The Clamshell Show Read online

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Courtenay, Lucy, author. | Dempsey, Sheena, illustrator. Title: The Clamshell Show / Lucy Courtenay ; illustrated by Sheena Dempsey. Description: New York : Amulet Books, 2020. | Audience: Ages 6 to 9. | Summary: Marnie competes against her friend Orla and Gilly, a new student at Lady Sealia Foam’s Mermaid School, for the lead role of Queen Maretta in the annual Clamshell Show. Identifiers: LCCN 2019057746 | ISBN 9781419745201 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781419745218 (paperback) | ISBN 9781683359296 (ebook) Subjects: CYAC: Musicals--Fiction. | Theater--Fiction. | Mermaids--Fiction.| Schools--Fiction. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.C6813 Cl 2020 | DDC [Fic]--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019057746

  Hardcover ISBN 978-1-4197-4520-1

  Paperback ISBN 978-1-4197-4521-8

  Text copyright © 2020 Lucy Courtenay

  Illustrations copyright © 2020 Sheena Dempsey

  Published in 2020 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

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  Marnie Blue and her friends, Orla Finnegan and Pearl Cockle, were waiting beside a large rocky bulletin board outside Lady Sealia’s office. Marnie covered a yawn. It was early. Much earlier than they usually came to school. But auditions for the Clamshell Show only happened once a year, and Marnie had been too excited to sleep in.

  Marnie’s aunt Christabel, Mermaid Lagoon’s most famous radio star, had gotten her first big break at the Clamshell Show. Now it might be Marnie’s turn. She couldn’t wait. The lights! The music! The famous guests in the audience, the music agents, and the record producers! Marnie had been practicing her singing exercises for weeks. The only thing missing was the audition sign-up sheet.

  “It should be up by now,” whispered Orla. “They said it would go up this morning. Why is it taking so long?”

  Marnie checked the large starfish clock that clung to the wall above the headmistress’s door for what felt like the hundredth time. It had hardly moved.

  “I guess we just have to wait,” she whispered back. “And we’d better keep our voices down.” Lady Sealia was not someone who liked to be disturbed.

  Orla glanced at the small freckled mermaid beside her. “Why are you here, Pearl?” she asked. “This audition sheet is for the singing parts.”

  Pearl Cockle’s singing voice was well-known at Lady Sealia’s Mermaid School. And not for any good reasons.

  “I’m not here to audition,” Pearl said, flicking her golden tail. “I just got up early so I could do some fish-spotting. And then I saw you guys, so I followed you into school.” Her eyes shone. “I spotted a luminous carnival fish this morning. They only come out at dawn, and they are SUPER rare.”

  “Boring,” said Orla.

  “You promised never to be mean to Pearl again,” Marnie reminded Orla. “Not since she helped rescue you from the East Lagoon Rocks—”

  Orla blew her dark hair out of her eyes. “Sorry,” she sighed. “You’re right.” Then she folded her arms and glared at the wall, as if she could change the time with the power of her mind.

  “Although I am going to be in the show,” Pearl added. “I’m playing the rock tuba in the orchestra.”

  “Really? Don’t you have to audition?” asked Marnie.

  “I’m the only rock-tuba player in the school,” Pearl explained. “So I’ve definitely got the part.”

  Rock-tuba players were rare, Marnie knew that. Rock tubas were rare too. There were only two in the whole of Mermaid Lagoon: one in the school Music Cave and a huge one in Clamshell Grotto, where the show took place.

  “Aunt Christabel says the rock tuba in Clamshell Grotto is so powerful that if you blow the low notes too hard, the whole place falls down,” said Marnie.

  Orla’s dark eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  “Aunt Christabel is full of stories,” Marnie admitted. “I never know what to believe.”

  “I’ll avoid the low buttons anyway,” said Pearl with a giggle. “Just in case.”

  Marnie felt a ripple in the current. More mermaids were arriving. They swam straight up to the bulletin board, pushing Marnie and the others out of the way as they tried to find the sheet for the Clamshell Show auditions. The water churned and swirled.

