“It’s almost as though someone left it here for me,” Rani said to herself.
A paddle lay in a puddle of water in the bottom of the canoe. Rani moved her hand over the puddle. In a moment, the water formed a ball. Rani picked it up and tossed it into the river, where it dissolved into the rest of the water. She ran her hands over the whole boat, making sure it was watertight. Then she stepped into the canoe.
Moonlight sparkled on the water as Rani paddled downstream. A small waterfall whispered gently. Rani didn’t know where she was going. As long as it was away from the other fairies, it was fine with her.
Peeking over the edge of the canoe, Rani looked down at her small, heart-shaped face reflected in the water. From the front, I still look like a normal fairy, she thought. She reached out and touched the water. Her face dissolved into ripples.
Rani cupped water in her hand and brought it to her lips. “Good-bye, Tinker Bell,” she whispered into the water. “I’ll miss you. You are my forever friend, but I can’t stay with the fairies anymore.”
She blew on the water, and it grew and stretched until it was a large bubble. Rani lifted her hand into the air. The bubble shimmered in front of her for a moment before it floated away. A breeze pushed it toward the Home Tree, where it would find Tink. Rani had sent many of these bubble messages before. They never failed.
With a sigh, Rani leaned back. She watched the stars overhead as the canoe carried her downstream. She saw a long, moss-covered log lying across the stream, like a bridge. Just as Rani’s canoe passed under the log, she heard a soft splash.
What was that? Rani wondered. She sat up in the canoe. Looking over the side, she saw a whiplike motion in the dark water behind her. It was a water snake!
Rani’s heart fluttered in her chest. Snakes were almost as dangerous to fairies as hawks were. She dipped her paddle in the water, straining with all her might. The canoe started to pull away. A glance backward told her that the snake was moving quickly.
“Hurry, hurry!” Rani urged herself. The canoe sped forward. Suddenly, Rani heard a soft hissing sound.
She turned, expecting the snake to be right on top of her. But he was still several canoe lengths away.
Startled, Rani faced forward. The hissing she heard wasn’t the snake. It was the hiss water makes as it races over rocks. “Oh, no!” Rani cried. She dug her paddle into the water, trying to slow the canoe.
Hiss!
Behind her, the water snake drew level with the canoe. He was going to strike! “Get back!” Rani shouted. She stood and raised her paddle.
In a flash, the snake lunged forward. Rani brought her paddle down on his head. The snake bent under the force of the blow, then pulled back. His forked tongue flickered in and out. His black eyes narrowed in fury.
Rani thought fast. When the snake struck, she held back for an extra moment. Just as the snake’s fangs were about to close over her, she shoved her paddle between his jaws.
The snake thrashed from side to side. Water splashed wildly, but the paddle didn’t budge. He couldn’t close his mouth!
Rani started to relax. But then she remembered that she had another problem. The hiss had become a roar.
Turning toward the front of the canoe, Rani saw the white water just ahead. She grabbed the side of the boat. It swayed and rocked. Rani let out a scream. Her ears were filled with the noise of the rapids. Her stomach felt sick from the motion.
I can’t hang on! Rani thought. Her hand slipped from the side of the canoe.
The canoe hit the largest rock in the rapids. The boat ripped apart with the force of the blow. Rani was tossed into the water.
She struggled against the current, but it was too strong. Finally, she gave up and let the water swallow her.
“I KNOW WHAT this is.…I’ve seen one before. It’s a fairy.”
“It can’t be a fairy. It doesn’t have a wand. Or wings.”
“Not all fairies have wands, you know.”
“Yes, they do.”
“Shhh! It’s moving.”
Rani coughed. Her eyes fluttered open. At first, all she could see was a bright light and a shadow. Finally, the world came into focus. Someone was looking down at her curiously. She had beautiful green eyes, a delicate nose, yellow-green hair—and skin made of tiny scales.
A mermaid! Rani thought. A second mermaid with blue eyes and blue-green hair was beside the first one.
