Longer Pitch:

THE ACCIDENTAL MERMAID is a highly illustrated, humorous early MG in which a 10-year-old girl gets accidentally turned into a mermaid, then teams up with two merkids to solve mysteries about the ocean by blending the scientific method with gumshoe detective tactics. 

Mia’s spending her summer break on a research ship with her scientist parents when she gets turned into a mermaid by a chemistry experiment gone wrong. At first, she’s annoyed—how’s she going to make an Amazing Scientific Discovery that launches her to fame if she’s stuck wearing a fishtail? She soon realizes, though, that as a mermaid, she can explore places no land-human can go, so her dreams of scientific superstardom may be closer than ever. If she can avoid getting eaten by a shark, that is. 

She meets some merkids who introduce her to their passion (solving mysteries, detective style), and together they set out to investigate the watery world around them using both science and detective skills. Their first mystery is figuring out who’s been stealing the shells they’ve been collecting—shells they’d planned to give to hermit crabs housing themselves with bottle caps and other pieces of trash. Their investigation reveals the unique habits of a remarkable fish, and along the way, Mia learns how to think like a shark—to avoid getting eaten by one.

Creator bio:

I graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in English and film and have pursued creative jobs ever since — highlights were working as a pastry chef in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and later, as a cake decorator in a suburb of Philly, where I now live with my husband and two kids. In my current “day job,” I’m a writer and editor for a company that publishes summaries to adult non-fiction books. 

My debut picture book, Izmelda the Fairest Dragon of Them All!, was published in 2023 by Union Square Books. I was previously represented by BookEnds Literary but parted ways after my agent left the agency (on good terms — happy to discuss details). I started drawing when my kids were young, creating nursery art for friends and family, and I’ve been developing my illustration skills since then. I’m now looking for an agent to represent my work as an author-illustrator for chapter books, illustrated middle grade, and picture books.

Main Characters:

Secondary Characters:

Synopsis

The story opens on MIA, a 10-year-old mermaid facing a shark. She tells the reader she’s only recently been turned into a mermaid, and has no idea how to deal with sharks. Another mermaid, LIZZY, shows up and rescues her. Mia then reveals her back story: She’s the daughter of two famous scientists and has been spending her summer on a research ship, where she was hoping to make a scientific discovery of her own that will launch her to fame. However, a chemistry lab mishap turned her into a mermaid. She’s disappointed that her plans to make an amazing discovery have been derailed by this, but Lizzy helps her realize that as a mermaid, she can explore places no land-human can go and can thus make a big, underwater discovery.

Mia meets Lizzy’s parents on the sunken ship where they all live, and she learns about a problem they’ve been trying to solve: Some local hermit crabs have been carrying around pieces of trash (such as bottle caps) to house themselves, instead of using shells. Lizzy’s cousins, RED and BLUE, have gone to the neighborhood playground (a coral reef beside a kelp forest) to search for shells to replace the trash pieces, and Lizzy takes Mia there, not only to help look for shells but also to ask Red, their pod’s self-appointed detective, to figure out the mystery of how to turn Mia back into a human.

Red, however, says that he can’t help with Mia’s mystery, explaining that he’s a detective of “crime mysteries,” not “science mysteries.” Lizzy points out that Red and Mia could help each other solve their respective types of mysteries if they team up and use both detective tactics and the scientific method to crack their investigations. Red and Mia agree, and decide to form a detective/scientist agency (along with Lizzy), hoping that through this partnership, they can both fulfill their dreams of becoming famous — Mia as a budding scientist and Red as the best detective in the ocean. 

They’re soon presented with a crime mystery: The shells Blue has been collecting for the hermit crabs keep disappearing. Red and Mia, with help from Lizzy and Blue, investigate several hypotheses and theories as to where the shells have been going: They experiment to see if the current might have swept them away, and they investigate some local sea creatures as possible shell-thief suspects. After some tension when Lizzy suspects Red of manufacturing the “crime” so he can solve it and show off his detective skills, the merkids finally discover the true culprit: a white-spotted pufferfish collecting shells to decorate his mating nest. 

Soon after solving the mystery, the shark that Mia faced earlier shows up again, and Lizzy, Red, and Blue teach Mia how to manage the situation by understanding how a shark thinks. 

Finally, Mia goes back to the research ship to check in with her parents. They haven’t yet figured out how to turn her back into a human, so she returns to the water to continue living with Lizzy and her pod.

POTENTIAL SERIES IDEAS:

This concept lends itself well to a series, in which the merkids’ detective/scientist agency investigates new mysteries centering around ocean creatures in every book. All books will have the following common elements:

• Facts about sea creatures and the ocean sprinkled throughout the story 
• An impressive, little-known underwater phenomenon that the merkids discover
• A danger the characters face that they handle by using knowledge they’ve gathered in that story
• Developments of their friendships—tensions and conflicts that are introduced and then resolved

Possible Subsequent Books:

Book 2

In Book 2, the detective/scientist trio hits a wall as Red struggles with his confidence after failing to figure out some riddles. He gets a chance to prove his detective skills, though, when a strange new creature shows up — a small, red squid the merkids have never seen before, clearly lost from its natural habitat. They set out to figure out where it belongs, and Red learns that the key to solving problems can be looking at things from a new perspective. 

Throughout the story, the merkids learn about different forms of camouflage, the unique abilities of squid and octopuses, and bioluminescence. They also visit the twilight zone—the deep-sea region full of creatures adapted to cold, lightless conditions. Finally, they get a chance to use camouflage themselves when confronted with a creature looking for dinner, using tricks they’ve picked up from the squid to blend into the darkness. 

Book 3

As the summer draws to a close, Mia is still adjusting to her life as a mermaid. In Book 3, she begins mer-school, which only complicates her feelings about her new situation when she’s rejected by some of her new classmates for being different. Blue’s upcoming race allows Mia to use her detective skills to prove to herself and others that her differences can be strengths rather than something to fear. 

Over the course of the story, Mia and her friends investigate how different sea creatures get around and why some move faster than others. They discover an underwater waterfall and learn how to escape a riptide. They also manage friendship themes like jealousy and acceptance of others. 

Book 4

Merfolk keep reporting sightings of a sea serpent lurking around their neighborhood. As fear grips the pod, the detective/scientist trio springs into action to figure out what’s going on. When it turns out to be a lost and disoriented oarfish—a giant but gentle creature from the deep—the merkids learn that first impressions can be misleading and that sometimes, the best way to conquer fear is to look it in the face. 

Full Manuscript

CHAPTER 1

SPOT ART: Mia, a mermaid, looking scared in front of a shark who is grinning threateningly at her.

TEXT:

So there I was.

(Not the toothy one. The one freaking out next to the toothy one.) 

(This one)

SPOT ART: Arrow pointing from text (This one) to Mia

TEXT:

And all I could think was, THIS WASN’T THE PLAN. 

And I don’t just mean freaking out next to a shark.

(But that DEFINITELY wasn’t the plan.)

PANELS (3)

Panel 1: Mia looking at viewer, making a “none of this” type gesture

MIA: I mean ALL of it. 

The water. 

The swimming.

Panel 2: Mia pointing to her tail

My FISH TAIL. 

NONE of this was supposed to happen.

Panel 3: Mia leaning forward out of panel, toward viewer

I’m NOT supposed to be a MERMAID. 

TEXT & SPOT ART 

You heard me. I’m SUPPOSED to be a regular land-kid, and my regular-land-kid PLAN was to spend summer break on a research ship where my parents are doing Very Important Science Stuff. 

I was SUPPOSED to be throwing fish to dolphins off the back of this ship (that’s the “aft,” for you land-lubbers), or talking the captain into letting me steer, or stealing cookies from the dessert tray in the kitchen.  

I was NOT supposed to be wearing a fishtail and hanging out with Toothy McToothface. 

But that’s the thing about plans. Sometimes they have their own plans, amirite?

So anyway, there I was, staring into the eyes — no, the teeth — of a beast who’d won evolution as the best killing machine ever, and racking my brain for what a girl is supposed to do in this situation. 

My dad’s a marine biologist, you’d think he would have coached me on meeting a shark, right? But noooo, he was too wrapped up mapping out whale routes. 

And my mom—she never prepped me for this. She was too busy watching bacteria eat each other. (She’s a microbiologist. It’s not as boring as it sounds.)

(Actually, ok, it is as boring as it sounds.)

To be fair, me getting turned into a mermaid wasn’t on our schedule for the summer, so none of us thought I’d need a plan for swimming with sharks. 

Just goes to show — it’s the unexpected things you have to look out for. As a Future Amazing Scientist, that’s something I have to work on. 

Oh right, I should mention — that was my other plan for the summer: becoming a Famous Amazing Child Scientist. Both my parents made big scientific discoveries when they were kids, so my plan was to do the same so everyone would say, “Ooo! Look, that’s Mia, the daughter of those famous scientists! She’s amazing just like them!” 

I mean, I was on a science ship, right? Surrounded by science stuff all summer. This was my chance! 

And sure, maaaaybe I’d been spending most of my time feeding dolphins and stealing cookies… This was my summer break, after all. But science stuff was on my list! I swear!

(It turned out, though, it was science stuff that got me into this fishtail mess. So I probably should have stuck to dolphins and cookies.)

