All for One

by Terry Catasus Jennings

  Rafi explained how the musketeers kept messing up Vinnie’s plans. Every time the musketeers stopped them, the Bublassis needed to do more.

  Vinnie took off running after he got the whole story off his chest. And in the end, the Bublassis ended up all wet.

  “I have plenty of material and pictures for a great book for Abuela,” Rafi said when he finished.

  “And what will your next adventure be, Musketeers?” el Señor Fuentes asked. His eyebrows were very, very relaxed.

  “I don’t know,” Dom said. “I’m kind of itching for a mystery!”

  Pancho and Steph raised their plungers in agreement.

  “I have a perfect magnifying glass for you,” the salvage man said.

  Author’s Note

  All for One is inspired by The Three Musketeers, a book written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. In turn, The Three Musketeers is very loosely based on a real person, Charles de Batz-Castelmore, and three other high-ranking nobles who served in the court of Louis XIII in the 1600s.

  Dumas was the grandson of a marquis, a French nobleman who married a slave from Haiti. His father fought for Napoleon. Alexandre, himself, was a scribe—a writer—for the Duke of Orleans, who later became King Louis Philippe of France. He worked for the duke during a revolution in France in 1830.

  The Three Musketeers was published in a Paris newspaper one chapter at a time from March through July of 1844. Each chapter was a complete scene, woven into a whole story, each with a cliffhanger at the end to keep the readers buying the newspaper.

  The story took place while King Louis XIII was king of France. D’Artagnan, a young man from the country, came to Paris to become a musketeer. On his first day in Paris, he ran into three men who were already musketeers. Three friends. Unfortunately, he made the musketeers unhappy. Each for a different reason. The three challenged D’Artagnan to duels, one after the other. But dueling was against the law. And they were caught. D’Artagnan sided with the musketeers. He was such a good swordsman, he helped them beat the law, and they all escaped.

  The four became friends forever, and D’Artagnan became a musketeer at the end of the book.

  The musketeers’ headquarters was at L’Hotel de Ville, and their slogan was “One for all and all for one.” I chose All for One as the name of this book because everyone, just everyone, was working to make Leni’s party a success.

  Like Dom, Pancho, and Steph, the real musketeers valued honor and tried to help those in need. They often got out of jams by fast-talking and confusing people using just a bit of truth spoken with conviction—like Steph, Dom, and Pancho did at Tava’s Butcher. The musketeers were also very interested in love. There were many people who loved one another and people who were scorned by lovers in the book, but also, there was revenge.

  The musketeers pledged themselves to defend the queen, like Dom, Steph, and Pancho pledged themselves to help Leni.

  Two scenes in All for One are based on famous scenes in The Three Musketeers. In the first, the musketeers and D’Artagnan set out to bring the queen’s diamonds, which were in England, back to France. The four of them rode out together. As their enemies attacked them along the way, one musketeer stayed and fought while the others went on. Only D’Artagnan reached England, retrieved the queen’s diamonds, and returned them to the queen in Paris. Like in our book, there were real diamonds and fake diamonds, and the musketeers foiled their enemies.

  The second instance took place during a war with England. The English invaded a French island—the Isle of Rhé—near the town of La Rochelle. The French citizens of La Rochelle sided with England, which caused King Louis XIII and his armies to attack. One of the battles was at a place called the Bastion Saint-Gervais. The bastion—a fortress—was destroyed, but the Rochellais still guarded it. The three musketeers and D’Artagnan, looking for a place to talk undisturbed about important matters, made a bet that they could spend an hour in the destroyed bastion without getting killed. Soldiers from La Rochelle attacked twice. And twice the four drove them back. When, finally, a whole regiment attacked, the musketeers and D’Artagnan had their helper pose dead soldiers with muskets so the attackers could see them. They then escaped through the back while the “battle” raged.

  When Dom and her crew ask Desmond to imprison the Bublassis in a tower far away, they echo the latter part of the musketeers’ story. The most despicable villain in the book, a woman who plotted and ruined many lives, was imprisoned in England by her brother-in-law. She was kept in a faraway castle, in a room high over the sea, until a young man she enthralled saved her. She was caught again and ended up dead. At least the Bublassis only ended up wet.

  Keep reading for a preview of

  Sherlock Dom

  by

  Terry Catasus Jennings

  What the Note Said

  Dominguita Melendez was up and out the door early on Thursday morning. She was on her way to Yuca, Yuca, the best Cuban restaurant in Mundytown. It was also the only Cuban restaurant in Mundytown. Dom had a deal with the owner, el Señor Prieto: Dom swept the store’s sidewalk; el Señor Prieto provided lunch for her crew during their adventures.

