Brilliant Hues (14 page)

A
fter they rolled Cici out of the room, Charlotte finally started to sob, huge, racking sobs like half of herself had been ripped away. I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back, and looked helplessly at Mom. We couldn’t just sit here in the hospital and wait. Charlotte’s parents asked if we could watch her, and so in a few minutes, we found ourselves back out in the Hummer, with no definite plan.

“Seems like we should go somewhere,” Mom said. “Not just home.”

Charlotte had finally cried herself out and now she was pale, and didn’t look like she was in any condition to make decisions. Her painting was in the back, and I wanted to give that to her, but not in the car.

What now? I silently asked, and then smiled in spite of
myself. Maybe I wasn’t the girl on the island with the messages in the bottles anymore. Maybe, finally, I had dove into the water. And suddenly, I had my answer.

“Can we go to the beach?” I asked Mom.

“It is a windy day,” Mom answered, as though she’d read my mind.

Charlotte leaned her head against my arm and fell asleep on the drive over the mountains. When the car stopped, she opened her eyes and stretched.

“Where are we?”

I smiled. “I’m going to teach you how to catch the wind.”

“We’ll wait for you here,” Mom said, and even though sadness panged through me, thinking of catching the wind without her, I knew this was right too. Charlotte and I, catching the wind together.

“What does that mean … Catch the wind?” Charlotte asked.

“You’ll see. But first, I have a surprise.”

I helped her down from the back seat and took her around to the back of the Hummer. When I threw the doors open, she gasped.

“It’s me, jumping!” She threw her arms around me and squeezed. “Can I have it?”

“It’s yours,” I took her hand and we ran out across the sand.

I pointed at the bluff.

“We’re going up there?” she asked.

“I’ll help you,” I said.

We scaled the rocks, and when we reached the top, I helped Charlotte find solid footholds. I reached out my hands, face toward the ocean. She threw her hands wide too, and air rushed through our outstretched fingers. As we stood, with the wind swirling around us, pink tipped the clouds, the beginning of sunset.

“I’m going to catch some extra and put it in my pocket to take back to Cici. Do you think she’ll like that?” Charlotte asked.

“She’ll love that,” I said, feeling warmth seep into my skin, not from the wind, but from what vibrated through the wind, the feeling of God, close, as close as my next breath.

“I feel purple and green and red,” Charlotte shouted over the wind. “What do you feel?”

“Electric blue and teal,” I answered.

“And sparkly gold.” Charlotte spun all the way around before finding her footholds again.

“How could I forget the sparkly gold?” I asked.

Our laughter wove together, spinning out into the salty air.

THE END

NAOMI KINSMAN
has always dreamed of plunging into a fictional world, like Lucy does in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In Naomi’s first career, acting and directing for the theater, this dream was inches from her reach. But writing has made the dream possible, and now Naomi regularly slips into book worlds and shares her adventures through her company, Society of Young Inklings, dedicated to empowering young writers across the country. Naomi is the author of the 2009 Moonbeam Gold Medal winner, Spilled Ink, and she has written and directed over fifty plays for young audiences. She lives in Northern California with her husband and identically colored pets: a tuxedo cat and a Portuguese water dog.

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Faithgirlz! Bible Studies

Secret Power of Love

Secret Power of Joy

Secret Power of Goodness

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Fiction

From Sadie’s Sketchbook

Shades of Truth (Book One)

Flickering Hope (Book Two)

Waves of Light (Book Three)

Brilliant Hues (Book Four)

Sophie’s World Series

Sophie’s World

Sophie’s Secret

Sophie Under Pressure

Sophie Steps Up

Sophie’s First Dance

Sophie’s Stormy Summer

Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco

Sophie and the New Girl

Sophie Flakes Out

Sophie Loves Jimmy

Sophie’s Drama

Sophie Gets Real

The Girls of Harbor View

Girl Power (Book One)

Take Charge (Book Two)

Raising Faith (Book Three)

Secret Admirer (Book Four)

The Lucy Series

Lucy Doesn’t Wear Pink (Book One)

Lucy Out of Bounds (Book Two)

Lucy’s Perfect Summer (Book Three)

Lucy Finds Her Way (Book Four)

Boarding School Mysteries

Vanished (Book One)

Betrayed (Book Two)

Burned (Book Three)

Poisoned (Book Four)

Nonfiction

My Faithgirlz Journal

Faithgirlz Handbook

Food, Faith & Fun:

A Faithgirlz Cookbook

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The Skin You’re In

Body Talk

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Check out www.faithgirlz.com

ZONDERKIDZ

Brilliant Hues
Copyright © 2012 by Naomi Kinsman Downing

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EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 978-0-310-72669-2

Illustrations © 2012 by Zonderkidz

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kinsman, Naomi, 1977–

Brilliant hues / Naomi Kinsman.

      p. cm. — (From Sadie’s sketchbook) (Faithgirlz!)

Summary: When Sadie returns to Menlo Park, California, she finds that she no longer fits in, especially when one of her father’s cases places her in the spotlight — and in danger — but she turns to her faith, hoping it will see her through.

ISBN 978-0-310-72668-5 (softcover)

   1. Interpersonal relations — Fiction. 2. Family life — California 3. Christian life — Fiction. 4. California — Fiction. I. Title.

PZ7.K62935Bri 2012

[Fic] — dc23              2012018387

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