CHAPTER ONE
AN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
It was half past midnight and only one light was on in all the homes on Sycamore Drive. In the second-story window of Dr. Robert Gordon’s house was a shadow that moved back and forth: It was his stepson, Conner Bailey, pacing around his bedroom. He had known for months he was going to Europe but had waited until the night before his departure to pack.
Reruns of a dramatic television show set in outer space did nothing to stop his procrastination. There was just something about a female captain piloting her crew away from an evil alien race that he couldn’t take his eyes off. But looking up at his clock and realizing he only had seven hours before he needed to be at the airport forced him to turn the television off and focus on packing.
“Let me think,” Conner said to himself. “I’ll be in Germany for three days… so I should probably bring twelve pairs of socks.” He confidently nodded, and tossed a dozen pairs of socks into his suitcase. “You never know, there could be a lot of puddles in Europe.”
Conner retrieved ten or so pairs of underwear from his dresser and laid them out on his bed. It was more than he needed but a traumatizing sleepover in kindergarten that ended in a wet bed had taught Conner to always be generous when packing underwear.
“Okay, I think I have everything,” Conner said, and he counted the items in his suitcase. “I’ve got seven T-shirts, four sweaters, my lucky rock, two scarves, my other lucky rock, underwear, socks, pajamas, my lucky poker chip, and my toothbrush.”
He looked around his room, wondering what else a kid could need in Europe.
“Oh, pants!” he said, thankful that he’d remembered. “I need pants!”
Once he had added the missing (and vital) articles to his suitcase, Conner sat on the edge of his bed and took a deep breath. A big boyish smile came to his face. He couldn’t help it—he was excited!
At the end of the previous school year, Conner’s principal, Mrs. Peters, had called him into her office to present him with a very exciting opportunity.
“Am I in trouble?” Conner said when he sat down in front of her desk.
“Mr. Bailey, why do you ask me that every time I call you into my office?” she said, eyeing him over the top of her glasses.
“Sorry. Old habits die hard, I guess.” He shrugged.
“I’ve called you in here for two reasons,” Mrs. Peters said. “First, I was wondering how Alex is acclimating to her new school in—where is it again? Vermont?”
Conner gulped and his eyes grew very big. “Oh!” he said. Sometimes he forgot about the lie his family had told the school about his sister. “She’s doing great! Never been happier!”
Mrs. Peters bit her lip and nodded, almost disappointed to hear this. “That’s wonderful, good for her,” she said. “Although sometimes I selfishly wish she would move back and be one of our students again. Your mother was telling me all about the educational programs they offer up there, though, so I’m sure she is enjoying them.”
“She sure is!” Conner said, and looked to his left to avoid eye contact. “And Alex has always loved trees… and maple syrup… so Vermont suits her.”
“I see,” Mrs. Peters said, squinting. “And she’s staying with your grandmother? Is that correct?”
“Yes, she’s still with my grandma… who also loves trees and maple syrup. It’s a family trait, I guess,” Conner said, and then looked to the right. He panicked for a second when he couldn’t remember which direction people tended to look in when they were lying—he had seen a special about it on TV.
“Then give her my warmest regards and please tell her to visit the next time she’s in town,” Mrs. Peters said.
“I will!” Conner said, relieved to be changing the subject.
“Now, on to the second reason I called you in today.” Mrs. Peters sat up extra straight in her seat and slid a pamphlet across her desk. “I have just heard exciting news from an old colleague of mine who teaches English in Frankfurt, Germany. Apparently the University of Berlin has uncovered a time capsule that belonged to the Brothers Grimm. I’m assuming you remember who they are from my lessons in the sixth grade.”
“Are you kidding? My grandma knew them!” Conner said.
“Excuse me?”
Conner just stared at her for a moment, mortified by his carelessness. “I mean… yeah, of course I remember,” Conner tried to cover. “They’re the fairy-tale guys, right? My grandma used to read their stories to us.”
“Indeed,” Mrs. Peters said with a smile—she had grown so used to Conner’s strange outbursts that she didn’t even question this one for a second. “And according to the University of Berlin, three brand-new fairy tales were discovered in the capsule!”
“That’s amazing!” Conner was genuinely excited to hear this and knew his sister would be thrilled, too.
“I agree,” Mrs. Peters said. “And even better, the University of Berlin is planning a big event to reveal the stories. They’re going to read them to the public for the first time this coming September, three weeks into next school year, at St. Matth?us-Kirchhof cemetery, where the Brothers Grimm are buried.”
“All great things!” Conner said. “So what does this have to do with me?”
“Well, since you’ve become a bit of a Grimm yourself—”
Conner awkwardly laughed and looked back to his left. She had no idea how close to home this compliment was.
“I thought you’d be interested in the trip I’m planning.” Mrs. Peters slid the pamphlet even closer to Conner. “I’ve decided to invite a few select students such as yourself—students who have proven to be passionate about writing and storytelling—to venture with me to Berlin and be among the crowd that hears the stories for the first time.”
Conner picked up the pamphlet and stared down at it with an open mouth. “That sounds awesome!” He flipped it open and looked at all the attractions the city of Berlin had to offer. “Could we check out these nightclubs, too?”
