Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist by Liz Kessler Read Free Book Online

then,” she said, her eyes shining with delight. “It’s so beautiful,” she added with a touch of envy. “Can I try it on?”
    I laughed. I might have known Shona would want to try it for herself.
    I tried to pull it off my finger, but it was stuck. I pulled harder — and a rushing noise flooded into my head. Thundering and rolling. What was it? There was a storm raging out at sea. I could feel it. Waves crashing everywhere, thunder booming into every corner of the sky, lightning cracking the world open. And grief. I wanted to cry. Wanted to break down in floods of tears and cry till I’d filled an ocean. I squeezed my eyes shut, stopped trying to pull the ring off, and clasped my hands over my ears.
    Instantly the storm stopped.
    “What was that ?” I asked.
    “What?” Shona looked bemused.
    “The storms, the sea crashing.”
    “I don’t know what you mean,” Shona said. “I didn’t feel anything.” She looked at me sideways for a second, then shook her head and examined the ring again. I flicked my tail to stay upright and still as she stared at it. Was she joking with me? How could she not have noticed the storms? “It’s really the swishiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Shona breathed, staring at the ring as though it were the only thing in the world.
    “I can’t get it off,” I said.
    “Here, let me try.” Shona reached out and I held my hand open for her. But the second she touched the ring, she catapulted away from me as though she’d been shot out of a cannon, landing in a bunch of mossy seaweed.
    I swam over to her and pulled her out. “You all right?” I asked.
    “It burned me!” she shrieked, pointing at the ring. “Or bit me, or something!”
    I yanked at the ring again. “Don’t be silly. It’s just —”
    “I don’t want to try it! You keep it. It’s fine.” Shona dusted her tail down, wiping sand and moss from her scales.
    I twisted the ring back around on my finger so the diamond could stay hidden against my palm. I felt safer with it that way.
    “Come on,” Shona said. “Let’s go back to your place and do our homework.”
    She swam off without another word.

    I knew as soon as we reached Fortuna that something was wrong. The first person I saw was Millie. Not that that was so unusual. She often came over to see Mom.
    But she was on her own, sunning herself on the front deck. If “sunning herself” is the right expression. Millie must be the only person in the world who manages to sunbathe in a long black gown. She never wears anything else. She’d pulled it up to her knees and was stretched out on ablanket, a packet of cards spread out in a star shape next to her.
    “Where’s Mom?” I called as we approached the boat.
    Millie looked over and squinted into the sunlight. Sitting up and pulling her gown back down to her feet, she shuffled the cards into a pile. Shona and I swam up to the side of the boat. “She had to go out,” Millie said in the mysterious way in which she says everything.
    “ Had to? Why? Where?”
    “She just — look, it’s not really for me to explain.”
    “Fine, I’ll ask Dad.”
    I swam to the front of the boat and was about to dive down to the porthole when Millie said, “He’s gone out too.”
    I stopped, treading water with my tail. “They’ve gone out together?” I asked hopefully, knowing even before she spoke what the answer was going to be.
    “No.” She refused to meet my eyes. “No, they’ve gone out separately. Your mom asked me to wait here for you. I thought perhaps we could play canasta, or I’ll do your tarot cards for you, if you like.”
    “They’ve had an argument, haven’t they?” I asked.
    Millie still wouldn’t look at me. She started dealing out the cards for a game of patience. “Ireally think you need to talk to your parents about it,” she said awkwardly. “I just don’t think it’s my place to —”
    “It doesn’t matter,” I said, cutting her off. “Come on, Shona, let’s go