Not Quite a Mermaid (6 page)

‘Hooray!' Sam shouted.

They all hugged each other then Electra swam to the patch of anemones where the sea mouse was hiding. All she could see was its little nose and twitching whiskers. She held out her hands and spoke softly. ‘Are you coming with us, little sea mouse? If you do, you'll never have to worry about sea snakes again!'

The sea mouse didn't hesitate. It shot out into her hands and squeaked loudly. Electra kissed its furry head. ‘Come on, let's take you home,' she said.

Electra and the others swam quickly out of the hole Electra had made in the barrier. They filled it in just in case the snakes decided to come back and then raced back home to the twins' cave.

‘Phew!' Sam said as they dived in
through the curtain and realized that the cave was empty. ‘Dad and Gran aren't back yet!'

‘Luckily,' Electra said, looking around at the mess. The painting and decorating things they had used were still out, the floor was covered with glitter, the banner was dripping paint on to the rug, and the streamers had half fallen down. And then there was the kitchen…

What was Ronan going to say when he saw all the mess?

‘I think we'd better clean up,' she said hastily.

But just then, the shell curtain tinkled behind them.

‘We're back!' Ronan called, swimming into the cave with Gran. ‘Have you been good and…' He broke off and stared in shock at the cave. ‘What's happened here?' he gasped.

Electra's heart sank. Oh, no, now they were in trouble!

‘Look at the mess!' Ronan exclaimed angrily. ‘What's been going on?'

Sam and Sasha looked at the floor. Splash didn't say anything. Electra felt awful. ‘We…er…we just wanted to have a surprise party for Gran,' she stammered. ‘We were going to tidy up. We'll do it now.'

‘Yes, you will,' Ronan said crossly as Gran swam past him into the cave. ‘This is…'

‘Beautiful,' Gran interrupted him. She clasped her hands and looked around the cave at the wonky streamers and the painted banner. ‘Happy Birthday, Gran,' she read out. ‘Oh, my dears,' she said, swimming
over and gathering Sam and Sasha into a huge hug. ‘I love it!' She smiled at Electra. ‘And I think I know whose idea it was.'

‘It was mine,' Electra admitted.

Gran smiled at her. ‘Thank you.'

‘We've also got a present for you,' Electra said, swimming over to her. ‘I hope you like it.' She took the sea mouse out of her bag.

‘A sea mouse!' Gran exclaimed.

The mouse sat up on Electra's hand and looked around, his whiskers twitching and his eyes bright.

‘It's for you,' Electra said.

‘Oh.' Gran looked lost for words. The sea mouse swam on to her hand and nuzzled her with his little fluffy, pointed nose. Gran's eyes filled with happy tears. ‘Oh,' she whispered, stroking him. ‘He's perfect.'

The mouse squeaked happily.

Gran looked so delighted that Electra felt a warm glow spread through her.

‘We're sorry about the mess, Dad,' Sasha said.

‘Yes, and we really will tidy everything up,' said Sam.

‘Don't be cross with them, Ronan,'

Gran said. ‘They were only trying to make me happy. This is the most wonderful birthday surprise I have ever had!'

Ronan looked around helplessly. ‘All right. I won't be cross so long as you all help clear up.'

‘I'll fetch some cleaning things,' Gran said. She swam into the kitchen with Ronan.

Remembering the mess there,
Electra hastily swam after them. ‘It's a bit untidy in here too,' she said apologetically.

Gran stopped with an exclamation as she saw the cake on the table. ‘You made me a cake too!'

‘It got a bit burnt,' Electra said, looking at the wonky cake – the icing had dripped and the letters had run together. It didn't really look very good. ‘And it was going to be bigger.'

‘Well, burnt or not, I think it looks wonderful!' Gran said loyally. ‘I can't wait to try some!'

Electra remembered the sea snakes'
reactions to the cake. ‘I think it might be more of a cake to look at than to eat,' she said, a bit unhappily.

Ronan squeezed her shoulder. ‘In which case I think we should get everywhere cleared up and then go out for tea and cake at the mermaid cafe – what do you think, Electra?'

Electra's unhappiness melted away. ‘I think that's a brilliant idea!' she said.

With all of them working together, it didn't take long to get the cave back to its normal tidy state. Ronan rehung

the banner and the streamers and they all helped clear up the paint and glitter and the mess in the kitchen. They had just finished when the shell curtain tinkled and Maris came in.

‘Goodness, this place looks tidy!' she exclaimed.

Electra and the others grinned at each other.

‘We were just going out to tea,' Ronan said. ‘Would you like to come too, Maris?'

‘Yes, please,' replied Maris.

They swam to the cafe and sat down to an amazing tea with sea-cucumber sandwiches, iced biscuits shaped like sea horses, jam tarts in the shape of starfish, and sea-strawberry jellies. Ronan bought a huge cake that was put into the middle of the table. It had three layers. The white icing was scattered with tiny multicoloured sugar stars and at the top there was a beautiful anemone made out of sugar.

They sang ‘Happy Birthday' and then Gran cut the cake.

‘This is just perfect!' Electra sighed

happily as Gran handed out slices. She took a bite of cake. It was delicious!

‘It's been a perfect birthday,' Gran told her. The sea mouse popped his head out of her bag and she fed him a crumb of cake. ‘And I love Fluffy.'

‘Is that what you've called your sea mouse?' Electra asked.

‘Yes,' Gran sighed happily. ‘You
know, I never thought I'd ever have another sea mouse.' She squeezed Electra's hands. ‘Thank you for showing me I'm not too old for sea mice – or for birthdays.'

‘No one should ever be too old for sea mice or for birthdays!' Electra told her.

They smiled at each other.

Maris finished her slice of cake. ‘So,

did everyone hear the news about the sea snake?' she asked.

They all shook their heads.

‘It's gone. It was seen swimming out to sea away from the reef. Although there wasn't one but two sea snakes – a baby and its mother.'

Gran shivered. ‘Thank goodness they didn't get through the reef. The mother could have been really dangerous.'

Maris nodded. ‘The mermaids who saw them said that both snakes had a big bulge in their stomachs. They must have eaten something
but no one can work out what it was.'

The adults frowned thoughtfully.

‘I wonder what it can have been?' Ronan said.

‘It's a real mystery,' Maris said.

Electra glanced at Splash. His eyes sparkled. ‘More cake, Electra?' he whistled.

She grinned at him. ‘Yes, please!' she said.