  Today she hoped el Señor Prieto would give her a lunch-to-go even though the crew wasn’t going on an adventure. Just Dom and Steph were going on a weekend trip to Steph’s grandmother’s house—on the Rappa River.

  “It might be the last good food I get till we get back,” she told el Señor Prieto.

  “You think? Pancho tells me that Steph’s grandmother makes great chocolate chip cookies.” Pancho was the third member of Dom’s crew. He was also el Señor Prieto’s nephew.

  “Steph called it a cabin… out in the country… on a river.… She said it’s next to a marsh.” Dom raised her eyebrows. “What if it doesn’t even have a kitchen? And you know what? There are no Pizza Palaces out in the country.”

  “No!”

  Dom nodded with force to make sure el Señor Prieto got her point. “By a river? Near a marsh? Nah. No Pizza Palaces.”

  El Señor Prieto shrugged. He picked out a plate of figure-eight pastries shining with syrup—buñuelos—Dom’s and Pancho’s favorite food. As if by magic, Pancho stepped out of the restaurant’s kitchen.

  “I wish I could go with you.” Pancho reached for one of his uncle’s delicious pastries along with a napkin. He was invited, like Dom, to Gran’s river house for the long weekend, but his family was going to see his own grandmother.

  Dom wanted to make Pancho feel better. She stopped chomping on her buñuelo. “It’s not like we’ll have any adventures,” she said, wiping sticky syrup from her chin. “I couldn’t even find the place on the map. Tapperville! I’m sure nothing will happen there. And we’ll be back in no time.”

  “Just in case.” Pancho handed her a piece of paper with his mother’s number. “Call me if something happens. I want to be in on the planning. And figuring things out. I want to be part of it all even if I’m not there.”

  “I’ll call you if we get into trouble,” she told Pancho. “But really, we won’t have any adventures. This place is a million miles from anywhere. Steph and I are taking Sherlock Holmes books. That’s about the only excitement we’ll have.”

  Pancho headed home—his shoulders slumped, his head down.

  Dom didn’t know what to do for him, he looked so sad.

  She also didn’t know what she would do without him. Before their knightly adventure, Dom hadn’t needed friends. She’d found plenty of friends and adventures in her books. But then Pancho had become her squire and Steph, her master of the cookies. She loved her new friends and the adventures she had with them.

  Really loved them.

  But there was no time to feel sad. She had to get to work. She grabbed the broom and swept the sidewalk. Once she was done, she picked up the bag of food and thanked el Señor Prieto. The smell of ham croquettes and malanga fritters followed her home.

  * * *

  As Dom walked home, she got a call from Abuela. W
hich was unusual. First because it was early. And second because Abuela now forgot a lot of things. Dom was normally the one to make the calls. But Abuela sounded sharp today. “It’s very important that you behave well,” she said. “The family’s honor is on your shoulders. And if you don’t behave well, that girl, that girl…”

  “Steph.”

  “Yeah. Steph. And her grandmother. They’ll think Cuban kids don’t know how to behave. You’re representing Cuban kids everywhere, you know.”

  The family’s honor? Cubans kids everywhere? It was true that Dom had never been away from her family. But really? She was only spending a long weekend! Dom bet her mami had put Abuela up to it.

  She was already worried about the food, and now she had to worry about the family’s honor and the honor of every Cuban kid in the universe! She had been excited to go, but it was getting complicated. She was happy that her brother, Rafi, knew exactly what to say when she got home.

  “Don’t forget,” he said. “If you find adventures, take pictures. And take notes. So I can write a book for Abuela… if you find an adventure.”

  * * *

  Steph and her grandmother, Gran, picked Dom up at exactly eight thirty. Which meant Dom’s head was still full of warnings when she got in the car. Even though Dom suspected a Mami-Abuela conspiracy, her mami had added to what Abuela said. The warnings ricocheted so fast she felt her head would explode. And Steph didn’t help. She fell asleep two blocks after Dom got in the car.

  “Don’t you want to take a little snooze?” Gran asked. Dom could see her smile in the rearview mirror. It was clear Gran didn’t want to chitchat. Dom took out her phone and added Pancho’s number into her contacts.

  Mami had given her the phone when Abuela had to move to Miami to live with her sister, because Abuela was forgetting lots and lots of things. Without Abuela, Dom would be home alone after school. At first Dom was supposed to use the phone only to let Mami know she was safe or if she was abducted by aliens. But Dom missed Abuela. She used the phone to stay in touch. And to solve problems in their adventures. And to take pictures that her brother, Rafi, used to illustrate books he wrote for Abuela. The books were about Dom’s adventures—to help Abuela feel like she was still close to Dom and Rafi.

