They all agreed. They entered the cemetery, at first sticking to the largest path snaking through the acres of graves. The whole group fell silent as they wended their way, as if they, too, were on their way to a funeral. So many people were buried here. Soldiers and millionaires and artists and ballplayers and politicians and thieves. Some grave markers were small, the names weathered away. Some were huge obelisks or pyramids jutting out of the gently rolling hills. There were statues of goddesses and statues of bears, statues of sphinxes and statues of dogs.

But Jaime and Tess and Theo were interested in one particular statue that marked Louis Gottschalk’s grave: The Angel of Music. According to the map on Jaime’s phone, it wasn’t far from the main entrance, just off to the left. The Cipherists had already spread out, taking pictures and making grave rubbings, but they hadn’t drifted far enough for Jaime and the twins to slip away without being observed.

Another screech shattered the night air, and Jaime ducked instinctively. He thought he felt the air shudder as with the furious beating of wings, but he could see nothing. The twins ducked, too.

“Did you hear that?” Jaime whispered.

“I felt it,” Tess whispered back.

The three of them stood back to back, all of them trying to locate the source of the sound. Parrots? Giraffe-owaries? Jumbies?

“This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be,” Theo whispered.

“You thought it would be fun?” Jaime said.

“Shhh!” Tess hissed, as another screech cracked the sky open.

“Uh, where did they go?” Jaime said.

“Who?”

The three of them looked around. They could still hear faint chatter of barely suppressed voices, but the Cipherists had drifted out of sight.

“Well,” said Theo. “Now’s our chance.”

“Yeah,” Jaime and Tess agreed. But none of them moved until there was a long strange sigh somewhere off in the darkness. Wind in the trees?

Or something else.

Tess, Jaime, and Theo ran. Despite their fear, they didn’t forget their mission. They went from one marker to the next, looking for Lot 19581.

“There she is,” said Theo. In front of them stood the bronze angel high on her marble base. Louis’s grave was fenced all around, with other graves nearby.

“‘Bury me right next to Louis MG,’” Jaime quoted. “Right next to Louis. So I’m thinking we start digging on the right side.”

“Inside or outside the fence?” said Tess.

“Inside,” Theo said. “Right next to also means close to. So close to the grave marker.”

“Makes sense to me,” said Jaime. “Except we could be digging all night.”

“Let’s hope not,” Tess said.