Rani’s Sea Spell

by Gwyneth Rees

  For Rani and Sunil

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  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?”

  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!”

  “Why are you taking so much stuff?” asked Kai.

 
; “Ah, well . . . That’s the trouble with having a huge brain like mine – one thinks of so many things to pack.” He sighed as he readjusted some of his bags.

  “I didn’t know your sister lived on the wreck,” Rani said.

  “Oh, yes. Flora works there as a hairdresser,” Octavius told her.

  “Maybe we’ll ask her to do our hair for the party,” Rani’s mother said, as she swam over to make sure they were ready. “Now, have you girls got your seaweed belts tied nice and tightly?”

  Rani and Kai nodded. They each had a packed lunch tied to their belts, and a little purse containing the jewellery and hair decorations they were going to wear at the party.

  “We’d better get going,” said Murdoch.

  “Bye, bye, Pearl,” the girls said, rushing to give their baby sister a final hug. “We wish you were coming with us.”

  “Pearl will be just fine with me,” Morva reassured them, as Pearl beamed happily at everybody from Morva’s arms.

  Just as they were leaving, Morva fastened a gold-coloured shell to Rani’s belt. “The sea-spell is inside,” Morva whispered. “And remember – it can only be used once, so don’t use it unless you really have to!”

  Rani promised that she wouldn’t, as she gave Morva a goodbye hug.

  They swam through the Deep Blue for a long time, with Murdoch leading the way. Rani and Kai swam behind him, with Octavius and Miriam swimming behind the girls. Every time Roscoe got tired he grabbed hold of one of the mermaids’ hair and caught a ride with them for a while until he felt like swimming again.

  The water in the Deep Blue was darker and colder than the water in Tingle Reef. The further out they swam, the more strange the plants and rocks that surrounded them. Rani and Kai, who had never been this far out in the Deep Blue before, couldn’t stop pointing things out to each other.

  “Look!” gasped Kai, as a shoal of enormous fish swam by. Murdoch explained that a lot of the fish in the Deep Blue were bigger than the ones they were used to seeing at home.

  “Octavius, what have you got in those bags?” Kai asked the octopus, as they rested at the bottom of a large rock to eat their packed lunches. Murdoch was sitting on top of the rock acting as lookout.

  “I have brought some of my famous stew for the party,” Octavius said grandly, “since I know how much everyone likes it.”

  “Yes, but you don’t eat stew at a party,” Kai pointed out. “You eat mer-cakes and sea-trifle and—”

  “What’s that noise?” her mother interrupted.

  There was a definite banging noise that seemed to be coming from very close by.

  “Murdoch!” Miriam called up to him, anxiously. “Can you come down here?”

  “What’s wrong?” Murdoch asked, swimming down to join them. Then he heard the noise too.

  “There’s a creature inside that rock. I can sense it,” Rani said, frowning. Rani’s magical powers often helped her to sense the presence of other creatures before they appeared.

  Her family looked at her in disbelief. How could a creature be inside a rock? “I’m going to have a look,” Rani said, swimming away from the others before they could stop her.

  As she swam round to the other side of the rock she noticed a bush growing out of it. The bush was swishing from side to side even though the water here was quite calm.

  “Rani!” Her father appeared by her side just as a huge fish with sharp fins, a jagged tail, a huge mouth and very sharp teeth indeed, swam out from behind the bush.

  “SHARK!” yelled Murdoch, pulling Rani behind him.

  Rani started to fumble for the little golden shell that Morva had fastened to her belt – the shell with the sea-spell. But in her panic, the shell slipped from her fingers and floated away from her.

  The huge shark was heading straight towards them, its white teeth flashing. Then it seemed to sniff something it liked better. It batted Murdoch and Rani to one side and swam past them, heading straight for the others.

  Rani and her father yelled out a warning, but it was too late. The shark had already trapped Miriam, Kai, Octavius and Roscoe. As they trembled against the rock face, the shark’s evil black eyes glinted in pleasure at the prospect of such a yummy dinner.

  That’s when Rani heard the shark’s thoughts floating towards her through the water. Rani’s magic meant that she could often hear the thoughts of other sea creatures. The shark was smelling a mixture of mermaids and . . .

  “Octavius! Throw him your stew!” Rani shouted. “That’s what he can smell!”

  Octavius hastily untied his arms and pushed all the containers of stew towards the shark’s open mouth. As the shark started to crunch it up greedily, Octavius and the others slipped past to join Murdoch and Rani.

  “Quick!” said Murdoch urgently. “It won’t take him long to get through that lot.”

  “Where’s Rani going?” Kai asked suddenly.

