“There’s something else I have to tell you,” I say to Becca.
“Are you dating someone?” she teases.
“Me? No way.” I laugh. “But I told Frankie I’d vote for him to join the CCSC.”
“I thought you didn’t want any new members.”
“True,” I admit. “The three of us are the perfect team, and I love our club the way it is. But Leo really wants Frankie to join.”
“Do you want me to vote him in?” Becca reaches into a food bin, picking up a carrot that she offers to Albert. He sniffs, then turns his head away.
I frown, not sure what to say. I don’t want our club to change, but Frankie is clever, resourceful, and great with disguises. I sigh. “Vote for him,” I say.
Becca gets a thoughtful look on her face. “I have an idea about how to keep things the same and yet change too.”
“What?”
“We vote Frankie in as an associate member.”
“Associate?” I wrinkle my brow. “What does that mean?”
“Frankie joins our club, but you, me, and Leo are still the main members. The three of us will meet after school like we do now, but when we have a mystery to solve or go out looking for lost pets, our associate member can join us.”
I grin. “We’ll change and stay the same. I love it!”
A short while later, Mrs. Morales, Hank, and Tortoise Tom return.
“Get your good-byes said?” Tom asks, wiping chili from his shirt and licking it off his finger.
Becca and I nod, stepping away from Albert.
It seems like so much is changing too fast. Albert is going away and I may never see him again. Leo doesn’t sit alone at lunch anymore, and his new friend will join our club. The CCSC is changing, but with baby steps.
Change takes times to get used to, like sitting with the Sparklers and being temporarily part of their group. Friendships change too, rising and falling, then coming back together stronger than ever.
Next week I’ll go back to sitting with Tori and Ann Marie at lunch. But my afternoons will be all about the CCSC with Becca, Leo, and sometimes Frankie.
I glance up at Becca as she hugs Albert, the Carapace Chic scrunchie in her hair shimmery in silvery gray and tan like the Aldabra’s shell.
I come beside Becca and wrap my arms around Albert too.
As I get ready for bed that night, I’m feeling pretty good. Frankie is safe, the Sparkler booth made more money than expected, Albert has a good home with Tortoise Tom, and the CCSC solved another mystery.
I’m pulling back my comforter when I hear a tap on my door. Mom comes in and hands me the phone. “It’s Becca,” she says and closes the door behind her.
“Sorry for calling so late but this can’t wait,” Becca says in an excited rush.
“What?” I sit on the edge of my bed.
“Frankie found him!” She practically screams so that I have to pull the phone away from my ear.
“Huh?” I’m not sure I heard right. “Frankie found who? Start at the beginning.”
Becca sucks in a deep breath. “Remember how Frankie found Reggie’s agent and I left a message with her for Reggie?”
“Right. But Reggie never called back.”
“Well, Frankie wanted to prove he could solve a mystery, so he contacted a friend of his mother’s—she used to work at a Hollywood talent agency. The friend tracked Reggie down to a remote desert location, and Reggie just called me!”
“Yay!” I do a little happy dance.
“I nearly fell over when I heard Reggie’s voice on the phone,” Becca goes on excitedly.
“He explained everything and apologized for not contacting us sooner.”
“Why didn’t he?” I think of Albert’s sad dark eyes and how much he missed Reggie.
“He’s been working in the desert without a cell signal. He hadn’t gotten the message from his agent. Frankie’s friend had to call several people just to get a message to him. When Reggie found out Tortoise Tom had Albert, he called him right away and they worked out a deal.”
“What kind of a deal?”
“Reggie’s career is going strong so he plans to move to LA, but he can’t keep Albert until he’s settled. So Albert will stay with Tortoise Tom for a while and Reggie will pay expenses. Whenever Reggie gets time off, he’ll drive up to visit. Reggie cried when he told me Albert is part of his family. He said once he gets him back, he’ll never let him go again. Then he told me about the film he’s making and said I could tell you and Leo about it,” Becca adds with a squeal. She says it’s an Indiana Jones–type adventure but on the moon. The movie won’t be out for a year, so Reggie has sworn us to secrecy.
That night I take my notebook of secrets out of the hidden drawer. I was reluctant to write it in again, but where else can I put down important secrets?
I flip to the last page and lift my pen, ready to write, when I see unfamiliar printing. Frankie’s writing, I know immediately, and I remember him saying he gave me a secret of his own.
Secret 39. When I was a toddler, I was in diaper commercials and famous as “Rank Frank.” I did air freshener, mouthwash, and soap commercials, and even some about farting. Funny when you’re a little kid, but embarrassing when you get older. By age eight, I wasn’t cute anymore. No one would hire a kid known for being stinky. So we left LA and moved to Sun Flower. I liked being a normal kid and kept “Rank Frank” a secret. No one knows I was once famous—except you.
