Wait. “That’s not what I was talking about when I said I didn’t understand what was happening though. I’m talking about...this.” I gestured around the room.

“Sophie has a vision for the place,” Uncle Rob said. “We need to order a few more things, but it’ll be all decked out soon.”

“She circled a lot of things in this magazine,” Mr. Tanner said and tossed it aside. He stood up and stretched. He was in a full suit even though it was the middle of the night. “I’ll handle it from here.”

“You...I...” Ah! “But...this...” Did they not know we were standing in someone else’s apartment right now? They had to. Because we literally were. “My parents are going to kill me.”

“Don’t worry,” Mr. Tanner said. “We’re not going to tell your parents about your secret lair. Or Matt.”

“I didn’t ask for any of this. RJ was supposed to fix the hole, not get you to turn this into a...what?”

“Secret lair,” Mr. Tanner said. “It’s going to be pretty epic.”

“So epic,” Uncle Rob said. “I always wished I’d had a secret lair growing up. As soon as RJ told me about the hole, I knew what I needed to do. It’s going to be fantastic. It’ll be the perfect place for you kids to hang out. A little better than a treehouse, I think.”

“A tree what?” asked Mr. Tanner.

“A treehouse.” He stared at Mr. Tanner. “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of a treehouse, weirdo.”

Mr. Tanner laughed. “Sounds like a pauper thing.”

Uncle Rob shook his head and chuckled. “Anyway, it’ll be done soon. In the meantime, you better get up that ladder. It’s almost one. Isn’t that your curfew?”

I just stared at them. “You’re seriously not telling my parents that we put a hole in the floor?”

“The hole is fixed.” Uncle Rob pointed to the trapdoor. It reminded me a lot of how you got in and out of the treehouse actually. “So there’s nothing really to tell.”

There’d be a lot to tell if they actually turned this into some kind of secret lair. “If my dad finds out about this...”

Uncle Rob laughed. “We both know he had this coming. He’s too strict if you ask me. And stalking you at school? Not cool, man. It’s the least we can do to help.”

Sometimes I had a hard time remembering that Uncle Rob and my dad were brothers. “Thank you.”

Mr. Tanner glanced at his watch. “You best hurry, Scarlett. You don’t want to be late.”