by Gwyneth Rees
Rani swam out of the cave and found Roscoe.
“Roscoe, will you go and find Kai?” Rani asked. “There’s somewhere else I need to go right now.” And she swam away before he could ask her any questions.
Rani swam as fast as she could back to Morva’s cave.
When she reached it, she swam underneath it until she found the hole with the seaweed rope.
“Morva,” she gasped, as soon as she was inside the cave. “You’ve got to help me!”
Morva was sitting on the furthest away rock, combing her long hair with a beautiful shell-comb. She stopped as soon as she saw Rani.
Rani quickly explained what had happened to her father.
Morva looked distressed. “I’d like to help,” she said. “I could collect some special plants and make a magic healing potion to give you. You can come back and collect it tonight.”
“There isn’t time for that!” Rani cried desperately. “Father’s going to die if you don’t come and do something now.”
“But Rani, I cannot enter Tingle Reef,” Morva said. “It is forbidden. They will never permit me to go into the cave to help your father.”
“They will if I take you!” Rani said. “Morva, please, you’ve got to come.”
Morva looked solemn. “I can’t. They still think I killed that baby.”
“Well, this is your chance to show everybody that they’re wrong,” Rani said. “If you make Father better then they’ll know you couldn’t have killed anyone.” Rani was near to tears now. “Murdoch would want you to come!” she burst out. “Your Murdoch, I mean. Can’t you just try?”
When they got back to Rani’s cave some of the other mermaids were still outside. They gasped as they saw Morva. Most of them didn’t know who she was, but a few of the older mermaids remembered her from when they were children.
An urgent whisper went round. “It’s Morva! It’s the sea-witch!”
The adult mermaids moved closer together, blocking the entrance to the cave.
“That child looks just like the sea-witch!” one of them said, pointing at Rani’s bright red hair.
“Shhh. You’ll frighten Rani,” another mermaid said protectively.
Morva looked at Rani. “I knew they wouldn’t understand,” she said. “I’d better leave.”
“But you have to save Father!” Rani cried. “You have to come inside and see him.” And she burst into tears.
At that moment Octavius pushed his way through the crowd, shoving mermaids out of his way, eight-at-a-time, until he reached Rani.
“Rani has brought Morva here to help Murdoch!” he shouted, hooking one arm round Rani’s waist and pulling her closer to him. “And since we can’t help him ourselves, I don’t think we’ve got anything to lose by letting Morva try, do you?”
“But she’s dangerous!” someone shouted. “What about what she did to that baby?”
“Nonsense!” Octavius snorted. “You mermaids are so silly! I’ve read all about what happened in my history book of Tingle Reef. No one ever listened to Morva’s side of the story. Unfortunately I hadn’t been born then or I would have sorted it all out! Now, move aside and let Rani and Morva enter the cave.”
But the adult mermaids didn’t move. They didn’t like being bossed around by Octavius.
Rani was getting scared that they wouldn’t reach her father in time. She tugged at Morva’s arm. “Do something!”
Morva seemed to whirl into action, flicking her tail so that the water swirled around her. “If you don’t move out of the way I’m going to turn you all into sea-frogs!” she hissed.And she started to wave her arms in the water in front of her as if she was casting a spell.
The mermaids started pushing and shoving each other as they struggled to move away from her. Quickly, Morva pushed Rani ahead of her into the cave.
“Mother!” Rani called out from the doorway.
Rani’s mother turned round. “Rani—” She stopped, gasping out loud and pulling Pearl closer to her, as she saw Morva.
“Morva is my friend,” Rani said. “And she’s come to make Father better.”
Before her mother could say anything Morva swam forward. “I can help him,” she said. “If you trust me.”
“I’ve heard about you,” Rani’s mother whispered. “But I never guessed that you . . . that Rani ...” She trailed off, her gaze flitting between Morva’s long red hair and the identical red hair of her daughter.
