Amelia Earhart: Lady Lindy Read Online Free PDF Page A

these?” Maisie asked, poking at the hard purple-and-beige vegetable.
    Cook sighed. “Rutabagas,” she answered wearily. “Did you need something? Or have you come downstairs to critique my delicious preparation of a
pot-au-feu
?”
    â€œThread,” Maisie said. “I need some thread.”
    Cook pointed toward a distant drawer where Maisie found spools of fine thread in every color imaginable. Her hand hesitated over first red, then purple, before settling on black. She pocketed the spool of black thread and headed out.
    â€œThanks,” she called over her shoulder.
    â€œYou
will
be returning that,” Cook said unpleasantly.
    Back in her room, Maisie licked the end of the thread and twisted it so that it was narrow enough to fit through the tiny hole in the shard.
    â€œPerfect,” she said as she held up her new necklace.
    Maisie tied the thread in a triple knot at the back of her neck. The shard hung cool between her collarbones. Satisfied, she ran downstairs to greet the Ziff twins.

    â€œYou make a plan,” Great-Uncle Thorne told Maisie and Felix and Hadley and Rayne. “And then you execute it.”
    They were all standing at the wall, right by where you pressed to make it open and reveal the stairs that led to The Treasure Chest.
    He snickered at Maisie and Felix.
    â€œThat’s what you two never figured out,” he said, his voice full of disdain. “You went in there willy-nilly, picking objects up at random and stumbling through time.”
    Insulted, Maisie put her hands on her hips and glared at Great-Uncle Thorne. “Well, nobody told us anything,” she said. “We had no idea—”
    â€œI told you how to utilize
lame demon
, didn’t I? But still you just grabbed at anything—”
    â€œIt was a crown,” Felix said. “Not just anything.”
    â€œâ€”and you went where?” Great-Uncle Thorne continued as if Felix hadn’t spoken. “And for what purpose?”
    â€œWhy did you ask us to come here?” Hadley said.
    Rayne, who had looked bored until now, came to life.
    â€œAre you sending us on a mission?” she asked, her blue eyes shining.
    â€œYou see,” Great-Uncle said, looking dreamily at some distant point, “my sister and I would plan. We’d come back from a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we’d fallen in love with a painting and we’d say, ‘Van Gogh. Let’s find Van Gogh
.
’ That was the fun of it, you see? To enter The Treasure Chest and, almost like a scavenger hunt or a puzzle, have to find just the right object to reach that person. That’s the way Phinneas wanted it. He loved games and puzzles, you know,” Great-Uncle Thorne added.
    â€œSo we’ve heard,” Maisie muttered.
    â€œIt was exciting,” Great-Uncle Thorne said sadly. “It was a challenge.”
    Rayne had gone back to chipping the purple nail polish off her fingernails. But Hadley seemed thoughtful.
    â€œYou want us to go—” she began.
    â€œTo the Congo!” Felix blurted. “Where there’s malaria and cannibals and dangerous natives!”
    Once more, Rayne grew excited. “Now that’s an adventure. What do we need to do?”
    â€œHe thinks Amy Pickworth is there,” Maisie said.
    â€œI
know
she’s there,” Great-Uncle Thorne said, pointing a finger at Maisie.
    â€œYou want us to find her?” Rayne asked at the very same time that Hadley said, “And do what with her?”
    Great-Uncle Thorne leveled his gaze on each of them, one at a time. A chill ran up Felix’s spine when that gaze lingered on him.
    â€œBring her home,” Great-Uncle Thorne said matter-of-factly.
    â€œBut even if we find her, which seems pretty much impossible, she can’t come back with us,” Felix said nervously. “You need your twin with you.”
    Great-Uncle Thorne nodded slowly.
    Felix held up