Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau Read Free Book Online Page A

keep the edge out of my voice.
    “I’ve been researching this on the web for days, looking for some sort of scientific solution, but I came up with nothing. There must be some precedent, buried deep in the folklore.”
    “What am I supposed to do until then?” I remembered the promise I’d just made to Cori. Could I really keep lying to her again?
    “Let me just do a bit more research to see what I can come up with before we tell anyone. Okay, Jade?”
    “But I promise, Cori won’t say anything. Not if I swear her to secrecy.”
    Dad rested a hand on my dresser.
    “What you don’t understand is if this gets out, your whole life will change.”
    “More than it has already?” I practically screamed.
    “Jade, sweetie.” He sighed. “I’ve worked as an engineer long enough to know that the scientific community would be all over you if they found out. They’d want to explore this phenomenon fully and I’m not ready for that to happen.”
    My jaw dropped. “Like experiments and lab tests?” A ripple of dread ran through me. Could it be true? Would scientists want to poke and prod at me like some kind of lab rat?
    “Maybe. Let’s just give this a bit more time before we decide who to confide in. But it’s important that you don’t tell anyone for now. Not Cori, not your other friends, not even Gran. Please, Jade. You have to promise.”
    Finally, I could read the expression on Dad’s face. It was the same one he’d had when Mom slipped underwater that day at Gran’s cottage the summer before. The day both our lives changed forever.
    Dad was terrified. And so was I.
    “I promise,” I whispered.
    The reality of the situation slammed into me. This huge, unbelievable thing that had happened could turn into something even more bizarre and horrible if I didn’t keep my mouth shut.
    “And please,” Dad continued, “if anything’s bothering you, please talk to me. I’ll help any way I can.”
    Something had nagged at me ever since Dad admitted Mom’s real identity to me.
    “I do have one more question.” My voice was barely a whisper.
    “What’s that?”
    “Well, if Mom was once a mermaid…how could she have drowned?”
    “Ah, honey.” Dad closed his eyes. “That’s a question I’ve asked myself about a hundred million times.”

Chapter Seven
    I MARCHED DOWN M AIN STREET on my way to Bridget’s Diner, my flip-flops flicking to the beat of the cheer-leading chant running through my head.
    You can do it.
    You can do it.
    Get on up.
    And get down to it…
    Not like I was trying out for the pep squad any time soon, but I needed to get my game face on if I wanted to get through lunch without spilling my guts. Dad was right; I couldn’t tell anyone what had happened. Not that I didn’t trust Cori, but if this secret ever got out, it could change my life forever.
    The storefront windows blurred past as I kept my focus straight ahead. A town maintenance guy was watering the flowers, but he stepped off the sidewalk to let me pass. The mounting tempo of my flip-flops must have tipped him off. He obviously recognized a girl on a mission.
    I stopped on the bridge at the boat lock to gather mythoughts and gazed down the mile-long canal from the lake to the ocean, welcoming the warm June sun on my legs.
    Ah, legs! Standing upright was highly underrated.
    The good news was that I’d had legs for four days so far and my first period was now behind me. I’d even managed a couple of showers in the meantime. Dad had waited by the bathroom door, just in case, but I’d been fine. No scales, no fins. Not a gill in sight.
    So what was the difference between the shower and the bath? Did a mermaid gene get tripped off when I slipped underwater in the tub? Did it have anything to do with the fact I’d just gotten my first period? Or maybe the Epsom salt triggered something. Dad and I went around and around in circles, trying to figure it out. One thing was for sure: I planned on laying off the Epsom salt even if