The Floating Forest Read online

  To Ruth and Mattie, thank you for all your wonderful ideas and brilliant editing – LC

  To my mom – MO

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Welcome to Mermaid’s Rock!

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Facts

  Jokes

  Extract

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Copyright

  Coralie stared at the magic whirlpool as it swirled round the base of Mermaids Rock – a huge, submerged rock shaped like a mermaid’s tail that jutted up from the seabed. “Kai’s been gone ages,” she said to the two mergirls swimming beside her. “I wonder where he is.”

  Naya looked anxious. “I hope he hasn’t got into trouble.” Octavia, Naya’s pet octopus, hid her face behind her arms at the thought.

  “He’s probably ended up somewhere really fun,” said Marina confidently. “I bet he’ll be back soon.”

  Coralie pushed her wavy dark-red hair back from her face. She hoped Marina was right.

  Mermaids Rock marked the entrance to the merpeople’s shallow-water coral reef, and the magic whirlpool could transport them to any ocean in the world. Usually, there were merguards near it, watching the ocean beyond Mermaids Rock for anything that might threaten the reef. However, the water was very calm at the moment, and there had been no report of any dangerous creatures, so the guards were only stopping by every few hours.

  Seeing that the rock was unguarded, Coralie had decided it would be really fun if she and her friends dared each other to dive into the whirlpool without saying a destination and see where they ended up. They had waited until the guards had done their early-afternoon check and then the game had begun!

  Marina had gone first and had been transported to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, swimming with giant manta rays. Naya had plunged in next and found herself among a school of playful porpoises off the coast of Norway. Then it had been Kai’s turn.

  Coralie’s pet dolphin, Dash, clicked his tongue and swam closer to the whirlpool. The water was starting to swirl faster, turning into frothy white foam.

  “This could be Kai coming back now,” said Marina, excited.

  “It is!” gasped Coralie as a merboy with thick black hair and a red tail shot out of the magical whirlpool, closely followed by a large hawksbill turtle. The two of them catapulted up through the water. Kai turned a somersault and dived back down to meet them with Tommy close behind him.

  “You’re back!” said Naya, hugging Kai in relief. “We were getting worried.”

  Kai grinned. “Sorry – I lost track of time.”

  “I said you’d just be having too much fun,” said Marina. “Where did you end up?”

  “In the Bering Sea. It was freezing but we saw a young polar bear!” said Kai. “It was following a seal and at first I thought it might chase us, but it didn’t. It came over and let me pat it. Then we went swimming with it until we got too cold and came back.”

  “Oh wow!” breathed Marina, Coralie and Naya. All four of them loved animals and they had formed a group called the Save the Sea Creatures Club to help any animals that were in trouble.

  Coralie chuckled. “Sounds like you had a beary good time, Kai.”

  Her friends groaned and Octavia clapped her arms over her ears.

  “What?” Coralie innocently. “Are you trying to tell me you can’t bear my jokes?”

  She ducked as the others grabbed handfuls of seaweed and threw them at her. Dash whistled as if he was laughing. Coralie giggled. “Come on, Dash. It’s our turn to go into the whirlpool now.” Her tummy fizzed with excitement. Where would they end up? It could be anywhere in the world!

  “Have fun!” called Marina.

  “But don’t be longer than ten minutes or we’ll come after you,” warned Naya.

  Coralie adjusted her seaweed satchel that she wore across her body and plunged into the whirlpool with Dash beside her. It was like diving into a rainbow! Bright colours flashed around them. They spun round and round until Coralie started to feel dizzy. Then the colours cleared and she saw that she was in a bluey-green world with strange floating trees that seemed to be made out of seaweed. The seaweed was growing up from the rocks on the ocean floor, the strands of it twisting together to form thick, flexible trunks, topped near the surface by canopies of ribbon-like fronds that waved in the current. Shafts of sunlight shone down through the water, illuminating the turquoise depths. It felt serene and peaceful – a safe, hidden world.

  “I wonder where we are,” Coralie said to Dash. She’d never been anywhere like this strange, beautiful forest and the water felt much colder than she was used to. She jumped as she suddenly spotted two sleek grey seals.

  “Dash, look!” she said. Seals didn’t live on the warm tropical reef where the merpeople had their home. The seals stared curiously at Dash and Coralie before moving on.

  There was another flurry of movement from above and a little brown sea otter came swimming down from the surface. He plucked a spiny purple sea urchin from the rocks on the bottom with his paws, gave them a cheeky wink and then swam back up.

  “This place is awesome!” Coralie said to Dash. “Let’s explore.” A small whirlpool was swirling just a few tail‑lengths away from her. “We must remember where this whirlpool is though,” she told Dash. “It’s our way home. You’ll have to help me get back here!”

  Dash nodded. Like all dolphins, he was very good at remembering things and he never got lost. “Come on then!” said Coralie playfully. Flicking her purple tail fin, she set off through the trees. They swam over a bed of pink sea urchins and passed two lobsters having a fight on a rock. A dark grey bat ray, with flat, wide wings and a long, thin tail, was swimming along the bottom, digging in the patches of sand for krill. Then she spotted a mottled brown moray eel hiding in a crack between two boulders, its pale eyes gleaming.

