Spiderwebs tickled Henry’s cheeks and trailed into his eyes as he crawled. Every so often, he felt José’s hand brush against his ankle, and that made him feel better. At least he wasn’t alone.

After a few minutes, Henry stopped, hoping to catch his breath, to let his heart settle down. But the darkness was so black, so heavy, it felt like it was pressing into his eyes, and that made his heart thump faster.

“You okay?” José whispered from behind him.

“Yeah,” Henry answered. “Are you guys?”

“I hate this,” Anna hissed. “Where does this even go? I think we should turn back.”

“What if they’re following us?” José’s question hung in the air with the cobwebs.

Henry listened. Everything was quiet, but if they turned back, there was no telling who they’d meet in the dark. “This tunnel has to end somewhere, and once we get out the other end, we’ll be able to get back to that pizza place.” Henry was glad his voice sounded more confident than he felt. He was tired and worried about Dad and Bethany and the baby and hungry, too. At least there’d be food at the pizza place. “I say we keep going forward.”

“If everyone is moving forward together, success takes care of itself,” José whispered. “Henry Ford said that.”

“This is so not what Henry Ford meant,” Anna grouched. “Keep going. It smells in here.”

Henry started crawling again, but he couldn’t move fast. It was hard to know how far they’d gone when he finally stretched a hand out in front of him and felt something other than empty dark.

“I think we’re at the end!” he whispered. “This is …” He slid his hand over the smooth stone in front of him until he found an edge. He traced it with his fingers. “It’s one of those little doorways!”

“Thank goodness!” Anna whispered behind him. “Is it open?”

“Uh … no.” And no matter how much Henry felt around, he couldn’t find a handle or doorknob. He pushed the door with both hands, but it didn’t budge.

“Hold on a second …” Henry wiggled around until his feet were facing the doorway. He leaned against José and kicked the door, but it didn’t move. “You guys … I need you to push on me when I say go. As hard as you can, and don’t let me slip, okay?”

“All right, hold on.”

Henry felt José’s bony hands on his shoulders.

“Is Anna backing you up?” Henry asked.

Her voice came from behind José. “Yes. Tell me when you’re going to push.”

“Ready …” Henry bent his legs and put both feet flat against the door.

“Set …” He stretched his arms out to the sides to brace himself against the tunnel walls.

He took a deep breath — “Go!” — and pushed as hard as he could to straighten his legs. José’s fingers dug into Henry’s shoulders, and the tunnel walls scratched his hands, but the door was finally starting to move. “Keep pushing!” he panted.

With one last grunt, he kicked again and felt something give way. The door swung open with a sharp groan, and Henry found his legs flailing into an open, dark space. He lowered himself out of the tunnel to the floor and blinked. A sliver of light spilled in from above the far wall, and Henry’s eyes adjusted as José and Anna climbed down. “Look!” Henry whispered.

Big cardboard boxes were stacked along the walls of the room.

“Ohmygosh!” Anna squealed. “This must be where they brought the stolen art!”

“But there are so many of them,” José said.

“I know! What if … what if the Serpentine Princes have been hiding stolen loot here for ages?” Anna rushed to one of the boxes and started picking at the packing tape that sealed the top. “You guys, this is huge! This could be — what if the Rembrandts and Vermeer from the original Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist are here?”

“Anna,” José began, “we don’t even know where we are. This might be —”

Before he could finish, the room filled with light so bright it made Henry’s eyes water.

“I’ll tell you where you are. On private property! And when the police arrive, you’re — oh! It’s you three!” Their tour guide stood in the doorway.

“Uh … sorry.” Anna’s voice was weak. She was kneeling by that big cardboard box, her hands tangled in the packing tape she’d finally managed to get loose. “We … it probably sounds crazy, but we found that tunnel and then we thought somebody was chasing us, so …”

“That somebody was our security staff. Whatever possessed you to break into the crypt?”

“We didn’t technically break in,” José said. “The door was unlocked. And someone had already pried those boards off the tunnel entrance.”

“I told you there’s restoration work happening in the crypt. That’s why it’s not open this week.” The woman folded her arms. “But, of course, you weren’t paying attention to that information.”

“We couldn’t really wait.” Anna kept talking faster and faster. “When you mentioned the tunnel, we thought maybe the thieves who hit the Gardner museum last night had used it to hide stuff.”

“Like that pirate you talked about.” Henry hoped he’d get points for having paid attention. “With the angels?”

The woman was totally not impressed.

“And then we thought maybe these boxes were full of …” Anna stopped talking and looked down at her tape-tangled hands.

“Full of what?” the woman barked.

“Priceless stolen art,” José said quietly, “but we’re guessing now that’s probably not the case.”

“Well, let’s see….” The guide stepped up to the box closest to Anna and ripped off the last of the packing tape. She plunged her arm inside, pulled out a fuzzy green stuffed animal wearing a Boston Red Sox jersey, dangled it by one red sneaker, and raised her eyebrows. “Does this meet your criteria for priceless stolen art?”

A cell phone in the lady’s pocket started playing a fife and drum song. She tossed the stuffed animal back in the box and answered. “Yeah? Good. I’ll bring them right up.” She put the phone away, looked at Anna, and pointed to a set of stairs on the other side of the room. “Get moving, Nancy Drew. All of you. The police are waiting upstairs.”