Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest

by Janis Mackay

  “Why?” he said, embarrassed about the message in a bottle. He thought maybe she would give him a row about it. What bad luck. Of all the people in the world to find his bottle.

  “Honey,” she said with tears now glistening in her eyes, “I found it. The waves brought it in when I was out walking.” She held the bottle up for him to see.

  Tarkin didn’t know what to say. He stared at his mother and swallowed hard. He hoped he wasn’t going to burst into tears. There was no doubting it, the bottle she now held in her hands was the bottle he had thrown to sea.

  “I didn’t know, honey,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t know you found it so hard. I thought maybe you liked all this travelling. I thought we’d find the perfect place one day. I’m sorry, Tark. Will you forgive me?”

  Tarkin swallowed again and nodded his head. Still no words came, but he found his embarrassment was gone and suddenly he felt happy that she had found his bottle.

  “I’ll make a huge effort, Tark. I promise. What does it matter if it’s cold? Hm? It is good here. It could be home. We could make it home, son. I’ll get me a big fur coat like the one you found in the Yukon – and I’ll ask your dad to come and visit you. He’d love to, Tark. I know he wants to.”

  Then Tarkin did cry. He couldn’t help it; too many big things were happening all at once. Then he hugged his mother and told her how much he loved his new friends and his new school, and Scotland, and how he wanted to stay for years and years, and that if she did get a fur coat it should really be fake. He only stepped back when he heard loud cheers coming from Magnus Fin and Aquella and Ragnor and Barbara and Frank and Mrs McLeod and all the other guests.

  “Three cheers for Tarkin – he’s going to stay – hip-hip-hooray!”

  “Magic!” said Tarkin, as happy now as he had been sad just ten minutes earlier. “It really does happen. It happens to me too, Fin. Wow! I’m staying!”

  “Magnus Fin! Tarkin! Aquella! Children, hurry, come and look!” Ragnor, Barbara and Tarkin’s parents called out and waved everyone over. The children dashed up to where the adults stood, all of them shaking their heads in wonder and staring out to sea.

  “Look,” said Barbara eagerly, “look, boys, look at these wonderful waves. Aren’t they enormous? And there’s something flashing out there in the sea. Look – can you see the tail?”

  Everyone stared to where Barbara was pointing, to a place beyond the black rock where spray splashed from the rippling sea. For a fleeting moment a cream-coloured glinting tail flicked out of the water and the most beautiful seal breached in an arc.

  “Wow!” gasped Tarkin. “That was huge!”

  “She’s amazing,” shouted Magnus Fin, waving wildly as the beautiful creature yelped, dived under the water and was gone. Ragnor laughed at the two gawping boys.

  “Hey, boys,” he called out, “now don’t go falling for a seal.”

  “And why not?” said Barbara. “The best creatures in the world in my opinion. We can learn a lot from them,” she said, squeezing her husband’s arm.

  Aquella lifted an arm and waved at the creature that dived under the water. Much longer than anyone else, she stared out to sea then wiped a tear from her cheek. She took a very deep breath then turned to her uncle Ragnor. He was standing behind her, waiting for her to say goodbye to the seal.

  “It’s all right, Aquella,” he said, holding her tight. “And you know, it’s not too bad being human,” he said warmly. “In fact, sometimes being human is the very best thing in the world.”

  Then Tarkin, Aquella, Magnus Fin and even Patsy Mackay had a big group hug.

  Then everyone at the party ate chocolate cake – loads of it, with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

  And the rays of the sun sparkled on the sea.

  And the clear blue waves broke white on to the shore.

  Magnus Fin had never felt so happy in his life. While everyone was chomping on cake, he ran down to the shore and on to the skerries. The waves crashed over them, white and sparkling. He leapt easily from rock to rock, excited at the booming music the waves made.

  Magnus Fin reached the edge of a jutting rock just as an almighty wave crashed over the rocks and soaked him. When the wave withdrew, three things were left on the glistening rock, lying like gifts at Magnus Fin’s wet feet: a trainer for his left foot, another for his right and – Magnus Fin gasped – a large, wonderful treasure. He yelled for joy, bent down and picked it up.

  CAPTAIN’S QUARTERS

  His hansel.

  Read on for an intriguing sneak preview of Magnus Fin’s next adventure in Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission.

  Magnus Fin ran along the shore path in the grey dawn light. He cut down to the sandy beach, kicking up tangles of seaweed as he ran. Feeling like the king of the sea and shore, Magnus Fin let out a loud whoop. An oystercatcher down at the water’s edge whooped back.

  Being alone at the beach in the early morning was always special, but low-tide mornings like this were even better. Low tide meant secret rock pools, each like a miniature ocean. It meant more stones to scramble over. And it meant he’d be able to see the top of the mast of the sunken ship.

  In a flash Magnus Fin was down on the skerries: the sloping black rocks that went out to sea. They spent half their lives hidden underwater. Now here they were, craggy, slippery and full of surprises. Fin leapt over stones and slithered on seaweed. He hoisted himself up his favourite rock, the high black one that jutted above all the others. Fin’s feet knew its ledges and craggy footholds. Panting hard he reached the top and stood tall, just in time to see the beaming orange sun burst over the sea’s horizon. What an entrance! Up and up it rose, like King Midas, turning everything to gold.

