Free Real Mermaids 2 - Don't Hold Their Breath by Helene Boudreau Page A

for breaking and entering and you want me to take a photo of butterflies?” Using my phone instead, I lined up the shot so I could get the butterflies on her arm and the dozen others flocking on a bunch of bushes nearby. I slipped my phone back in my pocket and looked out over the water.
    â€œSo do you think this is it?” Cori asked, touching one of the butterfly’s wings before it flew away.
    â€œI really hope so,” I replied.
    Sunlight glittered on the rippling waves of the pool, and all around it green shrubs waved in the summer breeze. A heron waded in the water not far from us but a loud clang set it off, just like it had earlier. I turned in the direction of the noise, and sure enough, up the hill closer to the mall, dump trunks unloaded earth while front-end loaders picked up a scoop at a time and dumped it into the north end of the pond. I worked my way through the bog to get to the open water but the mud was getting deeper and slowing me down.
    â€œI can’t believe they’re just going to fill all this in,” Cori said. “It’s so pretty here…oooo…ouch!”
    I turned to check on Cori and waited for her to catch up. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
    â€œYeah.” She limped toward me, grasping my arm for support, then shielded her eyes from the sun. “I’m good. Can you see anything?”
    â€œNothing. But I’m going to try to call out to her.”
    Cori glanced up the hill. “What if they hear you?”
    â€œThey won’t hear me.” I smiled.
    Mom? I rang out over the water, hoping she’d hear.
    â€œWhat was that?” Cori looked at me in amazement. “Was that you? Is that like mermaid Parseltongue or something?”
    â€œYeah. Sorta.” I strained to hear in case Mom was trying to ring back but couldn’t hear anything except a booming voice from behind us.
    â€œHey! You two!”
    My heart seized in my chest.
    â€œWe are so dead.” Cori tightened her grip on my arm and we turned slowly to face the guy who was probably about to bury us in the bog and make it look like an accident.
    â€œI thought I told you kids to scram.”
    â€œJust thought we’d do a bit of bird watching?” I said hopefully.
    Grumpy McGrumpypants looked at me sternly and hitched up his leather utility belt which brimmed with brand-new looking survival gear. What exactly did he think he’d run up against in a field behind a shopping mall, I wondered. Killer turtles? Homicidal blue herons?
    â€œI don’t get paid enough for this,” the security guard muttered, stomping toward us through the boggy muck.
    â€œOh yeah? Well, I know your employers personally.” Cori put a hand on her hip. “And I doubt Mr. Chamberlain would appreciate the fact that you waste his money watching TV on company time.”
    â€œWhoa, now. Wait just a second.” The security guard put up his hand. “No need to get all feisty.” He turned from us and answered his ringing phone. “Yeah. I’ve got them here. The little one’s giving me trouble but…uh, don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.”
    He eyed us and then continued his phone conversation.
    I wasn’t sure if “deal with it” meant fitting us with cement shoes, but any hope of finding Mom was slowly dwindling away. I turned back to the water, hoping for a sign before meeting my doom. And that’s when I saw it.
    An arm. Partway out of the water and only for a split second. Mom’s arm? It had to be!
    Mom! I rang.
    The security guard put a hand over his ear like there was feedback from his phone but Cori looked at me, wide-eyed. And I must have actually jammed the phone’s frequency because the security guard tapped it with the back of his hand.
    â€œYou still there?” he spoke into the mouthpiece. “Okay. Yeah, I can hear you again. Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. I’ll make sure they