Too Many Dolphins! Read online

  To Anna, Priscilla, and Jen, who are truly mer-mazing

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1. Pearl Problems

  2. Duplicate Dolphins

  3. A Lot of Mouths to Feed

  4. The Troublesome Two

  5. Bookshelf Shenanigans

  6. Museum Mess

  7. Coming Clean About the Copies

  8. Pearl Hunt Thieves

  9. Booth Boxed In

  10. It’s Raining Pie

  11. Roller-Coaster Role

  12. Food Court Finale

  13. Pod-sitively Perfect

  About the Author

  Copyright

  “Holy mackerel, Echo!” I said. “Dolphin pods sure know how to have a mer-mazing time!”

  Echo, Flash, Ruby, and I floated at the edge of Pufferfish Park. Dozens of dolphins were swimming and making clam burgers and playing soccer.

  “Thanks, Lucky!” Echo said. “All the dolphin pods around Mermicorn Island get together every month for fin and games like this!”

  Flash looked from left to right, taking in the whole park. “This is the most dolphins I’ve ever seen in my life. There’s got to be hundreds of dolphins here. No! Thousands! Maybe even millions!”

  Echo laughed. “Probably not millions, but there’s definitely a lot.”

  “I don’t want to show up empty-hooved,” Ruby said. She squinted her eyes and wiggled her tail, and then red glitter burst from her horn. She was using her Baking Sparkle.

  All mermicorns have unique magic that we call Sparkle. Ruby’s lets her make baked treats! Other sea creatures in Mermicorn Island have powers too. Seahorses have superspeed, and dolphins have magical echolocation that helps them find anything they’re looking for, as long as it’s not too small or far away.

  “Whew!” Ruby said when ten pink cupcakes appeared in front of her. “I can’t make dozens of cupcakes at once yet. Ten is my max. Give me a minnow, and I’ll be able to make more.”

  Ruby’s words gave me an idea. “Maybe there’s a shell in Poseidon’s treasure chest that makes fishies’ magic stronger!”

  My Sparkle hadn’t shown up yet, but a powerful mermicorn named Poseidon gave me a treasure chest full of magic shells. I’d found shells that make fishies invisible, let me speak dogfish, make things grow (sometimes too big), and so much more. We call it Shell Sparkle!

  “That would help a lot,” Ruby said. “Especially with Flash’s toy trident.”

  I could control my magic shells’ powers by putting them in Flash’s toy trident. It was mer-mazing! But if I broke a shell, those powers could get a little out of hoof, so I had to be careful.

  “We can’t just float here all day,” Echo said. “Let’s go join in the fun!”

  Just as we reached the edge of the soccer field, a dolphin came to the sidelines and blew a whistle around her neck.

  “ATTENTION, PODS!” she yelled, waving a crab claw clipboard. “I’m here to remind you about tomorrow’s Perfect Path Pearl Hunt! Come see me, Dolly Porpon, if you want to sign up.”

  Dozens of dolphins swarmed Dolly. They looked about as excited as I do when I get a new set of markers. That’s really, really excited!

  “Perfect Path Pearl Hunt?” Ruby asked. “What’s that?”

  Echo shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “Let’s go ask my dads.”

  Echo led the way as we swam toward her parents, Dalton and Phineas. They floated near a mermaid selling milkshakes.

  “Dad! Pop!” Echo said. “What’s the Perfect Path Pearl Hunt?”

  “It’s an event where kid fishies look for eight magic Perfect Path Pearls,” Dalton explained. “They show you all the steps you need to take to achieve your biggest goal and get your heart’s desire. Any-fishy can enter, but dolphins love the challenge. Pearls are so small, it takes extra magic strength to find them with echolocation. It’s at the Narwhal Adventure Theme Park.”

  “That sounds fin-credible!” I said. “Our friend Nelia’s aunt and uncle made that park.” I couldn’t wait for the next time she came to visit so we could all go together.

  “Ooh, ooh, ooh!” Flash said, bouncing on his tail. “Can we enter? Please, please, please, please, please?” Flash talks about as fast as he swims, which is super fast!

