The Secret Box

by Whitaker Ringwald

  “Wait,” I said. She turned. “What’s his name?”

  “His name is Isaac Romero. But Juniper said he had a special code name. The Locksmith.” She hurried toward her car.

  Ethan dropped his half of the orange and grabbed my arm. “Did you hear that?” His eyes got real wide and his voice cracked. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hello? I was sitting right here. Of course I heard it.” I forced myself to stay very still, to look as if nothing unusual had just happened. I waited until Mom had backed her car out of the driveway and was driving off. Then I jumped to my feet. “My father’s the Locksmith!” I cried. “He built the secret box for me. He set it to open at the Lincoln Memorial because that’s the last place he saw me.”

  Ethan smiled back at me.

  I didn’t have to imagine him. He was real. I ran across the yard and grabbed my bike. “Come on!” I called.

  I rode and rode and rode, past the houses I’d seen hundreds of times. Past the churches and gas stations and stores I knew by heart. For the first time in my life I felt like a whole person, like one half of me was no longer just an outline. After a while, Ethan took the lead, his baseball cap guiding the way as we wound around the school and down to the river. I got all sweaty but I didn’t care. It felt good to pump my legs.

  This was my town.

  This was my family.

  This was important.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing this story has been a wonderful adventure and I have the amazing editorial team of Melissa Miller, Claudia Gabel, and Lynn Weingarten to thank. Katherine Tegen Books is a lovely place for a writer to call home. Thank you.

  About the Author

  Before becoming a children’s book author, WHITAKER RINGWALD was certified as World’s Greatest Snowball Maker and developed a nonstick peanut butter formula in conjunction with lauded Ig Nobel scientists. Whitaker spends six months of every year in a deep-sea submersible trying to film live footage of giant squids. But giant squids are hard to come by, so that’s where Whitaker gets a lot of writing done.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Credits

  Cover art © 2014 by Erwin Madrid

  Cover design by Joel Tippie

  Copyright

  Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

  The Secret Box

  Copyright © 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  www.harpercollinschildrens.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Ringwald, Whitaker.

  The secret box / Whitaker Ringwald. — First edition.

  pages cm

  Summary: “On her twelfth birthday, Jax Malone receives an odd, unopenable present from an estranged aunt. When Jax and her cousins Ethan and Tyler go on a quest to open the box, they uncover a mystery with magical consequences”— Provided by publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-06-221614-4 (hardcover bdg.)

  EPUB Edition JANUARY 2014 ISBN 9780062216168

  [1. Secrets—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Families—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.R4745Se 2014 2013008473

  [Fic]—dc23 CIP AC

  14 15 16 17 18 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FIRST EDITION

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  http://www.harpercollins.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

  Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

  http://www.harpercollins.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollins.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollins.com