Rani’s Sea Spell Read Free

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