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

don’t bother us again.”
    Cori’s hand was beginning to cause deep tissue damage around my arm.
    â€œStay cool,” I whispered.
    But I was far from cool. All I wanted to do was crash through the bog and dive in the water after Mom, but with Grumpy McGrumpypants right there, that was definitely out of the question.
    â€œOkay.” The security guard clipped the phone back onto his belt and led us back to the road. “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”
    I turned back to see if I could catch one last glimpse of Mom but there was nothing. My chest filled with a rush of panic. Would I ever see her again? Could we stop the construction in time for her to make it back home safely?
    Encouraged by the hand the security guard was keeping on his nightstick, we made it back to the road and kept walking to the chain-link gate. “You’re gonna walk on out of here just like this never happened. Otherwise, I’ll have the cops on you for trespassing like there’s no tomorrow. Capisce? ”
    â€œYup! We got it.” Cori made a beeline for the gate, limping along on her bum leg.
    â€œBut Cori,” I whispered, catching up to her, “my mom just waved to me back there.”
    â€œShe did?” Cori replied as we spilled out to the road.
    â€œWhat?” Luke asked. He and Trey rose from where they’d been sitting on the rocks at the side of the road to greet us. “What happened?”
    â€œMy mom is in the tidal pool. I saw her!” I looked back through the fence, desperate to run back into the construction site and fireman’s carry her out of there. “We’ve got to do something.”
    â€œWell, we could tell that guy to tell his boss to stop piling rocks into the tidal pool because your mermaid mother is in the way, but I doubt that would help with the whole ‘secret identity’ thing.” Cori nodded in the direction of the security guard as he swung the massive chain link gate closed.
    â€œBut…” My hands dropped to my sides. Cori was right.
    â€œAt least now we know where she is,” Luke said quietly. “Didn’t he say that was the last truck for the night?”
    â€œYes, but—”
    â€œSo, she’ll be okay until the morning when we can figure something out.” Luke put a hand on my shoulder and tried to catch my eye. “Okay?”
    â€œOkay,” I said, hearing the sound of metal on metal as the gate swung closed, just like the boat lock of Talisman Lake.
    â€œHey, fish-girl.” Cori grabbed me by the arm and led me back up to the mall parking lot. “How about I buy you a Big Mac for your troubles? You know, for saving my life and all that?”
    My stomach rumbled. I looked longingly at the golden arches off in the distance.
    â€œThat depends. Can I get fries with that?”

Port Toulouse wasn’t going to win any awards for its wild and crazy night life. By the time we’d scarfed down our Super Value meals, the mall was closed and the buses had stopped running. I was bursting to tell Dad about what we’d found when I called to ask if he could pick us up, but the McDonald’s was packed with screaming kids terrorizing the PlayPlace and I could barely hear him. Besides, I really wanted to see Dad’s face when I delivered the news that we’d found Mom.
    Luke and Trey were still waiting for their father when Dad arrived. His eyes scanned the booth, doing the mental calculations on our group.
    â€œHello…fellas.” He nodded to Luke and Trey, then shuttled me and Cori to the car since Cori was coming over to my house to sleep over.
    â€œYou won’t believe—” I began, but Dad interrupted me.
    â€œYou said you were going to McDonald’s with Cori and ‘the gang.’” Dad pulled onto the highway, stressing the last two words.
    â€œWell, technically—” I glanced at Cori. Apparently, the trade-off for sleeping over