Sara Lost and Found by Virginia Castleman Page B

lingers near the door.
    â€œIs there anything I can get you girls? Water? A blanket?” she asks.
    I shake my head and turn back to the stars. They hold what we want, not her.
    As Mrs. MacMillan goes over what we might do the next day, she turns on a fan to cool us. Anna has already fallen asleep. Even the wind outside has settled down.
    Not me, though. Not yet. Mrs. MacMillan leans down and kisses the top of my head. When she leaves the room, I slip from under the covers and tiptoe to the closet, where Sneaker is hiding, and give her the meat from dinner. While she eats, I wonder if I should let her out.
    Is Mrs. MacMillan right? Does Sneaker have a home? Am I keeping her from a family that’s out searching for her, just like Daddy might be searching for us?
    I tuck the kitten in bed with us. She licks her whiskers and smells like roast beef. “Tomorrow we’ll look for your family,” I tell her.
    A bright slip of moon smiles through the window. Beside it, a star burns brightly. Closing my eyes, I make one more wish, then fall asleep.

CHAPTER 8
    I WAKE THE NEXT MORNING with the same question Anna and I always have when we get placed in a new home: What do we call the foster parents? Mom? Dad? Neither feels right. Dr. and Mrs. MacMillan? Yuck. Barbara and Dan? I sigh. Some grown-ups, like Ben and Rachel, don’t mind kids calling them by their first names. Others think it’s rude. Which would it be here?
    Anna’s side of the bed is empty. I get up. I hear Pablo coming up the stairs, humming.
    â€œHave you seen Anna?” I ask, following him down the hallway toward his room.
    He shakes his head. At his door, he turns around to face me, bracing his arms against the frame.
    â€œUh-uh. My room’s off-limits. You can only come in when I’m here or when I invite you. I don’t want anyone messing with my stuff.”
    Behind him, I can see Anna messing with his stuff. I doubt he invited her. She turns the strange stump of wood she’s holding upside down. A shivering, rolling, rainlike sound drifts through the room.
    â€œLike that,” Pablo said, taking the stump from Anna and marching her out into the hall. “What are you doing in here?”
    Anna reaches up to grab the stump of wood. When she does, Pablo pulls it away and catches her by the arm. Wrong move. Before I can call out, her teeth find their mark.
    â€œHey!” Pablo jerks back his hand. A full moon of teeth indents marks his arm, then disappears. “What did you do that for?”
    Anna’s eyes narrow, and a sort of growl comes out of her. I see Sneaker pawing at the covers on Pablo’s bed. It all makes sense to me now. Sneaker got out, Anna went to Pablo’s room to get her, saw the noisemaker, and got distracted—
    â€œSo, what is that thing that Anna was playing with?” I ask.
    Pablo holds up the piece of wood and turns it over to make the soft shivering sound again. “It’s a rainmaker from Chile, which is where I come from.” He looks back and forth at us, his dark eyes dancing. “Who do you think made all that rain yesterday?”
    â€œYeah, right.” Like he can really make it rain. Still, maybe things happen differently in Chile. Maybe he really can make rain.
    â€œAll you need is a magic stick,” he answers, tossing the rainmaker onto his bed.
    If only it were that easy.
    He hesitates a minute, then picks it up and hands it to Anna. “Okay, play with it if you want.”
    Anna holds it like it’s made of glass. The sound of rain seems to calm her.
    â€œSo, your real mom and dad. Where are they?” I ask, following him and Anna down the stairs. I feel Sneaker brush against my foot as she dashes past.
    â€œHey, how’d that cat get inside?” Pablo grabs at Sneaker and misses. When he gets to the bottom of the stairs, he opens the door, and she runs out.
    â€œMy birth parents live in Chile, though I’ve never met