Free Lost in London by Cindy Callaghan Page A

department all night long on the same night there was a major theft, but we had nothing to do with it? That sounds like it will work,” Caroline said. “Truly bril idea, J.J.”
    “Maybe we should tell your father,” Gordo said. “He’s involved with Her Majesty’s government, isn’t he?”
    Caroline looked at Gordo like he was stupid, a total moron.
    “You know what?” Gordo asked. “Bad idea. Forget I mentioned it,” Gordo said.
    “Gladly,” she said. “Look, no one can think we did this.” She asked Sam, “Can we get this Pluto project done early? And get the flash drive back? I don’t like the idea of the Dork of Danishes having photographic proof we were in Daphne’s that night.”
    “Early?” Sam asked. “Sebastian was quite specific about the schedule.” (He said “schedule” like “sheh-dyul.”) “If we stick to his deadlines, we should be fine.” He said to Caroline, “You just can’t do anything for three days to make him mad.”

15

    We stood in front of the Tower of London, which was much more than a single tower. There were multiple Gothic castlelike buildings in the complex.
    “Let’s get a photo,” Caroline said. “J.J., you stand right in front here.”
    Gordo already had his arm around me with a toothy grin exposed. I hadn’t noticed before, but braces must not be popular here, because they needed my orthodontist’s digits. Except Caroline, of course, who seemed effortlessly perfect.
    Ellie crouched down in front of me and stretched her arms wide as if to say, Ta-da!
    Gordo reached out to a man walking by and said, “Excuse me, mate. Would you mind snapping our photo?”
    The man agreed. Gordo had an arm over Caroline’s shoulder and the other over mine.
    A second later we had a great shot. It was totally going into my photo montage.
    “Let me text this to the stepmummy and Mrs. J.J., and we can move on.” Caroline fiddled with the phone. “Maybe this is what it’s like for a prisoner to have a tracking anklet that follows their every move.”
    Was she really comparing texting sightseeing pics to our moms to being a prisoner?
    Gordo must’ve been thinking the same thing, because he asked, “A little dramatic, eh?”
    Maybe Caroline liked dramatic. I could do that. “I know, right? It’s like going around with a big green ogre on your back.”
    Ellie jumped in at the mention of an ogre. “Maybe one that just ate a village of trolls. I think I saw a picture like that once. He popped the little trolls into his mouth like they were chips.”
    Sam studied the castles. “I’m psyched,” he said. “Forthe sightseeing, not the troll eating. And that’s saying something, because I like eating.”
    “I think we know that,” I said. “I guess we need to get tickets to go in.”
    Caroline sighed. “We don’t have to go in, do we? We can just hang out here and mock all the tourists walking by. I mean, unless you want to.” She said it like it was a ridiculously lame idea.
    What can I say? I mean, of course I want to go in. I’m in London to see the sights, DUH!
    I needed to make this more interesting than an average field trip.
    I got an idea.
    “Mocking the tourists sounds superfun,” I said to Caroline. “But I thought maybe you’d want to see the Crown Jewels. And, Ellie, I thought you might want to see the ghosts that haunt this place. Sam, the brochure I read said they have an assortment of royal chocolates in the gift shop.”
    “I’d forgotten that the Crown Jewels were here,” Caroline said, reconsidering. “We didn’t see them on our school trip.”
    Ellie said, “We didn’t see any ghosts then either. They probably don’t take schoolkids to the truly ghostly parts of the Tower, eh?”
    “What are we waiting for?” Sam asked.
    Yay, me! I had gotten them a little interested.
    We passed through the stone archway, on top of which was an iron gate that would be dropped to protect the royal court from threats.
    Inside the Tower walls my eyes