More on that later, but for now, back to Toothy, because you look worried. But it’s all good! Toothy didn’t eat me! 

You probably guessed that, though, right? Since I’m still here? Telling you this story? 

Here’s what happened: I was gulping and shaking, not knowing what to do, when suddenly, out of nowhere —

A mermaid swooped in!

A MERMAID!

Like, WHAT??? Mermaids exist??

Those were my first thoughts but then I remembered that I, myself, was a mermaid, and I existed. But still. It’s not every day that you meet a mermaid. I was surprised, okay?

Then this real, actual mermaid (again—a mermaid!) leaned in to the shark and… PUSHED IT AWAY BY ITS NOSE!! 

SHE PUSHED IT AWAY BY ITS NOSE!!!!

 Chapter 2 

Then she spun around to face me. She didn’t look too happy. 

“What in the sea were you doing, staring down a shark?”

“You just… you pushed… and it swam… it went…” I couldn’t get a sentence out. My head was all mixed up. 

“Well, DUH!” she said. “When were YOU going to do that? What were you waiting for, a written invitation?”

“I… I…” And that’s literally all I could say.  

The mermaid narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down. “I’ve never seen you before. What pod are you from?”

“I’m not from a p-pod,” I stammered. “I’m not a mermaid…”

“Oh really?” she said, giving my very obvious tail a very obvious look. 

PANELS (3)

Panel 1: (Mia and Lizzy wide shot)

MIA: I mean, I’m a mermaid right now…  

Panel 2: (Closer shot—Lizzy giving Mia a skeptical look)

MIA: but I wasn’t this morning.

Panel 3: (Close up of facial reactions)

TEXT & SPOT ART:

“No, it’s true!” I said. And finally my brain and mouth clicked into action. “This has all been a huge mistake! See, I was passing this room full of chemicals, and the door was wide open, so I stuck my head in and called out, Hello? Anybody here? Is this door supposed to be open? Do you want me to close it for you?” 

“Hold up,” said the mermaid, sticking her hand in my face. “Chemicals? What?”

“I’ll back up,” I said. “See, I’ve been staying on this science ship with my parents, and there were other scientists on it, too, and one of them, Dr. Chemistry…”

“Hold up again,” the mermaid said, sticking her hand even closer. “There was a scientist named Dr. Chemistry?”

“Well, I might not have been totally paying attention when we were introduced,” I admitted. “But he was a chemist… so…”

“Okaaaay…” the mermaid said, and I had to give it to her — she had that you’re-a-total-weirdo look down pat. 

“Anyway,” I continued. “I was heading back to my cabin after breakfast this morning, and Dr. Chemistry’s lab door was wide open. And I didn’t think that was safe, right? Chemicals are dangerous! I mean, what if someone went in and started messing with them? Like, say, a ten-year-old girl? Like, what if a ten-year-old girl went in and thought, wow, a turquoise liquid and an emerald liquid, how pretty! I wonder what happens if I mix them!”

“Let me guess,” said the mermaid. “You mixed them.”

PANELS (3)

Panel 1:

MIA: Well, yeah, of course I mixed them! What was I supposed to do? NOT mix them?

Panel 2:

LIZZY: I mean, that was an option, right?

MIA: Not for me it wasn’t. I’m a scientist, and when faced with a mystery, it’s my JOB to investigate it.

Panel 3: Close-up on Lizzy’s face, with a “you’re a weirdo” look

TEXT & SPOT ART:

(Again with the you’re-a-total-weirdo look. She was really good at that.)

I sighed. “But, then there were all these vapors, and the room started spinning, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor and my mom was yelling at Dr. Chemistry and my dad was shouting at the ceiling and Dr. Chemistry kept saying he never should have trusted a used-chemical salesperson…”

I shrugged. “And I had a fishtail.”

The mermaid didn’t say anything. Her you’re-a-total-weirdo look had changed into a are-you-serious? look. “So — for real?” 

I nodded. 

Her voice grew louder. “This morning, you were a human?” 

I nodded again.  

“AND NOW YOU’RE A MERMAID???” 

I was going to nod a third time but before I could, the mermaid let out a huge whoop and did a backflip. 

“This is fintastic!” she cried. “I’ve heard of people like you! Crossovers, they call you. Mermaids who become human, humans who become mermaids. But they’re just legends! Myths! Stories our grandmothers tell us!” She frowned. “The stories usually involve a sea witch. Was a sea witch involved in this?” 

I shook my head. “No witch. Just a chemist.” 

She drummed her fingers on her hips. “Good. I’m not up for tangling with a sea witch. BUT, it’s your lucky day.” 

She grabbed my hand and started swimming. “This is a mystery. And I happen to know the best mystery-solver around!” 

Chapter 3

“My name is Lizzy, by the way,” the mermaid called over her shoulder.

“I’m Mia,” I called back. I had to flip my tail as hard as I could to keep up. I wasn’t used to swimming this fast. 

I think she said something else after that, but I stopped hearing her because right at that moment, the spookiest, creepiest, most haunted-looking thing ever shimmered into view in front of us …

A SUNKEN SHIP! 

“You’ll need a place to rest your fins at night,” Lizzy said, gliding up next to it and turning to me. “You can stay on the Pegasus with us.” 

I pulled up next to her and touched the ship gently with the palm of my hand. I had never seen a shipwreck in real life before. It looked old, like from another century. It was covered in fuzzy, mossy, rusty-looking stuff and it leaned to one side like it was sleeping. There was a faded word in large, fancy letters on the back. Barnacles had grown over most of it, but I could make out a giant “P” and a broken-up “g.”

“You live here?”

“Duh! Where else would we live?” 

I shrugged. “A castle or something? Don’t mermaids live in castles?”

She hit me with another “you’re a total weirdo” look and I realized I should probably stop thinking of mermaids as fairy tale creatures. Then she spun around and jetted over to a busted-out porthole.

“Follow me,” she said. “My cousin, Red, should be around here somewhere. He’s a detective. If anyone can solve your mystery, it’s him.” 

Then she swished her tail and disappeared into the porthole. 

“Wait!” I called after her, suddenly feeling incredibly alone. It had only been a few minutes since I’d almost been eaten by a shark, and Toothy couldn’t be far behind us. I wasn’t psyched to see my personal mermaid bodyguard disappear without me. 

I darted over to the porthole and peered in. It was dark in there. Like, daaaaaaaark dark. Hiding-scary-things dark. The kind of dark you DON’T want to go diving into with a brand-new fishtail you barely know how to use. 

“So, are there, like, snakes in there?” I called in. I was trying to sound casual and NOT totally freaked out. Not sure I succeeded. “Sea serpents? Giant crabs?”

No answer.

“Just in general, any kind of chompy, pinchy thing?”

She still didn’t answer, but I knew that every second I was outside the ship was a second closer to Toothy finding me. So, I closed my eyes, held my breath—well, not really, because I was breathing through gills, but you get the idea—and I dove in. 

Chapter 4

The weirdest thing about going through the porthole is that once I was inside the ship, I was able to see just fine. I don’t know if my eyes just adjusted or if it was some kind of mermaid magic, but I could see all around me as if it was daytime.

We were in an old, beaten-up dining room. Some tables were scattered around, and some benches, too, and a few cabinets lined the walls. The cabinets looked fancy, like they once held wine glasses and platters, but now they were stuffed with high heels, cowboy boots, sneakers, snow boots, and slippers. 

“What’s with the shoes?” I asked. 

Lizzy broke into a wide smile. “Oh! My fin-mittens!” She swept her arm across the cabinets as if presenting them grandly. “Me and my friends trade them. You’d be surprised what falls off ships. Humans are really bad at keeping their stuff on.”

I was about to ask what mermaids did with shoes—or, fin mittens, I guess—but I was suddenly hit with a wave of… well, waves, as a huge, giant OCTOPUS flew by my head!

I found out later, when I got to know the octopus, that it wasn’t actually huge, and it wasn’t a giant. It turns out there’s a species called the “Giant Octopus” that really is giant, but this one was a species called the “common octopus.” But don’t get me wrong, it was still big—it was about 4 feet long, so basically, as long as me. And trust me, if an octopus of any size suddenly flies by your face, you’ll think it’s huge, too.

“What was that?” I cried. But I barely had time to react when I was hit with a second wave of waves, as another mermaid — a grown-up one this time — flew past me, following right behind the octopus. The two of them jetted across the dining room toward a porthole at the far side of the room. The octopus dove through it, head-first, and the grown-up mermaid slipped through right behind it. 

“That’s my mom,” said Lizzy. 

“The octopus or the mermaid?” I was pretty sure which she meant, but after the morning I’d had, I couldn’t assume anything. 

“Duh, the mermaid!” Lizzy said. “The octopus was Octi. She lives next to the ship. My parents helped her a few months ago when she got tangled in a fishing net, and she’s stayed close ever since.”

“That sounds awful,” I said. “Poor thing.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” Lizzy said. “But she was ok, and now she helps my parents out. She brings them other animals in trouble.”

I frowned. “Why does that help them out?” 

“They’re veterinarians,” Lizzy said. 

“That’s so cool,” I said. “I didn’t know mermaids could be vets.” 

