Kamina ran as fast as she could. She was angry because she once again argued with her brother Yoko. He'd taken away her beautiful music box. When she opened it, a little unicorn started dancing to an enchanting tune whose name she had unfortunately forgotten. The colorful wooden box with the dancing unicorn was the dearest thing she owned.

Yoko was two years older than her. He had taken the musical clock away from her once before. She remembered it clearly. It'd been on her last birthday when she turned six. Back then, Yoko had even broken a small corner off the dainty little box with the dancing unicorn inside. But this time, she was prepared. She snatched the clock right back out of his hand, kicked him in the shins, and ran as fast as she could. It served him right!

They were just on vacation at a campsite by the sea. The six-year-old liked it here very much. Everything was green, covered with fuzzy shrubs. The girl especially liked that there were plenty of rabbit holes everywhere. She'd already met some of them this year.

Whenever something was beautiful, her brother got wind of it quickly, got it out of her hands, and destroyed it. It was just the same on her birthday. In her anger, Kamina ran on and on. In the meantime, they'd already left behind two of the long, dark hedges that grew between the meadows.

She was already passing the last tents at the edge of the campsite, and she'd almost reached the stairs leading down to the beach when she saw someone hopping on the ground in front of her. It was one of the rabbits! It must have been particularly trusting: Kamina had never been this close to one of them ever before. Although her footsteps made quite a noise, it didn't seem to be afraid of her at all. The girl stopped to rest and breathe for a moment and decided to creep cautiously from now on. She wanted to get closer to the little animal and felt the instant urge to pet it. It hopped away and finally stopped in front of the next hedge. Kamina was amazed. The rabbit seemed to be waiting for her!

The shrubs in the hedges were so thorny and dense that she couldn't squeeze through. But the animals that lived here had made sure that there were a few trails. Kamina knew them pretty well by now. It was already her third time here.

It was strange, but suddenly, a passageway had formed out of the roots and branches of the hedge where the rabbit was sitting now. It almost seemed like a small door.

"The perfect entrance for a rabbit hole,"

Kamina thought to herself. Or had she pronounced it? She wasn't quite sure. And what was even stranger was that the rabbit had answered her! Or had she misheard? Now, the rodent repeated its words.

"Come along!" it said loud and clear. "Yes, you there. You and your friend," the rabbit added.

"What friend?" replied Kamina, perplexed. She couldn't believe that she was talking to a rabbit. She'd only heard such things in stories. At that moment, there was also a knock.

"Knock, knock."

What could that be now? Then she realized that the knocking sound was coming from her music box. She opened the lid of the wooden box, but this time, no music came out. Of course, her brother immediately came back to her mind.

"This time, he broke my clock for good," she thought. But then she heard another voice that sounded very softly.

"Hello Kamina, I'm Flox,"

The girl didn't want to believe her eyes. The voice seemed to come from the little unicorn inside her clock.

"You are alive, and you can speak?"

Kamina asked in a trembling tone. She was stunned. First, a rabbit talked to her, and now it became even stranger: Her favorite toy seemed to be a living being!

"Yes, Kamina. I'm here to take care of you."

"But how can that be?"

Kamina had so many questions.

"I've always been looking out for you, my darling,"

the colorful unicorn said to her.

"And I can do much more than just talk. Watch me."

With these words, the little fairy tale horse reared up briefly. Its fur started to glisten, and its horn shone in all rainbow colors. Then suddenly, it seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Kamina felt dizzy as she watched.

Suddenly, she noticed something even stranger: The unicorn wasn't growing at all. Instead, she seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. At some point, she was even barely taller than the rabbit! The next moment, she already fit through the passage through which it had come out of the hedge. The unicorn was now standing next to her. It was the size of a small pony but the graceful elegance of a noble gray horse.

"Well, what do you think of that, Kamina?" said Flox. The unicorn's voice sounded much more profound and robust than the first time Kamina heard it.

"To be honest, it scares me a little,"

Kamina replied shakily.

"Did you make me small? How will I ever get out of here?"

Flox reassured the girl:

"Don't be afraid, Kamina! I'll always be here for you. I promise you that nothing will happen to you and that you will be back in time for lunch."

As they walked along a shady, narrow passage between the thorny shrubs, he added:

"You know, we need your help. The mermaids are in danger!"

