by Ida Siegal
“Oh … uh … wow, Emma. A princess trapped in a tower? Hmm,” said Sophia. She looked skeptical, like she didn’t believe it was true.
“Emma, I have seen every princess movie ever made,” added Shakira, “but here’s the thing: Princesses aren’t real! They’re from fairy tales. Do you really think there’s a princess trapped in a tower somewhere?”
“Hey, you never know,” said Javier. “Princesses are real. They just don’t live here in New York City. They live all over the world. And besides, in video games when you rescue the princess, you get to fight the fire-breathing dragon! I’m a dragon ninja!” Javier jumped into a ninja stance. “Count me in!”
“You guys,” I responded, “I know it’s not a real princess. But the girl who wrote this note is real and she asked for help. Fifteen years have gone by, and no one has helped her. If she says a ‘princess’ is trapped in a tower, we have to assume she’s being serious. Something is wrong. And we’re journalists. It’s our job to help her.”
“Maybe Emma’s right. Maybe the riddle is trying to tell us something else,” said Sophia.
“Yeah. This could be fun,” agreed Shakira. “I’m in!”
We all decided. “Emma Is On the Air” was going to save the lost princess!
WE started hatching a plan, when Sophia thought of something important.
“Guys, what about the anonymous source? Remember? We still haven’t solved that case.”
Sophia was right. The last note I got from the anonymous source said I need your help. But we were never able to figure out who needed our help or why.
“I know,” I said, “but what else can we do? We asked everyone at school if they sent the note; they all said no. We can’t solve a problem and help someone if we don’t know who that person is.”
“Yeah, I know. I just hate leaving a case unsolved. That source has helped us out so many times. We owe it to her to return the favor,” Sophia replied.
“Maybe the anonymous source will send us another note?” Javier suggested. “If the source really needs us, she’ll reach out again.”
“Good point,” said Shakira. Ever since Javier and Shakira agreed to try out each other’s toys, they’ve become really good friends. Shakira even tried on Javier’s night-vision goggles—and wore them. In public!
“Thanks, Shakira.” Javier smiled.
“That’s right! Now back to work.” I pulled out my purple reporter pad and wrote The Case of the Princess in the Tower.
Then I wrote clue #1:
A riddle was left inside an old book that went missing for 15 years. “A princess in a tower, locked away for years. Please, someone save her. Don’t mind her floppy ears. I can’t tell you more. You’ll have to find the clues. She’s trapped across the way where the chirping babies snooze. —Sarah Spellman, 30 Washington Way, Seattle, Washington”
Then I wrote clue #2:
Library checkout card shows Sarah Spellman was the last person to check the book out in 2000.
And finally, clue #3:
Mrs. Myrtle, the school librarian, remembers Sarah. Sarah loved to read and didn’t have many friends. Mrs. Myrtle didn’t hear her talk about a princess in a tower.
“First step, let’s look up that address in Seattle,” I said.
We walked over to the computer in the library. Sophia typed in 30 Washington Way, Seattle.
“A coffee shop?” Javier said, disappointed. That’s what popped up on the screen: Jumpin’ Java Coffee Shop.
“Why would a girl send a note from a coffee shop?” Shakira wondered.
“Look.” Sophia pointed to the screen. “It says Jumpin’ Java opened ten years ago. Sarah moved to Seattle fifteen years ago. Maybe she lived there before the coffee shop opened?”
“Maybe,” I added. “But how can we figure that out?”
“I’m not sure,” Sophia answered.
“Let’s think. What else can we do?” I wondered.
“If you’re going to save a princess from a tower,” Javier said, “you have to find the tower!”
“Great idea! Let’s go get some books about famous towers in New York City,” said Sophia.
