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doesn’t look anything like a crab,” said Daisy, peering at it.
    The creature looked like a corroded knight’s helmet, a dome with eyes staring out of two holes in the top.
    Daisy addressed the eyes. “Excuse me, but we’ve lost a round rock about this big,” she said, making the familiar gesture with her hands. “You didn’t happen to see it, did you?”
    The knight’s helmet kicked up a cloud of sand and, when the water cleared, it had disappeared.
    “
That
was a big help,” said Daisy, lying back on the rock.
    “Polly said they were terrible gossips,” said Emmy. “It’s probably just a matter of time beforethe word’s out that I’m down here. Maybe I should mask again, just in case.”
    “Please don’t!” Daisy sat up quickly. “You’re much prettier as a dragon.”
    “
I
liked your dragon fish,” said Jesse. “I thought you were awesome.”
    “Thank you, Jesse. And don’t worry, Daisy Flower,” said Emmy. “I’ll only do it if I sense danger. Or need to be small.”
    “Thanks,” said Daisy.
    “Hey, what’s that?” Jesse said, pointing.
    From a distance, they looked like three full-grown human figures made out of clear gelatin—humanoid jellyfish with long arms that ended in silvery tassels. Three dolphins accompanied them, one swimming beside each figure.
    “Underwater ghosts!” said Daisy.
    The ghosts approached at a rapid clip, the dolphins keeping pace with them. What little sun had penetrated to this depth shone like prisms in the bodies of the ghosts and sparkled in their tasseled hands like Fourth of July sparklers.
    “They’re like rainbow people!” said Jesse.
    “Actually, they’re water sprites,” said Emmy. “I can’t remember if Polly said they were good or bad. Just in case, I think I’ll mask before they get any closer.” As quickly as that, Emmy wasback to being a fierce-faced dragon fish.
    In no time, the water sprites and the dolphins were upon them.
    The sprites had no faces or features. They came right up to Jesse, Daisy, and Emmy and stopped, their gelatinous shapes shifting.
    Jesse raised a hand and said, “We come in peace.”
    Daisy gave him a look. Jesse shrugged.
    The dolphins swam up and nuzzled Jesse and Daisy beneath the chins with their bottle-shaped noses.
    “That tickles,” Jesse said, giggling.
    “They’re so sweet!” Daisy said, stroking one dolphin while another one ran its nose through her hair.
    The water sprites didn’t say a thing. Slowly, they began to back away, waving their tassels like an airport landing crew directing planes.
    “I think they want us to follow them,” said Daisy.
    “Do you think we should?” Jesse asked.
    “I don’t know … the dolphins are so nice,” said Daisy. She turned to Emmy. “Do you think we should?”
    “Ess,” Emmy said as she set off after the water sprites.
    Jesse and Daisy followed through the rollingunderwater meadow. Before long, a white arch loomed ahead of them.
    “It’s the jawbone of some kind of whale,” Jesse said. “A really big one. Maybe even a leviathan.”
    “What’s a leviathan?” Daisy asked.
    “Like in the Bible,” Jesse said. “An enormous undersea monster. Look at the size of that thing!”
    The closer they got, the larger the jaw became, rising up as high as a ten-story monument and lined with hundreds of sharp teeth. But it was the sight framed by the arch that really took their breath away.
    It was a massive sailing ship, its hull sparkling black and its sails looking as if they had been woven of pure gold. Twenty-four sails were unfurled and full, as if in readiness for a voyage beneath the sea.
    The water sprites and dolphins led Jesse and Daisy and Emmy beneath the arch and right up to the stern. There, the dolphins nosed their way up the side of the ship, followed by the sprites, who disappeared silently in a burst of bright color that faded into the watery haze.
    “Now what?” said Daisy.
    “Ooool,” said Emmy.
    “It is cool,” Jesse agreed.