Frankie is Rank Frank! I remember those commercials because they made me giggle. But I never would have guessed Frankie was that little stink-bomb kid.
His secret is safe with me, I think as I slip the notebook into the hidden drawer.
Then I climb into bed with a smile full of secrets.
- Chapter 26 -
Unmasked
The next morning Dad announces “Special Order Day,” which means we can all request our favorite breakfast and he’ll make individual orders like our home is a fancy restaurant. I can’t decide between frosted-flakes French toast or a fruit blast smoothie, so Dad makes me both.
By the time everyone has their special orders, it’s practically lunch.
Kyle glances at the clock and jumps up from the table. “Got to go!”
He doesn’t say where, but Mom and Dad nod like they understand and my brother dashes out of the room. I make an excuse to get up from the table and follow him to his bedroom, spying around a corner until he steps out into the hall.
And guess what’s tucked under his arm?
A large white box.
I have a good idea where he’s going, and I will not lose him this time.
As I hop on my bike, Kyle is already pedaling around the corner. He obeys all traffic rules as usual so it doesn’t take long to catch up with him. With spinning wheels and pumping legs, I follow, staying back about a block so he won’t spot me.
He stops for a red light—and even for a green light that is close to turning yellow. I duck behind a parked truck, peeking out until the light changes to green again. Then I look around for Kyle—but he’s gone.
I want to scream in frustration until I realize it doesn’t matter because I know he’s going to the mini mall. If I hurry, maybe I can catch up with him.
But when I get to the mall, I don’t see my brother or his bike anywhere.
I’m sure he went into a building—and I have a good idea which one.
Swallowing courage, I lock up my bike and stride over to the law office. The same witchy receptionist guards her legal lair. I walk right inside and storm past her to the hallway.
“Wait! Stop!” she calls but I ignore her.
I look up and down the hall, glancing inside two open doors and seeing only empty rooms. But the door at the end of the hall is closed. There’s nowhere else for Kyle to go. He has to be in there.
Still, this is a lawyer’s office—serious stuff happens behind these doors. How can I just burst in without an appointment? I hesitate for only a split-second bef
ore I hear the receptionist shouting. It’s now or never.
So I reach out, twist the handle, and push the door open …
A woman wearing a pale-pink suit is bending over a briefcase on a table. Across from her is a tall teenage boy with light-brown hair. Is this the boy Talla was talking about? He looks nothing like Kyle.
So where’s my brother?
Before the pink-suited lawyer can interrogate me, I whirl around. I run out of the law office so fast that humiliation can’t catch up with me.
Breathing hard, I go back to my bike, ready to quit my search and go home.
But movement in front of Prehistoric Pizza catches my eye. I smile at the familiar dino face. Maybe Talla saw my brother. I can’t get any more embarrassed than I already am.
“Talla,” I call out, coming over to the green-scaled dinosaur. “It’s me again.”
The dino girl waves her promotional billboard like a hello.
“Have you seen my brother?” I ask, my breath starting to slow to normal.
She shakes her dino head, green scales shimmery in the sunlight.
“But he just came by here,” I say, frustrated. “I know he did. You must have seen him ride by on his bike.”
She turns away, shaking her costumed head and gesturing for me to leave.
My shoulders slump and I turn around.
A thought hits me, and I turn back. I study the tiny, round scales on the dinosaur costume. Green, shiny scales exactly like the tiny, green disk I found in Kyle’s white box—a box big enough for a dino costume. There’s something different about Talla. She’s taller with broad shoulders, not talkative, and instead of hazel eyes, hers are brown—like my eyes.
“Kyle!” I say accusingly, pointing.
Dino backs away, moving toward the Prehistoric Pizza entrance. But a costumed dinosaur can’t move as fast as a determined sister.
“It is you, Kyle!” I say as I come around to block him.
“Quiet!” My brother shushes me with his finger to his dino lips. “Don’t shout my name. All my coworkers call me K. C. It’s bad enough having to wear this crazy costume, but it would be brutal if the guys at school found out.”
“But why hide a job? You should be proud of it,” I say. “Do Mom and Dad know?”
“Yeah,” he admits. “But they haven’t seen me in the costume. It’s so embarrassing.”
I know all about being embarrassed, I think with a shudder and a glance toward the lawyer’s office.
“So why work here if you don’t like it?” I reach out to smooth my finger over Kyle’s green-scaled arm.
“I’m saving money for college and was lucky to get a job I could do on weekends and after school. I had hoped to deliver pizzas but I don’t have a car,” Kyle adds with a wince.
