by Ida Siegal
The next Saturday morning, we went back to the library for our volunteer jobs. Mom and Papi knew I was going to the library with Melissa—but no one knew we were undercover.
Adrian was coming back with us again. He insisted I needed help snooping—and maybe he was right. It’s hard to keep track of time when you’re hunting for clues. Javier, Shakira, Sophia, Molly, and Lizzie decided to come, too, to watch and be the lookouts. We told all our parents we were forming a study group. Javier’s mom said we needed a chaperone since there were so many kids, so she came along, too. So did Sophia’s dad. Papi said that was a good idea.
“Wow, mija, I can’t believe you got your whole class interested in the Jefferson Market Library,” Papi said that morning while I was eating my breakfast.
“They thought it was cool there might be a princess trapped in the tower. Javier thinks there’s dragons up there! But we’re just going to study.” It felt wrong to lie to Papi, but I couldn’t tell him I was undercover! He might tell the librarian and ruin our investigation.
“And what about your case? Is there a princess in the tower?”
“Eh,” I answered. “I’m not really sure. I mean, there’s no such thing as princesses trapped in towers anymore.”
“Oh, I see. Well, have fun with your friends.”
We all arrived at the library. Melissa and I were collecting board books again. Some of them still had baby drool on them. Ick. In the back of the room, Sophia, Javier, Shakira, Molly, and Lizzie all sat at a table. Adrian was just behind them, pretending to look for a book. We had to get back to the tower. Melissa came up with a plan.
“Millie,” Melissa called. “Um … this board book looks like it can be fixed. Can I go to Louis’s office to get some tape, please?”
“Sure,” Millie replied. “We should always try to save a book! Hurry back.”
“Okay,” Melissa said. She and I started walking toward the tower. Adrian put back the book he was pretending to read and followed us. Everyone else tried to hide their sneaky smiles as they watched us leave.
We got to the tower, and Melissa went with Louis to find the tape and fix the book. Adrian and I ran right toward the stairs and back up to the lounge.
“Okay, now what?” Adrian asked.
“I don’t know … Look around some more?”
There didn’t seem to be anything else. I found myself back over by the window looking at the big tree and the construction site. Why did Sarah need those binoculars? What was she looking at? I glanced up at the ceiling and noticed a handle.
“Adrian, look.”
He walked over to me.
“A door,” he said, pointing.
“A door in the ceiling?”
“Yeah. My uncle has one of those in his house. That’s how you get to the attic … You just have to pull it down.”
Adrian pulled the table over to the window and climbed on top of it. He reached up to grab the handle on the ceiling and pulled it down. The door opened and down came a set of stairs. There was another floor. We were about to climb up the stairs when we heard Melissa G.
“Wait, Louis, wait—”
But it was too late. Louis the custodian walked into the lounge and stared right at us. He didn’t look happy.
WHAT in the world is going on here?” Louis asked, his voice angry and his hands on his hips.
“Um … well …” Melissa stammered. This time she didn’t know what to say.
“Who gave you permission to come up here? This tower is off-limits—especially for children. And that staircase you pulled down—that’s dangerous. You could get hurt!”
Louis was so mad. I just stood there. Frozen. We didn’t know what to do. We were in big trouble. Then Adrian spoke up.
“We’re sorry,” Adrian said.
“Who are you?” Louis asked.
“I’m Adrian.”
“He’s a volunteer, remember?” Melissa said.
“No, no I’m not,” Adrian answered.
“You’re not?” Louis asked. He looked even madder.
“No. It’s time to be honest.”
“What?” I asked. What was Adrian doing?
“Emma, we have to tell the truth. You and I both know the answer to the riddle has to be up those stairs. Louis is the only one who can help us. We need to tell him what’s really going on.”
“Okay,” I said. But I was pretty nervous.
Louis looked impatient. “I’ll ask one more time: What is going on here?”
Adrian took a breath and said, “We’re not really volunteers.”
“We’re undercover,” I explained.
Melissa, Adrian, and I told Louis the whole story. We even showed him the book, the riddle, and Sarah’s backpack and binoculars.
“Huh” was all he said.
“Yeah, we’re really sorry,” Melissa said.
“We just need to help out Sarah,” I added. “She never had any friends when she was a little girl. We’re trying to be her friends now and help her save the princess!”
“Hmm,” Louis grunted.
I was getting even more nervous. What was Louis going to do to us? He might kick us out, get us in trouble, and keep us from finding the princess forever!
“Well,” he continued slowly, “I didn’t have many friends as a kid, either.”
“You didn’t?” Adrian asked.
“Nope. I was pretty lonely. I wish I had some friends like you. That’s pretty nice what you’re trying to do.”
“Thanks!” we said.
“I don’t know anything about this lost princess. That sounds … well … a little strange. But I suppose it couldn’t hurt to look.”
“Really?” I screamed.
“Okay, settle down. Yes, really. But you have to follow my lead. I will take you up to the top of the tower if you do exactly as I say. Got it?”
“Got it!” we shouted together.
Louis walked over to the ceiling door Adrian had pulled down. He pulled it down a little farther and locked it into place so it was secure.
