The Rainbow Pool Read online

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Mermaid

  Curse

  The Rainbow Pool

  Born in Hertfordshire, England, on 29 May 1952, Louise Cooper describes herself as ‘a typical scatterbrained Gemini’. She spent most of her school years writing stories when she should have been concentrating on lessons, and her first fantasy novel, The Book of Paradox, was published in 1973, when she was just twenty years old. Since then she has published more than eighty books for adults and children.

  Louise now lives in Cornwall with her husband, Cas Sandall. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys singing (and playing various instruments), cooking, gardening, ‘messing about on the beach’ and – just to make sure she keeps busy – is also treasurer of her local Royal National Lifeboat Institution branch.

  Visit Louise at her own website at louisecooper.com

  Books by Louise Cooper

  Sea Horses series in reading order

  Sea Horses

  The Talisman

  Gathering Storm

  The Last Secret

  Mermaid Curse series in reading order

  The Silver Dolphin

  The Black Pearl

  The Rainbow Pool

  Mermaid

  Curse

  The Rainbow Pool

  LOUISE COOPER

  PUFFIN

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi − 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,

  Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published 2008

  1

  Text copyright © Louise Cooper, 2008

  All rights reserved

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  978-0-14-190960-8

  To my husband, Cas,

  for helping me to get my sea details right…

  and for a lot of other lovely reasons.

  Prologue

  The mermaid gazed at Kes with a smile on her face. Black hair with a blue sheen cascaded over her shoulders, and her eyes were brilliant emerald green. Her face was very beautiful, but it was also cruel and spiteful. On her head was a golden circlet set with seven pearls.

  ‘Well?’ she demanded. ‘Haven’t you got anything to say for yourself?’ She leaned forward and the look in her eyes made Kes shiver. ‘Do you even know who I am?’

  Trembling, Kes managed to find his voice. ‘You are… Queen Taran…’ Then a little of his courage crept back and he added, ‘Where’s my mother? What have you done with her?’

  ‘She’s safe and well for now,’ Taran replied carelessly. Then her expression changed. ‘But, if you want her to stay well, you must do as I tell you. Do you understand?’

  Kes swallowed and nodded.

  ‘Good. Now, do you know why you’ve been brought here?’

  He shook his head. ‘No… Your Majesty.’

  ‘It’s very simple.’ Suddenly Taran reached out and gripped his arm. Kes winced; she was amazingly strong. She stared into his face, and her voice turned from sweetness to venom as she hissed, ‘I want the silver pearl!’

  Kes started to shake with fear. ‘Th-the… silver pearl… ?’ he echoed.

  ‘Yes! Your sister has it in the locket she wears. And you’ve seen it, haven’t you?’

  ‘No, Your Majesty –’

  ‘Don’t lie to me! I know!’ Taran’s voice rose shrilly, then with an effort she got herself under control again. ‘I will have the silver pearl, Kesson. And you will help me to get it. Your mother is going to stay here for a while, as my… guest.’ The way she said the word guest made Kes shudder inwardly. ‘And you are going to carry out a little errand for me. If you complete it, I will set Morvyr free. But if you fail…’ She uttered an unpleasant laugh. ‘Well, let’s just say that you will both regret that very much.’

  Finding his voice with an effort, Kes said, ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘You will go to shore and find your sister,’ Taran told him. ‘Tell her that your mother is a prisoner, and the silver pearl is the price of her freedom. She must bring it to me!’

  With a last shred of defiance Kes said, ‘What if she won’t?’

  ‘Then you must persuade her. Otherwise, you will never see your mother again. And you don’t want that. Do you?’

  Chapter One

  ‘Come on, Rose, or we’ll miss them!’ Lizzy Baxter was almost bouncing with impatience on the front doorstep. Her short blonde hair bounced too, its unruly curls gleaming in the early sunlight.

  ‘All right, I’m coming!’ The reply ended in sounds of a large yawn, then Lizzy’s fifteen-year-old sister appeared. ‘And keep your voice down. Mum and Dad are still asleep.’ She blinked in the brightness and lifted her hands to rub her eyes, then remembered her newly applied make-up and stopped herself in time. ‘Whose dumb idea was it to get up at the crack of dawn?’

  ‘You wanted to see the boat off as much as I did,’ Lizzy reminded her.

  ‘Yeah, but I’d probably have changed my mind if it wasn’t for you pestering me.’ Rose yawned again, then her morning grumpiness started to fade and she grinned. ‘OK, then, let’s go. At least it isn’t raining.’

  The two girls set off along the street and down the hill that led to the harbour of the Cornish fishing port. ‘It’s hardly rained at all since we moved here,’ Lizzy said as they walked. ‘The weather’s been lovely all summer, apart from that storm.’

  ‘Yeah, that was unreal.’ Then Rose looked sidelong at her. ‘Why are you so keen to come to the harbour, anyway? You hardly know Mr Treleaven, so what’s the sudden fascination with seeing him and Paul go off on their fishing trip?’

