Sealed with a Secret

by Lisa Schroeder

  “Is that what the ARP was?” I asked, hoping he wouldn’t think this was an even stranger question than my first one. “Something to help with the war effort?”

  He nodded as he wiped his mouth. “Yes. ARP stands for Air Raid Precautions. They handed out gas masks and helped deliver messages during the air raids, among other things. I’m glad you’re interested in history, Phoebe. Perhaps you should check out some books from the library. They would probably be more reliable than my awful memory.”

  “Good idea,” I said. “Maybe I’ll do that.” I had one more question I wanted to ask him, though. “Do you think there are many people still alive who were children during the war?”

  “Of course there are,” Alice said as she stood up to throw her trash away. “You said yourself you heard a woman talking about it. There are lots of eighty-year-olds walking around, aren’t there? Quite a few of them even come into this shop.”

  It made me wonder—could Sheila or Kitty still be alive? If so, might they be here, in London, even? I’d found the compact in Paris, so perhaps Kitty had ended up there eventually. It was anyone’s guess, really, since a lot can happen in seventy years. But without a last name, it seemed like trying to find one or both of them would be about as easy as finding a single marble in a giant gumball machine.

  Just then, the jingle of the bell alerted us to a customer. My dad started to get up, until we heard, “It’s only me, Mr. Ainsworth. That annoying chap who’s always wanting a look at your old pocketknives.”

  The three of us glanced at one another and smiled. “Back here, Ned,” Dad called out.

  Ned is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Halliday, who own the bookshop nearby. He and I met shortly after Dad bought the antiques shop, since we’re the same age, and because he’s so happy and silly all the time, I liked him immediately. We’ve been friends ever since. He likes to look at the pocketknives because he’s active in Scouts, and loves stuff like hiking and camping, which I don’t understand at all. Sleeping on the ground, in the woods, with insects and wild animals, doesn’t sound fun to me. It sounds … awful!

  He stuck his tall, lanky self through the door and said, “You’re having lunch and didn’t invite me?”

  “Want my crusts?” I asked him, holding one out.

  He walked over and grabbed it out of my hand and stuck it in his mouth. “Thanks,” he mumbled as he chewed. When he’d finished he said, “Nana only brought one sandwich for me today. Guess we didn’t have enough bread for more.” He jingled some change in his pocket. “Shall we walk up to the sweet shop, Pheebs? My treat.”

  I hopped up. “Yes, please. I’ve been in this stuffy old shop all morning. It’s all right, isn’t it, Dad? We won’t be gone too long.”

  “I suppose you do deserve a break,” he said.

  I pulled on Ned’s sleeve. “Come on, then. Before he changes his mind and puts us both to work.”

  He waved to my dad and Alice before we ducked out the back door. “Thank you for saving me,” I said as we walked around the row of buildings to get the sidewalk.

  “What did I save you from, exactly?” he asked.

  “Work, mostly, but my lovesick sister as well. She seems to be a person I don’t even know anymore.”

  He ducked to avoid a low tree branch as he looked at me quizzically. “Lovesick? Didn’t know she was seeing anyone.”

  “She met him in Paris. Justin, from America. Only spent a few hours with him, really, but she’s sure she’s now lost her one true love. But let’s not talk about that. I want to tell you about what I found in Paris.”

  “Let me guess. A vintage pogo stick?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “No.”

  “A cat that weighs forty-three kilos?”

  “You are so cheeky. Not even close.”

  “A cat that weights a hundred and nineteen kilos?”

  I laughed. “Wrong again.”

  “All right. I guess you’ll just have to tell me.” We reached the front door of the Sweet Palace. “After we choose our sweets, of course.”

  Ned got his usual, licorice torpedos, while I chose some pear drops. As we strolled along outside, munching on our goodies, I told him that inside one of the antiques we brought back from Paris, I’d found an old photo and a letter. I decided to keep the information about the compact to myself, until I learned more about it. I didn’t want to look like an idiot if it turned out to be nothing.

