The Mermaid's Sister by Holly Webb

Author:Holly Webb [Webb, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408327654
Publisher: Orchard Books
Published: 2015-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?’

‘What happened?’

Both girls spoke at once, and Mia leant down to hug Ara tightly. Then she sat back, suddenly shy. Whenever they had touched before, Ara had made the first move – would the mermaid be offended? Mia had just been so glad to see her.

But Ara rested her elbows on the wooden floor and smiled at her, looking almost as shy as Mia felt. ‘What were those things?’ she demanded.

‘So you dreamed it too?’ Mia asked slowly. ‘The golden threads?’

Ara wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t know if I was dreaming or not … I think I was inside your dream. I could see that it wasn’t real – I could break out, back into the undersea. But I couldn’t take you with me.’ She caught Mia’s hand. ‘I did try! I scratched and clawed at the threads, but they wouldn’t tear, and the more I dragged at them the weaker you seemed to get. Then they pulled you under the water and everything went dark for a moment. After that I was on my own again.’ She bit her lower lip, her sharp teeth pressing hard into the skin. ‘I thought you were dead.’

‘When I was in the dream, I thought I was too,’ Mia whispered back. Lorin nuzzled against her, and the salty coils of her mane spread round Mia’s shoulders. ‘This is Lorin,’ she told Ara. ‘She’s…’ She looked round at the water horse, and found Lorin’s dark eyes fixed on hers. ‘She’s my oldest friend. But I’d almost forgotten her – the water horses were all tied up with the magic, for me.’

Ara dipped her head, a slow, formal nod to another water creature. ‘My lady,’ she murmured. Then she turned again to Mia. ‘It can’t have been only a dream. You said something about your mother. That she sends those things.’

Mia nodded. ‘It’s all I have of her now. Always before, the threads tied me back to my mother – they were the only way I could remember her. I can’t understand why they’ve changed.’

Lorin looked from Mia to the mergirl, and then back again. She huffed a great hot breath out of her pinkish nostrils and Mia stared at her.

‘What is it?’

‘Your mother’s magic was very powerful,’ Lorin murmured. ‘She was a great magician – stronger than your cousin Olivia in some ways. It was Olivia’s love for the water and us horses that strengthened her.’

Mia nodded. ‘I know. It must have been a very great spell, to make those threads last for so long. It’s seven years since they left.’

Lorin sighed again. ‘Mia, those threads are not just to remind you of your mother.’

Ara nodded. Her eyes looked darker than ever, wide and sorrowful, and Mia flinched. She wasn’t sure what they were trying to tell her.

‘It would explain why you could deny your own magic so easily, as well,’ Ara said thoughtfully. ‘I couldn’t see how a child so young could make that happen.’

‘What would explain it?’ Mia asked, swallowing hard and forcing the words out.

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