Other books by Natalie Grant
Glimmer Girls series
A Dolphin Wish (Book Two)
ZONDERKIDZ
London Art Chase
Copyright © 2016 by Natalie Grant
Illustrations © 2016 by Cathi Mingus
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zonderkidz, 3900 Sparks Drive, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
ePub Edition © January 2016: ISBN 978-0-310-75269-1
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Art direction: Cindy Davis
Cover design and interior illustrations: Cathi Mingus
Content contributor: Naomi Kinsman
Interior design: Denise Froehlich
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 /DCI/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my glimmer girls—Gracie, Bella, and Sadie. You’re my greatest adventure. I love you.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Naomi Kinsman for bringing your genius creativity and beautiful patience to this process. None of this would be a reality without you.
ONE
A clothes tornado had struck, sweeping Maddie, Mia, and Lulu right along with it. Hats, shoes, T-shirts, skirts, jeans, sweaters, coats, and even a feather boa or two were strewn across Maddie’s bedroom. Piles spilled over the edges of their suitcases and covered the floor, topped here and there with various dolls from Lulu’s collection, Maddie’s sketchbook and colored pencils, and Mia’s endless collection of books.
“Girls, what in the world . . .?”
One look at Miss Julia’s face and Maddie burst out laughing. Even without checking, she knew Mia was laughing too. Topping the list of what she loved about being a twin was this—the way she and Mia could almost always read each other’s minds. A close second was the way she and Mia fit together, like the chords and melody of a song. Mia was only three minutes older, but she was also three inches taller and three times faster to know the just-right thing to say. Mia always had a plan, but Maddie was the one who’d convince Lulu to play along. Plus, Maddie could stop any argument between her twin and her little sister in its tracks.
“We’re picking the most London-y things we can find!” Lulu announced, throwing her arms around their nanny in a giant hug. “Come and see!”
Miss Julia hugged Lulu back. “It looks to me like you’ve picked everything in your closets!”
Mia’s eyes lit up the way they always did when she had a new plan. “I know! Let’s have a fashion show. Miss Julia, you can help us pick our outfits.”
“Mommy said we could choose first, and then she’d check our suitcases to make sure we had everything we need,” Lulu said.
“Everything you need, plus a princess dress?” Miss Julia teased.
“We’re going to see a palace, so I definitely need my princess dress.” Lulu fished her crown out of the pile and placed it on her head. “And this, of course.”
“Did I hear something about a fashion show?” Mom asked as she came up the stairs.
Her eyes went wide as she took in the disaster that used to be Maddie’s room.
“Mom,” Maddie said, catching Mia’s eye. “You should be in our fashion show too. We can go in your closet and help you choose perfect outfits for your concerts.”
“Gloria Glimmer . . . sporting her princess finest,” Dad called up from the kitchen.
Mom winked at Maddie. “Nice try, kiddo, but after seeing this room, I’m not letting the three of you anywhere near my closet. I’d love to watch your fashion show, though.”
“Go sit on the couch. And close your eyes. And count to 100,” Lulu said.
“Wait!” Mia said. “We should make a list of all the places we’re going. We’re going to the palace, right?
“Yes, and to the Tower of London,” Mom said.
“What’s that?” Lulu asked.
“At the Tower of London, there’s a room where you’ll see jewelry and crowns that belonged to real princesses and queens.”
Mia picked her way across the mess and returned with a notebook and pencil. “Okay, so the palace and the Tower of London, and what else?”
“We’ll see art, won’t we?” Even though Maddie already knew the answer, she had to ask again.
“Exactly. You’ll go to the National Gallery of Art, where they have every kind of painting, plus a gallery where kids can make their own art too. And we’ll see cathedrals and Big Ben—”
“Who’s Big Ben?” Lulu asked.
“Remember the clock in Peter Pan?”
“Ooh, will we see him too?” Lulu clapped her hands.
“Lulu, you know Peter Pan’s not real,” Mia said.
Lulu opened her mouth to argue, but Maddie jumped in to stop the fight before it started, “Why’s the clock called Big Ben?”
“You know, I’m not sure,” Mom said.
“It’s actually not the clock that’s called Big Ben,” Miss Julia said, reading off her phone. “Big Ben is the Great Bell inside the tower that chimes—along with a lot of other smaller bells—every quarter hour. Some people think the Great Bell is named after Sir Benjamin Hall because he oversaw its installation. But others think it’s named after Benjamin Caunt, England’s heavyweight boxing champion.”
“Fashion show time!” Lulu shouted, twirling around in the assortment of clothes she’d been pulling on—shiny purple boots, a fringed skirt, a multicolored, striped T-shirt, and a glittery, hot pink sunglasses.
“We’d better go downstairs,” Miss Julia said.
“And close your eyes!” Lulu called after them. “Count to 100.”
They’d only reached 40 by the time Maddie, Mia, and Lulu had lined up on the stairs.