  I summarized Sheila’s letter to Kitty as best I could from memory. Ned didn’t say a single word the entire time, which was unusual for him. He always seemed to have something to say. When I finished, I asked, “So. What do you think?”

  He scratched his head, which was covered with a mop of sandy blond hair, and said, “I think that’s incredible, Pheebs. I really do. It makes you wonder if that magic spell, or whatever it was, worked, and if Kitty got to come home soon after that.”

  “I know. I’m so curious about what happened to her. To both of them, really.” We both stopped in front of Halliday’s, the bookshop Ned’s grandparents own. The front window was decorated with toy trains, planes, and automobiles, and there were books for both kids and adults featuring travel in some way. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was front and center, reminding me how much I wanted to read it.

  I opened the front door and poked my head in. His grandmother was at the counter, reading a magazine. “Hello, Mrs. Halliday,” I said with a wave.

  “Hello, Phoebe. Nice to see you. Working with your dad today?”

  “Yes. We brought lots of stuff home from Paris. Have a good afternoon!”

  “You too,” she said before I closed the door.

  Ned popped another sweet into his mouth. “Phoebe, I think you should have your sister do the spell. She could see if it might work to bring her and the bloke from America back together again.”

  When he said that, I almost choked on my pear drop. It hadn’t even occurred to me that the spell could work today. “Do you think that’s possible? To do the activities in the letter now, all these years later?”

  He shrugged. “It would be fun to try, wouldn’t it? Why, are you going to tell Alice about what you’ve found?”

  I shook my head. “No. I’m not going to tell anyone, except you, because I want to visit the places in the spell.”

  “What? Why?” Ned asked, clearly confused. “Who do you want to bring closer to you?”

  “My sister!”

  Now Ned laughed. “But she lives with you. You can’t get much closer than that, can you?”

  “Not closer physically,” I explained. “The letter says ‘it works for distance between two people in more ways than one.’ Alice and I used to be really close. Like friends, you know? Now we can hardly stand each other. And I want to fix that before she goes all the way to America.” I grabbed his arm. “Ned, will you go with me? Around London, and help me find each place on the list? You love a fun adventure, don’t you?”

  He took another torpedo and popped it in his mouth. “That I do.”

  “Good. Then you’ll do it?” I clasped my hands together out in front of me. “Please?”

  “All right. If you’ll do something for me in return.”

  I eyed him suspiciously. “What would that be?”

  “Mum’s fortieth birthday is on Friday, and we’re having a big party for her. We sent an invitation over last week, while you were in Paris. Did your mum say anything to you about it?”

  “No. She must have forgotten to tell us. I’ll ask her about it when we get home. Do you need help with the party, then?”

  “No, that’s not it. You see, I haven’t a clue what to get her for a gift. While we’re out and about, will you help me find something?”

  “Ned, you’re such a good artist. Why don’t you draw her a picture?”

  He sighed. “Because I’ve done that before. Many times, actually. This year, I want to get her something really special. So please, will you help me?”

  I held my hand out. “All right.
It’s a deal.”

  As he shook my hand, he said, “She might like a vintage pogo stick. Do you happen to have one of those in the shop?”

  “Afraid not, Ned. Besides, I really don’t see your mum getting up on one of those things and hopping down the street.”

  “How about a nice, extremely fat cat? I’m not picky.”

  I reached into my bag of sweets and threw one of my pear drops at him, which he skillfully caught with his hand. He then popped it into his mouth and said, “Throw me another, would you? That’s delicious.”

  So I did, which he caught again. “I’ve quite missed you, Ned Chapman.”

  “You only like me because I buy you sweets.”

  “You’re exactly right about that,” I said with a grin.

  I want to send Justin something special in the mail,” Alice said as we set the table for supper. “Any ideas, Mum?”

  Once again, I seemed to be invisible. I was getting used to the feeling, and yet, I still didn’t like it. It’s like getting up early for school every day. The alarm goes off Monday through Friday and it’s not a surprise, but I would be much happier if it didn’t go off at all.

