Then I remembered the keys, just sitting there, begging to be picked up. Acting on impulse, I flicked my wrist toward the box of candy bars perched on Hardwick’s lap, giving it a little push with my magic. It went flying down the corridor, spewing its contents like a burst piñata. Hardwick startled so badly she tumbled sideways out of her chair.

Whoops.

I tried not to laugh as I rushed over to help, feigning concern. “Are you all right?” I put a hand on her wrist and pulled. Hardwick’s skin beneath my fingers felt as slick and slimy as a snake’s.

“Oh, I’m fine. We must have a poltergeist in here.”

Glad to find she wasn’t the brightest hag in the monster book, I grabbed the keys out of the toolbox as she scurried away to retrieve her precious chocolate.

“Um, do you want some help, Ms. Hardwick?”

She waved at me. “Not at all. You run along now.”

Don’t have to tell me twice. “Okay. See you.”

I turned and trotted down the corridor to the stairs with both hands inside my front pocket, holding the keys so they wouldn’t jangle. Spending the night cleaning toilets with a chocolate-crazed hag might not have been fun, but it was totally worth it. I was certain that all the answers were waiting inside that crypt.

Somehow, I just knew it.

22

The Crypt

Paul and I spent the morning traipsing around Coleville in search of the crypt. I was only slightly worried about bumping into Culpepper—he was probably still asleep after the late night he had. It took us two hours to find it. Paul wanted to check the keys right then, but I thought we might be pushing it. When Culpepper did wake up, he was bound to be suspicious about his missing keys.

So we waited and brought the keys to Room 013 that afternoon to work out a plan for breaking in with the others.

“Wow,” Selene said when we were all gathered together. “That’s a lot of keys. Did you guys figure out which one it is?”

“No, but it shouldn’t take too long to try them all,” I said.

“I don’t know,” said Eli. “With that many, it could take all night.”

“Let me see them,” said Selene. She was sitting in the same chair that had given her such grief last time. It seemed to have developed an attachment to her. The moment she walked into the room it had chased her around until she’d given up and sat on it. She hadn’t moved since.

I set the key ring down on the desk in front of her. She started shuffling through them one by one, finally stopping on a small skeleton key with a weird greenish color to it. She ran a finger along its edge then looked up at me. “This is the one.”

“How do you know?” Eli stepped up next to me for a better look, brushing his upper arm against my shoulder.

“It’s a moonwort key.” Selene slid it off the ring and handed it to me. It wasn’t made out of metal but rather some soft, flexible material.

“Um, color me crazy,” I said, “but doesn’t a key have to be kind of rigid in order to trigger a lock?”

“Not if it’s moonwort,” Paul said, joining us around the table. “May I see it?” I handed it to him, and he nodded. “Selene’s right. Moonwort.”

“Okay, somebody explain already,” said Eli, rapping his knuckles on the table.

“Moonwort is a type of plant that will open almost any lock when made into a key,” said Selene. “It’s completely illegal.”

“My turn, please.” Eli gestured at Paul, who handed him the key. “Huh. If you’re right, then this little thing is a private detective’s dream tool.”

“So we sneak into the crypt and look for Rosemary’s ring or one that might’ve been Ankil’s, right?” Selene said.

Paul cast me a significant glance. I still hadn’t told them about my mother. Sighing, I said, “Well, not only the rings.” Then I told them my suspicions about my mom and the truth about Nightmares. It got easier as I went along, mostly because nobody went screaming from the room at the news or started looking at me like I’d turned into a giant spider.

Selene was the first to speak afterward. “I’ll help you figure out whatever it is your mom got from Culpepper, but I don’t believe for a second she’s the killer.”

Her words made me feel better at once. I knew that for Selene, my mother’s innocence was the same as mine. Right or not, her loyalty meant a lot. And no matter my resentment to my mother, I didn’t want her to be the killer.

Paul cleared his throat. “What makes you so certain?”

“Because I just know,” Selene said, staring up at him from under her baseball cap. “Why would she do it?”

“Does it matter?” said Paul. “She’s the only one we know for sure could have done it.”

Selene glowered. “Just because someone has the power to do something doesn’t mean they will. Sometimes people choose to be good even when they don’t have to.”

“Yeah, and sometimes they don’t.”

“Hold on, guys,” Eli said, a reproach in his voice. “Don’t forget, Dusty’s mom isn’t the only Nightmare around. Bethany Grey could have done it. And after what Lance told me, I think she’s a better candidate.”

“What did he tell you?” I asked.

“That she’s some kind of hit man or assassin for Consul Vanholt.”

Selene rolled her eyes. “That’s just a rumor. Contrary to what Lance says, he doesn’t know half as much about the goings-on in the senate as he claims. His dad absolutely refuses to let him in on anything. If Senator Rathbone gets his way, Lance will stay as far away from politics as possible. Trust me. I know.”