“Hmmm. Are you sure about that?”

Harlow said, “They’re not going to do what you want unless you let them dress you up.”

Luna did a double take—Harlow was a rabbit. “Why are you dressed like the Easter Bunny?” She wore a full-on white body suit, complete with mittens and booties. The pullover hood even had pink ears.

“Easter Bunny is for April. I’m the March Hare.” Harlow didn’t seem too upset about being a sentient cotton fluff with ears, but happy wouldn’t exactly describe her either.

“Dress me up how?”

Nicole and Stella wore matching smiles. And matching fur-lined pantsuits. White and Red respectively, with crown headbands.

Luna took a step back. “Um, no?”

“Um, yes,” Nicole said, holding up a small gray box. “Unless you don’t want to know what this is. I found it outside my room this morning.”

“My wyvern seconds that sentiment,” Stella said.

Ten minutes later, Luna stood glowering and miserable in a blue dress with a white petticoat, pinafore, and lace wrist cuffs.

“Your scarf kind of ruins the look,” Nicole hinted.

“I’m not taking it off,” Luna said. “And I hate you both.”

“Why do I have to be the cat?” Alex had gotten off easy—a black shirt, black jeans, and cat ears.

“Because you’re very adorable and my third favorite. Now stop complaining.” Stella held out a pair of white tights and black Mary Janes for Luna. “Go on. Hurry up so we can start group work show-and-tell.”

Luna, regretfully, did as she was told. When she returned from the changing room, as promised, Nicole handed over her present. “There’s a riddle on the bottom.”

And lastly, for you, a locked iron box

Occupied by birds with skeletons of tin

Keen eyes can solve the mystery within

But not before finding a lost arctic fox

The Green codex and the Red paradox

The key sticking out of the box resembled the one Luna had found during her library challenge—small, white, and with an animal head at the top. “Is this the arctic fox?”

Nicole nodded. “Francis found the key during our challenge, but I’m pretty sure the riddle is saying I can’t move forward without you or Stella.”

Luna twisted the key, and the top popped open. Two metal bird skeletons were inside.

“You can’t take them out,” Nicole said.

Both birds, stuck fast to the bottom of the box, had a small empty rectangle in front of them, as if something were missing. A string of white numbers had been engraved inside the top of the box—the same exact length as the code she’d used to open the library door. Luna removed the key. The bottom part was star shaped.

“What did you find?” Luna asked Stella.