Sea Magic (5 page)

Both Ben and Tim made a grab for it, but Ben gave his brother a warning glance and seized tight hold of the tail. To his delight, it fitted him perfectly.

‘We're much the same height,' Sechiel said. ‘You'll have to be the one to wear it.'

‘I'm going to try it out right now!' Ben cried in delight, and tried to run towards the lagoon. Next
thing he knew he was flat on his belly, his mouth full of sand. Thomas crowed with laughter.

‘You don't have legs anymore,' Sechiel said. ‘You'll have to slither like a seal. And here, have some of my sea-grapes, or you won't be able to breathe underwater.'

Ben forced down a handful of sea-grapes, which were bitter and salty and left an awful taste in his mouth, then slowly, clumsily, wriggled along the sand. The others followed closely behind, laughing and giving him unwanted advice. At last, exhausted, Ben managed to flop into the water.

At once everything changed.

Ben swooped and soared through the waves, twisting his body into a triple roll, flicking into a high somersault, diving deeper than he had ever dived before. He had a sensation of extraordinary lightness and power. One slight flick of his tail and he was shooting forward like a rocket, trailing bubbles like starbursts behind him. A flowing gesture of his hand and he was racing along the curve of the wave, the water thrumming beneath him like a galloping racehorse. The sea, which had felt so icy when he had splashed in the foam before, was now merely cool, and the waves, which had seemed so rough and wild and dangerous, were now bridled and saddled. It was exhilarating.

Ben swam to the mouth of the lagoon and peered out anxiously into the deep water. He had no desire
to see the shark. There was no sign of any triangular fin, though, so he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. It felt very odd to be underwater, and yet breathing as freely as if he were on land. It had taken a while to get used to it. He dived down through the churning grey waves. The ocean floor was bare and white, swept efficiently clean. He swam over a coral reef and saw that the delicate stone flowers were broken and crushed. There was not a fish to be seen.

Soon Ben saw, some distance away, a long, dark, snub-nosed shadow chugging along. It was shaped like a cigar, with propellers at one end and a small angular watchtower halfway along. Swiftly and silently Ben swam after it. He had never seen a
submarine before, except in pictures. This was much smaller than he had expected, and looked very sinister. He came up carefully behind it, and held on to one of the narrow fins that protruded from its side. It was made of cold iron. He let go, feeling scared.

Just then, a huge, dark shadow flicked over him. Ben spun round. The shark was bearing down on him, jaws agape. Heart hammering, Ben dodged behind the submarine's fin. The shark crashed into
the submarine with the sound of an iron hammer hitting an iron anvil. Ben was too scared to move. He stared at the shark. It hung in the water, unmoving, giant serrated teeth bared. They glinted in the light from the watchtower. Its eyes glowed an electric blue. With sudden realisation Ben saw that the shark was made of metal too. Sechiel was right – it wasn't a real shark. It was a robot.

Ben let the submarine drag him along. The shark
followed, moving its head from side to side, looking for him. Soon Ben could hear the crash and roar of the surf, and see it churning above him. He waited until he could see the rocks looming through the water, then let go of the fin and struck out for shore.

At once the shark was after him. Ben swam desperately fast. The shark loomed over him. He could hear its machinery whirring. Ben flicked his tail and darted to the left. The shark overshot him, and Ben was able to gain some space. He undulated his body furiously, racing along the rocks, searching for a way to escape. The shark had turned around ponderously and was bearing down on his tail once more.

Ben saw a narrow, dark tunnel in the rocks and shot into it, squeezing himself inside. The shark crashed into the rocks behind him with a dull clang that reverberated through the water. Ben swam blindly up, up, up, scraping his body on the rock walls, his hands feeling soft, waving seaweed, sharp oyster shells, squishy anemones. Then he shot out of the water, and found himself safe in the witch's cauldron.

‘You mean the shark's a robot?' Thomas exclaimed.

Ben nodded. ‘It guards the submarine. It's got some kind of movement sensor. It only saw me when I moved.'

‘So you need to get rid of the shark before you can get into the submarine,' Tim said.

Ben gulped. He had not actually thought that far ahead. He thought of the sleek, sinister lines of the submarine and said, ‘And what about the Viperfish? We need to get him out of the submarine too!'

‘Yeah, then we could throw a net over him, or something,' Tim said.

‘There's an old net over there on the rocks. We could use that,' Thomas said.

‘Good idea!'

‘How are we meant to get him out of the submarine?' Meg wanted to know.

Ben's mind was skipping ahead quickly. ‘Well, he's already caught one mermaid, hasn't he? Bet you he wants more. That's why he's still lurking around here. Why don't we lure him out by making him think he can catch another mermaid?'

‘I could dress up in my mermaid outfit and sit and comb my hair on the rocks and sing,' Meg said, looking very pleased at this idea.

‘It sounds too dangerous,' Thomas said. ‘I don't want him catching Meg too!'

‘We'll have to have some kind of decoy,' Tim said. ‘I wish we had another mer-boy's tail.' He could not help being envious of Ben.

‘I'll call Delphina,' Sechiel said. ‘I can swim out holding on to her fin.'

‘You're still too badly hurt,' Meg said. ‘You'll never be able to hold on.'

‘What about me?' Tim said hopefully. ‘Couldn't I swim out with her? If you explained I was a friend?'

Sechiel nodded his head reluctantly. ‘I suppose that'd be all right.'

‘Fantastic!' Tim did a dance of joy.

‘That shark's awfully fast, Tim,' Ben said. ‘We don't want him catching you. I think we need two
decoys, moving back and forth, so the shark gets confused and doesn't know which way to go.'

‘I guess that'd better be me!' Thomas cried.

‘We need you here on the shore to help Meg throw the net over the Viperfish,' Ben said. ‘It's heavy – it'll take at least two of you to lift it.'

‘Yes, we need someone big and strong and hairy!' Thomas flexed his muscles.

‘But what about the second decoy?' Meg asked.

‘I've got an idea for that,' Ben grinned. ‘Give me your mermaid doll!'

‘What for?' she demanded.

Ben chuckled. ‘You don't really want to know.'

A few minutes later, Meg hobbled out from behind a boulder wearing her mermaid dress. The boys hoisted her up onto Lookout Rock, where she sat with her glittery green tail spread over the stone, combing her short blonde hair and humming out of tune. The others hid and watched.

The submarine's black watchtower slowly emerged from the sea, water cascading away. Slowly, slowly, it rose, then a trapdoor opened and a man dressed in a black wetsuit clambered out. He stood staring at Lookout Rock, binoculars held to his eyes. Meg tossed her blonde hair and sang a little louder.

‘Right, he's taken the bait.' Ben slid down into the witch's cauldron. The tide was rising and so it felt rather like being thrust into a washing machine. Frothy water churned all round him and he bobbed up and down, trying not to get knocked against the rock walls. ‘Wish me luck!'

‘Be careful!' Tim cried as Ben dived down into the deep, black, churning water of the witch's cauldron and disappeared.

‘I'll call Delphina now.' Sechiel drew a small triton shell out of his seaweed pouch and put it to his lips. He blew and a high, mournful, eerie noise rang out. Again and again he blew. Cramming a handful of sea-grapes into his mouth, Tim scanned the waves, being careful to keep out of sight of the Viperfish, who was
busy strapping on some kind of heavy backpack. After a few minutes, Tim cried out in delight. A beautiful, sleek, grey dolphin was leaping and cavorting in the waves.