“Would you be interested in secrets?” Seth asked.
“Depends if I already know them,” the hag replied. “Also depends if I care to know them.”
Seth stepped closer and lowered his voice. “I’m a shadow charmer. I helped Ronodin the dark unicorn and the Underking free the undead from the Blackwell to destroy Wyrmroost.”
“Not bad,” the hag said. “There is value in learning what forces are combining in this conflict. I need more, though. Why have you come to Titan Valley?”
“Humbuggle took my memories,” Seth said. “I want them back. I’m trying to figure out the Games.”
“You want the Wizenstone,” the hag said.
“I don’t care about the stone,” Seth said. “But I need to beat Humbuggle.”
“Much better than a turnip,” the hag said. “You have my attention. Secrets spoil. I need something tangible that you value.”
Seth had retrieved his satchel from the townhouse. He rummaged inside and pulled out a glove. “This makes you invisible if you stand still.” Seth knew he could get many of the same benefits the glove provided by shade walking, but the thought of losing the item still stung.
The hag accepted the glove and gave it a sniff. “Fair enough. You may enter, along with your servants.”
“Me no servant,” Hermo said.
“Then you must provide your own admission,” the hag said.
Hermo glanced at the Mystery House and sniffed, then waved a dismissive hand at the hag. “Me get in own way.”
The hermit troll waddled off into the alley.
Seth looked back at Virgil. “Want to be my servant? It gets you access.”
Virgil scrunched his face. “I’ve been in there several times. Today is part of your journey. Tell me about it later.”
The hag motioned Seth toward the picture of the door on the wall of the Mystery House. Seth reached for the doorknob, and, right before he touched it, the picture became an actual door.
Seth glanced back at Reggie. “Ready?”
I will go where you lead, Reggie responded.
Seth entered and stared down a winding white hall with a bloodred carpet running down the center. The door closed behind Seth, and he turned to find a bare wall with no evidence that a door had ever existed there.
Seth advanced along the carpet with Reggie right behind him. The floor began to tilt until the carpet was on the wall, but Seth’s feet stayed firmly attached. The corridor continued to twist until Seth strolled along the ceiling, as if gravity had been reversed.
The red carpet ended at a yellow door. Seth opened it and found a room beyond, oriented as if he were walking on the floor rather than the ceiling. He entered, and the door closed behind him, making it easy to believe he was indeed on the floor, though he felt sure the room was actually upside down. Exotic potted plants were spaced around the room, as were a few benches and seven grandfather clocks. Seth saw no windows or doors, though velvet curtains masked most of the walls.
The curtains bulged near the bottom on one side of the room, then lifted, and Hermo emerged. “Hi, Seth.”
“That was fast,” Seth said. “How’d you find us?”
“Easy. Me find other way in, then me join you. You want meet Diviner?”
“Yes,” Seth said.
“Over here.” Hermo held up the curtain.
Seth ducked under, then went through a narrow door into a fancy parlor, sumptuously furnished. Seth turned to find Reggie following.
“What do you think of this place?” Seth asked.
This building is old, Reggie expressed. And larger than it seems from outside.
Hermo led them to a life-sized portrait of a young lord in a powdered wig, then pulled it open like a door. They stepped into a small room behind the painting—small until Seth looked up. The room extended upward like a hallway. A red carpet ran up one of the walls, so Seth stepped onto it, and he found himself standing as if gravity was now pulling sideways. With this new orientation, Seth and Reggie followed Hermo straight up the shaft.
Hermo stopped at a tapestry and pulled it aside to reveal a door behind it. “In there,” the hermit troll said.
“You’ve never been here before?” Seth asked.
“First time,” Hermo replied.
“You’re amazing,” Seth said.
“Not amazing,” Hermo said. “This simple.”
“Are you coming?” Seth asked.
“Not as servant,” Hermo said.
“How about as a friend?” Seth suggested.
Hermo smiled. “Okay.”
The door had no handle, but when Seth pressed, it swung inward.
“You first,” Hermo said.
Beyond the door, Seth discovered a large room where a giant pivoted in a pit of sand, carefully making patterns with a hoe. The giant had red, barklike skin and a head like that of a rhinoceros without the horn. Seth gauged that he would come up to just below the waist of the creature.
The high ceiling held a skylight of stained glass, gently illuminated by moonlight. On one side of the room, a pond containing diverse fish and amphibians bordered the edge of the central sandpit. On the other side of the room, instruments were displayed in stands and cases, including kettle drums, cymbals, a xylophone, a harp, racks of chimes, a bassoon, a cello, a flute, a French horn, and a gong, all on a scale to match the giant. Worktables at the back of the room held oddments ranging from clocks to kaleidoscopes to dice of unusual size and shape.
“You found me swiftly,” the giant said in a deep, calm voice. He did not look up from scoring the sand. “Please, come inside.”
Seth, Reggie, and Hermo stepped into the room. Seth ventured to the edge of the sandpit. “Are you the Diviner?”
“We are all components of the same great whole,” the giant said. “Some call me the Diviner. You may do so as well. If you are thirsty, use the pump.”
Seth saw an old-fashioned water pump with a bucket beneath the spout. A drink sounded good, so he levered the handle up and down until water poured into the bucket, some splashing onto the marble floor. Claiming one of several tin cups near the pump, Seth took water