“You didn’t know mermaids existed,” Lizzy said. 

“Good point.” That did explain why I’d never thought about their career choices.

The water behind Lizzy swished and another grown-up merperson—a merman this time—swam into the room. 

“Dad!” said Lizzy.  

“Where did Octi go? And your mom?” her dad asked.

LIzzy pointed across the room. “Through that porthole.” 

“Octi must have sensed trouble,” the merman said. He flicked his tail and shot through the water. Lizzy grabbed my hand and pulled me after him. We squeezed through the porthole, and I once again found myself outside the ship. 

Chapter 5

Ahead of us, halfway down the ship, Lizzy’s mom crouched next to a small boulder. Octi was perched on top of it, with two of her tentacles pointed down at the sand. It looked like she was showing Lizzy’s mom something. 

Lizzy, her dad, and I drew closer. At the base of the boulder lay a bright red, plastic bottle cap, the kind you’d see on a big jug of soda. It looked like any I’d seen a million times before except for one weird detail—it had legs!

“What is that?” I asked. 

“Hermit crab,” said Lizzy. “This happens a lot. They crawl into pieces of trash instead of shells, and use them as homes. It’s a real problem. Garbage doesn’t protect them like shells do.”

Lizzy’s mom placed a small shell next to the crab. It was one of those curly ones—the kind that has an opening and then spirals around itself. “Hey there, little guy. I think you’ll prefer this.” 

The crab hesitated. Then it darted out of the bottle cap and scurried over to the shell. It crawled over it, turning it over and inspecting it, as if deciding if it wanted it. Then it slid the back end of its body into the opening and pulled the shell over itself, until just its brown, pointy legs were sticking out. Finally, it scurried away into a crack under the boulder. 

“One down,” said Lizzy’s dad. He sighed. “A lot more to go.”

Lizzy’s mom straightened up and turned to Lizzy. “We found a hermit crab vacancy chain where all the crabs are using plastic pieces instead of shells.” She turned and started swimming away. “It’s not far from here. I’ll show you.”

Lizzy swam after her, and I tried to stay close. I was getting better at this whole “tail” thing but it still was a bit of a challenge to keep up. 

“What’s a vacancy chain?” I asked.

“It’s when a bunch of hermit crabs all need new shells because they’re getting too big for the ones they have,” Lizzy said. “They line up and wait together, and when there’s enough shells for all of them, they each move up into the shell of the crab bigger than them.”

We caught up to Lizzy’s mom and dad at the front of the Pegasus, where six hermit crabs were huddled near each other. Each of them was squeezed into a piece of garbage. One had shoved itself into the broken end of a lightbulb, another was crouched inside a coffee scoop, a third, in a laundry bottle cap, and the rest were wearing soda bottle caps. 

“We’ve been looking for shells to give them to replace their pieces of trash,” said Lizzy’s dad. “But we’re having trouble finding enough around the ship, and I’m worried these little guys will scatter before we can help them.”

That’s when Lizzy’s mom looked up and noticed me for the first time. “Oh! Hi there. Lizzy, who’s your friend?”

“This is Mia,” Lizzy said. “She’s new around here, and you’re never going to guess why!”

Lizzy’s dad gave me a big grin. “You must be the exchange student! We didn’t expect you until next week!”

Lizzy’s mom also broke out into a big smile. “What a nice surprise! Welcome!”

“Get this!” said Lizzy. “She’s not the exchange student!”

Lizzy’s mom kept smiling, but in a slightly confused way. “What do you mean?”

Lizzy spun around in her excitement. “She’s a crossover! She was a split-tail just this morning! A sand-walker! A breeze-breather! A LAND HUMAN! Then she got turned into a mermaid, and now she needs a place to stay until she gets turned back. So I said she could live here on the Pegasus with us. Figured that would be ok with you.”

Lizzy’s mom laughed. “You kids have such wonderful imaginations!” She turned to me. “We’re so happy to be hosting you. You can stay in Lizzy’s room, there’s plenty of space.”

“No, seriously, she’s not the exchange student!” said Lizzy. “She really is a crossover!” 

Lizzy’s dad chuckled. “Of course she is! Let me guess — trouble with a sea witch?”

“Not a witch,” said Lizzy. “She comes from a family of scientists and got turned into a mermaid when some chemicals did something weird.”

“How creative!” said her mom. “What a fun story. Your room is a mess, by the way, Lizzy. Clean it up later today, all right? Now that we have a guest?” 

Lizzy rolled her eyes at me. “Grown-ups.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Is Red around?”

Lizzy’s mom shook her head. “He and Blue went to the kelp forest to search for shells for the hermit crabs.”

“Blue is Red’s little sister,” Lizzy whispered to me. Then she grabbed my hand and started swimming away from the ship. “We’ll head there, too, then! Shake a fin, Mia! Let’s make some waves!”

Chapter 6

We swam away from the Pegasus and into a wide, empty stretch of water. As the ship grew smaller and smaller behind us, I started to feel uneasy — I suddenly remembered that Toothy was out here somewhere, and there wasn’t much to hide behind if he decided to show up. 

“Hey,” I called to Lizzy. “What are the chances a shark finds us?”

“Oh don’t worry,” she called back. “Sharks aren’t usually interested in mermaids.”

“Usually” didn’t make me feel much better. I swam harder, doing my best to keep up with Lizzy and trying not to think about running into Toothy again if I fell behind.

There was a second reason I was scared to lose sight of Lizzy — I knew if I got separated from her, I’d be hopelessly lost. There were no landmarks out here. No roads, no buildings, no signs — nothing but seaweed and rocks that all looked the same. I’d never find my way back to the Pegasus without her. 

“How do you know where you’re going?” I asked. 

Lizzy glided around some seaweed. “The Earth’s magnetic field. It’s a pull. Fish can feel it, too — sharks, whales, that kind of thing.”

“Weird,” I said. “What does it feel like?” 

Lizzy stopped swimming. “Hard to say.” She thought for a moment. “Like, how do you know which way is up?”

I frowned. “I don’t know, it’s just up. Like, it’s away from the ground.”

“Sure,” said Lizzy. “And, you know where up is even when you can’t see the ground, right?”

I closed my eyes. “Right.” 

“And even when you can’t touch the ground, right?” she continued. “Like, you’re floating right now, but you still know which way is up.”

I opened my eyes. She was right. “Up” was just something I sort of knew.

“It’s like that,” said Lizzy. “I just know which way is north and south, and everything else kind of falls into place.”

I nodded and swam a little ahead. I tried to “feel” which way was which. But everything just felt weird. I mean, I was breathing through gills and had scales all over my legs. I couldn’t tell what was what. 

“I can’t feel it,” I said. 

Lizzy shrugged and started swimming again. “Maybe you will after you’ve been a mermaid for longer.”

I started following her again. “Well, I might not be a mermaid much longer. My parents are working on an antidote —”

“An anti-what?” Lizzy interrupted.

“A ‘reverse-this’ potion,” I said. “To turn me human again. And it better happen soon,” I added, “because I have important scientific work to do.”

Lizzy laughed. “Important scientific work? What are you, 10?”

Ok, so I felt a little silly here. I don’t even know why I told her about the science stuff — it just kind of slipped out. But, now that it was out there, I had to explain. 

“Yeah, so, here’s the story,” I said. “See, my mom discovered a never-before-seen bacteria when she was 10, and it got named after her, and my dad figured out how to write songs that could talk to whales — also when he was 10. So if I don’t come up with some amazing discovery before I turn 11, I’m going to be a family disappointment.”

“What?? Your parents can’t put that kind of pressure on you!”

“Well, no, they don’t,” I said. “They’re always like, ‘Don’t compare yourself to us!’ and ‘You’re doing great!’ But, they don’t get it. It’s something I need to do. For myself.”

Lizzy crossed her arms. “Well, you just got turned into a mermaid. This will totally make you famous! You’re all set!”

I scrunched up my nose. “Yeah, but — I want to be famous for doing something, not for getting turned into a fish.”

“Ahem!” Lizzy cleared her throat. “A half-fish.”

This is when I found out mermaids can look just as annoyed as land-humans. And the last thing I wanted to do was annoy the one person who could save me from sharks. 

“Don’t get me wrong!” I said. “I love being a half-fish!”

Lizzy laughed. “I’m just giving you a hard time. But, seriously, being a mermaid is your answer anyway. Look around! You can go places no air-kisser can! The world is literally your oyster! You can make the best discovery ever!”

I gasped. (And I learned — mermaids gasp! Weird, right?) I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen this before. Here I was, thinking this mermaid thing was going to mess up my Amazing Discovery Plan, when the opposite was true. This was the big break I needed!  

“You’re right!” I said. “This mermaid thing could be my ticket!”

Then I gasped again as another thought swam through my head. (Okay, this time I gasped on purpose because it was kind of a cool feeling.) “But, my parents might figure out an antidote any minute. I might be running out of time!” I looked around, suddenly feeling panicked. “I need to find a big discovery right away!” 

“Well, then, you’re in the right spot.” Lizzy grabbed my hand and pulled me a little further through the water. “Because there’s no better place to make a discovery than…” She dropped my hand, smiled, and spread her arms wide. 

“The kelp forest! Ta da!”