“There isn’t much time,” Morva said gently.
Rani’s mother looked down at her husband. She kissed his forehead and moved back.
“Go on, then,” she said.
Morva swam closer and leaned over Murdoch. She placed both hands, fingers outstretched, over his face. Then she closed her eyes and began to chant something under her breath. As Miriam and Rani watched, Morva’s upper body began to sparkle. The golden glow started to spread down her arms and into her hands and then it crossed over into Murdoch’s body which started to sparkle too.
Slowly, the redness left his skin and the swelling started to go down. The end of his tail started to twitch. When Morva removed her hands, the golden light vanished and Murdoch’s eyes flickered open.
Rani’s mother was trembling. “Oh, thank you!” she cried. “Thank you so much!” She rushed forward and flung her arms around her husband, as Pearl shrieked with excitement.
Rani flung herself at Morva and gave her an enormous hug. “I knew you’d save him!”
Suddenly there was a lot of noise at the cave entrance and Kai swam inside with Roscoe, closely followed by Octavius.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Kai asked.
“It’s all right now,” her mother told her, smiling. “Murdoch is all right now. Thanks to Morva.”
“Morva?” Kai stared at the beautiful red-haired mermaid who was holding Rani’s hand. “You’re Morva? But ...but Morva’s meant to be ugly!”
Morva laughed, sending golden bubbles spiralling above her head.
“Kai! “her mother snapped, but she was too happy to be very cross.
One by one the other mermaids started to come inside the cave to see what Morva had done. When they saw Murdoch sitting up on the mat, they all stared at him in awe.
“Maybe Octavius was right,” they mumbled. “Maybe she didn’t kill that baby.”
“Of course I was right!” Octavius barked at them. “I’m always right. When are you mermaids going to realize that?”
“Of course Morva didn’t kill that baby,” Murdoch called out. “My grandfather was always telling you that, but you never listened!”
All the mermaids stared in admiration at Morva.
“You can come back and live in Tingle Reef now,” Rani told her excitedly.
“Yes, Morva!” one or two of the other mermaids called out. “Come and live here with us.”
Morva smiled but she shook her head. “Thank you, I’m very happy living in my floating cave. But I’d like to come and visit you. It gets a bit lonely sometimes, with no other mermaids to talk to.”
“Come and visit us whenever you want!” everyone said at once.
And Morva promised them that she would.
Chapter Eight
“Do you think Morva will come?” Kai asked Rani, as they waited for their father’s speech to finish.
It was market day and Murdoch was giving a talk to the community about the seaweed nets they were going to use in future to catch any dangerous jellyfish. The one that had stung Murdoch had been sent back into the Deep Blue but there was always a risk that another Yellow-back might find its way inside the reef.
The market had been in full swing all morning with all sorts of different goods being exchanged. There were lots of delicious things to eat as well as practical things for the home like seaweed mats and shell-crockery. Things had quietened down a bit now that a lot of the stall-holders and shoppers had gathered round to hear what Murdoch had to say.
“Are you sure Morva’s coming?” Kai asked her sister aga
in.
“Yes, she’ll be here. She’s just a bit late, that’s all,” Rani replied.
“She’d better come, after all the time we’ve spent making this.” Kai opened the little shell-box she was holding and the girls looked down again at the beautiful pearl necklace inside.
“I can’t believe that oyster you and the twins found actually gave you his pearl,” Rani said.
“He said he was getting bored with it,” Kai explained. “He was extremely happy when I gave him my shell-comb and all my jewellery in exchange for it.”
“Are you sure you want me to make the presentation?” Rani asked. “After all, it’s your pearl.”
“I think it’s best if you do it,” Kai said. “Anyway, she’ll know it’s from all of us.”
Just then Octavius appeared, carrying a seaweed shopping bag in each arm. “I’ve got so much shopping to do that I don’t know whether I’m coming or going,” he grumbled.
Someone cried, “Morva’s here!”