Rani sat up, then wished she hadn’t moved so quickly. Her whole body was sore. As she looked around, she saw that she was lying on the shore. The mermaids leaned over her with their tails still in the water.
“Where am I?” Rani asked.
“She wants to know where she is,” the blue-eyed mermaid said.
“I heard her,” the green-eyed one snapped. She looked down at Rani. “You’re where Havendish Stream meets the Mermaid Lagoon,” she told Rani.
“Are you a fairy?” the other one asked.
Rani coughed again. “Yes.”
“There,” the green-eyed mermaid said in a haughty way. “Didn’t I tell you? They don’t all have wands.”
Rani looked at the green-eyed mermaid carefully. “I think I know you,” she said. “Aren’t you—Soop?”
The mermaid smiled. Soop’s name wasn’t really Soop, but only other mermaids could pronounce her real name. “I’m not Soop,” she said. “Though creatures who don’t know better think we look alike. I’m Oola. And who are you?”
“I’m Rani.”
“If you’re a fairy,” the other mermaid said, “where are your wings?”
“Oh, be quiet, Mara,” Oola grumbled. (Mara wasn’t the other mermaid’s name either, but it was the only part Rani could catch.) “Isn’t it obvious? She cut them off so that she could swim with mermaids.”
Mara’s eyes widened. “You did?”
“Well…” Rani had cut off her wings because she’d needed to ask the mermaids for one of their beautiful combs to save Mother Dove’s egg. So in a way, she had cut off her wings to swim with mermaids. “…yes. I guess so.”
Mara gasped in admiration. She looked Rani over from head to toe. Rani blushed again. She knew she was a mess. Her blond hair was tangled, and her violet dress—already torn from her fall at the Fairy Dance—was now practically in rags. “So,” Mara said, “what are you doing—”
“—here?” Rani shook her head. “I’m running away.”
The mermaids gasped. “Running away!” Oola repeated.
“I would never leave the Mermaid Lagoon,” Mara said.
“Mara!” Oola snapped. “Don’t insult the fairy. Not everyone lives in a place as nice as the Mermaid Lagoon.”
“Oh, Pixie Hollow is beautiful,” Rani put in quickly.
Oola smiled. But she didn’t look as though she believed Rani. “Of course it is.”
Rani couldn’t think of anything to say after that.
Oola flicked her yellow-green tail thoughtfully as Rani toyed with a handful of water. Cupping it in her palms, Rani turned the drop into a ball, then stretched it so that it had a forked tongue and a long tail. She breathed on it, and the water snake’s tail flickered.
“How did you do that?” Oola asked.
Rani shrugged. “I’m a water-talent fairy,” she explained. “Water is my joy.”
Reaching out a finger, Oola touched the water snake. It melted right away, falling back into the stream with a tiny splash. Oola laughed. “I guess I don’t have any water talent,” she said.
“Mermaids have different talents,” Rani said, thinking about how graceful and lovely Oola and Mara were.
“Where will you go now?” Mara asked.
Rani sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
Leaning over, Oola whispered something in Mara’s ear. Mara’s blue eyes widened, and she whispered something back to Oola. Oola nodded.
“We think you should come and live with us,” Oola told Rani.
“You’d like it,” Mara agreed.
“Me?” Rani
flushed with pride. These beautiful mermaids wanted her to live with them? Underwater? The fairy’s heart fluttered with excitement.
“You seem very happy in water,” Oola pointed out.
Rani’s smile faded. “But I can’t breathe underwater,” she said. To live underwater she would need a lot of air. Then Rani remembered the bubble message she had made for Tink. Couldn’t she make a few bubbles like that and wear them as a necklace? Anytime she wanted to breathe, she could just pop one in her mouth—
“And take a breath!” Rani said aloud. She was so excited that she stood straight up.
Oola held out her hand, and Rani stepped onto it. “You’ll be like a tiny mermaid,” Oola said. She kindly ignored the fact that Rani didn’t have scales—or a tail.
Rani smiled. She was off on an underwater adventure!
RANI LOOKED AROUND in amazement as they made their way through the mermaid lagoon.