Chapter 7

We had arrived at a grove of tall seaweed. Like, seriously tall. It looked like a bunch of thick ropes stretching from the ocean floor all the way to the water’s surface, each covered with long, narrow, brownish-green leaves. It was a busy place — a school of tiny fish darted through the fronds and a sea star slid across the ground. A crab steered clear of a spiky sea urchin. A jellyfish globbed by. 

I liked the place immediately. Not only because of all the cool sea animals hanging around, but also because it was definitely a place I could hide if a shark showed up. 

Lizzy snapped a leaf off one of the stems and handed it to me. “Best place to grab a quick snack. Delicious, nutritious, and full of vitamin SEA!”

I smiled. “Is it a mermaid thing to make puns all the time?” 

Lizzy dove into a backflip. “Shore is! Dolphinately! I’m not squidding you — puns are crabulous! I make puns on porpoise all the time!”

“Okay, okay!” I laughed. 

Suddenly, I was knocked off-balance by a wave of ripples as a blur of scales whizzed by me. 

“Hey Lizzy!” the blur called out.

“Red! Long time no sea!” Lizzy said. “I have someone for you to meet!”

The blur turned abruptly and headed back towards us, and a small merkid with bright red hair, dark red scales, and a big smile came to a swift stop in front of me. “Hello there! Red Herring, detective extraordinaire, at your service.” He bowed dramatically. 

“This is Mia,” Lizzy said. “She —”

“Don’t tell me!” Red cried, holding a hand up to Lizzy. “As the best detective in Bubblonia, I can figure out your visitor by looking at clues!”

He reached into a bag slung around his shoulders, pulled out a magnifying glass, and squinted through it, leaning in closely to me. “Let’s see… pigtails… mmm hmm… fins… uh huh…”

He pulled back and crossed his arms, tapping his chin thoughtfully with one finger. “I’ve never seen you before, so you’re not from around here. Your hair is messy and your fingernails are chewed, so I’m guessing you had to swim away from something quickly, and that you were scared. However, there are no scars on your tail, so whatever you were running from didn’t catch you.”

PANELS (6 small, 2-page spread)

PANEL 1:

MIA: Wow. that’s —

RED (holding up a hand to interrupt her):

MY THEORY! My theory is that YOU are a RUNAWAY! 

PANEL 2:

MIA: Umm —

RED: From… the underwater city of Atlantis! 

PANEL 3:

RED: Because… you stole something! From the queen! You stole… sea glass! 

PANEL 4:

RED: No — pearls!

PANEL 5:

RED: And then you had to flee, or the queen would lock you up in her underwater cave dungeons! 

PANEL 6:

RED: And so, here you are! Hiding from the queen! Hoping we’ll save you by stashing you on the Pegasus so her evil minions won’t find you!

TEXT & SPOT ART

Red smiled widely. “How’d I do? Was I right? Was any of that right?”

Lizzy laughed. “No.”

“I mean,” I said, smiling, “yes about me being scared. I ran into a shark a little while ago.”

Lizzy put her arm around me and squeezed. “I saved her.”

“But no about the runaway stuff,” I continued. “But still, that was impressive! I’ve never met a detective before. I didn’t know merpeople had detectives.”

Red shoved his magnifying glass back into his bag. “What, is this your first day as a mermaid?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Actually —”

“Actually, it is!” Lizzy broke in. “You nailed it! I knew you would!” She turned to me. “See? He really is the best detective in Bubblonia.”

“Wait — for real?” said Red. “I was joking!”

“Yes, for real!” Lizzy said. “Just this morning she was a land-human, and then a bunch of chemicals turned her into a mermaid. She’s a CROSSOVER!”

“A crossover? No way! That’s not really a thing!” Red’s eyes got super wide and he stared at me like he wasn’t sure if we were joking or not. “Right? Is that really a thing?”

I shrugged. “I was just as surprised as you, trust me.”

“Who knew, right?” said Lizzy. “But now she needs to figure out how to turn back into a human, and that’s where you come in!”

“Me? What do I have to do with it?”

“This is a mystery, Mr. Detective!”

“Oh — uh, right. Okay.” Red cleared his throat. “Um, actually, my schedule is pretty busy… I have a lot of mysteries… I can put this on my waiting list, maybe…”

“What?” Lizzy cried. “But you’re always looking for mysteries! You always say, Lizzy, if you ever find a mystery, let me know! And I did! Here you go!”

Red’s shoulders fell. “Okay. You got me. I don’t have other mysteries to solve.” He looked at me sheepishly. “Not much happens in Bubblonia.” He looked back at Lizzy. “But I can’t solve this! My mysteries are about who stole something, and stuff like that. Not about turning someone into a different species!”

“He’s right,” I chimed in. “This is a science-mystery, not a crime-mystery.”

“So what?” Lizzy said, turning a somersault. “Mysteries are mysteries! They’re just different kinds of puzzles, right? You two could figure this out together!”

Red tapped his chin and gave me a thoughtful look. “You solve science mysteries, huh?” 

“She sure does!” Lizzy said before I could answer. “And while she’s a mermaid she’s going to solve an underwater science mystery that’s going to make her famous!” 

“Famous, yeah?” Red crossed his arms and looked at me even more thoughtfully. “Maybe Lizzy’s right — maybe we should team up. Help each other out? If you give me advice from a scientist’s point of view, like about how things work, I’ll be better able to figure out how bad guys do their crimes. And I can help you on your investigations by seeing clues and motivations you might miss.”

“Ooo!” Lizzy spun around and clapped. “You should form a detective agency! A science-y detective agency! You could BOTH become famous!”

Red smiled. “Whadda ya think, Mia? I could help you make your great discovery, and you could help me show Bubblonia that I’m the best detective ever!”

I nodded slowly as I tossed the idea around. It wasn’t a bad one. A scientist often works with a team. Hardly anyone makes discoveries alone. Plus, I had to admit — it might be fun to solve crime mysteries. “Sure! Let’s do it.”

PANELS (5)

PANEL 1: 

RED: YES!!

LIZZY: Double YES!! You can call yourselves — the “Deep-Sea Detectives”!

RED: That’s perfect!

PANEL 2:

LIZZY: Or — the “Salt Water Scientists”! 

RED: Sure. That would work too —

PANEL 3:

LIZZY: “Ocean Investigators”! “Mermaid Mystery Mashers”!

PANEL 4: Red and Mia exchange a glance

PANEL 5:

LIZZY: “Crime-Fighting Crustacean Collectors”?

RED: Yeah — we can come up with a name later.

TEXT & SPOT ART

“I’m joining your agency, too, by the way,” Lizzy said. “Even though I’m not a detective. Or a scientist. But, it was my idea. Plus, my sea smarts might be the very thing that cracks your cases!”

“Sea smarts?” I asked.

“Stuff they don’t teach you in school,” said Lizzy. “Stuff you just know.”

“Lizzy’s full of sea smarts,” said Red. “And puns. Sea smarts and puns.”

Lizzy shrugged. “GILL-ty as charged, detective!”

Chapter 8

“So,” said Lizzy. “For our first mystery — where’s Blue? My parents said you and her came here to collect shells.”

“Aha!” Red cried. “The case of the missing sister!” He smiled. “Just kidding — she’s in the playground. Mystery solved!” He spun around and shot off, turning into a blur again as he sped away from us. “See you there!” he called back.

“You’ll love the playground,” Lizzy said, and started swimming along the edge of the kelp forest in the direction Red had disappeared. 

I couldn’t imagine what a mermaid playground would have in it. Clown fish? Electric eels? Something Amazing-Discovery-worthy?  

SPOT ART: Mia’s face in close-up, looking scared.

Or… sharks? I hadn’t thought about Toothy in a while, but he suddenly popped into my head and I pumped my tail as fast as I could to catch up to Lizzy. 

We circled around the kelp forest until we’d reached the far side of it, where a giant boulder came into view. Beside it was a small coral reef dotted with arches and tunnels, and there was a huge piece of driftwood jutting up from the sand with a few long strands of seaweed hanging off.

“Here’s the rock slide,” Lizzy said, pointing to a slide carved into the side of the boulder. She pointed to the driftwood next. “There’s our swingset. And we call that the climbing coral,” she said, motioning to the mass of twisting, bumpy branches heaped in a pile. “But, I mean, we don’t really climb on it. Just dive around it.” 

I drew closer to the coral. “I’ve never seen a coral reef in real life.” It wasn’t what I was expecting. I always pictured coral as white, but this had green, brown, red, and purple patches. It looked like a giant collection of bumpy, prickly tubes. Almost like fingers. 

I reached out to touch one, but Lizzy shifted uncomfortably and frowned a little. “Be careful with that ok?” she said. “I know it looks solid, but it’s not. It’s actually a living thing.”

“This is alive?”

“Yeah, it’s a huge colony of these little creatures stuck together. And be careful, because they sting, ok?”

I pulled my hand back. “Right. Ok.”

I turned and took in the rest of the scene. It was a pretty busy place. Lots of fish swimming around—especially around the coral. I liked it. Plus there were lots of places to hide from sharks, which made me like it even more. 

There was one weird spot, which was a bunch of garbage piled in a heap at the edge of the playground—rusted-out toasters, broken umbrellas, car tires, chairs with missing legs, and other random objects. “What’s that?” 

