Purrmaids #3 Read online

  The Scaredy Cat

  The Catfish Club

  Seasick Sea Horse

  Coming Soon: Search for the Mermicorn

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2018 by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

  Cover art copyright © 2018 by Andrew Farley

  Interior illustrations copyright © 2018 by Vivien Wu

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  PURRMAIDS® is a registered trademark of KIKIDOODLE LLC and is used under license from KIKIDOODLE LLC.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Name: Bardhan-Quallen, Sudipta, author.

  Title: Seasick sea horse / Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen ; illustrated by Vivien Wu.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Random House, [2018] | Series: Purrmaids ; 3 | “A Stepping Stones Book.”

  Summary: Purrmaid Shelly is taking care of sea horse and new class pet, Bubbles, who looks mysteriously unwell; luckily Shelly and her two best friends discover how to perk Bubbles up, and in the process learn why some animals are not meant to be pets.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017010202 | ISBN 978-1-5247-0167-3 (trade pbk.) | ISBN 978-1-5247-0168-0 (lib. bdg.) | ISBN 978-1-5247-0169-7 (ebook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Mermaids—Fiction. | Cats—Fiction. | Sea horses—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.B25007 Se 2018 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  Ebook ISBN 9781524701697

  This book has been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level GradientTM Leveling System.

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Other Titles

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Excerpt from Purrmaids #4: Search for the Mermicorn

  To Heisenberg, Who, and Ralf

  Shelly stared at herself in the mirror. She was alone in the bedroom she shared with her older sisters, Tempest and Gale. That almost never happened, so Shelly was enjoying it.

  Mom poked her head into the room. “Are you ready?” she asked. “Your sisters are still out with Dad. If you hurry, we can eat breakfast together!”

  “I’m trying,” Shelly replied.

  “Hurry up,” Mom said.

  Shelly grinned. With three kittens in the family, she was constantly sharing with her sisters. They shared a room. They shared toys. And they pretty much always had to share time with Mom and Dad. But today, Shelly had a chance to hang out with her mother with no other purrmaid around.

  Unfortunately, Shelly never got ready quickly. She was too picky about the way she looked. She liked having every strand of her white fur in place and every outfit purr-fectly planned. Today, she chose a golden top to go with her starfish clip and her favorite bracelet.

  When Shelly twirled her paw, the bracelet sparkled in the light. It always brought a smile to her face. It was beautiful, and it matched the ones her best friends, Angel and Coral, wore.

  The girls’ friendship bracelets had the same three charms: a golden seashell, a gold coin, and a lavender pearl. The pearls were the newest additions to their bracelets. They were gifts from the Catfish Club after they all worked on an art project together.

  The bracelets looked alike, but Shelly, Angel, and Coral were as different as purrmaids could be! Coral was an orange kitten. She was the careful one in their group. Shelly never had to worry about getting her paws too dirty when Coral was in charge. Angel was a black-and-white kitten. She liked to dive headfirst into every adventure. She was fine stretching a rule or two as long as that led to excitement or winning! Shelly liked some rules—but only if she was the one who made them! She didn’t always want to admit it, but Shelly liked getting her way. Together, the three of them made a paw-some team.

  When Shelly was finally ready, she heard dishes clinking. “I think I took too long,” she grumbled. When she swam into the kitchen, her sisters were already at the table. Tempest was sitting on one side of Mom, and Gale was on the other. “I wanted to be next to Mom!” Shelly whined.

  “I did, too,” Dad said. He gave Shelly a quick kiss on the forehead.

  Mom pointed to a spot by Gale. “There’s room for you there, Shelly,” she purred.

  Shelly scowled, but she moved next to her sister.

  Dad held up a plate of scrambled tuna eggs. “I made your favorite, Shelly,” he said. Both of Shelly’s parents were chefs, but Dad’s breakfasts were always fin-tastic. Shelly heard her tummy rumbling. She couldn’t wait to eat!

  Dad handed the plate to Tempest. She took a big helping of eggs. Mom only scooped a little bit onto her plate. But after Gale took her share, there was hardly any left! “The plate is almost empty,” Shelly complained. “You guys took it all!”

  “Come on, sis,” Gale said. “We weren’t taking. You were sharing!”

  “And like Mom and Dad always say, sharing is caring!” Tempest laughed.

  Shelly sighed. She loved her family, but it was hard to have to share everything. It would be nice to have more things that are just mine, she thought.

  Shelly was still frowning as she swam to Leondra’s Square to meet Coral and Angel. But as soon as she saw them, her frown turned upside down. Her best friends always made everything better. “Hello!” she shouted.

  Coral spotted Shelly and yelled, “Come on! We’re going to be late!”

  Shelly laughed. Coral always worried about being on time. They went through the same routine every morning. Even though they’d never missed the school bell.

  “We’re not going to be late,” Shelly said. “Don’t worry.”

  “Let’s just hurry,” Coral answered.