  “Hm,” Mum replied. “Do you mean a gift of some kind?”

  “Sort of,” Alice said. “Something that lets him know I’m thinking of him.”

  “What about a framed photo of the two of you?” I suggested. “You took some while you were in Paris, didn’t you?”

  Alice tucked the last cloth napkin next to a plate before she looked at me. “Phoebe, that’s actually a brilliant idea.”

  She sounded so surprised that instead of feeling happy, I felt a bit insulted. Like she didn’t think I was capable of any good ideas.

  “Well, thanks,” I said quietly as I placed the silverware next to each plate. “I think.”

  “I need to select the best one and print it out. Then tomorrow I’ll go shopping for a frame. Sound good, Mum?”

  “Fine with me,” she said.

  Alice plunked herself down in a chair and started scrolling through the photos on her phone.

  “Let’s go finish the salad,” Mum said to me.

  When we reached the kitchen counter, I told her, “I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  “I saw Ned today, and he wanted to know if I might take the Tube into the city with him tomorrow. Would that be all right?”

  She went to work slicing up the cucumber. “What for?”

  “His mum’s birthday is coming up. He said they invited us to her party. On Friday, I believe. Did you get the invitation?”

  She smiled. “Oh, yes. That’s right. I did get it. I forgot to mention it to you.”

  “We’re going to go, aren’t we?” I asked while I grabbed the container of sesame seeds.

  “Of course. Sounds like fun. So he wants your help with some shopping?”

  “Yes. He’s not sure what to get her for a gift, so I told him I’d be happy to help him.”

  It wasn’t exactly a lie. But it wasn’t the entire truth, either. Still, I didn’t want to tell her about the magic spell that Sheila had mentioned. I wasn’t sure what Mum would have said about it, and the last thing I needed was for her to tell me I couldn’t go.

  “You can’t go shopping around here?” she asked as she dropped the cucumber slices into the salad bowl full of lettuce.

  “Well, he doesn’t want to go shopping here. What’s the problem?”

  Mum sighed. “I don’t know. I worry, I guess. The two of you, in the big city, by yourselves.”

  “We’ll be fine,” I told her. “We’ve been on the Tube hundreds of times.”

  “Yes, but not by yourselves,” she said. Then her eyes got big. “I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I could go with you. What about that? I could treat you to a nice luncheon. Doesn’t that sound lovely?”

  I gulped. Having my mother go along with us would certainly not be lovely.

  “What are you two discussing?” Alice asked as she walked in and grabbed a piece of bread from the breadbasket.

  “I want to go into London tomorrow with Ned, and Mum doesn’t trust us to go alone,” I said.

  “Sweetheart,” she said, her bottom lip sticking out a tiny bit, like I’d hurt her feelings. “It’s not that I don’t trust you.”

  “Then please, let us go.”

  Mum turned to Alice. “Perhaps you could go with them?” She looked at me. “Would that be better than me tagging along?”

  Alice didn’t give me a chance to respond. “Um, no. I’m not going to do that. I spent enough time with her in Paris. Let her and Ned go, if that’s what she wants. You can’t baby her forever.”

  Part of me wanted to hug my sister and the other part wanted to slug her in the arm. I spent enough time with her Paris? The way she said it, she made it sound like every minute spent in my presence was like a minute spent in misery. Like spending time with me was as bad as sitting in a jail cell with only bread and water for nourishment.

  I shook my head, wondering once again how we’d gotten here, to this place where things were so difficult between us. It was just one more reason why I had to do the things in the letter, and see if the spell could work its magic on the two of us.

  As much as I might have liked to make her feel bad about that comment, I decided to ignore it. “I can check in with you throughout the day,” I told my mother. “Text you every couple of hours. If that’ll make you feel better?”

  It took a moment, but she finally nodded. “All right. You can go. But please, be careful, all right?”

  I walked over and gave her a quick hug. “You know we will be.”