“I saw you carrying a white box out to your bike a few days ago.” I hesitate, not wanting to admit I also snooped in his room. “Was your costume inside?”
“Yes.” He lifts his floppy tail. “I keep it at work unless it needs to be cleaned. I had a pizza-sauce accident a few days ago and had to take it to the dry cleaners—which wasn’t easy on a bike.”
I glance around the parking lot and shops. “So where is your bike?”
“My boss lets me keep it in a back storage room.” He gestures toward the alley beside Prehistoric Pizza, and then he itches his head. “Sometimes I clean bathrooms and mop floors, but lately it’s all about this stuffy costume.”
“I think it’s adorable.” I laugh. “I’ll call you Dino Kyle.”
“No! Kelsey, you can’t do that to me. Don’t tell anyone you saw me here.” He clasps his clawed hands as if begging. “Please.”
“I won’t,” I promise, crisscrossing my chest.
As I ride off a few minutes later, I’m grinning.
Another secret for my notebook.
When I get back home, I can smell a celebration even before I step into my house. Dad must be baking his special Happy Everything cake—with so many amazing flavors that I don’t know what ingredients he uses but it’s delicious.
My sisters pounce on me when I step into the living room, tugging me toward the kitchen. They usually scoff at wearing look-a-like clothes but are both in identical purple, silky pajamas and purple ballet-styled slippers. Kenya’s black hair is twisted in a braid though, while Kiana’s ponytail is tied at the top of her hair so it looks like an erupting black volcano.
“What’s going on?” I look back and forth between their excited faces.
“Dad has a job!” they both scream.
I scream too and hug them, and we all dance right there in the living room. We haven’t danced like this since we were little kids, and it’s great. Mom joins in a few moments later, twirling me beneath her arm. My family has their faults, but when things get rough or wonderful, we support each other, and I love them.
After I catch my breath, I race into the kitchen where Dad is wearing an apron and whipping a concoction in a silver bowl.
“Congratulations!” I say, swaying back and forth like I’m still dancing.
“I’m pretty excited.” He grins. “And it’s all your fault.”
“Me?” I touch my chest. “What did I do?”
“You used my recipe to make a few hundred cookies—which sold out yesterday at the fund-raiser.”
I nod, already knowing this. Face painting lost money but the cookies, which Dad donated, made a huge profit. Becca told me that Tyla didn’t even apologize for not helping, but she convinced Sophia to come back to the Sparklers and stay in the play. The play starts next week, and I’m looking forward to seeing Sophia perform. I don’t have to be a Sparkler to be her friend.
“While I was watching the puppy races yesterday,” Dad continues, “a woman came over to compliment me on my cookies. We got to talking, and when she found out I was looking for a job, she offered me one as a personal chef to her employer. And I accepted.”
“Wow!” I jump up excitedly. “Best news ever!”
“Even better.” Dad sets down the mixing bowl and looks into my face. “The family I’ll be working for owns a chain of resort hotels and lives on a large estate north of town in the hills.”
“That’s near Becca’s home!” I exclaim.
“Yes, I think it is.” Dad pokes his finger in the frothy concoction and licks his finger. “Just right. Anyway, the house is a modern castle with a huge kitchen just waiting for me. And here’s the even-better part.”
I happily sink into a chair, staring up at Dad. “What?”
“My new boss wanted me to live in the castle so I can prepare meals all day. But when I explained that I couldn’t leave my family, he offered the cottage house—rent free!”
“A house! For us?”
“It’s not a mansion,” Dad says with a chuckle. “But there are five rooms. Go out to the computer. The photo is still up. Look for yourself.”
I race out of the room to find my sisters waiting for me by the computer.
“Check out our new home!” Kenya gestures with her hand like a model promoting a product.
“Sit here,” Kiana adds as she stands up to offer me the chair.
I stare at a photo of a white, two-story frame house surrounded by an orchard and with blooming flowers leading up to the house. The house may be called a cottage—but it’s huge! And the yard looks roomy enough our dog, Handsome, and my kitten, Honey. I can finally take my kitten home! Of course, I’ll have to ask my parents, but I know they’ll say yes. I can’t wait to tell Becca and Leo.
Something else in the photo catches my eye—a gigantic oak tree in the front yard that’s taller than the house.
I imagine myself climbing into the tree and peering down from that high perch. Wild animals might come close without knowing they’re being watched.
I might even discover a new animal mystery for the CCSC to solve.
About the Author
Linda Joy Singleton is the author of thirty-five books for children and young adults, including YALSA-h
onored The Seer series and the Dead Girl Walking trilogy. She lives in California.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Linda Joy Singleton
Cover illustration copyright © 2015 by Kristi Valiant
Interior illustrations and hand lettering by Jordan Kost
978-1-5040-3179-0
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