  “Where is it?”

  “Where can I put my name?”

  “I’m going to audition for the lead!”

  “The sheet isn’t up yet,” Marnie tried to tell them.

  But no one was listening. Marnie was jostled around, and pushed into the wall. Pearl and Orla disappeared underneath a pile of multicolored tails. Marnie fought her way to the top of the pile, and waved her arms, trying to get everyone’s attention.

  “The list isn’t up yet,” she shouted, as loudly as she could. “IT’S NOT UUUUUUP!”

  Suddenly, Lady Sealia’s door burst open. Marnie froze at the sight of the tall, silver-haired headmistress. All the other mermaids fell silent.

  “Who is shouting outside my door?” Lady Sealia demanded. “You’ve woken up Dilys.”

  Lying in Lady Sealia’s arms, Dilys the dogfish blinked sleepily at Marnie. Marnie’s heart sank. She knew what was coming.

  “Marnie Blue.” Lady Sealia fixed Marnie with her icy stare. “I’ve said all along that you are a troublemaker. Just like your aunt!”

  Marnie felt her cheeks turning red. Having a famous aunt caused a LOT of problems. Aunt Christabel had been a troublemaker at school, and a few of Marnie’s teachers thought Marnie was the same way. But she wasn’t. It was very unfair.

  “Dilys does NOT appreciate noise at this time in the morning,” Lady Sealia said. “And neither do I.”

  “Yes, Lady Sealia,” said Marnie, squirming. “Sorry, Lady Sealia. Sorry, Dilys.”

  Dilys had already gone back to sleep.

  “Make way!” cried a voice. “Make way please!”

  Marnie heard the clank of a heavy coral necklace. The music teacher Miss Tangle came shooting toward them. Octopuses swim backward, so Miss Tangle bounced off the walls a few times before she stopped beside the bulletin board.

  “Good morning everyone!” Miss Tangle gurgled. “Good morning, Lady Sealia! Good morning, Dilys!”

  The music teacher tickled Dilys under the chin with a tentacle. Her other tentacles put the audition sheet on the bulletin board and stuck it in place with several barnacles. Everyone rushed forward again.

  Marnie realized that she hadn’t brought a pen to add her name to the list. As she opened her mouth to ask Orla if she could borrow hers, Lady Sealia gave her another hard stare. Marnie suddenly had a horrible feeling that the headmistress was going to punish her. Maybe even stop her from auditioning. She would DIE if she couldn’t audition. Why, oh WHY was she related to Christabel Blue?

  “Please take it from here, Miss Tangle,” said Lady Sealia. She stroked Dilys’s head w
ith her long pale fingers. “Dilys needs her beauty sleep.”

  “Of course, Lady Sealia!”

  The headmistress’s study door swung shut.

  “Come along now!” said Miss Tangle, clapping her tentacles as Marnie breathed a sigh of relief. “Sign-up time for singers! The orchestra sign-up is this afternoon,” she added, looking a little anxiously at Pearl.

  “I know, Miss Tangle,” said Pearl. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to sing.”

  “Thank Neptune for that,” muttered Miss Tangle. “Well now!” she continued, looking at the rest of the mermaids. “Who would like a chance to sing in this year’s Clamshell Show? There are solo parts, duets, and places in the chorus.”

  A sea of hands waved brightly colored shell pens.

  “Me, Miss Tangle!”

  “I want to, Miss Tangle!”

  Marnie studied the audition sheet eagerly.

  Marnie almost squeaked with joy. Queen Maretta and the Storm Sprites was her favorite. The story was exciting and romantic. The songs were amazing and she could sing them all by heart. She knew what part she wanted to play.

  “I’m going to audition for Queen Maretta,” Orla said, scribbling her name on the sheet. “What about you, Marnie?”

  Marnie felt a little surge of worry. She should have known this would happen.

  “I’m going to audition for Queen Maretta too,” she said, a bit nervously.

  Orla laughed. “Come on! Everyone knows Queen Maretta had dark hair.” She pushed back her long inky-black locks and looked meaningfully at Marnie’s silver-blonde head.

