“I told him it was kind of an occasion,” Landon explained to me as we crowded into the room.
“It is?” I asked.
He showed his dimples, reached into his pocket and produced a brass ring. From it dangled a handful of antique-looking keys.
“You got the keys!” I shouted and leapt over to hug him, almost knocking him in the head with my video camera. And then I gingerly (and reluctantly) released him after hearing the chuckles behind me. Embarrassed, I turned to address the others. “I should explain. These are very special keys.”
“Uh-huh,” Ez said, knocking back her whiskey and holding out her cup for another. Duncan filled it with a grin.
“Are you going to open it?” Sloane sounded more excited than I was.
“I hope so,” Alex said, wrapping an arm around her.
“What are you all talking about?” Thea asked, leaning into Duncan.
“The secret closet!” I said.
There was a satisfying burst of excitement in the room. Cali started fidgeting with her camera settings and nudged Wyatt to get his phone ready to shoot, too.
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Penelope said. “Out of respect.”
“Respect for what?” Jace said, slipping an arm through hers.
“The ghosts,” she said, met by nervous titters.
“I respect the ghosts,” I said, “but we are going to open this closet.”
“Which is where?” asked Gary, who had an arm wrapped around Ez. All the couples were girding themselves for whatever was behind that wall, it appeared.
I wasn’t in a couple, but I sure was grateful for Landon at that moment. I nodded at him, and he went to the paneled wall, pushed, and rolled the outer door to the side.
“Whoas” and “wows” filled the room.
“Do you want to open it?” Landon asked me. “I measured the pin in the keyhole, and I’m pretty sure one of these keys will work.”
I swallowed, starting to feel a bit nervous myself. I hoisted my video camera instead. “You go ahead. I want to film it.”
“Jesus, it’s not like it’s King Tut’s tomb,” Ez said as the others laughed.
Landon chuckled, too, chose a key on the ring and inserted it in the keyhole.
He tried to turn it. Nothing happened.
“I think your key has performance anxiety,” Penelope joked to laughter.
“Never,” Landon answered, and the guys laughed again.
He looked closely at the keys on the ring and inserted another one in the lock. For a second I thought he had it, but it wouldn’t turn.
“Now this is getting embarrassing,” he said as we all chuckled. “I need another whiskey.”
Duncan obliged him with another shot, and Landon gulped it with a satisfied sigh and handed the cup back to him.
“OK,” Landon said, picking out another key. “If this doesn’t work, we might be in trouble.”
“If it does work, we might be in trouble,” I murmured, trying to hold my camera steady in spite of my jitters.
Landon slid the key smoothly into the keyhole, gripped it firmly and slowly rotated his wrist.
