The middle of the shack has a wooden beam that stretches across it, but it’s barely visible. Pots of flowers and succulent bulbs hang from the beam, which is also covered with twisting vines and rows of herbs. Perhaps most breathtaking, however, is what sits underneath this beam, in the center of the room: an arrangement of flowers and plants in tiers, like something you’d see at an opulent wedding. Just behind this floral altar I spot a platform that is shaped, rather appropriately, like a pentacle.

Taking this place in, I feel its energy coursing through me, its floral and earthy smell hanging thick in the air. Suddenly I feel like an Empress who has found her throne room, deep within the heart of Mother Nature. It’s like my senses come alive in this place, like this space somehow belongs to me.

Or rather, like I belong to this space.

Though I doubt it’s as abandoned as I first thought. Plants might do well on their own, but they don’t stay this manicured. Which means the next Corner of Perillians must know about this location, even without our deck. My heart starts pounding. What exactly do these so-called Repentant Perillians have in store for us?

“Look, in the center of the pentacle platform.”

Chase points as he speaks, so Cleo and I look closer. I immediately see it, in the center of the platform—the seams of a secret door.

As much as I really want to soak in the wonder of this secret garden, I walk straight up to the platform. Finding the other hidden cards involved such difficult processes, but could it really be that finding the King of Pentacles might be more straightforward?

Examining this door, I see there’s a hidden panel in its upper corner. Opening this panel, we find it houses a keypad lock, its numbers replaced with simple tarot symbols. My hope crumbles like dirt, however, when I realize this keypad has already been unlocked, along with the formerly locked door. Lifting open this door, my hope then shatters entirely when we find an empty compartment inside—which means whatever was once here must have already been taken.

Someone got to the King of Pentacles before us.

I suppose it was naive to think all the Perillian Corners would have the same reverence as the Baxters. Or that all Perilli’s puzzles would be equally unsolvable. But then I think: these hidden cards are supposed to be unobtainable without our deck. That rule has proved to be true so far, so could there be something more than meets the eye here?

I look to Chase to find him already staring at me. He nods—we’re obviously both thinking the same thing.

“Hey, wonder twins,” Cleo says. “Not everyone understands your freaky unspoken language. What are you thinking?”

“That these hidden cards can’t be found without the deck,” I say, reaching around to open Cleo’s backpack. If we’re looking for clues, surely the cards will help. “Which means someone either got very lucky, or the King of Pentacles is still hidden here somewhere.”