  “Miss Tangle won’t give the part to you just because your hair is dark,” Marnie said, as bravely as she could.

  “I know that,” Orla replied. “Miss Tangle will give it to me because I’m the best singer in the school.”

  Marnie’s confidence wobbled. Miss Tangle liked Orla more than she liked Marnie. Marnie thought it was because Miss Tangle had taught Aunt Christabel long ago and had never recovered from it. And Marnie did have to admit that Orla had an amazing voice, rich and dark like stormy midnight waves. Marnie’s voice was more like the surface of the lagoon on a summer’s day: bright and clear and sparkly. Which was best for Queen Maretta?

  Marnie told herself not to give up so easily. “You’re not the best singer in the school,” she told Orla. “You’re just one of the best.”

  Orla looked disbelieving. “You’re really going to audition for Queen Maretta?”

  Marnie clasped her hands so that they didn’t shake. She hated arguing, especially with her friends. “Yes,” she said.

  “Well, I guess you can do what you want,” Orla said with a shrug.

  Marnie felt awash with relief. “Great,” she said, and tried to smile. “Can I borrow your pen so I can put my name down? I forgot mine.”

  Orla held out her purple shell pen for Marnie. But as Marnie reached to take it, Orla let go. The pen sank beneath the beating tails of all the mermaids signing up for the auditions, and vanished from sight.

  “Sorry,” said Orla.

  But she didn’t sound sorry at all.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Marnie’s mom said at dinner a few days later.

  Marnie prodded her clam risotto around her shell bowl. “Orla hasn’t talked to me all week,” she said gloomily. “And she avoids me at lunchtime.”

  “Friends are the worst,” said Aunt Christabel.

  Marnie’s aunt was sitting next to Marnie at the dinner table, wearing a large pair of pink coral sunglasses that covered most of her face. She folded up the letter she was reading and put it in her bag. Her pet goldfish, Garbo, was swimming in circles above their heads, annoying Horace the anglerfish as he dangled his light over the table.

  “I’m sure you don’t mean that, Chrissie,” said Marnie’s mom.

  Aunt Christabel picked up her spoon and took a large mouthful of clam risotto. “I don’t mean ALL the time,” she said, chewing. “I just mean SOME of the time. Many of my worst fights have been with my best friends.”

  Marnie’s lip wobbled. “But I don’t want to fight with her,” she said.

  “You used to fight all the time,” Aunt Christabel reminded her. “At the beginning of the year, you two couldn’t stand each other!”

  “Yes, but that was ages ago. We’ve been friends ever since Pearl and I found her when she went missing.” Marnie didn’t mention that they had rescued Orla from the East Lagoon Rocks. That area was out of bounds and very dangerous, and Mom would be furious if she found out.

  Aunt Christabel pointed her spoon at Marnie. “You know what the answer is, don’t you?”

  Marnie shook her head.

  “Don’t audition for the part of Queen Maretta.”

  Marnie almost dropped her spoon. “But I WANT to audition!” she said indignantly. “I want to play the Queen! I’ve been practicing all of the songs, I’ve been doing all of the singing exercises you taught me, and I really think I’d make a good Queen Maretta.”

  “Quite right, darling,” Marnie’s mom said. “I’m not sure you’re helping, Chrissie.”

  Overhead, Garbo darted past Horace. Horace snapped irritably, sending shadows scurrying across the cave walls.

  “Stop teasing Horace, Garbo,” Christabel scolded. “You know he can’t catch you.”

  She took off her sunglasses and dangled them by one coral arm. “I am helping, Daffy. I’m showing Marnie that she wants the part of Queen Maretta more than Orla Finnegan’s friendship.”

  “But I want both!” Marnie exclaimed.

  “Sometimes you have to choose between a friend and a career.”

  Something in Christabel’s voice made Marnie look up. To her surprise, her aunt’s eyes looked a bit red and puffy. Had she been crying?

  Christabel slid her sunglasses over her eyes again. “I have to go,” she said, rising from the table and picking up her bag. “Come along, Garbo. My Big Blue Show won’t make itself.”

