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Then Hailana was there, holding her arms open to my mother She looked tired, worn out, and I could see that she was injured too, though not as severely as Cecily I have to admit, it surprised me a little to see the blood on Hailana’s te as I’d known her she’d seeine she could actually bleed

The knowledge that she was, indeed,as it should have been

What was even h, was that ht by her like she wasn’t even there For one brief istered shock and then she was rushing after Cecily, grabbing on to her

Cecily flinched away, and I could see clearly now the livid bruises on her ariven theone down

When Hailana reached for her again, tried to put herself in Cecily’s path, my mother shoved the merQueen as hard as she could Hailana hit the floor and thenas quickly as she could away from the queen

She paused once, and I kneas because Hailana had said so to knohat it hat the two of the to each other--but the sound effects of this memory (or whatever it was) couldn’t breach the walls of telepathic co, and again I wondered why she didn’t shift--it would be so much easier for her to s Then I re, about how I had been stuck with my tail until I healed up a little s

The ed then, became less sharp, more confused The pain was still there, but it was different More bearable, less all-enco

Cecily was being tossed from wave to wave, current to current, and as I watched, everything took on an even blurrier feel, as if the camera that had recorded these memories was just a little out of focus She was nu froh Completely disconnected fro to her now The pain I felt, like a hard punch blunted with cotton, was her physical reaction, her body’s response to its injuries The white-hot agony I’d felt before had been limpse into her emotional devastation

My sto, soh I saw only sot the i while And then things changed again, grew clear and crisp like the razor-sharp edge of a scalpel

Cecily, in hu facedown on a beach HairI narrowed ure out where she was It was too tropical to be home, but we’d been to a lot of different beaches in my life--it could be anywhere from American Samoa to Tahiti

Then I sawa barrel, and I knew She was in Hawaii This is where they h the years, but neither ofquite like this

My father spotted her as he came into shore, ran to her Checked for a pulse Then carried her to his car

My heart hurt a little, watching the was ever quite what I expected it to be It was like the ocean changed everything, twisted it, until as left was barely recognizable Like my rew diainst h My mo green Jell-O into her h I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I recognized the look on his face and the smile on my mother’s that said she was more amused than she wanted to admit

I hoped to see more, to know more, but the pearl turned cold--one second before it floated fro it loose