  As Coralie swam over to get a better look, she saw something shiny half buried in some kelp fronds. Diving down, she realized it was a bottle and she pulled it out. It looked old – its sides were dull and pitted with marks, and a cork was plugged firmly into its neck. There was a rolled-up piece of paper inside which seemed to have writing and drawings on it. “There’s a message in here, Dash,” she said curiously. “I wonder what it says.”

  Dash peered over her shoulder.

  Coralie tried to get the cork out, but it was wedged in really tightly. Glancing around to see if she could find a sharp razor-clam shell to help her get it out, she caught sight of a young sea lion peeping at her from behind a rock. It was so cute that she gave up on opening the bottle and stuffed it into her satchel instead. “A sea lion!” she exclaimed, pointing. “Over there, Dash!”

  The young sea lion was dark brown with paler circles round its huge eyes. The long whiskers on its muzzle trembled inquisitively as it watched them. “Hey there,” Coralie called softly, holding out her hand. “Come and say hello. I won’t hurt you.” She wished she was like her younger cousin, Luna, who had an amazing knack with sea creatures. They all instantly loved her and would come straight to her.

  Dash whistled a greeting and the sea lion edged out from behind the rock. It nudged Dash with its nose, then shot backwards as if shocked by its own bravery and hid behind the rock again. Coralie giggled.

  Her laughter seemed to relax the youngster. He made a barking noise before swimming out. When Dash gently nuzzled him, he raced away in excitement, gliding in a circle
round them.

  “You’re gorgeous,” Coralie said.

  The sea lion rubbed his head against her hand, making a clicking noise with his tongue a bit like Dash sometimes did.

  Dash looked back the way they had come, flapped his flippers and chattered his teeth anxiously.

  “You’re right,” Coralie said to him. “The others will be worried if we stay here much longer. We should probably go back now.”

  She said a reluctant goodbye to the young sea lion, who disappeared into the seaweed trees, then she followed Dash to the whirlpool. “Mermaids Rock!” she called as they dived in. She couldn’t wait to tell the others about the completely fin-credible things she had seen!

  Coralie shot out of the whirlpool. She turned head over tail and swam down to where the others were waiting impatiently. “Where did you go?” Naya asked eagerly.

  Coralie’s green eyes shone. “I went to the best place. I’ve no idea where it was, but it was some kind of underwater forest. The water was quite cold and there were these trees made of seaweed.”

  Marina plucked something from Coralie’s thick, wavy hair. “Were they made of this type of seaweed?” she said, holding up the frond.

  “Yes, do you know what it is?” Coralie asked. Marina’s dad was a marine scientist and she had travelled to lots of different places with him before they had come to live at Mermaids Rock a month ago.

  Marina nodded. “It’s called kelp and it grows in cool, shallow water near coastlines. The trees in a kelp forest are not like the ones on land because they don’t have roots. It’s so cool – the kelp sticks itself to rocks and then grows upwards!”

  “I’ve read about kelp forests,” said Naya, looking animated. She loved anything to do with science. “They’re important ecosystems. All sorts of fish and sea creatures live in them and marine mammals like seals and whales take their youngsters there to shelter from dangerous predators and storms.” She took the frond from Marina. “Sea kelp can be used for lots of things because it’s very rich in nutrients.”

  “The best thing about the forest was all the creatures. We saw seals, an otter and the cutest sea lion pup,” said Coralie. “It was completely krill-iant, wasn’t it, Dash?”

  He whistled his agreement and clapped his front flippers.

  “I want to go!” said Marina. “Maybe we should ask the whirlpool to take us there.”

  “Ooh yes!” Naya gasped. “I’d really like to collect some kelp so I can do some experiments with it.”

  “I want to see sea lions, seals and otters,” said Kai. “And an underwater forest!”

  Tommy swam up and shook his head.

  Kai sighed. “Tommy’s right. There probably isn’t enough time now. The guards will be back for the late-afternoon inspection soon and my mum’s expecting us home for tea.”

  “How about we go tomorrow?” suggested Coralie.

  “Definitely!” said Marina.

  “We can ask our parents for packed lunches and have a picnic. Let’s tell them we’re going out exploring for the day,” said Coralie. “Hopefully they won’t ask where!”

  “We should see if Luna wants to come too,” said Naya, nodding eagerly. Coralie’s younger cousin Luna was also part of their club. She had been helping her mum at the Marine Sanctuary that day, where she could use her special skills with animals to keep them calm and make them feel better. Being younger than the others, Luna wasn’t allowed to do quite as much as they were, but they tried to include her whenever they could.

  “Good plan,” said Marina. “She’ll love the creatures in the forest.”

  “And they’ll love her.” Coralie grinned.

  As they swam back to Kai’s cave, gliding past the banks of colourful coral and massive orange-and-purple sea fans, Coralie remembered something. “Hey! Look what else I found while I was there.” She pulled the bottle out of her satchel.

  Kai took the bottle, tilting it this way and that. “It looks like there’s a message written on the paper.”

  “I tried to read it but the cork’s stuck,” said Coralie.

