Read Online Kira's Secret by Orysia Dawydiak - Free Book Online Page A

expect that Cody would have told her about his amazing find.
    When her mother returned late that evening, Kira was in her room reading. She waited a few minutes to let her parents talk, then walked into the living room where they sat, long sad looks on their faces.
    â€œAh, hello, Kira,” her mother said. “Dad says you know about the bottle Cody found yesterday.”
    â€œYeah, I saw it today. How is Mrs. Doyle?” Kira sat across from them and could see the concern on both their faces, but especially on her mother’s.
    â€œShe’s very upset. She fears the worst, of course. In some ways it wasn’t much of a comfort for her to see his things.”
    â€œBut she already thought he was dead,” Kira said. “Do you think they were kidnapped? Maybe by pirates? Was there a ransom?” She saw a look of fear flicker on her mother’s face before she lowered her eyes to her hands grasped tightly in her lap.
    â€œNo, Kira, there was no ransom,” her father replied. “There was not a single word, we never heard from the lads or about them again. Until today.”
    â€œSo what do you think those things were swimming around the boat? Some kind of shark? Cody tried to look them up and there is no such shark or dolphin or anything like it anywhere.”
    â€œKira, as I’ve said before, the sea can be a dangerous place. We don’t know all the different creatures that inhabit the deeper parts of our oceans, and perhaps come up from time to time. Like the giant squid.”
    â€œI know, I’ve been reading about some of them. The animals in the deepest places don’t even have eyes because no light gets down that far. We watch videos of deep-sea life in school. It’s really cool, they have these special remote-controlled submarines with cameras that are built for the high pressure under all that water.”
    Her father chuckled. “I’m glad to see you’re so interested. Do you think you’d like to do something like that when you grow up?”
    â€œMaybe. I haven’t thought a whole lot about it. Cody wants to be a marine biologist, that’s his thing. I was wondering about being a dolphin trainer. That might be fun.”
    Her parents exchanged glances.
    â€œDolphins are trained in inland pools, not out in the ocean,” she assured them. She knew exactly what they were worried about. Her mother looked like she was about to protest when her father laughed.
    â€œYou’ve got a lot of time yet to decide what you plan to do, Kira child. Whatever it is, we’ll send you to the best school, wherever it happens to be. You don’t need to be stuck here in this village forever.”
    â€œI know, Dad,” Kira said. But unknown to him, she already had plans to leave on a trip that could have a lot of bearing on her future.

Chapter Eleven—
Field Trip
    During the week that followed, Kira and Cody met every day to plan the next stage of her quest. They discussed the events of that summer and what they had learned to date. Kira slipped back into the sea two more times to explore near the shore, though she never saw another seal. While underwater, she tested her mermaid skills and reported her findings to Cody. He wrote down all the observations and facts they had collected so far and summarized them like the final results of a science experiment. He referred to Kira as the “subject”:
When subject’s hands are immersed in saltwater, she develops webbing between her fingers and thumbs.
When subject’s body is completely underwater, a large, fish-like tail replaces her legs. It is covered with golden-coloured scales, except for a pinkish stripe on each side. The V-shaped tail fin is a pale pink and turns to purple at the tips.
Underwater, subject feels warm and comfortable, even when it is cold. Temperature varied from 8 to 9 degrees centigrade from September 17 to 21. Normally only comfortable for humans in