London

By:  Connor, 8^th grade

The small, blue dancers fell with grace. They came in scores and whenever one landed, hundreds followed. It seemed that there was no end to these dancers. It was London after all. Every day since he had been in town, it had rained. He did not understand how one cloud could stay over one town for so long. He had to admit, it was strange.

Of course, there were many strange things in the town of London. He was just one of them. The professor and he had been through many strange cases and for once, they were back in town. He was happy to be back home in London. The all too familiar city just seemed a bit strange.

The professor had said that this wasn’t his city any more. He understood that now. This place, which he had known all his life, was now foreign. He knew the people and the sites, and yet this strange feeling kept on telling him that something was wrong. His intuition wasn’t always right, but the professor always seemed to know what to do.

“Evan, come and have a cup of tea with me,” said the professor.

Evan was not a fan of tea. He himself preferred the bold taste of hot chocolate. He found tea to sometimes be to sour or spicy. He did, however, like tea when it was sweet. The professor never made sweet tea. He did not want to appear rude, so he just nodded his head and sat across from the professor.

The table they were sitting at was tall, but not that wide or long. Evan picked up the drink and took a small sip, wincing at the taste. He knew the professor would take notice, but he never seemed to mind. In fact, the professor was quite kind and never would bring harm to someone else.

“Evan, I know that we just got home and that this may seem like a break, but we are here for something else. I don’t really have much time to explain, but listen to me. A true gentleman always helps others, but only those in true need. I want you to remember that.”

Those words still rang in his ears. The professor had left earlier in the day after receiving a strange letter. He had left the letter behind, but Evan did not dare to open it. Besides, it wasn’t even his mail, or was it? Sometimes a letter was addressed to the two of them. He hadn’t had enough time to check before the professor had snatched the letter from his hand.

Evan walked over to the counter and picked up the letter. The gold seal caught his eye. ‘The Tigress’. The seal had an elegant picture of what looked like a half woman half tiger creature. It was marvelous craftsmanship. He knew that even if this letter wasn’t for him, he should at least know who the owner of this seal was. Who knows, he may even want something done in this style?

The flipped the envelope over to check for the return address, but was shocked by the absence of one. What was even stranger still was what was put down of the recipients address. The address that he had been expecting was not there and in its place was a string of random letters and numbers.

Evan was suddenly not trusting of what was inside the envelope. He knew now that he had to read what the letter had said. This was not the normal everyday mail that he revived.  Something was amiss, but he did not know what it was.

1234,!4#$2%%#4,&*()2 3@1,2-3@

)+2,)/_2,#$,=+/&+,?#(,+3-2,344/-21,/%,@#),)+3) ,=+/&+,?#(,342,@22121,3),?#(4,12%)/@3)/#@

=3@12424

“What could that mean?” asked Evan. The letter was strange indeed. Why would someone write a letter in code? This was going to be a tough code to crack, but he could try. He knew that the professor could easily crack this puzzle wide open. Evan, on the other hand, would need either a few good hours or help.