Back at their apartment, the twins decided to check their e-mail before their homeschooling lesson.
Four messages popped up on the laptop screen. The first two were from Hannah, Ella’s best friend from back home. The third was from Ethan’s best friend, Theo.
The last message was a note from Grandpa Harry. How exciting!
Ella clicked on his e-mail. Ethan leaned over her shoulder as they read it together:
To: ethanella@eemail.com
From: gpaharry@eemail.com
Subject: Sweets for my sweets
Hello, my dears. Bienvenue a Paris! (That means “Welcome to Paris!”)
I hope you are enjoying the City of Light! Speaking of light, the Eiffel Tower has a special light show every night. Make sure you catch it. It is magical.
Did you know that I asked your Grandma Lucy to marry me in Paris? I was studying at the university to be an archaeologist. I asked her while we were having crepes at a very special crêperie owned by my friends on Rue de Fleur. (“Rue” means “street” and “Fleur” means “flower.”)
Perhaps you will get a chance to go to this crepe shop. But a warning: Its name and exact address are a secret. Also, you must give a password at the door. It is “faucon.”
Good luck, my dears! When you find the crêperie, please tell Jean and Jacqueline that their old friend Harry Robinson says bonjour! (That means “hello.”)
Love,
Grandpa Harry
“A secret crepe shop?!” Ella exclaimed. “We have to find it!”
“Yeah, but how? We don’t know what it’s called—or where it is,” Ethan pointed out.
“We don’t know yet.” Ella reached for her bag. She pulled out her notebook, which was purple with a shiny gold spine.
“What are you doing?” Ethan asked.
“Writing down our clues, of course,” Ella replied, rolling her eyes.
Grandpa Harry had given Ella the notebook before the Briars left on their big trip. He’d told her that she might use it for solving mysteries. He had also given Ethan a going-away present—a gold coin with a picture of a hawk on it.
Ella opened her notebook to a clean page and wrote:
Rue de Fleur
Password: Faucon
Then an idea came to her. “Follow me!” she told her brother.
Ella closed the laptop and ran down the hall to her room, clutching her notebook. Ethan ran after her. Once there, she got Les Secrets de Paris from her bookshelf. She found the page with the handwriting on it and then showed it to Ethan.
“ ‘Paris is full of secret places that you will not find in any guidebook,’ ” Ethan read out loud. “What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. But maybe Grandpa Harry’s secret crepe shop is in this book!” Ella suggested.
The twins hunched over the old book and went through it page by page. But it was all in French, and they couldn’t understand it.
At the end of the book was a map of the city. Ethan scanned it quickly. “Rue de Flandre—was that the street he mentioned?” he asked Ella.
Ella glanced at her notebook. “No. It was Rue de Fleur. F-L-E-U-R.”
The twins continued scanning the map. After a moment, Ethan found the street—Rue de Fleur!
“Here it is!” he practically shouted.
“It’s near some big building called the Musée du Louvre,” Ella noted. “That must be French for the Louvre Museum—”
“Where we’re going tomorrow,” Ethan said eagerly. “We can find the secret crepe shop then!”
