I RAN UP THE stairs and into my bedroom, my heart pounding. Once there, I quickly opened the bottom drawer of my desk and dug underneath the various old notebooks and term papers and childhood artwork I’d shoved in there until my hand hit what I was looking for: a box, its edges sharp and smooth.

Be cool, Daphne, I told myself as I carefully made my way back downstairs, holding the box like it contained the most fragile item in the world. And, in a way, it did.

Velma and Shaggy were right where I’d left them, except clearly Shaggy had raided the fridge in the two minutes I was gone, because he was halfway through the leftover veggie lasagna I’d wrapped up after dinner last night. Velma’s eyes were wide, serious. Alarmed, even.

I set the box on the table and drew in a deep breath. This was going to be hard.

“I have a confession,” I announced. My voice was shaky. I hadn’t really planned this out, so I was winging it. I said the first thing that came to mind. “But first, some good news! We don’t have to break in to the evidence room.”

Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief and even Scooby, content, slumped to the hardwood floor with a satisfied plop and closed his eyes for a nap. Velma nodded, but then asked me the question I didn’t want to answer, the question I’d been waiting for. “Why not?”

I tried to think about how to answer that. On the surface, it was a simple answer: We didn’t need to break in to the police station to steal one of the washed-up jewels because we had one right here. I had one.

Yes, I’d kept one of the jewels from the beach.

It had been an accident at first. I hadn’t noticed that one of them, a shiny emerald that matched my mother’s green eyes perfectly, had caught on a thread in my pocket until I got home from the beach that night. I’d stared at it in my bedroom, flashing in the palm of my hand, and felt a sense of dread at the idea that I had to turn it in. That I had to part with it. And who would believe me, anyway? Daphne Blake liked jewelry, liked pretty clothes and material objects. That’s what everyone thought. I couldn’t face the possibility that someone might think I had stolen it. I couldn’t bear to think of Ram reading about me in the police log.

But the real answer was more complicated.

My mom’s birthday was just a few weeks away, and it was the first year since she’d left me—since the divorce when I’d forced her away, I reminded myself—that we were actually on good terms. On our way toward mending what we’d both broken. This year, I wanted something special for her, to show her how sorry I was and, more importantly, how seriously I took our relationship now. How much I wanted it to work. And so when I’d discovered the jewel in my pocket, I’d thought … well, what if this was the perfect gift? Elizabeth Blake had everything she could ever want—you’d be shocked at the amount of free stuff celebrities get!—and I’d thought, maybe a one-of-a-kind memento from Crystal Cove, the place that made her famous, would be just the thing.

It was stupid, I know. And unethical, and immoral, and a million other things. But when I saw the emerald, something sparked inside me. A greed. A hunger, almost. I wanted that jewel even though I knew I shouldn’t keep it, couldn’t keep it, because even after everything, I’m still that girl who is used to getting what she wants.

“Because,” I finally said, opening the box, “we already have what we need.”

We sat in silence at the dining room table, the grandfather clock in the corner ticking away the minutes. Neither Velma nor Shaggy said a word. Even in the darkness (I hadn’t turned on any lights, and the sky was growing more overcast by the second), the emerald shimmered.

“I can explain,” I offered, my voice thick. “See, it was an accident. At first.”

Velma held up a hand. “I need a minute here.”

I nodded and listened to Scooby’s light snoring. The shadows lengthened across the room. I glanced at Shaggy, who was staring in shock at the jewel, a heaping forkful of lasagna still in one hand.

Somewhere in the house, I heard a noise. But then Velma spoke.

“You’ve had this jewel in your possession all week?”

I forced a laugh. “Lucky break, right?”

“I mean … I guess?”

Shaggy finally made a move. He dropped his fork, pushed back his chair, and rushed over to me, looping his arms around my neck in a hug.

“Whoa,” I said, nearly falling backward from the force of his hug. “What’s that for?”

For a fraction of a second—I swear, just a fraction—I let myself relax into him, my body warming to his presence. Once I registered it, though, I kicked away the instinct and straightened up.

“I really, really, really did not want to break in to the evidence room,” he said into my hair. Then, like nothing had happened, he retreated to his seat and jammed the lasagna remains into his mouth.

“Okay,” Velma said. “I guess it is a lucky break. I just wish …”

I met Velma’s eyes. “I know.”

“We’re partners,” she whispered, giving a half shrug like it was no big deal. But her eyes were bright and glassy, and her mouth was turned up in that way I knew meant she was holding something back.

