Page 4 - The Mermaid Call

secret diary. Now, she wants to find out about the Lake Mermaid.
Alice thinks her aunt didn’t really die, she disappeared, like those 1914 village girls, following a calling to the mermaid world beneath the water. Her excitement about the Lake Mermaid mystery is contagious. Even if Alice’s grandmother clearly doesn’t like Viviane. Even if Alice does some things that upsets Viviane’s swim club friend, gentle Erik, and causes her to distance more from Eleni. Being friends with Alice makes her feel special. Plus, Viviane has something interesting to write to her mum about at last.
Then Alice and Viviane make a startling discovery: a mys- terious, magical calling that can’t be explained. A calling – for Alice and Viviane. . .to join the mermaid world. Viviane can’t quite believe the mystery they’re unravelling involves her own destiny – could Viviane really have what it takes to be a mermaid? Might she be ‘beautiful’ after all? Might she belong to a world where she will matter more? Where mothers don’t abandon you? Alice is soon pushing them to take more risks in their investigation, as well as delving deeper into the story of the 1914 village ‘mermaid’ girls. It’s all starting to get out of control.As they plan a route through the caves to the bottom of the lake – however dangerous that is (it’s how Alice’s aunt disappeared or died!), who should turn up at last, but Viviane’s mum.
While Viviane’s entanglement with Alice reaches scary depths, the village’s secret is also exposed – the truth about what happened to the two girls when they disap-