Where was the beautiful woman holding the apple? He counted them a second time.

  “Aphrodite is missing,” Charlie said. “But, Brack, how could that be? I saw Aphrodite when we first came in to get you.”

  “I saw her too, Charlie,” he replied. “But someone got to her.”

  Charlie shut his eyes. He tried to think back. When he first entered the room, he had seen all of the Twelve, even if he saw a few only out of the corner of his eye. He could count them all.

  And then he pictured the second time he came back, with Ty and Cozette. He remembered how crowded it had felt, walking through the forest of frozen figures in the stuffy room. But, yes, he had counted then, too.

  There had been twelve gods and goddesses of stone. He was sure of it. They sometimes seemed to twitch and blink in the moving beams of light from the flashlights and Cozette’s phone. The muscles in their fingers flexed, the veins in their necks pulsed. But there had been the Twelve.

  Where was the goddess of beauty? She couldn’t walk out on her carved stone feet.

  Or could she? Maybe that sculptor, Ernesto Endriago, was a magician after all. Maybe he possessed some genius skill for building stone figures that moved on their own.

  But that still didn’t solve the bigger mystery. How did Ty’s attacker — and the goddess Aphrodite — leave the room while it was locked from the inside? And while Charlie and Cozette stood guard outside?

  “My stupid ankle!” cried Brack. “If only I hadn’t hurt it, this wouldn’t have happened! The statue would still be here.”

  “You don’t think it was alive too, do you?” whispered Charlie. But Brack didn’t answer. He just stared at the statues.

  Mr. Yu was standing outside by the broken door frame. Charlie could hear him on his phone trying to get a carpenter and a locksmith to the hotel as quickly as possible.

  Then he heard him talking to his wife, telling her that he would soon join her at the hospital.

  “You don’t, do you?” repeated Charlie. “Think it was alive?”

  A stone cold shiver ran down Charlie’s spine. The air in the dark room grew darker. He thought the statues were shuffling closer.

  Brack smiled. “Magic can always be explained,” he said. “You’ve proven that before, Master Hitchcock, time and again. And this can be explained too. I know that you’ll solve this mystery, just as you have the others.”

  I’m not so sure about that, thought Charlie. He looked into Brack’s eyes, and the feeling that the statues crowded in on him faded away. But his doubts remained. There was only one thing he was sure about. He couldn’t let his friends down.

  How does a human get into a locked room? Charlie asked himself. With a key. A light went on in Charlie’s brain.

  Key!

  He needed to ask Cozette about her ring of keys, and why they didn’t work when he tried unlocking the door to help Tyler.

  Charlie imagined Tyler, lying in a hospital room. The last time he’d seen Tyler, the other boy was trying to lift the Hades statue. And he did, sort of. It was heavy, but not impossible to lift. If you had help.

  “Brack,” said Charlie. “How did those statues get here in the first place? I mean, they’re heavy.”

  Brack paused, both hands gripping the top of his cane. “Well, I’m sure Endriago had them shipped here from Spain.”

  Charlie shook his head. “I mean, here. This floor. Those statues are heavy.”

  “Most of the heavy objects, like furniture for the guests rooms, were hauled up on the freight elevator at the rear of the hotel,” Brack explained.

  Charlie knew that the hotel’s elevators didn’t stop at the thirteenth floor.

  But he wasn’t so sure about the freight elevators. He hadn’t seen them or used them before. That reminded him of the blueprints he’d found while looking for clues. They showed every part of the hotel. Charlie slipped his backpack off his shoulder and dug inside.

  “Recognize these?” he said proudly to Brack, pulling out the big roll of paper.

  “My blueprints!” the old man exclaimed.

  “I found them in the magicians’ dressing room backstage,” said Charlie. He had discovered them the day before while searching for clues to Brack’s disappearance.

  Charlie pulled out the huge sheet that showed the 3-D version of the entire Abracadabra Hotel. Each floor of the hotel was outlined in faint white lines against a blue background. Every hall, every room could be seen.

  “Here’s where we are now,” Charlie said, pointing to the page.

  “And here are the freight elevators in back,” said Brack, indicating a tall vertical tube at the back of the hotel.

  Charlie cried out, “Yes! The freight elevators do stop at this floor!” Without waiting for his friend, he ran down the dark halls, shooting his flashlight’s beam ahead of him.

  After several minutes of searching, however, he ran his fingers through his rust-colored hair in frustration. “Where are they?”

  Brack slowly padded around the corner on his cane. Charlie turned to him. “They’re not here,” Charlie said. “According to the blueprint, they should be…” He trained his flashlight on a wide panel of sunflower wallpaper. “…Right there!”

  Brack tilted his head. “I hear something rumbling,” he said.

  Charlie put his ear to the wall. “The elevator?”

  The boy scanned the flowers on the wallpaper. Maybe there was a plaster knob like the two that controlled the ramps to the thirteenth floor.

  “Yes, yes!” said Charlie. He found a sunflower whose dark brown head, inside its yellow petals, was sunk at least a quarter of an inch deeper into the wall. A button.

