by Gwyneth Rees
Rani sighed. Still, at least that meant that Octavius had returned to his usual self.
“Octavius, this is an emergency!” shouted the sea horse. “Rani needs your help.”
“Rani?” Octavius grumbled as he swam over to his seaweed-flap and lifted it up. “Can’t she use her magic to sort it out, whatever it is? I’m really very tired.”
“This isn’t a problem for magic,” Roscoe continued perkily. “This is a problem that can only be solved by some clever thinking.”
“Well, really,” grunted the octopus.
“Very clever thinking, Octavius,” Roscoe repeated, and paused dramatically. “That’s why we’ve come to you.”
“I see. Hmm,” Octavius looked flustered. “Well, I suppose you’d better come in and tell me what the problem is. I’ll certainly have some clever thoughts about it – but my clever thoughts can sometimes be too clever to actually put into action, you understand.” He coughed.
“Octavius, I don’t know what to do ...” Rani began to explain her problems.
As Octavius listened, his big forehead formed a very crinkly brow.
“I’ve got to persuade Mother and Father to let me go, or I’ll never get to meet my brother,” Rani finished, starting to cry.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” muttered Octavius, who was really very softhearted when it came to mermaids crying. He placed all his arms round Rani in a very complicated hug.
“You look like you’re trapped inside a cage of octopus-arms,” Roscoe joked, trying to cheer her up.
And it was then that it happened. Octavius grunted out loud as the idea hit him. It was a very clever idea – the cleverest he’d ever had!
“Leave it to me,” he told Rani, extracting his arms one by one. “You go back home and wait for me. I won’t be long. I just have to make something first.”
And he dashed outside his cave, churning up the water in his hurry.
Later on that day, Rani’s family were sitting quietly in their cave. Things had felt very tense when Rani returned although no one had said any more about her request to leave Tingle Reef. It seemed that as far as her parents were concerned, the matter was closed. Kai was hardly speaking to her, though, and even Pearl seemed to sense that something was wrong, refusing to settle down to sleep even with Rani’s mother singing to her.
Pearl had just about dropped off when Octavius arrived. He was carrying a strange contraption which he set down proudly on the floor of the cave.
“I have to show you this,” he said. “It’s a special cage. I made it out of razor shells and spider-glue – and the mesh is made out of bind-weed. A very clever invention, don’t you think?”
“What’s it for?” Miriam asked.
“I’m going to use it to catch a magic fish!” Octavius said. “They live way out in the Deep Blue and are said to be very beautiful indeed. A whole shoal of them is coming to visit Morva tomorrow.”
“But, Octavius, you can’t trap a magic fish here,” Miriam protested. “It wouldn’t be fair.”
“Why not? I really want one for a pet. You have Roscoe, don’t you?”
“That’s different,” said Murdoch. “Roscoe chooses to live with us.You can’t keep a magic fish here against its will.”
“Hmm,” said Octavius, pretending to think about it. “What do you think, Rani?”
Before she could reply, Miriam turned on Octavius, her eyes flashing angrily. “Is this your clumsy way of telling us that you think we should let Rani go with Morva?”
Octavius turned a bit pink. “Well, she did come to me in great distress and I do think—”
Miriam turned away from him to face Rani. “You went to Octavius to ask for help?”
Rani nodded. “But, Mother—”
“Well, all I can say, Rani,” Miriam interrupted her crisply, “is that in that case you must have felt pretty desperate!”
“I beg your pardon—” began Octavius huffily.
“She didn’t mean it like that, Octavius,” Murdoch hastily intervened. “We’re just shocked that Rani feels so strongly about this that she chose to go to someone outside the family about it, that’s all.” He paused.
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 J
onah 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 seabed.
“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.”
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 seabed, 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 seabed.”
“B-but ...” Rani stammered. “There is nothing under the seabed.” She had always been taught that the seabed 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 seabed. “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.