“Follow me.” Louis began to climb the stairs, and we went right behind him. We were in a much smaller room this time. It was more like an attic. We had to duck our heads because the slanted ceiling wasn’t tall enough. There was just enough room for a small window.
“Look around—but don’t touch anything unless I say it’s okay.”
“Got it,” I replied. And then I heard something. Adrian heard it, too, and we looked right at each other.
“Chirping,” he said. We could hear birds chirping. We were getting closer.
“Louis,” I said, “can you open the window for us? We need to see where that chirping is coming from.”
“Okay.” Louis opened the window. We looked out and saw the very top of the enormous pine tree across from the tower. The chirping was even louder.
“I hear the birds, but I don’t see anything,” Adrian said.
“I know,” Melissa chimed in. “Emma, hand me the binoculars.”
I pulled the binoculars out of Sarah’s backpack. Melissa took them and looked out the window.
“Guys, you have to see this,” she whispered.
“What is it?”
“Just look.”
Melissa handed me the binoculars and I looked. It was amazing! I could see an entire bird family in a nest. But not just any bird family. It was an owl family. There was a mama owl and a daddy owl and three little baby owls. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. The babies were chirping, but the parents were sleeping. That’s right, I thought. Owls sleep during the day. At least, grown-up owls do.
I handed the binoculars to Adrian so he could see, too. Even Louis couldn’t believe it.
“My goodness. I had no idea that owl family was living up here. That’s just incredible,” Louis said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Guys, you know what this means?” I said.
“What?” Adrian asked.
“We’re really close. Remember, the pr
incess is ‘trapped across the way where the chirping babies snooze.’ ”
“Right!” Melissa replied.
“We’re across from chirping babies. The princess is here somewhere.”
We looked around the room again. And in the corner near the window, I spotted a pillow. It was pink. I lifted it up and screamed.
“I found her! There she is. It’s the lost princess!”
I BENT down and picked her up. It was a princess, all right. A princess puppy doll with floppy ears. Just like Sarah said in her riddle: “don’t mind her floppy ears.” The puppy was wearing a silly pink dress and had a little purse. The purse had words stitched on it that read, “My precious princess.”
“A toy? A toy puppy? We went through all that to rescue a toy puppy princess?” Adrian sounded annoyed.
“It may be just a toy to you,” I answered. “But it meant a lot to Sarah. And we found her.”
“Hey, Emma,” Melissa G. said.
“Yeah?”
“There’s something in the princess puppy’s bag.”
Melissa reached inside the purse and pulled out an envelope. Inside the envelope was a ring—and a note.
“Read it,” Adrian said.
“For my special niece Sarah. You will always be my princess. Love, Uncle Peter.”
“Peter? Uncle Peter?” Louis the custodian asked.
“Yeah, that’s what it says,” Melissa said.
“Oh my goodness. That must be Peter O’Mally. He was the custodian here a long time ago. It must be fifteen years now. I took over for him. Very nice man. And come to think of it, yes, I remember he had a niece who came to the library with him. She always carried a little toy and read books all day long. I might have even seen that princess puppy.”
“Wow!” I said. “We have to get it back to her. And the ring. They must have both been very special.”
“I bet they were,” Louis answered. “Sarah must have sat up here when her uncle was working. I bet she sat on that pillow and looked out the window with her binoculars.”
“She must have,” I said. “Even back then, there were probably birds in that tree. She was right across from where the chirping birds snooze!”
Suddenly we heard a loud noise outside the window. It sounded like a bulldozer. I still had the binoculars, so I used them to see if the noise woke up the owl family. They were still sleeping. Then I looked down to the ground and saw something awful.
“Oh, no!” I gasped. “The tree! They’re going to knock down the tree!”
“What?” Louis looked out the window. We started yelling for the construction workers to stop. If the tree fell down, the little owl babies would be hurt! But the workers couldn’t hear us.
“What should we do?” Melissa cried, looking scared.
“Hurry! We have to go right now!” Louis walked toward the stairs.
He was right. But first I started shooting video of the owl babies. We had to show everyone what was up in the tree. Once I was done, I slipped my phone in my pocket, and we all raced down the stairs.
No one knew about the owl nest except for us. The nest was so high up in the tree, you couldn’t see it unless you were at the very top of the tower.
We got to the main lobby, and we ran past Javier and Sophia and everyone else without saying a word. They all followed right behind, confused and concerned.
“Wait, Emma, stop!” called Sophia’s dad.
“Yes, hold on a minute,” added Javier’s mom. “Where are you running off to?”
“There isn’t much time to explain,” Adrian said.
“We were at the top of the tower and found an owl family,” I said in a rush. “And the babies are chirping, but the construction workers are going to tear the tree down. We have to save them!”
“You were at the top of the tower? What were you doing up there?” Sophia’s dad wanted to know.
“I gave them permission,” Louis said, winking at me. “Emma, show them the video of the owls.” I handed my phone to Sophia’s dad, and they all crowded around to see.
“Oh my goodness,” Javier’s mom said. “Let’s not waste any more time! Let’s go save those owls!”
WE all dashed out of the library. I had my camera phone out as our whole group ran across the street. I recorded while we yelled to the construction workers.
