Light Up New York

by Natalie Grant

  “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every urgent news story was about the Snow Angel?” Mom asked.

  “We have to see if there are any clues!” Lulu took off her glasses and fished the magnifying glass out of her bag. If Miss Julia hadn’t caught Lulu’s hand, Mia was sure she would have charged down the sidewalk ahead of everyone.

  As it was, Lulu dragged Miss Julia all the way to the steps of the New York Public Library. Two stone lions peered out over the crowd that had collected to watch the reporter and camera crew. Everyone had to scramble to keep up. In a way, Mia was happy that Lulu was so excited about the detective kit. Maybe the kit would help Lulu feel more included. Maybe then she’d stop focusing on making her sisters’ lives miserable. Well, Mia knew her little sister didn’t mean to make life miserable, but it wasn’t easy always being on edge, not knowing what bad thing would happen next. God, I’ve chosen to forgive her, Mia prayed. Help me have a good attitude.

  When they were close enough to see the reporter’s hands, they saw that she was, in fact, holding a paper snowflake. She said, “And that’s it for this newest Snow Angel delivery. We hope that soon we’ll learn his or her identity and be able to thank this giver of gifts properly.”

  The camera’s light turned off, and the crowd began to disperse.

  “Wait, what was the gift?” Maddie asked, as people streamed by.

  “A pair of reading glasses on a beaded chain,” a woman stopped to say. “For one of the tour guides here at the library who is always losing her glasses. Such an odd giver, this Snow Angel is. No rhyme or reason to the gifts, no way to predict what’s coming next.”

  “Should we look for footprints?” Lulu asked, taking out her magnifying glass. She covered one eye and peered through the glass with her other one, nearly running into someone coming down the steps.

  “Lulu, how can you even tell whose footprints you’re looking at?” Mia asked before she could stop herself. She wanted Lulu to be excited about clues. But seriously. At least forty people had just come down these stairs, and how many more might have been here since the Snow Angel had passed by? How would anything that Lulu found in the muddy snow be worth anything?

  “What if we take a tour with the guide who was given the glasses?” Maddie suggested. “Maybe we can even ask her some questions about who has been on her tour recently. She might have ideas.”

  Lulu gazed at Maddie through her magnifying glass. Through the thick glass, her eye was large and round, making both Mia and Maddie giggle. Lulu grinned too, and then put the glass away, taking out her detective pad and pen. “Let’s do it. I’ll take notes.”

  “So, into the library?” Dad pulled Mom close.

  She shivered and leaned into him, making Mia realize how cold her own cheeks and nose were. It would be nice to go inside and warm up, even if they didn’t find any Snow Angel clues. But Mia thought Maddie might be on to something. If the tour guide noticed something major, she probably would have told the reporters. But sometimes it took the just-right question for someone to realize she had seen something important. Mia had learned this from the mysteries she and her sisters had solved so far this year.

  “Into the library!” Maddie said, and led the way.

  THIRTEEN

  The library wasn’t like any Mia had ever seen before. In fact, it looked more like a cathedral or a museum. For one thing, she couldn’t see a single book when she came through the front doors. Two grand staircases stood on each side of the entryway, over which hung wrought iron light fixtures. Marble candelabras stood watchfully next to archways, casting warm light across the entire space. People crisscrossed the room, headed upstairs or toward the gift shop, or along the hallway that stretched behind the entryway. Off to their left was a welcome desk.

  They might have stood there staring around the room for a while, if Miss Julia hadn’t noticed the welcome desk had a sign that read Tours hanging above it.

  “We don’t have a tour for another 45 minutes.” The woman behind the desk took off her reading glasses and let them hang around her neck on their beaded chain. “While you wait, you could watch the 30-minute film on the making of the library. Then you’ll be experts when you go on the tour. You’ll know what to look for.”

  “Are those glasses from the Snow Angel?” Lulu asked, not beating around the bush.

  “Lulu,” Mia warned.

  “What? We’re looking for clues, aren’t we?” Lulu asked.

