Sai snorted. “When’s that going to happen?” he asked. “We locked all the doors, remember? And even if someone did come in, who knows about that button? Who else even knows about this hidden room?”
“Too bad none of us have cell phones,” Marly grumbled, resting her shoulder against the wall. “If we did, we could call someone to come let us out.”
But none of their parents wanted them to have cell phones until they were in middle school.
“There’s probably no service in here anyway,” Isla said. She stared at the floor. “I should never have pushed that button. What are we going to do?”
“There has to be a way out of here,” Marly said, looking around. But it was hard to see in the dark. “Shine that flashlight around, Sai.”
“I have. Believe me, I have,” Sai said in a tired voice. But he shined the flashlight up and down and all around the room.
Marly crossed her arms. “Mr. Summerling lived here alone,” she reminded everyone. “How did he get out of here if the only button is on the other side of this room?”
“Good question,” Isla said. “We need to check every inch of this place.” She and Marly moved side by side along the wall. The concrete scratched their fingers as they felt up and down.
Sai tried to light their way with the flashlight, but Marly still nearly tripped over something on the floor.
“Careful,” Isla said, grabbing Marly’s arm before she fell. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Marly said, regaining her footing. “What is that?” She kicked at a metal plate that stuck up out of the floor.
Sai shined the flashlight on it. It was a rust-colored square, a bit bigger than the size of the hopscotch squares at school. It had a handle on it.
Marly tugged at the handle and was surprised to discover how easily it came up.
“A door!” Isla exhaled in relief. And beneath the door was a set of stairs that disappeared into darkness. They peered over the edge.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Sai walked around the opening and stepped onto the top stair. While Marly and Isla climbed in carefully behind him, Sai moved down a couple of steps and tried to shine the flashlight the rest of the way down. It didn’t illuminate much.
“Should we close the door behind us?” Isla asked, holding onto a wall for balance.
“Yeah, let’s,” Marly said. She reached up, and she and Isla gently pulled the door over their heads while Sai held the flashlight so they could see what they were doing.
“Hey, there’s a lock on this side of the door,” Sai said, aiming the flashlight at it. He climbed back up, squeezed in between Marly and Isla, and slid the lock into place.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Marly said.
“Why not?” Sai asked. “We can always unlock it.”
“Not if we get stuck in there again.” Marly banged her hand on the door above them.
“That’s not going to happen,” Sai said. “We know how we got in there. I’m not pressing that button again anytime soon.”
“Neither am I,” Isla said.
Marly felt a little jealous that Isla and Sai had both found some button—an important button that she never saw. My stupid eyes, she thought as she followed Sai down the rest of the stairs and into a narrow tunnel.
“Well, let’s see where this goes,” Sai said, his voice echoing against the narrow walls.
Isla put her hands on Marly’s shoulders, who then put her hands on Sai’s. Slowly, they snaked their way through the tunnel with Sai lighting the path ahead.
“Can you imagine being down here without a flashlight?” Isla asked. Her mouth was inches from Marly’s ear.
“Let’s not imagine. Let’s see!” Sai switched the flashlight off and everything went black.
“SAI!” the girls cried.
Marly slapped his arm and Sai turned the flashlight back on. “Just kidding,” he said. They pressed on, their hands back on one another’s shoulders.
“I wonder what this tunnel is for,” Isla said. “There’s nothing down here.”
“Maybe it’s a secret passageway to the hidden room,” Sai said.
“We just came from a hidden room,” Marly said.
“Yeah, but that one didn’t look out over the city, so there must be another one,” Sai said.
“We’re in a basement,” Isla said. “No room down here is going to look out over the city.”
“But we’re about to go up,” Sai said. “See?” He shined the flashlight on a metal spiral stairway.
“Sai could be right. This tunnel might be a secret passageway to the room we’re looking for,” Marly said excitedly as they began climbing the stairs.
But the stairs went on and on and on. Round and round and round.
“We must be going all the way to the third floor.” Sai stopped to catch his breath.
“There isn’t a third floor,” Marly said.
Sai glanced over his shoulder. “Are you sure?”
Marly thought for a second. They hadn’t found any stairs leading to a third floor when they were on the second floor. But there was definitely a tower on Mr. Summerling’s house. Where was it? How did you get to it?
“Well . . .” Okay, Marly wasn’t sure there wasn’t a third floor. When it came to Mr. Summerling, she wasn’t sure of much of anything.
They continued up, up, up the stairs. As they climbed, the beam from the flashlight bounced all around.
“Wh-what’s that?” Isla asked, clinging to Marly’s arm.
Marly held tight to the railing. “What’s what?” She peered into the darkness. She could almost feel Isla’s heart beating through her arm, but she had no idea what Isla was talking about.
Isla loosened her grip. “I-I don’t know,” she stammered. “For a second there, I thought I saw a-a ghost.”
“Hello?” Sai called, shining the flashlight all around the stairwell.
“There it is again!” Isla pointed.
The flashlight beam swept slowly back and forth, finally landing on a painting on the wall. A painting of an angry ghost lady.