"The mermaids?"

Kamina asked, puzzled.

She'd always dreamed of mermaids when they were on their vacation here. So, now everything pointed to the fact that they really existed? Judging by the crazy things that had already happened to her today, of course, it had to be true! She could hardly believe her luck. She might soon meet some real mermaids!

Flox began to tell her about the inhabitants of the sea. He talked about the conversations the colorful fish had with each other, about the turtles and the giant whales. Finally, he recounted about Queen Neptunia the Second. Kamina learned he was the ruler of the water spirits and mermaids!

After a long walk with many twists and turns and upsteps carved into the cliff rocks, they reached the sea. The water lapped in small glittering waves against the bright sandy beach.

Kamina had the feeling that they had been walking for a very long time. When she looked up, she had to rub her eyes. She almost didn't believe what she saw in the sunlight.

The three hikers were in the middle of a shimmering pink sea. Thousands of flamingos stood row upon row in the shallow water. They were pecking at fish and plucking their feathers.

One of them, standing in the front row, had a strange hat on his head. It looked like a helmet but seemed to be made of some leather. The long-legged bird also wore glasses on his forehead. At the moment, it probably didn't need them. Kamina thought that perhaps the animal put them on to keep insects from flying into its eyes while flying.

"What a funny flamingo," she thought. As if she had asked them about it, the pink fluffy flamingo spoke to her.

"My name is River. I am the guardian of the great sea city, and these are my guards. Who are you, and what do you want?" he added in a commanding-sounding tone.

Having shrunk, the water bird was more than three times the child's size. Flox nudged Kamina with his nostrils. With that, the unicorn simultaneously prompted her to say something, letting her know it still cared for its safety.

"My name is Kamina Sommerspitz,"

she stammered.

"And I am Flox," the unicorn quickly added. "We are already expected by Queen Neptunia the Second. We are here to offer our help."

"Is that so?" replied River incredulously. "So it's you guys?"

He made some quizzical head movements to the second flamingo behind him. The latter immediately bent his long neck further back and whispered something in the ear of one of the other birds. So it went on. Via the silent mail, the news had soon reached the rearmost flamingos, and the game turned around. After a few seconds of awed silence, the second finally leaned over to River and whispered a reply.

"You may pass," the flamingo king said after some consideration. The flock parted in the middle, clearing a path leading directly into the sea.

"Don't be afraid," Flox told Kamina. "If I or one of the water spirits is nearby, you can breathe normally underwater."

For a brief moment, Kamina was overcome with fear again. She had to think of her parents and the time that had already passed since she had discovered the rabbit upstairs. It had to be quite late. Surely, lunch had started long ago, and her family was already worried.

But she decided to be brave. What was happening here was just too exciting. There was no way she was going to miss out on this adventure.

So, she took the first steps into the sea. Surprisingly, the water didn't seem cold to her at all. When they'd gone swimming here until now, it had always taken quite a long time until she had dared to go in completely.

On the way to the sea city, Flox and River, who accompanied them, told the girl about the problems in the underwater world.

"More and more plastic waste is cramping the houses and caves of the water spirits," Flox explained.

"The bags and bottles and fishing nets are a big danger. Last week, even the tower in the center of town collapsed. A net wrapped around it, and the current swept it away."

"But what can I do?" asked Kamina. She had decided that she wanted to help—more than anything in the world.

"Queen Neptunia will tell you," River replied. His voice sounded muffled because his head was still above water. Kamina could only see his red legs at the moment. The flamingo only dipped its head under sometimes to check on them.

Only now did she notice that the rabbit was no longer there. It had followed them to the beach. Now, it seemed to have run back to its burrow. Strange. Kamina had not noticed how it had said goodbye. Would she meet it again? She would have liked to talk with it a little longer. After all, it was her favorite animal, living in her favorite place.

The adventurers were now standing in front of a mighty wooden gate. It was magnificently decorated and painted in all the colors of the sea. River dived under once more and knocked briefly on the gate three times with his beak. The gate opened slowly. They entered the kingdom of the water spirits.

Kamina was amazed. They were standing at the entrance of a giant city. Hundreds of mermaids were buzzing around everywhere. With their long fish fins, they were the best swimmers she had ever seen.

