Lark Holds the Key Read online

  LARK

  Holds the Key

  NATASHA DEEN

  Illustrated by MARCUS CUTLER

  Text copyright © 2016 Natasha Deen

  Illustrations copyright © 2016 Marcus Cutler

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Deen, Natasha, author

  Lark holds the key / Natasha Deen ; illustrated by Marcus Cutler.

  (Orca echoes)

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-4598-0727-3 (paperback).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1129-4 (pdf).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1130-0 (epub)

  I. Cutler, Marcus, illustrator II. Title. III. Series: Orca echoes

  PS8607.E444L37 2016 jc813'.6 C2016-900540-2

  C2016-900541-O

  First published in the United States, 2016

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016931887

  Summary: In this early chapter book, rookie detectives Lark Ba and her twin brother, Connor, come to the rescue when the town librarian misplaces her library key.

  Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Cover artwork and interior illustrations by Marcus Cutler

  Author photo by Curtis Comeau

  ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

  www.orcabook.com

  19 18 17 16 • 4 3 2 1

  For Navin, Maya, & Kiran.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter One

  My name is Lark Ba, and I have ants in my pants. Not really. That would be gross. And not so much fun for the ants. Ants in my pants means it’s hard for me to sit quietly. It’s something my halmoni—that’s Korean for grandmother—says when I’m really exsited exceted excited. Only I wasn’t sitting—I was lying down in bed. Waiting. Patient-like. Until…

  “Psst. Connor.” I leaned over and looked at the bottom bunk. “Connor, are you awake?” Connor’s my little brother. He’s much younger than me.

  “Yes. I’m awake. Are you?”

  I sighed. “Yes. If I was sleeping, I wouldn’t be talking, would I?”

  “Yes, you would. You talk a lot.”

  I ignored that. “Are you excited?”

  “Yes. Today is going to be awesome.”

  “It’s going to be the bestest day ever!”

  “Lark, you say that every day. Anyway, bestest isn’t a word.”

  I sighed. “It should be. It’s a great word.” I love words. Maybe I should be a writer when I grow up. Then I could make up great words like bestest. I turned on the lamp and said, “Yep. I’m gonna be a writer. Then I’m gonna make bestest a word.”

  “Lark, gonna isn’t a word either. Anyway, I thought you were going to be an actor.”

  “I think I’ll be both. That way, I can write the stories I want to act in.”

  Connor rolled his eyes.

  I decided to be patient because he was just little. I climbed down from the top bunk. Today was the third day of summer vacation. On the first day, Connor and I started a circus. We tried to teach our dog, Max, how to dance. He wasn’t so good at that. And we broke two lamps. Mom said we had to do something else. Something that didn’t include Max. Or her lamps.

  Yesterday, we tried to do a people-only circus with our friends Kate and Franklin. No lamps were broken. But Franklin tried to do a special jump. He jumped great. But he also made a hole in the wall with his head. Dad said no more circuses. He used his grumpy voice. And that’s when Halmoni suggested we all go to the library instead.

  Only Halmoni didn’t call it a library. She called it The Temple of Secrets. She said books contained secrets between their pages. And when you read a book, you could find all kinds of treasure!

  “I’m going to get fifty books,” I told Connor.

  “I’m going to get a hundred. Do you think Mom and Dad will remember to take us?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I put a note on the fridge. And in the bathroom. And in their shoes. And in their coat pockets.” I would have put one in their car too. But Babu—that’s Swahili for grandfather—told me a long time ago that I wasn’t supposed to be in the car without a grown-up.

  “Are you sure they won’t forget?” Connor looked worried.

  I knew because his forehead went all skiggly sqwiggly squiggly.

  “What if they don’t wake up in time?”

  I sighed. Little brothers are so much work. “If you’re worried, let’s go check.”

  “I’m not worried, but the last time we woke them up—”

  “I say we should go. It shows we have…” I couldn’t remember the word. It started with an n or maybe an i, and it was a good word. “It shows we care. I’m your big sister, and that’s my decision.”

  “You are not older!”

  “Yes I am.”

  “We’re twins!”

  “I’m the older one.”

  He made a growly noise. “Only by ten minutes.”

  “Still older.” I gave him my best big-sister look. “Are you going to come with me? Or are you too scared?”

  Chapter Two

  We went quiet-like to Mom and Dad’s room.

  Connor put his ear to the door. His face went all wrinkled. “Dad’s snoring. I think they forgot about the library.”

  “Let’s wake them.”

  He did a little walk backward.

  What a fraidy-cat. But I’m a good big sister, so I didn’t say anything. “There’s nothing to be scared of.” Okay, I almost didn’t say anything. “Let’s go.” I pushed open the door and went inside. The blankets went up and down with Dad’s snoring and Mom’s breathing.

  I went up real close to Dad. His eyes were shut tight. I leaned in to make sure. “Dad. Dad.” I whispered softly because Halmoni said it wasn’t nice to wake people up loudly. I tapped him on the forehead. He kept snoring.

