Something resembling a giant, coral coloured sea horse had reared up out of the water. The creature’s neck was at least as long as the ladder her Dad used to paint the upstairs windows. It lifted its head and let out a long, loud and mournful cry, reminiscent of a ship’s foghorn. The Mermians had clustered around the creature, soothing and stroking its scaly neck, uttering sympathetic noises like the cries of seabirds. Venus could see inky blood trickling down its neck.
‘Oh poor thing, it’s wounded!’ cried Skye. The Mermians were waving at Venus now, beckoning her with urgent cries. ‘They want you to go and heal it!’
Venus gaped at him. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! I haven’t even done first aid at Guides yet! How can I heal a mythical creature on another planet? I mean what do I do?’
‘Just go....’ ordered Pluto. ‘You will know what to do…’
He pushed her gently towards the shore. She stumbled across the sand and waded into the shallows, feeling the warm surf tugging at her pyjama bottoms. The Mermians thrashed their tails urgently, drawing her towards the stricken sea horse. Venus saw a gash in his neck with blue blood oozing from it. These fishy people obviously thought she was some sort of intergalactic vet. What the heck was she supposed to do?
The sea horse lowered his head towards her and Venus did the first thing that came into her head; she put both her hands on his scaly crown and closed her eyes. At first nothing happened, then a strange sort of energy began to pulse through her, something she’d never felt before. Gradually his keening cries subsided. After what seemed a very long suspended moment, Venus opened her eyes. The bleeding had slowed down and the sea horse had stopped whimpering. The wound began to close up as if by magic. Cries of wonder echoed from the Mermians. Whatever she’d been doing, it had worked. The Sea Horse and the Mermians sang to her in a swelling chorus, bowed their heads and swam off, waving their tails in farewell. Venus stood for a moment in shocked silence. This was beyond weird. How did she do that? It was as though something outside herself had used her like a channel, pouring energy through her, although… maybe it was from inside herself, she couldn’t tell.
‘So, your healing powers are still intact,’ observed Pluto from behind her, ‘although you helped him heal himself. The poor beast must have been injured by a Chagrinian weapon down in the Southern Sector.’
Venus let out a gasp of pent up breath. ‘But …. I don’t understand.’
‘Sunev had legendary healing powers. Divine and magical powers, drawn down from the cosmic plane,’ said Skye, staring at her in admiration. ‘They have passed to you by re-incarnation.’
‘B-but I’m just a thirteen year old –‘
‘ - schoolgirl from Sutton, yes we know. But you are also Sunev,’ cut in Pluto. ‘So you’d better get used to it. Now – to Amrylla.’ He turned to Skye’s space pod planted in the sand nearby. ‘I presume this pod is a terrestrial flying craft too?’
Skye’s face had gone ashen pale. ‘Yes Sir, but can we go to my home first?’
'Ah yes’, said Pluto sternly, 'time to face the music eh? Your mother won't be at all pleased. Where do you live?’
‘Ishtania Province, on the outskirts of Amrylla,’ mumbled Skye.
They clambered into the pod and lifted off the ground again. Lights winked and flashed silently and a low thrum came from the engines. The pod skimmed across the sand dunes then struck out towards the green hills and the glinting glass city in the distance. Venus saw a suburban sprawl surrounding the city and as they drew closer, what looked like an outlying residential district, a cluster of white buildings scattered over the landscape like tumbled dice. Skye’s breathing began to come out in short jerks.
CHAPTER SIX - Brave New World
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