Read Online Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret by Liz Kessler - Free Book Online

things.
    We took a turn down toward the beach cottages where Aaron and his mom were staying. “Is it Aaron?” I asked. “Has something happened to him?”
    “Nothing has happened to anyone. Come on. Nearly there now.” She took a sharp left turn, paced to the last cottage in the row and stopped. “This is it,” she said. Then she wiped her palms down the side of her dress, pulled a wisp of hair off her face, and swallowed hard.
    She turned to me. “Ready?” Her voice had a breathless wobble in it. She was clearly nervous — but why? What was inside the cottage? What was I meant to be ready for ?
    “I guess so,” I said. Then I followed Millie up the path. She took a deep breath. And then she knocked on the door.

The door opened. A woman was standing in the doorway. She was thin and spindly, with gray hair and glasses hanging from her neck on a chain. She looked elderly, but kind of sprightly too.
    A man came up behind her, same age, taller than she was, but thin and gray-haired too. They both stared at us.
    “Can we help you?” the woman asked with a friendly smile. Her eyes crinkled up and turned green and shiny when she smiled. Something about her smile seemed familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. She couldn’t be familiar. I’d never seen either of them before!
    “I — it’s — don’t you —” Millie began. She was even more flustered than she’d been before we knocked on the door.
    The man came to the front door step. “You must be the lady from the competition,” he said.
    Competition? What competition?
    “Come on in,” he went on. “We’re so pleased to meet you. What a wonderful surprise, winning something like this out of the blue. It’s all happened so fast; lucky we were free! And the place is lovely.”
    What on earth was he talking about? Had he mixed us up with someone else? I turned to Millie.
    She just gave me a quick nod and ushered me in. The man spotted me. “Ah, you’ve brought your daughter with you.” He reached down to shake my hand. “Well, come on in, both of you.”
    I glared at Millie. “Daughter?” I mouthed. She shook her head and frowned a silent Shhhh! at me.
    The four of us stood in the front room in an awkward circle, looking at each other.
    “Well?” Millie said, grinning broadly at the couple. “Now that you can have a good look, surely you remember me?”
    The two strangers stared blankly at Millie.
    “This is Emily!” she said.
    They turned their blank stares on me. I stared blankly back.
    I’d had enough. “Millie, are you going to explain what’s going on here?”
    Suddenly, Millie looked just as bewildered as the rest of us. “You won’t even acknowledge me?” she asked. Her voice cracked as she spoke. I thought she was going to cry. “Well, I knew you felt strongly about it all, but I didn’t think you’d take it this far!”
    The couple continued to stare at her, mouths open, puzzled expressions across their faces. The woman spoke first. “Look, it was very nice of you to let us know we’d won, and we really are grateful, but I’m sure I don’t know what —”
    “Hello?” a voice called from the front door. We’d left it open behind us and a second later, Aaron’s face appeared. He glanced around the room and grinned when he saw me. “Hey — I thought it was you. I was just passing,” he said. “What’re you doing here?”
    Good question!
    “Can I come in?” he asked, stepping into the small room before I had a chance to reply.
    “This is my friend Aaron,” I said as he squeezed in next to me — not that anyone took any notice. They were all still too busy staring blankly at each other. I felt Aaron’s hand brush mine. Immediately my face got hot and my heart started hammering so loudly I was positive someone would hear it — especially while we were all standing there in this shocked silence.
    And then something else happened. The feeling of his hand touching mine — well, I know it’s going