Most of the books we found showed skyscrapers, like the Empire State Building. That didn’t seem like the right tower. Too tall. We found an apartment building in Brooklyn called the Clock Tower. That was a possibility, but we couldn’t think of a reason why Sarah would need to save a princess in Brooklyn. In the Bronx, there was something called the Bell Tower. But it looked like you couldn’t go inside it. None of the towers we found felt quite right.
“Library time is over,” called Mrs. Myrtle. “Everyone line up.”
Sophia stacked our books and put them on the cart.
“I’m sure there’s more towers to find. I’ll ask my mom when I get home,” said Sophia.
We had all started gathering to form the line, when Mrs. Myrtle walked over to us.
“Oh, Emma, before you go, do you still have that book you found?”
“Yup yup! Right here.”
“Oh, good. Make sure you hold on to it. It’s looking like it doesn’t belong to our school library after all. I can’t find a record of it anywhere in the computer or in the old files. Can I take another look inside the book?”
“Sure.” I handed her the book. She opened it up to look inside.
“Aha. That’s what I thought. This book was checked out from the Jefferson Market Library down in Greenwich Village, not our school library. You know that library, don’t you? It’s the famous one—with the beautiful old clock tower.”
Sophia, Shakira, Javier, and I all looked at one another. That was it. We found the tower.
AFTER school, I hurried to my room. As I waited for the interview with Mrs. Myrtle to load, I wrote my news report about our new case. It’s funny—now that I’ve done so many reports, it’s pretty easy to do the writing part. I just think about what I need to tell people and write it down. I don’t know why it used to make me so nervous.
I was almost done writing my story. I had to add two more things.
Clue #4: 30 Washington Way is now the address of the Jumpin’ Java Coffee Shop in Seattle.
And then,
Clue #5: The book was checked out from the Jefferson Market Library—which has a tall clock tower.
After I posted my news story to the school bulletin board, I ran downstairs for dinner and told my parents all about my new case.
“Oh, the Jefferson Market Library? I love that place,” said Mom. “That’s the library I used to go to when I was a little girl.”
“Really?? Mom, we have to go!! Can we go now? Pleeeaaase?” I begged.
Luna jumped up onto the table and started begging, too. “Meeeeoooowww???”
She’s such a good reporter’s assistant! Always there when I need her.
“Luna, off the table,” Papi said, giving her a light pat.
“Emma, be serious. We’re in the middle of eating our dinner,” Mom said.
“Mi amor,” Papi chimed in. “My love, let’s finish our food first. Primero come. Then we’ll talk about going to the Jefferson Market Library. Okay? ¿Está bien?”
“Okay, fine, Papi. Sí, está bien,” I agreed. I swallowed my rice and beans and chicken as fast as I could without choking. Mom and Papi looked at me like I was being silly. Baby Mia started laughing. I just smiled with my mouth full and shrugged. I needed to get to that library!
After we cleared the table, Mom showed me what the library looked like on the computer. It kind of looked like a castle. A brick castle with a tall, pointy tower attached. It was amazing.
“This has to be it. When can we go?”
“To be honest, Emma, I’m not sure we can,” Mom said. “It’s all the way downtown, and we have so much to do on the weekends.”
“But I have to! Please? Please?”
Mom sighed. “I’ll try to figure it out. No promises.”
* * *
The next day at lunch, I told everyone how I couldn’t
go to the library.
“No promises. That’s what my mom said.”
“Sorry, Emma,” said Sophia.
“Yeah, that stinks,” added Javier. “Now what should we do? The princess-eating dragons are at the Jefferson Market Library. We have to get there somehow!” He started fighting invisible dragons in the lunchroom.
“Hey, Emma, can I borrow your shiny feather pencil?” asked Shakira. “I want to write down the name of the library again so I can look it up. I want to see where the princess is trapped!”
“Sure. It’s in my backpack.”
Shakira reached down the table to grab my backpack. She opened it up and started searching for my special pencil.
“Hey,” she said. “I found something else. Look. I think it’s another note from the anonymous source.”
“What? Let me see!”
