A Dolphin Wish

by Natalie Grant

  “No!” all three piped up in unison.

  “Let’s get the schedule and then go on the ride,” Maddie said. “Maybe we can check on some other animals after Bermuda Triangle?”

  “Maybe . . .” Lulu said, looking doubtful.

  Miss Julia’s expression was the exact opposite of doubtful. It was very, very sure. Mia knew that if she pushed it, they’d be going home. Right now. As long as they stayed in the park, even if they had to go on rides to make Lulu happy, she still had a chance of seeing something—anything—and proving those teenagers wrong. She wasn’t just a kid with a crazy idea. And Maddie wasn’t the only Glimmer girl able to solve a mystery. Mia would figure this out today, if it was the last thing she did.

  TWENTY-TWO

  The feeding schedule was posted on a board, but not on any printed schedule they could take with them. Miss Julia took a picture with her phone. The next animal feeding was the sea otters at 1:45. Then, parrots at 2:10 and the walrus at 3:15.

  “Dr. Dolittle won’t let the flamingos out again today,” Mia said. “I don’t know that he’d let the sea otters out ever. It seems like a hard exhibit to break into—since it’s inside the viewing building. The otters couldn’t get very far without people seeing them.”

  “But maybe there’s another door, one that visitors don’t use, like there is for the dolphins,” Maddie said.

  “Maybe . . .” Mia said. “I think we should watch the parrots. They could actually fly away, out of the park, not like the penguins or the flamingos. The parrots are in the most danger, if you think about it.”

  “Are we going to Bermuda Triangle or not?” Lulu asked.

  Miss Julia checked her map. “This way!”

  Lulu charged ahead, Miss Julia and Maddie right behind. Mia tried to keep up, but she was also calculating in her head. It was 1:35. If they could line up and ride Bermuda Triangle in 25 or 30 minutes, they might make it to the parrots by feeding time. The barrel ride was near the parrots. Maybe if she reminded Lulu about seeing the seal in the water, she’d be up for looping past the parrots on the way to the ride. It was as good a plan as any.

  Maddie held back to walk and talk with Mia. “Maybe the parrots could survive outside the park.”

  It was almost as though she’d read Mia’s mind.

  “After Bermuda Triangle, let’s do whatever we can to convince Lulu to go past the parrots,” Mia said. “I thought we could go there and then ride Barrel Buffoonery again.”

  “She’d like that,” Maddie said. “But she’s not going to like sitting and waiting at the parrots, watching for clues.”

  “She was excited about the mystery when she thought she’d found a clue,” Mia said. “Maybe if she finds another one . . .”

  “A real one?” Maddie asked.

  “Does it matter?” Mia asked.

  Maddie shoved her hands into her pockets.

  “What?” Mia asked, and when Maddie didn’t answer, repeated. “What?!”

  “Don’t you think . . .?” Then, after trailing off, Maddie said, “Never mind.”

  “Don’t I think what?” Mia insisted.

  “You’re always the one saying that we shouldn’t do the wrong thing, even for the right reasons. And, well . . .”

  “You’re saying it’s the wrong thing to let Lulu feel like she’s part of solving the mystery?” Mia asked. “Isn’t that what you did in London? Let us feel like we were helping when actually it was just you, all along?”

  Maddie’s face paled, the way it always did when Mia struck a nerve. “It wasn’t just me. We all followed Mr. Hughes.”

  “My point is, I’m including Lulu,” Mia said. “And that’s not wrong—what rules would I be breaking?”

  “You’d be lying,” Maddie said, “if you told her something was a clue and it wasn’t.”

  “How do I know what’s a clue and what isn’t?” Mia asked. “I didn’t think that piece of paper she found was a clue, and maybe it wasn’t, but it gave me an idea.”

  “You’re not listening to me,” Maddie said.

  “Well, you’re not listening to me,” Mia said, her voice rising.

  “What’s going on, girls?” Miss Julia asked, slowing to let Mia and Maddie catch up.

  “Nothing,” they both murmured.

  Miss Julia looked from one to the other. “Are we ready for Bermuda Triangle?”

  “I want to ride with Lulu,” Mia said, ignoring Maddie’s sigh.

