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Tempest and Gideon sprang apart as the door slammed shut.

In the darkness, Tempest ran forward and flung open the door. She poked her head outside. A strong wind blew leaves across the ground into swirls, but she didn’t see anyone.

“Wind?” Gideon asked. “Or is Sanjay back?”

“ Pae-kaathu .” She shivered. Not because the summer wind was cold, but because of the phrase from her grandfather that had popped into her head as the wind curled around her.

“Um…”

“ Pae-kaathu ,” Tempest repeated. “That’s what my grandfather calls this type of wind that comes out of nowhere and leads to destruction. It means ‘devil wind’ in Tamil.” The wind swept her hair around her face. She kicked a stone in front of the door, using it as a door stopper.

“Great,” said Gideon. “That’s all we need. Devil wind.”

Tempest shook her head at the foolishness of being disturbed by a strong breeze. “It’s just the wind. I’m not expecting Sanjay for a while. He said he had something to do.” She didn’t feel the need to tell him she’d spectacularly offended one of her few friends. “Besides, he wouldn’t be playing a joke on us. Not right now.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t twist your ankle. With the door shut, I couldn’t see anything in the dark. There wasn’t time for my eyes to adjust.”

“Yeah, I’ll be adding more windows now that the purpose of this building is to be a home. And I need to figure out electricity in addition to windows and a proper roof.” She stood next to the open door, wondering when she’d have time for this project of her own.

With the smooth knob in her hand, she was reminded of their first rehearsal at Gray House. The living room door that hadn’t opened, the darkness they’d been plunged into, Lucas’s dead eyes that had stared up at her when she thought he was Sanjay and flipped him over.

“I wasn’t wrong,” she whispered.

“I believe you about the wind.”

She shook her head with frustration. There was something she was missing about Lucas’s game and his murder. Many things, but one that was just beyond her grasp, so close she could sense it yet not quite grab hold of it.

She kicked the stone away and swung the door shut again, leaving them enveloped in near darkness.

“Tempest? Um, Tempest? Why are we in the dark again?”

“The darkness,” she whispered, the realization hitting her with a force that made her shake.

“You okay?”

“We’ve been looking at this all wrong, Gideon.”

Abra thumped his foot. He didn’t mind darkness, but he sensed the anxiety in Tempest’s voice. She heard the thumping, but she could barely see Abra’s fluffy form.

“It was so dark that night,” said Tempest. “For the ten seconds when the lights were out during the rehearsal, we could only see shadows.”

“You’ve remembered something.”

Tempest swung open the door and let the daylight in. “Sanjay and Lucas were the only two people who knew Lucas was hiding in the magic trunk, waiting to switch places with Sanjay when the lights went out. The two of them are roughly the same height and build.”

“Sure,” said Gideon, “but why does that matter?”

“Nobody else knew Lucas was there besides Sanjay.” She’d been wrong about everything. They all had.

“Um, are you trying to say that now you think Sanjay was involved in Lucas Cruz’s death? Where is he anyway?”

Her heart thudded in her chest. Sanjay had stormed off. Alone.

“Tempest? What’s the matter? What aren’t you saying?”

“Detective Blackburn didn’t put a tail on Sanjay because he thinks he’s guilty.” She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. Blackburn hadn’t said those words, and neither had the officer for whom her grandfather had brought cookies.

“You think the patrol car was watching someone else?”

“The officer said he was keeping an eye on Sanjay , Gideon.” This was bad. The truth had been in front of them the whole time, but they hadn’t seen it. “Don’t you see? Blackburn isn’t worried about Sanjay running away. He’s worried about Sanjay being in danger .”

“You mean…”

“My first instinct that night was right.” Tempest thought back to that terrible moment two nights ago when her gut told her she was looking at a dead man. “Lucas Cruz has been dead since that first dress rehearsal, when the lights went out. Sanjay was the intended victim. ”