Free Katie and the Snow Babies by Gillian Shields

Prologue
    When the evil mermaid Mantora tried to destroy Coral Kingdom, she was outwitted by Misty and her young mermaid friends. Now she is hatching another terrible plot! This time it is against Ice Kingdom, the frozen realm of Princess Arctica.
    Mantora has stolen six precious snow diamonds from the underwater Ice Cavern. Not only that, she has trapped Princess Arctica and her goodMerfolk in a huge cage of enchanted icicles, so they cannot follow her.
    Unless the snow diamonds are quickly returned to the Ice Cavern, the whole of Ice Kingdom will be destroyed and the distant southern lands will be flooded with melted ice.
    Only Princess Arctica’s courageous young mermaids—Amber, Katie, Megan, Jess, Becky, and Poppy—are small enough to slip through the jagged bars of Mantora’s frosty cage. They are Sisters of the Sea, who are loyal to the Mermaid Pledge:
    We promise that we’ll take good care
Of all sea creatures everywhere.
We’ll never hurt and never break,
We’ll always give and never take.
And as we fight Mantora’s threat,
This saying we must not forget:
“I’ll help you and you’ll help me,
For we are Sisters of the Sea!”
    Â 
    Katie and her friends vow to find the snow diamonds, before their frosty home melts forever. They set off on their quest, taking with them only Princess Arctica’s blessing and their stardust lockets.
    Mantora has left behind a trail of cryptic clues about where she has hidden the diamonds. Can Katie and her friends solve Mantora’s riddling rhymes and rescue the snow diamonds in time to save Ice Kingdom?
    If you cannot find the diamonds,
The ice will start to melt.
On all sides of the ocean,
The danger will be felt.
No more will seals and polar bears
Enjoy their snowy home,
The seas will rise, the lands will flood—
Storm Kingdom will have come!
So try to solve the riddling clues
Of Mantora’s cruel game,
But if you fail to work them out,
The world won’t be the same …

Katie

Chapter One
    â€œWhat does it say, Amber?” asked Katie. The Sisters of the Sea were gathered on the ice, next to the cold, deep waves. Amber was holding a sinister purple parchment, covered with spidery black writing. It was a message from their enemy, Mantora, who had stolen and hidden the precious snow diamonds.
    Katie and her brave young friends—Amber, Megan, Jess, Becky, and Poppy—had vowed that they would find all the diamonds in time to save Ice Kingdom. They already found the first one when they rescued Benjy, a baby beluga whale, from an underwater trap. Now Benjy and his family were swimming freely in the sparkling water that lapped against the ice edge.

    Amber looked up anxiously. “It’s the clue to find the second snow diamond,” she said. “I’m too nervous to read it. Could you do it please, Katie?”
    Katie pushed her long dark braid over her shoulder, smoothed out the parchment, and began to read aloud:
    â€œWhere the kings of the ice
Meet the lords of the sea,
A diamond falls from the sky—
Very strange, you’ll agree!
So search high and low,
If you want to save your snow!”
    â€œMantora has written something else underneath,” she added.
    â€œYou may have found the first
diamond, you little busybodies, but
it is useless without the other five.
I’m giving you a chance to find the
    second one, though. All you
have to do is solve my riddle—fast!”
    â€œOh, this clue is so hard,” groaned Megan. “What does it mean—‘kings of the ice’ and ‘lords of the sea’?”
    All the mermaids looked puzzled. Then Becky said shyly, “My father says that the polar bear is the king of the ice. Does that help?”
    â€œPolar bears!” said the others. “Of course, they are stronger than any of the other creatures who roam the icy lands.”
    â€œBut what about the ‘lords of thesea’?” asked Jess, running