Rani’s Sea Spell (3 page)

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.”

“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.”

“So we both got found on the same day!” Rani said, carefully fastening the pendant round her neck.

“It’s glowing!” Kai gasped.

Rani looked down at the pendant. The amber stone really did seem to be lit from the inside now that it was touching Rani’s skin.

“Let me try it on,” Kai said.

The girls swapped necklaces but for some reason the pendant looked quite dull and ordinary on Kai.

“I like mine better,” said Kai, quickly swapping back.

“Ah, here comes our hairdresser,” said their grandmother, as a loud jangling noise attracted her attention.

Sure enough, the noise was Octavius’s sister, Flora, who wore several bangles on each arm which clinked against each other as she moved about.

“Did Octavius find you?” Rani asked, excitedly. “I bet you weren’t expecting him, were you? Did you get a lovely surprise when you saw him?”

“No, I certainly
wasn’t
expecting him,” said Flora, creasing her large forehead into a very wrinkly frown. “I’ve never been so—” She gave a
polite cough as Octavius followed her into the room, “. . . so
surprised
in my life!”

“Nobody minds if I watch, do they?” Octavius asked, settling himself on the most comfortable-looking rock.

Since Flora had eight arms to work with, she could do marvellous things with mermaids’ hair, very quickly indeed. Even Octavius was forced to admire the speed with which his sister combed
and curled and crimped the long mermaid strands.

“If only I didn’t have
red
hair,” Rani sighed, as she waited for Flora to finish. Flora was using some of her arms as curlers in Kai’s hair, so she only had three
arms free to work on Rani. Octavius was suggesting ways his sister could use her arms even more efficiently as she wove Rani’s hair into a long plait.

“I’ve only ever seen one other mermaid before who looked like you,” Flora said, as she fixed Rani’s shell-clasp in place. “She had hair the same colour as yours and
she was very beautiful. She told me she came from a secret place a long way away.”

“You’re talking about Morva,” Octavius interrupted impatiently. “We all know her.”

“This wasn’t Morva,” Flora said. “Morva’s ancient. This was a young mermaid. She had eyes just like yours, Rani, and she wore a pendant just like that one. She was
resting in a cave because she was about to have a baby. Her husband had gone to look for food. I offered to do her hair for her. I couldn’t resist – it was so beautiful.”

“Where did you see her?” Rani gasped. “
When
was this? Did she tell you her name? Did she—”

“Oh, I can’t remember the details,” Flora interrupted. “It was about ten years ago. It was out in the Deep Blue somewhere.”

“Flora – you’ve never told me any of this before!” Octavius said crossly. “This is very important information. How can you forget to mention something like
this?”

Flora started to jangle her bangles in an irritated manner. “I probably wasn’t speaking to you at the time,” she snapped back. “Since you were just as much of a know-all
ten years ago as you are now!”

“Well, really,” Octavius snorted, and the two octopuses started to bicker loudly.

Rani was stunned. Flora had met a red-haired mermaid with a pendant just like hers! And that mermaid had been about to have a baby – a baby who would be Rani’s age by now! What if .
. . What if . . . What if the mermaid Flora had met had been Rani’s true mother?

   Chapter Four   

There was no time to ask Flora any more questions because by the time she had finished arguing with Octavius, it was almost time for the party to begin. But she promised to
come and find Rani later so they could talk some more.

As the mermaids gathered together in the big hall, chattering excitedly, Rani thought that they all looked beautiful. Their long hair had been dressed up by Flora and decorated with shell-combs
and flowers, and they all wore lovely jewellery made from shells or precious stones. The mermen looked very handsome too, with garlands of twisted leaves on their heads and colourful seaweed
belts.

The band was the biggest Rani had ever seen. Mermaids and mermen were playing shell-horns, flutes and drums of all different kinds. There was even a harp with bind-weed strings. But Rani’s
favourite thing was the glocken-shell – an instrument made up of lots of different-sized shells, each one sounding a different note when it was played.

Rani was scanning the room for Flora. Flora had said she was coming to the party too, when she had finished doing everyone’s hair. Where was she?

“First, everyone must have a turn at singing,” announced Rani’s grandmother.

Mermaids were known for their beautiful voices and most of them loved to sing, but Rani had always felt far too shy to sing in front of other people.

Rani’s mother sang first. She had a particularly lovely voice and everyone had tears in their eyes as they listened. Rani really wished that she could sing like that. As the other mermaids
took their turns Rani started to feel nervous. She had to be the only mermaid whose voice always trembled whenever she tried to sing. What would the others think of her?

“Rani, it’s your turn now!” her grandmother said.

Rani was about to make an excuse when she happened to glance down at her pendant. It made her happy just to look at it and suddenly she felt like she could do anything if she really wanted to!
She swam up on to the stage and – much to her amazement – found herself able to sing after all. In fact, she sang so beautifully that the whole room clapped and cheered when she had
finished.