“Open your eyes!” shouted Lulu, and then, “WAIT! Keep them closed. Get Daddy to play the piano. We need fashion show music!”
“How are they supposed to keep their eyes closed and get Dad too?” Mia asked.
“Upstairs, upstairs!” said Lulu, pulling her sisters up to the landing.
When Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 wafted up the stairs, the girls sashayed back do
wn again, this time with extra flair to match the music.
“These are our touring-round-town outfits,” Mia said. “Including comfortable shoes so we can walk and walk.”
Mia was wearing her favorite shoes. Lulu still wore her purple boots. Maddie had shoved her feet into ballet flats after pulling on a skirt and her favorite scarf and jacket. Mia was wearing her favorite T-shirt. It had shooting stars.
“You might want to add an umbrella,” Miss Julia said. “And jackets. It rains almost every other day in London, even in June.”
“It won’t rain for the Glimmer tour,” Lulu said. “It will be just lov-e-ly.”
After the girls floated up and down the stairs modeling a full range of outfits, Mom and Miss Julia gave them a standing ovation. Then Dad kissed the tops of each of their heads.
“Now, let’s finish packing those suitcases,” Mom said. “And see if we can find Maddie’s floor again before dinner. Deal?”
“Can we have pizza?” Mia asked.
“Barbecue chicken pizza!” Maddie suggested.
“And Doritos?” Lulu added. “And Cheetos and bologna?”
“Maybe pizza,” Mom said, eyeing them each in turn. “Plus salad. And maybe, if we get all our packing done, chocolate cookies for dessert.”
“Deal!” the girls said in unison before racing each other up to Maddie’s room.
TWO
Lulu bounced up and down on her toes as everyone took their luggage down from the overhead bins and slowly filtered out of the airplane. Maddie knew exactly how Lulu felt. All she wanted was to stand someplace where she had space to stretch her arms and legs. Between the flight from Nashville to Washington, D.C., and this flight from D.C. to London, they had watched four movies, eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner—plus three snacks—and she’d taken two naps. Maddie had read as much of her book as her eyes could bear, had drawn every last thing she could think of in her sketchpad, and even still, she’d run out of things to do almost twenty minutes ago.
Finally, finally, the aisle cleared, and Dad led the way out of the airplane. Lulu exploded out of the air bridge into the first empty space she could find and started to twirl and leap. Sometimes Maddie wished she could be six again and get away with things like Lulu did. No one was irritated with her little sister’s twirling, not even the businessman she accidentally knocked into. But honestly, even when Maddie was six, she couldn’t have ignored the way everyone was watching. Lulu didn’t seem to even notice. Maddie stretched her arms and legs, laughing as Dad joined Lulu and helped her twirl. Miss Julia snapped picture after picture.
“Are you making another collage?” Maddie asked, peeking over Miss Julia’s shoulder.
“Look at this app,” she said, with her familiar burst of enthusiasm about anything new and creative. “I can make Lulu look like she’s in a graphic novel, or a black- and-white sketch.” She flicked through options. “Which one should we use?”
“I say go with the watercolor-looking one. It’s the one that actually looks like Lulu is in motion.”
Miss Julia clicked again a few times, finalizing the picture. “Nice choice.”
Mom put one arm around Maddie and the other around Mia, pulling them both close. “Are my beautiful girls ready to see London?”
Maddie could tell Mia was wound tight with just as much excitement as she was.
“Yes!” they chimed together.
As they made their way through the airport, the Glimmer family might as well have been a parade. Lulu led the way.
“Come on, guys, this way!” she kept shouting, even though Dad was the one actually reading the signs and making sure they were headed for baggage claim.
Dad didn’t always come on tour with Mom. The girls came along most of the time, but Dad had to split his time between touring and arranging and producing music. Mom joked that Dad always found time to tour to exceptional places, like Hawaii for instance, but when she played in Nebraska or Kansas, Dad’s other work called. London must fall into the very-fun category, though, because Dad had cleared his schedule. Maddie liked it best when Dad came on tour, first of all because he always made everything more fun. But also because she liked watching him play piano for Mom at concerts. Maddie especially liked the way Mom’s eyes lit up when she glanced over at Dad onstage.
“Baggage carousel number five!” Dad announced. “We’ll take all the pink and purple suitcases, thank you very much.”
The girls laughed as Dad collected their pile of suitcases, which were—like he said—all pink and purple. His was the exception, gray with orange stripes. When the belt started slowing down, he’d found all of the suitcases but one.
“Where’s my suitcase?” Lulu wailed. “The one with all my toys?”
“I’m sure it’s here,” Miss Julia said, hurrying around the other side of the carousel.
Everyone looked, but Lulu’s pink-striped case was nowhere to be seen.
“My suitcase is gone!” Lulu cried, tears filling her eyes. “My suitcase!”