  Connor tugged on my shirt. “I don’t know about this.”

  “It’s fine.” I tapped harder.

  Dad kept snoring.

  Now I was really worried. What if they didn’t wake up? I didn’t want to be late. Gentle-like, I put my finger on Dad’s eyelid and lifted. “Dad?”

  “Arrrgghhh!” he screamed.

  “Aaaaahhhh!” Conner screamed.

  “Aaaaaiieee!” Mom screamed the loudest and jumped out of bed.

  “Lark!” Dad was using his grumpy voice. “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure you’re awake. We have to go to the library.”

  Mom looked real hard at the clock. Then she crawled back into the bed. “Honey, it’s five in the morning. The library doesn’t open until ten.”

  I did the math. “That’s five hours away.”

  “Yes.” Dad was back to using the Dad voice I liked. “Do you know what that means?”

  I thought hard. “We have time for French toast?”

  Chapter Three

  Halmoni had heard the scre
aming. She took us from Mom and Dad’s room to the kitchen.

  “Can we have French toast?” I asked.

  “If you help,” she said.

  Halmoni is Dad’s mom. Babu is Mom’s dad. If he had been here, he would have made us uji—that’s porridge. But he was in Kenya, counting elephants. I’d wanted to go with him, but he’d said I would scare the elephants. He laughed when he said it, so I knew he was joking.

  I love Halmoni and Babu. They never use their grumpy voices with me. Or with Connor. That’s amazing because he can be really anoiing anoying annoying. “I’ll help make French toast.”

  “Me too,” said Connor. He pulled a chair to the counter.

  Halmoni gave me a piece of paper. “That’s the recipe. You read it. Connor and I will do what it says.”

  “Did you hear that, Connor? You have to do what I say.” I leaned in and whispered, “Because I’m older.”

  He did the growly voice thing.

  “And get your special paper,” called Halmoni.

  I have d-y-s-l-e-x-i-a. Dyslexia. It means my brain works differently when I have to read letters and numbers. I went to my school drawer and took out one of my see-through, colored pieces of paper. Then I put it on top of the white paper Halmoni gave me. It made the letters and numbers stop jumping on the page. And that made the words easier to read. I told Halmoni and Connor what to do. Pretty soon we had lots of yummy French toast.

  Connor ate a bunch.

  I only wanted two pieces. But they tasted really good, so then I had two more. “Maybe one more,” I told Halmoni. “I didn’t know I was such a good cook.”

  When we finished eating, we cleaned up. Then I double-checked that I had my library card. I checked for my cloth bag to carry home the books. And I triple-checked Connor’s stuff. Soon we’d be at the library!

  Chapter Four

  Dad wanted to come with us, but he had to work at the ahkarium akwairium aquarium. So Halmoni, Mom, Connor, Max and I walked to the library. On the way to the library were the tailor’s shop, the baseball field, the park and my favorite place—the ice-cream shop. I tried to tell Mom we should get some ice cream. She said it was too early.

  “Besides, Lark, it’s not even hot out yet!”

  “But it will be,” I told her. “And eating ahead is just good planning.”

  Mom made a weird sound in the back of her throat.

  Halmoni got the coughs and turned her face away.

  We kept walking. Soon I could see the roof of the library. It was one of the places I liked best! There were lots of windows and cozy places to sit. There was a fireplace in the library. In the winter, I loved sitting by it and reading my books.

  “I’m going to get books on astronauts and the guys who get to study stars,” said Connor.

  “I’m going to get books on real detectives,” I said.

  “Detectives?” His face went scrunchy. “Why? I thought you wanted to be an actor or a writer.”

  “I do. I’m going to be a great actor and a great writer. And that means reading as many stories as I can. That way, I can learn everything about everything.” I stopped. “Hmm, I kind of already know everything.”

  Connor snorted.

  “But I’ll know more of everything. It’ll make me a great actor. And writer.”

  Connor nodded. “That’s a good idea. I should probably get some books on fixing rocket ships too. I’m going to be the first person on Jupiter. I should know how to fix something if it breaks.”

  “See? It’s good to have a big sister, isn’t it? Aren’t I a good teacher?”

  He heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. “Twins, Lark. We’re twins.”

  I sighed too. Little brothers can be so much work. I decided to ignore him and think of the books I was going to get. Detective stories! I like them a lot because there’s a problem to solve. I’m an excellent problem solver. I know because I solve Connor all the time, and he’s a huge problem.

  Plus, on the last day of school, Principal Robinson read us a story about a detective. In the book, the detective called himself a P.I., which means private investigator. I liked that name, even though it took me a long time to learn how to spell it.

  My name would look great with initials. Lark Ba, P.I. Pluser, investigator sounds like alligator, and I like them a lot. The P.I. did this cool thing where he talked but his lips didn’t move. I could do that too. Almost. And plusest, he got to wear a cool trench coat and an even cooler hat. I look great in hats!

