The Mystery of the Mosaic Read online

  Then something else clicked into place as the twins turned toward each other, wide-eyed.

  The missing black and green boat must be Antonio’s gondola!

  Ella and Ethan rushed across the bridge and made their way over to the dock. The two men stopped arguing. “Harry Robinson’s grandchildren, what are you doing here?” Antonio asked them.

  “We saw someone take your boat, Mr. Antonio,” Ella blurted out.

  “You see? I told you I did not steal it,” the other man said angrily to Antonio.

  “I should not have jumped to conclusions, Paolo. I am very sorry,” Antonio told the other man. “When did this happen? And what did the person look like?” he asked Ella and Ethan.

  “He had red hair. And we saw him take it about half an hour ago,” Ethan replied.

  “We must find this red-haired thief! Will you help me?” Antonio pleaded.

  “We can go in my gondola,” Paolo offered.

  “Yes! We will take you on your very first gondola ride!” Antonio told the twins.

  “Sure!” Ethan said excitedly. Ella nodded.

  The four of them got into Paolo’s gondola, which was tied to a nearby dock. “Which way did this man go?” Paolo asked the twins.

  “Straight ahead,” Ella said.

  Paolo picked up an oar and began paddling. The long boat glided smoothly under the bridge and down the canal. They passed a bookstore and a bustling café. It was like riding in a canoe, but instead of being on a lake, they were in the middle of a busy city!

  Ella pulled her purple notebook out of her bag and opened it to a fresh page. She got a pen out of her pocket and began writing.

  Just then, Ella heard a familiar “meow.” She glanced up and saw a flash of orange on the sidewalk above the canal.

  It was Pumpkin!

  The little cat ran to the edge of the canal and perched over the water. She howled loudly at Ella and the others in the gondola. Suddenly, Ella saw a dog running toward Pumpkin.

  “Mr. Paolo! Stop! Pumpkin is in trouble!” Ella cried out.

  CHAPTER 7

  Which Way?

  “Pumpkin? I don’t see a pumpkin,” Paolo said, confused.

  “That cat over there!” Ethan told him. “She lives at our hotel.”

  “Oh!” Paolo steered his gondola over to the sidewalk. Pumpkin jumped right in.

  Ella swooped the cat up in her arms.

  “I am glad we rescued little Zucca—I mean, Pumpkin. But we must keep going. Otherwise we will lose our thief,” Antonio said anxiously.

  Paolo continued paddling down the canal. A few minutes later, they reached a fork. The canal branched off to the left and right.

  Paolo turned to Antonio. “Which way do we go?”

  Antonio frowned. “I am not sure. Perhaps we have lost our thief after all.”

  “Do you have any idea who that red-haired guy might be?” Ethan asked.

  Antonio shook his head.

  “Who would want to steal your boat?” Ella piped up. “Do you have any enemies?”

  “Enemies? Everyone loves Antonio!” Antonio replied.

  “Maybe he stole your gondola because it belonged to that famous ruler—a doge,” Ethan suggested.

  Antonio’s face lit up. He gasped. “I just remembered something! There was a man who came by to see me at the restaurant last week. He asked where I had gotten my gondola. He said that his grandfather used to own a gondola just like it, but that it was stolen from him many years ago.” Then Antonio added, “I think the man had red hair.”

  “We should go talk to him!” Ella said eagerly. “Do you know his name?”

  “No. But he mentioned that his wife owns a glass shop on Calle Rosanna,” Antonio said.

  “To Calle Rosanna now!” Paolo exclaimed, picking up his oar.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Ethan, Ella, Antonio, and Paolo reached Calle Rosanna. Laundry flapped on a clothesline that stretched from one window to another above the water. Children kicked a soccer ball on the street.

  “My gondola! There it is!” Antonio shouted.

  Antonio’s black and green boat was docked in front of a tiny shop with a sign that said: CRISTALLERIA. Colorful figurines gleamed in the shop’s window. Inside, a woman shaped a swan out of a hot, glowing piece of molten glass. Paolo paddled over to the dock. Antonio started to climb out of Paolo’s boat and into his own.

  Just then, someone ran out of the shop. It was the red-haired man. And he looked angry!

  CHAPTER 8

  One More Mystery

  The red-haired man began shouting in Italian. Antonio shouted back, also in Italian.

  “What’s happening, Mr. Paolo?” Ella asked. She held Pumpkin tightly in her arms.

  “Antonio told the man—I believe his name is Carlo—to give back the gondola. Carlo said no because the gondola rightly belongs to his grandfather,” Paolo translated.

  Antonio switched to English just then. “These children saw you steal my gondola!” he told Carlo, pointing to Ethan and Ella.