  “It could be instructions for something,” Naya suggested.

  “Or a secret,” Kai gasped. “Maybe a note in code written by a pirate from long ago!”

  Marina’s eyes shone. “This could be the start of a brand-new adventure!”

  “I hope so,” said Coralie. “Our last adventure was totally fin-tastic!”

  A few weeks ago, something mysterious had been destroying the deep-water reef. Chief Razeem, the head of the merguards, had thought it was whale sharks and had sent the guards to chase them away, but Marina hadn’t been so sure. She and the others had finally solved the mystery, saved the day and had also managed to help rescue a very rare sea creature at the same time!

  Kai flicked his tail in excitement. “As soon as we get back to mine, I vote we get the cork out and see what the message says!”

  The reef where the merpeople lived was in a remote part of the ocean that humans never visited. It stretched for miles – a beautiful underwater world of rainbow-coloured coral, waving, flower-like anemones, delicate sea fans and tall, bright sea sponges. The merpeople lived in coral caves, sharing the reef with thousands of fish and a host of other friendly sea creatures like turtles, dolphins and manatees.

  Shoals of brightly coloured blue-and-yellow fish whizzed past Coralie and her friends in the turquoise water. Orange crabs scuttled across the sandy floor and tiny, shrimp-like krill bobbed around in the seaweed, trying to avoid being eaten by bigger creatures.

  The gang stopped at Coralie’s aunt and uncle’s cave to pick up Luna who was coming to Kai’s for tea, along with her manatee, Melly. Melly had a round grey body, a friendly smile and widely spaced dark eyes that twinkled with kindness. She was the largest of all the pets but she was also the gentlest.

  As they swam to the cave where Kai lived with his mum, Indra, Coralie told Luna everything that had happened.

  “The kelp forest sounds awesome!” Luna said longingly. “I wish I could have seen all of those amazing creatures!”

  “You can come with us tomorrow if you want,” said Coralie.

  “I’ll ask Mum and Dad tonight!” Luna said as they reached Kai’s cave.

  “OK, but don’t say we’re playing in the whirlpool,” warned Coralie. “If our parents find out, they’re bound to tell us we’re not allowed to. Just say we’re going out exploring.”

  Luna nodded, her eyes shining at the thought of so much fun.

  They reached Kai’s home. Like most of the caves where the merpeople lived, it had a large central living space with a pot of magical, flickering green mermaid fire in the middle. The merpeople used mermaid fire for cooking and for light, but also to make mermaid powder, a substance that could add magic to many things.

  There were two bedrooms leading off from the main cave – one for Kai’s mum and one that Kai and Tommy shared. A kitchen area was built into one wall of the cave with shelves of carefully stacked pots and plates and, in the main cave, there were six circular blue sponges to sit on around a low table. Kai’s mum’s weapons – two tridents and a harpoon – were locked away in a case made from a giant clamshell by the entrance.

  Kai’s mum was part of the merguards, a group of mermaids and mermen who protected the reef from dangerous predators like killer whales and great white sharks.

  “I was just wondering where you lot were,” Indra called from the kitchen as the friends swam in. She had shoulder-length black hair which she sometimes tied back neatly in a bun when she was working, but now she wore it loose. “What have you been up to?”

  “Oh, just this and that,” said Kai vaguely. “Playing games and looking at animals.”

  Luckily, his mum didn’t question them further. “Well, tea should be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

  “OK, we’ll go to my room until then,” said Kai.

  “Unless you need any help?” Marina offered politely.

  “No, everything’s under control, thanks
, Marina,” said Indra. “I saw your dad earlier by the way. He seems very excited about the coelacanth he’s been studying on the deep reef.”

  “Yes, coelacanth are really rare – he didn’t expect to find one so soon!” said Marina. She and the others had been responsible for discovering the coelacanth that her dad was studying. “She’s just laid some eggs. It’s incredible!”

  “I definitely want to swim out and see the babies when they hatch,” said Indra. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the deep reef became a breeding ground for them?”

  “That would be foam-azing!” said Naya.

  They swam to Kai’s bedroom and Coralie took the mysterious bottle out of her seaweed satchel. “Right. How do we get this cork out?”

  “Maybe we could use something to push it down inside the bottle,” said Marina.

  “But then the cork might block the paper,” Naya pointed out. She studied the cork. “What we need is a screw, a screwdriver and a hammer. Has your mum got a toolkit, Kai?”

  He nodded. “I’ll get it.”

  He returned a few minutes later with a box full of tools. They watched as Naya used the screwdriver to put a screw into the centre of the cork. When there was just a little bit of the screw still poking up, she hooked the claw of the hammer round it and pulled hard. The cork popped out. “There we go!” said Naya, handing the bottle to Coralie.

  Coralie tipped the bottle upside down and shook it vigorously, but the roll of paper was too wide to fit through the neck of the bottle. “It won’t come out!” she complained.

  Naya grinned. “You’re so impatient! Give it to me.” She took some long-nosed, pointy pliers and used them to gently pull the piece of paper to the top of the bottle. Then she eased it out with her fingers, centimetre by centimetre. “Got it! Here we go!” She unrolled the paper and they gathered round, peering at it.