“Unfortunately, missing more than a week of school for any trip is frowned upon by the school district. So no nightclubs, I’m afraid. We’ll only be there for three days, but I thought this might be an opportunity you wouldn’t want to miss,” Mrs. Peters said with a confident smile. “I feel like a little piece of history is waiting for us.”
Conner’s smile faded when his eyes fell to the bottom of the pamphlet. He saw how much this trip would cost.
“Eek, this is a pricey educational opportunity,” Conner said.
“Travel is never cheap, I’m afraid,” Mrs. Peters said. “But there are many school fund-raisers I can get you information about—”
“Oh wait! I keep forgetting my mom just married a doctor! We’re not poor anymore!” Conner said, and his smile returned. “But wait, does that mean I’m still poor? I’ll have to ask them. There’s so much to this stepson thing I haven’t figured out yet.”
Mrs. Peters raised her eyebrows and blinked twice, not sure what to tell him. “That’s a conversation you’ll have to have with them, but my office phone number is on the bottom of that pamphlet if you need help convincing them,” she said with a quick wink.
“Thanks, Mrs. Peters!” Conner said. “Who else have you asked?”
“Only a handful of students,” Mrs. Peters said. “I’ve learned the hard way that bringing more than six students to one chaperone on a trip can lead to a scene out of Lord of the Flies.”
“I understand,” Conner said. He couldn’t get the image out of his head of tribal sixth graders tying Mrs. Peters to a spit and roasting her over an open fire.
“But Bree Campbell has signed up,” Mrs. Peters said. “I believe she’s in Ms. York’s English class with you?”
Conner could feel his heart rate rising. His cheeks went red and he pursed his lips to hide a smile. “Oh, good,” he said softly while his inside voice was screaming, “Oh my gosh, Bree Campbell is going to Germany! That’s amazing! That’s the best news ever!”
“She’s quite the talented writer herself. I can imagine the two of you getting along nicely,” Mrs. Peters said, oblivious to Conner’s increasing pulse. “I hope you’ll be able to join us. You should head back to class now.”
Conner nodded as he got to his feet, and continued nodding all the way back to his Biology class. He didn’t understand why the room always seemed to get warmer every time he saw or heard someone mention Bree Campbell. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about her—but for whatever reason, Conner always looked forward to seeing her around and really wanted her to like him.
He couldn’t explain it no matter how much thought he gave it. But one thing was certain: Conner had to go to Germany!
Telling his mom and stepdad after school went as well as Conner could have imagined.
“It’s a really great educational opportunity,” Conner stressed. “Germany is a really super-smart place with a lot of history, I think some kind of war happened there at some point—can I go? Can I go?”
Charlotte and Bob sat on the couch in front of him looking over the pamphlet. They both had just gotten home from working at the children’s hospital and hadn’t even had time to change out of their scrubs before they were attacked by a very enthusiastic Conner.
“This seems like a great trip,” Charlotte said. “Your dad would have been so excited to hear about the Brothers Grimm time capsule!”
“I know, I know! Which is why I need to go—so I can experience it for all of us! Please, can I go?” he asked, bouncing in little hops. Whenever Conner asked them for something he acted like a hyper Chihuahua.
They only hesitated for a second but Conner felt like it was an hour. “Oh, come on! Alex gets to live in another dimension but I can’t go on a school trip to Germany?”
“You can absolutely go,” Charlotte said.
“YES!” Conner threw both hands into the air.
“But you’ll have to pay for it,” Charlotte quickly added.
Conner’s hands instantly fell and his excitement deflated like a crashed hot air balloon. “I’m thirteen—I can’t afford a trip to Europe!”
“True, but ever since we moved into Bob’s house you’ve been getting an allowance for helping out around the house and your fourteenth birthday will be here before you know it,” Charlotte said as she did the math in her head. “If you add those together with a little fund-raising at school, you’ll be able to afford—”
“Half of it,” Conner said. He had already done every possible math equation in relation to any parental scenario he thought they might throw his way. “So I’ll be able to get there but I won’t be able to come back.”
Bob looked down at the pamphlet and shrugged. “Charlotte, what if we met him halfway? This is a really great opportunity. Besides, he’s always been such a great kid, it couldn’t hurt to treat him a little.”
“Thanks, Bob! Mom, listen to your husband!” Conner said, and gestured toward him like he was directing a plane into a terminal.
Charlotte humored the idea for a moment. “That’s fine by me,” she said. “If you earn half and show us that this trip is something you really want, we’ll give you the other half. Do we have a deal?”
Conner wiggled from all the excitement building up inside of him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he said, and shook both their hands. “Pleasure doing business with you!”
And so, after four months of saving his allowance, birthday money, and taking part in school fund-raisers selling candy, baked goods, and hideous pottery (which Charlotte and Bob bought most of), Conner had earned his half of the trip and was ready for Germany.
At the beginning of the week leading up to his departure, when Conner should have started packing, Bob walked into his bedroom with another surprise. He plopped a very old and dusty suitcase onto his stepson’s bed. It was brown and covered in stickers of famous locations, and made Conner’s room smell like feet.
Bob placed his hands on his hips and proudly looked down at the suitcase. “There it is!” Bob said.
“There what is?” Conner said. “Is that a coffin?”
“No, it’s the suitcase I used during my own Euro trip after college.” Bob gently petted the side of it like it was an old dog. “We’ve had some pretty good times together—covered a lot of ground! I thought you could use it for Germany.”