The Mysterious Benedict Society

downward. They wouldn’t need to investigate it, though; they knew at once where it led. A remarkably foul odor hung in the air, and the passage descended to a lonely black door with an iron padlock. Near the door the stone floor was slick with black mud, and from beyond it came a high-pitched humming noise, punctuated with little clicks and scratches. Reynie turned. Sticky stood a few paces behind them, trembling and closing his eyes.

“Let’s move on,” Reynie said quickly. He and Kate took Sticky by the arms just as his knees appeared ready to buckle. He leaned on them gratefully as they hurried on.

A dozen paces more and the children had come to another passage that branched off to the left. This one led to a simple metal door.

Regaining his composure, Sticky quit leaning on Kate and Reynie and set his shoulders. Whatever the door concealed, he wanted to confront it bravely — or at least more bravely than he’d handled the Waiting Room. And so, while Kate and Constance looked questioningly at Reynie (who seemed hesitant to be the one to open it), Sticky took the opportunity to press forward and give the door a sharp kick. This produced a sound very much like that of a hammer coming down upon a finger — a sort of dull donk — and Sticky fell to the floor, clutching his foot.

Reynie pointed to a numeric keypad beside the door. “It’s not like the outside doors,” he whispered. “It’s locked.”

Sticky winced and put his shoes back on. So much for regaining composure.

“What’s that?” Kate said, pointing to a piece of paper stuck to the wall above the door. “It looks like a note. Here, Constance, let me lift you up.” In a moment Constance had the note. Printed in distinctive, awkward handwriting, it read: LOSE the new code? Turn OVER for new code!

At the bottom of the paper an arrow pointed down.

The children sucked in their breath. Could it be as simple as this? Could they be so lucky? Eagerly Reynie flipped the paper over. On the back was another note, this one in different handwriting: Attention all Executives: You cannot leave notes like this. S.Q., this had better be gone by tonight. Stop trying to be clever. — Jackson

“I knew it was too good to be true,” said Constance.

“I don’t get it,” Sticky said. “Why would S.Q. say ‘turn over for code’ if he wasn’t going to write the code on the back?”

“It’s S.Q., remember,” said Kate. “Maybe he forgot to write it. My question is why Jackson didn’t just take the note down himself.”

“And miss a chance to scold S.Q. in front of the other Executives?” Constance said.

“Good point,” Kate said.

Reynie was studying the note. “There’s something . . .” The others looked at him expectantly. He rubbed his chin. “Well . . . why did Jackson tell him not to try to be clever?”

“Because Jackson knows it’s pointless for S.Q. to try?” said Constance.

“But he did try — that’s what Jackson’s saying. So the question is, what did S.Q. do that he thought was so clever? Surely it wasn’t just leaving the note so high up. It was hard to reach, maybe, but not hard to spot.”

Kate read the note again. “Okay, why does he capitalize LOSE and OVER? It’s not just for emphasis, is it?”

“I think it’s to call attention to them,” Reynie said. “There’s something special about them. . . .” He trailed off, considering.

“Well . . . both words have four letters,” Sticky offered, hoping somehow this was a helpful thing to point out.

“Maybe the code’s in invisible ink,” Constance suggested.

“With invisible ink he could have just written the code on the front,” Reynie said. “What would be the point in turning the note over?”

“You think everything S.Q. does has a point?” Sticky said.

Suddenly Reynie stifled a laugh. “Wait a minute! I have it! Turning the note over is the point! S.Q., you devil!”

“Um, Reynie?” said Kate. “We did turn it over, remember? There’s nothing there.”

“We turned to the back of the paper,” Reynie said. “S.Q. didn’t mean that. He meant to turn the note upside down.”

“I still don’t get it,” Sticky said.

“Think of it this way. What if the note read: ‘Is LOSE the new code?’ The answer is ‘Yes, but you have to turn it OVER!’” Reynie turned the note upside down and pointed to the word LOSE. The letters were now numbers: 3507.

“Hey, that is clever,” said Sticky. “For S.Q., I mean.”

“We’re just lucky he’s not clever enough to remember the code without leaving notes,” Reynie said.

The note was returned to its proper place, and the children prepared themselves. Now that they’d had a moment’s pause, their minds had filled up with questions: What would they find behind this door? What if it was terrifying? Or what if it was exactly what Mr. Benedict needed? Or what if — this had suddenly occurred to Reynie — what if S.Q.’s note had been left on purpose, to trick sneaking children like themselves?

Reynie saw a troubled look cross Kate’s face. Had it occurred to her, too? Mr. Curtain suspected another snoop on the island — that was why he’d changed the door codes, after all. So what if . . . ?

“We need to think about this,” Reynie whispered.