Page 50 of Haunting the Deep

“The engraving1ST CL ST RM D33is old shorthand for ‘first-class stateroom D33,’ ” Alice says. “It was Mary who figured it out. Before we ate that death food, she went to her aunt’s antique shop and asked some questions.”

I almost don’t want to ask. “And room D33? Was that a room on theTitanic?”

“You bet,” Mary says.

I press my lips together. “Was it the Harpers’?”

“It certainly was,” Susannah says. “At the very least, there’s a connection between some of these strange occurrences.”

“Actually, there’s another connection to the Harpers….So I told you I saw the drowned man last night. I was in a restaurant with Jaxon, and he blinked in right next to my table.”

Mary’s eyes widen. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. That’s so creepy.”

“Beyond. He shoved a dog collar at me. And I think he had an Irish accent?” I pull the cloth restaurant napkin out of my pocket and unknot it. “I didn’t touch it just in case.”

Susannah examines the old leather collar with dulled metal accents. “It looks like an antique.”

I nod. “And take a wild guess whose dog survived theTitanic?”

Mary frowns. “The Harpers’?”

“They had a Pekingese. And guess how I found out? Wardwell told me—not the class,me—right in the middle of his lesson. Only to be followed up by Niki talking about William Stead, who I saw in myTitanicdream last night.”

Alice’s eyes widen. “That’s it. I don’t care what you all thought you were doing this weekend, ’cause you’re not doing it anymore. Someone or something is trying to communicate with us, and we need to figure out what it means before Redd’s warning becomes a reality.”

Susannah leans against the soft cushions on Alice’s black couch. “How physically close to us is this person that they can do things like put a spell on a raffle ticket or tamper with the paintings in your house? And why haven’t I been able to sense who they are?”

“You don’t always sense people,” Mary says. “And right now our entire school is exploding withTitanicmania. If someone is casting spells related to theTitanic,it’d be pretty easy to cover up or blend in.”

“I mean, it’s kinda genius to saturate our school with theTitanicright as these weird things are happening,” Alice says. “That can’t have been accidental.”

“Is there anyone at our school who could do this kind of magic?” I ask.

Susannah sighs. “Honestly, no one we know of. The packages, the paintings, your nondreams, the key, the seasickness spell that someone put on me. Whoever is orchestrating this isexcellentat magic. That’s not someone we would have missed.”

“So then what if it’s not one person? What if it’s a group and some of them happen to be at our school?” I ask.

“Interesting.” Alice sits in her black armchair with her feet on the coffee table. “Now,thatis a possibility. Although as far as we know, no one else at Salem High does magic besides us. But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have overlooked some low-level caster.”

“Maybe Wardwell?” I say.

Mary shakes her head. “Therewasan accused witch with the last name Wardwell. But this Wardwell isn’t related. It’s just a name coincidence. And we’ve never sensed anything magical from him.”

“Well, what about Niki and Blair?” I ask.

Alice grunts. “Niki’s closest connection to any magical family line is that we go to the same dentist.” Alice looks at me. “So basically, nada magic over there. And Blair wouldn’t know a spell book if I hit her in the face with one.” Alice grins. “Although maybe we should test that theory?”

“If I can do a spell, anyone can do a spell,” I say.

“Ehhht.”Alice makes a buzzing noise like I got the wrong answer on a game show. “Not even close. You’re a Descendant, and I saw you in the woods doing complex spells when you didn’t even know how. You could probably fart wrong and a spell would come out.”

Mary giggles. She’s burritoed in a blanket on the love seat, and her curls bounce as she laughs.

“Well, I would never have suspected my stepmother,” I say. “And it wasn’t just me. Susannah talked to Vivian and didn’t suspect her. And, Alice, you thought it was me for the longest time, which it clearly wasn’t,” I say. “Blair gave Susannah that raffle ticket. Niki mentioned both Henry Harper and William Stead the day after I saw them in my nondreams. How do you explain Niki saying those things in class? You said yourself that you haven’t really known her since third grade. Can you be sure what you know and don’t know?”

“I’m with Sam,” Mary says. “I think we should take any shred of evidence we can get. I think this has already escalated to a guilty-until-proven-innocent-level situation.”

“Same,” Susannah says. “I could have absolutely been sensing Blair yesterday morning in homeroom and just not been able to pinpoint it.”