Adults and children swam around behind, beside, and on top of each other. They were going about their business. Some of the children had toys with them, just like she did. Kamina was thrilled. Immediately, she too tried to dive around as happily. But she soon discovered she couldn't be so fast and agile with her human legs—although she didn't think she was that clumsy. Mrs. Pütz, her swimming teacher, would undoubtedly have been proud of her.

Even after this short time, she had been under the water's surface, her locomotion was going well. Poor Flox continued to trot along the bottom. You could tell that this was not his world. Suddenly Kamina saw a group of four young mermaids swimming towards her.

"Hello, who are you?" the first child whispered disparagingly.

"I'm Neria," a shimmering green mermaid interjected in a much more polite tone. She had probably noticed that the girl was a bit intimidated.

"This here is my sister Xiope and my brother Filipe. My brother Merlin over here has already greeted you."

"Hello," Kamina whispered. Her breath caught in admiration. "My name is Kamina, Kamina Sommerspitz. I'm human, and I was brought here by my friend Flox." Kamina pointed backward.

You can't move that fast on the ground underwater, so the unicorn was still some distance away.

"Ah, good old Flox," Neria said.

"You know him already?" asked Kamina in surprise.

"Yes, of course! Everyone here knows Flox. He has helped us so many times. Besides, he's a good friend of our mother's."

"I see. I've only known Flox for a few hours, even though he's lived in my music box for years."

"This sounds funny. You need to tell me about that sometime soon! But for now, let's talk about us. We are four siblings, as you already know. Our mother is the queen here."

The mermaid seemed to think it was necessary to introduce everyone in detail.

"Oh," Kamina replied. "Queen Neptunia is your mother?"

"That's right! We are all water spirits. They also call us mermaids or mermaids. But that's a very old-fashioned term. We like ghosts better. That sounds much wilder. So how do you know our mother?"

"Flox and River the Flamingo told me about her on the way here. I think they want to take me to her."

Kamina told her story. She tried to sum up everything that had happened to her on that strange day. She got along so well with the four water spirits that she forgot about time and became engrossed in the games and the stories they had in store.

At some point, Flox appeared behind them. One of the adult water spirits was also there.

"Kamina, what took you so long?" neighed Flox, who was quite out of breath. "I've been looking for you for half an eternity. We were going to the queen, weren't we? Don't forget your task, my darling!"

Kamina felt guilty. Of course, the task! How could she forget it? She wanted to go on an adventure and help the sea inhabitants with their plastic waste problem.

"Come on, we'll go with you," Neria suggested. "Let's pay mom a visit. I'm sure she won't mind," she told her siblings.

And so the group of six set off for the royal palace in the city's center. On the way, they also passed a pile of rubble.

"This is where the great tower used to stand," Neria reported. Kamina got a proper fright. It was a sad sight.

The magnificent houses of the underwater city quickly reassured her. They were even more beautiful than she had imagined. The girl was especially thrilled by the grand palace of the queen. When they reached it, her eyes sparkled. She had never seen such a magnificent sparkling estate as the underwater palace.

"This is where we live," Neria said.

"This is incredible!" Kamina marveled. The palace guards now accompanied them.

"I'll never find my way back alone," Kamina thought. They had swum through a veritable maze of corridors, halls, and side rooms and had just arrived at the queen's throne room. The path through the palace and the alleys of the underwater city back to the beach and through the bushes to the campsite seemed impossible to her at that moment.

But she had quickly forgotten these thoughts. Her surroundings were just too beautiful to worry about. The hall was so large that even at her average height, she would have fit in without bumping her head.

"Step closer," she heard a warm, pleasant voice echo from across the hall.

Kamina took a few steps in the direction from which she had heard the words. As she got closer, she saw a woman with short white hair sitting on the throne. It had to be Queen Neptunia, Neria's, Xiope's, Filipe's, and Merlin's mother. She looked like an absolute majesty. Kamina could see it in her posture. She was stunningly beautiful. The girl could only guess her age. She had tied her long white hair with a delicate coral hairband. Her white robe from which peeked out her magnificent tail fin, shimmering in all shades of blue and green.

"Hello, mama," called cheeky Merlin. He had already swum ahead.

