The Shell Princess Page 2

  There was an awkward silence.

  Finally Rani’s mother spoke. “I don’t ever want your home to feel like a prison to you, Rani,” she said, staring at Octavius’s cage. “If you need to find this other place so badly – and if Morva will be there to look after you – then . . .” – she looked at her husband to check that he agreed – “. . . Then perhaps we should think about letting you go.”

  “Oh, Mother, thank you!” gasped Rani, rushing to give her a hug.

  “But if we let you go with Morva, you must promise to come back to us!” Miriam added sharply.

  “Of course I’ll come back,” laughed Rani. She turned to her sister. “Kai – no other sister could ever be as good as you! When I find my brother, I know he’ll want you to be his sister too!”

  “Oh, dear me,” said Octavius, dabbing at his eyes with an old piece of seaweed. Mermaids were so emotional! Honestly, if it wasn’t for him and his clever thinking, then goodness knows what would become of them all!

  Chapter Four

  Rani couldn’t believe she was really going with Morva.

  Morva was excited too when she came to collect her. “I can’t wait to see my old home again!” she beamed.

  Rani and her family took ages saying goodbye, so that Morva began to wonder if they were ever going to leave at all, but eventually, after a final round of hugs, the two mermaids set off.

  “We are going further away than you could possibly imagine, Rani,” Morva told her, when they were finally out of sight of Tingle Reef. “This is like no other journey you have ever made before. We will be travelling further into the Deep Blue than any Tingle Reef mermaid has ever travelled.” She paused. “First, though, we have to swim a lot faster. I believe it’s time to use some magic!”

  And all that anyone watching would have seen after that, were two streaks of gold light speeding through the water.

  “This is where we catch our whale,” Morva said, finally stopping at a very unusual-looking rock with several mermaid-sized seats chiselled out of it. “This is a whale-stop. We must sit and wait.”

  “ A whale-stop?” Rani repeated, in disbelief.

  “That’s right. I’m not talking about your average whale. I’m talking about the Giant Whales who live out in the Deep Blue,” Morva explained. “They have always been friends to us magic mermaids.”

  Morva started to make some strange whale-calling noises, and soon two huge white eyes appeared next to the rock, making Rani jump. The sea was so dark that it was hard to see the rest of the creature’s body.

  Morva reached out and patted the whale’s nose, which was the same size as her hand. “Did you have trouble finding us? My whale-calls are a bit rusty, I’m afraid.”

  The whale told them that his name was Jonah and that he had seen their hair shining from a long way away. Rani saw that his head was so huge that, if he opened his mouth, he could easily have devoured them both in one bite. “Where are you going?” he asked. “Home?”

  Morva nodded. “Have you room for two of us?”

  “I expect so – if you’re careful. Swim inside.”

  “Thank you. Come on, Rani,” Morva said, easing herself off the rock.

  “Swim inside what?” asked Rani.

  “Why, inside Jonah’s mouth, of course. Look – he’s opened it for us.” Morva swam in and beckoned for Rani to follow. “Come on, Rani. You know very well that whales only eat plankton.”

  Rani still felt a bit unsure as she slowly swam in between the whale’s huge jaws to join her friend. Rani saw that the whale didn’t have any teeth but had a bony sieve inside its mouth which it used to sift out plankton from the water.

  “Now,” said Morva. “You must keep very still – no splashing around or he’ll get cross with us.”

  “I’ll keep very still,” Rani promised, not relishing the idea of Jonah getting cross with her while she was sitting inside his mouth.

  Rani soon discovered that there was nothing to be alarmed about. The whale’s mouth was soft and warm, and the journey from then on was quite comfortable. His mouth was shut so they couldn’t see where they were going but that didn’t seem to worry Morva.

  Soon Rani fell asleep and started to dream that she was back in Tingle Reef with all her family – but her brother was there too. It was such a happy dream that she didn’t want to wake up when Morva finally shook her gently and told her that they had to get out.

