Chapter 2

2 Grace looked back at the shore. A moment ago, the cove had been full of people, swimming and playing. Now there was no one here at all! Even stranger, the parking lot had disappeared. In its place grew a huge forest. Tall trees reached toward

the sky, their leaves rustling. The sounds of twittering birds filled the air. "Where am I?" Grace wondered out loud. Her voice sounded strange. Louder and more powerful somehow. A tiny fish popped its head out of the water. It had a purple tail, a pink face, and an orange body and fins. "Wow," Grace breathed. "You're the prettiest fish I have ever seen!" The fish wiggled its fins in a pleased kind of way. And then it spoke. "Thank you. And you're the nicest Sea Dragon I've ever met." Grace laughed with delight. The fish could talk! But it was clearly a little confused. "I'm no Sea Dragon," she explained. "I'm just an ordinary girl. Tell me, little fish—where am I? Everything looks different." "You're in the Magic Forest," the fish said, flapping its fins and sending shimmering water everywhere. "In the Magic Cove at the edge of the

forest, to be precise. My name is FinFin. I am here to help you. Also, you're definitely a Sea Dragon. Just take a look at yourself if you don't believe me!" Grace looked down and gasped. She was still in the water, but even so, she could see her body was completely different! She was covered with gleaming aqua scales, for one thing. And her legs had disappeared! Instead, she had an elegant fish tail. It swished back and forth, keeping her afloat. Then she caught sight of her face, reflected in the water's surface. Tall ears twitched on the top of her head. She also had horns, shining like mother-of-pearl! "Can this be real?" Grace asked herself. It all felt like a dream.

"Try roaring, if you still don't believe it," FinFin suggested. Grace was about to explain that she didn't know how to roar when a funny burbling grew in her chest. She opened her mouth and a huge roar burst from her. It was so loud that a flock of birds in the forest rose into the air like a colorful cloud, twittering in fright. "Did I do that?" Grace gasped.

"You certainly did," FinFin said, clapping her fins together, even though they made no sound. "And that was nothing! When Sea Dragons roar underwater, it can be heard hundreds of miles away. But there's no time to try that now. We need to get to the glade. The Tree Queen is waiting for you." "The Tree Queen?" Grace repeated. This was getting stranger by the minute. "Who's that?" "The ruler of the Magic Forest, of course!" explained FinFin. "She is the one who called you and the other Sea Dragons to help. There is a big problem with the Magic Cove." Grace looked around. The sea was beautiful. Here and there rocks jutted out, glowing in the warm sunshine. Graceful palm trees lined the shore. The cove seemed perfect to her. "What sort of problem?" she asked. FinFin did a flip, sending sparkling droplets flying. "All I know is that it's something to do with the Fire Queen. She hates water! We must be

careful on our way to the glade. The Fire Queen's helpers are the Fire Sparks. They are bad news, believe me." Grace nodded. Just because she couldn't see a problem didn't mean there wasn't one. "How do