  “When’s supper going to be ready?” Alice asked as she finished off her piece of bread. “I’m starving.”

  Mum looked at me, since I’d been the one to put the chicken in the oven for roasting. “About ten more minutes,” I replied. “I’m going to grate a carrot for the salad. Mum, can you chop up a tomato?”

  “You got it,” she said. She looked at my sister. “Did you find a good photo of the two of you?”

  “I think so. I wish I’d taken more. Too late now, though.”

  “Would you like me to go shopping with you?” Mum asked. “To find a frame?”

  “No,” she said. “I can do it on my own. I’ll go in the morning. Then I’ll write him a nice letter to go with it.”

  “Alice?” Mum said. She was chopping the tomato slowly, like she was thinking very hard about what she was going to say next.

  “Yeah?”

  “I think perhaps you should prepare yourself for the worst.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, her forehead all wrinkled with worry.

  “I mean, it’s possible Justin isn’t interested in a long-distance relationship. They’re not exactly easy, especially when you’re as young as the two of you.”

  “That’s why I need to apply to a school in New York,” Alice said.

  “But where’s Justin going to university?” I asked.

  “He’s a year younger than me,” Alice replied. “So he still has a whole year in New York.”

  With the meat thermometer in hand, I opened the oven door. After I got a reading on the chicken, I said, “It’s ready.”

  “Alice, will you go let your father know?” Mum asked. “He’s in his study.”

  I could only hope we’d find something else to talk about around the dining table. If only there was some magical spell to get my sister to stop thinking about a certain boy!

  *

  After we ate, I went to my room and texted Ned the details about where and when to meet the next day. I was so excited to find out if the spell actually worked! I picked up a pink notecard so I could write something to go on my happiness board. Since my parents might see it, I couldn’t write anything about the compact or the letter. So I wrote this:

  Ned and I are going shopping in London tomorrow!

  As I pinned the card to my bulletin board, I smiled. It was going
to be a wonderful adventure, and I could hardly wait.

  Good morning, Pheebs,” Ned said when we met at the Tube station the next day. It was gray and chilly out, but no rain, thankfully.

  “Hello,” I said as I stared at something round in his hand. “What have you got there?”

  “A compass.”

  “Oh.” I smiled. “Are you worried we might get lost? Because I have my phone, complete with GPS and everything.”

  “But we can’t use your phone,” he told me, looking quite serious as he said it.

  “We can’t? Why not?”

  “Because this is supposed to be a fun adventure. That’s what you told me it would be. Remember?”

  I gave him a nod. “Yes. I remember. I still don’t understand, though.”

  “It won’t be much fun if we look everything up so it’s all too easy. The girl who wrote the letter you found. What’s her name?”

  “Sheila.”

  “Right. Did Sheila have a phone to help her out?”

  “No, silly. It was 1941. They didn’t have cell phones then.”

  He stuck out his chest triumphantly. “Exactly. She would be so disappointed in us if we made it easy on ourselves.”

  I thought of Nora and myself, and how we’d navigated Paris and her grandmother’s treasure hunt simply by reading the notes she’d left and talking to the people she’d mentioned. It’d been fun, meeting new people and hearing stories about Grandma Sylvia. Sure, Nora had been nervous at first, since she’s much more shy than I am. But as we went along, it got easier for her. The longer I thought about it, the more I liked Ned’s idea.

  The train came just then, so I waited to say anything else. Ned stepped ahead and I followed after him. Once we sat down, I said, “I agree. We shouldn’t use our phones. But how is a compass going to help us?”

  He shrugged. “I figure we might get lost.”

  “But Ned, I’m pretty sure a compass only helps if you’re lost in the woods. If we get lost in London, we simply need to ask someone. They’ll be happy to help us.”

  He stared at me for a moment. Then he shoved the compass into the pocket of his jacket. “Good point. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  I gave him a little shove. “You’re so funny.” Then I pointed to the map on the wall. “Do you know which stop we get off at? For the Peter Pan statue?”