  “Why? Are we there already?” Rani asked, thinking that perhaps she had been asleep for longer than she’d thought.

  “No, but Jonah has stopped. There’s some sort of problem. Now, stay close to me, Rani. This part of the Deep Blue is very dark and it’s very easy to get lost.”

  As they swam out of Jonah’s mouth, Rani shivered because the water here was so cold.

  “What’s wrong?” Morva asked the whale.

  Jonah told them to swim underneath his belly and look down.

  They swam under and saw that they were very close to the sea-bed.

  “It’s a shark!” Rani gasped, pointing below them to a long black fish with a huge pointed nose and sharp white teeth. The shark was nudging something that looked like a white furry ball.

  “What’s it got?” Rani whispered, starting to swim closer.

  Morva pulled her back. “Be careful. We don’t want it to see us.”

  The white ball – whatever it was – was making sobbing noises. Suddenly a little black nose became visible, then two blue eyes and two little white ears.

  “I don’t believe it,” Morva gasped. “It’s a bear cub!”

  “ A bear cub!” Rani repeated. She had heard stories about the Great White Swimming Bears that lived on the other side of the Deep Blue but she had never seen one before. “What’s it doing here?”

  “That shark must have caught it,” Morva said.

  At that moment three more sharks appeared – another adult one and two youngsters. “Dad, what’s for dinner?” one of the young ones demanded. “We’re starving!”

  “This,” the biggest shark replied, prodding the whimpering bear cub. “And we have to eat it straight away before its mother comes looking for it.”

  “Morva – we’ve got to do something!” gasped Rani, as the little bear looked towards them helplessly.

  “Do you remember that tasting spell I taught you?” Morva whispered. “The one that you tried on Kai, that made her think seaweed tasted delicious?”

  Rani nodded. How could she ever forget the day Kai had asked for a second helping of greens? “But how will that help?”

  “I’ll do it in reverse,” Morva said. “Watch.” And as Morva closed her eyes and concentrated, Rani saw little gold sparks beginning to appear around the mouth of the biggest shark as he sank his teeth into the bear cub’s white fur.

  The shark let out a snort of disgust and dropped the little bear before he had even taken a bite. “Yuck!” he said, spitting out a bit of fur. “That tastes horrible.”

  The other sharks were frowning. Baby bear was normally delicious.

  Just then an angry roar sounded from above.

  “MUMMY!” shouted the little bear cub. “I’m down here!”

  A furious mother bear came charging down through the water, her white fur standing on end as she growled in rage. She lashed out with her sharp claws at the sharks, who quickly panicked and swam off.

  Rani waved as she and Morva watched the mother bear and her cub paddle away. The little bear kept turning back to look at the two mermaids, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

  “Where do swimming bears live?” Rani asked.

  “Nobody knows for certain,” Morva said, leading the way back to where Jonah was waiting for them. “Except that to get there you have to keep swimming up until you can’t swim any further. Mermaids get dizzy if they swim that high, which is why nobody’s ever been there.”

  “Now, Rani,” Morva said, when they were safely back inside Jonah’s warm mouth. “I want you to try and get some rest now.”
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  Rani soon fell asleep and this time she dreamed she was swimming in sparkling water where big furry white bears swam along lazily beside her.

  Chapter Five

  “Wake up, Rani,” Morva said, poking her. “We’re here.”

  “Where?” Rani asked dozily, and then she remembered. She was about to meet her brother. And not just in a dream!

  As Jonah opened his mouth for them to swim out, she blinked because the sea outside was full of a bright light. “It looks like . . . It looks like . . .” she gasped, but she couldn’t continue because she had never seen anything like this before.

  They were right on the sea-bottom and in front of them there seemed to be an opening in the sea-bed, from which a gold surge of light rose upwards through the water. The water all around glowed and Rani held up her arms to shield her eyes from the glare.

  “Don’t cover your eyes, Rani,” Morva told her. “You must look into the brightness. It won’t hurt you.”