“For trash castles!” said Lizzy. She swooped over to the strange collection. “Sand castles don’t stay together for us down here. But trash works!” 

She picked up a broken microwave oven and placed it on top of a cracked bedside table. “See? Castle.”

“Nice!” I said, hoping she believed I actually thought it was nice. Again, didn’t want to upset the one person who could save me from sharks. 

At that moment, I got hit with a wave of ripples again as Red swooped by in a blur. As soon as he passed, a second blur flew by — and this one I didn’t recognize.

“And … the Herrings!” said Lizzy. “You’ve already met Red, but may I introduce —” here she turned and called out to the second blur, which was now blurring its way past the rock slide “— Hey Blue! Come meet someone!”

Both blurs swooped back around and headed toward me. The one I didn’t recognize came to a swift stop a few inches from my face and turned into a smaller mermaid with dark blue hair and a light blue tail. 

She stuck out her hand. “Hi! I’m Blue!”

“I can see that,” I said, shaking her hand. “I’m Mia.”

“Mia’s from the land-world,” said Lizzy. “She got turned into a mermaid by accident, and she’s staying with us until her parents figure out how to turn her back.”

“Seriously? She’s a crossover?” said Blue. “That’s actually a thing?”

Lizzy threw her hands up. “Who knew, right?”

“Hold on a second — ” Blue put her hands on her hips and frowned. “Humans are bad news. How do you know she’s not going to go back and tell all her friends about us? Next thing we know, every human this side of Atlantis will be down here looking for us.”

“That’s a good point,” said Red. “The last thing we need is humans all over the place. Trying to catch us, putting us in aquariums!” He spun around to me. “If word gets out, we’ll have to move again!”

“And I was just getting used to the Pegasus!” Blue cried. 

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I won’t tell anyone. I mean, I’ll have to tell my parents, so they know I’m ok down here, but they’ll keep your secret. They know how important it is to preserve natural habitats.” 

“I believe her,” Lizzy said. “Her parents are scientists — they won’t mess up our world. Besides, it might be useful having some humans on the land-side to watch out for us.”

Blue narrowed her eyes. She didn’t look convinced. “Fine. But this better not end with us fleeing the Pegasus.” She glared at me. “Or getting stuck in aquariums.”

“Anywaaaay,” Red said. “The important thing is that while Mia is here, she’s going to solve mysteries with us!” 

Blue rolled her eyes. “Is she going to get all weird and detective-y like you? Talk about clues and motives all day?”

“That’s not weird!” Red objected. “That’s professional, I’ll have you know.”

“Sure it is.” Blue rolled her eyes again. Then she paused. “Actually, I do have a mystery.”   

Red’s eyes lit up. “You have a mystery?”

“Some of my shells are missing.” Blue pointed to the rock slide. “I’ve been making a pile over there, and two have disappeared since I started.”

“Finally! Bubblonia has a mystery!” Red pulled out his magnifying glass. “And I’ve never been more ready! Let’s get solving!”

Chapter 9

PANELS (3)

PANEL 1:

RED: The case of the missing shells! Who stole them? Where are they taking them? What do they want with them?

PANEL 2:

MIA (leaning in to Lizzy, whispering): Do you think maybe Blue just lost track of her shells? Or forgot how many she had?

PANEL 3:

LIZZY (whispering back): Maybe. But don’t take this away from Red! He’s been looking for a mystery for weeks!
Besides — I need a mystery, too! If I’m going to be in a detective agency, I gotta practice! 

TEXT & SPOT ART

Lizzy turned to Blue and started speaking out of the side of her mouth in a pinched-sounding voice, like her nose was plugged up. “Don’t worry, kid. We’re gonna get this thief, see? We’ll be on their fishtail in no time.”

Blue raised an eyebrow. “You’re talking weird now, too?”

“I’m a detective, sweetheart,” said Lizzy. “A gumshoe. A private EYE. This is how we talk.”

Blue scrunched her nose. “I don’t think —”

“I’ll do the thinking, sister,” Lizzy interrupted, shoving a finger into Blue’s face.

Blue rolled her eyes so hard I thought they’d disappear into her eyelids. 

Red laughed. “Sorry, Blue. But a private eye’s gonna private eye. So — where’s your shell collection? Take me to the scene of the crime!”

“This way.” Blue flicked her tail and shot over to the boulder. “See? I put five shells here, and there’s only three now!”

“On it!” Red swam around the boulder, staying close to the ground and peering at the sand through his magnifying glass. “Clues… clues… I need clues…” He scowled. “No fin-prints, no markings in the sand. I’m at a dead end!” He turned to me. “You’re up, science girl. What’s our next move?”

I flippered over to the bolder. As mysteries go, this might not be a super amazing one — finding some missing shells wasn’t going to make me famous — but it was a start. A way to try out science with Red’s detective tactics.  

“Ok, let’s look at this like scientists,” I said. 

Red shoved his magnifying glass back in his bag. “How do we do that?”

“We’ll use the scientific method,” I said. “The first step is, we come up with a hypothesis.”

“A hippopotamus?” said Lizzy. “Where do we find one of those?”

“Yeah, there aren’t any hippos around here,” said Red. “So that might be a problem.”

“No, not a hippopotamus. A high-poth-eh-sis.” I sounded it out. 

“Never heard of it,” said Blue. “Is it anything like a hippopotamus?”

“It has nothing to do with hippopotamuses,” I said. “A hypothesis is a guess. For why something happened.”

“Detectives make guesses, too,” said Red. “But we call them theories.”

“Yeah,” said Blue. “We use a normal word.”

“Same thing,” I said, ignoring Blue’s comment about normal words. “And, to make a good guess, we first have to make some observations.”  

“Clues, sweetheart,” Lizzy said, in her “gumshoe” voice. “We look for clues.”

“Exactly! Same thing again,” I said. 

“But again, we use a normal word,” said Blue.

I looked around. There wasn’t much that shouted I’m a clue! but some leaves at the edge of the kelp forest were waving in the passing current and it gave me an idea.

“Over here! Look!” I motioned for the three of them to follow me to the forest. “See how these leaves are being pushed to one side? That means the water’s flowing by. My hypothesis is that the shells got swept away in the current.”

Lizzy swam up beside me. “That theory’s got more holes than a fishnet,” she said, still using her “gumshoe” voice. “This current’s as weak as a newborn jellyfish. How’s it going to snatch away a shell that’s parked in the sand?”

“Well, let’s test it!” I dove down and scooped up a fistful of sand. “That’s another step of the scientific method. We do experiments to prove our hypothesis.” 

“Ah, looking for evidence! Also like a detective,” said Red. 

“Exactly!” I held out my hand and let the sand trail out from my fingers. “See how the sand is getting swept over that way? I bet the water did the same to the shells.”

Lizzy switched into her regular voice. “Yeah, but that’s just sand. Sand is light.” She picked up a new shell and weighed it in her hand. “I don’t think this current could carry away a shell.”

“Plus,” said Red, “maybe the current over here is different from over there by the boulder. I think it would be weaker over there because the boulder blocks it.”

“Great points,” I said. Honestly — they were naturals! They’d be mer-scientists in no time. My big break was getting closer, I could feel it.

“I’ll do my own experiment,” said Lizzy. “I’ll drop this new shell over there next to the others. My guess is, it’ll fall straight down. The current won’t do anything to it.”  

She swam toward the boulder, but then suddenly skidded to a stop, mid-flip. “Wait — what in the sea? There’s only two shells here now!”

Chapter 10

Blue, Red, and I jetted over. Sure enough, there were only two shells in the pile, where just a minute ago there had been three. 

Ok, so I’ll admit that at first, I didn’t think there was much to this “mystery.” I mean, some shells were missing, who cares, right? But, now that another shell had disappeared — from right under our noses! — I was interested. 

“Something weird is definitely going on,” I said. 

“And it’s not the current,” said Lizzy. She tossed her new shell down and it fell straight into the sand. “See? The water didn’t push it away.”

“That’s true,” I said. “We’ll need a new hypothesis.” 

“I have one!” said Blue. “There’s a shell thief on the loose! Someone — or someTHING — is stealing my shells.”

“It does fit the evidence,” Red said. 

“The question is,” said Lizzy, using her “gumshoe” voice again, “what kind of a slippery fish steals shells from a kid?”

“Yeah!” said Blue. “Shells that are going to help hermit crabs! Who would do that?”

“Time to interview some suspects!” Red paused and then turned to me. “Is interviewing suspects part of the scientific method?”

“Sure!” I said. “It’s gathering data.”

“Then I’m on it!” said Red, scanning the sandy floor. He spotted a nearby sea star and swam up to it. 

SPOT ART: 

Red “interrogating” a sea star

RED: Where were you three minutes ago? Who were you with? What were you doing?

TEXT & SPOT ART:

The sea star said nothing. (You guessed that, though, right? I mean, it was a sea star.)

“Can a sea star even pick up a shell?” I asked.

“Actually, yes,” Lizzy said, dropping her “gumshoe” voice and speaking like herself again. “It eats things that live in shells, like clams. Mussels, oysters, stuff like that. It can pick them up using the little suckers on the bottom of its arms. It can even pull their shells open. Sea stars are surprisingly strong.”

