Kira's Secret

Copyright © 2013

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, without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.

P.O. Box 22024
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
C1A 9J2
acornpresscanada.com

Edited by Sherie Hodds
Cover design by Matt Reid
eBook design by Joseph Muise

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Dawydiak, Orysia, 1952-, author
Kira's secret / Orysia Dawydiak.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-927502-17-4 (bound).--ISBN 978-1-927502-18-1 (ebook)

I. Title.

PS8607.A968K57 2013 jC813'.6 C2013-904722-0

C2013-904723-9

The publisher acknowledges the support of the Government of
Canada through the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts Block Grant Program.

For Kira and her parents, Jodie and Terry

Chapter One—
A Discovery

Today Kira decided to do something forbidden. She was going to the beach by herself. She had only ever been there with her parents, and longed to explore the shallow tide pools where she'd seen golden starfish and limpets clinging to underwater rocks, and pink anemones gently waving their soft fingers. Once, when she reached in to touch these beautiful creatures, her mother had dragged her away. “No, Kira!” she'd scolded. “You must never put your hands in the seawater!”

When Kira cried, “But why? Why can't I?” her mother said that sea animals were dangerous, they would sting and bite her and were not to be trusted. Later, in school, Kira learned that this was not exactly true. Many sea creatures were perfectly safe.

This early in the morning, the air was cool, so Kira pulled on her tall yellow boots and a light nylon jacket. She was glad her parents were at work and there was no one to see her as she slipped out the door and down a path to the beach. When she reached the water's edge, she stopped and just watched the tide slide back and forth, leaving a lacy froth of bubbles in the sand between the rocks. She stood mesmerized by the waves; they had a soothing effect.

Kira did not know how long she'd been standing still, staring at the waves, when she heard a shout. She turned around and saw someone walking toward her, waving an arm. Kira squinted. Her eyesight was not the best, even with her thick glasses. In fact, she usually had to sit in the front row of her class so she could read the writing on the board.

“Hey, Kira! What are you doing?” It was Cody, the only boy in her class whose father wasn't a fisherman or a boat-supply salesman. He was a chubby boy with a lisp, who was always pestering the teachers with science questions. His father was the local dentist, and Cody was the only kid in the village who wore braces. No one else could afford them. The other boys often made fun of Cody, but she didn't mind him. Kira knew what it was like to be different—she was adopted.

“I'm just going to check out the tide pools,” Kira said.

“That's where I'm going. I can go show you some cool stuff, if you like.”

“Oh, okay.”

Cody grinned, not noticing the waver in her voice.

They climbed over a few large boulders, stopping at small pools with snails and mussels and tiny skittering crabs. After half an hour had passed, Cody said, “I know where there's a huge pool with all kinds of stuff in it. It's kind of far, though.”

Kira's eyes lit up. “Sure, let's go!” She'd already forgotten about all the chores awaiting her at home.

They continued to scramble along the rough shore, just a short distance from the pounding waves. There was no sand now, just rock. After twenty minutes or so, they climbed down into a shallow valley covered by water. To Kira it was a vast blue mirror of the sky.

“This pool is always here. It never dries up like some of the smaller ones,” Cody explained. “During high tide the water washes over that side and fills it up. What do you think?” He waved his arm, as if introducing an old friend.

“Does it have a name?”

Cody laughed. “I don't think so, but I call it Paradise Pond. I spend a lot of time here,” he admitted and looked away.

“Aha! That's why you know so much about sea life,” Kira teased him. She'd always figured him for a bookworm. He was the smartest kid in her class.

Cody grinned. “Let me give you a tour,” he said, and gave a little bow. “Wait 'til you see the purple anemones, they're awesome. And bright yellow starfish, and red crabs. You won't believe your eyes!”

For the next hour Cody took Kira around the pool and pointed out the various species of starfish, clams, crabs, jellyfish, and anemones. He acted as proud of the inhabitants of Paradise Pond as Kira's neighbour Brian was of his Labrador retriever. As they waded through the shallower water, Cody occasionally bent over and picked up a starfish or sea urchin to show Kira different features on their bodies. She thought they were all beautiful, even the spiny urchins and spidery crabs who scurried along the rocky bottom.

When Kira put her hands in the cold salty water, her fingers felt warm and almost as if they were melting.