  And she swept out of the kitchen with Garbo beside her.

  “I’ve never seen my aunt cry before,” Marnie told Pearl as they swam to school the next day. “Her eyes were bright red.”

  Pearl’s own eyes turned misty. “Maybe she was crying about her true love.”

  Marnie sighed. “Not this again, Pearl. I honestly don’t think Aunt Christabel has a true love,” she said.

  “We all saw her crystal tears that day in the Radio SeaWave studio,” Pearl insisted. “Everyone knows that mermaids only weep crystal tears for their true love. And remember the words we found carved near the East Lagoon Rocks when we rescued Orla? Christabel loves Arthur. There’s only one Christabel I know in this lagoon, and Arthur’s her true love, whoever he is. I just know it.”

  “But she’s never mentioned anyone named Arthur,” Marnie objected, “and we don’t know anyone with that name.”

  “Then it’s a tragic true love,” said Pearl in triumph. “That’s the best kind.”

  “Maybe she was just allergic to Mom’s clam risotto,” Marnie suggested. “Oh, Pearl, what am I going to do about Orla? She’s definitely ignoring me and sulking. I want to stay friends with her, but I need to do this audition.”

  “That’s your answer,” said Pearl. “You want to stay friends, but you need to audition. Need always wins.”

  Marnie didn’t think it was as simple as that.

  “It’s only the first audition,” Pearl added. “Maybe neither of you will get the part of Queen Maretta. Come on, or we’re going to be late.”

  There weren’t many seats left in the large Assembly Cave at the top of School Rock. Marnie looked around uneasily. There were a LOT of mermaids waiting to audition. How many of them wanted the part of Queen Maretta? Maybe Pearl was right. Maybe neither she nor Orla would get it.

  “We will go in groups,” said Miss Tangle when the school scallops had flapped back to the main office with the registers. “Dora Agua, Mabel Anemone, Lupita Barracuda, Marnie Blue? You’re up first.”


  Dora Agua looked worried. She raised her hand. “Miss Tangle?” she said. “Can we audition in private?”

  “If you can’t audition in front of an audience, you’ll never be able to sing on the Clamshell Stage, Dora,” said Miss Tangle. She beckoned with all eight of her tentacles. “Don’t dawdle now.”

  Marnie checked her tail, which she’d polished especially for today’s auditions, and swallowed her nerves. Every eye in the Assembly Cave followed Dora, Mabel, Lupita, and Marnie as they swam on to the stage. Even Lady Sealia’s portraits on the rocky walls seemed to be watching. Marnie snuck a glance at Orla, who was sitting near the front. She tried her hardest not to mind when Orla looked away.

  “You’ve all learned the audition piece?” asked Miss Tangle.

  Marnie had been singing the songs from Queen Maretta and the Storm Sprites for years with her aunt. She knew the audition piece so well that it had been creeping into her dreams all week. She nodded with the others.

  “Then away we go!” said Miss Tangle, lifting her tentacles. “You’ll each sing a verse. Marnie, you can start.”

  “Over the water, over the blue,” Marnie sang.

  “Traveling far away from you,

  Into the dark where the storm sprites fly,

  Wishing you could stay close by . . .”

  The song was about Queen Maretta leaving her love, Prince Cobalt, and going to war with the storm sprites without knowing if she’d ever come back. It was so sad and beautiful that Marnie could feel her eyes pricking with tears.

  If Aunt Christabel really had been thinking about her tragic true love at dinner, no wonder her eyes had been puffy.

  “Lovely!” exclaimed Miss Tangle when all four mermaids had sung. “Apart from you, Lupita dear. You were flat.”

  Lupita sighed.

  “You can be in the chorus,” said Miss Tangle kindly. “There may be some extra spaces. Dora, you were a little off-key too. I think it might be best if you worked in stage management. Marnie and Mabel? Good work. I’ll see you at the second auditions this afternoon.”

  “Well done!” Pearl said enthusiastically as Marnie swam back to her seat with her mind in a whirl. “You were great!”