The Magic Shell

The Magic
Shell

Once upon a time, there was a young girl called Kiera who lived with her parents in a small house the
colour of the sun by the sea.

Kiera loved to take walks on the beach with her dog, Bingo. Bingo was a beagle whose fur looked similar
to sand and Kiera often found herself looking for him when they went on their walks and Bingo chose to
hide himself.

Kiera often took walks on the beach with Bingo when the sun lay low in the sky, preparing to bid the
world goodbye. Hues of purple, gold and orange coated them as Bingo leaped onto Kiera and sent her
falling over. Kiera’s laugh rang out in the silence, the only sound that could be heard for miles.

She got up to hug Bingo when she realised there was something sharp poking her in the side. She
brushed the sand off her green sweater and realised there was a shell stuck to the soft fabric, sunset
reflecting off the shiny surface.

Kiera took the shell home when the moon came out and painted the waves a beautiful coat of silver. She
watched fish of various colours race each other back home; and she did the same, Bingo barking behind
her.

After dinner, she took the shell to her room and placed it on her table. Sleep came early that night with
the night bringing with it a soft shower of rain. That was until someone started to sing, and Kiera woke
up panting with a hand to her chest in surprise.

Kiera looked at the shell, and frowned in confusion. Bingo was fast asleep at the foot of her bed and she
reached across the table to pick the shell up. It felt cool to the touch, as though she was running her
hands through the waves of the ocean. Holding the shell up to her ear, she closed her eyes, as a soft
voice whispered a secret in the dead of night.

“I call the sea my home. The sea is the place where I belong. Come closer and you may just hear, all the
stories you have not been told. Tales of mermaids, tales of old. Tale of sailors and their gold. Come
closer and you will see, the tales of the ocean within me.”

Kiera almost dropped the shell from how her hands were shaking as her heart pounded repeatedly
against her chest.

“How are you alive?” she asked the shell, who answered with a single word.

“Magic, my dear.”

Kiera ran a finger over the surface of the shell and heard it sing again.

“You can call me the magic shell; I am the bearer of the tales of the tales from the sea. I will tell you a
story you choose to listen to, maybe two maybe three.”

“Can you tell me about the mermaids?” Kiera asked, her eyes sparkling with joy. The shell laughed but
once, and began to tell its tale.

“There are mermaids with tails of pink, some with tails painted gold. The mermaids play with dolphins
all day long, giggling and chasing each other on the ocean floor. Some are big, but some are small and
some you can barely see at all.

There is one we call Tiny Mermaid, for her body is so small. She leaps up to the surface for brief seconds
at a time, green hair glowing in the dark. You’ll find she looks like a tadpole – small and hard to see. All
you’ll hear is a tiny splash and faint whirring of the water, and then you’ll see her grin.”

Kiera listened in wonder to all the tales the shell had to offer. She learned about fishes who looked like
rocks; about jellyfish who were beautiful to see but not touch. She heard tales about dolphins who
called each other by name and how fish made their homes in corals of green.

She hardly realised when the sun had come back up, greeting everyone and bathing her bedroom in
bright light.

“I think you miss home, don’t you?” Kiera asked the shell in a soft tone, voice barely above a whisper.
Bingo woke up on the other side of the bed and put his head on his paws, watching his owner quietly.

The shell’s response came in the form of another song.

“I have been away from the ocean for too long; the land where I belong. The friends I have come to
meet; are different from the ones I know. But those that are under the sea are the ones that I need to
follow.”

Kiera grabbed her jacket and headed outside, Bingo following her. The sun was just starting to rise in the
horizon, birds chirping in the distance. Kiera raised her head to the sky and smiled.

The ocean was silent in the morning, waves lapping against the shore in a rhythm Kiera knew by heart.
Bingo barked as he chased after a seagull and Kiera took the shell out from her jacket pocket and set it
down into the water.

“Can I ask for one last tale?” she asked, tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. The shell began to
sing.

“There was once a girl who fell in love with the ocean, her eyes as blue as the waves. She knew of those
who played under the water, those who were only in fairy-tales. This girl is always welcome to the sea,
where she can join us all and become free.”

Kiera smiled and watched as the shell drifted out to sea, waving at it. Bingo came back from his chase
and stood beside her, rubbing against her leg as she affectionately patted his head.

“We’ll always have the ocean,” she said, as the clouds parted to paint the world gold.