Tamisin slept in the next morning until everyone else had left the house and then stayed home from school. Having thought about her wings and the news of her adoption all night, she decided that she really wasn’t surprised to learn that she was adopted. After all, even before her wings appeared she’d known that she wasn’t anything like the rest of her family. She loved them, but there’d been too many times that she’d felt as if she didn’t belong.
When Tamisin didn’t get out of bed right away, her cat, Skipper, began to scratch at the door. Yawning, Tamisin sat up to stretch and was surprised when her wings twitched, trapped by the blankets. She’d forgotten about them for the moment, but as her memory of the previous night returned, her emotions were mixed. Having wings was very exciting and they were quite beautiful, but although it had been easy to say that she wanted to keep them a secret, she didn’t know how that would be possible. They were so big and obvious.
Standing in the middle of her room, Tamisin experimented with her wings, trying over and over again to fold them close to her body so they lay flat and weren’t too uncomfortable. It took some time, but when she finally had them pressed against her back so closely that she could wear clothes over them without any bumps or wrinkles, she began to feel much better about them. If she could find a way to drop out of swim class, she should be able to get by without anyone noticing anything.
Skipper meowed again on the other side of the door and Tamisin opened it to let her in. While the cat hopped on to the bed, Tamisin spread her wings wide, sighing with relief as the cramped feeling faded away. Since no one else was home, she kept them unfurled as she headed for the basement, the only room that was big enough for what she had in mind.
The room was long; it ran the length of the basement and was half as wide. For all the years Tamisin had been dancing in it, the room had seemed to be big enough for just about anything. It wasn’t until she’d put on the music from her dance solo and was trying out some new steps incorporating her wings that she noticed how low the ceiling was. She’d found that beating her wings while she leaped gave her added distance, but it wasn’t easy to coordinate the two kinds of movement. Although it was tiring, she did it over and over again, getting better with each try until, suddenly, she was airborne. It lasted only a second longer than her usual leap, but it was enough to make her hit her head on the ceiling and keep her feet off the ground further than she’d ever done before. Wanting to prove that she hadn’t imagined it, Tamisin stood up and tried again. This time she actually felt suspended in the air before she went too high and hit her head.
With a whoop of excitement, Tamisin tore up the basement steps to the two-floor entrance hall at the front of the house. She’d have gone outside, but someone was bound to see her. Although the entrance hall wasn’t very big from front to back, it was the tallest area in the house and the only one where she wasn’t likely to hit her already sore head. For the rest of the afternoon Tamisin practised beating her wings, thrilled that she was able to go higher. It was true that she could fly, but it was her secret and hers alone. She wouldn’t tell anyone about it, not her parents, not Heather, and certainly not big-mouthed Kyle. For the first time in her life, Tamisin was convinced that being different could be a truly wonderful thing, and she didn’t want anything to spoil it.
Tamisin went back to school the next day with a forged doctor’s note. With her wings tucked against her back and the knowledge of what she could do, she felt special and important in a way she never had before. Her wings were her overwhelming secret now, making her feel as though she no longer had to hide anything else. For the first time in years she wore her hair pulled back and her face scrubbed clean of make-up. She didn’t care if everyone saw her ears or her spreckles.
Her mother had had a hard time getting Petey out of bed that morning, so she didn’t look at Tamisin long enough to notice the change. Heather was a different story however. The first thing she said when they met in front of her house was how great Tamisin looked.
“I’ve always thought your ears were cute,” said Heather as they started down the pavement towards school. “It’s about time you stopped covering them. What made you change your mind?”
“A lot of things,” said Tamisin. She felt guilty for keeping her wings a secret from her best friend, but she still remembered how Heather had laughed when she heard about the fairies. Maybe Tamisin would show Heather her wings one day, when they weren’t so new. There was one thing they could talk about though. “Guess what I learned yesterday,” said Tamisin. “I was adopted.”
“No!” breathed Heather. “You weren’t really, were you?”
Tamisin nodded. “My parents told me all about it. They thought they couldn’t have any more children after Kyle was born, so they contacted a lawyer when they saw his ad in the paper and adopted me.”
“Wow. That’s big. Are you OK with this? I mean, it is pretty earthshaking news to find out that your parents aren’t really your parents.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t even know what to call them.”
“Petey wasn’t adopted though. I remember when he was born.”
“Nope,” said Tamisin. “I was the only one.”
“Do Kyle and Petey know?”
“Not yet,” said Tamisin.
“And your parents didn’t tell you until now?”
“They said they were waiting for the right time. I wish they’d told me years ago. It’s like I’ve been living with a lie all this time.”
