“Oh!” says Rosa, her eyes suddenly brightening. “That’s it! You can train her!”
My focus snaps back to her. “What now?”
“It’s perfect. You already know each other, you’ve worked together … I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before.” She sighs and tucks a loose strand from her braid behind her ear. “My brain is so scattered these days.”
“Whoa, whoa,” says Quint, looking from her to me and back. “What are you talking about?”
“Prudence,” she says, gesturing at me, “came by today because she’s doing some extra-credit work for your science class, and she wanted to get some hands-on information, maybe even spend some time doing volunteer work for us.”
Quint shoots me a look. I smile sheepishly back.
“And I don’t have time to train anyone new, but it would be nice to have an extra hand over the summer. And then you show up and … I don’t know. It seems a little serendipitous.”
Quint raises an eyebrow. “Extra credit, huh?”
I shrug. “I need to bring up that grade somehow.”
“Oh, and Quint…” Rosa sets a hand on his shoulder and her expression is suddenly disheartened. “I was going to send you a text when I got a second, but … well, Luna was brought back today. She was found up at Devon’s Beach, horribly dehydrated.”
It’s clear this news is upsetting to Quint. I suspect Luna is the sea lion she mentioned earlier, but I’m surprised at Quint’s reaction. He doesn’t even try to disguise his horror.
“Is she…?”
“Opal is with her now. It’s touch and go so far. You know how these first hours are so critical…”
Quint swallows, then nods. “She’ll fight. She did last time.”
Rosa, though, doesn’t look as confident. “It seems like she’s still having problems feeding herself. I’m worried…” She makes a sound in her throat, hopeless and distraught. “It’s possible we may not be able to rehabilitate her. If she pulls through this, we might need to consider other options. I don’t know. Let’s wait and see what Opal finds out.”
Quint drags a hand through his hair, making the front stick up oddly above his brow.
A sorrowful silence falls between them.
I inch forward. “Um. Who’s Luna?”
Quint shuts his eyes, like he forgot that I was there, or maybe he was just hoping that I’d magically vanished. “No one.”
But Rosa answers, “She’s a sea lion that was found washed up on the beach last year. We had her for five months and thought she was ready to go back, so we released her a few weeks ago. But…” She shakes her head. “She was brought in again this morning.”
“How do you know it’s her?”
“We tag all our animals, so we can keep track of them even after they’re returned to the ocean,” says Rosa. “And … she was always one of Quint’s favorites. I’d recognize her even without the tag.”
Quint frowns at her, then turns his irritation on me. “You should probably leave,” he says. “We have things to do here, and I’m sure you don’t actually intend to volunteer.”
I straighten. “You don’t know that.”
“Please. You? Working with sea animals?”
“Quint—” says Rosa warningly, but he cuts her off.
“It’s a terrible idea, Mom. Trust me. Morgan and I can handle the feeding and washing just fine, especially now that I’m on break.”
“Morgan isn’t coming in today,” Rosa says. “She had an accident this morning and had to go to the hospital.”
“Hospital?” says Quint.
“I guess she broke her leg and will be out for a few weeks, at least.”
“Broke her leg? How?”
Rosa shrugs. “She said she was doing some painting and fell off a ladder.”
My heart skips.
Hold on. Morgan.
Oh, criminy.
“Okay, okay.” Quint waves his hands at his mom. “I’ll handle it. You go take care of the pools. I’ll start in on the food.”
“And…?” Rosa tilts her head toward me.
Quint’s voice darkens. “We’ll see.”
His mom must know this is all she’s going to get from him right now. And she also must sense the animosity between us. She flashes Quint a grateful smile and heads back out the door. I spot Shauna still outside, standing over one of the pools and jotting notes on a clipboard.
“Well,” says Quint, the second his mom out of earshot. “I have a lot to do. See you around, Prudence.” He turns to head down the long corridor.
“Hold on!” I say, following him. “I am redoing that project whether you like it or not, and I’m not leaving here until I have enough science-based information that I can go back