  “You mean my grandfather’s gondola,” Carlo said angrily. “I don’t know how your family came to possess it. But after I spoke to you last week, I came straight home and matched it against photographs of my grandfather’s boat. They were the same. So I went to the police, but they said I had no real proof! That’s why I had to take the gondola back on my own.”

  “How do you know the two boats are the same?” Ella asked Carlo.

  Carlo was startled. “Why, because the details are identical. The black and green colors, the eagle ornament . . .”

  “Wait! The ornament on this gondola is a hawk, not an eagle!” Ethan told him.

  “What?” Carlo walked around to the front of the boat. He stared closely at the ornament. Then his shoulders slumped. “You are right. It is a hawk ornament. I am very sorry for the confusion,” he said to Antonio.

  Antonio nodded. “I accept your apology,” he said. “You thought you were helping your grandfather.”

  The two men shook hands. Then Carlo returned to the glass shop, and Antonio got into his gondola.

  “Grazie. Thank you,” Antonio said to Ethan and Ella. “If it hadn’t been for you, I would never have found my boat! Now, please . . . let me take you two back to your hotel.”

  The twins stepped carefully into Antonio’s gondola, carrying Pumpkin with them. Paolo waved and paddled off. Antonio began paddling too.

  “Mr. Antonio? Can we make a quick stop first?” Ethan asked.

  “Sì! Yes! Anything for my great detectives!” Antonio exclaimed.

  Ethan pulled the map of Venice out of his pocket. He smoothed it out on his lap and pointed to Calle Farnese. “Can you take us there? We have one more mystery to solve!” he said eagerly.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Mosaic

  “Here we are. Calle Farnese!” Antonio announced a little while later. “I will wait for you with Pumpkin while you solve your mystery. Please be careful. It is easy to get lost in Venice.”

  “Thank you!” Ella said.

  Antonio tied the gondola to a dock. Ella and Ethan stepped out of the gondola. On the side of an old brick building, they saw a black-and-white sign that said CALLE FARNESE. They rushed toward the sign. They were finally going to see the mosaic!

  They turned onto Calle Farnese. Apartment buildings lined either side of the street, which was barely wide enough for both of them! Overhead, the twins could make out a thin sliver of blue sky.

  Ethan and Ella wandered down the street, searching for the mosaic. They didn’t really know where it would be. They looked at doors, through windows, and on walls. They searched all over the ground.

  “How are we ever going to find it? We don’t even know what it looks like,” Ethan complained.

  “Grandpa said it was made up of little pieces of colored glass,” Ella reminded him.

  They continued down Calle Farnese, but the mosaic was nowhere in sight. After a while, they decided it was time to turn around
. They had to get back to the hotel before their parents returned and realized they were missing.

  “I guess we’ll never find it,” Ethan said with a sigh.

  “Wait! What about Grandpa’s other clue?” Ella reached for her purple notebook and flipped through the pages. “Here. ‘Look up.’ ”

  The twins glanced up. But there was only sky, no mosaic.

  “Look! Over there!” Ethan cried out suddenly.

  Just ahead of them was a short alleyway that turned off to the left. Ella and Ethan ran over to it and tilted their heads to look up.

  There it was, high on a wall!

  Crafted from tiny bits of colored glass, the mosaic showed a scene of ancient Venice. A glittering glass palace stood on the banks of a glittering glass harbor. A king and queen rode on a gondola through the turquoise glass water. An amber bird soared through the brilliant blue sky.

  It was the most amazing thing they had ever seen.

  CHAPTER 10

  Venezia, Ti Amo

  As soon as Ethan and Ella got back to their hotel with Pumpkin, they sat down at the desk to write Grandpa Harry an e-mail. Luckily, their parents were both still out. Ethan began to type.

  Dear Grandpa Harry,

  Guess what? We found your mosaic! My favorite part was the king. Ella says her favorite part was the sparkly blue water.

  We also solved another mystery. We helped Mr. Antonio find his gondola.

  Did you know that his boat has a hawk on it? Like the coin you gave me. Hawks are messengers of the sky. They’re symbols of nobility, too. Nobility means you come from a rich and powerful family. We looked it up!

  We decided that we love solving mysteries. And we love Venice, too! Guess how you say that in Italian? Venezia, ti amo.

  Love,

  Ethan (and Ella)

  Just as Ethan hit SEND, the front door opened. Mr. and Mrs. Briar walked in.

  “Look who I ran into on my way home from the passport office!” Mr. Briar said merrily.

  “I was walking back and got so lost.” Mrs. Briar smoothed her blond hair that was tangled from the wind.

  “It is very easy to get lost in Venice,” Ethan said, imitating Antonio’s voice.

  Ella giggled.

  Their parents exchanged a puzzled glance.

  “So what did you kids do while we were gone?” Mrs. Briar asked.

