracks grew bigger and bigger. Tiny fins and arms began to poke from the eggs. Soon, six bald merfairy heads popped out from the shells. And then they pushed all the way out of the eggs and swam up to Mira, Myrna, and Moira.
“Mama?” said a baby merfairy with a green tail and blue skin said.
“Goo! Goo!” said a baby merfairy with an indigo tail and orange skin said.
“Gah! Gah!” said a baby merfairy with a red tail and violet skin said.
Moira, Mira, and Myrna all laughed and stopped playing their shellophones. They beamed with joy.
“Welcome to the world, little merfairies,” Mira said.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” Myrna said.
Moira looked at Clara and the pegasus princesses. “Thank you so much for coming to the first Merthday Splash,” she said. “It has meant so much to us for you to be here.”
Myrna nodded. “Now it’s time for us to take the babies back to Kelp Castle. We built an entire nursery for them. There are seaweed hammocks for them to sleep in and all kinds of rattles and toys we made from shells and seaweed.”
“Thank you for including us in such a special occasion,” Aqua said.
Clara, the pegasus princesses, and the merfairies all smiled at each other.
Then Myrna said, “This way, little merfairies!” She, Moira, and Mira swam upward. Clara giggled as the baby merfairies watched for a moment and then swam in a perfect line after their mothers.
Aqua, Stitch, Rosie, Flip, Snow, Star, Dash, Mist, and Clara smiled at each other for a few seconds. “That was amazing,” Dash said.
“I hope we can do this every year,” Snow said.
“Maybe we’ll even have learned how to swim by then,” Flip said.
“But if you haven’t, it’s completely okay,” Aqua said.
Clara and the eight pegasus princesses swam to the top of the hatching pool. When they had all climbed out onto the sand, the water droplet design on Aqua’s tiara sparkled, and all the bubbles disappeared.
“After all that excitement, I think it’s time for some sunbathing,” Mist said.
“And there’s no better place for rolling around in the sand than Heart Island,” Flip said, nodding.
Snow laughed and began to roll around in the sand. Dash, Star, and Mist quickly followed.
Clara giggled as she watched her pegasus friends. And then she felt her stomach rumbling. She was ready for lunch. And she also felt ready to finish making the Mole Realm under her bed and go to the pool with Miranda and her father.
“I wish I could join you for an afternoon of sunbathing,” Clara said, “but I think it’s time for me to go back to the human world.”
Aqua smiled at Clara. “No problem at all,” she said. “I’ll take you back to the beach to get your clothes and your magic feather.”
“Thank you,” Clara said. She glanced over at Lucinda, who was still sleeping. She smiled at the cat, skipped over to her, and whispered, “Goodbye. I’ll see you very soon,” into her ear.
Lucinda purred, opened one eye, smiled at Clara, and then rolled onto her side and let out a loud snore. Clara giggled and skipped over to Aqua.
Aqua kneeled, and Clara climbed onto her back.
“Goodbye!” Stitch said. “Please come back soon!”
“We’ll invite you back as soon as possible,” Star said, winking at Clara.
“Thank you for all your help,” Flip said.
Snow nodded. “Your creative solution saved the Merthday Splash. Thank you so very much,” she said.
“It was my pleasure to spend the day with you,” Clara said. “Thank you for having me!”
As Clara waved, Aqua flapped her wings and lifted up into the sky.
Aqua soared above the Sky Sea and flew back to the beach. She landed on the sand dune next to Clara’s clothes and shoes. Clara pulled her turquoise T-shirt over her head and slid her legs into her pink pants. She pushed her feet into her shoes. And then she fished the magic silver feather from her back pocket.
She looked over at Aqua. “Thank you again for including me in the Merthday Splash,” she said.
“And thank you so much for coming,” Aqua said. “You saved the day!”
Clara held the feather in both hands. “Take me home, please,” she said.
Clara felt the feather whisk her up into the air. She began to spin as she rose upward higher and higher.
Everything went pitch black, and then Clara found herself sitting in a patch of moss in the woods near her house. For a moment, she sat and smiled. She stood up and pushed the feather into the back pocket of her pants. And that’s when she noticed something else was in her pocket. She pushed her hand in and pulled out a necklace. The chain was made of woven seaweed. And hanging on it was a sparkling pink-and-teal-striped shell. Clara smiled. She tied the necklace around her neck. And then she skipped home, ready to eat lunch, make mole tunnels, and swim with her sister.
Don’t miss the first
high-flying adventure!
Turn the page for
a peek . . .
In the library of Feather Palace, Princess Mist, a silver pegasus, flew slowly along the top shelf of books. Right behind her, Lucinda, a silver cat with wings, purred and practiced doing somersaults in the air.
“Where could it be?” Mist asked, hovering for a few seconds in front of a shelf and then gliding forward to the next row of books. “This is where we keep the magic cookbooks. But I don’t see it anywhere.”
Lucinda twitched her tail. “How about if we play a guessing game while you’re looking?” she asked. Then she flipped upside down and, with her paws sticking up toward the ceiling, flew in figure eights around Mist’s hooves.
Mist laughed. “I promise I’ll play a guessing game with you after I find this book. I’ve been wanting to host a cloud maze party for my sisters for months. But I can only do it if I know how to make—” Mist’s eyes widened as she read the title Magic Maze Potions on the spine of a thick red book. “Here it is!” Mist exclaimed. “Finally!” With her mouth, she pulled the book off the shelf.
Mist flew in an excited circle around a chandelier. She did a flip in the air. And then she swooped down to the floor and placed the book on a wooden desk next to a wing-shaped reading lamp with a rainbow flame. A second later, Lucinda landed with a thud on the desktop, right next to the book.
“Now can we play a guessing game?” Lucinda asked, looking up at Mist with large green eyes. “Please?”
“I promise we’ll play one,” Mist said. “But let’s look up the recipe first.”
Lucinda frowned with disappointment.
“How about if you help me turn the pages?” Mist asked, smiling at the cat.
Lucinda purred with delight and swished her tail. Then she used her paw to flip the book open to the table of contents. Mist and Lucinda leaned over the page. Mist began to read the names of the maze potions out loud: “Swirling Rainbow Maze Potion, page 3. Yodeling Corn Maze Potion, page 4. Underwater Coral Reef Maze Potion, page 5. Glowing Yarn Maze Potion, page 6. Blooming Flower Maze Potion, page 7. Glitter Garden Maze Potion, page 8.” Then her eyes widened and she grinned. “Giant Floating Cloud Maze Party Potion, page 9,” she read, flapping her wings with excitement.
Emily Bliss, also the author of the Unicorn Princesses series, lives with her winged cat in a house surrounded by woods. From her living room window, she can see silver feathers and green flying armchairs. Like Clara Griffin, she knows pegasuses are real.
Sydney Hanson was raised in Minnesota alongside numerous pets and brothers. She is the illustrator of the Unicorn Princesses series and the picture books Next to You, Escargot, and A Book for Escargot, among many others. Sydney lives in Los Angeles.
www.sydwiki.tumblr.com
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First published in the United States of America in September 2021 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
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Text copyright © 2021 by Emily Bliss
Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Sydney Hanson
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ISBN 978-1-5476-0684-9 (paperback) • ISBN 978-1-5476-0685-6 (hardcover)
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Emily Bliss, Aqua's Splash
