Magnus Fin and the Moonlight Mission Read Free

starving!

Chapter 3
    Aquella was doing her homework when Fin came home. Aquella was always doing homework. Magnus Fin’s selkie cousin had come ashore five months earlier, so she was still getting used to being a land girl. Although the cottage was small, Fin’s parents had managed to make her a bedroom in the attic with a window to the sea. Fin had helped her decorate it with shells and driftwood and brightly coloured scarves. The tattered blue dress she had worn when she first came ashore had been turned into a cushion.
    After a delicious tea of fish, chips and apple crumble, Fin asked Aquella if she wanted to see his brand new beachcombing treasures: a kittiwake’s skull and a pheasant’s tail feather.
    “OK, but then I have to practise sums or else I’ll be in primary school for ever.”
    “What creatures under the sea can write?” Magnus Fin asked his cousin, as soon as they were both propped up on his boat-like bed.
    “None as far as I know,” she said, staring up at the brown fishing net that hung above Magnus Fin’s bed. Aquella frowned. She liked her cousin’s room, which they called Neptune’s Cave. She loved the shells and driftwood, his shark posters and his treasure collection.But she didn’t like the net.
    Fin nudged her. “But what about selkies when they’re in their human skin? Can they write? Think hard, Aquella, it’s really important.”
    Aquella thought hard. She brought strands of her long black hair up to her nose and smelt it.
    “Well?”
    “Mostly we danced. That’s what I remember.” Her green eyes shone with the memory. “And we stared at humans sometimes because we were fascinated by them. We hid behind rocks and watched people and sometimes we ran up into fields for fun and picked flowers.” She laughed, her voice like a bubbling waterfall. “Sometimes we played tricks on people. We’d throw shells or pebbles into the water and make funny noises, then the humans would get frightened and run away. The best thing was if music was playing somewhere, then we’d hide and listen to it. But writing? I’ve never heard of that before. If I already knew how to read and write, school would be much easier.”
    Fin pulled a face and scratched his chin.
    “Why, Fin?” she went on, prodding his arm. “Who wrote to you?”
    “Something under the sea. Or someone. I mean – I think so.”
    They both fell silent then and thought about Miranda, their grandmother. Where was she now? A look of sadness fell across Aquella’s face, fearing her selkie family might be in danger. And like the selkies Aquella and Fin were, they didn’t have to put their thoughts into words. Thoughts travelled through water and air between them, like waves.
    So if you’re being called under the sea, Fin, you’d better go.
    I know, Aquella.
    And you don’t have to wait for a full moon. Not now.
    Magnus Fin stared at Aquella, his eyebrows knitting, confused.
    The first time you entered our world, you needed the power of the moon. But this will be your second time, Fin. You’re half selkie, half human. You always will be . Sliochan Nan Ron, that’s you. Now all you need is a low tide and a brave heart. You can go anytime – lucky you!
    It was hard for Aquella, not that she ever complained. Her seal skin had been destroyed by a wicked sea monster, and she was going through the transformation of becoming a land girl. To be able to survive on land, she had to avoid salt water for a year and a day.
    Smiling, she reached over and gave Fin a friendly punch on the leg. And tell them I’m fine here. Tell them it’s good to be a girl.
    I will, if I find them.
    And tell them school is fun.
    He looked at her quizzically. She wiggled her nose then stuck out her tongue. Magnus grinned then pushed her off his bed and threw his pillow at her.
    “Ouch!” She rubbed her elbow. “Good thing I’ve got my selkie fat to protect me.”
    Fin laughed. It was true; there was still a seal’s roundness to Aquella. “So