The Shell Princess Read online

Rani and Morva listened as the Mer-King told them how his son and his son’s young wife had been on a trip in the Deep Blue when they had sent a message saying that they would have to delay their return home because their baby was about to arrive.

  “We went to find them,” the Mer-King said, “but by the time we got there, a terrible sea-quake had destroyed the whole of the sea-bed where they were. We thought they had all been killed until we came across a Giant Clam-Shell. My grandson was inside. He was just a few days old. They must have put him inside the shell to protect him. He had a message-stone round his neck – just like yours, Rani. We couldn’t look inside the stone until he was old enough to open it for us. When he told us he could see a little girl smiling at him, we thought he was making it up. But then we looked and, sure enough, there was this little red-haired mer-girl smiling out at us, with a face exactly like her mother’s. We searched everywhere we could think of. We searched for years. But in the end we were forced to stop looking . . .”

  The Mer-King touched Rani’s hair. “I should have recognized you straight away,” he told her. “But I have not looked at your picture for a very long time. It upset me to be reminded that my little granddaughter was out there somewhere all alone.”

  “Oh, but I wasn’t alone—” Rani started to tell him, but she was interrupted by the palace messenger.

  “The Mer-Queen and the Mer-Prince have returned,” he announced.

  At that moment an excited voice shouted, “Grandfather!” and a boy of Rani’s age, with short red hair and sparkling eyes, came swimming into the room. “Guess what—” He stopped short when he saw Rani and Morva.

  “Let me introduce my grandson,” the Mer-King said. “Rani, this is Peri.”

  “Hello,” the boy said, looking a bit dazed as he slowly took in Rani’s face, her hair and, finally, her amber pendant.

  Rani swallowed. She found that she couldn’t speak properly. “I’m-I’m . . .” she stammered.

  Peri flipped his tail in excitement. “I know who you are! You’re the girl in my pendant!” And he dived forward and grabbed Rani by the hands. “You’re my sister, aren’t you?”

  Rani nodded as Peri started to spin her non-stop around the room.

  “Peri, calm down!” his grandfather called out. “You’ll make Rani dizzy.”

  “It’s OK!” Rani laughed, looking lovingly into her brother’s eyes. “I don’t mind!”

  And Rani knew that she wouldn’t be able to stop feeling giddy today, even if she tried.

  Chapter Seven

  Rani and Peri spent the next few days getting to know each other. The longer they spent together, the more they liked each other, and soon they felt that they had never been separated at all.

  “It helped being able to see you inside my message-stone,” Peri told her. “I used to talk to you all the time so it was sort of like having you with me. But it’s much better now because you can talk back!”

  Rani laughed. “Ever since I first saw you inside my message-stone, I’ve been longing to meet you! I can’t believe I’m really here with you. I keep thinking I must be dreaming and that I’ll wake up and find myself back in Tingle Reef.”

  “Tingle Reef sounds a wonderful place,” Peri said. “And you’re so lucky having a mother and a father.”

  Rani agreed that she was lucky. “But the Mer-King and Queen are so kind,” she said. “So you’re lucky too!”

  That night, the Mer-King and his wife were throwing a royal banquet in honour of their granddaughter and everyone was invited.

  “You’ll get to meet all my friends,” Peri said, as he began to list them.

  Rani started to think about all her friends in Tingle Reef. How was Roscoe getting on without her? And Octavius? And when she thought about Kai she got a funny little ache right in her middle, as if a part of her was missing.

  That evening as everyone gathered in the palace, Morva was looking especially beautiful in a multi-coloured top with gold tassels. Her hair seemed even shinier than it had done in Tingle Reef. Rani could see that she was very happy to be back home again.

  “Don’t you miss your lobsters and your starfish?” she whispered, as she waited in line beside Morva, shaking hands with all the guests as they arrived.

  “A little, but, oh . . . Rani . . . I can’t help wishing that I’d come back years ago!”

  “But then I would never have discovered who I really was,” Rani reminded her. “And you wouldn’t have been able to teach me all that magic!”

  “That’s true,” Morva smiled. “But I’ve been thinking, Rani – you don’t need me to teach you any more.”

  “Yes, I do!” protested Rani.

  “No, you don’t. You are strong enough to manage by yourself from now on. And that’s why . . . I’ve decided to stay here.”

  “What?” Rani gasped. “But you promised Mother and Father you’d take me back!”

  “I promised them I’d get you back safely – and I will. But, Rani, this is my true home – not Tingle Reef. I don’t have any family to go back to. And after all, I can always go back and visit.”

  “You can do that too, Rani,” the Mer-King added, overhearing them. “You can go back and visit your friends in Tingle Reef whenever you like.”

  “Oh, but I shan’t need to visit them,” Rani said, feeling confused. “I’ll be going back there to stay.”

  “But you have found your real home now – and your real family,” the Mer-King said. “Doesn’t that make a difference?”

  “My real home is in Tingle Reef,” Rani protested. “And Mother and Father and Kai and Pearl are my real family!”

  The Mer-King frowned and it was clear that he didn’t agree.

  “I have an idea,” said Morva thoughtfully. “The message-stone will always show a magic mermaid her true family when she is separated from them. If, in your heart, you believe that your family in Tingle Reef is your true family, Rani . . .” – she pointed to Rani’s pendant – “Well, why don’t you look inside and see?”

