“Oh.” Kat shifted. “Well. Thanks. Now.” She began writing. “Anything else?”

“I missed whatever clue or whatever I should have found in the ring of stones. My mistake.” Isaac’s cheeks grew hot.

“Can’t be helped,” Kat said.

“And there’s this,” Isaac said, and pulled the pendant out from under his shirt.

Everyone leaned forward. “It’s the eternity knot,” Amelie said. “Where did you get that?”

“My father gave it to me.” Isaac put it back under his shirt, where it once again lay cold against his skin. “I don’t know what it’s for, but Hypatia had a pendant that she gave the girl before she disappeared.”

Kat tilted her head. “Curious.”

Colin lay on his stomach staring at the scroll. “The words. They flow like water. Or, like a snake. See? That almost looks like the head of a snake. In fact”—Colin pushed up to hands and knees—“that may be where the words begin. Right there with ‘Dear Isaac.’”

“Good one, Colin,” Amelie said. “Look there. It seems to be followed by ‘Well done.’”

“Could this be a plan of the library, Isaac?” Kat asked. “Did it look like that?”

Isaac shook his head. “What I saw was only one story high and simple, just a room full of scrolls and books and papers. This looks like a really complicated building with stairs and corridors.”

Amelie gasped. “Look! Look! It’s a plan of Rookskill. It’s Rookskill Castle.”

CHAPTER 27

Isaac

1942

Once Amelie said it out loud, it was obvious.

“Brilliant,” Kat said. “Exactly so, Ame. It’s a three-dimensional plan of Rookskill.”

“And it’s a living plan,” said Leo. “I think that’s us, right there. Look, there’s Baines in the parlor. And that’s Lark, in the kitchen.” He pointed. “And I’ll bet that’s Willow.”

Willow dove down to hover over the scroll. “Doesn’t look anything like us,” they huffed.

“No,” said Leo, “it’s a symbol. You’re represented by a blob.”

“A blob?” Willow zipped to the ceiling. The blob moved, too, Isaac noted. “We’re . . . we’re . . . mortified. A blob!” They asked, “What’s Lark?”

“A flower,” Leo said.

“We’re a blob and the ghillie is a flower? Not fair.” Willow moved to the corner of the room, muttering.

“No wonder it looks like the walls and corridors are moving on the scroll because that’s exactly what they feel like here in Rookskill,” said Kat.

“So then, we need to try and follow the words,” said Colin. He jumped up and added, “Canut says he’s ready.”

“The blob is staying right here,” Willow said, huffy.

Amelie said in a soothing voice, “Maybe you could keep an eye on Baines for us, Willow? I don’t think you’re a blob.”

Willow sniffed. “Thank you, Amelie.” They popped away.