Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest by Janis Mackay

Author:Janis Mackay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780863158902
Publisher: Floris Books
Published: 2011-01-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

For a long time Miranda and Magnus Fin swam. Time itself had little meaning under the water. Magnus Fin didn’t know if he had been underwater for hours or weeks. He didn’t know if he had travelled through this dark stinking water for a short distance or for hundreds of miles. He hoped the boys they had dragged to the surface had made it safely home to the land – but even that thrashing and kicking and heaving seemed to have happened a long time ago.

Finally Miranda spread her flippers and circled her body round to slow down. Now Magnus Fin had a chance to look around. His penetrating blue eyes shone through the murky water to land upon a huge cavernous rock, hung with thick plankton and shells.

“We have arrived,” Miranda said, her voice a faint whisper, her body old and tired looking. “This is King Neptune’s cavern.”

“Like my room,” he said, and for a moment the memory of his fishing net and shells, his box of treasures and bones, flashed through his mind, but like a vague dream from long ago. Gazing through the hazy water he saw that this beautiful cavern, decked with coral, pearls and shells, was far, far greater than his own simple Neptune’s Cave. This cavern on the ocean bed had a rock for a door. A million shells decorated the entranceway. It should have been splendid but an eerie stillness and thick green hue gave Neptune’s cavern a ghostly feeling. A shiver ran the length of Magnus Fin’s spine.

“We have come a long way, Fin, and a deep way,” his grandmother said, breaking in on his thoughts. And suddenly Fin understood she was going to leave him. Already she was swimming away from him. She was going to leave him in this strange place all alone.

“Some things, Fin, have to be done alone.” She propelled herself backwards, summoning up every last ounce of strength to stop herself falling under the spell of sleep. “If I entered this place I would fall asleep immediately. Look into my eyes, Fin. See how weak I have become.”

Fin saw and a great pity welled up in him. He wanted to go with her.

“You, with your human strength, have the power to stay awake. You are living between the worlds, Magnus Fin – you have a chance to heal the sea. And you proved your strength when you found the courage to rescue the drowning boys. Now this test must be faced alone. I have brought you this far. I must go. Later I will return, Fin. Go now. Please wake Neptune. Please, son of Ragnor, bring back the waves.”

“But how – stop!” shouted Magnus Fin. “What am I supposed to do?” He tried to reach for his grandmother but already she was gone.

Magnus Fin was alone, a salmon bone in his small hand and the great rock of Neptune before him.

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