Mermaid Magic (8 page)

The huge shark was heading straight towards them, its white teeth flashing. Then it seemed to sniff something it liked better. It batted Murdoch and Rani to one side and swam past them, heading straight for the others.

Rani and her father yelled out a warning, but it was too late. The shark had already trapped Miriam, Kai, Octavius and Roscoe. As they trembled against the rock face, the shark’s evil black eyes glinted in pleasure at the prospect of such a yummy dinner.

That’s when Rani heard the shark’s thoughts floating towards her through the water. Rani’s magic meant that she could often hear the thoughts of other sea creatures.The shark was smelling a mixture of mermaids and ...

“Octavius! Throw him your stew!” Rani shouted. “That’s what he can smell!”

Octavius hastily untied his arms and pushed all the containers of stew towards the shark’s open mouth. As the shark started to crunch it up greedily, Octavius and the others slipped past to join Murdoch and Rani.

“Quick!” said Murdoch urgently. “It won’t take him long to get through that lot.”

“Where’s Rani going?” Kai asked suddenly.

Rani was swimming away from them, back towards the bush which had concealed the entrance to the shark’s cave. “I have to get Morva’s shell!” she called back. “You go on. I’ll catch up with you in a minute!”

Rani spotted the shell straight away, gleaming up at her from a bunch of dark green seaweed. She picked it up and fastened it securely to her belt just as Murdoch caught up with her. He grabbed her firmly by the arm.

“I’m sorry, Father, but this shell is important,” Rani said.

“So are you!” snapped her father. “Now, just
swim
! Before that shark realizes that the stew he’s munching doesn’t contain any mermaids at all!”

Chapter Three

“
I
t’s not far now,” Miriam said, when Rani and Kai started to protest that they were getting tired. As they swam over a sandy opening in the rocks where lots of colourful fish darted about, Miriam became excited. “I recognize where we are! We’re nearly there.” She started to swim faster. “Look.” She pointed ahead. “There it is!”

Rani and Kai looked ahead of them and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Even the descriptions their mother had given them hadn’t prepared them for
this
.

Towering up from the seabed was the strangest structure they had ever seen. As they swam closer they saw that it was white because it was totally covered in limpet shells. There were many openings along the sides of the vessel – entrances to individual homes with colourful plants and flowers growing around the doorways.On top was a massive roof garden which stretched out over the whole area of the wreck. The garden was filled with all sorts of flowering shrubs and plants. Seaweed hammocks, strung up between the bushes, were swinging in the gentle current and there were lots of rock seats dotted here and there amongst the greenery. Some mermaids, who were relaxing in the garden, smiled and waved to them.

“It’s beautiful!” gasped Kai and Rani together, as they waved back.

“Miriam!” someone called.

They turned to see an old mermaid with white hair swimming towards them.

“Mother!” cried Miriam, rushing forward.

The girls swam forward too, and soon their grandmother was hugging them tightly as she stroked their hair and told them how much they’d grown.

As everyone swam inside, Octavius asked about his sister Flora.

“She’s very busy doing everyone’s hair for the party tonight. Come with me and I’ll show you where we’re having it.” Rani’s grandmother led the way along narrow corridors until they reached a huge room with a tall ceiling and large openings on both sides so that you could see out into the Deep Blue in both directions.

“It looks wonderful!” enthused Miriam.

Rani thought it did too. A stone table along one side of the room was piled high with shell-dishes in readiness for the party. In one corner, a stage had been erected for the band. Purple and red seaweed decorations swung from the ceiling and the floor was sprinkled with glitter-sand.

“Hmm,” murmured Octavius, who had swum up to inspect the ceiling and was now poking at it with the ends of his wriggly arms. “This ceiling is sagging.”

“I don’t see it,” said Rani’s grandmother sharply.

“Well, it is,” said Octavius soberly. “You realize that if the ceiling collapsed, the whole roof garden would fall on top of us.” He paused so that everyone could imagine being crushed by the roof garden, before adding, “Of course, I expect it’s safe enough for the time being.” He swam down to join them. “Now, I really must go and see my sister.”