“I should have told you right away,” I agreed softly. “It won’t happen again.”

She nodded curtly. I felt my optimism collapse a little. I had promised myself a long time ago I’d make up for what I’d done to Velma when we were kids and everything fell apart, and now here was another thing I had to add to my apology list. I swallowed and tried to focus on what was next, but I vowed to do something nice—and wholly unexpected—for Velma at the next chance I could find. I already had an idea for what it might be.

“So.” She inched her hand forward, toward the box, before pausing and casting a questioning glance my way. “May I?”

“Please.”

She studied the jewel in silence, turning it over and over again. She shone her phone’s flashlight on it. It felt more like late evening than midafternoon, the way the room was cast in shadows, and we sat in the darkening gray light.

“I don’t see anything notable about this jewel,” she finally said. Then she pulled a wad of tissue paper from the pocket of her jeans, and unwrapped it to reveal the ruby we’d found in the Haunted Village. “And there’s nothing special about this one, either.” She laid it down next to the emerald.

Scooby’s head popped up suddenly; he looked around and then lay back down and closed his eyes.

“Maybe we should take them both to Noelle?” Shaggy asked.

“Do we trust her?” I blurted.

“Or her daughter?” Velma mumbled.

Shaggy looked as surprised as I felt. “Like, why wouldn’t you trust the Burnetts?”

I exchanged glances with Velma. She knew something, I could tell. “You first.”

She shifted in her seat. “While you were upstairs, I started to wonder. Not about Noelle—we already know she’s being kind of shady with us. But Taylor … well, she’s kind of … clearly … like, seriously crushing on you, Shaggy.”

Shaggy’s eyebrows nearly leapt off his forehead. I wondered if mine were doing the same.

Velma continued. “And I started to think about, when someone really wants to get someone else’s attention, what extremes would they go to?” She drummed her fingers on the table.

“And?” I prompted.

Velma sighed. “And … she just texted me to ask if Shaggy was home or not.”

It all started to click. Taylor wanted to make friends. And what better way was there to do that than to date one of the most popular guys in school? And what better way to snag that guy in school than to be there for him when he was going through tough times?

And the only way to do that was to engineer those “tough times.”

“Oh my god,” I said out loud. “Taylor stole the Crystal.”

“And planted the jewels in the ocean, and the ruby in the Haunted Village,” Velma concluded.

“What?!” Shaggy cried.

“She has the resources to do it, and the knowledge.” Velma ticked off her fingers. “The motive, the opportunity, it’s all there.”

“I knew she was after something!” I said triumphantly.

“Like, I repeat, what?!” Shaggy said. “Taylor would never steal! And she is not crushing on me!”

The thought of Shaggy and Taylor being … well, together made me suddenly want to puke, so I pushed the vision away and tried to focus on what we knew.

“The other day, she even said something about …” Ack, I couldn’t remember it exactly. I racked my brain. “Velma, you were there. Something about how this was a time to make things right in Crystal Cove. Remember?”

“Yes!” Velma jumped up and tucked her hair behind her ear. “At your party, Shaggy! She said, ‘At least now we have a chance to help right some wrongs.’ ”

“You’re wrong, Shaggy!” I cried, jabbing my finger in his chest harder than I intended. He recoiled, and I quickly corrected myself. “I mean, you’re not wrong. That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?” he asked, his voice small.

“I just mean, Taylor basically admitted she’s here to fix something that went wrong. But what did she mean by that? Don’t you think she could’ve meant the wrongs caused by the Vanishing? Your family is the only one who was left behind.” I left out the part about how, right after she’d said that, she’d overheard Shawna and Nisha making fun of her. I deflated a little, realizing I could have tried a bit harder to smooth things over with her once I knew she’d heard them. Us.

My thoughts were interrupted by a scratching and unfamiliar sound that seemed to be coming from the second floor.

We all froze. “Did anyone else hear that?” I whispered. They nodded. Scooby, now fully awake, stood at attention, his tail wagging.

A rush of wind slapped against the house, followed by the pitter-patter of rain on the windows. What I could see of the sky through the dining room windows was thick with gray clouds, darkening by the second.

Thud.

We all jumped in our seats.

Boom.

The hair on my arms was standing up, and in a flash I was, too, racing to the window. Lightning lit up the sky, cracking through the navy-blue clouds in bright orange streaks. The rain fell in sheets, and for a moment I thought I saw something in the backyard—near the pool, a blurry gray shape, moving fast.