“Lizzy knows everything about sea creatures,” said Blue. 

Lizzy shrugged. “Raised by veterinarians, right?” 

“I feel you on that,” I said, thinking of how being raised by scientists had turned me all science-y. 

“But my shells were just leftover shells,” Blue said. “They didn’t have any food in them. Why would a sea star bother with them?”

Red stroked his chin. “You’re right, it wouldn’t. And that means it had no motive.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s detective-speak for a reason.”

I nodded. I knew the word. “So, we can cross sea star off our list of suspects, then.”

“What about that jellyfish?” asked Blue, pointing to a translucent, flowy set of strings attached to a blobby head rippling by.

I shivered. “Eesh. Um, you can interview that yourselves. I’ll stay back here.”

Lizzy laughed. “What, are you scared of jellyfish?”

“Um, yeah.” I shrugged in a “duh” kind of way. “I’ve been stung enough times to know that you don’t mess with jellyfish.”

“Humans.” Blue rolled her eyes. 

“Stop being so crabby, Blue,” said Lizzy. 

“Yeah,” said Red. “You’re scared of sea spiders.”

“SEA SPIDERS!” Blue’s voice suddenly got real high and she darted behind Lizzy. “Eek! Where?”

“Relax!” Lizzy pushed her away. “Anyway, Mia, forget the jellyfish. We don’t need to interview it. It couldn’t have stolen the shells. Its tentacles aren’t like fingers — it can’t pick things up off the sand. They can stun fish and pull them into itself, but they can’t grab things and lift them.”

“So,” Red said, “if it couldn’t have picked up the shells, it had no means to do the crime.” He turned to me again. “Means means ability. A detective looks for three things to figure out who done it: motive, means, and opportunity.”

PANELS (2):

Panel 1:

LIZZY: (whispering in Mia’s ear)

He means oppor-TUNA-ty.

RED: No. I don’t.

Panel 2:

LIZZY: (winking at Mia)

He does. 

TEXT & SPOT ART:

“How about that crab?” asked Blue, pointing to a large, red, and very pinchy-looking crustacean. “It definitely had means! Those big claws could easily carry my shells!”

Lizzy gasped excitedly. “A crab! That would be so perfect!”

Blue frowned. “Why would that be perfect?”

PANEL 1:

LIZZY:  Because if a crab is stealing your shells, do know what we’d call it?

BLUE: I’m scared to ask.

PANEL 2:

LIZZY: A selfish shell-fish shell thief.”

PANEL 3:

Panel: Red and Blue rolling eyes. 

MIA: I think you just made me dizzy.

PANEL 4:

LIZZY: Say THAT five times fast.

BLUE: No thanks.

TEXT & SPOT ART:

“Anywaaaay…” said Red. “Yes, the crab had means, and it also had opportunity — it’s been crawling all around here all day.”

“But what’s its motive? Why would it steal my shells?” Blue asked. Then she gasped. “”Do you think it knows I was collecting them for hermit crabs? Do you think it was jealous of its cousin crabs??”

Lizzy laughed. “I don’t think crabs think like that! But also, I don’t think a crab would take the shells anyway. It needs to keep its claws and pincers free to find food or to fight off predators. So it has a motive to NOT pick them up.”

We were running out of suspects, which meant we were running out of data — and possibly, time. If my parents came up with an antidote for me before we’d solved this, I’d never find out who or what was stealing Blue’s shells. And sure, this mystery probably wouldn’t lead to my big discovery — I mean, missing shells, amirite? — but if I returned to the land-world before we figured it out, I’d never stop wondering.

“How about that fish?” I pointed to a small, gray fish with white spots that was swimming close to the sand. 

“Aha!” cried Red. “It could use its mouth to pick up shells, so it had means. It could have easily reached the shells, so it had opportunity. And as for motive, let’s find out!”

He shot over to the fish. “Where were you three minutes ago?” he shouted. “Who were you with? What were you — “

And then the fish did the weirdest thing — it blew up! It started gulping water and got big and round, and spikes popped out all over its body. 

“WOAH!” cried Red, jumping back. 

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“It’s a pufferfish,” said Lizzy. “They poof up when they’re scared. Red, you should have known better!”

Red blushed and let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, I didn’t recognize it. It startled me, puffing up like that!”

“Well, it was trying to startle you,” Lizzy said. She turned to me. “They can’t swim very fast, so when a predator comes around —” she cleared her throat “— or a really loud merkid — they puff up to scare them away.”

Blue smirked. “And just so you know, Red, when she says really loud, she means really annoying.”

Red scowled. “You’re the annoying one.”

“You’re annoying,” Blue retorted.

“Ahem,” I interrupted. It was weird that mer-brothers and sisters got on each other’s nerves like human ones did. I needed to bring the conversation back to our investigation. “Well, I bet it works. The pufferfish puffing up, I mean. If I was a predator, I wouldn’t want to eat that.”

“You’d be smart not to,” said Red, turning away from Blue and dropping his scowl. “Pufferfish have poison inside them.”

I shuddered. “Good to know.”

“Let’s give this little guy some space and let him relax,” said Lizzy. 

She glided away from the fish, following the edge of the kelp forest. Blue and I trailed after her. Red stayed behind to watch the pufferfish for another minute.

When he finally caught up to us, he was frowning. “You know, I actually think the pufferfish could be our shell thief. Something about him felt… off. I don’t trust him.”

“Something felt… fishy?” I suggested. 

Lizzy stopped so abruptly, both Red and Blue bumped into her.

“Did you just… make a pun?” asked Lizzy.

I nodded sheepishly.

“A fish pun?” She placed a hand on her chest as if to calm her emotions.

I blushed. 

Lizzy gave me a giant hug. “The mermaid in you is growing stronger!” 

Red wiped away a fake tear. “You’ve taught her well, Lizzy. I’m proud of you both.”

Even Blue laughed.

“Okay, okay,” I said, hiding a smile. I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. I pointed to a swirly spiral shell half-buried in the sand. “Look, there’s a shell for your collection!” 

“That’s a good one!” said Blue. “Our little hermit crabs will love it.”

“I’ll add it to the pile,” I said. 

I picked it up and swam back to the boulder. And that’s when I discovered —

You can probably guess, right? Yep — ANOTHER shell was missing!!

Chapter 11

“Um, this is super weird now,” I said. 

“Ok, WHAT is going on?” Lizzy pulled up beside me and looked at the two remaining shells. “There should be THREE shells there — Blue’s two plus the one I added! But there’s only two!”

“Got a hypothesis?” Red asked me.

I shook my head. “We’ve ruled out ocean currents, and our suspects didn’t give us any information. We’ll need to make more observations — look for more clues.”

Lizzy nodded. Then she looked at me with narrowed eyes like she was thinking hard about something. 

“What’s up?” I asked.

She shook her head quickly. “My head is swimming, that’s all. But, I have an idea.” She slipped her hand around my elbow and grabbed Blue’s arm. “Red, you go that way and see if you can find any clues. We’ll go this way.”

“Good call,” said Red. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up. Time to blow this mystery out of the water!”

“Ok, here we go!” Lizzy said. She was talking loudly — like, strangely loudly. “See you later, Red! We’re going this way! We’re leaving now!”

She pulled me and Blue away from the boulder but kept her eyes focused behind us, watching until Red disappeared in the other direction around the kelp forest. 

“You’re acting weird, Lizzy,” said Blue. “You ok?” 

She snapped her head back to us. “No! My sea smarts are firing like crazy. Something’s not adding up — and I have a feeling Red’s behind it.”

I smiled. “Is he acting… fishy?”

Lizzy raised an eyebrow at me. “You had one good pun, but leave them to the masters from now on, ok?”

I blushed. “Right. Sorry.”

She bit her lip. “But — yes, he is, actually, acting fishy. I think HE’S the shell thief!”

“Red?” said Blue. “What are you talking about?”

“Think about it,” said Lizzy. “He sped off to the playground ahead of Mia and me. So, he was alone for a few minutes and could have swiped your shells before he met up with you.”

“I guess…” said Blue. 

“Then, a shell went missing while we were doing experiments with the sand and the current, remember? So, we were distracted and weren’t paying attention to what he was doing.”

“Okay…” said Blue.

“And another shell went missing after we left the pufferfish, when Red stayed behind watching it.”

I frowned. “He did have opportunity each time. But what’s his motive?”

“Yeah,” said Blue. “Why in the sea would he want my shells?”

Lizzy smiled. “Oh, I have a hypothesis about that. I think he wanted to impress the new girl with his detective skills.”

“The new girl?” I blinked. “You mean, me?”

Blue’s eyes lit up. “Ooooo! Red has a crush on Mia!”

“Merpeople get crushes?” I asked. 

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Duh! And — even if he doesn’t have a crush on you — ”

“But he totally does!” Blue interrupted in a loud whisper.

“Ahem.” Lizzy cleared her throat before continuing. “Even if he doesn’t, still — what better way to impress his new detective partner? So that she’ll think he’s the best detective in Bubblonia? He creates a mystery and then, boom! Solves it!”

I frowned. “You think?”

“Especially after he couldn’t solve your human-to-mermaid mystery,” Lizzy added. “He had to do something to prove his detective skills.”

