The massive steps in front of the Museum of Natural History were overrun with different groups ready to go inside. The loudest was the mob of elementary students piling off a row of school buses from the Bronx, and the most colorful was the cluster of kids, parents, and grandparents wearing bright pink sweatshirts marked BERGER FAMILY REUNION. But the smallest, and by far the most anxious, was the collection of four people standing at the base of the giant statue of Teddy Roosevelt astride his horse.
It was my Omega team.
Unlike the other groups, we hadn’t come to explore the dinosaur exhibits or stare in amazement at the giant blue whale hanging from the ceiling of the Hall of Ocean Life. We’d come for our review hearing, and Natalie wanted to give us some last-minute coaching before we headed inside.
“According to Dr. H, a review panel has never overturned a ruling of the Prime Omega,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean there can’t be a first time. We just need to admit our mistakes, assure them that they won’t happen again, and convince everybody that we’re worthy of a second chance.”
Alex and Grayson both nodded in agreement.
“Actually,” I said, “I’ve got another idea.”
Natalie wasn’t exactly looking for opposing viewpoints, so she was a bit perturbed as she asked, “What’s that?”
I wanted to tell them about the Baker’s Dozen. My mom had assured me that it would save our team. But I didn’t know how to do it without telling them everything, and I wasn’t ready for that. Still, there was no escaping the fact that I had created this problem. That meant I should to be the one to fix it. I’d been mulling it over for days and had come up with only one solution.
“Why don’t we tell them the truth?” I suggested. “Tell them that everything was my fault and that you were just trying to protect me. Then they can kick me out of Omega, and you guys can find someone to replace me on the team. That was Dr. H’s original verdict, so they can accept it without overruling him.”
Alex reached over and put his hand on my shoulder. “You just don’t get it, Molly. We’re not interested in being a team without you.”
“That’s right,” Grayson added. “We’re a package deal. Either they want us all, or they don’t want any of us. Got it?”
I looked at Natalie to make sure she agreed. Then I nodded and said, “Got it.”
“Good,” she replied. “Now, let’s go do this.”
We went inside and took the elevator to the fourth floor. According to our instructions, we were supposed to wait by the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex. Someone was going to meet us there and take us to the hearing.
Even though I was nervous about everything, just being in the dinosaur hall made me smile. It was one of my favorite places on earth.
“This is where it all started,” I said, looking up at the dinosaur’s massive jaw.
“What do you mean?” asked Grayson.
“I was five years old, and my dad put me up on his shoulders so I could get a closer look at T. rex here.” I closed my eyes as I pictured the memory in my head. “It was love at first sight.”
Grayson laughed. “You fell in love with a massive theropod with tiny arms whose name means ‘tyrant lizard king’?”
“Head over heels,” I said as I looked around the room at all the other dinosaurs. “I fell in love with all of them. That was the day I fell in love with science.”
“Well,” said Alex, “let’s hope our Omega team doesn’t join your boyfriend on the extinction list.”
“Yes, let’s hope,” said a voice from behind us.
We turned and saw that it was Dr. Hidalgo. Dr. H was my mom’s best friend and colleague at the coroner’s office. They’d been a part of the same Omega team when they were in school and he’d become the Prime Omega—or Prime-O—in charge of all the Omega teams. He’d had to step down from that position because we’d been forced to uncover his identity.
As usual, Dr. H was sharply dressed in a perfectly pressed dress shirt and pants and wore a stylish bow tie. He also wore a friendly smile, which was a big departure from the last time we’d seen him. (That would be the day he suspended our team for breaking countless rules and procedures.)
Smile or not, I wasn’t sure how he was feeling toward us, and me in particular. I offered a rather faint “Hello, Dr. Hidalgo” and tried to avoid eye contact.
He wasn’t having any of that. He placed a firm finger under my chin and lifted it until I was looking him right in the eye. “Molly Bigelow, how long have I known you?”
“My whole life,” I said weakly.
“Then act like it.”
He held his arms out, and I gave him a hug.
“No matter what happened before and no matter what the panel decides today, nothing changes what you mean to me.” He gave me one last squeeze and then turned to the others. “Now follow me.”
Dr. Hidalgo had been a family friend for as long as I could remember. One of the things that I had been dreading most about this day was the thought that we were opposing each other. Talking to him now made me feel a whole lot better about everything.
He led us beyond the exhibits, down a maze of hallways, and past a couple of security checkpoints. At each one, he just flashed a badge and the guards waved us through with no questions asked. Finally, we stepped into a giant freight elevator.
“It’s big,” Grayson said, referring to the size.
“Big enough to hold a dinosaur,” Dr. H pointed out as he pressed the button for the basement.
“If we’re going to the basement, why did you have us meet you on the fourth floor?” asked Grayson.
He looked back at me over his shoulder and then turned to face the others. “Because it’s Molly’s favorite place, and I thought it might help calm her nerves.”
Natalie gave me a sideways glance and a smile. This was the Dr. H we both knew.
As we rode in the elevator, he gave us a rundown of what to expect.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” he explained. “I’ll go first and tell them why I suspended you. Then you’ll make a statement and answer any questions from the review panel.”
From the elevator, we went down another hallway until we reached a large lecture hall. The room was built like an auditorium, with steep banks of seating that looked down on the stage.
“This is a sacred room,” Dr. H told us. “More than a century ago, this is where the museum’s paleontologists presented their initial findings about dinosaurs and prehistoric life. Ever since, this is where some of the true legends of scientific thought have shared their discoveries.”
“And this is where our hearing is taking place?” Natalie asked.
