Marla's Sweet Treats

GETTING IT BACK

Ten minutes later, I was headed out the door. Our flight was departing tomorrow morning, so we wanted to go back to the hotel to pack and then explore some parts of Paris. I had received my prize, and I already knew what I was going to do with it: donate half of it, and invest some of it into reparations at the bakery. We desperately needed a new oven and the countertop had worn off with the years. Now it was time to get the recipe book from Magnus. I was afraid to approach him, having seen how angry he was, but there was no other way. I hoped that he would be fair enough to just hand it to me. I didn't expect him to shake my hand and congratulate me, I knew that both of us just wanted to get this over with. I took a deep breath and walked towards him, trying to look as if I was not scared.

"Ah, it's you again." he hissed in a mocking and bitter way when he saw me. 

"The cookbook. I believe you mentioned that you would give it back if I won the contest. I did."

"As I already said, I was expecting Marla, or even Robert today, not some 16- year old little girl. You are not a Thompson, and you do not deserve the book."

With those words, he turned around and walked away. I should have expected this. He wasn't just going to give it back, he wasn't fair-didn't have morals. That's why he stole it in the first place. I knew that I would just make a fool out of myself if I would run after him and beg him to return the book.

"Alright. Then keep it. I'm okay with that." I barked, and turned around. I would have to come up with a plan and get the book back, before Magnus could manipulate more people. And I had to think of a plan fast.

---

Half an hour later we were still at the contest, trying to make a plan when I came up with an idea. The Thompson's could distract Magnus using Hugo's recipe book, while I would take ours from his bag. After ruminating on this, we decided that it was the only plan we could think of, and we didn't have much time, so I stood up to get Hugo's book.

When I returned, Marla was waiting, and I handed it to her. Then we watched her walk over to Magnus and talk to him. Maybe I was just making this up, but he seemed quite nervous. She reached in her bag, and took out the book, while I slowly got up and walked behind the two, pretending to be incredibly interested in the poster about a dog show. I heard Magnus' high voice rise as he tried to convince Marla to hand him the book. He was clearly upset. When he seemed distracted and angry enough, I ran to the table on which he had a black bag. I unzipped it as quickly as possible, and was looking for the book, when I heard Magnus scream

"Hey! What are you doing?"

He turned around so quickly that I didn't react for a second. Then I felt the familiar leather cover and ripped it out of the bag, running as quickly as I could. I saw Marla trying to grab Magnus' sleeve to stop him but he was already running after me. I also saw his visible confusion as he was looking from the book that I was holding to the same book that Marla had in her hands. I passed Robert, Clementine and Katie, who at first, looked confused and then horrified when they saw that Magnus was only several feet behind me.

I ran out the door, and into the streets, trying to make my way through the crowd. I was in the middle of the plaza, when I saw that Magnus ran just as fast as I did, and was right behind me.

I stumbled down the stairs to the subway station, and around a corner, up the other stairs, and around into the crowds. I looked back, and he was nowhere to see, so I sprinted through the doors of the contest, and reached the Thompsons. They were waiting at the door, their bags packed, and we all ran. We had everything we needed, and again headed down the stairs to the subway. I had been running in a circle, but apparently, it had worked.

Just as the doors opened, someone screamed

"Wait. Give it back to me." It was Magnus., who sounded like he was out of breath.

I turned around to see him standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at us. He was running, and we all got into the subway as fast as we could. The doors were already closed, and the subway in motion when he reached us, but even through the metal and glass door I heard him shout: "You will regret this. And you will lose."

Then his face became blurry as the subway sped up.

We sat down and looked at each other. I wasn't quite able to process what had happened, but I knew that we had made it. We had won, we had the book, and despite everything that had happened in the past few days we were all, somehow still smiling.