about it, the more sense it made. Sir Frederick would become the new headmaster if Headmaster Winter were fired. Sir Frederick hadn’t believed Henry about the combat training in the Nordlands and had tried to convince Henry that what he’d seen was a prank. Sir Frederick had found Frankie in their room the other night and had promptly dragged them off to see the headmaster instead of looking the other way. Sir Frederick had asked what page Henry was on before shutting the door, had known what Henry was about to find.

“Hello, Henry?” Adam asked.

“Sorry,” Henry said. He was still holding the doorknob and had been staring off vaguely in the direction of the ceiling. “Sir Frederick.”

“What about him?” Adam asked.

Henry gave the doorknob a last, desperate shake. “He’s locked us in, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Right, but why?”

“Adam,” Henry said evenly, “I don’t think Sir Frederick is on our side.”

“What?”

“Think about it,” Henry said, the words tumbling out of him. “He’s been behind everything—getting me into Knightley in the first place and giving Headmaster Winter the idea to admit commoners, which of course meant that Headmaster Winter could be fired. And then he would be the new headmaster.”

Henry frowned.

It was like a riddle he’d only half figured out. Everything still wasn’t connected, but he’d at least decoded part of it.

“But why would Sir Frederick go to the trouble of getting us into Knightley just to turn around and make sure we got kicked out?” Adam asked, scratching his head. “He can’t want to be headmaster that badly, can he?”

Henry shook his head. He was as baffled by their new knowledge as Adam.

“We need to see Sir Frederick,” he said. “I have to hear it from him. I just … I mean, I’m certain it’s Sir Frederick. He’s the only one who stands to gain anything by any of this, but I just can’t believe some of those things he did: your necklace, the nuts in Rohan’s muffin, the unblunted sword.”

Sir Frederick had seemed so kind. That day when he bandaged Adam’s arm, when he’d given them biscuits and tea, the way he ruffled Henry’s hair and called him “my boy.” Had it all been a lie?

Henry felt sick. His stomach heaving with revulsion, he kicked the door in anger. “How are we going to get out of here?” he asked, turning around and glaring at the room.

“The window?” Adam asked sarcastically. They were on the third story of the main building. “Naturally you’d go first.”

“How can you joke at a time like this?” Henry asked.

“The same way you can sit calmly and read a book when we’re suspended,” Adam returned, prowling the room and prodding at the bookshelves.

“What are you doing?” Henry asked.

“It’s different here. The design. Don’t you see?”

Henry looked. There was a break in the paneling on the bookshelf, but that could have been from anything.

“Maybe,” Henry said doubtfully.

“No, I’m serious,” Adam said. “Look. You can see light through here, and why else would there be only two dictionaries on this shelf ?”

Adam pushed and prodded at the bookshelf, convinced that it was a secret passage. Finally, he slammed his hand against the larger of the two dictionaries in disgust.

“I give up,” Adam said, as the bookshelf clicked open, revealing a passage.

Henry stared.

“Impossible,” Adam breathed.

“Adam, you’ve done it,” Henry said.

“I have my moments,” Adam said with a self-satisfied grin.

Behind the bookshelf was a rickety stairway leading upward.

Henry followed Adam up the stairs, which were lit dimly by a single electric wall sconce. The stairwell was steep, and the climb exhausting.

Suddenly, in front of Henry, Adam gave an odd little laugh. “I don’t believe it!”

“What, you’ve found a hidden combat training room?” Henry asked, half joking.

“It’s that gruesome unicorn tapestry,” Adam said.

The stairwell filled with light.

Henry frowned. What was Adam going on about?

He found out soon enough.

The exit to the hidden stairwell was located behind that horrible tapestry outside Lord Havelock’s tower classroom—hence the steep stairs.

“I knew I always liked this thing,” Adam said, dusting off his uniform and giving the unicorn tapestry a friendly pat back into place.

Henry nearly laughed. “It’s still creepy, if you ask me. Let’s go.”

“Remind me again,” Adam panted, following Henry down the proper stairwell, “why we’re going to seek out Sir Frederick now that we’ve decided he’s evil?”

“I have to hear it from him,” Henry said. “I have to know why. It just doesn’t add up. We’re missing something.”

“Can’t we just miss it all together and, I dunno, not accuse Sir Frederick of