I study the sundial again, and my breath is caught in my throat. They’re faint and easy to overlook, but in the middle of the circle are nine shallow Loric symbols. I recognize the numbers one through three because they match the scars on my ankle, but the others are new to me.

“What’s Sam’s birthday again?” I ask.

“January fourth, nineteen ninety-five.”

The triangle clicks like a lock as I turn it right to the Loric number one. I turn it left, swallowing hard as I aim it at what must be number four. My number. Then I rotate the triangle to one, nine, back around to nine again, and five. Nothing happens for a few seconds, and then the sundial begins to hiss and smoke. Six and I step back and watch as the stone lid of the well flips back and opens with a loud echoing crack. When the smoke clears, I see a ladder inside.

Sam is jumping up and down near the fence. One hand over his mouth, the other raised in a fist.

One of the dark windows of the house turns yellow. Bernie Kosar lets out two long hoos from the roof. Before I can think, Six yanks me forward, and soon I’m visible and descending the ladder inside the well. Six follows, pulling the lid almost closed above her. I illuminate my palms and see we’re twenty feet from a cement floor.

“What about Sam?” I whisper.

“He’ll be fine. Bernie Kosar’s up there.”

We reach the floor and find ourselves in a short hallway that curves to the left. The air is musty. I shine my palms back and forth as we walk through the curve; and when the hallway straightens again, we see there’s a room ahead with a cluttered desk and hundreds of papers pinned to the wall. I’m about to run inside, but that’s when my lights catch a long white object in the doorway.

“Is that . . .” Six trails off.

I’m stuck in my tracks. It’s an enormous bone. Six pushes me forward and I pull the dagger from my back pocket.

“Ladies first?” I offer.

“Not this time.”

With a running start, I jump over the bone and immediately light up the room with my hands. A yell escapes my mouth as I take in the skeleton sitting against the wall. Six jumps inside, and when she sees it, she stumbles backwards into the desk.

The skeleton is over eight feet tall, with giant feet and hands. Thick blond hair falls from the top of its skull and reaches past its wide shoulder blades. Around its neck hangs a blue pendant similar to mine.

“That’s not Sam’s dad,” Six says.

“Definitely not.”

“Then who is it?”