We all leaned over to see a folded piece of paper. Inside, there was a message written with pink ink!
“It is from the anonymous source! What does it say?” I asked.
“Read it!” Javier commanded.
“Hold on,” Shakira said as she flattened the paper note. “It says, Your enemy is your friend. The past is in the past. Make it right, and you’ll find the princess. You’ll help me, too.”
“My enemy is my friend?” I said. “How will ‘making it right’ help the anonymous source? I’m confused.”
“I don’t get it,” Javier said.
“Yeah, me neither,” added Shakira.
“Let’s think about it,” said Sophia. “Who’s your enemy?”
“My enemy? I don’t know.” I looked around the lunchroom. There was Melissa G. carrying her lunch tray over to the garbage can. Melissa? Was the source talking about Melissa?
“Maybe the source is talking about Melissa G.,” Sophia said. She was reading my mind.
“Maybe,” I said, “but what does Melissa G. have to do with the princess in the tower?”
“I don’t know,” said Sophia. Lunch was ending. Everyone started lining up for recess.
“Maybe you just have to make up with her to find out,” said Javier as he leapt over to us, throwing his hands up like he was swinging a sword.
Ugh. That was the last thing I wanted to do—make up with Melissa G.
WE got to the yard, and Javier was still pretending to fight dragons. This time, Adrian joined him, and they were throwing kicks and karate chops into the air together. I just stood in the corner of the school yard trying to figure out how to get to the library to find the princess.
I pulled out my reporter pad and wrote,
Clue #6: We got another note from the anonymous source: “Your enemy is your friend. The past is in the past. Make it right, and you’ll find the princess. You’ll help me, too.”
What in the world did that mean? Shakira and Sophia were playing hopscotch, so I decided to forget about the clue and jumped in to play. I threw a piece of rock onto the number eight. I hopped up the chalk squares expertly, jumping right over the number eight. I never even touched the line. I hopped all the way back to the beginning. I proudly jumped out of the game and landed right next to Javier and … Melissa G.
“Whoa! Sorry. What are you guys doing here?” I said, startled.
“Emma, you have to talk to Melissa G. right now,” said Javier. “Me and Adrian were fighting the Jefferson Market dragons, and Melissa heard us. She knows all about the dragons at the Jefferson Market Library! Melissa, tell her.”
“No I don’t!” Melissa G. responded. “Well, I know about the library, but I don’t know about any dragons at the library.”
“How do you know about the library?” Sophia asked.
“My grandmother lives downtown. She takes me there all the time. Actually, I’m a book volunteer on Saturday mornings. Why?”
“Really?” I said. Was the anonymous source really talking about Melissa G. after all?
“Yeah,” Melissa said again, still looking unsure why we all cared so much.
“Oh, uh, we need to … I was trying to … oh, never mind.”
“What Emma is trying to say,” Sophia said, “is that we need your help.”
“My help?”
Shakira nodded. “You know the big clock tower at the library? There’s a princess trapped inside. Emma’s trying to save her.”
“It’s not a real princess,” I explained. “I mean, I’m not sure. Probably not. But there is a real girl who needs help and, yeah, we’re trying to help her. But we have to get inside the library to do it. My mom won’t take me.”
“Oh. Okay … I guess I could help you. You could come with me next weekend. I volunteer in the children’s section,” Melissa said.
“Really?” I replied. I couldn’t believe it.
Melissa shrugged. “I love princesses. And I know all about that library. Just tell me where you need to look.” Suddenly she seemed excited. And nice! Was this the same person?
“That’s the thing,” I said. “We don’t know exactly where to look. I need to get into the clock tower and find the clues. That’s what the riddle says anyway.”
I showed Sarah’s note to Melissa G.
“So you need to get into the tower to search for clues?” Melissa asked.
“Um, yes. Can you help me?”
“Actually, I’m not sure I can. No one’s allowed in that clock tower. It’s off-limits.”
