The Vanishing Stairs (Book 2)
Maureen Johnson

(5/21/22-5/23/22)

JN:

       On the day that Dottie went missing, a rich girl from her resident house named Francis went into a dark tunnel via a secret trapdoor after curfew. After traveling through the tunnel, she found Eddie, the only person she cared for (a classic dark triad type). They followed a rushed Albert and eavesdropped on him as he figured out what to do with the kidnappings. They realized quickly that their Truly Devious letter would be mixed up in it, so they rushed back to their own houses. Francis got caught sneaking in, however, and her house leader made her stay on the couch until further notice.
       (Now to Stevie) The day after a report came out about what Stevie had discovered about Ellie, Stevie's parents picked her up and drove her home, leaving Stevie to her old life with her old school. She received lots of messages from Janelle and one from Nate. One day while returning from school, she ran into Edward, causing Stevie to freeze. Edward was there to convince Stevie's parents to let Stevie back to the academy (even though Stevie hates Edward for ideological differences, he is giving her a way back). After a drive, Stevie and Edward flew in his private plane as Edward explained why he was bringing Stevie back. Simply stated, Edward wanted David to stay at the school, as he had a history of jumping from school to school, and believed he would if Stevie was there. After arriving at the academy, Stevie went to Minerva and Janelle, who was ecstatic to see her, and Nate, who was less enthusiastic about it, helped her unpack. They informed her about David's new strange habits, including a screaming meditation at 5 a.m. and sleeping in random places. After a night of rest, they went to brunch together and talked about what Stevie missed, which wasn’t much except for the new enhanced security. Stevie then met with C, who allowed her to work as a research assistant for an author who was writing a book about Truly Devious. Stevie emphatically accepted.
       Leaving the Great House, she went to the library to grab some records of the students of the 1936 class, and she discovered the names of both Francis and Eddie. Looking Eddie up online, she saw that he committed suicide when the Nazis invaded France, but before she continued, someone came up behind her: David - whom Stevie had not talked to since she left. They didn’t address the elephant in the room (Da’s father), and instead David asked whether Stevie would go through Ellie's room. He knew something suspicious was going on with Ellie since she couldn’t survive out in the wilderness. After Stevie looked around the room, she did manage to find a little secret hole, but it only housed a mummified rat. She dumped the rat and then went with Janelle and Nate to a fairly crowded yurt (a round tent). David came in later, telling everyone he was on house arrest for unleashing forty squirrels in the library (that’s an impressive feat). Janelle soon left and David and Stevie followed her shortly after, finally getting to the question of David's paternity, which he explained as not wanting Stevie or others to hate him. They also talked about Ellie, and David fully believed she couldn’t have dragged the dry ice to tamper with Hayes's work. 
       (Briefly to Francis) After an encounter with Albert in which he laughed at her infatuation with explosives, Francis came up with the idea of the Truly Devious as a joke to get back at him. But on the morning after the night she eavesdropped on Albert, her house leader made her leave her room before she could gather anything.
       (Back to Stevie) A few days later, Stevie made a trip to Burlington to meet Dr. Fenton, the woman whom Stevie was assisting. Fenton assigned Stevie to fact-check some details that Stevie would be able to do from the attic. For whatever reason, Stevie had an off feeling about Fenton, enough to not share the tin with her. Returning to the academy, Stevie successfully got Larry to show her the basement of the Great House, which consisted of the maze that Ellie escaped through. After some classes the following day, during which David continued to pester her about her progress with Ellie, Stevie went to the attic and began checking the around 300 details that Fenton wanted to be checked. That Saturday, Stevie showed Fenton her work, and she was impressed. Fenton then showed her one of her recent findings after interviewing a member of Minerva in 1936.        Said member indicated that there was a call made around 10 Dr. Pix.m., a call that was not on the official phone records. This member also mentioned a secret tunnel with an entrance within Minerva (the one Francis found), and Fenton told Stevie to find it. On the way out of Fenton's house, Hunter, her nephew, asked for Stevie's number and she gave it to him. That night, Stevie prepared a detective’s outfit for a Halloween party that was taking place, and she also did a brief search for the tunnel but didn’t find anything. She went to the party with Nate, whom Janelle had given a Gandalf costume, Janelle, who created herself a Wonder Woman costume, and David, who dressed up as Sherlock Holmes (clearly with Stevie in mind).
       Arriving, she discussed the tunnel with David but he denied its existence. Stevie couldn’t put it from her mind, however, and it paid off, as she had an epiphany and ran back toward Minerva. With David following close by, she explained that they should have checked underneath the stairs and after some close searching, they found a secret door and managed to pry it open. Nate had come back as well and tried to dissuade them from entering the hole that led to the tunnel, but David already entered it and Stevie didn’t want to leave him alone. The tunnel was incredibly narrow so Stevie stayed behind David. David chose this lovely moment to tell Stevie about his past and how Edward had divorced David's mother so that he could continue his political career. Shortly after, they reached the end, and since the exit seemed to be closed, turned around. That was when Stevie discovered another part of the tunnel, and inside of it, was Ellie's body. 
       (Briefly to an interview between the FBI agent that worked closely with Albert and the Minerva house leader during 1936) After the FBI interrogated the house leader, he confirmed his suspicions that this house leader had a sexual affair with Albert, and learned that it went on for multiple years.
