The Mermaid's Mirror - L. K. Madigan [57]
They could hear the sound of the surf in the distance. Lena's dad turned on the flashlight, and they picked their way carefully through the obstacle course of Cole's toys in the backyard. He stopped and shone the light along the length of the fence. It was adorned with stone garden sculptures: a long-bearded god of wind, his cheeks puffed out, a smiling sun, a sleeping moon, a spouting whale, a dolphin, and a mermaid.
"Don't tell me you buried it under the sculpture of the mermaid!" exclaimed Lena.
He grinned. "No. I may not be a smart man, but even I am not that obvious."
She watched as he lifted the dolphin off the fence and turned it over. On the back of the dolphin sculpture, there was a hollowed-out space. It was empty.
"This is where I kept the key," he said. "I don't know how she found it." He shook his head, as if he still had trouble believing it. "I never saw her act like she was searching for the cloak, but I don't know. Maybe mermaids can't help searching for their cloaks, whether they want to or not."
Lena's knees felt weak, and she sat down on Cole's plastic picnic table. It seemed almost inevitable that events would lead her mother back to the sea. "Where was it?"
"The cloak was in the chest. I kept it hidden in the crawl space above the garage."
"What crawl space?"
He gave a half-smile. "See? No one even knows it's there. The chest was in a box that was taped shut, surrounded by other boxes, and covered with clothes. It just looked like a big pile of junk. I don't know how she found it."
Lena pictured her mother searching for the cloak—maybe not even aware she was doing it—then she thought of her own search to find the lock for the key. One quest had torn her mother from Lena, the other had given her back.
"Now it's my turn to ask some questions," said her dad. "You said Lucy gave you the key." He swallowed. "So you've seen her. You were... with her? At Magic's?"
"I was at Magic's," said Lena carefully. She didn't want to tell her dad she'd been close to drowning. "But I wasn't with her. I didn't know she was there at first. I was in the water, and she, um, put the key into my hand."
Her dad stared.
"I didn't know she was my mother. But I saw her once before. It was on my birthday!" she said. "And I kept looking for her after that."
"Lena," said her dad. "You surfed at Magic's?"
"I thought she might be there. And I was right."
Her dad shook his head, muttering, "I knew it." He pinned his gaze on her. "Now do you understand? Now do you see why I didn't want you to surf? Once you learned, how could I keep you from Magic's?"
"You couldn't," said Lena.
They sat silently for a moment.
Finally her dad said with a sigh, "I've been such an idiot. Trying to keep a half-mermaid from surfing!" Then he smiled wistfully. "How do you like it?"
Lena's face glowed. "Oh, Dad, I love it so much. When I'm out there, it's like I'm—" She sighed. "I don't think I can even describe it. I feel like I'm in church ... like I'm close to God, or something. Like the earth is so huge, but while I'm in the ocean, it feels like I'm in all the oceans on the planet, or something. How can you stand not to surf?"
He looked away, turning his eyes to the moon. "I can stand it."
"Dad," Lena said, struck by a new question. "You met at Magic's. Wouldn't she have come back to Magic's eventually? Did you look for her?" I would have haunted Magic's every day for the rest of my life until I found her, she thought.
Her father was silent.
"Dad," she persisted.
He made an impatient gesture with his hands. "Lena, stop."
"No," she said, raising her voice. "This is my story. If you won't tell me, who will?" An idea struck her. "Except Mom. She knows everything, doesn't she? I can ask her."
Her dad rounded on her. "Leave Allie alone. This is hard enough on her."
"She's my mother!" shouted Lena, and for a second, she wasn't sure which mother she meant. They were both, truly, her mothers. One gave her