I blinked, and all I could see was rain.

“Like, yikes,” Shaggy whistled, still at the table.

Velma still held the emerald, turning it around in her hands and staring at it, lost in thought.

I flipped the light switch, so the room was flooded with light. There. That felt better. I returned to the table, trying to calm my racing heart—the lightning had surprised me, and between that and the adrenaline from confessing I had a jewel, my body felt loose, out of sorts. Drained.

And then, as I sat down, the lights flickered. With an audible click, we were swathed in darkness.

There was no use venturing out in the storm, so I made us some hot chocolate and brought the steaming mugs into the den, which was a shade brighter than the dining room and made me feel less alone somehow. Shaggy and Velma curled up on each end of the couch, so I took the love seat facing them.

“So is the power out everywhere, or just this neighborhood?” I asked Velma, who was checking her phone. She frowned.

“That’s the weird thing. No one else seems to have been affected.”

I shrugged and sipped my hot chocolate. Shaggy watched me, close enough that I began to grow uncomfortable. I wiped at my lip in case I had hot chocolate stuck on my face.

He scratched his craggy forehead. “I guess I’ll just say it, then?”

“Say what, Shaggy?” Velma asked. Another round of lightning lit up the room, followed by a boom of thunder.

“Like, this whole thing just doesn’t make any sense. Taylor’s like a little sister to me! She has to know I’m not into her like that. And, like … why jewels? Like, specifically? Why not just break in to my house and steal the Crystal like a normal robber? And, like …” He rubbed the whiskers on his chin. “It just feels like nothing goes right here anymore.”

“Like Crystal Cove is …” I prompted.

“Cursed,” Shaggy whispered.

Creak.

My heart leapt into my throat. Eyes wide, we stared at each other, somehow silently agreeing to remain still.

Creakkkkkkkk.

“The Vanished,” Shaggy mouthed. I was somewhere between wanting to laugh or throw up, but Velma’s face steered me closer to laughter.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she whispered back. “Probably a—”

Stomp. Thud.

Scooby jumped into Shaggy’s lap and whined.

“What do we do?” I hissed. I thought of the gray thing I’d seen by the pool, and the flash of red hair in the Haunted Village. The Lady Vampire of the Bay was known to haunt bodies of water, I remembered. What if it really was her? What if I’d somehow summoned her by keeping the jewel? What if—

“Hey, kids!”

I jumped out of my chair, my limbs shaking. I’d never been more relieved. “Mom! What are you doing here?”

My mother stood in the door of the room in fresh yoga pants and a sweatshirt, toweling off her wet hair.

“I live here. Well, temporarily. Remember?” she teased.

“We didn’t know anyone was home.” Velma’s voice was small and tight.

“I was in the shower when the lights went out—I only just heard your voices a few minutes ago.” She sauntered over to the light switch on the wall and flicked it. The den was flooded with light again. “There you go. This house’s electric has always been touchy during storms.”

I swallowed and smoothed my hair, forcing myself to breathe as Scooby slid off Shaggy’s lap. Silly, I told myself. There was nothing by the pool. No ghosts. Not here!

“Can I get you guys anything? What’s that, hot chocolate? Nice!” My mother leaned in to smell the steam rising from my mug, pausing when she noticed the emerald and the ruby on the table. They sparkled under the bright lights she’d just turned on.

I thought fast. “Oh, just some jewels we’re studying in chemistry.”

My mother looked puzzled. “You’re studying fake jewels in school?”

“They’re real,” Velma assured her.

My mother picked up the emerald, shot us all an amused look, and laughed out loud. “Who told you these were real?”

“Um …” I fumbled for words. What did she mean? Everyone said the jewels were real. Noelle had confirmed it. The Howler had reported it. The police believed it, and we had, too.

“Honey, I can tell real jewels from fake. And these are fake.” She turned it over in her palm. “Good fakes! But definitely fake.”

“But Noelle said …” I protested. Velma rose from the couch and took the emerald and the ruby from my mother. Her lips were pursed; her cheeks red. She opened her mouth to speak, and I braced myself for the fire that would surely pour out of it.

Beep.

Ring.

Blip.

All at once, each of our phones dinged.

I pulled mine from my pocket, Velma grabbed hers from the table, and both Shaggy and my mother had theirs in their hands already.

Hands shaking, I studied my screen. I had a breaking news alert from the Howler. We all did:

They’re Ba-ack! Town in Turmoil as More Mysterious Jewels Wash Ashore.