“Ask her if she’ll do our hair too,” Rani’s mother called after him.

Octavius waved one arm at her to show that he would, as he swam off muttering under his breath. Really, it was hopeless trying to get mermaids to think about anything but their hair! They
meant
well, but they were such silly, scatty creatures. Still, he supposed it wasn’t really their fault they had such tiny brains – unlike
his
which felt so heavy these days that he was beginning to wonder if it was
growing
! He must ask Flora what she thought. Now ... where was she? He couldn’t wait to see the surprise on her face when she saw him!

“You both look lovely,” Rani’s grandmother said, as she watched her two granddaughters get dressed up for the party. “Now ... I have a surprise for you.”

The girls gasped as she opened the lid of an old wooden box to reveal all sorts of necklaces and bracelets and rings.

“This is my treasure chest,” said their grandmother. “Whatever you choose from it to wear tonight is yours to keep, so choose carefully.”

“Oh, Grandmother!” cried Rani, her eyes shining with excitement. “They’re all beautiful.”

“Especially this,” said Kai, picking out a necklace of aquamarine that matched her eyes. “May I
really
have it?”

Her grandmother nodded. “And what about you, Rani? What will you choose?”

Rani’s gaze fell on a simple pendant made out of a large amber stone. She picked it up.

“Ah, the amber pendant ...” said her grandmother. “I found that one day when I was out looking for some special plants to make up some medicines. It was just lying there on the seabed. And the same day, Pat, the dolphin arrived and told me that your mother and father had found a baby that morning, inside a Giant Clam-Shell.”

“So we both got found on the same day!” Rani said, carefully fastening the pendant round her neck.

“It’s glowing!” Kai gasped.

Rani looked down at the pendant. The amber stone really did seem to be lit from the inside now that it was touching Rani’s skin.

“Let me try it on,” Kai said.

The girls swapped necklaces but for some reason the pendant looked quite dull and ordinary on Kai.

“I like mine better,” said Kai, quickly swapping back.

“Ah, here comes our hairdresser,” said their grandmother, as a loud jangling noise attracted her attention.

Sure enough, the noise was Octavius’s sister, Flora, who wore several bangles on each arm which clinked against each other as she moved about.

“Did Octavius find you?” Rani asked, excitedly. “I bet you weren’t expecting him, were you? Did you get a lovely surprise when you saw him?”

“No, I certainly
wasn’t
expecting him,” said Flora, creasing her large forehead into a very wrinkly frown. “I’ve never been so—” She gave a polite cough as Octavius followed her into the room,“... so
surprised
in my life!”

“Nobody minds if I watch, do they?” Octavius asked, settling himself on the most comfortable-looking rock.

Since Flora had eight arms to work with, she could do marvellous things with mermaids’ hair, very quickly indeed. Even Octavius was forced to admire the speed with which his sister combed and curled and crimped the long mermaid strands.

“If only I didn’t have
red
hair,” Rani sighed, as she waited for Flora to finish. Flora was using some of her arms as curlers in Kai’s hair, so she only had three arms free to work on Rani. Octavius was suggesting ways his sister could use her arms even more efficiently as she wove Rani’s hair into a long plait.

“I’ve only ever seen one other mermaid before who looked like you,” Flora said, as she fixed Rani’s shell-clasp in place. “She had hair the same colour as yours and she was very beautiful. She told me she came from a secret place a long way away.”

“You’re talking about Morva,” Octavius interrupted impatiently. “We all know her.”

“This wasn’t Morva,” Flora said. “Morva’s ancient. This was a young mermaid. She had eyes just like yours, Rani, and she wore a pendant just like that one. She was resting in a cave because she was about to have a baby. Her husband had gone to look for food.I offered to do her hair for her.I couldn’t resist – it was so beautiful.”

“Where did you see her?” Rani gasped. “
When
was this? Did she tell you her name? Did she—”

“Oh, I can’t remember the details,” Flora interrupted. “It was about ten years ago. It was out in the Deep Blue somewhere.”

“Flora – you’ve never told me any of this before!” Octavius said crossly. “This is very important information. How can you forget to mention something like this?”