“I know what you mean,” Heather said. “I remember when I was helping my dad dig the barbecue pit and I found out my hamster hadn’t really gone ‘on holiday with his long-lost cousins.’ So what are you going to do? Are you going to look for your real parents?”
“I don’t know. After all, they did give me away. What if my mother was a drug addict? Or what if both of my parents thought I was a mistake and they split up because of me? I’d rather not know the reason they gave me away if it’s something terrible.”
“But they might have been great people and had a really good reason. They could have been in love, but were too young to keep you,” said Heather.
“That’s true,” said Tamisin. “Everyone who was adopted probably wishes that their birth parents were rock stars or someone really special. But even so, I’m not sure I’m ready to meet my parents. At least not yet.”
She was putting her things in her locker when Jak came up behind her. “I’m glad you’re back,” he said, smiling. “I heard you were sick and might be out for a few days.”
“I’m fine now,” she said, giving him a smile in return. She’d been thinking about Jak and the fact that he was the only other person she’d met who could see the little raccoon man. If she wanted to find out what Jak knew about the creature, and why Jak could see him, she couldn’t keep shying away. Maybe if she got to know Jak better, he’d either answer her questions or let something slip while she was around. After all, if he could see the little man, wasn’t it possible that Jak had wings too?
The first bell rang for class. Tamisin shut her locker door and reached into her pocket. “I have to get this to the office,” she said, brandishing the fake doctor’s note.
Jak nodded. “Yeah. I’ve gotta go too. But first I wanted to ask – would you like to have lunch with me on Saturday? I know a good spot for a picnic.”
Tamisin thought about it for a second. They could talk during a picnic and maybe she could actually learn something about the real Jak. “That sounds like fun.”
“Great!” he replied. “I’ll pick you up at noon.”
Tamisin wasn’t thinking about the note when she dropped it off at the office. She was thinking about how pleased Jak had looked when she said she could go with him.
Tamisin got up early on Saturday morning. After one glance out her bedroom window she couldn’t wait to go outside. It was a beautiful day, just right for spending in the garden, so without bothering with breakfast, Tamisin headed straight for the garage to collect her gardening tools. For too many weeks she’d spent most of her time preparing for the dance performance, neglecting her garden, which was now filled with weeds.
Tamisin had always loved working in the garden. She had learned that she had a knack for making flowers grow while she was in first grade and the class had planted bean seeds for a science class. Her seed had grown a foot tall in the time it had taken the rest of the class’s to sprout. The bean plant she took home had been the beginning of her garden. She planted more plants every year until eventually her garden had taken over much of the garden. Her parents were delighted with the lush plants that flourished under her care. Even her jealous neighbours admitted that Tamisin’s flowers were the best they’d ever seen and were always trying to get her to divulge her gardening secrets.
Although it was autumn and most people’s gardens were past their prime, Tamisin’s was still going strong, or would have been if she had been paying as much attention to it as she normally did. Feeling guilty, she used the next few hours to weed and mulch the flower beds for winter. It was easy to lose track of time when she was doing what she loved, so she didn’t realise how late it was until her mother called out the window, reminding her that Jak would be arriving soon.
It took her just a few minutes to wash her face and brush her hair, pulling it back into a high, bouncy ponytail. She was partway down the stairs when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, she found three cats sitting on the porch beside Jak. “Are they yours?” she asked, bending down to pet one. The cat walked away before she could touch him.
Jak glanced down and shook his head. “I’ve never seen them before. Cats just sort of like me,” he said as he tried to shove them away with his foot. The cats walked away a few paces, waiting until he had moved on before following him again. Two more cats joined them before they reached the end of the block.
Jak refused to tell Tamisin where they were going, so she was surprised when they walked down the street to the school and circled the building. Although she knew there were woods behind the car park, she’d never gone in them before, so she didn’t expect to find that they were actually pretty and not just scrubby old trees. There was a little stream there as well, and she enjoyed walking beside it. Even the cats seemed to be enjoying the walk, batting at butterflies and stalking birds.
Tamisin kept expecting to stop each time they came upon another inviting spot beside the stream, but she was glad they hadn’t when Jak finally led her to a miniature waterfall only a few feet high. “This is great,” she said, dropping to her knees at the water’s edge. “I didn’t know there was anything like this around here.”
Jak set the basket on the ground beside her. “I thought you’d like it. Are you hungry yet? We could eat now if you are.”
Tamisin smiled up at him. “I’m starving. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning. I was working in the garden, trying to get it ready for winter.”
“You like to garden?” said Jak. He took an old shower curtain out of the basket and spread it on the ground. It looked odd with its neon pictures of tropical fish.