"Well, who have you brought me?" asked the queen in a motherly tone. Only as the group drew closer could Neptunia see the straggler.

"Flox, my old friend," she greeted the unicorn enthusiastically. She rose from her throne and swam toward him. "It is my great pleasure to see you!"

The two whispered a little among themselves. Kamina could not understand what they were saying. Finally, they came up to her, too.

"This is Kamina, Kamina Sommerspitz of the humans," Flox introduced her. In a fairy tale movie once, Kamina had seen people do a yard curtsy when they met a queen. Of course, this wasn't a fairy tale, but she thought it was the right thing to do. The queen began to laugh.

"We have dispensed with such courtesies down here for many millennia. Do they still do it with you humans up there? A Knix? It's best if you just come here. I welcome you to my castle! I see you have already met my children. I suppose they've already shown you around?"

"Yes," Kamina replied. "They are very kind to me."

"That pleases me to hear, my dear," replied the queen. "Flox has already told me a lot about you."

Kamina looked to the unicorn, who nodded her head reassuringly and affirmatively.

"Only the best," Flox neighed softly.

"I don't know if I can help you," the question finally blurted out of Kamina. She had wanted to ask it all along.

"Hahaha," the queen laughed in her friendly and funny way. "You bet you can, Kamina!" she replied. "You have the gift. Flox told me weeks ago, and now I see it with my eyes. You have to believe in yourself. Come with me; I have to show you something."

Without much hesitation, Queen Neptunia took Kamina aside. They swam to a quieter side area of the hall and took a seat on a bench made of shells. Flox followed them. The young water spirits continued playing in front of their mother's throne. They had discovered some toys there, which they had indeed left during their last visit to the hall.

"Think of some toy," said the queen.

Kamina couldn't think of anything other than her brother's old beach ball. Suddenly, it landed right in her lap. She looked around, startled, and searched the corners for her brother. There was nothing to be seen, however.

Kamina could think of nothing but her brother's old beach ball. Suddenly, it landed right in her lap. She looked around, startled, and searched the corners for her brother. There was nothing to be seen, however.

"Try it again. Take a gem this time."

With these words, Queen Neptunia took the ball from the girl and, with a strong jolt, let it rise toward the ceiling. Kamina felt something cold around her neck and recognized the silver chain with the small amulet containing her parents' pictures. Although she was sure she hadn't even taken it on vacation, it was suddenly here.

"How do you do that?" she asked the queen in amazement.

"Oh, I don't do anything," Neptunia replied. "It's all coming from you. You carry within you the rare gift of imagination. You can make things come true from your thoughts. You've always been able to do it, but the older you get, the better you can concentrate and the better it will work."

"Flox has already shown you what happened to our beautiful city. The great tower that once rose to the sea's surface has recently collapsed. It got caught in a huge fishing net. But that's only a small part of the problem. The whole city is struggling with people's plastic waste. Even the fish outside our city walls and the whole beach are affected. It's even killed some of us water spirits and several other sea creatures."

Kamina was affected. She desperately needed to protect this beautiful world she had just discovered. She had to do everything to preserve it.

"All the townspeople are ready to help. But we need even more protection. You can help us with your imagination. The task is simple and complicated at the same time. Think of something that will keep the garbage away from our city but will not harm the inhabitants of the sea. We tried it before with nets, but unfortunately, fish got caught in them. It was too dangerous for us."

Kamina closed her eyes and thought. She immediately thought of her dolls. She had an exceptional one that she could grasp with her hands. She had also recently gotten a small excavator that could extend its gripping arm. Her imagination was working like never before. She thought of the doll's arms fishing trash out of the current. Flox and the queen watched Kamina. They were both smiling. It almost looked like they could see what was happening in the six-year-old's mind. When Kamina opened her eyes again, she told them both about her idea.

When they all swam back outside together, the whole town was already out. Everyone wanted to pitch in and help clear the underwater world and the beach of trash. Kamina swam with Neria, Queen Neptunia, Felipe, Xiope, Merlin, and some of the guards to the outer areas of the city.

They were in the ocean current and were challenging to reach. To keep up with the pace of the sea creatures, she was allowed to ride a large Napoleon fish along with the unicorn. It was delightful, and Kamina squealed with delight a few times.

In the meantime, she didn't even think about the time. She much preferred to think about all the things she was going to build to help the creatures underwater.

