The Shell Princess (3 page)

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 Jonah 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 sea-bed.

“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.