“This doesn’t feel holographic,” she called over her shoulder. “You know, the way the other stuff feels like Pop Rocks against your fingers if you try to touch it? This is pretty solid.”

Ahmad inched forward and gingerly laid his fingers next to Winnie’s. She was right. As a matter of fact, the wall felt like solid stone. It had the grooves and smoothed edges that came with age.

Just the feel of it sent a shiver down Ahmad’s spine, the tingle telling him he knew this stone better than he’d thought. It felt strange, but familiar, the thrum of energy it released making the hair on his arms stand straight up. He backed off, and surreptitiously wiped his hand on his jeans.

“All right, so . . . we made it. And this is here for us. Which means, this is the challenge, right?”

Winnie hummed, still looking doubtful. “I mean, the forest was a maze. It feels a bit redundant. But then again, a maze is a type of puzzle. It seems a little easy to just send us off on our merry way to find the exit.”

There was a low rumble in the distance, from the direction of the entrance.

“Whoa, what was that?” Ahmad gasped.

Winnie backed away from the maze entrance.

“Whatever it was, it doesn’t sound good. At all.”

They stood there, together, waiting and listening. There was no other sound. Ahmad shook his head and straightened up.

“Okay, look. This definitely is here for a reason. We need to go in there.”

He reached back into his knapsack, fishing until he grasped the shrunken handle of the sword Madame Nasirah had dropped in. He drew it out, and then paused as something occurred to him.

“Uh, Winnie?”

“What?”

“If I pull it out, it’ll get larger. I need some backup.”

Winnie rolled her eyes and reached out. “Okay, let’s do it together. We promised, right? But if there’s anything like a dinosaur in there—oof!”

The supersized sword clattered to the floor and Ahmad lifted it up.

“We’ve got protection. Come on, Winnie.”

She pouted, then shuffled along behind him. “All right, all right. Fine.”

The kids turned back toward the maze and tentatively stepped in. Just beyond the entrance, there was a wrought iron gate, the kind that looked like it belonged to a botanical garden or one of those old mansions you could find in Park Slope or farther down Fifth Avenue.

Hanging off an intimidating, black-painted spike was a wooden plaque.

Winnie read it aloud.

“What you seek shall set you free. Don’t forget the lock as you hold the key.”

“Lock, key. Got it.” Ahmad’s mind was all for what lay beyond the gate. Neon light glanced off his excited eyes. “Let’s do this.”

Together, the kids pushed open the gate.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

IT ONLY TOOK AHMAD two steps to realize that the terrain was different.