  Rani was swimming away from them, back towards the bush which had concealed the entrance to the shark’s cave. “I have to get Morva’s shell!” she called back. “You go on. I’ll catch up with you in a minute!”

  Rani spotted the shell straight away, gleaming up at her from a bunch of dark green seaweed. She picked it up and fastened it securely to her belt just as Murdoch caught up with her. He grabbed her firmly by the arm.

  “I’m sorry, Father, but this shell is important,” Rani said.

  “So are you!” snapped her father. “Now, just swim! Before that shark realizes that the stew he’s munching doesn’t contain any mermaids at all!”

  Chapter Three

  “It’s not far now,” Miriam said, when Rani and Kai started to protest that they were getting tired. As they swam over a sandy opening in the rocks where lots of colourful fish darted about, Miriam became excited. “I recognize where we are! We’re nearly there.” She started to swim faster. “Look.” She pointed ahead. “There it is!”

  Rani and Kai looked ahead of them and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Even the descriptions their mother had given them hadn’t prepared them for this.

  Towering up from the sea-bed was the strangest structure they had ever seen. As they swam closer they saw that it was white because it was totally covered in limpet shells. There were many openings along the sides of the vessel – entrances to individual homes with colourful plants and flowers growing around the doorways. On top was a massive roof garden which stretched out over the whole area of the wreck. The garden was filled with all sorts of flowering shrubs and plants. Seaweed hammocks, strung up between the bushes, were swinging in the gentle current and there were lots of rock seats dotted here and there amongst the greenery. Some mermaids, who were relaxing in the garden, smiled and waved to them.

  “It’s beautiful!” gasped Kai and Rani together, as they waved back.

  “Miriam!” someone called.

  They turned to see an old mermaid with white hair swimming towards them.

  “Mother!” cried Miriam, rushing forward.

  The girls swam forward too, and soon their grandmother was hugging them tightly as she stroked their hair and told them how much they’d grown.

  As everyone swam inside, Octavius asked about his sister Flora.

  “She’s very busy doing everyone’s hair for the party tonight. Come with me and I’ll show you where we’re having it.” Rani’s grandmother led the way along narrow corridors until they reached a huge room with a tall ceiling and large openings on both sides so that you could see out into the Deep Blue in both directions.

  “It looks wonderful!” enthused Miriam.

  Rani thought it did too. A stone table along one side of the room was piled high with shell-dishes in readiness for the party. In one corner, a stage had been erected for the band. Purple and red seaweed decorations swung from the ceiling and the floor was sprinkled with glitter-sand.

  “Hmm,” murmured Octavius, who had swum up to inspect the ceiling and was now poking at it with the ends of his wriggly arms. “This ceiling is sagging.”
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  “I don’t see it,” said Rani’s grandmother sharply.

  “Well, it is,” said Octavius soberly. “You realize that if the ceiling collapsed, the whole roof garden would fall on top of us.” He paused so that everyone could imagine being crushed by the roof garden, before adding, “Of course, I expect it’s safe enough for the time being.” He swam down to join them. “Now, I really must go and see my sister.”

  “Ask her if she’ll do our hair too,” Rani’s mother called after him.

  Octavius waved one arm at her to show that he would, as he swam off muttering under his breath. Really, it was hopeless trying to get mermaids to think about anything but their hair! They meant well, but they were such silly, scatty creatures. Still, he supposed it wasn’t really their fault they had such tiny brains – unlike his which felt so heavy these days that he was beginning to wonder if it was growing! He must ask Flora what she thought. Now . . . where was she? He couldn’t wait to see the surprise on her face when she saw him!

  “You both look lovely,” Rani’s grandmother said, as she watched her two granddaughters get dressed up for the party. “Now . . . I have a surprise for you.”

  The girls gasped as she opened the lid of an old wooden box to reveal all sorts of necklaces and bracelets and rings.

  “This is my treasure chest,” said their grandmother. “Whatever you choose from it to wear tonight is yours to keep, so choose carefully.”

  “Oh, Grandmother!” cried Rani, her eyes shining with excitement. “They’re all beautiful.”

  “Especially this,” said Kai, picking out a necklace of aqua-marine that matched her eyes. “May I really have it?”

  Her grandmother nodded. “And what about you, Rani? What will you choose?”

  Rani’s gaze fell on a simple pendant made out of a large amber stone. She picked it up.

  “Ah, the amber pendant . . .” said her grandmother. “I found that one day when I was out looking for some special plants to make up some medicines. It was just lying there on the sea-bed. And the same day, Pat, the dolphin arrived and told me that your mother and father had found a baby that morning, inside a Giant Clam-Shell.”