A cloud of brilliant silver-blue fish darted past, and Rani saw three mermaids sitting on a rock. A merman inspected a field of bright green seaweed—he was the palace chef and was gathering salad greens. Two small merboys chased each other through a patch of coral.
“How much farther to the castle?” Rani asked Oola. They had already been swimming for quite a while. Rani was thankful that she had thought of the bubble necklace. It was easy to breathe that way. Every time she put a bubble in her mouth, it was like taking a gulp of air. And if all else failed, she could always use the wind room.
The wind room was a room full of air that the mermaids used when their gills got tired. Unfortunately, the room reeked of fish. And Rani couldn’t take the room with her if she wanted to leave the mermaid palace. All in all, the bubble necklace made it much easier to stay underwater.
“It isn’t far,” Oola replied. “You’ll be able to see it once we swim over this hill.”
Rani gasped when she caught sight of the castle. The mermaids’ palace was made of mother-of-pearl. It gleamed in the sparkling underwater light. To Rani, it seemed huge. It reached from the floor of the lagoon halfway to the surface.
Rani had always thought that the Home Tree was the most beautiful place on earth, but now she wasn’t so sure.
“And you all live there?” Rani asked.
“Every mermaid and merman has a room in the palace,” Oola told her.
Now, you might be wondering how it was that Rani and Oola were talking underwater. It was really quite easy if you had a mermaid to show you how to do it. The trick wasn’t in the talking—it was in the listening. Rani had to listen very carefully to each bubble that came out of Oola’s mouth. It took a bit of practice, but once Rani knew how, it was as simple as talking with the fairies in Pixie Hollow.
Oola and Mara swam through the castle. From her seat in Oola’s hand, Rani admired everything. In every room, there were bunches of flowering seaweed arranged in tall pink spiral shells. In one room, two large hermit crabs chased each other playfully around a bed made from a giant clamshell.
Throughout the castle, conch shells hid lights that gave off a golden glow. Rani wondered what the lights were made of. They were very pretty.
“Let’s go to the dressing room,” Mara suggested. “The others will probably be there.”
“Oh, let’s not,” Oola snapped. She was beginning to think of Rani as her fairy, and she didn’t want to share her with the others. But Voona—a mermaid with a wild mane of yellow-orange hair—caught sight of them.
“Oooh, what do you have there?” Voona asked. She swam right up to Oola and stared at Rani. Her golden eyes widened. “Oh, my goodness—wherever did you get it? It’s so strange!”
“I’m Rani,” said Rani.
Voona shrieked. “It talks!”
“She’s a fairy,” Oola explained.
“She is? Where is her wand?” Voona demanded. “Oh, my goodness, we have to show the others right away!” She half pulled, half shoved Oola through a nearby door. “Girls! Girls! Look what we found!”
Soon, a cluster of chattering mermaids surrounded Rani.
“Oh, my gosh! What is it?”
“Is it alive?”
“How peculiar!”
“It’s a fairy,” Mara said proudly.
“It is?” The mermaids gaped at Rani, who blushed.
“Oh, look—it’s turning red,” Voona said.
Rani wished the mermaids wouldn’t talk about her as though she weren’t there. But how do I ask them to stop without being rude? she wondered.
Finally, Oola stepped in. “She’s a fairy, and she’s come to live with us—me. See? She cut off her wings to swim with the mermaids.” Oola pointed to the place where Rani’s wings used to be.
The mermaids gasped.
“And,” Mara added, “she’s had an adventure!”
“No wonder she looks such a mess,” Voona said.
Rani blushed even harder, remembering her torn dress. She knew she wasn’t looking her best.
“We can dress her up!” one of the mermaids cried.
“Oh, yes! Oh, yes!” the other mermaids agreed. There was a general bustle as they swam to different corners of the room. Each one collected something to help.
Rani sat at the center of a tall table. Mara began to brush her hair. Meanwhile, Oola pulled out a turquoise sea-silk handkerchief and started to make a new dress for Rani. A mermaid with violet hair painted Rani’s lips with coral lip gloss.
