Eventually, she crept upstairs and turned on the family’s computer in the alcove over the front door. Logging on to her messenger account, she found that Jason was also online. She mentioned what was going on with the email printout, and Mom and Aunt Paige’s conversation about Larkspur.

You found a clue! he wrote back. Nice work, Detective!

How’s everything in Walnut Creek? Miss me?

You wish, he teased. It’s finally quiet around here.

She knew he was joking, but still, it stung.

Tired from the flight and the lack of sleep the previous night, she stretched out on Marcus’s comforter and closed her eyes. Her stomach grumbled. Uncle Gilbert had said he’d order pizza. She hoped that he hadn’t forgotten. She thought about flipping through the book about magic tricks, but she couldn’t stop thinking about five children running through the dollhouse and the shifting mass of shadow that chased them. Before she knew it, the words on the page blurred and shadows swirled as her eyelids grew heavy and her head began to nod.

In California, Jason enjoyed an evening of peace and quiet in his bedroom. His sister’s dollhouse was locked in the basement storage room two floors below, and it felt as though the bizarre energy that lived inside the condo was gone now.

According to Lou, Marcus had secretly made his way to a music academy in New York. Jason knew that his cousin loved music and was kind of a cello prodigy, but he had never taken Marcus to be adventurous. To travel alone across the country without even telling your parents? That was actually kinda punk.

If it were true, the police would probably find Marcus within the next couple of hours. Mom and Lou would have a nice visit and then come home. And Jason could focus on his summer science project, mapping the ecosystems surrounding Mount Diablo. It made him feel good to keep organized, to know where everything fit. It helped him understand how he fit in too. He opened a folder on his computer containing photographs he’d taken of plants and animals while hiking in the parks, and then began to organize the images into categories.

1. Elevation
2. Habitat type
3. Predators
4. Prey

After a moment, he thought of a new category.

5.Environmental dangers

Brush fires. Earthquakes. Drought. Floods … Dollhouses and nightmares.

Lately, it seemed that anything could happen, and nowhere was safe.

There was a knock at the bedroom door. Jason turned to find his father standing in the hall. His face looked gray. Something was very, very wrong. When Jason stood, his chair tumbled over backward and whacked against the floor.

The noise snapped Dad out of his spell. He rushed into the room and threw his arms around Jason, squeezing so hard that Jason couldn’t catch his breath. He managed to ask, “What happened?”

“Lou is gone. Missing. Just like Marcus.”