OKAY, class, let’s settle down,” our teacher, Miss Thompson, announced.
We were back in our classroom after recess, and I still didn’t have a plan. Melissa G. could get us into the library, but not the clock tower. And I was sure that was where my missing princess was.
Miss Thompson clapped to get our attention. “I’d like everyone to give a warm welcome to our guest speaker, Ms. Grace Patel from the New-York Historical Society.”
I’d have to figure this out later.
“Hi, Ms. Grace,” we said together.
“Grace is visiting to talk about a notable New Yorker from history.”
“Hello, everyone,” Grace said. “Today we are going to learn all about a very famous journalist. She was a pioneer in her time.”
Suddenly my head perked up. A famous journalist? That’s like me!
“Her name was Nellie Bly.” Grace held up a black-and-white photograph of a woman from the olden days. She had dark hair pinned up on her head and a serious face. She had on one of those dresses women used to wear, with a really high collar.
“Nellie Bly covered all kinds of important news stories,” Grace continued. “In fact, she even traveled around the world in a mere seventy-two days! That was a very big deal at the time. Today—January 25—is the day she arrived back home more than a hundred and twenty-five years ago!”
“Wow,” we all said together.
Grace handed the old photograph to Javier in the front row. Then we passed it around the classroom so everyone could see her up close.
“But Nellie Bly is most famous for an even more important news story,” Grace continued. “It was an undercover investigation. Nellie Bly was one of the first reporters to cover a story that way. She forever changed investigative journalism. Who can tell me what investigative journalism is?”
I raised my hand as high as I could.
“Yes?” Grace said, pointing at me.
“Investigative journalism is when a reporter has to do an investigation to find the answers for a news story. They have to do a lot of research and find out things no one knew before,” I explained.
“That is exactly right! Excellent explanation,” said Grace. “Nellie Bly helped to invent a special kind of investigation. She went ‘undercover.’ Does anyone know what that means?”
“I do!” Adrian called out.
“Adrian, we raise our hands,” Miss Thompson corrected.
“Sorry,” Adrian replied as he raised his hand.
“Okay, Adrian,” Grace said, “what does undercover mean?”
“That’s like when you’re a police detective and you dr
ess up as a bad guy in order to catch bad guys doing bad-guy stuff.”
“Yes, that’s one version of going undercover. And it’s similar when a journalist goes undercover. They pretend to be someone else so they can get inside a place to see what’s really going on there. It’s usually a place where reporters aren’t allowed. For Nellie Bly, it was a mental institution, a special kind of hospital.”
“So she lied?” Javier asked—without raising his hand.
“She did lie,” answered Grace. We all gasped. Grown-ups weren’t supposed to lie.
“But she lied for an important reason,” Grace went on. “Let me explain. In 1887, when Nellie Bly lived, hospitals weren’t always as good as they are today. She heard about a particular hospital that did not treat patients very well. She thought that was wrong, and she wanted to know if it was true. The only way Nellie could know for sure was to see it for herself. But the hospital wouldn’t let a reporter inside to see what was really going on. What could Nellie do?”
“Pretend to be a patient!” I called out.
“Emma?” Miss Thompson said with a look of disapproval. Oops. I forgot to raise my hand, too.
“Sorry,” I replied.
“That’s right, Emma!” Grace said. “Nellie Bly pretended to be a patient. She convinced the doctors that she was ill so she could sneak into the hospital and learn what it was like to be a patient there. Nellie saw for herself that patients were not treated well at all. They needed help. They needed someone to stand up for them.
“Nellie eventually told the doctors she was only pretending and left the hospital. Then she wrote a news story to tell the world about everything she witnessed. People were shocked and demanded justice for the patients in the hospital.”
“Wow,” said Javier. “Nellie Bly rescued people. She sounds like a superhero.”
“Yes! She was like a superhero at the time,” Grace agreed. “That kind of news story is called an exposé.”