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There was so with Grace She’d known that her whole life, even if she didn’t knohat it was People didn’t like her, not even her grandma Grace tried to be likable and nice and quiet, she really did, but none of it ever worked, and things just rong for her, no s and tripped over stuff and couldn’t seem to learn her letters

Hey, Gracerina, Ariel said

Grace looked down at the circle of glass She couldn’t really see Ariel It wasn’t like that She just knew her friend was there now, and she could hear the voice in her head

Grown-ups always asked Grace how she knehen Ariel was around or what her best friend looked like Grace told them Ariel looked exactly like Cinderella

It was sort of true

She couldn’t actually see Ariel, but she knehen her best friend was in the one And she did look like Cinderella Grace would swear it

She still remembere

d the first time Ariel had shown up

Grace had been a baby, still in diapers She’d been home with Nana, who used to babysit sometimes when Daddy was busy with school All Grace re Everything made Nana sad: the reen sweater hanging in the entry, the closed door upstairs And Grace

Just looking at Grace made Nana cry

One day, Grace had done so She didn’t knohat it was All she kneas that onethere with a stuffed pink puppy that she’d found in her grandparents’ roo the puppy out of her hands so hard Grace stumbled sideways and plopped onto her butt

Nana burst into tears and so did Grace She waited for her daddy, but no one ca her thumb

Then she’d heard someone say her name

Gracie, come here … follow me …

She’d wiped her sli her yellow blanket, she followed the voice up the stairs to the door that was always shut No one ever played in this room