Tess added, almost psychically, “I hope I never feel I’m too old to decorate a tree.”

Max gave her a dirty look. He really hated when she did that. “I really hate it when you do that,” said Max, unable to stop himself for calling her on it.

“Do what?” said Tess innocently.

“You know,” said Max. But then he didn’t say anything more because he really didn’t want to have a fight.

By the time they were dressed and seated in the dining room, they’d missed breakfast. “Perfect,” said Max, who was definitely heading for a bad mood or what their mom would call a bout of crankiness. But Tess asked the waiter if they could have grilled cheese sandwiches and a side of jam, which she thought was sort of clever, and when the waiter agreed that sort of cheered Max up. He also ordered an espresso. Tess was surprised. She’d never seen Max have coffee before. But she realized she didn’t quite know what he did in his dorm. The Montreux Academy dorms were not coed and hers was a half a hill away. “A quarter of a mile, to be exact,” Max had informed her when they’d first arrived at school in September. “Our dorms are a quarter of a mile away from each other,” he told her. “I looked it up on Google Maps.”

After a few bites of grilled cheese (which was delicious with a dollop of strawberry jam spread lightly on top) and which they both ate quite daintily, using a knife and a fork, because, after all, they were in London, Max said sheepishly, “I saw him, too.”

“What?” said Tess.

“The boy in the tearoom yesterday. I saw him when we first walked in.”

“But—” Tess started to say but Max interrupted her.

“But when I looked back, he was gone and it was so strange. . . . Don’t be mad. I saw the—the shape in the garden, too. I can’t explain it,” he said. He’d put his knife and fork down now. “Please forgive me. I was just hoping that maybe we could have a normal vacation. You know. Where nothing really peculiar happened.”

Tess was really trying hard not to get mad. Deep breath. Actually, she was feeling so many things, she didn’t know how to compute them. Max had seen it, too? Seen everything. Well, had he seen everything?

“And the marble,” Tess asked.

Max nodded. “And the marble. Yes. I saw it spinning. All by itself. Just the inside though.”

“Well, at least I feel better that I’m not crazy,” said Tess. “I’m not sure how I feel about you right now, though.”

“I know. I just wanted everything to be normal,” said Max.

“But you know strange things happen to us when we go to England,” said Tess. “And I don’t think it’s really my fault.”