Something's Fishy (5 page)

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Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: Something's Fishy
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Wow! This sure was fun.
Then suddenly, a dark shadow fell over Katie. She looked up just in time to see a huge nurse shark. And even with her fish eyes, she could clearly see those giant teeth—fish-eating teeth—heading right for her!
Katie gulped. This was soooooo not good!
Chapter 8
Any second now, Katie was going to become the shark’s main course. It was swimming faster now, its big mouth wide open. Man, those teeth looked sharp.
Katie wanted to scream for help. But she was a fish. She couldn’t scream.
The shark came closer.
Katie swished her fins as fast as she could. But the big fish was much faster than she was.
The shark came closer, still.
Just then, Katie’s fish eyes spotted a big white sea anemone just a few inches away.
A safe base, just like in the game
.
Quickly, Katie burrowed herself deep into the anemone’s white tentacles. The shark swam right by without even stopping.
“It works!” Katie shouted out with excitement. Of course, no sounds actually came out of her mouth. But a whole lot of water bubbles blew all around her.
Katie’s little fish heart was pounding. That had been so scary. Suddenly, she didn’t want to do any more twists or somersaults in the water. She didn’t want to play tag with the other clown fish.
She just wanted to be Katie Kazoo again—a ten-year-old girl who was on the
other side
of the tank.
But for now, she was a clown fish. And she couldn’t hide in the sea anemone forever. Katie didn’t know if sea anemones could get mad, but just in case, she didn’t want to overstay her welcome.
Katie poked her head out to make sure the shark was gone. Once she was certain it was safe, she swam back out into the open water. Then she looked around for the other members of the clown fish school. She didn’t see any of them. She was all alone in this part of the tank.
Just then, something else caught her eye. Something bright and shiny. Right there, on the bottom, near a pretty starfish. What was it?
Katie the clown fish swam over to investigate. Now the shiny object became clear to her. A shiny rock, attached to a gold circle. It took a moment before her little fish brain understood what she was looking at. The object was a ring.
And not just any ring!
It was Ms. Sweet’s engagement ring.
Katie began whirling and twirling excitedly in the water. She’d found Ms. Sweet’s ring. She knew exactly where it was. This was so great.
Or was it?
Sure, Katie knew where the ring was. But she couldn’t tell anyone. As long as Katie was a fish, Ms. Sweet’s diamond engagement ring would be buried treasure at the bottom of the sea—er, aquarium.
Before she could think what to do, Katie felt a sudden change in the water around her. It was moving.
Oh no! Was another shark coming?
The water grew cooler, almost cold, as it blew around her tail fins. Katie didn’t like the feeling at all. It was creepy—like icy fingers pounding on her little fish spine.
Katie looked around. None of the plants around her seemed to be moving with the blowing water.
None of the other sea creatures seemed to feel the breeze either. The starfish was still sitting quietly on the ground. And the sea anemone’s tentacles were perfectly still.
It seemed like the wind was only blowing on Katie the clown fish. Which made sense because this was no ordinary wind. This was the magic wind.
The magic wind was just as powerful underwater as it was outside in the air. A moment later, the wind was blowing so wildly that Katie thought her tiny fish body would be blown right out of the tank.
She wished she could shut her eyes in fear—but she couldn’t. She had to face this tornado with both eyes wide open. Round and round it blew, circling wildly about Katie.
And then it stopped. Just like that.
The magic wind was gone.
Chapter 9
And Katie Kazoo was back!
“Katie, what’s all over your shirt?” Suzanne asked as Katie looked around a moment later.
Katie breathed a sigh of relief as she stared into Suzanne’s face. She had never been so happy to see her best friend in her whole life! “Oh, that’s just water,” she told Suzanne. “I think it must be from the water fountain over there.”
“Where else could it be from?” Suzanne said sarcastically. “It’s not like you took a swim in the tank or anything.”
Katie grinned slightly to herself. Then she looked down at the school of clown fish. One of them was swimming around in circles, as if it was trying to figure out what had just happened in the tank.
Poor little fish. There was no way Katie could explain this to them.
Or to anybody else, for that matter
. “No,” she told Suzanne. “Of course I didn’t go in there.”
“This trip has turned out to be just awful, hasn’t it?” Becky remarked.
“Ms. Sweet’s party is ruined,” Suzanne said.
Ms. Sweet! Katie had almost forgotten. “Hey, I think I know where Ms. Sweet’s ring is!” Katie shouted out excitedly.
Everyone stopped talking and stared at her.
“Katie, this is no time for jokes,” Mr. G. warned.
“I’m not joking,” Katie assured him. “Look. See? It’s right down there, by the starfish.”
“Which starfish?” Suzanne asked. She sounded like she didn’t believe Katie at all. “There are, like, a million of them down there.”
Katie pointed down toward the bottom of the tank. “The starfish near the white sea anemone where I was . . . I mean, where
that orange clown fish
was hiding.” Whoops. That had been a close one.
“Show me, please,” Ms. Sweet asked Katie, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her down the ramp toward the bottom of the tank.
The other kids and Mr. G. all hurried close behind them. In a flash, the whole fourth grade was on the ground floor of the aquarium, staring at the starfish through the glass.
“See, over there,” Katie said, pointing right at the ring.
“Oh my goodness, you’re right!” Ms. Sweet exclaimed. “I can see it sparkling on top of the gravel. I have to go tell that guard. He said the divers would get the ring if I knew exactly where it was. And now I do.”
“I’ll go tell him,” Kevin assured Ms. Sweet. Katie could tell by the look on his face that he was very relieved. Now he wouldn’t be hated by all of class 4B anymore.
“I’ll go with him,” Mr. G. added. He smiled at Ms. Sweet. “You and Katie just stay right here and keep an eye on that ring.”
 
A few moments later, a diver in a black wet suit appeared in the tank. The kids all watched as she swam along with the fish and sharks, traveling toward where the ring was.
“It’s right there!” Suzanne said. She banged on the glass. “Don’t worry, Ms. Sweet,
I’ll
make sure she doesn’t miss it.”
“Suzanne, stop banging on that glass,” Katie insisted. “You might scare a fish so badly, it’ll swim right into a shark’s mouth.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” the guard told Katie. “The divers feed the sharks plenty of food. None of the predators hunt for prey because they’re not hungry. All of our fish are safe in there.”
Wow. Katie felt much better. She hadn’t put that clown fish in any danger after all.
“But that doesn’t mean you can bang on the glass, young lady,” the guard continued, turning toward Suzanne. “It upsets the fish. That’s why it’s against the rules.”
A moment later, the diver swam up to the glass so that she was face to face with Ms. Sweet. She held the ring up so she could see it.
Ms. Sweet smiled brightly. She mouthed the words “thank you” to the diver. The diver gave her a thumbs-up and then swam toward the top of the tank. A moment later, Ms. Sweet had her ring back.
The grateful teacher turned and gave Katie a big hug. “Katie, you’re amazing!” she exclaimed. “How did you ever spot my little ring in that big tank? I would think you’d practically have to be right next to it to see it.”

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