“Yes.”
“How did we get such an important room?” asked Grayson.
Dr. H smiled. “Let’s just say that some of the legends of scientific thought also happen to be Omegas, too.”
“Cool,” Grayson said, echoing what we were all thinking. “Very cool.”
In the middle of the stage were four wooden chairs. Dr. H motioned for us to sit in them, and we each took our place. The lighting was so bright that we couldn’t really see what was happening out in the auditorium. If I squinted, I could make out some shapes and shadows but no faces. The identities of the past Omegas had to be kept secret, even from us.
It all happened just like Dr. Hidalgo told us it would in the elevator. He went first and talked about the team and our past accomplishments. He also pointed out that I was the daughter of Rosemary Collins, whom he called “my dearest friend and a legendary Omega.” Then he gave a detailed report of all the mistakes we’d made. This included my unauthorized visit to Dead City, when I crashed the flatline party and had to escape underwater in the Old Croton Aqueduct, as well as our team’s trip underground to see Marek Blackwell.
Next, Natalie spoke on behalf of the team, and she was amazing. She talked about successful assignments they’d completed before I was part of the team and how they went about selecting me to join them. She sang all of our praises and went into detail about how I had kept the Book of Secrets from falling into the hands of the undead. By the time she was done, I knew they were going to reverse the suspension.
I was wrong.
The questions were relentless. “Why did you go into Dead City when you knew it was against the rules?” The fact that we couldn’t see the people asking the questions was disorienting. “Why didn’t you alert the Prime-O the moment you found the photographs of the Unlucky 13 along with the Book of Secrets?” Voices came from every direction. “What exactly happened with you, Miss Bigelow, and Marek atop the George Washington Bridge?”
After about fifteen minutes, it was obvious things were not going well. My teammates looked defeated, and I had to do something. I leaned toward them.
“I can save us, but you can’t ask me how I know,” I whispered.
Natalie had a confused look on her face. “What?”
“I know a way to save us,” I said a bit louder. “But if I do it, you can’t ask me how I know. You just have to accept it.”
She shook her head. “If we’re a team, we have to trust one another.”
“I do trust you,” I replied. “But you have to trust me that if I say I can’t tell, it’s for a good reason.”
She thought for a second and nodded. “Just do it.”
I looked at the others, and they nodded too.
“Excuse me,” an annoyed voice called down to us. “I hate to interrupt your conversation, but we need you to answer our questions.”
I looked at the others one more time to make sure, and then I turned toward the unseen woman.
“I apologize,” I said. “Can you please repeat your last question?”
“Is there any other reason you can give us that would make us reconsider your suspension?”
“Yes, there is,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Our team needs to be reinstated because we’ve been asked to work on the Baker’s Dozen.”
Suddenly, things on the other side of the lights got very quiet. My teammates looked at me, wondering what on earth I was talking about. Dr. H considered this for a moment and begrudgingly smiled.
Now a different voice called down to us. It was one we hadn’t heard before, a pleasant voice belonging to a man who sounded older than the others.
“Could you please repeat that?” he asked.
“I said we have to be reinstated because we’ve been asked to help on the Baker’s Dozen.”
“That’s what I thought you said,” he replied before pausing and adding, “I’ll have to ask everyone except for the Prime-O to leave the room.”
Natalie, Alex, Grayson, and I all stood up to exit, but the man chuckled and called down to us again. “You four stay. I was talking to everyone else.”
“Good luck,” Dr. H said with a wink as he got up and left.
Now my teammates really gave me confused looks, and all I could do was shrug. My mom had told me what to say, but I had no idea what it all meant. We heard the others collect their things and leave, and soon the only noise was the sound of the lights humming. Then the older man had a brief conversation with the woman who had asked the last question. (I guess that means she’s the new Prime-O.)
“What’s the current status of the Baker’s Dozen?” he asked her.
“We’re down to two teams,” she said. “One current and one made up of past Omegas.”
It occurred to me that my mother must be part of the second team, a fact that made me smile.
“I thought we added a new team last month,” he said, a bit bewildered.
“We tried, sir,” she said, “but they were unable to solve the riddle.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Well, then I guess they wouldn’t have done too well on this assignment. Were you aware that a new invitation had been given out?”
“No, sir,” she said, “but they don’t need approval from me to extend one.”
Now the man directed his attention toward us. “Molly, can you confirm that you truly have been asked to help on the Baker’s Dozen?”
I repeated the response exactly as my mother had told me on the subway platform. “I can confirm that Triskaidekaphobia is the irrational fear of the number thirteen.”
“And do you suffer from this phobia?” he asked.
“No,” I answered, staying to the script. “Because, like the number thirteen, I am completely rational.”
“That’s very good to hear,” he replied.
We all waited for a moment to see if there was more.
“Does that mean we’re reinstated?” asked Natalie.
“Yes,” he said to our relief before adding, “with one catch.”
We traded nervous looks and then turned our attention back to him.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“The Baker’s Dozen is a top-secret operation,” he explained. “In fact, it’s so secretive that we cannot discuss it here.”
“Then how do we find out about it?” asked Natalie.
“By solving a puzzle,” he said. “If you can figure out this riddle, it will lead you to everything you need to know about the Baker’s Dozen.”
“And if we can’t?” I asked nervously.
“Well, then you’re back where you started,” he answered. “How do you think the hearing was going?”
“Not well,” I answered, stating the obvious.
“No, it wasn’t,” he said. “So I suggest you solve it.”
“What’s the riddle?”
“With this iron, you cannot press a shirt, but you can press your luck.”