  “You’re looking for clues?” the woman asked.

  “The Snow Angel has captivated the girls,” Dad explained.

  “Have you found any clues yet?” the woman wanted to know.

  “No, but we just started looking,” Mia said. “I’m Mia, and that’s Maddie, and Lulu. And our Mom and Dad, Jack and Gloria Glimmer, and our nanny, Miss Julia.”

  Mia hoped that if she introduced the family, the woman would introduce herself too. And maybe tell them anything else she knew.

  “Well, hello,” the woman said. “I’m Diane Jackson, and as you have suspected, I did have a visit from the Snow Angel. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I have any more information for you. I suppose the Snow Angel would have to be someone observant, someone who noticed that I lost my glasses at some point or another. But I lose my glasses almost every day, so it’s not easy to pin down when someone might have noticed.”

  “Has anyone been on your tour more than once, recently?” Maddie asked. “Maybe someone who seemed particularly interested or who asked a lot of questions?”

  Mia was impressed with Maddie’s questions. She was right. If the Snow Angel was specifically watching the librarian, he or she may have taken the tour more than once. Or, at least, the Snow Angel would have taken an interest and asked questions.

  Diane frowned, thinking. “You know, other than a family with a couple little girls who came two weeks in a row, I can’t think of anyone who has taken the tour twice recently. But it wasn’t all that unusual for that family to take two tours, because they took different ones. In one, they saw the whole library, and in the other they explored the map room in depth. The parents mentioned they were trying out indoor adventures for the winter, since it’s been so cold. Their girls seemed interested, but in a good way. Like kids who don’t spend too much time staring at screens.” She cocked her head at Mom and Dad, and then raised her eyebrows at the girls. “I suppose they were a little like you girls. But none of you are the Snow Angel, are you?”

  Maddie and Lulu laughed, shaking their heads. Mia smiled too, but she didn’t like the realization that the Snow Angel could be anyone. Anyone in the entire city of New York . . . and that was a lot of people. Had she and her sisters finally taken on an impossible-to-solve mystery?

  “How many people live in New York?” Mia asked Miss Julia, as they settled into the cushy chairs in the small movie-screening room. She couldn’t remember what Miss Julia had said on the first day they were in town.

  Miss Julia took out her phone. After tapping and scrolling, she said, “Eight point four six million, and that was back in 2013. Also, on average, there are 538,000 tourists in the city every day.”

  Mia flopped her head against the cushioned headrest.

  “We’re going to find the Snow Angel,” Lulu said, patting Mia’s arm. “Don’t worry. I’m sure we will.”

  Mia wasn’t so sure.

  “Remember, you promised to have fun even if you couldn’t solve the mystery,” Mom said as the lights dimmed. “Right now, let’s enjoy the library, okay?”

  Mia hadn’t expected the library movie to be interesting, but before she knew it, she was completely absorbed. The movie showed the history of the library’s construction and its opening in 1911, and gave quick peeks into different rooms. Each held special collections like rare books, old manuscripts, and even a photography collection. Mia kept track of what she wanted to see—the reading rooms, the children’s book room, of course, and the map room.

  “What do you think, should we go on the actual tour?” Dad aske
d.

  “I think we can just wander on our own,” Mom said. “Now that we know so much about the different rooms.”

  The girls agreed, since they’d already had a chance to talk to Diane. For the next hour or so, they popped in and out of the galleries, looking at the statues and paintings all over the building. Even though he’d already given them a treat at the toy store, Dad offered to buy the girls each a book in the gift shop. Mia was pretty sure this was because she and Maddie had used their money on Lulu. Mia chose When You Reach Me, which was a Newbery Award book set in New York, and Maddie chose a sketchbook full of ideas called 642 Things to Draw. Lulu chose a picture book called Library Lion. In the movie, they’d learned the names of the marble lions outside—Patience and Fortitude. Now, Lulu was obsessed with the idea that the lions came to life at night.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t find any clues,” Maddie said to Mia as they left the library.

