Seaside Mystery Read Online Free Page B

for a second time. She plunged her hands beneath the water and felt around.
    “Got you!” she cried as her fingers closed over wet fur.
    She lifted Flame up triumphantlyand held him to her chest. Shivering and whimpering with cold, Flame clung to her soaked T-shirt.
    Joel and Louise leaned over to help Maisie clamber out of the pool. Trying not to put any weight on her twisted ankle, she crawled onto the rocks on her hands and knees.
    Still holding Flame, Maisie managed to sit up. Her ankle throbbed with a dull ache, and she was shivering from head to foot. She bit her lip as a small groan escaped her.
    “What’s wrong? Are you hurt, Maisie?” Louise asked with concern.
    “She’s probably just cold. What did you jump in for, you idiot?” Joel scolded Maisie.
    “Shut up, Joel! And give her yourjacket,” Louise ordered, glaring at him.
    Joel quickly took off his jacket and spread it around Maisie’s shoulders. As soon as Flame was covered up, Maisie felt sparks igniting in his fur and gently prickling her fingers.

    A familiar, warm tingling flowed down her spine. She felt deep, soothing heat spreading all over her body until her shivering gradually stopped. She gasped as the pain in her ankle increased for a second and then it seemed to pour away, like water down a drain.
    Flame snuggled up to her, his tiny body warm once more and his silky fur as soft as velvet. As every last spark faded, his whole body vibrated with his purring.
    “Stay with Maisie, Louise, I’ll run and get help!” Joel cried.
    Maisie realized that what had felt like minutes passing, while Flame performed his magic, had actually only been seconds. “No! Wait!” she called after Joel. “I’m feeling much better now. And Flame’s okay, too. Let’s just keep this betweenourselves. If my parents hear about this, I’ll be grounded until school starts!”
    “You’ve got a point,” Joel agreed. “Our parents won’t be too thrilled, either. I’m the oldest, so I’ll get the blame for bringing you here.”

    “But are you sure you’re all right?” Louise looked closely at Maisie and Flame. “I don’t get it. You’re hardly even wet. It’s like magic,” she said in amazement.
    Maisie smiled to herself, wishing she could tell them how wonderful Flame really was. She sighed as she thought about how she could never tell anyone. “I’m fine,” she said firmly. “Come on. Let’s go!”

    “I just realized what might make that awful shrieking sound,” Joel said, as they retraced their steps back to Smuggler’s Cove. “The wind blowing through a hole in the top of the cave.”
    “Now he tells us!” Louise said, rolling her eyes and giving her brother a punch on the arm.
    “Ow!”Joel rubbed his arm and took a pretend swing at his sister.
    Maisie bit back a grin as Joel and Louise squabbled. At least things were back to normal.
    As she lifted Flame into her bike’s basket, she bent over and whispered, “Are you okay now?”
    Flame licked her chin with the tip of his rough little tongue. “I am fine. Thank you for saving me, Maisie. You were very brave,” he purred.
    “I wasn’t really. I just couldn’t bear to think of anything happening to you,” she whispered fondly.
    She realized that it was true. She couldn’t imagine not having Flame around. Maisie felt a pang at the thought that one day he would have to go backto his own world. She shuddered and decided that she wasn’t going to think about that.

A couple of days later, Maisie was helping her mom put books on shelves and stack china in cupboards.
    Flame was curled up on the sunny living-room windowsill, dozing.
    “A week’s gone by already,” Mrs. Simpson said. “It’s only a few days before we open the new gallery.”
    “I know. Everything seems to behappening at once!” Maisie said. The computer was also finally set up and working.
    Maisie had discovered that Jane and Nina had sent her long e-mails and had both been worried when Maisie hadn’t replied