Sadie had wandered to the far end of the room and was staring in wonder at the antique instruments. She gasped and then called over to Marcus. “Was this here before?” She pointed at an iron cage that was attached to the floor. It appeared to have grown right through the green carpet, next to a bookcase that was overflowing with sheet music. Inside, propped against the thick bars, Lou noticed a stringed instrument that looked like a tiny guitar.

No. Not a guitar. A ukulele.

Marcus stared at it like it was a bomb. “I’ve been in this room for what feels like forever, and this is the first time I’ve noticed it.” Sadie reached for the cage, but Marcus stopped her. “Wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“But … I think it’s mine.”

“You’re welcome to play any of the instruments in here,” he said. “They don’t belong to anyone anymore.”

Sadie shook her head. “No, I mean … I think it’s my ukulele. The one my grandmother gave me.” She glanced at Lou. “The one that broke during the competition. I was playing it just before I found myself in this crazy house.” Cal, Lou, and Marcus came closer. “I know it’s mine. It’s got the same mark on the bottom of it. Look. There.” The three crouched to glance at the underside of the ukulele. On its base, stamped into the glossy wood right where Sadie said it would be, was a strange symbol. It was a circle with several marks inside that might have been letters. “I figured that its previous owner marked it, but I’ve never learned what it meant.”

Lou felt the blood drain from her head. She had to sit on the floor to keep from toppling over.

“What is it?” Marcus asked her. “What’s wrong?”

She cleared her throat, which felt fuzzy all of a sudden. “You won’t believe me.”

Cal had a faraway look in his eyes. “I have a feeling that I will. We all will.”

“My dollhouse has the same mark on its base,” Lou exhaled.

Cal nodded. “So does the old camera I found in the woods by the Larkspur estate. There’s a symbol on its back that makes it look like it could be siblings with the one on Sadie’s ukulele.”

Sadie stepped away from the cage. “What does it mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cal answered. “Your ukulele. My camera. Her dollhouse. We each own an object that once lived at Larkspur House.”

Silence filled the room for the first time since Lou had stepped inside.

Sadie clawed at the cage. “I have to get it out of there. I need to finish playing the song that I had stuck in my head earlier today. I need to know that I can figure it out. Lou, help me!” She grabbed the bars and shook them, but the cage wouldn’t budge.