Free Amber's First Clue by Gillian Shields Page B

Ice Cavern, hidden deep in the cool, turquoisewaters. But as the friends were admiring the glittering ice statues and examining their lockets, Amber suddenly called out to them.
    â€œLook!” she said, pointing dramatically to a solid pillar of ice in the middle of the cavern. On the top of the pillar was a carved silver casket, which glittered with a thousand tiny crystals. But the casket had been wrenched open, and it was now completely empty. The six snow diamonds, which had once nestled there safely, really were gone! And the whole of Ice Kingdom was in grave danger without them.

    Amber swam over to the broken casket, followed by her friends. They hovered together in the clear water around the pillar of ice.
    â€œWhat’s that at the bottom of the casket?” asked Becky, picking up a small scroll with her dainty fingers. It was made of dark green parchment and tied with bloodred strands of seaweed.
    â€œIt’s a message of some kind,” cried Katie. “Princess Arctica said we might find one.”
    â€œI don’t like the look of it,” said Megan as a shiver went down her spine.
    â€œRead it to us quickly, Amber,” added Jess. “We need to know what it is, even if it’s bad news.”

    Amber nervously undid the scroll and glanced at the cramped black letters. What would the strange message say?

Chapter Two
    Amber took a deep breath and began to read aloud:
    â€œGreetings to the mermaids who dare to
read this message!
You must think you are very clever to escape
my icicle cage, but trouble lies ahead for
you. I am going to hide the snow diamonds
where you will never find them.
The only way to get them back is to solve all
my rhyming riddles—but hurry up!
Ice Kingdom cannot survive without the
diamonds and their magical power.
This snowy realm will become too warm,
and its melted waters will flood far over the
southern lands.
All will be chaos and confusion.
Storm Kingdom will triumph!
So solve the clue to find the first diamond—
if you dare.
How I shall laugh, watching you struggle to
work it out …”
    â€œWhat does she mean?” puzzled Becky.
    â€œWait, there’s something else,” replied Amber. “Listen!”
    â€œWhere you see white ghosts
By these snowy coasts,
There the diamond lies,
Away from prying eyes,
But you must dig deep,
Or else you will weep!”
    â€œSo that’s her silly old clue.” Poppy shrugged. “It can’t be that hard to solve.” Poppy wasn’t frightened of anything or anyone.
    â€œIt looks pretty hard to me,” worried Katie. “What does she mean by white ghosts? There aren’t any ghosts here!”

    The mermaids frowned as they tried towork it out. Amber glided slowly around the Ice Cavern with her hands clasped behind her back, swishing her tail up and down. She glanced up at the glittering ice statues. They gave her an idea.
    â€œThe clue says that white ghosts are by the ‘snowy coasts,’ so they must be here in Ice Kingdom,” Amber said thoughtfully. “These statues—and our stardust lockets— show all the different kinds of creatures in Ice Kingdom, who live under the light of the North Star and are loved by the Merfolk. Now, what are the white ghosts likely to be? Could they be fish? Or seabirds? Or something else?”
    â€œAmber, that’s so clever of you,” said Megan admiringly. “Now, what kind of creature could possibly look like a ghost?”

    They all stared at each other with puzzled expressions.
    â€œOr
sound
like a ghost,” replied Amber slowly.
    â€œI think you’re onto something, Amber,” exclaimed Jess. “Mantora’s riddle must be trying to trick us, so we have to think of something that isn’t the obvious answer. What if she really means a creature that calls out in a sad sort of voice, something that just
sounds
like a ghost?”
    The others looked around hopefully. Amber