Aunt Penny waited for them outside the train station in New York City. She sat behind the wheel of a six-door stretch limo—bright purple, of course.

“How on earth did you find this vehicle, Penelope?” Mrs. Spinner asked.

“It was easy,” she answered. “You’ve just got to practice taking a closer look at things.”

“Did you hear what she just said?” Samantha whispered to Nipper in the way, way back of the long car.

Samantha looked way, way forward. Was Aunt Penny staring at Nipper in the rearview mirror? She had a worried expression.

“Don’t trust N T,” Nipper said to Samantha.

“Shhh,” she replied.

Samantha had so many things on her mind. Worrying about Nipper worrying about their worried aunt couldn’t be one of them.

When they arrived at Buffy’s sky castle, Aunt Penny offered to help Samantha carry her trombone case. Nipper handed her Samantha’s suitcase instead.

“Don’t trust N T,” he whispered to Samantha.

Nathaniel waved for Mr. and Mrs. Spinner to take the main elevator. Samantha could see he was working very hard to force a smile. When she and Nipper tried to follow, he held up a hand and stopped them. As soon as the elevator doors had closed, he scowled and led them down the hall to the loading dock.

Nipper followed him into the freight elevator, dragging his enormous duffel bag behind him. It trapped Nathaniel in the elevator with him, leaving no more room for Samantha.

“Yo…I mean, you…can take the main elevator,” Nathaniel called grouchily to Samantha. “Just this once.”

As soon as she entered the apartment, Samantha rushed to the June shoe room. The vault door stood wide open. She leaned in and saw at least a thousand pairs of shoes. Other racks were piled high with handbags, hats, and scarves. She saw a tie-dye paint station and a motorized spin art wheel. But there was no sign of Uncle Paul.

“It’s nice to see you’re finally getting interested in fashion,” said Buffy, walking up behind her.

Buffy wore a shiny gold headdress. Samantha thought her sister looked like an Egyptian queen—in a kindergarten Halloween parade.

“But these things are all mine,” said Buffy, pulling Samantha back into the hallway.

She slammed the door and led Samantha out to the living room, where everyone was waiting.

“I’m glad you’ve all demanded that I let you come to my play,” said Buffy.

Samantha started to sigh heavily, but her sister snapped her fingers loudly.

“Yes,” said Buffy. “It has been quite an adventure, but that licensed theater critic is wrong. Scarlett Hydrangea’s Secret of the Nile has survived for nine days of previews, and tomorrow is opening night.”

“That’s wonderful, dear,” said Mrs. Spinner.

“For the first night, I sent free tickets and private limos to all the fashion editors and boutique owners within one hundred and six miles of New York City,” explained Buffy. “They all got gift bags with glow-in-the-dark lipstick, electric Egyptian earrings, and fluorescent rainbow unicorn necklaces. It was a huge, shiny, sparkly, lit-up success!”

“Interesting,” said Mr. Spinner.

“Before the next night, I hosted a thirteen-course banquet, including steak-stuffed turkey, lobster pot pie, flan, a chocolate waterfall, designer burritos, and a make-your-own deep-fried ice cream sundae bar. Everyone was so stuffed after that enormous meal that they fell asleep during the performance—and they stayed for the whole show!”

“Okay, not bad,” said Nipper.

“Then I lined Broadway and Forty-Sixth Street with bouncy houses,” Buffy continued. “Everyone who came to play tumbled into theater seats without realizing it. It took six days until the authorities figured it out and hauled away all the inflatables.”

Samantha had to admit that was kind of hilarious, but she didn’t say anything.

“I made tonight free surfboard night,” said Buffy. “The theater will be packed, even though most of the audience is going to be wearing hideous wet suits.”

“It will be a seaworthy night,” Nathaniel said, and nodded in agreement.

“Tomorrow, show number ten, is my big opening night,” Buffy announced. “And it’s going to be sold out!”

“How did you manage that?” asked Samantha.

“It was easy,” said Buffy. “I bought all the tickets to every other play in town. I also reserved seats to every concert, dance recital, museum lecture, and poetry reading. If anyone wants to see a show in New York tomorrow, they have no choice: the only available tickets will be for Scarlett Hydrangea’s Secret of the Nile!”

“That’s wonderful, dear,” said Mrs. Spinner. “Now let’s get some rest.”

Beaming with pride, Buffy led them to their rooms.

It turned out there was a fabulous guest suite on the second level of the apartment. Mr. and Mrs. Spinner moved into the suite, which had a double-triple king-sized bed, a private movie theater, a kitchen, a pool table, ten pinball machines, a swimming pool, a sauna, a steam room, exercise equipment, a robot massage chair, and an old-fashioned movie theater popcorn popper.

“How come we didn’t see this amazing room before?” asked Samantha.

“Sorry,” said Buffy. “The door was blocked by the Micronesian flag.”

“Where did that giant blue thing go?” asked Nipper.

“I ordered Nate to take it to the theater,” Buffy answered. “It clashed with several of the $167,000 rugs.”

“I…I…,” said Nathaniel, “couldn’t fit it in a cab. I had to go a-carryin’ it for twenty blocks.”

He made a slightly pained expression and rubbed his lower back.

“A hoist…would have been useful,” he muttered.

He reached down to touch his knee. Then he noticed Samantha and Nipper watching him and shot them an extremely pained expression. Both kids tried to look around, pretending not to notice.

“Walk this way,” said Nathaniel, and stumbled to the escalator.

