Free Mermaid Magic by Gwyneth Rees Page B

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
    R ani 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