Alexander Graham Bell: Master of Sound #7 by Ann Hood Read Free Book Online Page B

we ever get to London to see our parents?” Maisie cried.
    Felix stared at her with a mixture of embarrassment and admiration.
    Out of the corner of her eye, Maisie saw Mrs. Bell whispering to her husband, a worried look on her face.
    “And with Mother sick, this will just ruin her,” Maisie added.
    For effect, she covered her face in her hands until she heard footsteps approaching. She let herself smile a little before she dropped her hands and gazed up into Professor Bell’s face.
    “Now, now,” he said, “don’t be upset. We’ll get you new tickets.”
    “You will?” Felix blurted.
    “Oh, we couldn’t,” Maisie said. “You’ve already been so kind.”
    “The pickpocket problem is a travesty,” Professor Bell said. “And to steal from children…well, it’s just unconscionable.”
    The train appeared, chugging to a stop in front of them.
    “Wait right here,” Professor Bell said, and off he went to the ticket window.
    By the time the passengers had unloaded andnew passengers had lined up to board, Maisie was holding four tickets to London in her hand.

    Aleck sat beside Felix on the train, but he didn’t speak much. Instead, he stared out the window, gazing at the passing landscape blurred by rain.
    “Where does your grandfather live?” Felix asked him.
    Too often he and Maisie had lost track of the person they met and then they spent too much time trying to find that person again. This time he wanted an address.
    “On Harrington Square,” he said without looking at Felix. “Right across from Harrington Gardens.”
    “Harrington Square,” Felix repeated the address help himself memorize it. “Across from Harrington Gardens.”
    Now Aleck did turn to face Felix. “Do you know it?” he asked.
    “Um. Yes?” Felix said hesitantly. What if Aleck asked him questions about it? But this way when Aleck saw them nearby, he wouldn’t think it strange.
    Aleck gave a little nod and turned his attention back to staring out the window.
    Behind them, the girls whispered together.
    “How do you do it?” Hadley was asking Maisie.
    “I don’t know
why
it works,” Maisie said. “All I know is that we both, or should I say
all
, have to hold an object. We have to have the shard with us—”
    “What shard?” Rayne asked.
    Maisie pulled the shard from the Ming vase from her pocket.
    “This,” she said. “For some reason we can’t time travel without it, so I always keep it on hand.”
    Rayne and Hadley studied the shard in Maisie’s upturned palm.
    “And,” Maisie added, closing her fingers around the shard and tucking it back in her pocket, “it only works with twins.”
    “How do we get back?” Hadley asked, her voice suddenly serious.
    “We give the object to Aleck,” Maisie said.
    She hesitated.
    “And, this is tricky, but he has to give us advice or information or something. That’s the hard part,” she said, thinking about Great-Aunt Maisie.
    “Have you given him the magnet?” Rayne asked her.
    Maisie shook her head. “Not yet.”
    Hadley’s face was scrunched with concentration. “We’d better stay close to Aleck,” she said finally. “If we lose him, we won’t get back. Right?”
    “That’s right,” Maisie said. She grinned at Hadley. “So,” she said, “how do you like my secret?”
    Hadley grinned, too. “It’s a good one.”
    Maisie settled back in her seat, feeling happy.
    “And Felix said only Pickworths could do it,” she said, more to herself than to the other girls.
    “What did you say?” Hadley asked her.
    “Oh, nothing,” Maisie said. “Felix tried to convince me that it wouldn’t work with you and Rayne.”
    “But you said something about Pickworths, didn’t you?” Hadley said.
    “That’s my great-great-grandfather, who built Elm Medona and put all the stuff in The Treasure Chest,” Maisie explained. “Phinneas Pickworth.”
    Hadley and Rayne looked at each other. Then they looked at Maisie, both of their face awash in