“I’ve always loved working with plants,” she said as she set the picnic basket on the shower curtain and lifted the lid. “Oh!” she said, surprised by his choice of food. She took out a plate of pizza slices arranged in layers. Crinkling her nose at the smell of anchovies, she gave him a quizzical look.
“Don’t you like pizza?” he asked.
“Sure!” she said, glancing down at the plate. “I’ve just never had it on a picnic before.” Tamisin was relieved when he pointed out that there were eggs in the basket as well. “Oh, good!” she said, reaching for a covered bowl. “I love hard-boiled eggs.”
Jak looked puzzled. “I never would have thought of boiling them. I always eat them raw.”
When he showed her how to eat a raw egg, Tamisin grimaced and had to look away. Jak must have thought her expression was funny, because he began to laugh. It was the first time she had ever heard him laugh, and he did it with such enthusiasm that she had to laugh too. Tamisin was still laughing when Jak stopped abruptly and handed her the basket. She was about to ask if something was wrong when he suggested that she try the cookies he’d brought. He had to take care of something and would be right back.
Tamisin didn’t think much of it when Jak went off into the woods. She ate some of the cookies and enjoyed watching the waterfall. When he didn’t come back right away, however, she got up to see what he was doing. She hadn’t been watching when he disappeared, so she didn’t know which way he’d gone. Deciding that she could see more of the woods from the top of the waterfall, she followed a path that led up the little hill and stopped to look back the way she’d come. An animal howled somewhere in the woods, and a moment later the sound of breaking twigs made visions of bears and mountain lions pop into her head, as preposterous as that would be in a small town. “Jak, are you all right?” she called.
“Just fine,” he replied, sounding awfully far away.
She was sure there was nothing dangerous out there, but when birds squawked in the distance and something rustled the trees in front of her, she turned and headed back down the slope towards the shower curtain. Partway down she stopped to look around once more, and this time she spotted a brilliant red flower that stood out even amongst the yellows, oranges, and browns of the fallen leaves. “That’s strange,” she muttered. “That wasn’t there before.”
The flower was growing next to the very path that she had taken to get to the waterfall. Unable to imagine how she had missed it, Tamisin climbed down to get a better look. A bird chirruped just ahead, and Tamisin glanced up. Three flowers grew in a cluster, and beyond them a dozen more nodded on their long, straight stems.
Tamisin knew better than to pick rare flowers, but when she smelled their perfume and followed it through the forest to an open meadow filled with the blossoms, she couldn’t help but pluck one. And then there was another, too tempting to resist, and before she knew it her arms were weighted down with the heady blooms and Jak was calling to ask where she was.
“I’m over here!” she shouted back. A minute later she heard the snap of twigs as he came running through the forest. “Can you believe all these flowers?” she asked as he reached the meadow. “I didn’t mean to wander off, but after I saw the first one . . .”
Jak glanced around the meadow, then back at her. “I’d better get you home so you can put them in water. They won’t last long if you don’t.”
Jak was right, of course. If she didn’t take care of the flowers soon, they would all wilt and then she would have picked them for nothing. But Tamisin hadn’t learned a thing about Jak, and now she had made them cut short their picnic. She glanced down at the blossoms in her arms. They were gorgeous and would have kept on growing if only she’d left them alone. It would be such a waste . . . “You’re right,” she said. “I didn’t think of that. I’m so sorry that we never got to look around together.”
“It’s all right,” said Jak. “We can do that another time.”
Tamisin beamed at him. “I’d like that very much.”
Jak hurried her through the forest, taking a different route to the street so they didn’t pass near the school. Once they were out from among the trees, he walked so fast that she practically had to run to keep up, which made it nearly impossible to ask him anything. Tamisin thought it was odd that he took her home by going up one street and down another, but when she pointed out a more direct route, he took her to the library instead. They had barely stepped inside the front door before he was hustling her through the building and out the back. Tamisin would have asked what he was doing, but when she turned to face him, he was scowling and looking everywhere except at her.
It wasn’t until they were standing on her front porch that Jak seemed to relax. “I’m having a party at my house on Halloween. I’d like it if you could come.”
Tamisin looked dubious. “That’s a school night, isn’t it?”
“I guess so,” he said. “Is that a problem?”
Tamisin peeked through the glass panel in the front door to see if Kyle or anyone else was inside listening. “My parents won’t like it, but I’ll come. Do you mind if I bring my friend Heather?”
“Not at all,” said Jak. He handed her a piece of paper. “Here’s my phone number and address. It starts at seven thirty.”
“I’ll be there,” Tamisin said, but Jak already looked as if he were thinking of something else.