children had no idea how they were to decide where to go next, so it was with considerable anxiety that they watched Kate insert the key into Locker 37. She turned the key. The lock sprang.
Inside the locker was an envelope and a stack of paper money. The bills were very colorful, nothing at all like the money the children were used to, and Constance regarded them skeptically. “Fake money? Why would he give us fake money?”
“Those are euro banknotes,” Sticky said. “They’re common currency in Europe.”
“Okay, so it’s real money,” said Constance. “What are we supposed to buy with it?”
“Train tickets, I imagine,” said Reynie, opening the letter and reading it aloud:
“Me?” Constance said. “What am I supposed to do? Predict the stupid weather?”
The others looked at one another, stymied.
“Maybe you should look around,” Reynie suggested. “Maybe the answer will come to you.”
“Give me a break!” said Constance, feeling very much on the spot. She glanced up and down the corridor. “I see lockers. That’s it.”
“No patterns?” Sticky asked.
“Hmm. The lockers do seem to be arranged in numerical order,” Constance said sarcastically. “I wonder if that’s important.”
Kate had begun transferring the money from the locker to her bucket. “You’re joking,” she said, “but maybe the numbers
“It probably means the first thirty-six lockers were taken when Mr. Benedict rented this one,” said Constance.
“It isn’t a bad idea,” said Reynie. “Let’s think about it.”
But no matter how hard they all thought about it, they couldn’t find any significance in the number. Constance, meanwhile, began to pace back and forth. For Constance this was unusual behavior (it was more like Reynie), and Reynie watched her closely, trying to imagine how Mr. Benedict expected them to figure out this clue. If anyone was sensitive to Constance’s volatile moods, Mr. Benedict was. It seemed unlike him to put such pressure on her. True, he hadn’t predicted so much would be riding on this clue, but even so, he probably hadn’t intended for Constance to figure it out all by herself.
Constance had stopped pacing now, and Reynie suddenly realized she was staring hard at him.
“What’s the matter?” he said.
“You’re figuring this out,” Constance said. “I can tell.”
“I am?” Reynie said. “You can?”
Sticky and Kate exchanged glances. They could tell something important was happening.
“Maybe it’s a look in your eye,” Constance said, “or maybe it’s your expression, or the way you breathe, or . . . I don’t know. I can tell, though. You’re about to come up with the answer.” She continued to stare at Reynie, her eyes searching now, half hopeful and half afraid.
Reynie tried to keep his composure. He knew Constance needed him to remain calm, but in fact his heart was racing. It was very strange indeed to have his thoughts revealed like that. For his thoughts on the matter
“There!” said Constance, just as Reynie’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak. “You figured it out!”
Reynie’s mouth snapped shut. He took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s pretty unsettling, Constance.”
“Tell me about it,” said Constance. “Think how it is for
Kate couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “What is it, then? What’s the answer? Tell us, for crying out loud!”
“It’s the pendant,” said Reynie, pointing to Constance’s new necklace. “Mr. Benedict didn’t mean ‘gift’ as in ‘talent,’ he meant ‘gift’ as in ‘present’!”
Kate laughed. “Well, what do you know? Your present was a clue in disguise! Come on, Constance, let’s have a look!”
Constance unclasped the necklace and held the pendant in front of her, turning the miniature globe over and over in her fingers. She gazed at it sadly, admiring anew its rich greens and blues and its brilliant little crystal. “The world is your oyster,” Mr. Benedict had written in her birthday card, and now they all understood that he’d had more in mind than it first appeared. He’d been planning this exciting trip around the world, unaware of the danger into which he was about to fall — and into which Constance and the others would follow him.
Constance thrust the pendant toward Kate. “Here,” she said in a choked voice. “Look at it all you want.” She turned and walked a few paces down the corridor, visibly upset.
The others looked after her with concern, but there was little they could do to comfort Constance right now. They still had to figure out where to go next, and it wasn’t proving as easy as any of them hoped. The continents and oceans on the globe pendant were clearly depicted, but there were no markings anywhere to indicate a destination, and the crystal was set in the middle of the Pacific — no apparent help.
