Summer of the Sea Serpent: A Merlin Mission

swam down his throat. Before he knew it, Jack had swallowed all the fish whole! But he didn’t mind. He laughed a seal laugh full of bubbles.
    Onward, Kathleen!
clicked Teddy.
Lead us to the Jellyfish Cave!

T he four seals paddled with ease through the sunlit waters of the Selkie Cove and into the Jellyfish Cave. The water in the cave was cold and murky. But in his seal body, Jack was warm; and with his seal eyes, he could see clearly.
    As they swam farther and farther into the cave, the jellyfish began to appear. At first there were just a few. Then there were hundreds … then thousands … pink jellyfish, purple jellyfish, orange and chocolate-colored jellyfish … jellyfish as big as umbrellas andas small as pennies … jellyfish shaped like bells, saucers, parachutes, mushrooms, cannonballs … jellyfish as bright as candle flames and jellyfish as clear as glass.

    Some of the jellyfish pulsed in and out as they swam. Others silently drifted by, their long stinging tentacles trailing behind them. As Jack swam among the jellyfish, he wasn’t afraid at all. His tough seal skin protected him completely.
    Finally Kathleen led Jack, Annie, and Teddy through a narrow passage of the cave and into the milky-green waters of the third cove.
    The four seals poked their heads above the surface of the water and took deep gulps of air. Jack’s whiskers twitched as he looked around the Cove of the Stormy Coast.
    The cove was completely silent. It was lit with a hazy, warm light. The water was flat calm, without a single ripple. Circling the cove were strange green hills that shimmered in the afternoon light. Snowcapped mountains loomedabove the hills. Jack could see the tree with the magic tree house on a distant sea cliff.
    Climb onto those rocks and dry off!
Kathleen barked.
    They all swam to a small rocky island in the middle of the cove. Jack hoisted his blubbery, tear-shaped body out of the water. He flopped beside the others and puffed and groaned. The seal body that had felt so graceful underwater now felt heavy and awkward.
    Jack’s skin began to feel tighter and tighter in the sunlight. Almost before he knew it, the skin had slipped from his body like old wrapping paper. He was human again—lying on the rock in his shorts and T-shirt. He sat up and pushed his glasses into place.
    “That was great!” said Annie.
    Jack looked at her. The same magic had happened to Annie and the others. They were all human again.
    “Yeah, it was,” Jack said happily. He lookedaround. “And I don’t see any signs of a winter storm here.”
    “No, but still, I do not like the looks of this place,” said Teddy. The boy sorcerer frowned as he peered around at the cove. “It gives me the quivers.”
    Jack glanced anxiously at Teddy. If Teddy was afraid, something
must
be wrong. Teddy never acted as if he were afraid of anything.
    “Well, the day wears on,” Teddy said, looking up at the sinking sun. “Let us hurry ashore to find the sword, so we can leave this cove as quickly as possible.”
    “I fear our search may be difficult,” said Kathleen. “Look.”
    A dense gray fog was rolling down from the mountains. As they watched, the fog hid the sea cliff where their tree house had landed. Within moments, the fog had completely covered the green hills. Then it swept over the windless waters of the cove.
    “Oh, dear,” said Kathleen. “The Cloak of the Old Gray Ghost is upon us.”
    “The Cloak of the Old Gray Ghost?” asked Annie.
    “Aye, that’s what we selkies call a very thick fog,” said Kathleen.
    “And that’s a line in Merlin’s rhyme!” said Annie.
“Dive
’
neath the Cloak of the Old Gray Ghost!”
    Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “Gray Ghost” wasn’t a ghost at all! It was just another name for fog. “So I guess we just go ashore and look for the sword under the fog somewhere,” he said.
    “The rhyme says we
dive,
” said Teddy. “So perhaps we do not go ashore at all.”
    “Oh, right,” said Jack. “Does that mean we get to turn back into seals?” Shivering in the cold fog, he was eager to slip back into his warm, protective seal body.
    “I fear we cannot
all
be seals,” Kathleensaid, “for how could we grasp a heavy sword with our flippers?”
    “You and Teddy be the seals, then, and look for the sword,” said Annie. “Jack and I can swim down and grab it after you show us where it is.”
    Jack was about to say he’d rather be a seal. But before he could speak, Teddy