  Rani lifted up her pendant. She hadn’t even opened the stone since she had met Peri.

  As Rani blew on the stone and saw its hard shiny surface turn soft and watery, she started to smile.

  “Are they there?” asked Morva.

  Rani nodded. And as she gazed happily at the four familiar faces, she knew that it was time for her to go back to them.

  “I’ll come back and visit you, I promise,” Rani said to Peri, who was upset when she told him her plans. Then she had a better idea. “I know! Why don’t you come back with me and visit Tingle Reef?”

  Peri asked the Mer-King, who thought it was a splendid idea.

  “I shall send you both back in my special carriage. You will be quite safe because my dolphins will take care of you!”

  And so it was settled. The only thing left to do was say goodbye to Morva.

  “I’ll really miss you,” Rani said, hugging her friend, as they waited for the royal carriage to arrive. “Are you sure you won’t come with us? What about your floating cave? And what will I tell Octavius?”

  “My floating cave can be my holiday home,” Morva said brightly. “I intend to come back and visit you all soon – you can tell Octavius that!”

  “Thank you for everything, Morva,” Rani said. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been there to help me.”

  “Well, you might not have discovered all this . . .” Morva admitted. “But tell me, Rani, now that you have found it, won’t it make you unhappy having to give it up?”

  “I won’t be giving it up,” Rani told her, smiling. “I’ll be coming back again one day. And anyway – it’s all in here!” And she tapped her head to show Morva that everything she had found here was stored safely inside.

  Chapter Eight

  “It’s Rani!” shouted Kai, as she spotted her sister swimming towards their cave. “Rani – I’ve missed you so much!”

  Their mother appeared, her long blonde hair swirling around her. “My darlin
g!” she cried, rushing to greet her daughter.

  “I’m so glad to be home, Mother!” Rani said, as they hugged.

  Murdoch swam out of the cave with Pearl and shouted in delight as he saw his daughter again.

  “You must come inside and tell us everything,” Miriam said, taking her hand. “Where is Morva?”

  “I’ve got so much to tell you,” Rani gasped. “But first I want you to come with me. There’s someone I’d like you to meet. You see . . . I found my brother. His name’s Peri. I wanted to come and see you myself first, so I’ve left him with Octavius.”

  They all swam together to Octavius’s cave.

  “Wow!” exclaimed Kai, unable to believe her eyes. The royal carriage was parked outside and the dolphins were out of their harnesses, tucking into large helpings of Octavius’s stew.

  Inside the octopus’s cave, they found Octavius telling Peri that he had guessed all along that Rani was a princess.

  “ A princess?” Kai said, gaping at her sister.

  “It’s a long story,” Rani said, blushing.

  “I think you’d better tell it to us right away,” said Murdoch.

  They all sat and listened as Rani and Peri explained how they had been separated as babies long ago and that, while Rani was growing up in Tingle Reef, Peri had been brought up by their grandparents, the Mer-King and Queen.

  “The Mer-King and Queen?” gasped Kai. “You mean . . . you mean, Rani really is a princess?”

  Rani and Peri nodded.

  Kai had non-stop questions for them after that – and so did everybody else. And they all wanted to see how the message-stone worked.

  Rani let out a startled gasp as she opened the stone.

  “What’s wrong?” everyone asked.

  “Nothing,” Rani said, frowning. “It’s just that Morva is inside.” She looked at Peri. “And she’s not family.”

  “I guess you must think of her like she is,” her brother explained. “A message-stone can always pick up on these things!”

  Rani thought about that for a moment. It was true that she had always felt very close to Morva. She started to smile as she looked into the stone again.

  “Now I’ll always be able to see her, even though she’s not with me,” Rani said happily.

  “That’s wonderful, darling!” her mother said, reaching out and stroking Rani’s hair. “Now, children . . . I know this is all very exciting but it really is time for bed. You must be very tired – especially Rani and Peri!”

  “Mother is a bit bossy, but you’ll get used to her,” Rani whispered to her brother.

  “I think she’s great!” Peri whispered back. “So is your father – and your sisters! You’re so lucky to have two families!”

  Rani just smiled. But she had a feeling that by the time Peri left Tingle Reef, he was going to have an extra family too.

  The Shell Princess

  “Look,” Rani whispered, holding in her breath as gold lines began to appear on the cave wall. “I’ve done it!”

  Morva nodded slowly.

  “So my magic is strong enough!” Rani said, turning her head to look at Morva. “Does that mean I’m ready to visit my brother?”

  Books by Gwyneth Rees

  Mermaid Magic (3 books in 1)

  Fairy Dust

  Fairy Treasure

  Fairy Dreams

  Cosmo and the Magic Sneeze

  For older readers

  The Mum Hunt

  The Mum Detective

  My Mum’s from Planet Pluto

  Look out for

  Fairy Gold

  The Mum Surprise (World Book Day 2006)

  The Making of May

  First published 2001 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  This electronic edition published 2011 by Macmillan Children’s Books

  a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

  Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

  Basingstoke and Oxford

  Associated companies throughout the world

  www.panmacmillan.com

  ISBN 978-1-447-21139-6 EPUB

  Copyright © Gwyneth Rees 2001

  Illustration copyright © Annabel Hudson 2001

  The right of Gwyneth Rees and Annabel Hudson to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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