  “Okay,” Miss Julia said. “Looks like the line is pretty short for this one.”

  “Do you think it will be scary?” Lulu asked, as they walked through the triangular-shaped arch.

  Inside the entrance hall, twangy piano music played in a minor key. An announcer’s voice intoned, “Beware, travelers. Many will enter the Bermuda Triangle, but few will find their way home.”

  They didn’t have long to worry, because they soon found themselves at the front of the line. Mia climbed into the front gondola with Lulu. Maddie and Miss Julia took the next gondola. Fog hissed, circling around the base of the boats. They glided forward, as though they were floating off into the clouds. As they swept around a corner, they found themselves in what appeared to be open, glassy sea. All around them, candelabras rose out of the water and sputtered to life. Mirrors on the walls multiplied each flame, until it seemed as though they were floating on a sea of steam and fire. Next to the Iceberg Float, this was the most beautiful ride Mia had ever seen.

  “Whoa,” Lulu breathed, her eyes wide.

  Mia took her sister’s hand, and just in time too, because they had come to the other side of the glassy sea. Now the gondolas increased in speed, heading into the darkness. The sounds of rushing waves and howling wind filled their ears. Lulu held tight to Mia’s hand as the boats plummeted down, down, down. Both girls screamed, and Mia squeezed her eyes shut, sure that at any moment they’d be drenched, the way they had been in Scalawag’s Splash. But the boat slowed, and glided around a corner, back into another foggy sea. Now, instead of candlelight, pinpricks of light glowed overhead—starlight dotting the deep-night darkness. They drifted toward a crescent moon.

  “Next time, travelers,” the voice overhead echoed. “Next time . . .”

  No one said anything as they climbed out of the gondolas and headed for the exit.

  “It wasn’t all that scary,” Lulu finally said, as they came out into the sunshine. And then, after a moment, “But it kind of was, wasn’t it?”

  “Kind of, yeah,” Mia agreed.

  The ride had almost distracted her from the mystery. Almost. “You know what I saw?” Lulu asked.

  “I saw it too!” Maddie said. “Stay, written in mist.”

  “Just as we left the ride!” Lulu agreed.

  Miss Julia passed around their scrolls and they added the find to their lists.

  “So, I was thinking we should go past the parrots and then to Barrel Buffoonery,” Mia said.

  “Ooh, and maybe we’ll see another seal!” Lulu said.

  Mia grinned. The plan had worked.

  TWENTY-THREE

  The parrot aviary was a net-covered structure, tucked away in a corner of the Southern Atlantic Sea area. A set of double doors, outer and inner, made it so visitors could enter the aviary without letting the birds out.

  A biologist gave them each paper cups filled with birdseed when they entered. “You’re just in time for a feeding!”

  Unlike with the other animals, in the aviary there wasn’t any distance between animals and visitors. Parrots swooped down and perched on hands and edges of paper cups, enjoying the feast. Some of the birds were the kind Mia expected, red with orange, blue, and yellow markings. But there were also tropical birds of many other shapes and sizes.

  “Are they
all parrots?” she asked Miss Julia.

  “There are many species of parrots,” Miss Julia explained.

  Some of the parrots squawked. One landed on Lulu’s shoulder and said, “Hello,” so loudly that she dumped her cup of seeds on the floor. Maddie offered Lulu the rest of hers, but Lulu was finished with birds. Mia dumped the rest of her seeds out in a line along a rock wall. For one thing, she didn’t want any birds landing on her shoulders. Also, she wanted to pay attention and watch for clues.

  The parrots had no fear. Anywhere someone had a cup of food, the parrots congregated. Mia watched the outside and inside doors, as people entered and left. It was a pretty safe system. The doors locked with a click the moment they closed and stayed that way whenever the other door was open.

  “Whatcha drawing?” Lulu asked a boy who was sitting a little way down on the rock wall, watching the feeding too.

  He flipped his notebook closed. “Nothing.”

  “Sorry.” Lulu shrugged. “Where are your parents?”

  He jumped down off the wall, landing on his feet, and stuffed the notebook into his backpack. Then, Mia recognized him. He was the boy who’d been watching the seals earlier.

