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feels, than how I feel.”
    Her grandfather sighed, too. “I suppose it does, but you know that isn’t the way it is .”
    She could know that like, intellectually, but that didn’t mean that it felt that way. But, she nodded—mostly just to be polite.
    â€œThis isn’t a situation with easy answers, Emily,” he said. “We all have to feel our way through things like this.”
    Emily looked down at her cake, trying to decide whether she was losing her appetite, or just full.
    â€œI have a feeling that twelve is a big enough birthday for you to feel more restless and impatient than you might have when you were younger,” her grandfather said.
    That was about the size of it, yeah. So, Emily nodded, reaching down to pat Zack, who was resting his head on her knee. “Are my parents upset that I wanted to talk about it?”
    Her grandfather shook his head. “No, they’re upset that they don’t have better answers for you.”
    Okay. “Did you and Gram get to meet her?” Emily asked.
    â€œNo,” her grandfather said. “I think she wanted to keep it very private, and that she was very young, and that it was all extremely upsetting for her. But then,” he winked at her, “ we lucked out, because we got to have you in our family.”
    Yes, she felt very lucky to be part of her family. “But, it’s okay that I still have lots of questions?” Emily said.
    â€œIt’s normal,” he said. “And I hope that, someday, you get to find a few more answers.”
    Emily definitely hoped so, too.
    â€œTime to get some sleep?” her grandfather asked.
    Emily nodded. If anything, it was past time. And tomorrow, she was going to have her third birthday celebration.
    Maybe turning twelve wasn’t so bad, after all.

 
    8
    Because of the hurricane, they had had to postpone her birthday party, which was a whale-watching cruise in Casco Bay. But, the next morning, they drove down to Portland, and met ten of her friends on the dock where the boat was to depart. Most of the friends she had invited were people she had met at her elementary school, since she didn’t know many of the people at her new junior high very well yet. So, it was Bobby, and Karen, and Florence, along with seven of her other friends.
    Emily was a little disappointed that Zack couldn’t come along with them, but then again, he really didn’t enjoy being on boats. She assumed it was because before she found him, he had lived on a fishing boat—and his owners had been mean. If that happened to her, she probably wouldn’t like to ride on boats, either.
    They were welcomed aboard by a man who said his name was “Captain Bill,” along with tour guides named Vince and Cara. Emily wasn’t sure if they were all really required to wear life jackets the entire time, but she wasn’t the only one with nervous parents. So, before they left the dock, they all suited up.
    It was a warm fall day, the sun was shining, and the waves were nice and gentle. Some tourists were also on the cruise, so there were about twenty-five passengers, including everyone at her birthday party. Vince and Cara were stationed on opposite sides of the boat, each of them holding a microphone and narrating everything that they saw.
    Which, so far, was absolutely nothing of interest. The tourists seemed pretty excited just to be in Maine, but all of the locals on the boat were looking around aimlessly, waiting for something exciting to happen.
    â€œWell, these sure are nice seagulls,” Bobby said politely, after they had been at sea for about half an hour.
    â€œVery pretty when they fly,” Emily agreed.
    Their friend Harriet laughed. “You guys are so cynical.”
    Kind of, yeah.
    Vince and Cara filled the dead air with fun facts about the history of Casco Bay, and the various marine animals and mammals they might see, but so far, they hadn’t