  Lizzy watched the local newsagent putting out his paper stands and pretended she hadn’t heard. She did have a reason for wanting to be at the harbour, and a very good one, but she couldn’t tell Rose about it. It had nothing to do with Mr Treleaven, or his son Paul, who was Rose’s boyfriend. But someone else was going out on the boat today. And that person was very important to Lizzy.

  The Baxters had moved to Cornwall less than a month ago, and Lizzy found it hard to believe that so much had happened to her since then. She and Rose were both adopted – Mr and Mrs Baxter couldn’t have children of their own – but though Rose knew all about her real parents, Lizzy’s past was a mystery. She had been found abandoned as a baby, and had grown up with no idea who her mother and father were.

  Until, just a few days after arriving here
, she had met a boy called Kes, and made an astounding discovery. She had lost the mother-of-pearl locket that had been with her when she was abandoned and was the only link she had with her mysterious past. Heartbroken, she had been searching the beach in the slender hope of finding it when Kes had approached her with the locket in his hand. He had guessed that it was Lizzy’s, because the lock of hair inside it was the same pale blonde shade as hers. And the hair colour told him something else. It told him that she was his long-lost twin sister.

  That alone would have been enough to turn Lizzy’s life upside down. But there was far more. For Kes wasn’t an ordinary boy. His mother’s name was Morvyr, which meant ‘daughter of the sea’ – and Morvyr was a mermaid.

  At first Lizzy had flatly refused to believe it. Mermaids didn’t exist – even with her vivid imagination she had grown out of that sort of fairy tale years ago! But Kes had proved the truth to her in a spectacular way: by taking her under the sea, where she discovered that she could breathe as easily as she did on land. It was crazy, it was impossible, but it was true. She was a mermaid’s daughter. And when she met Morvyr, and saw her face, and the hair that was exactly the same pale gold as her own, the last of her doubts had vanished.

  Rose was hurrying now as she realized that they might be late, and Lizzy had to break into a trot to keep up with her. Her mind went back to the third person who was going out on Mr Treleaven’s boat this morning, and her heart gave a little inward skip at the thought of seeing him again. His name was Jack Carrick – and he was her real father.

  Jack Carrick had been born and brought up in this town. He was a fisherman, and he, like Lizzy, had not believed in mermaids. But then, years ago, he had had an accident while out sailing. He would have drowned, but Morvyr had seen what had happened and saved his life. They fell in love and were married in a mermaid ceremony. Jack was human and could not live underwater like Morvyr. But the old Queen of the mermaids – Queen Kara – had been kindly, and had used her magical powers to make a spell that enabled him to stay beneath the sea for short periods of time. Jack and Morvyr had been blissfully happy… until, soon after the twins were born, Lizzy had been stolen. Believing that she had been taken far across the sea, Jack went in search of her, and for eleven years nothing more was heard of him. Morvyr had feared he was dead. But, a week ago, Jack had returned – and Lizzy had met her true father for the first time.

  Rose’s voice brought her suddenly back to earth. ‘What’s up with you? You look as if you’ve just swallowed a wasp.’

  Lizzy realized that the thoughts running through her mind were showing in her expression, and quickly she made her face relax. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I was trying to get something out from between my teeth.’

  ‘Yuk! Spare me the gory details.’ They had reached the foot of the hill, and could now see the dock with its wharves and packing sheds and covered fish market. ‘Look, there’s Mr Carrick,’ Rose added, pointing. ‘See – on the harbour wall. Come on, or we’ll be too late!’

  Lizzy’s heart skipped again, but she was careful not to let her eagerness show. She and Jack had agreed that no one else must know their secret. It was hard for Lizzy – she wanted to celebrate, to be able to call Jack ‘Dad’. But the thought of trying to explain to her adoptive parents, the Baxters, was too awful to contemplate. How would they feel if they knew the truth? They were the only mother and father Lizzy had ever known, and she loved them dearly. She couldn’t hurt them by suddenly announcing that she had found her real father and he was living here in this very town. As for Morvyr… to tell anyone about her was absolutely impossible. So Lizzy must pretend that Jack was just someone she happened to know. Luckily he was staying with the Treleavens, who were his old friends, so if he and Lizzy were seen talking together, no one would think it strange. But deep down Lizzy knew that things couldn’t go on like this forever.

  The girls ran to the harbour and hurried on to the quay. Jack Carrick had seen them and waited for them to catch up.

  ‘Morning, Rose. You’re an early bird. Hello, Lizzy.’ His eyes were warm as he looked at her. ‘Come to see us off? That’s nice.’

  The three of them walked on together, to where Mr Treleaven and Paul were making final preparations to put to sea. Their boat was called Regard; she was small enough to operate with two crewmen, but Jack had jumped at the chance for a fishing trip. ‘Reminds me of my young days,’ he had said to Lizzy yesterday.

  Paul came scrambling over fishing gear and coiled ropes, and jumped ashore to greet Rose. ‘You made it, then?’ he teased. ‘I thought you’d still be in bed.’

