Samantha went looking for Uncle Paul.

He was somewhere in Buffy’s apartment.

She had fought off ninjas, traveled from France to Italy to Indonesia to Peru to Mali, tracked her uncle down in New York, and saved him from clowns. Now, finally, she was going to learn everything.

Samantha was going to learn all about the Super-Secret Plans. How did all those pictures and diagrams get inside the umbrella? Why did her uncle give it to her? What exactly was PSST, the Partnership of Super-Secret Travelers? What was the story behind that amazing map room she and her brother had found in Peru, under the ruins of Machu Picchu?

Samantha let out a long, satisfied breath. After all the adventures, mysteries, and clues, Uncle Paul was here. And she was here, too. Now she was going to make the most of it.

Nipper and her father had already gone back to Seattle, but Samantha had an extra day in New York City. She had to go sit through her sister’s foolish play again that evening, but she still had all morning and afternoon to spend with her uncle…starting now.

Samantha rode the escalator to the top floor, past paintings of gloves and scarves. Diamond-encrusted handbags and platinum-plated high-heeled shoes shimmered in glass cases.

When she reached the landing, she took a moment to gaze through the panoramic windows of Buffy’s three-story penthouse sky castle. Then she surveyed a dozen more shoe statues, purse paintings, and glittering gloves.

Far across the ridiculous room, a pedestal supported a gleaming tree-shaped sculpture, about as tall as a person. She squinted and took a closer look. Eight golden branches sprouted from a tree trunk. A silver horseshoe dangled from each branch.

Someone stepped out from beyond the sculpture.

She smiled.

It was Uncle Paul.

He had his back to her, and he was facing the wall, looking at a painting of two sailing ships.

“Pursuit,” said Uncle Paul, reading the brass nameplate at the bottom of the picture frame.

“Yes,” said Buffy, appearing in the doorway. “Isn’t it awful?”

She was wearing her Egyptian fairy-tale princess costume again. Sapphires twinkled on her silver headdress. Samantha noticed that, other than some streaks of plaster dust from last night’s theater battle, her sister matched the decor of the room perfectly.

“I hung it on the wall to warn all my new employees not to mess up,” said Buffy.

“Employees?” asked Samantha as she joined Uncle Paul in front of the painting.

“Yes,” said Buffy. “I need new ones, now that Nate’s all gone.”

“You mean Nathaniel?” asked Samantha. “The pirate?”

“All gone?” asked Uncle Paul.

“I wanted a painting of a purse-suit,” Buffy whined. “You know, a suit made of purses.”

“Sometimes you need to take a closer listen to things,” said Uncle Paul.

“So,” Buffy continued, ignoring her uncle, “I asked Nate for help.”

“An accessory to accessories,” said Uncle Paul.

“I get that one,” said Samantha, smiling at him.

“Of course you do,” said Uncle Paul.

“What-ever,” said Buffy, waving her hands to get them both to look toward the picture. “My useless assistant brought me that thing instead.”

Samantha leaned in to inspect the painting. One ship, flying a skull-and-crossbones flag, fired cannons and chased after the other ship.

“Wait, go back,” she told Buffy. “Did you decide that this picture is a warning, or did someone else tell you that?”

“Stick around,” said Uncle Paul. “I’m about to tell Samantha some important things about exciting places…and some terrible dangers.”

“Borr-ring,” said Buffy.

“Oh, come on!” Samantha blurted. “Aren’t you curious about all the crazy mixed-up things that keep happening to us? How about the amazing presents from Uncle Paul? Don’t you want to know where your two point four billion dollars came from?”

“Ignorr-ring,” said Buffy.

She turned and headed to the exit.

“I changed my mind,” she called back over her shoulder. “When you’re done talking about nonsense, take the painting down and drop it off at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

“Museums don’t just let people drop off paintings,” said Samantha.

“Well, they should,” said Buffy. “Museums should celebrate purses and suits.”

When she reached the doorway, she stopped and looked back at Samantha and her uncle.

“And footwear,” she added thoughtfully. “There should be a whole museum dedicated to the magic and wonder of shoes.”

Buffy turned and walked out of the room.

“Your sister sure has vision,” said Uncle Paul.

“Yeah,” said Samantha. “Double-triple super-bananas vision.”

“Not exactly,” said Uncle Paul. “That’s something different.”

