Mermaid Magic (5 page)

“That’s the same name as my father!” Rani interrupted her.

Morva just nodded and carried on.

Morva and Murdoch were very happy apart from one thing. There was another mermaid who was in love with Murdoch and she was very jealous of Morva. When the community leader’s baby started to get sick again, Morva offered to make a magic healing potion but the jealous mermaid secretly substituted salt for the potion and the baby died. The jealous mermaid spread the rumour that Morva had used bad magic and Morva was banished. Murdoch tried to go with her but Morva knew he would be unhappy away from Tingle Reef so she wouldn’t let him.

But instead of returning home Morva used her magic to create a special floating cave on the edge of the reef. That way she could stay and watch over Murdoch, who eventually did fall in love again with someone else and had a family. Morva made it her business to watch over them, staying in her secret cave for many years, until Murdoch finally died. Then, just as she was thinking about returning to her own people, she heard that a baby mermaid with an orange tail and red hair had arrived in Tingle Reef inside a shell.

“Me! “
Rani gasped.

“Yes, and the grandson of
my
Murdoch found you and adopted you.” She smiled.” And I decided to stay a while longer until you grew old enough for me to teach you how to use your magic.”

“What
magic?” Rani exclaimed.

“What do you think that tingling feeling is in your body? And how do you think you can hear other creatures’ thoughts, if not by magic? It’s very weak at the moment, only just beginning to show itself. But in a little while it will be as powerful as mine, so it’s very important that you learn how to use it properly.”

“But how ...” Rani trailed off. She had so many questions to ask that she didn’t know where to start.

“I don’t know how or why you came to Tingle Reef as a baby, Rani,” Morva continued. “But what I do know is that you must have come from the same place as me. And we are different from the mermaids of Tingle Reef, not just because of how we look. We’re different because we have magic powers that they don’t have.”

Rani felt dazed. “If this is true,” she stammered. “Then . . . then you must know where I come from.”

Morva pointed at the picture of the red-haired mermaid swimming through the burst of golden light. “That,” she said, proudly, “is where you come from.”

Rani stared at the picture. “But where is it? How do we get there?”

“One day, when your magic is strong enough, I will take you there,” Morva said. “Until then you must be patient.”

Morva started to tuck into her stew. “Now you must go. You mustn’t tell
anyone
that you have met me. Or about what I have told you. Do you understand?”

Rani nodded. “But when will I see you again?”

“Soon. And remember ...Tell
no one
! Not even your family.”

Rani took one last look at the picture, and as she left Morva’s cave she tried to imagine herself swimming down through the centre of that golden light to reach her true home.

Chapter Seven

B
y the time Rani got back to Tingle Reef she felt exhausted. All she wanted to do was to go home and tell her parents and Kai all about it, but she knew she couldn’t. Rani
really
wanted to tell Kai. Surely it wouldn’t matter if she made Kai promise not to tell anyone else?

As the entrance to her cave came into view, Rani saw that there were lots of other mermaids outside.

“What’s happened?” she asked anxiously, as the crowd parted to let her through. Everyone was looking really worried.

As she swam inside, her mother looked up. She was hugging Pearl tightly and her turquoise eyes were full of tears. At first Rani thought there was something wrong with her baby sister and then she spotted her father. Murdoch was lying on a seaweed mat, completely still.

“What’s wrong with Father?” she cried.

“He’s been stung by a Yellow-back jellyfish,” her mother replied, her voice trembling.

Rani looked down at Murdoch. The jellyfish poison was already in his bloodstream and his upper body was red and swollen. His eyes were closed and he was so weak he couldn’t move his tail.

“Rani, isn’t Kai with you?” her mother asked.

Rani shook her head. “She went somewhere with the twins.”

“Where?”

Rani knew that if she told her mother that Kai had gone off into the Deep Blue then her mother would be even more worried. So she lied. “She’s not far away. Shall I go and fetch her?”

“Yes,” her mother said hoarsely. She touched Murdoch’s forehead. “But hurry!”

Rani swallowed, fighting back the tears. Her mother expected that her father would die. That was why she wanted Kai to come back so quickly.

“Mother—” she began, but Miriam interrupted her.

“There’s no cure for this type of poison, Rani. Now go and fetch your sister.”

Rani swam out of the cave and found Roscoe.

“Roscoe, will
you
go and find Kai?” Rani asked. “There’s somewhere else I need to go right now.” And she swam away before he could ask her any questions.

Rani swam as fast as she could back to Morva’s cave.