  Slowly, Rani looked. Her eyes seemed to be getting used to the bright water and she started to feel a strong tingling sensation in her skin.

  “You’ve been wonderful, Jonah!” Morva said, swimming up to kiss him on the nose. Rani felt too shy to give him a kiss so she thanked him and gave him a pat instead.

  As Jonah swam upwards and disappeared, Morva took hold of Rani’s hand. “Your magic normally starts from inside you, Rani,” she explained. “That’s why you feel it in your belly button first. But now the magic is all around you. How do you feel?”

  “I feel . . . strange,” Rani said.

  Morva smiled. “Now comes the strangest bit of all. We must swim down through that golden beam into that hole in the sea-bed.”

  “B-but . . .” Rani stammered. “There is nothing under the sea-bed.” She had always been taught that the sea-bed was where everything ended.

  “If you are a magic mermaid, it is different,” Morva said gently. “Come with me.”

  And together they swam right into the beam of golden light. Rani felt warm inside and out. The tingling she usually felt in her fingers when she did magic felt as though it had taken over her whole body. She tried to speak but found that no words came.

  “Think your thoughts to me, Rani,” Rani could hear Morva saying inside her head. Thought-reading was part of her magic. “We will be able to speak to each other again when we have passed through the magic light.”

  The light was so strong that Rani could hardly see Morva as they swam downwards. As the brightness gradually lessened, Rani saw that she was swimming through a golden passageway under the sea-bed. “Wow!” she gasped.

  “I know,” said Morva, speaking out loud again. “I had forgotten how beautiful it was.”

  “But where does it lead to?” Rani asked.

  “Wait and see,” Morva smiled.

  Eventually the passageway opened out into a huge cave. The cave was empty but the walls were decorated with pictures of mermaids swimming – all of them with red hair. They could hear voices now.

  “This way,” said Morva, and she swam over to an arched opening in the cave wall. “Through here,” she said, swimming through and disappearing.

  For a moment Rani felt nervous. Then she too swam through the archway and found herself in the most beautiful garden she could ever have dreamed of.

  She had never seen flowers like these before – as tall as mermaids, with huge petals of bright colours. Huge oyster shells lazed about, proudly displaying their pearls for everyone to see, and beautiful golden fish swam between the feathery plants, playing hide and seek with each other. But what Rani couldn’t stop staring at were the mermaids themselves. They all had orange tails – some tipped with gold – and every one of them had red hair like Rani’s.

  A young mermaid swam over, looking at them curiously. “Who are you?” she asked.

  “I am Morva,” Morva told her, looking as if she expected this to make some sort of impression, which it obviously did not.

  “I’m Rani,” Rani added quickly. “We’re from Tingle Reef.”

  “Where’s that?” asked the mermaid.

  “A very long way away from here,” Morva said, staring round at the other mermaids to see if she recognized any of them. “Perhaps you can help us. I need to speak to an old person – a very old person, you understand.”

  The young mermaid peered into Morva’s eyes as if she had only just noticed that Morva was a lot older than she had first thought. “I’ll take you to the Mer-King,” she said. “He’s ancient!”

  “That will do very nicely,” Morva said smiling.

  Rani kept a sharp look-out for her brother as she followed closely behind her friend. They were led into another passageway and through into another cave and out again into a large courtyard.

  “The Mer-King’s palace is that way,” the mermaid said, pointing to a pathway of golden shells. “Just follow those.”

  Rani and Morva thanked her and swam along until the shells came to an end a short distance away from the entrance to a very grand cave. Two rock pillars had been erected outside the arched cave-opening and a merman with a smart seaweed belt stood guard outside.

  “Come on,” whispered Morva. “Let’s see if the Mer-King knows your brother.”

  And trembling a little, Rani waited as Morva swam forward and requested permission to be let inside.

  Chapter Six

  After the guard had sent a messenger inside the palace, Morva came back to wait with Rani.

  “What if the Mer-King won’t see us?” Rani asked, trying not to flick up any of the golden shells accidentally with her tail.

