Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret - Liz Kessler [67]
“Which is when?”
“A week from today.”
Brilliant. The day I was due to tell Neptune we’d changed the world was the day my world would officially come crashing down around me. Just perfect. Why did everything I did always have to turn to disaster?
Well, OK, maybe not absolutely everything. We had rescued Shona and Melody and . . .
Wait! Melody!
What had she said? If there is anything you need, come to me and I will help you.
I allowed myself a brief smile as an idea took shape in my head. Maybe all wasn’t completely lost — yet.
“How did you find me?”
“Mr. Beeston — er, Charlie — told me where you were,” I stammered.
Melody smiled. “My son,” she said, enjoying the word as though it were a precious jewel that someone had just given to her. I guess in a way, it was.
“You, er, you know you said you would do anything you could to thank me for saving you?” I went on.
“Of course,” she said seriously. “And I meant it.”
“Well, there is something.”
I told her my idea. When I’d finished, she frowned. “Emily, I want to help you, I really do. But it’s years and years since I —”
“You were the best,” I said. “You still will be, I’m sure of it.”
Melody turned away from me as she fiddled nervously with one of the sequins on her top. Where had I seen that gesture before? I suddenly realized, and laughed.
“He does that, too,” I said.
She turned back to me. “Who does?” she asked. “Does what?”
“Mr. B — your son,” I said. “He fiddles with the buttons on his jacket, just like that.”
Melody’s smile lit up the rocky room. Literally. The water turned warmer; the glowing lights in the rocks burned brighter. Even the rocks themselves seemed to glisten with a shimmering light. If just a smile from her could do that, imagine what would happen if she were to —
“All right,” she said eventually. “I’ll do it.”
Yes! Now I only had one more thing to organize — and I had the feeling I knew someone who could help.
Three days later, I was woken up by a knocking on my window. I pulled the curtain across the porthole to see Aaron’s face. He was standing on the jetty outside my bedroom saying something I couldn’t hear and waving at me to come outside.
I leaped out of bed and ran out to join him.
“Mandy’s plan worked!” he said. “I just heard them arrive.”
“You’re sure?” I asked, hardly daring to believe he could be right.
“I saw their car — and I saw them go in. It’s definitely them!” He grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Wait,” I said. “What if — what if it hasn’t worked? What if they don’t remember anything?”
Aaron glanced down at the sea under the jetty washing slowly toward the shore and out again, breathing in, breathing out, always moving away, always coming back.
“We’re keeping our promise to Neptune. He will have kept his,” he said. “They’ll remember.”
I nodded. “In that case, wait here a minute.” I ran inside the boat.
“What are you doing?” he called after me.
I called to him as I bent down to enter. “Getting Mom.”
I pulled Mom toward the door of the cottage. “Turn left. Stop. OK, two steps forward, then up one.”
“What is this, Emily?” Mom complained. “You know I’m not big on surprises, especially first thing in the morning.”
Aaron grinned at me. “Oh, you’ll like this one, Mrs. W.,” he said.
Mom frowned from behind the dish towel we’d wrapped over her eyes. “I hope so,” she said sternly, “for both of your sakes.”
I undid the towel. “OK, ready?” I asked.
Mom rubbed her eyes. “How can I know whether I’m ready or not if I don’t know what I’m meant to be ready for?”
Aaron joined us on the doorstep. “Right. Come on, then,” he said. “Let’s do it.”
And then he lifted his fist. Knuckles hovering in front of the door, he turned to me. “Sure?” he asked.
I nodded quickly. Behind my back, I crossed my fingers as tightly as I could. Please have worked, please have worked.
Aaron rapped on the door, and I held my breath.
Movement inside. Someone shuffling toward the door.
And then it opened.
“Oh my, oh my word, oh heavens.” The woman standing in front of us clapped a hand over her mouth. Her