Princess of the Wild Sea


 
 Cover
 Also by Megan Frazer Blakemore
 Title Page
 Dedication
 PART ONE
 
 CHAPTER ONE
 CHAPTER TWO
 CHAPTER THREE
 CHAPTER FOUR
 CHAPTER FIVE
 CHAPTER SIX
 CHAPTER SEVEN
 CHAPTER EIGHT
 
 
 PART TWO
 
 CHAPTER NINE
 CHAPTER TEN
 CHAPTER ELEVEN
 CHAPTER TWELVE
 CHAPTER THIRTEEN
 CHAPTER FOURTEEN
 CHAPTER FIFTEEN
 CHAPTER SIXTEEN
 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
 CHAPTER NINETEEN
 
 
 PART THREE
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY
 CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
 CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
 CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
 
 
 PART FOUR
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
 CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
 CHAPTER THIRTY
 CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
 CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
 
 
 PART FIVE
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
 CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
 CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
 CHAPTER FORTY
 CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
 CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
 CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
 CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 eCopyright
 
 
 
 Also by Megan Frazer Blakemore
 The Water Castle
 The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill
 The Friendship Riddle
 The Story Web
 
 The Firefly Code
 The Daybreak Bond
 
 BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS
 Bloomsbury Publishing Inc., part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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 This electronic edition published in 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS, and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 First published in the United States of America in January 2023 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
 Text copyright © 2023 by Megan Frazer Blakemore
 Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Khoa Le
 All rights reserved 
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 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Blakemore, Megan Frazer, author.
 Title: Princess of the wild sea / Megan Frazer Blakemore.
 Description: New York : Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2023.
 Audience: Ages 8–11. | Audience: Grades 4–6
 Summary: Cursed Princess Harbor Rose lives on a remote island as she waits for a hero to sweep her away, but when a foe rooted in dark magic threatens her beloved island, Harbor Rose must find a way to call the hero before time runs out.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022027906 (print) | LCCN 2022027907 (ebook)
 ISBN: 978-1-5476-0956-7 (HB)
 ISBN: 978-1-5476-0957-4 (eBook)
 Subjects: CYAC: Blessing and cursing—Fiction. | Princesses—Fiction.
 Magic—Fiction. | Islands—Fiction.
 Classification: LCC PZ7.B574 Pr 2023 (print) | LCC PZ7.B574 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022027906
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022027907
 Book design by Yelena Safronova
 To find out more about our authors and their books please visit www.bloomsbury.com where you will find extracts, author interviews and details of forthcoming events, and to be the first to hear about latest releases and special offers, sign up for our newsletters.
 For Dad,
 who loves the sea and telling stories
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER ONE
 Three days after Harbor Rose turned twelve, a boy washed up on the shore of Small Island. While many things had washed up there, only once before had a child.
 The day of Harbor’s birthday started off typically enough. Harbor ran down the hill from her cottage to The Place Where Things Wash Up hoping to beat Mr. Coffin, but he was already there. He waded in the water where it lapped at the small beach. His pants were rolled up to his calves, his blue shirt neatly tucked in, and his straw hat was pressed firmly onto his head. He held a basket brimming with treasures.
 Harbor scowled. “Good morning, Mr. Coffin.”
 Each morning the two hurried to The Place Where Things Wash Up. Whoever got there first got first dibs.
 Mr. Coffin reached his hand into the water and pulled out something black and rectangular. He turned it over in his hand. There was a hinge at one end and a seam all around. Carefully, he unfolded it. The bottom half was an array of buttons, each with a single number. The top was a gray bit of glass.
 “What you got there?” she asked.
 Without looking up, Mr. Coffin said, “I don’t need some freckle-faced girl taking my things.”
 She brushed her fingers over her cheeks, which were, in fact, freckled. Her sun-blonde hair whipped into her mouth.
 “Is it an adding machine?” she asked.
 “Hmm,” he said.
 “Does it work? Can you turn it on? Let me see,” she begged, stepping into the water to get a better look.
 He dropped it into his basket. “It is none of your concern.”
 Harbor wanted to tell him that, as a princess, everything was of her concern, but she knew Mr. Coffin would only laugh. She was a princess, but no one treated her like one.
 Small Island was part of The Lands of Lapistyr. In her more melodramatic moments, Harbor described herself as an exiled princess. She would flop onto the ground, throw her arm over her forehead, and proclaim, “I am banish-ed!” She was not, in fact, banished. She was simply away from her homelands for a time—for her own safety.
 Mr. Coffin splashed farther into the water.
 “Can I just see it?” she asked.
 Mr. Coffin stood up straight. “You are like a cat,” he told her. “And your curiosity will surely be the death of us all.”
 Mr. Coffin was prone to his own bouts of melodrama.
 She couldn’t get her mind off that strange little black box. Mr. Coffin’s unwillingness to share it made her even more set on seeing it. “Mr. Coffin, do you know what today is?”
 “Tuesday.”
 “No,” she said. “Well, yes. But it’s also my birthday, and since it’s my birthday maybe you could—” But as she spoke, Mr. Coffin’s face did something funny. It tightened and softened at the same time, like it was at war with itself.
 “I know.” His voice, too, battled itself, soft and hard, rough and smooth.
 Maybe he was mad because