Samantha wondered what her uncle could have possibly meant by that. Then she realized they were alone again. Here was her chance.

“Okay. Right now,” she said, putting her foot down harder than she intended.

The silver horseshoes on the tree jingled.

“Tell me every single detail. Put all of them in order, and start from the very beginning.”

“That is definitely one of the ways you can tell a story,” said Uncle Paul.

“Begin, please,” said Samantha, impatient to get the story started.

Finally, he cleared his throat and began:

“Two hundred and thirty-two years, five months, three weeks, and six days ago…”

“Hello, Paul,” said Samantha’s mother.

Samantha hadn’t noticed Dr. Spinner come into the room.

“Good morning, Suzette,” Uncle Paul said cheerfully.

Samantha didn’t turn. She kept watching Uncle Paul. He had just started from the beginning, and she didn’t want to miss anything.

“And good morning to you, too, dear,” said her mother.

Samantha didn’t move.

“Dear?” Dr. Spinner asked.

Samantha still didn’t move. She hoped her mother was just passing through on her way to somewhere else.

Her mother sighed. “It’s all clear, Penelope,” she called. “There are no Komodo dragons in here today.”

“That’s a relief,” Aunt Penny said, walking into the room. She carried her shopping notepad as usual. “Thanks for checking.”

Samantha watched as her aunt looked up at the ceiling and started scribbling.

“Buffy sent me in here to inspect the gold-plated ceiling,” Aunt Penny explained. “She says it’s scratched, so she wants my help to replace the whole thing with solid platinum.”

“Sometimes you can buy a lot with a Penny,” Uncle Paul whispered.

Samantha smiled and nodded at him. He was right about that. Aunt Penny was a professional shopper and treasure hunter…and Buffy’s personal glitz gatherer.

“What are you two up to now?” her mother asked. “Are you talking about WRUF again?”

“The Worldwide Reciters of Useless Facts, Mom?” asked Samantha. “No. That’s not important. We’re about to talk about some super-secret—”

“Plans are an important part of every adventure,” Uncle Paul interrupted. “Don’t you agree?”

Dr. Spinner looked at Uncle Paul, then at Samantha, then back at Uncle Paul.

“All right,” she said, turning to Aunt Penny. “Let’s leave so-mysterious and so-serious alone for a while. I’ll go with you to explore ceiling solutions.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Samantha called as her mother and her aunt left to gather their things.

“You must be so-serious,” Uncle Paul said, walking over to the grand piano in the center of the room.

He sat down at the bench, leaned forward, and examined a piece of paper. Then he sat up straight and started to play.

“You can put lots of notes together and make a masterpiece,” he said, turning to look directly at Samantha.

He smiled and kept watching her as he played.

Uncle Paul seemed to be waiting for her to figure something out.

She shook her head.

“Must you be so-mysterious?” she asked.

She went to the piano and picked up the page in front of her uncle. It was a sheet of music printed with gold ink. The words SCARLETT HYDRANGEA’S SECRET OF THE NILE PART TWO: THE UNICORN RETURNS glistened on it.

Samantha frowned, turned the page over, and set it down on the lid of the piano. That was definitely not part of any masterpiece.

“Didn’t you say you were going to tell me something really important?” she asked.

“I did,” said Uncle Paul.

“I want you to tell me everything,” she said. “All the facts.”

“I’ll do that, too,” said Uncle Paul.

He swiveled on the piano bench to face her, his eyes opened wide. Samantha was ready.

“Over two hundred years ago, there was only…the WEATHER,” he said.

He raised his hands and began to waggle his fingers as he spoke. “Of course, super secrets can also be used for super-evil schemes.”

Samantha smiled and settled in. Her uncle was such a good storyteller—once he really got going.

“If you explore the world and take a closer look at things, you’ll find there are secrets and possibilities—everywhere!”

He really got going.

“We have many places to go and a lot to—”

Suddenly he jumped up and spun around.

Samantha was so focused on hearing everything, she hadn’t even noticed that her mother had reappeared and had tapped Uncle Paul on the shoulder.

“Sorry to interrupt again,” she said.

She held out her phone toward Samantha.

“It’s your father, dear,” she said.

“It’s Dad?” asked Samantha, exasperated. “We’re busy. Can’t it wait?”

“I don’t know, dear,” said her mother. “I’m not sure why, but he doesn’t want to talk to me. He only wants to talk to you.”