Rani and Kai looked up. Morva was swimming towards them, her long red hair streaming out behind her.
Murdoch beckoned to Rani to come over to the big rock platform in the middle of the marketplace.
“Here,” Kai whispered, handing her the little shell-box.
The whole crowd fell silent as they waited for Murdoch to speak.
“We’re very pleased to welcome Morva here today,” Murdoch announced. “Morva, I want to thank you once again for saving my life, and Rani has something to give you from all of us.”
Rani swam over to Morva and presented her with the little shell-box. Morva opened it and gasped with pleasure as she saw the necklace.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Thank you so much.”
“Welcome back to Tingle Reef!” Rani said, and everyone cheered.
The excitement died down considerably as Octavius climbed up on to the platform. “If I could just add a few words ...” he began.
The mermaids sighed as they prepared themselves for what they knew was bound to be a very long speech indeed.
That’s when Rani noticed that little gold sparks were starting to dance around Octavius’s mouth. She looked suspiciously at Morva whose fingertips were giving off a faint glow.
“That’s all I have to say!” Octavius said grandly. And, much to everyone’s amazement, he climbed straight down again from the platform.
All the mermaids started to clap.
“You see, Rani,” Morva’s whispery words came floating towards her through the water. “Mermaid magic can sometimes come in very useful indeed!”
Rani’s
Sea
Spell
For Rani and Sunil
Chapter One
Rani and her family were having breakfast. The water in their cave was lovely and warm because the hot-rock stove was on and Roscoe, Rani’s pet sea horse, was floating lazily next to it.
They all jumped as a huge fishy nose pushed itself through the seaweed-flap that covered the cave entrance.
“It’s Pat!” Rani and her sister, Kai, left their breakfast and swam over to greet the big grey dolphin who was now half in and half out of the cave. Pat brought them messages from outside Tingle Reef.
“Is everything all right?” asked their mother, who was sitting on the seaweed mat feeding their baby sister, Pearl, with a tiny shell-spoon.
“Everything is fine,” Pat reassured her. “I’ve brought you an invitation. Your mother wants you all to visit them next week. They’re throwing a grand party!”
Rani’s grandmother didn’t live in Tingle Reef. She lived inside a shipwreck in the Deep Blue. Rani’s mother had lived there when she was a child and had told them lots of exciting stories about it.
“A party!” shouted Kai. “Oh, please can we go, Mother?”
Rani and Kai had never been to their grandmother’s home before. You had to swim far into the Deep Blue to get there and, until now, their parents had always said that they were too young to make the trip.
“Well ...” Miriam looked at her husband, clearly excited by the idea of the party as well. “What do you think, Murdoch?”
Their father looked thoughtful. “I think Kai and Rani probably are old enough to go this time, but we should get someone to look after Pearl.”
“YES! “shouted Rani and Kai together, clasping hands and swishing their tails in unison as they propelled themselves excitedly round the cave.
“Come in and have some breakfast with us, Pat,” Murdoch said, but the dolphin replied that he had several more messages to deliver.
“But I’ll tell them to expect you at the party!” he said, giving them his biggest dolphin grin as he backed out of the cave.
Rani couldn’t wait to tell her friend, Morva, about the party. Morva was known in Tingle Reef as the sea-witch because she was very old and wise and she could do magic. Morva’s magic was always good – but some of the other mermaids were afraid of her. She lived in a special floating cave in the Deep Blue, just outside Tingle Reef, and Rani often went to visit her there.
Rani and Morva weren’t like the other mermaids. Instead of having blonde hair and green tails like the others, they had red hair and orange tails. Morva’s hair was so long that it touched the tip of her tail. And even though she was very old – almost ancient – Morva still looked young and beautiful.
There was a special reason why Rani was such a frequent visitor to Morva’s cave – a reason that most of the other mermaids didn’t know about. Rani had recently discovered that she too had magic powers, and now Morva was teaching her how to make them stronger.