  “What’s his problem?” Lulu asked Mia, as the boy left the exhibit.

  “Who knows,” Mia said. She didn’t have time to worry about some boy. What she needed to do was to find Dr. Dolittle. Time was running out. The biologist packed up her gear and left the exhibit, but no one acted differently after she left. Now that Mia was here, she realized the parrots wouldn’t be easy to set free. There was the door locking system, and also, there were so many people everywhere. Someone would see if a person cut a hole in the net or something.

  “Barrel ride time?” Lulu asked.

  Mia didn’t argue. There didn’t seem to be any point in waiting around.

  They rode the barrel ride twice, and then Miss Julia said, “Okay, girls. Mom’s concert is in about three hours, and we only have a little longer in the park. Have you found enough items for your scrolls?”

  While Lulu and Maddie counted, Mia racked her brain. There had to be something else, maybe just one more thing that she could do.

  “Dancing penguin, singing octopus, queen starfish, stay—written in fog, and a polar bear in a rainstorm. That’s five,” Maddie said. “We need three more.”

  “I have six,” Lulu said.

  “How do you have six?” Maddie asked.

  “There was a pirate crab on our walk to Bermuda Triangle,” Lulu said. “You were too busy talking to notice.”

  Maddie frowned. “How do you know it was a pirate crab?”

  “It was wearing an eyepatch. He was on a wanted sign posted near the info desk.” Maddie and Mia added the pirate crab to their lists. So, they had six, and with Mia’s clue, they’d have seven. She knew she should tell them, but she still wanted to win. After they found one more, she’d have made it to eight first, and then she’d tell.

  “The walrus,” Mia said, with sudden sureness. “What time did you say it was, Miss Julia?”

  “3:10,” she said.

  “They’re feeding him at 3:15. If we go now, maybe we’ll see something.”

  “Maybe we’ll find another item or two on the way,” Maddie added, when Lulu looked ready to argue. “We want the prize, right?”

  “I guess,” Lulu said.

  “Come on!” Mia took off, trying hard to walk when what she really wanted to do was run.

  They crossed the Southern Atlantic bridge, but didn’t see any plaques or other clues. Across the Arctic bridge, and still nothing. They made it to the walrus just as the biologist was packing up. The walrus had a giant exhibit, a cross between some of the others, with lots of water and also a rocky area. Like the dolphins, a high rock wall bounded his sea pen.

  “. . . Trouble,” Mia heard a man say, to her left. He wore a suit and didn’t look like your ordinary park visitor. She edged closer.

  “We’ve interviewed half the staff so far,” the other man said. “But no leads. I find it hard to believe that no one has seen anything.”

  “You think they’re covering up for each other?”

  “Could be.”

  “I hate to think it’s a park employee—”

  At this, he broke off. Mia realized he was staring straight at her. He raised an eyebrow, as if to say, “Did you need something?”

  She looked away quickly and hurried back to Miss Julia. So, the park thought Dr. Dolittle was an employee. And they were interviewing everyone. If they went through everyone, they’d have to find Dr. Dolittle sooner or later. And while it wasn’t as good as solving the mystery herself, at least she could count on someone being caught soon. Hopefully.

  “A book-loving beluga whale!” Maddie said.

  Sure enough, there was an iron sculpture of a beluga whale on his back, propping up a book with his fins, near the entrance to the walrus exhibit.

  “It’s time to go, girls,” Miss Julia said, checking her phone again. “We can try to find our last item on the way to the exit, okay?”

  “But what if we don’t?” Lulu asked.

  Now. She should tell them now. But still, Mia kept the golden key a secret. They crossed the bridge, crossed Buccaneer’s Island, and crossed the final bridge before the gate. Lulu dragged her feet, looking up and down and all around. Mia sighed. Just because she was disappointed didn’t mean she had to make Maddie and Lulu feel that way too.

  “It’s okay, Lulu,” she said. “The golden key was on the submarine.”

  Lulu spun on her. “You knew that all this time and you didn’t tell us?”

  “I’m sorry.” Mia truly was.