  “Yeah! Can we join the hunt?” Echo asked. Her dorsal fin shook again. “It sounds like a mer-mazing adventure.”

  Dalton and Phineas looked at each other. They both had big frowns on their snouts.

  “I’m sorry, honey,” Phineas said. “Kids need to enter in teams of eight. We were going to surprise you and have your cousins come to town for it. But they all got sick with fin-fluenza. They’ll definitely get better, but they can’t make it for the pearl hunt.”

  Echo’s frown matched her dads’. “We’re only the Fin-tastic Four, not eight.” She looked to the groups of dolphins signing up. “If I was in a big pod like every other dolphin, I’d have enough pod siblings to enter. I never get to join pod team games because our family’s so small.”

  Dalton and Phineas pulled Echo in for a hug. “We know, sweetie.”

  Most dolphin families in Mermicorn Island were a part of big groups called pods. But for Echo, it was just her and her dads.

  Echo’s dads left to get Mermaid Milkshakes to cheer us up.

  “I wish I had magic that could make your family bigger,” I said to Echo.

  “If only we had Multiply Sparkle like my aunt Mona,” Ruby said. “We could multiply you until you had as many dolphins as you want. There’d be enough to have an eight-fishy pearl hunt team.”

  Wait a minnow.

  “Maybe we do have Multiply Sparkle,” I said. “Let’s check Poseidon’s treasure chest!”

  Poseidon’s treasure chest was at the foot of my bed, and filled my bedroom with a golden glow. My Leonardo da Fishy poster looked mer-mazing in the glittery light!

  I flipped open the lid. Dozens of sparkly seashells were piled inside.

  “I always love looking at these shells,” Ruby said. “They’re so sea-utiful. Which one feels right to you, Lucky?”

  “Let’s see …” I said. I moved my hoof over all the sparkling shells. I usually felt a pull from my mane to my tail toward the shell that would help us the most.

  Tingles in my hoof took me to a small butterfly shell. It had two oval sides attached together. They were red on the outside and faded to pink in the middle. The two sides looked exactly the same, like mirror images of each other.

  “I think this is the one,” I whispered.

  “Adventure time!” Echo said. “I can’t wait to see what happens.”

  I took the shell in my hooves. I got the most mer-mazing feeling of warm, tingly BUBBLES going from my tail to my horn. That’s the feeling of magic!

  “I can feel the Shell Sparkle in my scales,” I said. “Oh!” A tug on my tail surprised me. I’d never felt that before with any other magic shell.

  “What is it?” Ruby asked. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, it’s just—”

  “Look at your tail!” Flash said. “It’s stretching out. Way, way, waaay out.”

  Flash was right. My tail was getting longer. Pink glitter came out of the Multiply Shell until—

  Pop!

  Another Lucky sprung right out of me.

  “Whoooa,” I said. He looked exactly like me. He had the same purple tail, his mane was the same length, and his horn had the same number of swirls. “This is fin-credible!”

  “Hi,” the new Lucky said. “I’m Lucky!”

  “That’s my name too,” I said. “Nice to meet you, Lucky.” We both put our hooves out to shake at exactly the same time.

  Echo laughed. “You two even act the same!”

  When our hooves touched, the new Lucky started fading back into me. “Bye!” he said. “Nice meeting you.” I felt a whirl in my belly, and then he was gone.

  “That shell would be perfect for getting an understudy for the school play,” Ruby said. “We’d look and act just like each other.” Ruby is the best actress in the whole school. And the best baker too!

  Flash dug around in his backpack. “Before we use the Multiply Sparkle for plays, we need to use it for the pearl hunt. How many fishies do we need to join again?”

  “Eight,” Echo said. “So we need four more players.”

  “I’m sure this will help,” Flash said. He pulled his toy trident out of his backpack. Underneath the prongs was a spot perfect for a shell to fit into.

  Flash passed me the trident, and I put the Multiply Shell inside. Even more magic tingles went through my body. Now I just needed to wave the trident and picture exactly what I wanted the Shell Sparkle to do.

