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thrust the torch back into his hand and walked quickly, almost to the end, where a window looked over the House of Power. When she turned back, Isabel had her sling in hand, already loaded with a black fig.
    "Move to the side, and hold that torch near the mark," said Isabel. She began swinging the sling over her head, the circle it made in the air barely fitting into the width of the hall. It made a wonderful sound, a whirling echo that grew faster and faster down the deep length of the passage.
    "You can't throw one of those in here," said Samuel, alarm rising in his voice. He was about to insist that she put the weapon away when he heard a snap! and then a crash as the black fig hit the stone wall. It ricocheted off the floor, up to
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    the ceiling, and back through the hall toward Isabel. She ducked and the fig zipped past her head, then flew out the window.
    "That made a lot of noise," said Samuel. "Someone might have heard."
    Isabel peeked her dark brow around the corner of the window and saw the various lights aflame in the courtyard. It didn't seem to her that anyone had noticed the sound, although people were moving away from the wall now, returning to where they'd come from.
    "Better make it fast," said Isabel. "See if it worked." She had the feeling that someone might have been stationed near the main chamber, someone who would probably return any moment.
    Samuel knelt down with the torch and examined the small square stone. The black fig had hit it dead center and left behind a spiderweb crack.
    "You're a really good shot with that thing," said Samuel as Isabel came up beside him. "I hope you never have a reason to use it on me."
    Isabel smiled vaguely. She liked being praised for her strength, especially by older boys who thought that girls were weak.
    Soon the shards of the broken stone were removed, and they found three items hidden inside a hollow. Samuel quickly put all of them in his pocket, and then they both struggled to get the wooden box back in place. The two moved cautiously down the stairs, hugging the wall as they went.
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    a No one had arrived yet at the door to the main chamber.
    Samuel took out of his pocket the first of the four things his father had hidden for him. It was a key made for unlocking thedoor to the main chamber. It worked beautifully, and when the two were safely inside Samuel breathed a sigh of relief.
    "No one comes in here uninvited," he said. "We're alone now, only we need to put this torch back where we got it. Someone will see it's missing."
    The two searched the chamber and quickly found a second, unlit torch against one of the ivy-covered walls. Samuel touched the end and found it was moist with fuel. After lighting it, he sent Isabel quietly to return the one they'd been using.
    While she was out of the room, Samuel wondered if he should tell Isabel everything his father had told him. He looked at the objects in his hand. One was another key, oddly shaped; another was a weapon, sharp but small; and the last was a folded piece of paper. He slipped all three items back in his pocket.
    When Isabel returned she shut the door but neglected to lock it, rushing back to Samuel's side.
    "We're okay," she said. "No one saw me." She turned her attention to the statue before them. It was the head of a man, made of a white sort of stone, sitting on a pedestal. Isabel thought the man had big ears.
    "What's that say?" she asked. Isabel couldn't read the name etched into the white stone.
    "Mead," said Samuel.
    "Who's Mead?"
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    Isabel hadn't heard a name like that before and it made her nervous.
    "I don't know," said Samuel. "But I think we're about to find out."
    He took hold of the head as his father had shown him when the two had secretly come to the main chamber in the deep quiet of a past night. He was reminded of how his father had stood next to him, guiding smaller hands. A hot feeling welled up in his throat. Memory had a special way of hurting sometimes.
    "Do you need some help?"