  They all wrote this last item onto their scrolls and chose a new prize on their way out. Lulu chose the stuffed sea otter, Mia a stuffed seal, and Maddie the stuffed octopus. Maddie hardly spoke to Mia on the drive back home, which made Mia feel even worse. She hadn’t solved the mystery, she hadn’t won the game, and she’d let her sisters down.

  When they arrived at the bungalow, Miss Julia said, “We’re cutting it close. Let’s hurry and get dressed. Remember, we need sweaters because we’re staying for the fireworks.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Mom’s concert was at an outdoor amphitheater, and beyond the stage was a beach and then the open sea. Mia was glad Miss Julia had insisted they bring sweaters and blankets. Already, the sea wind was blowing. After all the sunshine, the cool air felt nice, but later it was sure to be cold.

  Miss Julia led the girls to their seats. Music played over the loudspeakers, but the band hadn’t taken the stage yet. Mom had chosen seats in the first row of the first balcony for the girls, rather than right up next to the stage. That way, they’d have a perfect viewing location for the fireworks after the show.

  Fireworks and a concert, Mia told herself. Have fun. Let the mystery go.

  A mystery wouldn’t be a mystery if it were simple to solve. Just because she hadn’t figured out who Dr. Dolittle was, didn’t mean she shouldn’t have tried. Maybe she’d solve the next one.

  Mia shifted in her seat. The trouble was, no matter what she told herself, nothing made the failure any easier to accept. Maddie had solved her mystery. Mia hadn’t solved hers. On top of that, Mia could feel Maddie watching her, judging her for not telling about the key sooner.

  “Which was your favorite ride?” Lulu asked. “Bermuda Triangle, Barrel Buffoonery, or the Iceberg Float?”

  “What about Alligator Ambush?” Mia asked.

  Lulu raised an eyebrow. “That was your favorite?”

  “It might have been if we had won,” Mia said. “I liked High Jinks too.”

  “Those pirates were funny,” Lulu agreed. “My favorite ride was the Bermuda Triangle, though.”

 
“Smile, girls!” Miss Julia said, snapping a photo of Lulu and Mia on one side of her, and then Maddie on the other. “Okay, so if you could invent any ride, what would it be like?”

  Lulu didn’t have to think about it. “Scary and fast.”

  “Not me,” Maddie said. “I’d want to make one that felt magical, like the Iceberg Float, or like Bermuda Triangle.”

  Usually, this was just the kind of question Mia would love. Ideas would pop to mind and she’d have a whole ride figured out, maybe even a whole amusement park. Not tonight.

  “So, my ride would be in the dark,” Lulu began. “And it would be scary because you’d hear the sound of something . . . maybe a rumbling sound. Ooh, or maybe thunder, and then lightning would flash.”

  “Doesn’t lightning come first?” Maddie asked.

  “Usually,” Miss Julia agreed.

  “Well, in my ride, the thunder would come first. And then . . . wham! There would be this blinding flash of lightning. And then, whoosh!” Lulu flung her arm to demonstrate, almost knocking into a woman in the row behind them. “Oops, sorry!”

  Just then, everyone started cheering and clapping. The band had taken the stage. Mom entered, beaming at the crowd as the band struck up her first song. Music poured into the crowd, flowing in and around Mia. At first, her questions and frustration beat in counterpoint to the music, but after one song, and then another, the beat worked its way inside. She felt herself letting go. Mia had heard all the words to all Mom’s songs, but still, sometimes certain words stood out. A phrase might catch Mia’s ear in an unexpected way.

  “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” Mom sang, a line she’d woven into the lyrics, echoing back to the Sunday school song. The whole world. The dolphins and the seals and the penguins—even Dr. Dolittle. And that meant God had Mia, too, in his hands.

  “Help me,” Mia whispered, the only prayer she could come up with. Help her what? Solve the mystery? Get over the mystery? Talk to Maddie? Figure out why right and wrong felt so tangled up, so impossible to understand? God had her in his hands. No matter how confused she was, she knew this was also true. Not just because Mom had just sung it, or because she’d heard it so many times in Sunday school. She knew it because all her life, she’d seen it was true, over and over. She and Mom would pray about a difficult situation, and even when it seemed it would never—could never—work out, somehow it would.