“So you think he’s going to, like, suddenly solve the shell mystery?” I asked. “To make me think he’s a great detective?”

Before Lizzy could answer, Red came streaming through the water toward us. And I’m not kidding, he was shouting:

“Hey guys! I just solved the mystery! Am I a great detective or WHAT?!”

Chapter 12

PANELS (3)

Panel 1:

LIZZY: You solved the mystery?

RED: I totally solved it! I know who’s stealing the shells! 

Panel 2: Red looking smug, Lizzy and Mia exchanging a knowing glance

RED: That’s what happens when you have the best detective in Bubblonia on the case!

Panel 3:

LIZZY (arms crossed): Mmm hmm.

MIA: So who is it? Who’s taking the shells?

RED: Remember when I said I thought the pufferfish did it? Well, guess what? 

TEXT & SPOT ART

“Gee, let me guess,” Lizzy said. “The pufferfish did it.” 

“Yes!” Red spun around in excitement. “Can you believe it? I KNEW that little guy looked fishy!”

“Wow, you’re such a great detective,” Blue said, in a voice that suggested she did not think he was a great detective. 

Red stopped spinning. “I feel like that was sarcastic.”

I cleared my throat. “It’s just strange that the shells disappeared whenever you were around but we weren’t.”

“And,” Lizzy added, “that you suddenly solved the mystery while we weren’t nearby to see it.” 

Red frowned. “I mean — that’s just how things happened. Why is it strange?” 

“They think you stole the shells,” Blue said. “To create a mystery you can solve so Mia will think you’re an amazing detective.”

Red looked back and forth between the three of us. “Seriously?”

“Because you liiiiiiiike her,” Blue added in a sing-songy voice. 

“What? I — she — but — “ Red sputtered, blushing. 

“Or,” said Lizzy, rescuing Red from his embarrassment, “because you want to be known as the best detective in Bubblonia, and this is the way to convince her.”

Red took a deep breath. (Or whatever merkids do that looks like taking a breath.) “Okay. As a detective, I can see why your theory makes sense. But —“ he looked at me sharply “— as a scientist, you’ve got to admit it’s possible your hypothesis is wrong.”

“Sure,” I said. “But as a scientist OR a detective, I’d like to see proof. Evidence. Data. Information. Anything, really. Something that lets me know that what you’re saying happened, really happened.”

Red smiled. “That’s fair! Follow me!”

He turned and flippered away, heading back toward the boulder. Lizzy and I exchanged another glance, and then she, Blue, and I followed him. 

When we reached the boulder, Red turned back to us. “Pop quiz: What do detectives do when they want to catch a bad guy doing a bad thing?”

“I know this,” said Blue. “It was in that movie we saw last summer.”

I looked at her. “How do you see movies down here under the water?”

“Boats and yachts,” she said. “We look through their windows when people are watching TV.” She turned to Red. “They do a stakeout. Detectives, I mean. When they want to catch a bad guy, they do a stakeout.”

“Right!” said Red. “So, we’ll set up a stakeout. And lucky for us, we have the perfect place to hide.” 

He turned and slipped into the kelp forest, beckoning us to follow. 

CHAPTER 13

Red was right — the kelp forest was the perfect place to hide. It was dark, and I could only see a few feet in front of me before the tall stems crowded out my view. The four of us crouched close to the edge of the forest and peered out at the shells.

Red put a finger in front of his mouth as if to say “hush” and pointed toward the boulder. “Okay, now watch.”

PANELS (6):

Panel 1: Mermaids watching, nothing happening.

TEXT: And so we watched.

Panel 2: Mermaids still watching, nothing happening

TEXT: And watched.

Panel 3: Mermaids still watching, nothing happening

TEXT: And watched.

Panel 4:

LIZZY: Are we looking for ghosts?

BLUE: Invisible mermaids?

Panel 5: Red pointing, the pufferfish swimming along the sand

RED: Shh! Look!

LIZZY: The pufferfish!

Panel 6: Pufferfish picks up a shell, merkids look shocked

BLUE: My shell!

TEXT & SPOT ART

“Wait — what just happened?” I said.

“See? I told you!” Red laughed. “The pufferfish is the shell thief!”

I had so many questions, I didn’t know where to start. I could only stammer out, “B-B-But… Fish don’t steal shells!”

Red, still laughing, slapped his knee. (Well, he slapped his tail in the “knee” area.) “This one does!” 

“But why would a fish want my shells?” asked Blue.

Red wiped his eyes. He took a deep breath, slowed his laughter, and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve got no theories on that.”

“It’s time for scientist mode,” I said. “Let’s make some observations.”

I slipped out of the kelp forest and headed in the direction the fish had disappeared. Lizzy, Red, and Blue followed. After a minute, I saw it up ahead of us. 

“Don’t get too close!” I whispered to the others. “Don’t spook it!”

We followed at a distance as the fish swam away from the forest and into an empty part of the ocean where the flat, sandy seafloor stretched out all around us. The water was cloudy and dark. I kept my eyes on the fish and tried to ignore the fact that we were once again completely out in the open, and totally unshielded from sharks. 

“Where’s it going?” Lizzy whispered. 

We didn’t have to wait long to find out. Just ahead of us, through the murky water, a large, complex design appeared in the sand. As we drew closer it started to take shape — a pattern of bumpy, wavy lines laid out in a circle. It looked like a kid’s drawing of a sun, with a flat, round area in the middle and rays coming out all around. The rays dipped high and low like hills and valleys. 

The pufferfish approached the design and then — as the three of us watched — it placed the shell it was holding on top of one of the hills of sand! 

“What in the sea?” said Blue.

The fish had clearly been doing this a while. There were shells all over the design, all over the rays of sand. 

“It’s got my entire collection!” said Blue. “And then some!”

Then the little fish did the strangest thing of all. It swam to the outer edge of the design, turned, and swam along the ground straight toward the center. As it did, it dragged its back fin in the sand and flapped it quickly from side to side. Sand sprayed out to the left and right, piling onto the rays beside it and building up their peaks. The fish did this twice more, and then swam off, heading again toward the playground.

As soon as it was out of sight, we pulled in closer and glided around the design.

“Hopping hammerheads!” said Lizzy. “That little tiny fish made all this?”

“It’s huge!” said Red. 

“It’s amazing!” said Blue.

“It’s awful!” I said.

“It’s — wait, what?” Lizzy snapped her head to me.

I shook my head quickly. “I mean, this is amazing — ” (I beckoned to the pufferfish’s design) “ — but this whole situation, me not figuring this out, it’s awful! Here I am, looking for a big discovery, and all along, there’s a big discovery happening right in front of me and I didn’t see it! How am I going to become a famous scientist if I’m missing things like this?”

“Don’t beat yourself up!” said Lizzy. “None of us saw it! Who could have guessed that a fish would steal shells?”

“Ahem.” Red cleared his throat.

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine — Red guessed.”

Red fake-coughed into his fist, saying, “Best detective” as he did.

“Anyway, Mia,” said Lizzy, “the important thing is, you just found a discovery! This could be the thing that makes you famous!”

“Wait a minute,” Red said. “If this is your big discovery, will you stop solving mysteries with us?”

Lizzy gasped. “You can’t! We can’t be the Salt Water Scientists without a scientist!”

Red cleared his throat. “Scientists? Is that the name we’re going with?”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “Even if this does turn out to be the discovery I’ve been hoping for, I’m not going anywhere until my parents come up with a mermaid-antidote. And as long as I’m wearing a fishtail, we’re partners!”

Red broke out into a huge smile. And I might have been imagining it but it seemed like he blushed a little, too. 

Which I ignored, because… mermaid crushes? Way more than I could handle right then.

“Then it’s o-FISH-all!” said Lizzy. “The Salt Water Scientists — ”

Red cleared his throat again. “The who?”

“The Deep Sea Detectives?” Lizzy ventured.

I cleared my throat.

“I got it,” Lizzy said. “The Deep Sea Salt Water Detective-Scientists are in business!”

“Nice!” said Red.

“Catchy,” said Blue sarcastically. She rolled her eyes, but I could see she was hiding a smile. Then she turned to me. “Ok, Mia. I brought you your first mystery, are you ready for your second?” 

I nodded, trying not to seem too happy that Blue was finally being nice to me. Was she warming up to me? Accepting me as more than just a human? Believing me that I’d keep her secret, and wouldn’t tell people about merfolk and ruin her world? 

“Sure!” I said.

“It’s one that you have to solve RIGHT NOW, okay?” she asked. “Like, RIGHT now.”

I nodded. “Okay, sure.”

Blue smirked, then pointed behind me. “What do you do when you’ve got a tiger shark swimming straight at you?”

I spun around and gasped. It was finally happening — the thing I’d been scared of all day. Gliding right toward us was a huge, mean-looking, fang-filled killing machine.

One that I’d met before. 

“TOOTHY!” I cried. 

Chapter 14

“You know that shark?” said Red.

I didn’t answer. I was too busy stopping a scream from flying out of my throat. 

“Aw, it was Toothy that brought us together!” said Lizzy, in a pretend-sappy voice. “I saved Mia from this shark just a little while ago.”

“L-L-L-L-Lizzy,” I stammered. “W-What does it want? How did it find me? Is it following me?!?”

