A security person with a smile on her face comes over to greet us. “Hey, kids, are you enjoying the view?” She points to my shorts. “Aren’t you cold?” Then she laughs. “Never mind. I’m sure you’re not. Little kids are never cold.” She takes a look left, then right. “Have you lost your parents? Or are you on a school field trip?”

I reach into my shorts pocket and pull out a picture of Loopy. “Actually, we’re looking for my dog. We think he came up here. Can you help us find him?”

I show her the picture. She gives me a funny look. “Your dog? Honey, no dogs are allowed up here.” But then her eyes get big when she looks a little closer. “Hey, I know that dog!”

“You do? Is he here?” Zoe, Scratchy, and Carlos crowd around me.

She frowns. “No, like I said. Dogs aren’t allowed. But this dog . . . this little guy managed to ride the ferry over and he snuck up here one day. We tried to catch him but he was too quick! He was wearing a little camera or something on his head.”

“Yes! That’s HIM! That’s Loopy! What day was that?”

She crunched her eyebrows together. “Oh, that was about three years ago! It happened the first week I was working here. Weirdest thing ever. I’ll never forget it. We searched the whole island and alerted the ferry boat drivers, but no one ever spotted him again.”

“THREE YEARS AGO?”

Zoe put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me back a step. The security girl put her hand on her hip. “Are you okay?” Then she looked around. “Who did you say you were here with?”

“He’s fine.” Zoe chuckles. “We know dogs aren’t allowed. He’s putting together a story for his English class about a dog who visits the Statue of Liberty. My brother gets carried away sometimes.” Zoe tilts her head and rolls her eyes.

The woman nods. “Oh, okay. Well, hey, if it helps your story any, our security cameras got pictures of that dog up in the crown! That would be fun to put in a story. Do you have crown tickets?”

Zoe pulls something out of her backpack and hands it to the woman. “Are these crown tickets?”

The woman looks at the stack of papers and smiles. “Why yes, they are! Let me show you the way to the staircase. You’ll have to leave your backpacks here, though. Only people and cameras are allowed.”

*  *  *

“I never thought I’d be climbing stairs again!” Carlos grins ear-to-ear as he leads us up the metal spiral staircase toward the crown.

I huff and puff. “Carlos, slow down, man! We’re dying back here!” I keep an eye out, above and below, for Loopy.