Maddie wrapped her arms around her sister, hugging her tight. “It’s okay, Lulu. We’ll find it.”
Lulu’s wails only grew louder. “My suitcase, my suitcase, my suitcase!!”
“Listen, Lulu,” Maddie said. “You can share my toys. I’ll give you half of what’s in my case for the whole trip, okay?”
At this, Lulu’s wails quieted, and she looked up at Maddie with watery eyes. “But what if we don’t find my toys . . . ever?”
“We’ll find your suitcase. I’m sure we will,” Maddie said.
Mia came over and joined the hug. “Maybe there’s a lost and found.”
“Now there’s an excellent idea,” Miss Julia said, herding the girls toward an official-looking door. “Let’s check in the office.”
Dad stayed with the luggage cart. Mom went with the girls to talk to the airline officer.
“What happened?” he asked, looking from Lulu’s tear-streaked face to the rest of the group.
“We’re missing a suitcase,” Miss Julia said.
“A pink one with stripes!” Lulu said, her voice rising into an almost-wail all over again.
Maddie rubbed Lulu’s back in circles, the way that always helped calm her down.
“Hmm . . .” the man said, furrowing his brow. Maddie could see he really didn’t want to disappoint Lulu. “Let me check in the back.”
The minute he returned, eyebrows furrowed deep, Maddie knew. The suitcase wasn’t there. If only it had been her toy case, or even her clothes . . . anything other than Lulu’s toys.
“Why don’t you write your hotel’s name on this form,” he said to Mom. “I’ll research where the bag might be, and deliver it myself as soon as we locate it. Where did you have your layover?”
“Washington D.C.,” Mom said, writing quickly and passing the paper back to the man.
“You know what?” Maddie said to Lulu, pulling her sister out of the office before she could start wailing again. “Let’s get Felicity. You can have her for the whole trip, okay?”
Dad unstacked suitcases so Maddie could pull out her favorite American Girl doll.
Lulu cradled Felicity in her arms. “Really? For the whole trip?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Maddie said.
Mia gave Maddie a nice-thinking nod. Lulu loved Felicity in particular, because of her long red hair, and also since in all of Felicity’s stories she rode horses, something Lulu was hoping she’d get to do very, very soon.
“And they’ll find my suitcase sometime?” Lulu asked Mom, tears welling up again.
“You know what, I think we should pray that the suitcase finds its way to us with no trouble at all,” Mom said.
“But should we really pray about a suitcase?” Mia asked. “I mean, is a suitcase important enough to pray about? No offense, Lulu,” she added quickly.
“God wants to hear about all the things that matter to us,” Dad said. “You’re right, Mia, we shouldn’t treat him like a genie in the sky who grants all our wis
hes. But praying is just as much for us as it is for God. When we pray, we are reminded that we can trust him with everything, no matter how big or small.”
“I’ll pray!” Lulu piped up.
“Perfect,” Mom said.
Everyone closed their eyes, and Lulu said, “God, I know you’re really good at finding stuff, so could you please look for my pink-striped suitcase? When you find it, we’ll be at . . . Wait, Mommy, where is our hotel?”
Maddie cracked her eyes open in time to catch Mom’s mouth twitch, the faintest hint of a smile. “The Grand at Trafalgar Square.”
“Right, what Mommy just said. We’ll be staying there. And thank you for taking care of us, and for Mommy and Daddy and Miss Julia and Maddie and Mia and for Felicity too. Amen.”
Maddie made a special effort not to look at Mia when she opened her eyes, because she knew they’d both burst out laughing and Lulu wouldn’t understand. She bit the corner of her mouth and counted silently until the feeling passed.
“I think it’s time to show Felicity her first bit of London,” Mom said. “Are we ready?”
“Yes!” the girls all said.
“After you, ladies!” Dad said, gesturing toward the door.
Maddie, Mia, and Lulu linked arms and together led the way out to the streets of London.
THREE
The cab ride to the hotel took almost an hour, but Maddie didn’t mind. Everywhere she looked something was completely new and surprising, from the way the driver’s wheel was on the wrong side of the car, to the way the cab looked like a giant black beetle, to the way Mom, Dad, and Miss Julia rode in a seat that faced backward toward the girls. They careened through the streets of London. Careening was exactly the right word. Maddie felt more like she was on a roller coaster than in a car as they curved through roundabout after roundabout.
Outside her window, the city flew past, a city that looked like it couldn’t exist in this century. Everything was made of stone and marble and iron, and still, every once in a while she’d see something from absolutely right now, like a Starbucks or a person sitting at a bus stop tapping away at a cell phone’s glowing screen. The buildings were enormous, decorated with pillars and fancy carved window frames and sometimes even a carved gargoyle or odd face. Every building was topped a different way, with brick chimneys or round domes or spiked towers. The lampposts looked like they belonged in Narnia.
London Art Chase Page 1