“That's weird,” he said.

“What's weird?” Kira asked.

“Your hands.” He pointed at her hands wavering under water, like the tentacles on anemones.

Kira pulled them out and spread her fingers wide. They looked perfectly normal to her.

“Hmm,” he said, and scratched his head. He moved on to a different part of the pool.

Kira stared at her hands closely then dipped them into the water again. No doubt, her hands looked wider and her fingers shorter. Kind of soft and webby, she thought. How odd. Whenever she put her hands in the sink to wash dishes or into the chlorinated swimming pool, they looked like regular hands under water. Perhaps the sunlight and dark rock bottom were playing tricks on her eyes.

She caught up to Cody. “Hey, Cody, let's do an experiment.”

“Sure.” Cody the science nerd loved experiments.

“Let's put our hands in the water at the same time, and compare them,” Kira suggested.

“Okay.” Cody raised his eyebrows, but he was game.

They plunged their hands into the water simultaneously, and spread their fingers. “Ooh,” they said at the same time.

Kira's fingers had shallow webs between them; Cody's did not. His hands looked perfectly normal, just slightly distorted by the water. They both lifted their hands out and once again Kira's were normally shaped hands, just like Cody's.

“What the heck?” he said.

Kira suddenly felt breathless. “I need to go home. I've got chores to do. I'll never finish before Mom gets home,” she said.

“Uh, sure. How come you have so much to do?” Cody asked.

Kira wasn't sure she wanted to confide in Cody. She liked him, but she didn't really know him that well.

“Both my parents work all day,” she explained, “and I'm the only one around to clean the house, stuff like that.” Kira was already scrambling up the side of the rocky slope, back the way they had come.

At the top of the hill, a gust of wind blew Cody's next questions out of his mouth and beyond her hearing. Kira ignored him and hurried on. She didn't want to talk any more about her parents, or what they had just seen under the water. For once she wanted to be back inside her house, and she couldn't get home fast enough.

When Kira opened the door to her house, she was dismayed to see her mother standing in the porch.

“Kira! Where have you been? I came home early and you were gone. I was mad with worry. What have you been up to?” she demanded, her hands on her hips, her lips quivering.

Kira shivered under her jacket. “I… I went for a walk. To get some fresh air.”

“Fresh air? All you need to do is open a window, or just step out the door. You were gone at least an hour. I've been calling everyone to find out if they've seen you. And now they're all upset, and I need to call them back.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Kira said in a tiny voice.

Her mother narrowed her large, wild eyes like a laser boring into Kira's brain. “You didn't go to the beach, did you? Did you go to the water?” Her voice rose higher with each question until she was nearly shouting. “Did you touch the water?”

“N…no, I didn't go to the water. I just took a little walk along the rocks,” Kira said. She didn't actually touch the water in the open sea, just
a tide pool, she thought. Would her mother
believe her?

“You know you're not to leave the house alone unless you tell us first where you are going,” her mother scolded. “I can't even trust you to follow instructions. What are we to do with you?”

She put her hand to her forehead and Kira winced. She knew what was coming.

“I have a terrible headache and this isn't helping,” her mother said. “The house is a mess, so get busy and sweep the floors while I take a nap. But do it quietly, and don't leave the house!” She disappeared into her bedroom.

Kira felt terrible, and resentful. She never got to go anywhere by herself, and she hated being yelled at. Her mother always got a headache when she yelled at Kira.

Not her real mother, though, she thought. Maybe that's why Kira was such an aggravation to her.

Kira picked up the broom and began to sweep. She thought about the stories she'd read at school, about evil stepmothers and witches. And Harry Potter's mean relatives. She wished she could climb on the broom and zoom off into the sky, away from this small house and her fake parents. She wished she'd known her real parents. She had no photos of them, only the story about the shipwreck that had killed them, and how she had survived and was adopted by Cillian and Bess Cox who had no children of their own.

She should be more grateful, Kira thought. But why did they treat her that way, so strict, so many rules? She looked down at her hands, a pair of normal hands gripping the wooden broom handle. Yet not so normal in the saltwater. Were her parents keeping things from her, secrets, about herself, and where she came from?

Kira made a second big decision that day. She had a mystery to uncover, and she intended to solve it.