“But he didn’t manage it, did he?” says Rose quickly. She flings open the lid of the nearest box. “See? Nothing in it. Just a plain old cardboard box.”

As I wander around I realize that Rose is right: these boxes can’t hurt us . . . But what if Crowky somehow finds the real thing? Looking around this room, this seems entirely possible.

Shelves line the walls and they’re full of Crowky’s half-completed projects. One is stacked full of scarecrow heads, and another is piled up with the featherless bodies of crows. They look like skinned clockwork birds.

At the bottom of the shelves I find a jar of button eyes. I take one out and hold it in my hand. A fold of leather forms an eyelid; Crowky’s even given it tiny thread eyelashes. I use my finger to make it blink. It’s ingenious.

“I hate to admit it,” I say, “but I think Crowky is clever enough to find the Box.”

Rose shakes her head. “It’s impossible. Only Mitch knows where it’s hidden and she would never tell Crowky. She wouldn’t even tell me! I asked her once, but all she’d say was: ‘We merfolk keep our secrets close.’”

Stella snorts. “Merfolk love saying that!” She’s sitting in Crowky’s “nest” making a new loom-band bracelet. “They’re talking about their tattoos: they tattoo their secrets on their skin.”

Rose stares at her. “How come I didn’t know that?”

Stella shrugs. “All merfolk are secretive, even Mitch.”

I go over to the nest. “Stella, are you saying that Mitch could have a tattoo that shows where she hid the Box?”

“Definitely! Remember how proud she was of getting rid of it when no one else could. I bet that tattoo is on her somewhere.”

Rose pulls Mitch’s book out of her satchel. “Let’s find out!” she says with a smile.

Chapter 19

Stella sends the Lost Girls down to their dorm, then we kneel on the floor and look through Mitch’s tattoos, one by one.

We’re quiet as we turn the pages, concentrating on each picture, but all we find are shells, birds, and flowers. I’m just wondering if Stella was wrong about the tattoo when Rose gasps and cries, “I think I’ve found it!”

She’s staring at the picture we looked at last night. Like lots of Mitch’s tattoos, this one is inspired by the sea. A beautiful drop of water is drawn in the center. At the top is the moon, and below this are mountains, a waterfall, and trees. But it’s what’s drawn below all this that’s making the back of my neck tingle: there’s a square box, and sitting inside this is an orange fish, its single eye marked with a cross.

“The goldfish!” yells Win.

“I think this tattoo is a map,” says Rose, gazing at the picture.