Another mermaid found a tiny bone pin with a sparkly red jewel at the top. The mermaid took a pin that was similar—only much, much larger—and tied up her own hair with it. Then she told Rani to do the same. Rani did the best she could, but she was sure her hair didn’t look as pretty as the mermaid’s.
“Oh, much better!” Voona clapped her hands. “This fairy is absolutely adorable—I have to get one!”
Rani smiled as she looked down at the sea-silk dress. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever worn. “Thank you,” she said to her new friends.
“That was fun,” Oola said.
Rani touched the red jewel in her hair. She had never had anything so fancy before. “Is there going to be a party?” she asked.
The mermaids stared at her.
“A par-tee?” Voona repeated.
“What’s that?” Oola asked.
“A party,” Rani said. “You know, where you and your friends dance and play music and eat and have a good time?”
“Sounds like fun!” Mara chirped.
“Oh, it is fun!” Rani said eagerly. “It’s very fun!”
“I could wear my new shell necklace!” Mara cried.
“And I could wear my pearl comb,” said another mermaid. Immediately, all the mermaids began to plan what to wear.
“Oh!” Oola suddenly wailed. “Oh—it’s too terrible!”
“What is it, Oola?” Mara asked. The other mermaids fell quiet.
“I couldn’t possibly think of going to a par-tee without my golden ring!” Oola wailed.
The mermaids were silent.
“Where is it?” Rani asked.
“I dropped it,” Oola said, “down Starfish Gap.”
The other mermaids murmured and shook their heads.
“It’s a very deep, narrow gap,” Oola explained. “I’ll never get it back.” She sighed loudly. She looked at Rani. Then she sighed again.
Rani looked around at the roomful of sad mermaids. It seemed as if the party would never happen now. “Well…,” she said slowly, “…maybe I could go get it.”
“Yes!” Mara cried. “Yes, Rani is small enough to fit in the gap!”
“Oh, would you?” Oola exclaimed. “That would be wonderful!”
The mermaids need me, Rani thought with a smile. They need my help to get the ring. They don’t even know how to have a party. I’ll have to show them what to do! “And then we can have our party?” she asked.
“Yes, of course!” Oola promised.
“Well, then,” Rani said bravely, “just show me where it is.”
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��ARE YOU SURE it’s in there?” Rani asked. She studied the deep, narrow crack in the ocean floor. It was so dark, she couldn’t see more than two feet down.
“Oh, yes,” Oola assured her. “I dropped it here last week.”
“I saw it fall in,” Mara added. “It was right by this yellow rock.”
Rani hesitated. “It’s very dark down there.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Voona said. “We’ll hold up this light for you.” She held out a conch shell filled with glowing pink seaweed.
Rani stepped forward uncertainly. The light did help, at least a little. She could see that Starfish Gap was lined with plants and corals. It didn’t look as though there was anything dangerous down there. Still, it was a strange place, and Rani couldn’t see all the way to the bottom. “Are you sure you need this ring?” she asked.
“I couldn’t think of going to a par-tee without it,” Oola said.
Rani sighed. It was clear she was going to have to get the ring. She plucked a particularly large bubble from her necklace and popped it into her mouth, taking a deep breath. Then she dove over the edge of Starfish Gap.
The mermaids had told the truth. The gap was too narrow for anyone but a fairy. When she reached out her arms, Rani could touch both sides with her fingertips. The walls were rough.
Rani kicked harder, swimming down, down, down. Darkness began to close over her, and she stopped to look up. There, at the top, a long, long way up, were five beautiful mermaid faces. Oola held the light higher, and it cast its strange glow deeper into the gap and made eerie shadows on the walls.
“You’re almost there!” Oola called. Her yellow-green hair floated around her face.
Rani looked down. She didn’t feel as though she was almost there. She couldn’t see the bottom and had no idea how far away it was. She wished she had thought to ask the mermaids how long she would have to swim to reach the floor of the gap.
Disney Fairies: Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon Page 2