  “I hope you weren’t too bored,” Mr. Briar added.

  “Oh no!” Ethan and Ella said at the same time.

  “We weren’t bored at all,” Ella added.

  “Good. Well, I’m afraid it’s too late for our math lesson. We’ll have to postpone it until tomorrow,” Mr. Briar told the twins. “Your mom and I had a great idea, though. Why don’t we go for your very first gondola ride? We know you kids were excited about that.”

  Ethan and Ella smiled at each other. It would be their second very first gondola ride in Venice!

  GLOSSARY

  basilica = cathedral

  Benvenuti = Welcome

  Buon giorno = Good day

  Buona sera = Good evening

  calle = street

  campanile = bell tower

  cristalleria = glassware

  Grazie = Thank you

  pesca = peach

  ristorante = restaurant

  Sì = yes

  Ti amo = I love you

  Venezia = Venice

  zucca = pumpkin

  *All words are in Italian.

  Ella Briar gazed out the airplane window. Below, miles of glittering lights twinkled against the evening sky. “Look, Ethan!” she said to her twin.

  “That must be Paris,” Ethan replied. “It’s awesome!”

  “I think that’s the Eiffel Tower,” Ella said, pointing.

  “Did you know that the Eiffel Tower is the tallest structure in Paris?” their dad, Andrew, called out from across the aisle. “It was built in 1889 for the world’s fair.”

  “I see a river!” Ethan announced.

  “Probably the Seine,” Mr. Briar guessed. “It divides Paris into two parts, the Right Bank and the Left Bank.”

  “We’re staying in a lovely old neighborhood on the Right Bank,” their mom, Josephine, said as she smoothed on lipstick. “There are a lot of fun shops there! And we’ll be close to a famous museum called the Louvre.”

  Fun shops? A famous museum? The twins couldn’t wait!

  A short while later, their plane landed at the airport. The Briars took a taxi to the apartment they were renting. The building had no elevator, so they had to carry their suitcases up five flights of marble stairs. They were out of breath by the time they got to the top.

  The climb was worth it, though. The apartment was enormous, with an elegant balcony that overlooked red rooftops and bustling cafés. Brightly lit boats cruised along the river. In the distance, the Eiffel Tower shimmered like a gold jewel.

  Ella remembered from her dad’s guidebook that Paris was often called the City of Light. Now she knew why!

  Ethan ran straight to the biggest bedroom. “Dibs!” he shouted.

  “Hey, not fair!” Ella protested.

  “How about your father and I take this room?” Mrs. Briar suggested. “Ethan, there’s a green room down the hall with soccer posters. And, Ella, the purple room has lots of books in English.”

  Ella loved books, and purple was her favorite color! She raced down the hallway with her suitcase and found her room. It had a canopy bed with a lavender bedspread. Black-and-white photographs of Paris covered the walls.

  Next to the bed was a wooden bookshelf. Ella spotted a couple of books she’d already read, The Phantom Tollbooth and Matilda. Tucked between them was a dusty old volume called Les Secrets de Paris.

  Curious, she picked it up and flipped to the first page. It was all in French. However, someone had scribbled something in English: “Paris is full of secret places that you will not find in any guidebook.”

  Ella shivered with excitement. What did that mean? Would she and Ethan stumble upon any of these secret places while they were in Paris?

  HARPER PARIS

  loves to travel. Her favorite cities in the world are Paris (like her name!) and New York City. She has collected many souvenirs on her travels, including a good-luck coin from Japan and a reindeer-horn pendant from Sweden. She also loves mysteries. When she was a kid, she read Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books after bedtime with a flashlight. She now lives with her family (including two cats and a bunny, who are not good travelers) in Ithaca, New York.

  MARCOS CALO

  has worked as a professional artist for more than fourteen years. He has worked in different fields: illustration, animation, and comic books. He lives with his wife and daughter in A Coruña, a small Spanish town by the seaside.

  Jacket design by John Daly

  Jacket illustrations by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster • New York

  GreetingsfromSomewhereBooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com • Copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by John Daly.

  Library of Congress Catalo
ging-in-Publication Data

  Paris, Harper. The mystery of the mosaic / by Harper Paris ; illustrated by Marcos Calo. — First edition. pages cm. — (Greetings from somewhere ; #2) Summary: In Venice, Italy, second graders Ethan and Ella hope to find a stolen gondola and a hidden mosaic before their parents realize they are missing. [1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Twins—Fiction. 3. Venice (Italy)—Fiction. 4. Italy—Fiction. 5. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Calo, Marcos, illustrator. II. Title. PZ7.P21748Myw 2014 [E]—dc23 2013013012

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9721-4 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9722-1 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4424-9723-8 (eBook)