  “I didn’t think about there being so many people in New York, or so many possibilities,” Mia said. “And we can keep looking, anyway. It’s still fun looking for clues, even if we don’t figure the mystery out.”

  “I was starting to think we could solve any mystery,” Maddie said.

  Mia looped her arm through Maddie’s. “Yeah, me too.”

  Lulu posed with each of the lions in front of the library building, and Miss Julia snapped photos. Then, she took a full family photo in front of the library and checked her watch.

  “I have to catch my train to Brooklyn soon,” she said.

  “Where are you going?” Mia asked.

  “To see a friend. We’re meeting for dinner,” Miss Julia said.

  “And I have a surprise planned for the rest of us tonight,” Dad said, and then clamped his mouth shut, refusing to say anything more.

  For the rest of the walk home, the only mystery anyone tried to solve was the surprise Dad had up his sleeve.

  FOURTEEN

  Mom had packed fancy dresses for the girls, which they decided to wear tonight. Dad refused to tell anyone—even Mom—where they were going.

  “It’s a surprise,” he kept saying.

  While Mia, Maddie, and Lulu waited for the adults to finish getting ready, the girls sat with the snow globe, passing it back and forth and telling stories about the girl and what she found in the magical woods. “It’s like Narnia,” Maddie insisted. “With talking animals . . .”

  “And fairies!” Lulu put in.

  “But she’s seeking answers,” Mia pointed out. “So, maybe she’s trying to solve a mystery.”

  For now, though, Mia didn’t want to think about the Snow Angel mystery. Every time she thought about the mystery, it felt like she was mentally grasping for threads, each thought breaking off soon after it began. All that broken-end thinking made her head hurt.

  Dad popped his head in the doorway. “Are you girls ready?”

  He was wearing a dark suit, and Mom wore a sparkly dress and heels. Excitement fizzed through Mia as she considered all the possible surprises. Mom put the snow globe away in the drawer, and then they were off.

  Down the elevator and into the lobby, the Glimmers went. Through glass double doors, they found a little underground hallway that led to Grand Central Terminal.

  “It’s like a secret passageway,” Maddie said, delighted.

  Mia loved this idea. She imagined that they were entering a train station that not only transported people all over the city, but to impossible places. Like forward and back in time. Or into magical worlds, like inside the snow globe.

  At first, the station felt more like an underground mall with its rows of shops. Soon, they stepped into a wide open area. Mia stopped, staring. How could something this big be tucked away, nearly underneath their hotel? The cavernous space reminded her of the library. Like the library, it felt both cold because of all the stone, and warm because of the color of the lights shining against the walls and ceiling. Overhead, painted constellations adorned a deep green, arched ceiling.

  “Welcome to Grand Central, girls,” Dad said, navigating through the crowd to steps and up onto a balcony. Right there, in the middle of the station, under that giant, beautiful ceiling, was a restaurant filled with elegant tables covered in white cloths. The waiter led them to a table that overlooked the station. Mia watched people come and go. Any one of them could be the Snow Angel on his or her way to give a gift.

  “You know who I think the Snow Angel is?” Lulu asked no one in particular.

  Lulu had put on her rearview glasses and had her back to the balcony so she could watch the people below without looking at them.

  “Who?” Mia scanned the crowd, assuming Lulu had chosen someone random to suspect.

  “I think it’s someone famous. Like Taylor Swift or someone.”

  “Why do you think so?” Maddie asked, taking this idea seriously.

  Mia realized this actually wasn’t a bad theory.

  Lulu shrugged. “Well, famous people are the ones who want to be invisible sometimes, right? Like that person down there wearing the giant sunglasses inside when she doesn’t have to. She could be famous, right?”

  Mia leaned forward, straining to see. “Where?”

  “She’s already gone,” Lulu said.

  “You’re wearing giant sunglasses,” Mia pointed out.

  “Because I’m a detective.” Lulu adjusted her glasses and angled her neck to check the view again.

  “It could be someone famous,” Maddie said. “There are a lot of famous people who live in New York, right?”

  “True . . .” Mom said.