  ‘I probably would, only Lizzy dragged me out. She had a bee in her bonnet about wanting to come too.’ Rose went on chattering, and Lizzy sidled closer to Jack. She needed to talk to him privately, and this might be her only chance before the Regard put to sea. Lowering her voice, she whispered, ‘Have you seen Arhans again?’

  Jack’s expression clouded. ‘Not yet. But if there were any news, she would have come by now.’

  Lizzy nodded. ‘That’s the worst thing, isn’t it? Just waiting. I feel so useless.’

  ‘Me too. That’s why I’m looking forward to this trip; it’ll take my mind off other things.’ He smiled at her. ‘You should try to do the same.’

  ‘I know. I will try.’ Making sure that none of the others was looking, she briefly clasped his hand and squeezed it. ‘But I’ll be glad when you get back.’

  Mr Treleaven, grinning broadly, was shouting to Paul to stop mooning around and get on board. There were quick farewells all round, then the boat’s engine spluttered into life, the mooring ropes were cast off, and Regard nosed slowly from her berth and, propellers thrashing the water, turned towards the open sea.

  Rose stood waving at Paul’s dwindling figure on deck, and Lizzy waved too, though Jack was careful only to wave back once in reply. Regard glided between the jutting bulks of the harbour walls, and moved out into Mount’s Bay. Another larger trawler was following in her wake, and two more were about to leave.

  Rose sighed and turned away at last. ‘Oh, well,’ she said. ‘At least while Paul’s gone I can go in to Penzance and do some shopping, if I’ve got any money left, which I probably haven’t.’ She stopped, looking back at her sister. ‘Lizzy? Are you coming?’

  Lizzy did not answer. She was staring at a spot in the harbour, beyond the docks. Something was moving just under the water.

  ‘What is it?’ Rose asked. ‘What have you – Oh, wow!’

  A dolphin had surfaced. It came streaking towards the quay, its dorsal fin making a small bow-wave. Rose watched in astonished delight, then suddenly realized that Lizzy was running along the quay wall towards the creature.

  ‘Lizzy, don’t, you’ll scare it off!’ she shouted. Lizzy took no notice. She reached the end of the quay, crouched down – and to Rose’s surprise, the dolphin swam straight to her. It rose up until it was half out of the water, and Rose could hear the extraordinary noises, like a cross between chattering and creaking, that it made.

  ‘Wow!’ she said again. The dolphin must be tame – she couldn’t miss out on this! She also started to run, then slowed down in case two people rushing at it were too much for the dolphin. Lizzy was leaning out over the wall, and Rose thought she heard her call out something that sounded like ‘Arhans’. Arhans? Whatever did that mean?

  She didn’t know that Arhans was the dolphin’s name – and Arhans and Lizzy knew each other very well. Lizzy had recognized the distinctive silver streak that ran the length of Arhans’s back, and in her eagerness to see her friend she had forgotten all about Rose.

  ‘Is there any news?’ she asked breathlessly. ‘Are Kes and Morvyr all right?’

  Arhans made more chattering-creaking sounds – chittering, some people called it – and Lizzy felt frustration well up in her. The dolphins understood human speech but she had hardly begun to learn theirs. The sea people could communicate with them, and so could Jack. But whatever Arhans was telling her she didn’t u
nderstand!

  Suddenly she became aware of footsteps behind her, and looked round quickly to see Rose only a few paces away.

  ‘Arhans!’ she hissed to the dolphin. ‘I can’t talk here! The lighthouse – meet me by the lighthouse!’

  ‘Isn’t it gorgeous!’ Rose said breathlessly, gazing at Arhans. ‘But, Lizzy, what were you saying to it? What was – Oh!’ Arhans had dropped back into the water, turned and with a slap of her tail flukes slid under the surface and vanished, leaving only ripples in her wake.

  ‘It’s gone!’ Rose’s voice was stark with disappointment. ‘And I didn’t get a proper look at it!’

  ‘You must have frightened her off,’ Lizzy replied. There was something strange in her tone, and Rose asked sharply, ‘Why “her”? How do you know it was a female? And what were you saying to it? That word – Arhans, or something. What does it mean?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re on about,’ Lizzy said, not looking at her. ‘Anyway, the dolphin’s gone now.’

  ‘Well, if we wait for a while, it might come back.’

  Lizzy shrugged. ‘You can if you want. I’m going.’

  ‘Lizzy, wait! Lizzy!’

  But Lizzy was hurrying away. For a moment or two Rose thought of running after her, but changed her mind. It was just another one of Lizzy’s weird moods, she thought. She’d been having them a lot lately, but Rose couldn’t work out what was wrong with her and Lizzy wouldn’t say. OK, she thought, if she wants to be like that, let her.

  Turning her back on her sister, Rose shoved her hands in her jeans pockets and stared out across the harbour, looking hopefully for the dolphin.

  Chapter Two