Helanie:
"What? What is it?" I asked, almost rushing too anxiously.
He looked at us with a sad, disappointed expression before he muttered, "It’s in another language."
As soon as he said that, we rolled our eyes.
"Come on, you don’t have to be so dramatic," Norman said, slapping his chest with the back of his hand, reaching across the table since he was opposite Emmet.
"I will read it. I can read many languages," Maximus volunteered, and we all stared at Emmet, waiting for him to hand over the book.
"Really?" Emmet asked, sounding skeptical. "Fine, go. Go ahead, read it." He turned the book toward Maximus, making us wonder why he was being so petty.
But the minute Maximus looked at the book, he scratched the back of his neck. "Um, it’s mermaid language," he admitted, handing it back.
The disappointment lingered for only a few seconds before everyone turned to me, pushing the book in my direction. I stared at the words, but they just looked like a mumble jumble.
"Um, guys, I didn’t grow up with the mermaids. I don’t know what it says," I mumbled, disappointing them.
"Your mother, she grew up with the mermaids!" someone yelled.
Thankfully, Jenny said it before I had to take time to remember my mother could help. And then our faces lit up once again.
"Come on, give your mother a call," Gavin said, and Emmet started to wag his finger as a no.
"Guys, we don’t have to wake her up at this time of night," Emmet disagreed. It was so sweet of him. I knew it would mean a lot to him to find out right now what the pearl could do and how we could use it to save him, but he still wanted to be considerate of my mother’s rest.
"I think there is a few hours’ difference, so it might not be that late over there," I reminded Emmet, and then I grabbed my phone.
"I’ll call her now," I said, excitedly dialing her number.
"Put it on speaker," Lamar added, reaching over from Norman’s shoulder to tap my shoulder with two fingers, and I nodded.
I dialed her number and put the phone on speaker, placing it in the middle of the table on top of the book.
"Hello? Is everything okay?" My mom picked up instantly, worried I was in some trouble because she knew the time difference and that it was night over here.
"Oh yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to speak with you about some stuff," I said, and I guess she noticed the excitement in my voice.
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