When she reached it, she swam underneath it until she found the hole with the seaweed rope.

“Morva,” she gasped, as soon as she was inside the cave. “You’ve got to help me!”

Morva was sitting on the furthest away rock, combing her long hair with a beautiful shell-comb. She stopped as soon as she saw Rani.

Rani quickly explained what had happened to her father.

Morva looked distressed. “I’d like to help,” she said. “I could collect some special plants and make a magic healing potion to give you. You can come back and collect it tonight.”

“There isn’t time for that!” Rani cried desperately. “Father’s going to die if you don’t come and do something now.”

“But Rani, I cannot enter Tingle Reef,” Morva said. “It is forbidden. They will never permit me to go into the cave to help your father.”

“They will if I take you!” Rani said. “Morva, please, you’ve got to come.”

Morva looked solemn. “I can’t. They still think I killed that baby.”

“Well, this is your chance to show everybody that they’re wrong,” Rani said. “If you make Father better then they’ll know you couldn’t have killed anyone.” Rani was near to tears now. “Murdoch would want you to come!” she burst out. “
Your
Murdoch, I mean. Can’t you just try?”

When they got back to Rani’s cave some of the other mermaids were still outside. They gasped as they saw Morva. Most of them didn’t know who she was, but a few of the older mermaids remembered her from when
they
were children.

An urgent whisper went round. “It’s Morva! It’s the sea-witch!”

The adult mermaids moved closer together, blocking the entrance to the cave.

“That child looks just like the sea-witch!” one of them said, pointing at Rani’s bright red hair.

“Shhh. You’ll frighten Rani,” another mermaid said protectively.

Morva looked at Rani. “I knew they wouldn’t understand,” she said. “I’d better leave.”

“But you have to save Father!” Rani cried. “You have to come inside and see him.” And she burst into tears.

At that moment Octavius pushed his way through the crowd, shoving mermaids out of his way, eight-at-a-time, until he reached Rani.

“Rani has brought Morva here to help Murdoch!” he shouted, hooking one arm round Rani’s waist and pulling her closer to him. “And since we can’t help him ourselves, I don’t think we’ve got anything to lose by letting Morva try, do you?”

“But she’s dangerous!” someone shouted. “What about what she did to that baby?”

“Nonsense!” Octavius snorted. “You mermaids are
so
silly! I’ve read all about what happened in my history book of Tingle Reef. No one ever listened to Morva’s side of the story. Unfortunately I hadn’t been born then or I would have sorted it all out! Now, move aside and let Rani and Morva enter the cave.”

But the adult mermaids didn’t move. They didn’t like being bossed around by Octavius.

Rani was getting scared that they wouldn’t reach her father in time. She tugged at Morva’s arm. “
Do
something!”

Morva seemed to whirl into action, flicking her tail so that the water swirled around her. “If you don’t move out of the way I’m going to turn you all into sea-frogs!” she hissed.And she started to wave her arms in the water in front of her as if she was casting a spell.

The mermaids started pushing and shoving each other as they struggled to move away from her. Quickly, Morva pushed Rani ahead of her into the cave.

“Mother!” Rani called out from the doorway.

Rani’s mother turned round. “Rani—” She stopped, gasping out loud and pulling Pearl closer to her, as she saw Morva.

“Morva is my friend,” Rani said. “And she’s come to make Father better.”

Before her mother could say anything Morva swam forward. “I
can
help him,” she said. “
If
you trust me.”

“I’ve heard about you,” Rani’s mother whispered. “But I never guessed that you . . . that Rani ...” She trailed off, her gaze flitting between Morva’s long red hair and the identical red hair of her daughter.

“There isn’t much time,” Morva said gently.

Rani’s mother looked down at her husband. She kissed his forehead and moved back.

“Go on, then,” she said.

Morva swam closer and leaned over Murdoch. She placed both hands, fingers outstretched, over his face. Then she closed her eyes and began to chant something under her breath. As Miriam and Rani watched, Morva’s upper body began to sparkle. The golden glow started to spread down her arms and into her hands and then it crossed over into Murdoch’s body which started to sparkle too.

Slowly, the redness left his skin and the swelling started to go down. The end of his tail started to twitch. When Morva removed her hands, the golden light vanished and Murdoch’s eyes flickered open.

Rani’s mother was trembling. “Oh, thank you!” she cried. “Thank you so much!” She rushed forward and flung her arms around her husband, as Pearl shrieked with excitement.

Rani flung herself at Morva and gave her an enormous hug. “I knew you’d save him!”