  “Oh, he’ll see us,” Morva said confidently.

  And at that moment, an old merman appeared, staring at them from the palace entrance. His red hair was streaked with white and he had a gold seaweed crown on his head. “Someone said that Morva was here!” he boomed out.

  Morva swam forward, smiling. “She is.”

  The Mer-King stared into her eyes in disbelief. “Morva!” he exclaimed. “After all these years!” And he grabbed her hand and squeezed it excitedly. “Nobody knew what became of you! Come in! Come in! You must tell me everything!”

  “Wait,” said Morva, motioning for Rani to come forward. “I have brought someone with me. This is my friend Rani.”

  “You are very welcome, Rani,” the Mer-King beamed at her. “Now you must both come inside.” And he led the way back into the palace.

  “You know him?” Rani hissed to Morva, under her breath, as they followed him past the two massive pillars.

  “Oh yes,” smiled Morva. “We were great friends!”

  “I was a very handsome Mer-Prince in those days, Rani,” the Mer-King said, turning round to wink at her. “Can you imagine that?”

  “Well . . .” Rani said, blushing, and the king laughed.

  The palace was made out of many interconnecting caves, none of which seemed all that grand, until the king led them through a small archway into his main chamber. A carpet of gold moss covered the floor and the walls were a sparkly blue that reminded Rani of the water in Tingle Reef. Gold and silver fish of all sizes swam around inside the room and gold seaweed was strung from the ceiling. In the centre of the room, a silver dish was piled high with the most delicious-looking sea-fruits imaginable.

  There were several soft seaweed cushions scattered about the floor, and the Mer-King flopped down on one and stretched out his tail with a sigh. “Sit down, sit down!” he urged them. “The Mer-Queen is out at the moment but she will be back soon. You must dine with us. You must be hungry after your long journey.”

  He snapped his fingers and ordered some refreshments while they waited.

  “Who did you marry?” Morva asked him. “No – let me guess!” And she reeled off a whole list of names that meant absolutely nothing to Rani. Morva began to ask about each of her old friends in turn, until Rani grew quite bored. If only there was somebody here to play with! Rani’s ears pricked up as she heard Morva ask, “Do you have a
ny children?”

  The Mer-King looked sad. “We had a son – but he died a long time ago in a sea-quake.” He quickly attempted to smile. “But this is a happy day! Let us not talk of sad things.”

  Rani was longing to ask the Mer-King if he knew her brother but Morva was asking so many questions that she couldn’t get a word in.

  Morva started to tell the Mer-King about Tingle Reef and about Rani turning up as a baby inside a Giant Clam-Shell. “Nobody knew that she was a magic mermaid, except me,” said Morva. “And I have always promised her that one day I would bring her here.” Morva leaned over and touched Rani’s amber pendant. “We didn’t know anything about her true family at all – until we found this.”

  “A message-stone,” the Mer-King said, looking at Rani more closely.

  “Yes – and inside Rani found a picture of her parents and learned that they had died when she was a baby. But there was another baby inside the stone – a boy who we know is the same age now as Rani. So I have explained to Rani that she must have a twin brother . . .” Morva paused. “And we were hoping that he might be here.”

  The Mer-King was staring intently at Rani now. “May I see the picture of this boy?” he asked.

  Rani removed the stone from her neck and gently blew on it. As they watched, the surface softened and her brother’s face appeared, looking out at her from inside.

  The Mer-King looked over her shoulder at the face of the boy and gasped, “I don’t believe it!”

  “Do you know him?” asked Morva.

  “This is my grandson,” the Mer-King said, putting a hand on Rani’s shoulder and turning her to face him.

  Rani felt her heart start to beat faster. If this was true . . . If her twin brother was really the Mer-King’s grandson, then that meant . . .

  The Mer-King was looking at her with tears in his eyes now. “I-I can’t believe it,” he stammered, as he touched her with a trembling hand. “Rani – you must be the lost Shell Princess!”