The Napoleon fish set her down on a flat rock. Once there, Kamina closed her eyes again and continued to think. Neria and the others stood beside her and marveled.

Among all the helpers from the city who were diving around and picking up trash, large, encrusted arms like moray eels suddenly emerged from the bottom of the sea out of nowhere. On them were strong hands that could grab anything, no matter how heavy it was. They kept holding nets, plastic bottles, and bags. They even pulled out an old piece of a ship from the ocean's ground.

As time went on, there were more and more arms. There were so many, and they were so long and strong that they could reach the whole underwater city and beach. The grabbing arms worked faster and faster. The mountain of garbage grew.

After everything was clean, Kamina was exhausted. Flox noticed it and took care of the brave girl. The unicorn called for departure, and so they all headed back to the sea city.

Kamina was surprised when they passed the massive pile of garbage on the beach that her fantastic grasping arms had piled up. She quickly realized that it couldn't stay here like this, so with the last of her strength, she remembered a hairy, orange caterpillar she had once seen. The little animal had been greedy and had eaten a substantial green leaf before her eyes.

She closed her eyes once more, and just a short moment later, a huge horde of hungry caterpillars descended on the mountain to eat it with great appetite. When the caterpillars had eaten everything, it became hushed around her. Their color changed. A rich orange became dark brown, and their previously shiny fur disappeared. Instead, they were now covered in leathery skin. They had pupated. Again, a moment later, life suddenly returned to the pupated caterpillars. Through their thinning skin, a closer look revealed little legs and wings that seemed to move faster and faster: six legs and two wings in each pupa.

Suddenly, the time had come. Hundreds of butterflies flew up: One more beautiful than the other. They shimmered in the most brilliant colors.

"Kamina," said Neptunia, the second, when they finally arrived back at the great castle gate. "You saved our city. How can we ever thank you for that heroic deed?"

"May I come back sometime?" asked Kamina.

"You are as welcome with us anytime as my children," replied the queen with flowing white hair.

Kamina looked at Neria, and they blinked at each other. As she strolled slowly back to the beach with Flox after an exuberant farewell in the royal house, she was startled once more. She saw her brother splashing in the water in the distance. When she looked closer, she realized that he wasn't splashing at all.

He was stuck with his foot in something. He must have gotten caught in a fishing net. Have the grapplers forgotten about it? Kamina could sense his fear. She quickly summoned some of the water spirits. They had already been busy neatly smoothing out the seaweed on which the pile of trash had been standing.

Compared to her brother, Kamina and the water spirits were tiny. The boy kicked desperately. But instead of loosening, his bonds only tightened. The water spirits began to loosen the fishing net with a few sharp shell shards. They had to be careful not to damage the skin of Kamina's brother Yoko.

Eventually, they managed to free him, and he could finally continue swimming. When he looked around and saw his sister's eyes, he shook his head in disbelief.

To him, it was just, like a fleeting moment, something tickling his foot. But something he had seen. Was that really Kamina? Why was she so small? And were there colorful figures beside her in the water? He started to rub his eyes. There was no way that could be.

He had gotten caught in something while frolicking in the water and was frightened. Blaming it on his brief confusion, he turned his head away and kept swimming.

"The climb up to the campsite is strenuous," said Flox, who was now back on the beach beside her, shaking out his mane. "Not when you're as tall as a human, though."

"Yes, that's true," Kamina replied. "Can you let me grow tall again, then?"

It didn't take a minute, and Kamina had grown back to her usual size.

"You must have thought you were gone all day, didn't you?" asked the unicorn. "But you must know one thing: When you're small, time passes more slowly. Only half an hour has passed since I made you smaller."

Completely exhausted but overjoyed, Kamina strolled back down the path to the campsite, which now didn't seem so long to her.

"Well, where did you come from?" she greeted her mother. "Lunch will be in a few minutes; you're all wet and dirty. Let's jump in the shower first, sweetheart."

When Kamina and her mother returned from the shower house, lunch was already on the table. Her father had cooked a delicious stew.

Meanwhile, Yoko had also returned from the beach. Kamina briefly looked over at her brother and winked at him. Yoko was a little confused, but he understood what she was trying to say and nodded back at her with a grin.