opening the mistress’s chamber, the good parlor, and the wine vault. “And there’s a set of locks in one of the drawers.”
“Seriously?” Arlo asked. As if Neela was going to lie to her.
“Yeah. Different sizes and shapes. And each has a number. Like in a hotel or an apartment building.”
“Ring any bells for anyone?” Arlo asked.
Everyone shook their heads, whereupon Neela began to recite the numbers out loud. “Twenty-seven. Four hundred and twelve. Two-B. One Eighty West A.”
Mackenzie sucked in a breath. “What?”
“Two-B?” Neela repeated. “One Eighty West A?”
“What does it mean?” Shaun asked.
“It’s the address of—” Mackenzie caught herself in time. Whatever information she’d been about to divulge in her dumbstruck state froze on her tongue and was lost as she recalled where she was and who she was with. “Address of a friend,” she said confidently. “Just an old friend.”
Persey knew what a lie looked like when she saw it on someone’s face.
Mackenzie’s hand trembled as she took the key from Neela and approached the lock labeled “One Eighty West A.” She turned it slowly, chest completely still as she held her breath, and in the near silence, Persey could hear a soft click and, once again, another door opened on the far wall. Mackenzie didn’t wait to be asked about her “old friend”; she was across the room and down the narrow passageway before anyone could ask a follow-up.
“THREE DOWN, FIVE TO GO,” ARLO SAID; THEN SHE HELD UP AN item from inside her cubicle so they could all see it. “This Rubik’s Cube on steroids…any takers?”
As much as Persey hated to admit it, Arlo’s description was appropriate. In the palm of her hand sat a multisided ball-shaped thing with pentagonal faces made up of little shapes, all in different colors. Brown, green, blue, red, yellow…There had to be a dozen at least, and Persey saw that they were all mixed up on each of the faces.
“A Magic Dodecahedron!” Neela cried out, like a child on her birthday who just discovered that Mom and Dad finally brought that pony she’d been asking for. “Also known as the Megaminx. And you are correct, Arlo. It is a Rubik’s Cube on steroids.”
“Anyone else know what it is?” Arlo asked.
Everyone shook their heads. Persey couldn’t even solve a regular Rubik’s cube, let alone this monster.
“Then this must be for you.” Arlo tossed the Megaminx over the wall. Neela caught it one-handed and eagerly began to examine the faces. “Twelve colors, probably looking for a standard solving pattern. I was Megaminx champion for the greater Philadelphia area three years running when I was in high school.” She smiled sheepishly at Persey. “Puzzles like this are kind of my thing.”
“I thought math was your thing?” Shaun asked.
“My other thing.”
“Can you solve it?” Persey asked.
“Oh yes,” Neela said with a slight laugh. Then she glanced at the clock. “Eight minutes, but this should only take me about four. Keep looking while I take care of this.”
“Looks like this cubby has its own library,” Riot said, rounding the corner at the end of the aisle. “That must be for me.”
“Librarian?” Persey asked, remembering Leah’s comment from the introductions: Once a librarian, always a librarian.
Riot nodded. His Mohawk didn’t budge. “Part-time, ever since high school. And I’ve been putting myself through grad school working as a shelver at…” His voice trailed off as he scanned the row of books on the desk. “Huh.”
“What?”
“N-nothing,” he stuttered, his face turning a sickly shade of yellow. “I just…It’s weird that they’re all books from the same section. Six five two point eight. Filed correctly.”
Persey hadn’t brushed up on the Dewey decimal system lately (ever), and she couldn’t fathom what genre of books would make the color drain from Riot’s face. “What section?”
“Cryptography.” He pulled one book from the shelf, and immediately another door slid open. Instead of rushing in like Wes did, Riot stared at the opening, shaken.
“You okay?” Persey asked.
Riot nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Then he smiled at her over his shoulder. It was genuine, not like Kevin’s smirks, which always made Persey feel like he was a step ahead of her, and there was something else—the way he glanced down at the rest of her before his eyes focused on her face. Persey didn’t know why, but she felt her chest heat up.
Riot’s smile deepened. “I’ll see you on the other side, okay?”
Persey nodded, confused and betrayed by her body’s reaction. “Yeah. Of course.”
“Done!” Neela cried, sparing Persey a moment of much-feared introspection. She held