  Magnus Fin whipped out his penny whistle. He could only play one tune but he played it well and he played it twice. And sure enough, up they came, their sleek round heads lifting out of the shining water. A wide smile burst over the boy’s face. Quickly he counted – sixteen, seventeen, eighteen seals – and every one of them watching him. There were black ones, mottled grey ones, small silver calves and huge long-whiskered bulls.

  Fin pocketed his whistle, took a deep breath, cupped his hands round his mouth then shouted, “Hello seals!”

  He waited for the reply. And it came: shy at first, then lifting into a rousing choir – the seal’s song. Yelping, honking, booming, soft for a moment then soaring! Like a trumpet, a bass guitar, a bodhran, bagpipes! What a sound!

  When their song ended Magnus Fin clapped loudly, and the seals, lifting their flippers and splashing them together with yelping cries, clapped too. One by one they flipped, kicked their tail fins, then silently dipped under the water and vanished. Behind them the black thin mast of the sunken ship remained, like a finger, pointing to the sky.

  By this time the sun was up and the chill of the November dawn was gone. Glancing behind him, Magnus Fin saw that everything was on fire. The golden sand on the beach shone. The hillsides and cliff faces glowed, meaning (because he could read time by the sun) that it was quarter past eight. That gave him half an hour to scramble about on the skerries, study the rock pools, then comb the beach before a quick breakfast, then school.

  In his Neptune’s cave of a bedroom Magnus Fin had a growing collection of pottery bits. He planned to make a mosaic picture, once he’d found a few more pieces of broken plates and coloured glass. The tide line was the best place to find glass. The tide line was the best place to find broken pottery. Blue bits – that’s what he wanted.

  And that’s what he was thinking about when he bent his knees and swung his arms back, ready to jump from the high rock … when something by his feet caught his eye. He dropped his arms and stared.

  To the side of his right foot he saw a strange white mark. Gull droppings? He peered closer. It didn’t look like gull droppings. His heart skipped a beat. No one knew that rock like he did. He got down on his knees to examine it.

  Goosebumps crept up his arm. The mark looked like writi
ng. But this was his rock, his lookout tower. Being high up, this rock let him see what the black-backed gulls were up to, puffins even if he was lucky, and most importantly, the seals. So what was this mysterious white mark doing on his rock? It hadn’t been there the day before, he was sure about that.

  Forgetting his plan to search for pottery, Fin stared at what appeared to be silvery writing. He let his finger follow its trail. It looked and felt like the letter M. Fin pulled his finger back and a shiver ran down his spine.

  He glanced over his shoulder to the sea. The seals had gone. Normally they stayed close by, tumbling over in the water, or simply staring at him with their large kind eyes. Where were they?

  Fin looked over his shoulder and scanned the beach. Not even a dog walker was out this early.

  You’re brave now, remember that, he said to himself, standing up straight. And it’s only a silly mark on the stone. A rusty nail on a piece of driftwood tossed on a high wave could have made that mark.

  Magnus Fin looked around for driftwood but, save for a tangle of seaweed and a plastic bottle, nothing else had been brought in by the tide.

  He peered out over the bay. It was a crinkly kind of sea and, apart from the swishing sound of the waves breaking over the skerries, it was quiet. Most of the sea birds had flown south for the winter. Only the oystercatchers patrolling the shoreline and a few gulls bobbing on the waves remained. And they couldn’t write the letter M on his rock, could they?

  He tried to shake off the mood. He bent down and rubbed his hand over the M to erase it, but the harder he rubbed the stronger it became.

  “Don’t be daft, Fin – it’s nothing,” he said to himself out loud. Then he said it again, even louder, “Nothing at all!”

  Shouting like that made him feel braver. He remembered the way he had bawled out for joy just a short while ago. He tried whooping again but it didn’t sound the same, and the oystercatcher didn’t bother answering.

  Magnus Fin jumped down, landing on a shelf of rock below. Now his heart really did thump wildly. Scrawled upon the ledge of rock, the letter F stared up at him.

  M. F.

  He bent closer. And gulped. Jeepers creepers, there were more! Loads of tiny scrawled initials. The rock was shouting with Ms and Fs! Fin felt his knees turn to jelly.

  Something, or someone, was trying to contact him.

  Also by Janis Mackay

  (available in paperback and eBook)

  Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission

  On his eleventh birthday, schoolboy Magnus Fin found out that he was half selkie – part human, part seal. Although he looks like a boy and lives on land, he can breathe underwater.

  In the exciting sequel to Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest, Magnus Fin finds dead seals washed up on the beach and knows his selkie family needs his help. But what’s causing the selkies’ sickness and the terrible stench beneath the waves? And who is the green-eye poisoner? Can Magnus Fin find out the truth before it’s too late?

  Magnus Fin and the Selkie Secret

  When a rusty metal chest is flung ashore in a storm, Magnus Fin’s problems are just beginning. He injures his hand on the strange box and his sealskin starts to show through. Soon rumours start to spread.

  Deep in the ocean, the great sea god Neptune has problems of his own. His treasures of wisdom have been stolen, and his memory and powers are fading fast. Can Magnus Fin restore order under the sea and keep his family’s selkie secret?

  The third thrilling underwater adventure in the Magnus Fin series.

  Copyright

  Kelpies is an imprint of Floris Books

  First published in 2011 by Floris Books

  © 2009 Janis Mackay

  Janis Mackay has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the Author of this Work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the prior permission of Floris Books, 15 Harrison Gardens, Edinburgh www.florisbooks.co.uk

  British Library CIP Data available

  ISBN 978–086315–890–2