The Mermaid's Mirror - L. K. Madigan [15]
"What about a board?" said Lena.
Kai swallowed, then scratched the dozen scraggly whiskers on his chin. "There's a soft-top board in our garage. It's the one we all learned on."
A thrill of rebelliousness fluttered in Lena's belly. She could almost feel the waves lifting her on the board, could almost taste the salt of the sea on her lips.
"Want me to ask her?" said Kai.
"Yay!" said Pem. "Finally!"
Lena opened her mouth to say yes. "I better not," she answered. She was almost as surprised as Pem and Kai to hear those words.
CHAPTER 8
After school, Lena went home to an empty house. Her mom was still at the banking conference she had organized. Cole stayed at after-school daycare when both parents worked.
Lena cranked her favorite band—the Blue Lunatiks—on the iPod stereo while she searched through the cupboards in the kitchen. Where's the—?
She reached for a bag of chips, then stood looking at them. The chips?
She opened the bag and munched a few. No, but there was never a wrong time for chips. She looked around the kitchen, even opening the freezer. Not in here.
Lena wandered out to the living room. She opened the hall closet and peered inside.
This is crazy, she thought. WHAT am I looking for?
She ate a few more chips and put the bag away. She went upstairs and stood in the middle of her room, frowning. It must be in here ... whatever it was. She went to her bureau and looked at her collection of cobalt-blue glass—started for her by Grandma Kath, whose birthplace was Bristol, England, famous for blue glass. Lena had some animals—a cat, a swan, a seal, and an angelfish, plus a few little perfume bottles and a sea-glass marble with veins of cobalt in it. She even had a miniature blue teapot with creamer and sugar bowl, all on a tiny tray. Nothing was missing.
Her gaze fell on the wooden hope chest at the foot of her bed. It was full of old toys, books, schoolwork, and photos. Hmm ... maybe it's in here. She lifted the lid and propped it open.
Her favorite stuffed animals—the ones she had not been able to part with when Cole was born—lay on top in the chest.
Aw, Pinky, she thought, pulling out a stuffed pink hippo. She set Pinky down on the floor next to her, then extracted a plush bunny, a chenille teddy, Puss-in-Boots (complete with shiny black boots and feathered hat), and a green sea turtle.
The next layer down was a bunch of file folders containing elementary-school assignments and artwork. I really can't draw, she thought, perusing her crayoned stick figures.
Oh, here was her family tree. That was the big fourth-grade project. Lena remembered worrying that her tree would look strange, with three parents on it. But when she saw her classmates' family trees, she stopped worrying. Pem had two moms—she had been adopted from Guatemala when she was a baby—as did Zoe. Their friend Ryder had two dads. Andre and Kenny, who were twins, lived with their grandmother.
Lena slid her old school papers back in the file folders and set them aside.
Underneath a fuzzy pastel baby blanket, Lena found a photo album, its pages tied shut with yellow ribbon. She lifted it carefully out of the trunk. It was full of photos from her early childhood, before her mother died. She hadn't looked at it in years.
Even as she opened the cover, Lena knew the photo album wasn't what she was looking for. It's too big, she thought, then made a frustrated sound. What wasn't too big?
Lena flipped the pages in the album. Here she was as a newborn, plump and squished-looking, without any hair. There was a shot of her parents surrounded by flowers and balloons that said, "It's a girl!" and "Congratulations!" She was just a tiny bundle in her mom's arms in that one. Her dad looked so young and happy as he gazed at his wife and baby.
She turned the pages. There were more baby pictures ... sleeping, posed in various outfits, wide-eyed and solemn, grinning toothlessly through a faceful of mashed peas,