The Beautiful Lost by Luanne Rice

Author:Luanne Rice
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

It was still dark when I woke up. Both the rain and the tree frogs had stopped. I looked for Billy next to me, but his side of the bed was empty. The room was empty. I got up from the broken bed and felt my way down the pitch-black stairs.

The fire had died down during the night, and the living room was chilly. Billy stood at the fireplace, stirring the last coals with the poker, making sure they were out. We watched to make sure there were no sparks. We ate a few granola bars, then carried our duffel bags and the rest of the food onto the porch and closed the door behind us.

We loaded the truck. I figured Morgane and Richard were still sleeping, but then I heard feet crunching twigs and dried leaves. Richard’s voice was low, and so was Morgane’s. They walked over to the truck holding nets and specimen jars.

“We stayed up all night and were rewarded,” Richard said, holding up one of the jars. The water looked murky, and there were squiggly little things swimming around. “Quite a few tadpoles to study. So many, in fact, we thought we might spend the day here. Would that be cool?”

“We don’t need to go back into the house,” Morgane said.

“Sure,” I said.

Richard and Morgane went to the house to get their stuff. I waited till they returned to the truck to return the key to its hiding spot.

“Maia,” Morgane said as I walked closer. “I hope you’re okay. I know how crazy it can all seem. It seemed that way to me, the first time I saw my mother speak to a spirit. I thought she was insane. But over the years the gift has come to me, and I know it’s true.”

I thought I saw genuine concern in her brown eyes.

“I think you’re very special,” Morgane said. “Aurelia has never done that before, carried a message from a living person. But you heard the message.”

“Yes,” I said. Missing, waiting, child, song.

“Hold on to the four words if times get hard,” Morgane said, hugging me tight.

I choked up, the words running through my mind. I wondered if she had any idea what they meant to me.

We all said good-bye. Billy pulled out of the driveway and left Morgane and Richard standing in the clearing, alone with the frogs and the ghosts.

We drove for miles. The day’s first silver light reflected in the lake and lit our way. Morgane’s words about my mother rang in my ears.

“You honestly didn’t believe that was real?” I asked.

“No,” he said.

Billy drove along in silence. These days together had shown me he had several variations of being quiet. Sometimes he was right there, totally present, but just not saying anything. Other times he was intensely engaged, like a person playing chess, focused on the next move.

But there was a third way, like now, when he zoomed out and saw the whole picture, when he was wiser than any sixteen-year-old kid had any right to be.

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