       (Back to the more interesting revelation) Stevie and David immediately went back up the ladder to Minerva and told Nate what happened. Then, David told the both of them to go into their rooms and let him take the fall for going into the tunnel and finding her. So that’s what happened. Later, it would be discovered that Ellie died after finding the tunnel within the basement and getting stuck there (now the dead will take responsibility for the dead). Everyone in the household was led to the yurt to sleep, but Stevie stopped to talk to Larry, where she admitted to going into the tunnel as well and to her deal with Edward. He gave her some guidance on how to deal with the police, made her promise again (not seeming to be very effective) to not break the rules, and then led her to David. There, Stevie simply sat next to him as he sobbed about the loss of his friend, who happened to be the only person that David told about his father before Stevie. After the outpouring of emotion, they began walking together to the yurt when David figured out/S confessed to what Edward did for her and their deal. Stevie ran, leaving David alone, and ended up sleeping in the yoga room. 
       The following morning, she awoke late and joined her house for breakfast. David arrived and avoided any conversation with Stevie. After breakfast, Stevie confided in Nate about David's true identity and the tin, which confirmed that those that kidnapped Alice and the author of Truly Devious were different people. Larry then came in to inform Stevie of Fenton's unexpected arrival. This left Stevie alone to talk with Hunter, which led to Stevie discovering that Fenton believed that whoever solved Alice's crime would inherit the academy. Over the next several days, things began to return to normal until Larry approached her one day and told her he was leaving, as he was to bear the blame for the accidents occurring under his watch (unfortunate but makes sense). He gave Stevie his number in case she ever needed something. 
       (Briefly to Albert, on the day that he died) Robert, one of Albert's main men, came to tell him that offering $10 million to anyone who found Alice's or her remains was a mistake, but Albert was determined (there’s the question to the person who solved the crime). He then wrote down his last riddle, ensured everything was in place (for what, we’ll find out), and then told Robert that he and George Marsh, the FBI agent, were going to the yacht.
       (Back to Stevie) After learning of Larry's departure, Stevie went down to Burlington and Hunter showed her some of Fenton's notes while she was away. The notes explained to Stevie how Fenton knew about the tunnel (think back to the affair, this was how Albert and the house leader would meet) and Albert's last words to Robert, which regarded a mysterious wire. With nothing else to see, Hunter and Stevie walked through the city, and Stevie talked about how she felt that something more took place with Hayes and Ellie. They came across David getting assailed by a group of skateboarders. Stevie quickly ran over to him as Hunter returned home. David explained that he wasn’t going back to the academy and that he paid the group to punch it and then uploaded the video to Hayes's YouTube channel. Knowing she couldn’t follow him down this dark path (you can’t save everyone), she returned to Minerva, told Janelle and Nate everything that happened, and then she went to tell Dr. Pix about David. The following morning, Edward told her that she hadn’t kept up her part of the bargain, and Stevie just kind of agreed until he hung up. 
       She made an effort not to worry about David and instead went to the attic, and that’s when it hit her. The wire that Hunter mentioned was a recording wire, and two hours later, she found both the recording wire and a device to play it. She quickly got Janelle to fix it and soon enough, Stevie, Janelle, Nate, and Vi (J’s girlfriend) huddled around the device as they heard a recording of Albert interviewing Dottie. After some point, Stevie ran to the library to look for something that Dottie had written in her Sherlock Holmes book, and with some incredible insight, knew who the kidnapper was. 
       (Back to Albert, the day of his death) On the yacht, Albert talked to George about books, which turned into talking about Sherlock Holmes, which turned into talking about Dottie and the single line that she underlined. Then, Albert had George grab something which exposed an explosive. That was when Albert told him to tell him how he did it or he would blow them both up (very ambiguous, I know).
       (Back to Stevie) After solving the case, Stevie tried to get in touch with Fenton, but neither she nor Hunter were answering her. Unsure what to do, she called Larry and told him she solved the case and that she was worried about Fenton, which for now was the more pressing issue. 
       (Back to Albert and this time with some answers) Knowing that he had no choice at this point, George began talking. After getting into a gambling hole, he planned the kidnapping of Albert's wife and hired two guys to do it. Things didn’t go anywhere near according to plan, however. First, Dottie appeared in the dome and George didn’t want to hurt her, but before he could make a choice, she threw herself into the entrance, cracking her skull in the process. Already bleeding out, George just hit her once with a pipe and put an end to it. Then he put Dottie's body in his trunk and went to return Albert's wife and daughter to him, but the people he hired had turned on him. Shortly after, Albert's wife’s body would turn up. That left the question of Alice, which George claimed to have found, but at this point realized that if he returned to shore, he would likely end up in prison, so he refused to share and instead began threatening Albert with all of the dirt he had on him. True to his word, Albert made good on his threat, never knowing the fate of his daughter.  
       (Back to Stevie) Stevie then went to Nate and talked a little about his interests in books. Then, a call came from Larry, who informed Stevie that Fenton's house was on fire and she was deceased, and Stevie's world began to darken around her. (And that’s all for book 2! Still a lot to unpack!)