“Stop! Stop! Don’t tear the tree down! There’s an owls’ nest up there! The baby owls will die! You have to stop!”
Suddenly all the workers stopped what they were doing and looked in our direction. We made it across the street, and Louis started explaining to the workers what was going on.
“Show them the video,” Louis said to me.
I pressed play and showed them the nest.
“Oh, man,” the worker said. “We didn’t know those guys were up there. Well, we’ll have to tell the boss about this.” He walked away and started talking with a group of workers at the scene.
“What does that mean? Will the boss make them stop?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, Emma. I hope so,” Louis said with a worried look on his face.
I knew what I had to do. I still had the puppy princess in my hand. I gave it to Melissa G. so I could focus. I had a news report to finish.
I found my microphone in my bag and plugged it into my camera phone. I gave Sophia the camera, and she pointed it right at me. Shakira came over and fixed my hair. Javier kept the crowd away so the tree could be seen behind me. I started to feel a little nervous. I looked over at Sophia.
“Go ahead, Emma. This is the most important story we’ve ever done. The owls are depending on us. You can do it.”
Sophia was right. I looked right into the camera and just started talking about what was happening. I didn’t have time to write my news script—I had to just go. So I did. I told the whole story about the owls in the tree. Then I edited my story to show the video of the owls’ nest all the way up in the tree. I included video of the construction workers and how they were planning to tear the tree down. Finally my report was done, and I posted it to the Internet.
A couple minutes later, Sophia’s dad’s phone rang. It was Papi.
“Papi, I’m so glad you called. We need help!”
“Emma, I just saw your news report. Is this true? Are those owls really in danger?”
“Yes! We’re trying to convince the workers not to tear down the tree, but I don’t know what they’re going to do.”
“Okay—stay there. I’ll be right over.”
Papi showed up twenty minutes later—and he wasn’t alone. He came with a photographer from his newspaper, the New York Herald. Behind them, another car pulled up. It said Animal Control on the side. Then another car pulled up—a police car! And then, behind the police car, a fire truck arrived!
“Hi, mija,” Papi said as he walked over to all of us. “Looks like you have a breaking news story on your hands. I called everyone I could think of. They all agree we have to save the owls. No one should tear down that tree.”
The newspaper photographer who came with Papi started taking pictures of the tree and the construction workers. The police officers and the firefighters walked over to the workers, and they were all standing in a circle talking and looking up.
“Papi, I’m so nervous. Is your newspaper going to do a news story on this?”
“We sure are,” Papi replied. “You uncovered a heck of a story, mi amor. Good stuff.”
“I guess. I’m just so scared the baby owls will be hurt,” I said, holding Papi’s hand. “Who’s that behind you?”
Papi looked around. Someone was walking toward us. It was a woman in a gray suit with a blue shirt. She looked pretty serious.
“Well, well, well,” Papi said. “That is a city councilmember. Her name is Felicia Simmons. She’s very powerful. Emma, your story got the attention of Councilmember Simmons. Well done.”
“Hello, Miguel, good to see you again,” Councilmember Simmons said to Papi. Miguel is his real name.
�
��Hello, Councilmember. I want to introduce you to my daughter Emma. She’s the one who discovered the owls.”
“Yes, I heard all about it. Good work, Emma. I saw your report. Don’t worry. We’re not going to let anything happen to that owl family.”
“Thank you,” I replied, smiling.
Councilmember Simmons walked over to the group of people talking.
“I just heard from the mayor’s office,” she told them. “No one is allowed to touch this tree. That’s an order from the mayor.”
I started screaming and jumping. We all did. We did it! The owls were safe!
“I’m very proud of all of you,” Papi said after we calmed down a little. “This is what journalism is all about. Telling people things they need to know—and helping those who need it. If it weren’t for you all, no one would have known about the owls. Good work.
“But there’s one more thing we need to talk about,” Papi said, becoming serious.
Uh-oh.
“Sophia’s father told me how you snuck up to the top of the library tower. You know better than to do that. It’s off-limits for a reason.”
“But we were undercover!” I explained. “Just like Nellie Bly. We had to get up there to save the princess.”
“I know,” said Papi. “But Nellie Bly was a grown-up when she went undercover. You are all still kids, and you can get hurt. You got lucky this time. And you ended up doing a good thing. But, please, no more undercover assignments. Got it?”
“Okay,” I said.
“Mr. Perez,” Louis said, stepping in. “I’m the custodian at the library, and I’m in charge of the tower. I caught Emma snooping up there and told her how dangerous it was.”
“I see,” Papi said.
“But then I saw what they were doing and how smart and determined they were, and I decided to help them. I made sure no one was in any danger.”
“Well, thank you, Louis. I really appreciate that.”
“It was no problem. She’s a good kid.”
“You’re right about that,” Papi agreed.
Louis winked at me. I think he was proud.
THE next day, I was preparing my final news report on the case of the princess in the tower. But I still had some questions. Like, why did Sarah leave her princess puppy there to begin with? And how did the Bridge to Terabithia book end up at my school library? We found the princess, but it didn’t make any sense.
