Storm Singing and other Tangled Tasks Read Free Page A

stomach, to stare at its lilac face and pale eyes.
    Its purple skull was huge, but at least it didn’t have any teeth. Though that hadn’t helped the fish, which had been swallowed whole.
    The creature shambled towards her. Its head didn’t seem secure on its neck. None of the bones in its lanky purple skeleton actually connected; they were floating separately in its jellied flesh. And it had lacy frills of pale pink skin at its wrists, neck and ankles.
    It was taller than Helen. Almost as tall as Yann. But it was made of blobby jelly, it didn’t have teeth or claws, and it was decorated in pink . Helen wasn’t really scared of it. However, it would be foolish not to take it seriously.
    It took a step to the side, trying to get round her.
    She blocked it with a long step of her own.
    It stepped quickly back to the rock, to get through the gap. But Helen, who’d played this game in the playground when she was her wee sister’s age, was already there.
    “You’re not getting past.”
    “Yes, I am,” whispered the creature wetly.
    “No! I won’t let you disrupt their competition.”
    “You will not stand in my way. You cannot resist the power of the sea. The sea will always claim what belongs to the sea.” It lingered on every “sssss” sound, hissing its way through the sentences.
    It stepped to the side again, a long fast step, swinging the bag on its stringy arm.
    This time Helen didn’t block it. She grabbed the bag.
    She seized handfuls of the scaly material in her fists.
    “No!” the creature squealed, trying to pull the bag out of her hands. “Give that back!” Its voice was getting louder. Perhaps it didn’t care if the audience below heard. “Let go!”
    Helen didn’t let go.
    “You cannot resist me!”
    Helen heard Roxburgh’s voice increasing in volume to drown out the creature’s shrieks.
    “You cannot resist the power of the sea!” The creature tugged hard but Helen tightened her grip.
    There was a soft laugh, and Yann appeared, blocking the creature’s back. “Neither you nor the sea can resist the strength of a puny human girl! Give up, snot monster, and go home.”
    As Helen pulled harder, she was horrified to see the creature’s arm stretch, getting thinner and paler, but she kept her weight on her back foot and didn’t let go, even though the purple arm-bones were getting further and further apart.
    She didn’t want to pull this creature apart, but neither did she want it to drop a mysteriously wriggling bag on Rona’s head, so she kept hauling backwards.
    Suddenly the lace around the creature’s right wrist uncoiled and flicked out. Long transparent strings whipped across Helen’s left hand, then coiled back to the creature’s body.
    Helen gasped at the burning pain from the red welts rising on her skin. It might be pink and frilly, but this creature could sting.
    She stared at the tightly curled tentacles, hoping they wouldn’t attack again. Hoping if they did, she’d have the courage to hold on.
    “Let go, dust-dry child. Surrender to the power of the sea and give me my bag!” screamed the creature. Roxburgh’s voice grew even louder.
    Helen was afraid to move back towards the cliff, and afraid to move forward towards those stinging tentacles, but she was determined not to let the creature have the bag, so she dragged her hands suddenly downwards.
    The bag ripped open, shreds of fishskin dangling from both their fists, and water gushed over their feet.
    The creature’s rubbery arm bounced back into shape with a squelching pop. Without a jelly arm to absorb the recoil, Helen fell backwards, landing hard on her backside.
    She flung her hands out behind her, and the edge of the cliff slid away under her fingers. She scrabbled forward, almost falling into the writhing mass which had oozed out of the bag.
    Helen saw jellyfish, sea urchins, and a heap of other poisonous, stinging or spiny creatures. The bag had been full of the sea’s nastiest booby traps. The creature