Maybe because they were twins, and maybe because they knew each other so well, Charlotte was able to understand what any other six-year-old couldn’t. Somehow, here with Cici, Charlotte seemed much more whole than she’d ever been at camp. Which should be impossible. Most kids would be terrified, I’d guess, or something, but Charlotte seemed strangely at home.
Charlotte refolded the paper and pressed it into Cici’s hand. As she did, Cici’s eyes fluttered, once, twice, and then she opened them and locked eyes with her sister. No one breathed. Finally, Cici breathed out, and her eyes drifted closed.
“Daddy, Cici needs the doctor,” Charlotte said, turning those blue eyes on him.
Tyler rushed out of the room, and came back with a doctor. He checked the monitors and Cici’s pulse and gave a quick nod. “We need to take her back up to quarantine. Somehow … I can’t say how, but …”
“She’s getting better, isn’t she?” Charlotte asked him.
The doctor gave Charlotte a quick once-over, head to toe, as though he was judging whether to answer her question at all. Finally, he said, “Her fever broke, and her vitals … yes. Something happened—I don’t understand what.”
Then, the room filled with a flurry of masked and gloved nurses, who whisked Charlotte and me out of the room, and seconds later, hurried Cici up the hall on a rolling gurney.
“What happened?” Charlotte’s mom was on her feet. “Where are they taking her, Tyler?”
His face was hard to read. He took Charlotte’s mom into his arms.
“They’re taking her back to quarantine,” he said into her hair.
“But that means …” she said.
“Yes,” was all Tyler said.
Chapter 26
Catch the Wind
After they rolled Cici out of the room, Charlotte finally started to sob, huge, racking sobs like half of herself had been ripped away. I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back, and looked helplessly at Mom. We couldn’t just sit here in the hospital and wait. Charlotte’s parents asked if we could watch her, and so in a few minutes, we found ourselves back out in the Hummer, with no definite plan.
“Seems like we should go somewhere,” Mom said. “Not just home.”
Charlotte had finally cried herself out and now she was pale, and didn’t look like she was in any condition to make decisions. Her painting was in the back, and I wanted to give that to her, but not in the car.
What now? I silently asked, and then smiled in spite of myself. Maybe I wasn’t the girl on the island with the messages in the bottles anymore. Maybe, finally, I had dove into the water. And suddenly, I had my answer.
“Can we go to the beach?” I asked Mom.
“It is a windy day,” Mom answered, as though she’d read my mind.
Charlotte leaned her head against my arm and fell asleep on the drive over the mountains. When the car stopped, she opened her eyes and stretched.
“Where are we?”
I smiled. “I’m going to teach you how to catch the wind.”
“We’ll wait for you here,” Mom said, and even though sadness panged through me, thinking of catching the wind without her, I knew this was right too. Charlotte and I, catching the wind together.
“What does that mean … Catch the wind?” Charlotte asked.
“You’ll see. But first, I have a surprise.”
I helped her down from the back seat and took her around to the back of the Hummer. When I threw the doors open, she gasped.
“It’s me, jumping!” She threw her arms around me and squeezed. “Can I have it?”
“It’s yours,” I took her hand and we ran out across the sand.
I pointed at the bluff.
“We’re going up there?” she asked.
“I’ll help you,” I said.
We scaled the rocks, and when we reached the top, I helped Charlotte find solid footholds. I reached out my hands, face toward the ocean. She threw her hands wide too, and air rushed through our outstretched fingers. As we stood, with the wind swirling around us, pink tipped the clouds, the beginning of sunset.
“I’m going to catch some extra and put it in my pocket to take back to Cici. Do you think she’ll like that?” Charlotte asked.
“She’ll love that,” I said, feeling warmth seep into my skin, not from the wind, but from what vibrated through the wind, the feeling of God, close, as close as my next breath.
“I feel purple and green and red,” Charlotte shouted over the wind. “What do you feel?”
“Electric blue and teal,” I answered.
“And sparkly gold.” Charlotte spun all the way around before finding her footholds again.
“How could I forget the sparkly gold?” I asked.
Our laughter wove together, spinning out into the salty air.