  I thought back to Echo wishing she was part of a big dolphin pod. “If we multiply you, Echo, your pod could get bigger instantly.” But then my tail drooped. “Although you’ll have to be careful not to touch your copies, or they’ll fade back into you.”

  But Echo didn’t seem worried. Actually, she was grinning so big her smile practically reached her blowhole.

  “With four copies of me, we’ll have four new teammates with echolocation,” she said. “If we multiply me tonight, my copies will have time to practice using their magic before the Perfect Path Pearl Hunt tomorrow. Then we can find all the pearls, and I’ll use mine to show me how to find other lonely dolphins and create one huge pod. I’ll never be left out of big pod events again!”

  “That sounds good to me,” I said. “And once you have new podmates, your copies can fade back into
you.”

  I waved the trident over Echo and pictured four new dolphins who looked exactly like her. Echo’s tail stretched just like mine had and more pink glitter came from the shell. Then …

  Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Four new Echoes floated in front of us.

  “Hi!” they all said together. “I’m Echo!”

  Then they waved at the same time. They were perfectly in sync.

  With the new Echoes moving so well together, we would definitely find all the pearls in the Perfect Path Pearl Hunt. Echo would have her new giant pod in no time!

  “I’m hungry,” the extra Echoes all said at once. It was so weird hearing Echo’s voice four different times.

  The Fin-tastic Four and the four Echo copies had all swam over to Echo’s place for a slumber party and echolocation practice. Her house was shaped like a starfish with a room in each arm. We were all crammed in Echo’s bedroom. It was a tight squeeze with eight of us.

  “I can help with that,” Ruby said. Sparkles burst from her horn that became eight perfect lavender tarts. “Eat up, every-fishy!”

  The new Echoes each grabbed two tarts and gobbled them down.

  “Hey,” Flash said. “I think those were for all of us.”

  But the Echoes didn’t seem to care. “I’m still hungry,” they all said.

  “Give me a minnow,” Ruby said. “I need my Sparkle to recharge.”

  Taking care of four new dolphins was going to be harder than I thought.

  “I think we have some Frosted Fish Flakes in the pantry,” Echo said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Frosted Fish Flakes was my most favorite food in the whole ocean. “I’ll help!” I said.

  Echo and I swam into the living room at the center of her starfish house. Her dad Dalton was watching DSPN, the Dolphin Sports Programming Network. “What are you up to, Echo?” he asked.

  “Just grabbing a snack.”

  “Don’t ruin your appetite,” Dalton replied. “We’re making Plankton Pizza tonight.”

  “No problem, Dad.” Echo grabbed my hoof and pulled me behind her. When we got to the kitchen, she said, “We got so excited I forgot to tell my dads we were going to use the Multiply Shell Sparkle. We can’t tell them they have four new Echoes to feed now, or else they’ll know we used the shell without asking first.”

  Echo was right. Our parents didn’t mind us using Shell Sparkle as long as we asked first. But I had an idea how we could make it right.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll take care of them until tomorrow’s pearl hunt. Once we get all the Perfect Path Pearls, your copies can fade back into you. Then your dads won’t have to take care of four new dolphin daughters.”

  Echo looked relieved. “Thanks, Lucky. Now let’s feed those extra Echoes.”

  We looked in the pantry, but there was only enough Frosted Fish Flakes left for one bowl.

  “I can use the Multiply Shell,” I said. “I’ll copy the bowl four times so we have enough to feed every-fishy.”

  Crash!

  It sounded like something fell in Echo’s room.

  “Is everything all right?” Dalton called.

  We swam out of the kitchen as fast as we could. I was extra careful not to spill the cereal.

  “You bet, Dad!” Echo said.

  “I’m just a little clumsy,” I added. “I trip all the time.”

  We got to Echo’s room and slammed the door shut. It was a mess! One Echo was bouncing on the bed, another was pulling out all of Echo’s dresser drawers, and the last two were fighting over the toy trident with the Multiply Shell inside. They must have knocked into Echo’s desk because her lamp was broken on the floor.

  “We tried to stop them!” Flash said. “But they won’t listen. They just keep doing whatever they want. This is so, so, sooo bad, mermidudes!”