  Principal Robinson said that detective stories were great because they were full of deeds of derring-do. I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded amazing. At dinner I told Mom and Dad I was going to do derring-dos. Dad said that would be a huge change because I’m usually full of derring-dont's.

  All the grown-ups laughed, but I didn’t get the joke. Still, I laughed so they didn’t feel bad.

  Goodness, all this thinking was making me hungry. And excited. I really wanted to get to the library. Like, now!

  We turned the corner for the library and I saw the doors. I also saw something else. And I did not like it one bit. Nope. Nope. Nope.

  Chapter Five

  The librarian, Mrs. Robinson, was married to our school principal. Normally we found her busily shelving books or helping people at the checkout counter. Today she was sitting outside on one of the benches. Well, not really sitting. She looked like one of my birthday balloons when they start leaking. Mrs. Robinson saw us and gave a sad wave.

  “Mrs. Robinson, what happened?” asked Connor. “How come the library isn’t open?”

  She sniffled. Then she snuffled. “I lost the key to the library!”

  Holy crickets. This was pretty big. No wonder she sniffled and snuffled. Connor lost our house key one time. Dad used his really grumpy voice when he found out.

  I climbed onto the seat next to her. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Robinson. Connor loses stuff all the time—”

  “Hey,” said Connor. “So do you!” He turned to the librarian. “Lark’s lost her mittens and her sweater. And one time, Mom said Lark had lost her mind.” He scrunched his mouth. “But I’m not sure how she knew that.”

  Mom made a gurgling sound.

  Halmoni coughed.

  I glared at Connor. Then I gave Mrs. Robinson a smile. Smiling always makes people feel better. “When Connor lost his key it was okay because I had mine. Does anyone else have a key?”

  She shook her head sadly. “No. Well, yes. Milly, the assistant librarian, has one,” said Mrs. Robinson, “but she’s on vacation.”

  “This doesn’t seem like very good planning,” I told her. “Next time, Milly should maybe give her key to someone else. Someone who’s responsible and stuff.” I thought about it. “She should give it to me. I never lose stuff.”

  Connor laughed.

  “She should give it to us,” I said. “We hardly ever lose stuff.”

  Connor smiled and nodded.

  Mom put her hand on her forehead and looked at the sky.

  Mrs. Robinson gave me a shaky smile. “I’ll tell her that.”

  “What about Pete?” asked Mom. “Can’t he help?”

  Pete was a…I don’t know the name. But he got to break into people’s cars and houses. Plus, he never got arrested. Pluser, he got to drive in a really cool truck.

  “I phoned,” said Mrs. Robinson. “He’s out at the Andersons’ farm, putting new locks on the house. He could be gone until this afternoon.”

  Hmm. This was a big problem. The library couldn’t stay closed for that long. People would be upset with Mrs. Robinson, and I didn’t like that. She was a nice lady.

  “When I lose something, I close my eyes. I try to remember what I was doing when I lost the thing I lost.”

  Mrs. Robinson smiled back. “That’s a good idea, Lark. That’s what I was doing when you arrived. But I just can’t think of where I lost it.”

  “Maybe you should tell us where you’ve been,” I said, “and we can help.”

  She
nodded. “I decided to walk to work today because it was such a lovely day.”

  Mrs. Robinson started talking about the sunshine and the birds. Then she said something about cleaning. At least, I think she was talking about cleaning. She said something about waxing nostalgick nostalcick nostalgic. I didn’t know what that meant, but both Mom and Halmoni nodded. So I did too.

  Connor frowned and opened his mouth.

  I elbowed him.

  He pressed his lips together and nodded at Mrs. Robinson.

  The librarian stopped talking about cleaning and started to talk about books. “I started this great book last night,” she said. “It was hard to put down. I woke up early just so I could keep reading.”

  “I know how you feel,” I said. “The last book Principal Robinson read us was a mystery. It was very exciting.” I thought about what the P.I. would do. He’d want more information. In the book, he was always saying, “Just the facts, ma’am.” So I did too. But nicely. “What happened next?”

  “I left home,” said Mrs. Robinson. “I had my book in one hand. I had the library key in the other. Plus, I had my purse.”

  I nodded.

  “Go on,” said Connor. “What happened next?”

  “Well, it was such a nice day and I was so early, I stopped at the park. I sat on a bench and kept reading. I was at this very exciting part in the book when I heard yelling. I looked up. There was Sophie McCallister and her friends. They were trying to fly a kite.”

  “Fly a kite?” Connor’s face went all wrinkley rinkly wrinkly.

  “But there’s no wind,” I said.

  Connor snorted. “Sophie’s so full of hot air, she doesn’t need wind.”

  I glared at him. “Maybe it was a special kind of kite,” I said.

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Anyway, Sophie and her friends are always up to no good. I bet they were doing something they shouldn’t.”

  Sophie did get into trouble an awful lot. She was in the same grade as Connor and me. Sophie spent a lot of time with the teachers. And the principal. And writing apology notes.