THE END
About the Author
NAOMI KINSMAN has always dreamed of plunging into a fictional world, like Lucy does in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In Naomi’s first career, acting and directing for the theater, this dream was inches from her reach. But writing has made the dream possible, and now Naomi regularly slips into book worlds and shares her adventures through her company, Society of Young Inklings, dedicated to empowering young writers across the country. Naomi is the author of the 2009 Moonbeam Gold Medal winner, Spilled Ink, and she has written and directed over fifty plays for young audiences. She lives in Northern California with her husband and identically colored pets: a tuxedo cat and a Portuguese water dog.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Other Books in the Growing Faithgirlz!™ Library
Bibles
The Faithgirlz! Bible
NIV Faithgirlz! Backpack Bible
Faithgirlz! Bible Studies
Secret Power of Love
Secret Power of Joy
Secret Power of Goodness
Secret Power of Grace
Fiction
From Sadie’s Sketchbook
Shades of Truth (Book One)
Flickering Hope (Book Two)
Waves of Light (Book Three)
Brilliant Hues (Book Four)
Sophie’s World Series
Sophie’s World
Sophie’s Secret
Sophie Under Pressure
Sophie Steps Up
Sophie’s First Dance
Sophie’s Stormy Summer
Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco
Sophie and the New Girl
Sophie Flakes Out
Sophie Loves Jimmy
Sophie’s Drama
Sophie Gets Real
The Girls of Harbor View
Girl Power (Book One)
Take Charge (Book Two)
Raising Faith (Book Three)
Secret Admirer (Book Four)
The Lucy Series
Lucy Doesn’t Wear Pink (Book One)
Lucy Out of Bounds (Book Two)
Lucy’s Perfect Summer (Book Three)
Lucy Finds Her Way (Book Four)
Boarding School Mysteries
Vanished (Book One)
Betrayed (Book Two)
Burned (Book Three)
Poisoned (Book Four)
Nonfiction
My Faithgirlz Journal
Faithgirlz Handbook
Food, Faith & Fun:
A Faithgirlz Cookbook
No Boys Allowed
What’s A Girl To Do?
Girlz Rock
Chick Chat
Real Girls of the Bible
Whatever
My Beautiful Daughter
The Skin You’re In
Body Talk
Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself,
But I Don’t Know Who I Am
Girl Politics
Check out www.faithgirlz.com
ZONDERKIDZ
Brilliant Hues
Copyright © 2012 by Naomi Kinsman Downing
All rights reserved under Internatio
nal and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 978-0-310-72669-2
Illustrations © 2012 by Zonderkidz
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zonderkidz, 5300 Patterson Ave SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kinsman, Naomi, 1977–
Brilliant hues / Naomi Kinsman.
p. cm. — (From Sadie’s sketchbook) (Faithgirlz!)
Summary: When Sadie returns to Menlo Park, California, she finds that she no longer fits in, especially when one of her father’s cases places her in the spotlight — and in danger — but she turns to her faith, hoping it will see her through.
ISBN 978-0-310-72668-5 (softcover)
1. Interpersonal relations — Fiction. 2. Family life — California 3. Christian life — Fiction. 4. California — Fiction. I. Title.
PZ7.K62935Bri 2012
[Fic] — dc23 2012018387
* * *
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.
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—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.
Editor: Kim Childress
Cover design: Kris Nelson
About the Publisher
Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.
Share Your Thoughts
With the Author: Your comments will be forwarded to the author when you send them to [email protected].
With Zondervan: Submit your review of this book by writing to [email protected].
Free Online Resources at
www.zondervan.com/hello
Zondervan AuthorTracker: Be notified whenever your favorite authors publish new books, go on tour, or post an update about what’s happening in their lives.
Daily Bible Verses and Devotions: Enrich your life with daily Bible verses or devotions that help you start every morning focused on God.
Free Email Publications: Sign up for newsletters on fiction, Christian living, church ministry, parenting, and more.
Zondervan Bible Search: Find and compare Bible passages in a variety of translations at www.zondervanbiblesearch.com.
Other Benefits: Register yourself to receive online benefits like coupons and special offers, or to participate in research.
Brilliant Hues Page 15