The Dragon in the Sea by Kate Klimo

Author:Kate Klimo [Klimo, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-97437-2
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE MOLLYCODDLE

Inside the portal, it looked like the Sultan of Baghdad himself was throwing a wild party in Aladdin’s cave. Everywhere Daisy and Jesse looked, treasure chests overflowed with precious gems and jewels, and barrels brimmed with gold and silver coins.

“Wow!” said Jesse. “It’s like all the sunken treasure in the whole wide world is right here.”

“That’s most astute, young man,” said Yar, swimming up to them. He wore a heavy necklace with a rampant lion on it. “I see you admiring my gewgaw here. Fiendishly decorative stuff, which is why we hold all of our fetes here—aquinalias, sprees, cavorts … mollycoddles, in particular. And if I do say, this is the mollycoddle to end them all. No one in the Eighth would dream of missing it.”

“What is a mollycoddle?” Daisy asked.

Jesse broke in. “I don’t want to spoil the mollycoddle or anything, but Daisy saw a water zombie at our cabin window last night.”

“A what?” Yar said, cocking a budlike ear toward Jesse.

“You know, a mermaid with green skin and red-rimmed bloodshot eyes,” Jesse said.

“Ah! A Red Eyes. Did you now?” Yar asked. “A sign of their desperation, no doubt. They seldom stray far from the Coral Jungle. Not to worry, my dear,” he said to Daisy. “Security on board this ship has never been tighter in general, and in this portal in particular.”

It was at that point that they happened to notice the shivers of sharks of all kinds—great whites, hammerheads, threshers—cruising the portal.

In light of all this muscle (and cartilage), Jesse felt foolish bringing up his lost softball, so he kept it to himself. There certainly was a lot to take his mind off the loss.

“We know that shark groups are called shivers. I wonder what they call a group of merpeople?” Daisy wondered aloud.

Jesse turned to Yar. “Do you know?” he asked.

Yar stroked his whiskers thoughtfully. “Why, I do believe that a group of merfolk is called a welter … unless they are all of the female persuasion, and then it’s called a bevy. A male group is called a heft.”

“And a group of selkies?” Jesse asked.

“A group of us selkies is a tide … and, just in case you’re curious, it’s a drift of kelpies, don’t you know?” Yar said.

There was a massive welter of merfolk here, from gray-bearded grandfathers down to toddlers and tiny little babes in their mothers’ arms. There were tides of selkies of all shapes and sizes and drifts of kelpies—and every single one of these creatures, young and old, was draped in precious jewels.

“Do feel free to deck yourselves out!” Yar said. “There’s plenty to go around. Of course, it’s understood that nothing leaves the portal. I’ve posted a couple of bull sharks at the entrance just to make sure no slippery customers make off with the goods, don’t you know?”

“Hey, Keepers!” Emmy called out. She stood beside an enormous, open abalone shell, its top draped with strings of pearls and emeralds and rubies and sapphires. The bottom of

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