When Sea Becomes Sky


 
 Cover
 Title Page
 About the author
 Dedication
 Contents
 Part One. 313 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Part Two. 315 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Part Three. 330 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Part Four. 342 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Part Five
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Acknowledgments
 A Note from the Author
 eCopyright
 
 
 
 Also by Gillian McDunn
 Caterpillar Summer
 The Queen Bee and Me
 These Unlucky Stars
 Honestly Elliott
 
 BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS
 Bloomsbury Publishing Inc., part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018
 This electronic edition published in 2023 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS,
 and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 First published in the United States of America in February 2023
 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
 Text copyright © 2023 by Gillian McDunn
 Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Yaoyao Ma Van As
 All rights reserved 
 No part of this book 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, without permission in writing from the publisher.
 
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 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: McDunn, Gillian, author.
 Title: When sea becomes sky / by Gillian McDunn.
 Description: New York: Bloomsbury Children’s Books, [2023]
 Summary: As Pelican Island’s history-making drought wears on, the water level on Bex and Davey’s beloved marsh reveals the hand of a statue that has been underneath the water for who knows how long, and the siblings are determined to find out more.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022021616 (print) | LCCN 2022021617 (e-book)
 ISBN: 978-1-5476-1085-3 (HB)
 ISBN: 978-1-5476-1086-0 (eBook)
 Subjects: CYAC: Brothers and sisters—Fiction. | Droughts—fiction. | Statues—Fiction. | LCGFT: Novels.
 Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M43453 Wh 2023 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.M43453 (e-book) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022021616
 Book design by Jeanette Levy
 To find out more about our authors and their books please visit www.bloomsbury.com where you will find extracts, author interviews and details of forthcoming events, and to be the first to hear about latest releases and special offers, sign up for our newsletters.
 For Andy and Jared,
 forever my brothers
 
 Contents
 Part One. 313 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 1
 
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Part Two. 315 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Part Three. 330 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Part Four. 342 Days Without Rain
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Part Five
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Acknowledgments
 A Note from the Author
 
 
 CHAPTER 1
 Some summers are the funnest and some summers are the longest but last summer was perfectly ordinary until the day we found the hand.
 Well, not exactly ordinary. Let me back up and start again.
 On the day we found the hand, it hadn’t rained for almost an entire year. It wasn’t a dry spell—it was a real, official drought that showed no signs of stopping.
 I’d never thought twice about the rain until it disappeared on us, but that summer I had a constant crick in my neck from staring upward, wondering what might come next.
 I wasn’t the only one.
 “Bex,” my usually patient little brother, Davey, would say, sighing deeply. “Is it ever going to rain?”
 I didn’t know how to 
 CHAPTER 2
 Over the worn edges of my black composition book, I peeked at Davey. He was reading, propped up on his skinny elbows and sprawled across an especially wide branch of the big live oak we climbed most afternoons.
 We were in our special place, which was called The Thumb—named for the way the far corner of our island curved back toward the mainland, like it was trying to hitch a ride to shore. When we were there, time slipped away and Davey spoke most freely. As always, his incorrigible cat, Squish, had tagged along. She napped on a nearby V-shaped limb.
 “Davey.” My voice was barely a murmur.
 He didn’t budge, a look of concentration on his freckled nine-year-old face.
 I swung my feet