“Huh.” Sai took two more steps, then stopped in front of the painting. “This is a strange place to hang a painting.”
Marly and Isla gathered around him on the stairs.
Isla wrinkled her nose. “It’s creepy.”
“Maybe that’s why it’s in here,” Marly said. “So no one has to look at it.”
“We’re almost to the top.” Sai aimed the flashlight at a closed door above them. “Let’s keep going.”
“I bet that door’s going to be locked,” Isla said.
“We’ve got a key, remember?” Sai said, patting his front pocket. “The very important key from the dictionary?” He hurried up the rest of the stairs. “But guess what?” He turned to the girls. “We don’t need it.” He opened the door and they were back on the second floor of the house.
“Hey, this is the door we couldn’t get in before,” Isla said as it closed behind them.
Marly reached over and tried the handle. Locked again. “And now we can’t get back in,” she said.
“Maybe we can,” Sai said. “Hold this.” He handed Marly the flashlight, then stuck his hand in his front pocket and pulled out the key from the dictionary. Then he inserted the key into the lock and turned the knob. “Voilà!” he said as the door opened.
“Well, okay then,” Marly said, pleased that something was finally going their way.
Sai held the door open for a few seconds, then let it drift closed.
“It’s nice that we know what to do with that key, but I still feel like we’re back where we started,” Isla said, leaning against the wall “Sure, we found a hidden room, but there’s no treasure in there and it doesn’t look out over the city. We have a key, but I wouldn’t say it was kept by a ghost. We have a lis
t of two-letter words and three-letter words from the Scrabble dictionary, but we have no idea what to do with them. Are we even on the right track?”
“I wouldn’t say we’re back where we started,” Marly said, though she understood Isla’s frustration. “That’s all stuff we’ve found. We just don’t know how it fits together.” She turned the flashlight off.
“Why don’t we go downstairs and see if we can figure it out,” Sai said. He took the flashlight from Marly and shoved the key back inside his front pocket.
“All right,” Isla said, and they headed back down the hall.
Marly paused at the top of the stairs. “Wow. Look at that,” she said, gazing up at a huge painting on the wall in front of her.
There was an old-fashioned girl in a blue dress in the painting. She was admiring her reflection in a floor-length mirror. There was also a ghost in the painting. A ghost girl who had no reflection. The ghost girl hovered between the other girl and the mirror. She didn’t seem to be looking at the girl. She was looking out at Marly, Isla, and Sai.
“Mr. Summerling sure likes paintings of ghosts, doesn’t he?” Isla said, twisting her hair around her finger.
“He does,” Sai agreed. “But look at what that ghost is looking at.”
“You mean us?” Marly asked.
“Uh-uh.” Sai shook his head. “She’s looking at the door we just came out of. It’s almost like she’s guarding that door.” He pointed at it.
Marly took a step toward the painting. “You know? You’re right,” she said, glancing back and forth between it and the door. “Maybe Mr. Summerling wasn’t talking about real ghosts when he wrote ‘One ghost guards the doors. Another keeps the key.’ Maybe he was talking about ghosts in paintings.”
“This one is guarding a door,” Sai said. “Maybe the one in there,” he pointed at the locked door again, “is guarding the very important key.”
“But we already have the very important key,” Isla said.
“We have a key,” Marly said. “Maybe there’s another key hidden somewhere around that other painting. Maybe that’s the ‘very important’ one.” There had to be a reason Mr. Summerling added that part.
“And maybe that’s the key that leads to the treasure that’s in a hidden room that looks out over the city,” Sai added. “Not the hidden room behind the fireplace.”
“Let’s see if there’s another key,” Marly said.
They raced back down the hall.
“I guess that would explain why there’s a painting in there where no one can see it,” Isla said as Sai unlocked the door and turned on the flashlight.
They stepped back inside the hidden stairwell and let the door close behind them.
“I sure wish that door would stay open,” Isla said with a nervous glance over her shoulder.
“It’s not a big deal,” Marly said as they descended the stairs. “The door opens from this side.”
“I know,” Isla said. “But I still wish it would stay open.”
“Here we are,” Sai said, stopping beside the creepy painting. He shined the flashlight on it and felt around the frame.
Marly felt along the other side of the frame. All of a sudden, her fingers brushed against a small latch. She squeezed it and the painting swung open like a door.
“Oh!” Isla said, staring at something on the wall behind the painting.
Marly ducked under the painting so she could see what Isla was looking at. “It’s a safe,” she said.
Sai tried the handle, but it didn’t open.
“Look at the lock,” Isla said, pointing at six dials. Each one had a bunch of letters on it. “I think we can figure out the combination.” She grinned at Marly.
Sai looked confused. “How?”
“Don’t you remember?” Marly reached into her tote bag for their notebook. “‘First three two-letter words in the Scrabble dictionary’ or ‘first two three-letter words in the Scrabble dictionary’?”
“Ohhh, yeah,” Sai said with a grin.