  “Would you do something in secret like that, Mom?” Maddie asked.

  “I’d have to think about it,” Mom said. “Right now, it seems like the mystery is drawing more attention to gift-giving, and that’s a good thing. I mean, there are so many people who need things and cannot or would not get them themselves for one reason or another. But I find that if I talk about a cause, the way you girls are doing with your album, I can help point attention toward the issues I think are important. Then my hope is that people want to join in.”

  “I want to be a Snow Angel,” Lulu said.

  Dad plucked the spyglasses off her nose. “Right now, what you need to do is decide what you want to eat. We have to order, because another surprise is coming.”

  “Another surprise?” Mia asked.

  “What is it, what is it?” Lulu asked, completely distracted from the clue-seeking.

  Dad handed her the menu. “Let’s start with what you want to eat.”

  All the girls ordered cheesy pasta and fancy fizzy drinks in their favorite flavors. Mia chose passionfruit, and her glass came topped with a slice of pineapple and a raspberry. Maddie chose strawberry, and Lulu chose pineapple. Both of their drinks came with fruit skewers on top too. When everyone finished eating, they bundled up and headed up the rest of the station’s steps and out onto the sidewalk.

  “Where are we going?” Lulu asked.

  Mom raised her eyebrows, smiling a hopeful smile. “I have an idea.”

  “Do you?” Dad teased.

  When they arrived at the theater a few blocks later, Mia wondered how she hadn’t guessed. They’d walked past this theater a few times in the past couple days. She’d seen the sign for Peter Pan, but she hadn’t thought they’d get to go to the show. Dad had bought seats near the stage.

  “A Broadway show!” Lulu said, flinging her arms wide, as though she was seeing her own name in lights.

  Dad laughed, clearly delighted that the girls liked the surprise. “Come sit down, Lulu. Technically, this is off-Broadway. But, you’re right. New York City is one of the best places in the world to see theater.”

  “What makes it off-Broadway?” Mia asked.

  “A few things,” Dad said. “But the main way that they distinguish between Broadway and off-Broadway in New York is that if a production is put on in a theater with five hundred seats or more, it’s a Broadway show. Theaters with more than one hundred sea
ts and less than five hundred are off-Broadway.”

  “And what if there are less than one hundred seats?” Lulu asked.

  “Then, it’s an off-off-Broadway show,” Mom explained.

  “Since it’s Peter Pan, will the actors fly?” Maddie asked.

  Her question was answered soon after the lights went down. When Peter showed up at the Darling house, he flew from backstage through the open window, and then straight out over the audience. As Peter’s feet skimmed near their heads, Mia gasped. She knew that Peter must be flying using some kind of rope, but she couldn’t see a thing, even when he had come so close.

  Mia let herself be swept into the story. She imagined herself up on stage, dancing, singing, flying. What would it feel like to fly over the heads of the audience like that?

  At intermission, Maddie caught Mia’s arm before they stood up to go into the lobby. “Those invisible wires make me keep thinking about the Snow Angel. Do you think he’s staying hidden with some kind of trick?”

  “If so, I have no idea what the trick would be,” Mia said. “It’s the most un-mystery kind of mystery ever. There aren’t any clues. There aren’t any red herrings. There isn’t anything but a bunch of questions.”

  “Well, the mystery is keeping Lulu happy, anyway.” Maddie nodded at Lulu, who was back to wearing her rearview glasses and spying on the people in the row behind them.

  “True,” Mia agreed.

  “So what do you think of the show, girls?” Mom asked.

  “It’s amazing,” Mia said.

  “Exactly,” Maddie agreed.

  “Good surprise?” Dad asked.

  “Great surprise,” the girls agreed.

  FIFTEEN

  Breakfast in bed!” Lulu crowed the next morning, as Dad brought in trays of eggs and pancakes with maple syrup.

  They’d gotten in late from the show the night before and fallen into bed so exhausted, they hadn’t even had time to fight over what to watch on television while they fell asleep. Now, Lulu was already out of bed and dancing around the room.