Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret (26 page)

“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 eyes filling with tears, she clung to the door with her other hand. “Harry!” she called. “Harry — come quickly! We’ve found her. We’ve found our daughter!”

A moment later, she’d wrapped Mom in her arms. “Oh, my baby,” Nan cried over and over again. “My darling, darling girl.”

Granddad was behind her. “Come inside, come in, all of you,” he said.

We went inside. Granddad held his arms out toward Mom and she fell into them while Nan stood behind Mom, stroking her back, whispering to herself and half laughing, half crying.

I turned to Aaron. “We did it!” I said. He smiled and held his arms out to me.

“You did it,” he said, pulling me close. “You and Mandy did it.”

Mandy — of course. We had to tell her. “Should we go see her?” I asked.

Aaron held me a little closer. “In a minute,” he said. “Not just yet.” I snuggled more tightly into his shoulder and didn’t argue.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think this calls for a cup of tea,” a voice announced from the doorway.

Millie winked at someone standing next to her. As she came through the door, the other person followed. Mandy.

“Well, fancy that,” Millie said to Mandy as they both came inside. “I wonder how that happened. . . .”

Then she marched through the front room, straight into the kitchen. “Right, where’s the kettle?” she asked.

Mandy joined us in the front room. “I told her,” she said bashfully. “I had the feeling she might be able to help. Turns out she did.”

“How?” I asked.

Mandy smiled. “You’ll see.”

“You’ll see what?” Mom said, coming over and putting an arm around my shoulders. “Do you think it’s about time someone explained some of this to
me
?”

Nan put an arm around Mom’s waist. “And me,” she said.

So we did. Millie poured the tea while Aaron, Mandy, and I explained everything.

“But there’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Mom said. “How did you get them here now?”

Granddad pulled out a newspaper. “With this,” he said.

He opened it up and spread it on the table for us all to see. It was a photograph Millie had taken of my grandparents.

I looked at Mandy. She smiled back. “That’s how,” she said.

I read the caption under the photograph.

Is this you?

If so, please, please come to Brightport immediately. The biggest reward of your lives is waiting for you.

Come now! You won’t regret it!

Nan smiled at Mom. “We called the editor and he told us to come to this cottage. And the article was right,” she said. “This
is
the biggest reward of our lives, without a doubt.”

“But how did this get into the paper?” Mom asked.

Mandy cleared her throat. “Er, that was me,” she said. “My dad’s really good friends with the editor of the
Brightport Times,
and it’s part of a big chain of local papers.”

“This went into them all,” I said.

“It was a bit of a long shot,” Mandy added.

Mom put her hand over Mandy’s. “But it worked,” she said gently. “And that’s all that matters.”

She was right. Well, she was nearly right. It wasn’t
quite
all that mattered. I still only had a few days to show Neptune that we’d made a big difference with our task, and I had no idea if we were going to manage that or not.

Mr. Beeston had agreed to try to help with my idea, and thanks to his insider contacts, we’d gotten the perfect venue — but there was no guarantee it was going to work.

And in the meantime, I still hadn’t managed to walk around Brightport with my head up, or without thinking that every other person I passed wanted to throw me in a net, hand me over, and collect their reward.

Mandy saw the look on my face and nudged me. “Hey,” she whispered. “I saw Mr. Beeston at the
Brightport Times
office yesterday. He was looking pretty pleased with himself. I wonder if it had anything to do with this.” She thrust the morning’s paper into my hands. “This was what I came by to show you. I nearly forgot, what with, you know —” She waved her hand at my grandparents.

“What’s this, then?” Millie asked. Grabbing the newspaper, she spread it out on the table, and we all stared at the front page.

SATURDAY NIGHT SPECTACULAR

A mystery show, the likes of which you have never seen, is promised this Saturday at the new development at Brightport Piers. Details of the event are such a secret that even
Brightport Times
staff aren’t in the know. But we have been promised this: it will be a show like no other, and anyone who misses it will regret it. Be there — or be the only person in Brightport who’s not! Tickets available at the door. $2 adults, $1 children.

He’d done it! Mr. Beeston had taken care of his part of the plan!

“Well, that sounds like a bargain. Saturday night out for a couple of dollars,” Millie said as she drained her cup.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Mom said. “You know what these newspapers are like. They always exaggerate. It’s probably just one of the editor’s pals holding a line-dancing night or something. Sorry, Mandy, no offense. I know your parents are good friends with him.”

“Mom, we have to go to it,” I said. “All of us.” I looked around at everyone.

Mandy and Aaron nodded enthusiastically. “Of course we do!” Aaron said.

“Absolutely!” Mandy agreed.

Mom smiled at me. “Well, if it means that much to you, sugar plum, I’m sure we can go.”

“It might be a nice chance to celebrate having the family together again,” Granddad said, closing a hand over Mom’s.

“Most of the family,” Mom said carefully. “You know Jake and I are — we’re back together. You’re OK with that, aren’t you?”

Granddad squeezed Mom’s hand more tightly and put an arm around Nan’s shoulder. “Darling, we couldn’t be more happy, or more proud.”

Mom looked at Millie. Millie shrugged. “You know me. I don’t like to stand out from the crowd,” she said with a sniff. “If you’re all in, so am I.”

I beamed. “That’s it, then. We’re all going.”

Now I just had to wait, and in the meantime all I could do was hope and pray that we could pull it off and I could get Neptune off my back — for good.