Rani’s Sea Spell (6 page)

“It means,” explained Morva gently, “that your real parents must have died when you were a baby. I’m sorry, Rani.”

Rani swallowed. She had known for a long time that her true parents might be dead. But somehow actually
seeing
them and then watching them disappear like that made the fact that they were
gone for ever seem a lot more real. She would never meet them now. She felt a tear roll down her cheek.

“Did you know them?” she asked Morva.

“I didn’t recognize them, no,” Morva said. “But remember how old I am, Rani. I left my home a long, long time before you were born . . . probably before your parents were
born too.”

Rani was silent.

“Your brother is still alive though,” Morva added, trying to cheer her up. “Imagine that! A twin brother!”

“He probably doesn’t even know he
has
a sister,” said Rani sadly.

Morva smiled. “I wouldn’t be so sure. How do you know that he hasn’t got his own message-stone, with
you
inside it?”

“Do you really think so?” That thought made Rani feel better. She looked up at Morva. “I want you to take me to the place
you
come from – the magic place –
so that I can find him.”

“I
will
take you,” Morva said. “But you must be patient, Rani. Your magic is not yet strong enough for you to make the journey.”

“When will it be strong enough?” Rani demanded impatiently.

“Soon,” Morva replied, smiling. “Very soon – I promise! And until then you can watch your brother growing up inside your pendant. Now, come on. It’s time we
practised another spell. How about I teach you how to turn my breakfast into enough to eat for two?”

Rani laughed. She had to admit that she
was
starting to feel a bit hungry.

   Chapter Eight   

The next day Octavius invited them all round for supper.

“What do you think of our new necklaces?” Kai asked Morva, who was looking especially colourful in a red and orange seaweed shawl.

“Very pretty indeed,” Morva replied. Both Morva and Rani had thought it best if no one else knew about the message-stone yet, so they had agreed to keep it as a secret between the
two of them.

Octavius had cooked his best stew and everyone complimented him on how delicious it was as they tucked in and listened to him telling Morva the story of the huge whale. “Of course, I
warned everyone about that ceiling before the party started,” he reminded them, not for the first time. “I don’t like to say ‘I told you so’ but really . . . If you
mermaids would only listen to me instead of—”

Morva interrupted him. “I hear your
stew
saved the day as well, Octavius,” she said, giving Rani a wink. “Tell us about that!”

“My stew? Ah, yes, my stew . . . It’s a good job I had the idea of throwing that shark my stew,” Octavius said. “Otherwise I don’t know what would have become of us
all.”

“But it was
Rani
who told you to throw the stew,” Kai pointed out.

“Rani? Ah, yes – Rani had the same idea as me,” Octavius blustered. “I remember we both had the idea at the same time. Well done, Rani!”

“I’m just glad you brought that stew with you, Octavius,” Rani said quickly. “Or I don’t know what we’d have done.” She turned to Morva. “I
dropped the sea-spell, you see, so we couldn’t use that.”

“Well, it sounds as if you put my sea-spell to very good use in the end, Rani,” Morva replied. “And then used some magic of your own on the journey home, I hear!”

“She saved my life!” Roscoe butted in. “If it wasn’t for Rani—”

“. . . you’d be digested by now!” Octavius finished for him.

The little sea-horse shuddered.

“Let’s make a toast,” said Murdoch, holding up his glass of mer-wine. “To Rani – our very own magic mermaid!”

“And the best sister anyone could have!” added Kai, grinning.

“So are you!” replied Rani, swimming over to give her sister a hug. “And you, Pearl!” she added, quickly kissing her baby sister who was sitting on Kai’s lap.

“Rani
also
has the most beautiful singing voice,” Octavius told Morva. “I was hoping that she would sing for us tonight.”

“I don’t
really
have a beautiful voice,” Rani murmured, touching her pendant.

“What do you mean?” Morva asked.

“Rani reckons she can’t sing unless she’s wearing her amber pendant,” Kai said. “That’s what you said at the party, isn’t it, Rani?”

“Well, that’s just silly,” Rani’s parents exclaimed at once. “Whatever gave you that idea, Rani?”

“Well . . .” Rani began, wondering if she ought to explain after all about the pendant being magic, but Morva interrupted her.

“You know, I’ve seen you become a lot more confident lately, Rani,” she said, thoughtfully. “Perhaps that’s what’s made the difference.”

“Do you really think so?” asked Rani doubtfully.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Morva replied. “Give me the pendant.”

Rani handed it to her.

“Now,” Morva said, “
I’ll
hold the pendant while
you
sing.”

Rani stared at her in horror. “
No way
!”

“Come on, Rani,” Morva said. “You couldn’t have been that bad at singing before!”

“I sounded all croaky like a sea-frog,” Rani replied.

Everyone laughed.

When the laughter had died down, Octavius cleared his throat loudly. “Of course,
I
could always sing if Rani doesn’t want to. I’m told I have rather a splendid voice
myself.”

The others looked at each other in alarm.

“Why don’t we
all
sing?” suggested Morva quickly.

So that’s what they did. And as they sang, Rani heard her own voice, rising confident and clear above the others, and that was when she noticed that Morva was still holding her
pendant.

Morva swam over to her. “Magic isn’t the answer to everything, Rani,” she whispered. “Don’t ever forget that!”

And Rani promised that she wouldn’t as Morva dropped the message-stone, with her brother inside, back around her neck.

Rani’s Sea Spell

Just as she was 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.

Books by Gwyneth Rees

Mermaid Magic (3 books in 1)

Fairy Dust

Fairy Treasure

Fairy Dreams

Cosmo and the Magic Sneeze

For older readers

The Mum Hunt

The Mum Detective

My Mum’s from Planet Pluto

Look out for

Fairy Gold

The Mum Surprise (World Book Day 2006)

The Making of May

First published 2001 by Macmillan Children’s Books

This electronic edition published 2011 by Macmillan Children’s Books
a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-447-21140-2

EPUB Copyright © Gwyneth Rees 2001
Illustration copyright © Annabel Hudson 2001

The right of Gwyneth Rees and Annabel Hudson to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.