As Rani swam out through the Deep Blue towards Morva’s floating cave, all she could think about was the party and what she was going to wear. She had some special shell-combs which she could put in her hair and some glitter-sand to make her hair sparkly ...
Rani found the cave floating in its usual place, past the bushy sea-cactus with the blue flowers and straight up from the needle-shaped bush. She swam through the opening in the magic rock, grabbed hold of the seaweed rope and hauled herself up the narrow vertical tunnel that led inside.
“Wow!” she gasped, as she entered Morva’s cave. The water inside the floating cave was usually crystal clear, but today Morva had changed the colour to pink with one of her sea-spells.
Morva beckoned for Rani to come and join her. Although Morva’s face was young and beautiful, her eyes were old and wise. She was sitting on a rock with her long red hair billowing out around her as she listened to two lobsters playing a duet on some shell-horns. When they had finished, Rani joined in Morva’s clapping.
“I taught them that melody myself,” Morva said. “Now, Rani ...Let’s see what I can teach you today.”
Neither Morva or Rani had been born in Tingle Reef. Rani had been found as a baby and adopted by Miriam and Murdoch. They had found her inside a Giant Clam-Shell on the edge of the reef and nobody knew how she had got there. Morva had come to Tingle Reef long before Rani’s parents – or even her grandparents – had been born. She came from a community of magic mermaids who lived in a secret place far away and Morva had promised that one day she would take Rani there – but first Rani had to learn a lot more magic.
Before Rani had time to tell her about the party, Morva was swimming about the cave looking for something. “We need something to mend. Aah! This will do.” She lifted up a delicate shell-dish and banged it against the cave wall so that it broke into several pieces. “Right,” said Morva briskly. “What have I told you about starting up magic?”
“You have to think it up inside your head,” said Rani, as she desperately tried to stop thinking about glitter-sand and shell-combs.
“Exactly. Which means you have to concentrate very hard indeed, so close your eyes ...”
Rani closed her eyes and tried to focus on the mending spell but all she could think about was her grandmother’s party.
Morva peered at her more closely. “You’re very excited about something. What is it?”<
br />
And at last Rani was able to tell her about the dolphin’s visit that morning.
“Well, that is exciting,” replied Morva. “Now let me think ...” She looked thoughtful. “I know! I will give you a special sea-spell to take with you on your journey.”
“What sort of spell?” asked Rani eagerly. “What does it do?”
“Before I tell you that,” Morva said, “I need to be sure that you can concentrate hard enough to make the spell work.”
“Of course I can!” Rani burst out. To prove it, she closed her eyes and started to concentrate again on the mending spell, picturing the broken pieces of shell-dish coming back together again. She could feel a tingling sensation starting up in her belly button and spreading upwards. Soon her fingertips felt warm. She opened her eyes and saw that they were glowing. Slowly, she spread out her fingers above the broken pieces of shell.
“Well done!” Morva smiled.
The shell-dish was all in one piece again, surrounded by a golden glow.
Rani grinned. “I did it!”
Morva nodded, still smiling. “Now, let me tell you about my special sea-spell ...”
Chapter Two
On the morning they were due to set off for the shipwreck, Rani and her family got up very early indeed. The shipwreck was a long way away and it would take them most of the day to get there.
As they got ready, there was a knock at the door of their cave.
“That will be Morva,” their mother said. Morva had offered to look after Pearl while they were gone.
“Come in!” everyone shouted, and Morva swam inside the cave, her red hair streaming out behind her.
“Octavius is here too,” Morva said.
Octavius, the octopus, followed her into the cave. He had tied two of his long wriggly arms together to make a loop and hanging from the loop were lots of shell-containers and bulky seaweed bags.
“Pat told me about the party and I’m coming too. My sister, Flora, lives on the shipwreck,” Octavius explained. “I can’t think why she didn’t send me an invitation!”