Waves of Light (15 page)

W
ith finishing Vivian’s leaves and seeing her off to New York, play rehearsals and paint touch-ups, ticket sales and other preparations, the week flew by.

Finally, Friday night arrived. I slipped into my costume: black leggings, a black T-shirt, black socks, and black shoes. I’d wear this for the majority of the show while I helped Annabelle with the music box backstage, and then I’d add a ballet skirt over the top for the final dance. I checked my reflection in the mirror and decided to go for it. I took Andrew’s necklace out of my dresser drawer, put it on, and hurried out of my room before I could change my mind.

I gave Higgins an extra treat as we went out the door. “We’ll be back soon, Higgy.”

Dad helped Mom into the Jeep, and I took the backseat.

“We’re so proud of you,” Dad said as he pulled out onto the road.

I laughed. “Wait till you see my dancing before you decide how proud you are of me.”

Stars appeared one by one in the deepening sky. We’d decided to do the entire show by moonlight and tiki torch, particularly because tonight was a full moon and there would be plenty of light.

Dad pulled into the parking lot and Mom gave me a hug, handing me her iPhone. “Take good care of it.”

I hurried off to the Tree House where the cast was gathering while the audience assembled. I checked the time. Seven-fifteen. Perfect.

I climbed the rope ladder to the Tree House. Ruth, Annabelle, Bea, Lindsay, and Andrew were all waiting.

“You guys ready?” I asked.

They gathered around me as I dialed Vivian’s cell phone number. Vivian’s face appeared in the screen. “Hey, guys!”

“Say hello, not hey,” Georgiana trilled in the background. Then she said, “Oops! I thought that was Frankie. Sorry, Vivian!”

We all laughed as Vivian passed the phone to Frankie.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

Frankie panned the phone around the room to show off the forest filled with sculptures and the ivy-covered piano. “It’s perfect,” she said. “And people have been adding their memories to the ivy all night.”

She walked over to give us a closer look at the ivy. The leaves were covered with gold letters, words symbolizing the memories left behind by the people who’d visited the exhibit already.

“Are you ready?” Frankie asked.

I gathered everyone close. Frankie opened the envelope we’d sent, with each of our memories written in gold. One by one, Frankie added them to the ivy strands on the piano.

“I wish you were here,” she said when she’d finished.

“We wish you were here too,” I said.

“Break a leg tonight,” she said.

“We will!” we all answered, and then we waved good-bye.

Penny gathered us for a pre-show prayer before we went out to the moonlit stages.

“Sadie, will you pray for us?” she asked.

Goosebumps prickled across my skin as I nodded. I’d never prayed out loud for the group before. We all closed our eyes.

“God, you are with us always — when we know you’re there, and when we forget. Thank you. Please be with us tonight, too, as we tell your story. Help us to be giving and loving and to always seek the truth. In your name …”

“Amen.” Everyone said with me.

“Let’s go do this thing,” Doug said.

We all laughed and headed out into the moonlight.

THE END

Check out these other books in the
Sadie’s Sketchbook series

From Sadie’s Sketchbook

Naomi Kinsman

Publishers Weekly starred review

It’s Going to Be a Bear of a Year

Sadie thought she’d have a perfect fresh start when she moved to Owl Creek, Michigan, but finding her place in her new school proves harder than expected. In this divided town, her father’s job mediating between bear hunters and researchers doesn’t help her social life. Sadie’s art instructor encourages her to express herself through her sketchbook and develop her newfound talent. As everything swirls around her, Sadie must learn what it means to have faith when you don’t have all the answers.

Available in stores and online!

Check out these other books in the
Sadie’s Sketchbook series

From Sadie’s Sketchbook

Naomi Kinsman

Can You Ever Trust the Enemy?

Things finally seem to be falling into place for Sadie. Bear season is over, and her relationship with her art teacher is on the mend. Her home life is going better than ever, and even her enemy, Frankie, wants to be friends. But can Frankie be trusted? Ruth and Andrew think she’s spying for her father, helping him find a way to capture Sadie’s favorite bear. But Sadie suspects something else is going on with Frankie. She must decide who to trust and find out if — and how — her growing faith can get her through.

Available in stores and online!

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.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Other Books in the Growing Faithgirlz!™ Library

Bibles

The Faithgirlz! Bible

NIV Faithgirlz! Backpack Bible

Faithgirlz! Bible Studies

Secret Power of Love

Secret Power of Joy

Secret Power of Goodness

Secret Power of Modesty

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

No Boys Allowed

What’s A Girl To Do?

Girlz Rock

Chick Chat

Real Girls of the Bible

Whatever

My Beautiful Daughter

The Skin You’re In

Body Talk

Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself
,

But I Don’t Know Who I Am

Girl Politics

Check out www.faithgirlz.com

ZONDERKIDZ

Waves of Light
Copyright © 2012 by Naomi Kinsman Downing

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

EPub Edition © MARCH 2012 ISBN: 978-0-310-72667-8

Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zonderkidz,
5300 Patterson Ave SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

CIP applied for: ISBN 978-0-310-72666-1

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible,
New International Version
^®
, NIV
^®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.