Lost in London Read Online Free PDF

Sam disappeared up the escalators.
    “Wait!”
    He started walking down the upward-moving stairs. “What?”
    “I don’t have anyone’s cell phone numbers.”
    He ran down faster and jumped the last few steps to return to the landing. “Gimme your digits. I’ll text everyone. Then you’ll have ’em all.”
    I told him my number, and he practically shoved me into the elevator.
    Downstairs I found Linens and looked for a place to hide. There were thousands of possibilities. Behind a pileof towels, under a display bed that was wrapped in pretty sheets and comforters, among stacks of blankets . . . But a fake tub caught my eye, mostly because I thought of a great clue: “Rub-a-dub-dub.”
    I opened my phone and saw a text from Sam. I guess he’d already found a hiding spot, because he’d sent everyone a note that said, “Rhymes with noses.” Since he was in Garden, I guessed he was hidden among roses, although it could’ve been hoses.
    I replied to everyone with my awesome clue and pulled back the display shower curtain that partially hid a claw-foot bathtub. When it seemed like no one was looking, I casually pulled the curtain aside and slipped behind it.
    The tub was filled with light pink plastic balls that looked like bubbles. I dug a foot in between the balls, and when I touched the bottom of the tub, I put the other foot in too. I carefully sunk into the bubbles until I was completely covered. I only left myself a little crack to watch the back side of the shower curtain so I’d know when someone pushed it aside.
    The tub was surprisingly comfortable. Cozy, actually. I wanted to shop rather than play this game, which wasn’t as dumb as I thought it would be, but now that I was lying here, it felt good.
    I yawned and waited.

8

    No one came.
    After a long time—I’m not sure how long because I fell asleep—I woke up. I could tell something was different.
    Strange.
    Dark.
    Quiet.
    Even a little eerie.
    I crept out of my hiding place. The lights in the store were off. There were some dim security lights. I hearda strange slapping sound on the outside wall that was closest to me. It took a minute to get the sleepy fuzz from my eyes and focus on a window. When I did, I saw lots of rain and a flag hanging off the side of the building, flapping viciously in the wind.
    What is going on?
    I took my phone out of my back pocket and checked it. It was completely blank. Broken? I fiddled with the buttons, and the screen lit up. My butt turned it off! I dialed the last number that had texted me.
    Sam answered, “Where are you?”
    “Linens.”
    “Seriously?”
    “Yeah. That’s where you told me to go.”
    Sam said, “Like three hours ago.”
    Three hours ? I’d slept in a department store bathtub for three stinkin’ hours?
    “Where are you ? Did you get found?” I peeked around a display of purple towels in search of another human. No one was in the dark room. A chill went up the entire back of my boring body, telling me this was anything but dull; it was bad.
    “Found? No. J.J., are you off your trolley? The game is over. It’s been over. The store lost electricity in this storm. Everyone had to leave. Where have you been?”
    What storm? I had a dreadful feeling that I’d just woken up in the middle of a scene from a horror movie, and I was the main character. We had crossed exciting and gone to scary. I wondered if I’d rather be bored. “So no fish and chips?” I asked. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, and besides worrying about being slashed by a department store killer, I had food on the brain, in a big way.
    “We had chips a while ago without you,” Sam said. “We thought maybe you found the Dress-Up Department or you got to demo an electric car or something better than dinner.” Well, dang. Now I was hungry, scared, sans a new outfit, and also bummed I didn’t demo an electric car. “We stayed in the store as long as we could looking for you. You didn’t answer your phone.