Samantha and Nipper followed him to the stables on the apartment’s first level, but they were empty. The beds were gone.

“Your sister used the mattresses to make a mermaid cave for the play,” Nathaniel said dryly.

“What are we supposed to sleep on?” asked Nipper.

Nathaniel pushed a stack of old newspapers into the room and began to tear them into strips. He made two huge piles of shredded paper.

“This is a lot more comfortable than it looks,” said Nipper, sinking into one of the piles.

Samantha stood watching as her brother shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep. She decided she might as well give it a try, too. She adjusted her pile of newspaper strips and hopped on top.

Deep in the shredded paper, they both slept soundly through the night.

In the morning, Mr. and Mrs. Spinner met them by the stables, ready to leave with them for Yankee Stadium. Even though Nipper wasn’t officially the owner of the team anymore, they seemed excited for him. After hearing him talk about it for months, they were all going to see the Yankees play baseball.

“Aren’t you going to wear your team shirt and hat, dear?” Mrs. Spinner asked Nipper.

“I forgot to pack them, Mom,” he answered.

Samantha looked over at her brother’s giant duffel bag. He smiled at her and shrugged.

“What about your matching pants and shoes, son?” Mr. Spinner asked.

“I guess I should have planned my outfits for the trip more carefully,” said Nipper. “Whoopsy, look at the time.”

He led them all down the hall and into the elevator.

Before the elevator doors could close, Buffy reached in and held them open.

“You’ll all be at the show tonight, won’t you?” she asked.

The elevator doors beeped, trying to close.

“It’s my big night, and you won’t want to miss it,” she said.

“That’s why we’re all here, dear,” said Mrs. Spinner.

Samantha didn’t say anything. She definitely was not there to see her sister sing, dance, or do whatever secret Nile things she was planning to do.

“Fine,” said Buffy. “Don’t be late.”

She let go of the doors and they slid shut.

The Spinners headed uptown. Samantha kept her sunglasses in her purse and carried the umbrella without the trombone case. Before they entered the subway, she raised the umbrella over her head, opening and closing it several times.

“I’m sure there’s a point to what you’re doing, dear,” said her mother.

They rode the subway uptown. As soon as they exited the station, Samantha raised the umbrella over her head and opened it again.

“Come on, Sam,” said Nipper. “My Yankees need me.”

She closed the umbrella, looked around, and followed the family to their seats in the stadium to watch the Yankees face the Boston Red Sox.

“I count only thirty-seven people today,” said Mr. Spinner as he looked around at the seats. “I think this team could use Buffy’s help selling tickets.”

“Oh, George,” Mrs. Spinner replied. “You’d be sound asleep before you finished half of your deep-fried ice cream sundae and lobster pot pie.”

“Well, I know this team could use Dennis’s help catching some of those balls,” said Mr. Spinner.

Nipper sat in his seat and gazed longingly at the owner’s box. Samantha sat next to him, opening and closing her umbrella.

“Don’t distract my Yankees,” he told her.

Samantha closed the umbrella. She looked at Nipper. For a boy with the attention span of a chinchilla, he could certainly focus on a baseball game.

The Yankees set a new major league record with eighty-three errors in a single game. The Red Sox won, 19–0. The Spinners filed out of the stadium with the dozen other people who had stayed until the end.

“I’m sure there must have been a point to that game,” said Mrs. Spinner.

Samantha started to open the Super-Secret Plans again.

“And be careful with the point of that umbrella, too, dear,” she added.

Samantha stopped. She made eye contact with her mother. Was she onto her plan? She smiled meekly and closed the umbrella.

They rode the subway to Grand Central Station together, before Mr. and Mrs. Spinner announced they were heading to the American Museum of Natural History.

“You really should come with us to see the new pangolin exhibit,” said Samantha’s mother.

“True,” said her father. “There’s something very special about those creatures and the way that they defend themselves by rolling into a—”

“Sorry,” said Samantha, cutting him off. “I have many places to go and a lot to do!”

They agreed to split up, have dinner separately, and meet at the theater at showtime.

“It would be nice if you didn’t open and close your umbrella during the performance,” Mrs. Spinner said to Samantha.

“Don’t worry, Mom,” she answered. “I’ll leave it at Buffy’s apartment.”

Samantha and Nipper spent the rest of the day wandering around Manhattan. They walked through Midtown and down to Greenwich Village. She kept the sunglasses stowed in her purse, but every four or five blocks, she stopped to open and close the umbrella.

“Don’t tell me,” said Nipper. “You have a plan.”

Samantha thought she heard a duck quack, but she wasn’t sure. There were too many buses, cabs, and chattering people.

“Let’s keep going,” she said.

They reached Buffy’s place by six p.m. Nathaniel had prepared a stew with spicy fish, yams, and rice. Once again, it was delicious. And once again, he scowled at them throughout the meal.

After they ate, Samantha changed into nicer clothes for the theater, but she still wore her sneakers. She didn’t bother saying anything to Nipper about changing his outfit. She was pretty sure he didn’t have any more clothes in his duffel bag. She secured her umbrella in the trombone case and buried it under shredded newspaper in the stables.

It was time to leave for the theater. Nathaniel watched them closely, so they went straight to the freight elevator. Samantha pushed the button for the ground floor and started down.

She smiled.

“Did you have time to digest?” Samantha asked.

“Sure. I guess so,” said Nipper. “Why?”

They reached the ground floor.

“Because my plan is to…”

The doors slid open and they faced a loading dock full of clowns.

“…run for it!” she shouted.