Marly flipped pages in the notebook until she found where she’d copied down those words. “Try A-A-A-B-A-D,” she said.
Sai held the flashlight while Isla spun each dial to the correct letter. There was a kerchunking sound of metal on metal when Isla tried the door.
Still locked.
“Okay, let’s try the three letter words. A-A-H-A-A-L,” Marly said.
Isla spun the dials again. This time the door clicked open. She squealed and reached inside. “Yes!” she cried, pulling out a shiny silver key. “This must be the ‘very important key.’”
“Okay, but where do we use it?” Sai asked.
“On the other hidden room,” Marly said. “The one that looks out over the city.”
But where is that?
They closed the safe and carefully moved the painting back in front of it. Then they tromped back up the stairs and out to the second floor. As the door to the hidden stairway closed behind them, the ghost in the other painting stared straight at them.
Isla’s brow furrowed. “Can I see that letter from Mr. Summerling again?” she asked Marly.
“Sure.” Marly dug in her bag and handed it to Isla. “What are you looking for?” She watched Isla’s eyes scan the paper.
“This,” Isla said finally. “‘One ghost guards the doors.’” She touched the word for extra emphasis, then pointed at the painting in front of them. “That ghost is definitely guarding the door to the secret stairs. But could she be guarding another door, too?”
Marly looked around. She didn’t see any other doors they hadn’t already checked out.
Sai hurried toward the painting. “Maybe it’s like that other painting. Maybe there’s a door behind it,” he said, tugging on the frame.
It didn’t move.
But it was a much larger painting than the other one. Probably heavier, too, Marly thought. “Here, let me help,” she said. She put her hands above Sai’s. Isla put her hands below.
“One, two, three, pull!” Marly said.
The painting still didn’t budge.
“Let’s try the other side,” Isla said. They lined up on the other side of the frame, found their grips, and pulled again.
This time, the painting creaked open. And revealed a hidden door!
Marly bounced on her toes and giggled in delight.
“I knew it!” Sai said, rubbing his hands together.
It was smaller than a regular door, but not quite as small as the door to the tree house. Marly tried the door. It was, of course, locked.
“Could this be ‘the very important key’?” Isla asked, holding up the new key. She inserted it into the lock and turned the handle.
The door opened.
“Yes!” Sai said. They all high-fived.
Another set of stairs beckoned. Daylight poured down the stairs.
“I bet the hidden room that looks out over the city is right up there!” Marly bent and tried to see what was up the stairs, but she couldn’t. Not from this angle.
“Let’s go,” Sai said, giving her a light push.
But as Marly’s foot touched the bottom step, they heard glass breaking downstairs.
“What was that?” Isla asked, grabbing onto her hair.
More glass shattered. Then heavy footsteps.
“We aren’t alone anymore,” Marly whispered. “Quick! Let’s close this back up.” She pulled the door closed, and Isla and Sai helped her move the painting back in front of it.
“Where are you kids? I know you’re in here!” Someone with a gruff voice tromped around downstairs.
Sai flattened himself against the wall. “I-is that . . . Jay?” he asked, his voice shaking.
“I think so.” Marly gulped. And it sounds like he is in the house!
“What are we going to do?” Isla whispered.
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Marly racked her brain. “The hidden stairway!” she said. “We can hide in there.”
“I want to know what you’re doing in my house!” Jay shouted.
“It’s not your house!” Sai shouted back as Marly and Isla gaped at him.
“What are you doing?” Marly hissed.
Sai gave Marly a sheepish look. “It’s not,” he mouthed.
Not the point, Marly thought. “Open the door!” She elbowed Sai. He was the one who had the key.
“It is my house,” Jay said. “And you three are trespassing!”
“Hurry!” Isla pulled on Sai’s arm.
But Sai didn’t unlock the door. “You’re the one who’s trespassing,” he yelled at Jay. He stormed down the hallway. And down the stairs. “We were invited. Were you?”
Marly and Isla raised their hands in helpless frustration. They didn’t have a key to the hidden stairway. What else could they do but reluctantly follow Sai?
Downstairs, the large window behind the sofa had been shattered. Broken glass littered the sofa, table, and floor. And Jay Summerling, dressed in a suit and tie, stood beside the overturned Scrabble game with his hands on his hips.
Sai bent to pick up a baseball-size rock. So that’s how he got in here.
“Doesn’t look like you were invited,” Marly said. Isla hovered behind her.
“Yeah, this is Mr. Summerling’s house, not yours,” Sai said. “He left you out of his will, remember? He left all his treasure to us!”
“So, there is treasure,” Jay said greedily. “What is it? Where is it?” He eyeballed each of them in turn.
Marly pressed her lips together. They all remained silent.
“TELL ME!” he screamed, his angry voice shooting right through Marly. Isla reached for Marly’s hand.
Jay stood tall, took a deep breath, and lowered his voice. “If you don’t tell me where it is, I’ll call the police.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “I’ll tell them you all broke into my dad’s house and I caught you trying to steal from him.”
The Hidden Room Page 4