  The girls raced toward sea school. Usually, they swam straight down Canal Street from Leondra’s Square to the school doors. But today, something made Shelly stop.

  “What are you doing?” Coral asked. “We can’t stop!”

  Shelly shushed her. “Look at that!” she hissed.

  There were two wonderful places on Canal Street. Kittentail Cove Library was on the north side of the street. A fenced-off garden of corals and sea grass called Meow Meadow was on the south side. Shelly pointed at something inside the garden.

  Purrmaids often went to Meow Meadow to enjoy the peace and quiet. But today, it was too noisy for anyone to relax. Some purrmaids were fixing the gazebo using planks of driftwood and panels of sea glass. They wore hats that said CASPIAN CONSTRUCTION. It was Mr. Caspian and his construction crew.

  Shelly w
asn’t looking at Mr. Caspian. She pointed to a purrmaid in the garden. Her rainbow fur was familiar.

  “It’s Ms. Harbor!” Angel shouted.

  The gold and silver rings in Ms. Harbor’s ears and tail glittered as she swam around. A long silver chain hung from one paw.

  “It looks like she’s searching for something,” Shelly said. “Let’s go see if we can do anything for her.”

  As the girls got closer to their teacher, Shelly spied a flash of something light brown hiding in a seaweed hedge.

  “What are you doing, Ms. Harbor?” Coral asked.

  Ms. Harbor spun around quickly. “Oh, girls,” she gasped. “You surprised me!”

  “We’re sorry,” Angel said. “We just came over to help.”

  Ms. Harbor smiled. “I could use some extra paws!” She pointed to the seaweed hedge. “I was trying to bring something special to class today,” she explained, “but he got away!”

  Shelly leaned in for a closer look. “It’s a sea horse!” she exclaimed.

  “He’s adorable,” Angel purred.

  “I found him this morning when I came to the garden to exercise,” Ms. Harbor explained. “He was all by himself, and he looked so cute! I made a collar out of an earring and turned one of my necklaces into a leash.” She held out the chain. “But as soon as I got the collar on him, he darted away. He’s been hiding in this seaweed ever since. What do you think would make him come out?”

  Since Shelly’s parents were chefs, she knew food could make things better. Maybe he’s hungry, she thought. She remembered that she had shrimp salad in her lunch bag.

  “If we’re lucky,” Shelly said, “sea horses like shrimp.” She slowly moved toward the sea horse and held out the shrimp salad. Then she hovered as still as she could.

  The sea horse poked his head out from his hiding place. He sniffed at the food. Then he swam to the shrimp salad and began to eat.

  “Quickly!” Shelly whispered. “The leash!”

  Ms. Harbor carefully attached the leash to the sea horse’s collar. “Paw-some job!” she declared. “Thank you, Shelly!”

  “Is he your pet?” Angel asked.

  Ms. Harbor grinned. “Actually, he is going to be our classroom pet.”

  “I’ve always wanted a pet!” Shelly exclaimed.

  “Well,” said Ms. Harbor, “now we all have a pet to share.” She paused and looked directly at Shelly. “I think Shelly has earned the right to host our pet on his first night with us!”

  Ms. Harbor led the way to sea school. Shelly grinned from ear to ear. A pet sea horse for me to take care of!

  “Ms. Harbor, can we help Shelly with the class pet?” Coral asked.

  “Well, that’s Shelly’s decision,” Ms. Harbor answered. “He’s her responsibility tonight.”

  Angel and Coral glanced at their friend. “You’ll let us, won’t you?” Angel begged.

  Shelly bit her lip. She really wanted the sea horse all to herself. But how could she say no to her best friends? “Of course,” she said slowly.

  Coral and Angel smiled and high-fived.

  The four purrmaids arrived outside room Eel-Twelve just as the bell rang. Ms. Harbor stopped the girls at the door. She handed Shelly the silver leash. “Hold this,” she said. “Wait here until my signal.”

  Ms. Harbor swam into the classroom. “Welcome, class!” she said. “I have something very special to share today!”

  “Is it a pop quiz?” Baker asked.

  “Or extra homework?” Taylor added.

  Shelly covered her mouth as she giggled. Baker and Taylor really loved schoolwork!

  Ms. Harbor laughed. “Not today! But I think you’ll like it anyway.” She waved to Shelly and her friends. Coral and Angel went in first. Shelly followed them, holding the sea horse’s leash. She led him to the center of the classroom.

  “A sea horse!” Umiko shouted. She was one of the purrmaids in the Catfish Club. Her friends Adrianna and Cascade were the other two girls. Sometimes Shelly and her friends had a hard time getting along with the Catfish Club. But usually, they were all friends.

  “Bring him closer!” Cascade said.

  Ms. Harbor nodded. Shelly led the sea horse up and down the aisles of the classroom.

  “He’s fin-tastic!” Adrianna purred.