“Don’t be silly,” Lizzy said. “It’s just doing its rounds.”

“So what do we do???” That scream in my throat desperately wanted to escape and I didn’t know if I could fight it much longer.

“Well first,” said Blue, “stop freaking out.”

“Freaking out?” I said, through chattering teeth. “Who, me? I’m totally chill.”

Lizzy turned to face me and put her hands on my shoulders. “No, really, Blue’s right — you can’t freak out. Sharks are predators. So you can’t act like prey. If you scream, or splash around, or swim away, you’re telling them, Oh no, you want to eat me, which makes THEM think, Okay, you must be food.”

“Yeah,” said Red. “It’s like holding up a sign that says, look at me, I’m a tasty snack.” 

“Okay.” I gulped, trying even harder to squash that scream. “No tasty snack signs.”

Lizzy released my shoulders. “There’s four of us, so the shark probably won’t bother us. And, they don’t usually attack merpeople anyway.”

“We’re not very good eats,” said Blue. 

“BUT,” said Lizzy, “just to be sure, there’s a couple things we’re going to do.”

She turned to face the shark. “First thing — look it in the eyes. That shows it you’re not afraid. Then it thinks you’re a predator, too, instead of prey.”

Red and Blue also turned to face the shark. I copied them, hoping I didn’t look as terrified as I felt.

“Then,” said Red, “we line up beside each other. Not too close, but close enough. We want to look like we’re together, in a group, but also we want to take up space, and look big.”

“Oh,” I said, shaking a little less. “Looking big, like the pufferfish does!”

“Exactly!” said Lizzy. “We ‘pull a pufferfish’!”

The four of us lined up. “What if this doesn’t work?” I asked.

“If the shark gets really close, push it down and away by its nose, like I did before,” said Lizzy. 

I gulped, trying not to imagine putting my hand on a shark’s face. “And — what if that doesn’t work?”

Blue shrugged. “Then we’ve got problems.”

“Okay,” I said, again trying to quell the scream bubbling up. “Okay-okay-okay-okay-okay-okay.”

“Cut it out, human,” hissed Blue. “Stop freaking out!”

“It’ll be fine,” whispered Red. He paused. “But, if it’s not fine, poke it in its eyes.”

The shark swam slowly toward us, taking its time deciding whether or not it was hungry. We floated in place, staring it down. 

“Here it comes, here it comes,” I whispered. 

“Yeah, we know,” said Blue.

“And it’s here!” I whispered again. 

“Thanks for the play-by-play,” whispered Blue.

“And it’s … it’s passing us by! It’s going right by us!” My whisper got as loud as a whisper can possibly get as adrenaline washed over me. 

“Seriously,” said Blue. “We can all see what’s happening.”

“There it goes!” I whisper-shouted. “And it’s gone! Just like that! And it’s left!”

“See?” said Lizzy, smiling and relaxing as it drew further away. “No big deal! Nothing to worry about.” 

“HA HA HA! YEAH! I WASN’T WORRIED!” My voice was coming out a bit too loud and I had a feeling my smile looked slightly maniacal. But all I could feel was relief. “WOW, WE WERE AWESOME! WE WERE SO TOTALLY NOT SCARED! HA HA HA!” 

Red grinned and gave me a soft punch on the arm. “Good job, newbie.” 

“GOOD JOB TO YOU TOO!” I shouted, accidentally giving him a not-so-soft punch on the arm.     

“Not bad, human,” said Blue. “I mean, you were a little weird, but you kept it together. Sort of.” She turned to the others. “Now, let’s get back to finding shells. Those hermit crabs need us.” 

Chapter 15

The rest of the day was a whirlwind. We stopped looking for shells in the playground — we left that area for the pufferfish to pick from — and instead searched through the kelp forest. We found a bunch and brought them back to the Pegasus, where the hermit crabs were still waiting. We dropped the shells beside them and watched as, one by one, they climbed into whichever fit them best. It was pretty amazing. 

 Later, everyone in Lizzy’s pod gathered for dinner, and I met Red and Blue’s parents along with a bunch of other merfolk. Dinner was kelp. Lots and lots of kelp. All the grown-ups kept calling me the exchange student. We gave up trying to correct them. 

“It’s gonna be weird when the real exchange student shows up next week,” Lizzy whispered as she helped herself to another serving of kelp. 

After dinner, some merfolk left, but a few stayed around and we all played charades. Merpeople are surprisingly good at charades! (They were mostly acting out different kinds of fish, though. So I didn’t guess very many of them.) (Okay, I didn’t guess any of them.)

Then it was bedtime. Red and Blue went with their parents to their part of the ship, and I slept in Lizzy’s room, which looked like it was an old storage room of some kind. There were the remains of a few barrels — almost completely rotted away — and some old ropes, also mostly rotted away. 

I slept really well that night. Turns out growing a fishtail is exhausting. Also, I learned that mermaids sleep vertically, like we’re hanging in place. Lizzy said some species of whales do this, too. She told me that just as I was drifting off to sleep, and when she said it, I thought to myself, Whale, that’s an interesting fact. 

And with that uninvited fish pun echoing through my head, I knew:

The mermaid in me was growing stronger. 

***

“Her name’s Lizzy.” It was the next morning, and I was back at the research ship checking in with my parents. I was seated on a lounge-style deck chair, which was the only thing somewhat comfortable for me — mermaids aren’t designed for human furniture. I rearranged the beach towels soaked in ocean water that my parents had draped over my tail. “She’s excited to meet you. But she can’t today. She’s busy.” 

This was actually a lie. Lizzy wasn’t excited to meet my parents. In fact, she was scared to. When she brought me to the ship earlier that day, she’d become more and more uncomfortable as we drew closer. 

“I can’t do it,” she’d finally said. “I’ve spent my whole life avoiding humans. I’m not ready to hop on a ship and talk to them.”

“But I’m human,” I’d pointed out.

“You don’t count, you’re only half-human,” she’d said. “Your parents are human-human.”

I couldn’t argue with that, and she seemed adamant so I didn’t push it. I figured there’d be plenty of other opportunities for her to meet them. 

Unless my folks had come up with an antidote already…

That was, of course, the main thing I wanted to find out, but it hit me that I wasn’t sure what I was hoping for. Did I want them to say, Good news! Your mermaid days are over! or to say, Sorry, kiddo, no luck yet. Just yesterday, turning into a fish-person seemed like the worst thing that could happen to me. But yesterday felt like a lifetime ago. I’d been through a lot since then.

For one, I’d discovered that merpeople exist. And, that they were surprisingly like human people. They made dumb jokes, they annoyed their siblings, and the grown-ups never believed their kids. Just like humans. 

I’d also seen things I didn’t know existed before yesterday, like a hermit crab vacancy chain and a pufferfish who stole shells. I’d eaten kelp straight off the plant. I’d slept in a sunken ship. 

I’d faced down a shark and lived to tell about it. 

I didn’t want to be a mermaid forever, or anything. But, maybe for a little while longer? 

It turned out I didn’t need to worry about it — my parents didn’t have an antidote yet. 

“Soon, sweetness,” my mom said, calling me the nickname she used whenever she thought I needed cheering up. Even though I wasn’t sure if I did. 

I gave them a rundown of everything that had happened since I’d last seen them. Well, I didn’t tell them about Toothy, since I didn’t want them to worry. But I told them all the fun stuff I’d been doing.

And then I told them about the pufferfish. I was excited about this — excited to find out if this could be my big discovery. I could finally stop feeling like I wasn’t as amazing as my parents. Like I might be disappointing them, even if they would never admit it.  

But it turned out, this wasn’t the discovery I’d been hoping for. Other people already knew about it.

“Ah yes,” my dad said. “The white spotted pufferfish. Scientists only learned about them recently. The male makes that nest to attract a female. When a female chooses him, she lays her eggs in the middle and the male fertilizes them. Then she leaves, and he stays there and guards the eggs until they hatch. He stops building the nest at that point, and lets the current slowly push it apart.”

I sighed. No fame yet. Surprisingly, though, I didn’t feel bad about it. Since I’d be stuck as a mermaid for a while longer, I’d have other chances to find my Amazing Discovery. 

Plus, my parents had brought me a new type of cookie the chef was trying out — it had sprinkles, and how can you stay upset when you’re eating a sprinkle cookie?

I hung out with them for a bit longer, then finally it was time for me to head back to the Pegasus. I was feeling super thirsty, and not in a “I need a drink” way, but in a “my whole body is drying out” way. Wet towels on my tail could only do so much. 

So, we said our goodbyes, gave hugs, and I dove into the water. Then I headed in the direction of the Pegasus. 

“You found me!” she said. “How’d you know where to go?”

I blinked. It was a good question. How had I known which direction the Pegasus was in? 

“I — I don’t know,” I said. That’s when it hit me — I had sensed the pull Lizzy had talked about earlier. 

“I think that electromagnetic field thing is starting to kick in,” I said. 

“Cool,” she said. “You’ll be a full-on mermaid in no time!”

I smiled and shrugged. “Any-fin is possible.”

I shrank back, half-expecting her to scold me again for using another pun. But she just laughed and grabbed my hand.

“The mermaid in you is definitely growing stronger,” she said. 

And with that, we headed back to the Pegasus.