  Dom put her phone away. And tried to look out the window. But worry began to snake into her brain. She was good at that. Worrying.

  She worried about the cabin. She loved wildlife—during the day. But if a daddy longlegs strolled across her forehead and took a jump on her lips while she was asleep, she might just go through the roof. If a mouse ran across her belly, she would have to burst through the door. That would not be good for the family’s honor.

  And what if the cabin had no indoor bathrooms? She wasn’t looking forward to battling bats and sidestepping snakes to take care of business. She might have to hold it all night to protect the honor of all the Cuban kids who ever existed.

  She wished she’d asked Steph a lot more questions before she’d decided to come. But with Steph asleep, Dom would have to wait until she got to Gran’s cabin to know what was what.

  The best thing she could do was read.

  Dom dove into her favorite Sherlock Holmes story. She didn’t come up for air until she felt the car slow down into back roads. They drove through pastures broken by groves of trees. Farm houses, barns, even a few creaky windmills. Cows and sheep and goats. Not at all like the building-crammed streets of Mundytown, where she lived.

  After the welcome sign for Tapperville, Gran really slowed down. Dom was happily surprised to see a Pizza Palace as they drove down the main road! Soon Gran turned. Her tires crunched on a long gravel driveway to a beautiful white house. It was a little like Gran’s house in Mundytown. Plants dressed in leaves of different greens, yellows, and purples wrapped around a porch that wrapped around the house—a colorful outdoor room full of bright yellow rocking chairs. The steps leading to the porch were dark green and shiny.

  Is this the house? she mouthed to Steph, who woke when the car slowed down.

  Steph nodded.

  PHEW!!!!

  Gran helped the girls unload the bags and coolers onto the driveway and handed Steph the key.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said.

  “We know what to do,” Steph said. Then she turned to Dom. “She’s going to town to pick up the mail. We can take a minute to look around the yard, but if we take things in, it makes her really happy.”

  They walked between peach trees and apple trees. Steph showed her Gran’s pie patch—raspberry and blueberry bushes bordered with new rhubarb plants.

  “Gran and my grandfather used to live here while my grandfather was alive. When he died, my parents talked Gran into moving to Mundytown. But she still spends a lot of time here in the summer.”

  As Steph showed her around, Dom noted everything in her head. Including a not-so-big gray building that Steph called the barn. Behind it, the marsh seemed to go on forever. And she especially noticed what wasn’t there—an outhouse.

  “We spend a lot of time in the garden when we’re here,” Steph explained as they stepped onto the porch. “Did you bring Sherlock Holmes like you said you would?”

  Dom nodded. “I read all the way here.”

  “Gran has a copy. We can come out here and read till she gets back.”

  “No time for reading,” Dom said.

  She had seen a note tacked to the door:

  ESTHER STOLEN

  NEED HELP

  Continue Reading…

  Sherlock Dom

  Terry Catasus Jennings

  About the Author and Illustrator

  On September 11, 1961, Terry Catasús Jennings landed in the United States after a short flight from Cuba. On September 12, she was enrolled in seventh grade in an American school. Her family, including her father who had been jailed during the Bay of Pigs invasion, was now in a free country. The only catch for twelve-year-old Terry was that she could count in English and recite the days of the week and the months of the year, but not much more. Because she was often the only Cuban in her school—even through college—Terry knows what it’s like to be different, to be the new kid on the block. She is delighted to have the opportunity, with Definitely Dominguita, to portray a child of immigrants who is no different from her peers—other than that she loves the classics (like Terry did as a child) and lives for Cuban food.

  Fátima Anaya is a graphic designer and children’s illustrator based in El Salvador. She loves working on projects about diversity, family, love, and friendship. The Bright Agency has represented her since 2016, on various books, magazines, and other projects for kids.

  Aladdin

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Terry-Catasús-Jennings

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Fátima-Anaya

  More from this Series

  Sherlock Dom

  Book 4

  Knight of the Cape

  Book 1

  Captain Dom's Treasure

  Book 2

  Don’t miss the other books in the Definitely Dominguita series!

  #1: Knight of the Cape

  #2: Captain Dom’s Treasure

  Coming soon:

  #4: Sherlock Dom

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin paperback edition August 2021

  Text copyright © 2021 by Terry Catasús Jennings

  Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Fátima Anaya


  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact

  Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Book designed by Heather Palisi

  The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2021930778

  ISBN 9781534465121(hc)

  ISBN 9781534465114 (pbk)

  ISBN 9781534465138 (ebook)