  “I can fix this!” I said. I just had to get the Multiply Shell so I could make enough cereal to keep every Echo happy.

  I dashed to the two dolphins fighting over the trident. “Look! Frosted Fish Flakes!”

  The two Echoes’ eyes went wide. “Finally!” they said. “I’m starving!”

  They let go of the trident, and I grabbed it, feeling that warm magic tingle. I waved the trident four times and pictured four bowls of cereal.

  Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! All the bowls appeared in a shower of pink sparkles.

  “Time to eat,” I said. The Echoes all dove for their food. They even chewed and gulped at the same time.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “See. We got this.”

  “Where are they going to sleep?” Ruby asked. “I don’t think there’s enough room for four new beds.”

  Echo swam into her closet. “I still have my sea snake sleeping bag from our camping trip last year. We can copy that.”

  She pulled it out, and I copied it with the Multiply Shell in no time.

  “Oh, I’ve got an idea,” Flash said. “We should make team jerseys for the pearl hunt!”

  Flash found a white T-shirt from the pile of clothes the Echoes had thrown on the floor. With a tingle of magic in my tail and the trident in my hoof, I copied seven new T-shirts. Then I grabbed my favorite set of markers from my backpack.

  “When you’re done with your cereal, you can each decorate your own jersey,” I told the Echoes.

  “Fun!” they all said together.

  “That should keep them busy for the rest of the night,” Echo said. “Then tomorrow I can teach them how to use their echolocation so we will be ready for the pearl hunt.”

  Taking care of the Echoes was going to be easy sea breezy!

  Echo shook me awake the next morning. “Echo 2 and 3 are gone!”

  I practically jumped out of my sleeping bag.

  “Oh, blobfish!” I moaned. “Taking care of extra Echoes is not going to be easy sea breezy!”

  Things had been going so well. Last night, we kept all the Echoes busy decorating jerseys for the pearl hunt. Echo gave each of her copies a number—she was number 1, of course—and let them draw sharks and mermaids and sea dragons all over their shirts. We all had so much fun!

  We even went to bed without any fights over who slept where. But now two sleeping bags were empty.

  “We’ve got to find them,” Echo said, frowning.

  We poked our heads out her bedroom door. We couldn’t hear any-fishy. That must mean Dalton and Phineas hadn’t seen Echo 2 or 3 swimming around. If they had, they definitely would have come to ask who these identical dolphins were.

  “I’ll watch over Echo 4 and 5 when you go find the others,” Ruby said. “We can’t have them leaving too.”

  Flash stretched out his tail like he does before he’s about to use his superspeed. “And I’ll zoom around town to see if I can find the others. See you soon!” He sped out of the room in a blur.

  Ruby looked at Echo 4 and 5. “Hmm … How will we keep you two busy?”

  “I know!” I said. The first thing I did every morning was brush my teeth. I reached into my backpack and pulled out my toothbrush. The handle was shaped like a mermicorn tail. With a wave of the trident and the Multiply Shell, two extra toothbrushes appeared, and I passed them to Ruby.

  “Okay, Echoes, time to get ready for the day,” Ruby said. She led Echo 4 and 5 to the bathroom while Echo and I swam through the house.

  Echo used her magical echolocation clicks, but we didn’t find any-fishy in the living room, the backyard, or the kitchen.

  It did look like some-fishy had made Seanut Butter Pancakes though. They were Phineas’s famous breakfast food. A message in a bottle sat next to plates smeared with seanut butter.

  Dalton,

  Echo and I went to the Mermicorn Island Art Museum.

  Don’t work too hard.

  Love,

  Phin

  “That’s weird,” I said. “You’re not at the art museum with your dad. You’re right here.”

  Echo sighed, a sad BUBBLE coming out of her blowhole. “He must have gone with Echo 2 or 3. I guess Pop couldn’t tell the difference between me and a copy. We’d better find them so we can win the Perfect Path Pearls this afternoon, and then my copies can fade back into me before they take away all the fun things I should get to do with my dads.”

  I put a comforting hoof around Echo’s shoulder just as Flash raced into the room.