  Charlie pressed the button and the flower immediately lit up. “Cool!” he cried. Within a minute a panel, covered in wallpaper, slid soundlessly up and into the ceiling, revealing the freight elevator.

  “And look there!” said Charlie. He aimed his flashlight at a far corner of the elevator. The light picked out an orange metal trolley. Thick canvas straps lay at its wheels.

  “That would be really useful for moving a statue,” said Charlie.

  They entered the elevator and Charlie pushed the button for the first floor. With a rumble, the door slid shut. There was no light inside the elevator, so Charlie kept the flashlight on. He did not want to be trapped in the dark again. When the elevator finally jerked to a stop, the back wall opened up, revealing the alley behind the hotel.

  The loading docks, thought Charlie.

  The storm was gone. Overhead, they could see gray clouds moving in the narrow stretch of sky between old, brick buildings. A cool breeze blew into Charlie’s face.

  A truck delivering bread was backed up to another door alongside them. “This has to be where the crook took the Aphrodite statue,” said Charlie. “This is how he got it downstairs. Now we just have to figure out how he got it out of that room, while Tyler was locked inside!”

  Charlie saw a frown of pain flash across Brack’s face.

  “I think some rest and recuperation is needed,” Brack whispered to Charlie.

  The boy helped the limping magician back to his house on the roof. Charlie made him lie down on his sofa in the sitting room. Then he waited with his friend while two hours passed across the face of the grandfather clock.

  “Hand me that phone,” said Brack. “I’m going to see what’s holding up that doctor. And you have been wasting far too much time with me.” He waved the boy out of the house. “Go! Go investigate!”

  Charlie grinned and went looking for Annie at the front desk. Annie smiled when she saw him. “Two words,” said Charlie. “Surveillance. Camera.”

  “You sound just like Tyler,” said Annie, leading him into the security room behind. “He’s better, by the way. Mrs. Yu called and said he has a slight concussion. And why do you need to see the surveillance camera?”

  “I need to see the tapes from today,” Charlie said. “By the way, where’s Cozette?”

  “She said she had a family emergency.”

  “Oh,” said Charlie. “I was going to ask her about those old keys.”

  “She still has them,” said Annie. “At least, I don’t see them here at the desk.”

  She still has them? thought Charlie. Weird.

  “Which tapes do you need to see?” asked Annie.

  “The ones from the loading docks.”

  “Something happened back there, too?” said Annie.

  Charlie explained how he and Brack had discovered that the freight elevator stopped at the thirteenth floor.

  It took Annie a while to find the right tapes. Charlie thought he’d go crazy while she typed commands into the computer.

  Finally, Annie found the right files and played them back on one of the screens. She asked, “What are you looking for?”

  “That!” said Charlie.

  The computer screen showed a perfect view of the loading dock next to the freight elevator. A man, dressed all in black, with a black ski mask, was struggling with a heavy object strapped to a trolley, draped in black.

  “Who is it?” asked Annie. They both stared closer at the screen.

  Charlie frowned. “I can’t tell.”

  They watched the shadowy figure lug the shrouded statue into the back of an SUV. Then the man — they assumed it was a man — closed the loading dock doors, locked the SUV, and walked back into the hotel.

  “Now where’s he going?” said Annie.

  “To get another statue?” said Charlie.

  “But that’s when we were all upstairs,” said Annie. “Look at the time.” She pointed to a digital display on the videotape. 12:00. “We got the call from Cozette at 12:30.”

  “12:30? Are you sure?” said Charlie.

  Annie nodded. “I looked at the clock over the front counter when the call came. Then I told a guest who was checking in that I had an emergency and would be right back.”

  Charlie was confused. “If Ty was attacked right before she called, say 12:29, that means the statue was stolen fifteen minutes before that! But that’s impossible! All twelve statues were in the room before Ty pushed us out and locked the door. I saw it!”

  At least, I thought I did. I counted twelve statues. Twelve white figures in the darkness.

  “I wish we could see who that guy was under all those black clothes,” said Annie, staring at the screen again while she replayed the theft. “He was smart to cover up the statue, too,” she added. “That way no one could tell what he was moving.”

  They stared at the frozen image on the screen. The white statue hidden under the black cloth. That’s not a cloth, Charlie realized. It’s a cape!

  “What’s up, you two?” Cozette walked in the room.

  “Cozy, I thought you were with your family,” said Annie.

  Cozette dismissed it with a wave. “Oh, it was a big deal about nothing. It’s fine.”

  “Do you remember what time you called us about Ty?” said Annie.

  Cozette pulled out her phone and checked. “It was 12:30. Why?”

  “That’s what I told Charlie.”

  Cozette’s expression changed. “Um, now that things are a little quieter,” she said, “do you think we could go get David Dragonstone’s autograph?”

  “Oh, Cozette…”

  “You could take a picture of me next to him,” said Cozette. She giggled.

  “Oh, that reminds me,” said Annie. “I have to send out his white suit to get cleaned before tonight’s magic show.”

  White? thought Charlie. White and black. Black and white. A black covering over the white statue… is that how it was done?

  Twelve statues… but not really.

