Read Magnus Fin and the Ocean Quest for Free Online

snow?” said Magnus Fin, remembering the previous winter and how he had built an enormous snowman that hadn’t melted for two weeks. He turned to look at his friend while picking out the gherkin Tarkin’s mother had put in with the cheese.
    “Yeah. Snow. Right. Don’t think Mom will go for snow. In the Yukon she never came outside. Just me and Dad went fishing. She watched reality TV all day.”
    “All day?”
    “Twenty-four seven.”
    “Tell me about the mermaid again?”
    “No.”
    “Go on, Tarkin. Please. And I’ll give you my wetsuit and let you dive in the wreck.”
    “For real?” Tarkin’s eyes lit up.
    “Yeah. Promise.”
    “Deal. OK. Well, she called my name and she had the most awesome voice you could imagine. And I said, “Dad, do you hear her? She’s saying ‘Tarkin’. She’s saying my name.” But Dad couldn’t hear her so that’s how I know she was magic and I had the ears to hear the magic. I think one day I’ll marry her, but if I talk too much about her the magic won’t happen. I read that in a book in Australia. You ever heard that, Fin, about keeping quiet about magic?”
    Magnus Fin shook his head. “Do you think I could marry her too?”
    “No, Fin. You can’t have two boys marrying one girl. But maybe you’ll find another one. You never seen one? You sure?”
    Magnus Fin shook his head again.
    “So when we going diving, Fin?”
    “Tonight?” Magnus Fin said. “Cos it’s so hot. The sea’s better when it’s hot. You’ll love it.”
     
    At seven o’clock that night the two boys ran down to the beach, Tarkin wearing Magnus Fin’s wetsuit. Tarkin was taller than Magnus so his thin legs stuck out the bottom and the arms only went as far as his elbows.
    “Lucky for us the water’s warm,” said Magnus Fin, giggling at the sight of Tarkin in the wetsuit. “Come on, race you. The sunken ship is past the rocks.” And the two boys ran over the sand, yelling and shouting. Tarkin looked like some kind of black and white gangly octopus the way his arms and legs flapped about. Even his ponytail bouncing up and down looked like another tentacle.
    “Hey, Fin, I can’t run with this rubber stuff on. Whee! I look like a deep-sea diver.”
    “Here it is,” said Magnus, who won the race for once. “Can you see the mast? It’s that black stick thing out there. Well, that’s the mast of the sunken fishing boat. I’ve been down there loads of times. I’ve already got most of the treasure from it but there’s still a compass floating about attached to a bit of wire. Maybe you can get that, Tarkin? Here’s a knife. All you’ve got to do is dive down, breathe through the snorkel, cut the wire, grab the compass and swim back up. Easy peasy!” But Tarkin didn’t look so sure. His fair skin turned even paler.
    “Sure,” he said, twisting his ponytail round and round his finger, “sounds cool.”
    “You said you were a great swimmer, Tarkin. You’ll be fine. It’s not far and the tide’s out. Find some bit of the boat to hold on to so you don’t float up.”
    Tarkin still looked pale. He bit his bottom lip and shrugged his shoulders, then seemed to find confidence from somewhere. “Sure, man. I am a great swimmer. Man – I am the best. The best .Hi-fives.” And they slapped each other’s hands.
    With that Tarkin waded out into the water, adjusted his mask, flung himself under with an enormous splash then disappeared. Magnus Fin started counting.
    After ten seconds Tarkin was up again, puffing away as though he had just swum the channel. “Wow! Wow that was so cool. I went under, Fin, I went right under and I saw the boat and I could breathe. I opened my eyes. With this mask I could see right under the water. Wow! It’s all broken up and full of seaweed but you can still see it’s a boat. Wow! You don’t get that in New York!”
    “Did you get the compass?”
    “No. That was just a check. Man, you gotta know, you don’t go for treasure without doing a check