  “You all know that the ocean is filled with many different creatures,” Ms. Harbor said. “Some creatures are harmless.” She pointed to the sea horse. “Like Bubbles. He’s very friendly.”

  “Awwww!” Angel said. “Bubbles is a great name!”

  Ms. Harbor smiled. “Other creatures in the sea can be very dangerous.”

  “And some creatures look dangerous but are actually friendly,” Coral added. “Like my pal Chomp the catshark!”

  “Exactly, Coral!” Ms. Harbor laughed. “It is important for purrmaids to learn how to treat the creatures we encounter in our ocean. We have a responsibility to learn how to live with all our underwater neighbors. To help with that, I thought it would be nice to get a class pet.”

  “A class pet!” Baker cheered.

  “That’s paw-some!” Taylor agreed.

  Ms. Harbor tied Bubbles’s leash to a lamp on her desk and began the lesson. “Many of the animals and plants that live on a coral reef depend on each other,” she explained. “Like the yellow tang and the green sea turtle.” She held up a picture of a bright yellow fish that Shelly recognized. “Yellow tangs hide in the safety of the reef and eat algae. If there isn’t enough food in the reef, they have to swim somewhere else to look for a meal. But then they could find themselves in danger.”

  Ms. Harbor held up another picture. “Green sea turtles are so big they don’t have to worry too much about danger. Their problem is keeping clean. As they swim through the ocean, they get covered in algae. That makes it hard for them to swim quickly. So they don’t like being dirty.”

  “I know how they feel,” Shelly joked. Her classmates laughed. Everyone knew how Shelly liked to stay purr-fectly clean at all times.

  “Do you know how these creatures work together?” Ms. Harbor asked. “Dozens of little yellow tangs hang out and create a type of cleaning station. Green sea turtles swim through the cleaning station, and the tangs eat the algae on their shells. In the end, the turtles are spotless and the tangs are full!”

  Angel asked, “Can purrmaids help clean sea turtles, too?”

  Ms. Harbor shook her head. “Sea turtles get nervous around us. If you tried to clean a sea turtle’s shell, you’d probably upset him.”

  “So even though we’d be trying to help,” Coral said, “we’d actually be making things worse?”

  “Exactly!” Ms. Harbor exclaimed. “This is why it’s important to learn as much as we can about the ocean around us. We don’t want to do harm when we are trying to help.”

  Ms. Harbor continued to teach about other sea creatures. But Shelly had a hard time sitting still. She kept looking at the clock and then over at Bubbles. Shelly wasn’t sure, but she thought the sea horse looked a little seasick. He wants to get out of here, too, she thought.

  Right before the dismissal bell rang, Ms. Harbor said, “We didn’t have enough time to talk about sea horses today. That will change soon!”

  “No, Ms. Harbor!” Adrianna moaned.

  “Don’t give us homework!” Cascade groaned.

  “Homework is good for you,” Ms. Harbor scolded. Then she winked. “I’m just joking. Only one of you will have homework tonight. Every night, someone will have to volunteer to take care of Bubbles at home,” she explained. “We can’t leave him alone in the classroom, after all.”

  Shelly grinned. Finally! It was time for her to take the pet sea horse home and care for him. She couldn’t wait!

  “Can I take Bubbles tonight?” Umiko shouted.

 
“No, I want to!” Cascade yowled.

  “My uncle the mayor says I’m very responsible,” Adrianna said, “so I would be a good choice to take our class pet home.”

  Ms. Harbor had to hold up a paw to get the class to quiet down. “You’ll all get a turn,” she said. “But for tonight, I’ve already chosen Shelly.”

  “Why?” Baker whined.

  “It’s not fair!” Taylor complained.

  Ms. Harbor shook her head. “If it wasn’t for Shelly, Bubbles wouldn’t even be here right now.” She told everyone about what had happened at Meow Meadow. “So I think it’s actually very fair to let Shelly have the first turn,” she said.

  The class nodded. Shelly grinned and said, “I’ll take good care of him, I purr-omise.” She zipped out of her seat to get to the sea horse.

  “Do you want to stay after class so I can give you some tips about sea horses?” Ms. Harbor asked.

  Shelly really didn’t feel like wasting another second. She just wanted to leave with Bubbles. “I’m all right,” she said. “I already know enough, I think.” She moved toward the sea horse again.

  “If you’re sure,” Ms. Harbor said. “I trust you, Shelly. Take care of him in the best way that you can. Good luck!”

  “Don’t worry,” Angel said. “Coral and I will be there to help Shelly with anything she needs.”

  “Or anything Bubbles needs,” Coral added.

  Shelly felt butterfly fish flutter in her tummy. She knew Coral and Angel only wanted to help. I just want it to be me and Bubbles today, she thought. This was her chance to have something that didn’t have to be shared with anyone. But Angel and Coral looked so excited that Shelly didn’t know how to tell them that.

  Shelly gulped. I guess I’ll just have to share.