  And there was Theopolis standing in the hall, next to Dragonstone, after Ty was attacked. And he would not meet Charlie’s gaze. Charlie knew that man would stop at nothing to get the hotel.

  Aha! thought Charlie. Now I know how he did it.

  It was just another magician’s trick. And some magicians had assistants.

  The twelve priceless statues of Enrico Endriago had been locked in Room 1308 for fifty years. They had been prisoners of the thirteenth floor. And if Charlie was right about who attacked Tyler and why, it all made sense. It explained why, after fifty years, the statues would now be the target of a shadowy figure.

  But how could Charlie get the evidence he needed? And how could he tell Annie who he suspected? She’d never believe him.

  Annie shook her head at her friend. “Oh, Cozette,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s a good — Tyler!” Annie screamed.

  Charlie looked up just as Tyler Yu walked through the door. He wore the same clothes he did when he was carried out on the stretcher four hours earlier. The only thing new about him was a bandage over one eye. Some of his hair was missing at the back of his head. “What are you wimps doing here?” he asked.

  “Charlie found the guy who attacked you,” said Annie.

  The taller boy smacked his hands together. “Yeah? Well, just give me the dude’s name. I’ll show him. That freak gave me six stitches.”

  Charlie showed Ty the tape. But Ty was not happy. His spiky hair seemed to grow angrier and spikier. “You can’t see who it is!”

  “But, uh, I think I might, uh —” said Charlie.

  “Hitchcock!” said Ty. “You solved it again?”

  “I think so,” Charlie said. “But I don’t have proof yet.”

  “Do you have evidence?” asked Cozette. She looked worried.

  “Forget proof,” said Ty. “Let’s go catch this guy!”

  “You need evidence,” said Cozette. “Otherwise it’s just your word against his.”

  “Or hers,” added Annie.

  “It’s probably a guy,” said Cozette. “It usually is.”

  “Maybe you’re right, Ty,” said Charlie. “Maybe we do catch him. Or her. But first, we need a trap!”

  When Charlie explained his idea, Ty thought it was genius. The two girls were more skeptical, but it was the only way to get the evidence that Brack needed.

  Then they started to put the plan into action. First they printed out a special message on the computer. The message read:

  The second step in the trap was to give copies of the message to several people in the hotel. They waited until dinnertime, when they knew people would be busy. Charlie didn’t want to meet anyone face to face. Also, preparations for that Saturday night’s performance would be in full swing. So they slid the copies under the doors of Dottie Drake, Mr. Madagascar, and Mr. Thursday. A copy was dropped off in the dressing room backstage. They even left one at the front desk so that Rocky would see it. Then Charlie made a few phone calls from the hotel office, spent a few minutes Googling on the computer, and made sure his flashlight batteries were working.

  “I think that’s everything,” said Charlie, when they all met back in the lobby.

  “Now’s the fun part,” said Ty, smacking his fist into his palm.

  “Do we have to do this?” asked Cozette, a nervous look on her face.

  Annie patted her friend’s shoulder. “We’ll all be together,” she said. “Besides, it will be fun!”

  Cozette lifted an eyebrow. “Really? Fun?”

  “Thrilling?” suggested Annie.

  “How about ‘terrifying’?” said Cozette.

  Charlie agreed. He wasn’t looking forward to this part of the plan. And less than twenty minutes later, as he stood in Room 1308 in pitch darkness, he had to force down panic. It bubbled up inside his chest and into his throat. I am not going to scream, he told himself.

  Charlie was standing behind the statue of Hades, lord of the dead. The other three kids were hidden behind various statues.

  Charlie felt dizzy. He leaned against the statue.

  “I hear something,” whispered Annie.

  They all froze. “I think that’s my heart pounding,” said Cozette. “I have something I need to confess.”

  Charlie’s mind rapidly pieced new clues together. Had he been wrong all this time? Was the criminal Cozette? She carried keys to the old rooms of the thirteenth floor. She had recently started working at the hotel, right before Brack disappeared. When she came out of Room 1308 when Tyler was hurt, she could easily had locked the room behind her. After she had knocked him out!

  And when Charlie tried to unlock it, and the key wouldn’t work, there was only one explanation. She had given him the wrong key on purpose.

  Cozette could have moved that statue by herself, too. She could have used the trolley. And when the thief was caught on videotape, where was she?

  But why would she do it?

  Charlie heard Cozette gasp. A flashlight beam, from outside the room, was traveling along the bottom edge of the door. Someone was standing just outside.

  Someone gripped the doorknob. Charlie heard a scrape, then a rustle. The lock was being fiddled with. Then — click!

  Charlie took a deep breath. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickling up like ant feelers. “Lights!” Charlie shouted. The four of them switched on their flashlights as one, aiming at the intruder.

  The figure lifted its arms. It tried to hide, but they could see exactly who it was.

  “David Dragonstone!”

  The young magician lowered his arms and squinted into their flashlights. “What — what’s going on?”

  Tyler stepped out from behind a statue that held twin thunderbolts. Charlie thought his friend looked angry enough to start throwing thunderbolts of his own. “You’re the jerk who hit me!” Ty said.

  “It was an accident,” cried Dragonstone.

 

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