A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(6)

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.”

Conner couldn’t imagine taking it overseas—he was shocked the suitcase wasn’t instantly decaying like a mummy exposed to the elements after thousands of years. “I don’t know what to say, Bob,” he said, hiding his reservations under a fake smile. He couldn’t refuse it after Bob had helped make the trip happen.

“No need to thank me,” Bob said, although a thank-you was the furthest thing from Conner’s mind. “Just do me a favor and get a sticker from Berlin for her.”

“It’s a she?”

“Oh, yes, her name is Betsy,” Bob said as he headed out of his stepson’s room. “Enjoy her! Oh, almost forgot, her left buckle needs a good push to lock. Just put your back into it and you’ll be fine.”