Ally Carter - Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery

Copyright 2021 by Ally Carter

All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Cover illustration 2021 by Vivienne To
Cover design by Kaitlin Yang

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-358-00440-0

eISBN 978-0-358-53179-1
v2.0221

For Rose, Rachel, Carrie, and Sarah.
I couldnt have done it without you.

Everybody knew about the Sentinel.

That he wasnt real. That he didnt exist. That the masked man with the swords and the hat was nothing more than a ghost story made of shadow and mystery, legend and mytha tale told to make children behave and villains beware.

Nobody knew the truth.

April had never been a normal girl. It wasnt like that made her special. At all. Seriously. There wasnt anything special about not having parents or a last name or a birthdayeven a really anticlimactic birthday like Christmas or the Fourth of July. No. April wasnt special, you see. She was simply not normal.

After all, you cant possibly be normal when you dont have any money, but you also live in a mansion. When you dont have a family, but youre part of the Winterbornes. And, most of all, its totally, absolutely, completely impossible to be normal when your roommate is Sadie Marie Simmons, inventor extraordinaire.

Are you ready? Sadie asked in a way that April had come to dread. Because Sadie had the Sadie gleam in her eyes and her hands were practically vibrating with glee and anticipation.

So Aprils hands started vibrating too. Just for completely opposite reasons. Her voice even cracked a little when she said, Maybe we should wait on... someone.

But there was no one to wait on, and that was something even April didnt dare to mention.

Gabriels going to love this, Sadie told her. Youll see. Its going to be such a big help until Smithers comes back. Or Ms. Nelson.

She looked sheepish at that last part, and April couldnt blame her. After all, Smithers had been gone for four weeks. First, to the International Association of Butlers convention, where hed won the annualand hotly contestedButtle-Off (which was a good thing). But the grand prize was a cruise around the world (which was a bad thing). When he called to tell them the news, he swore hed be home as soon as possible.

But Gabriel... Gabriel just swore.

April strongly suspected that had less to do with Smitherss extended absence and more to do with the fact that it had been three months since Isabella Nelson had fallen into the sea. Sure, Izzy had sent a note, telling them she was alive and well. But she hadnt come home. And now shed been gone for twelve weeks. Eighty-four days. Not that April had been counting. (But April had totally been counting.)

Every day, the residents of Winterborne House woke up and hoped shed be there, telling the kids to stop running on the stairs and Gabriel to shave and tuck his shirt in. But it was starting to look like Isabella Nelson might be gone for good.

Which was almost as scary as the look in Sadies eye when she said, Okay! Goggles ready?

April didnt answer. She just grabbed the plastic safety goggles that Smithers bought in bulk and were a standard part of the Sadie Marie Simmons Friendship Package.

No sooner were Aprils goggles in place than Sadie was saying, Now!

Then she pulled a cord. A moment later, Smitherss big, fancy stove sprang to life. Flames sparked underneath a heavy cast iron griddle, and a mixer turned on and started stirring batter in a giant bowl. It all seemed harmless enough until the bowl began to slide down a track.

And slowly.

Began.

To.

Tip.

No! April wanted to cry, but the bowl couldnt have been more stable as it dripped batter onto the hot griddle in perfect little puddles of future pancakes.

Wait for it... Sadie said a few moments later, and April remembered to be scared. Now! Sadie exclaimed just as the piping-hot griddle popped up. The pancakes flipped. And every last one of them landed back on the griddle, perfect as you please.

It worked, April said, equal parts stunned and relieved.

Of course it worked. Sadie wasnt mad, and she wasnt defensive. It was just a data point in a long line of data pointsevery one of which said that the newest SadieMatic was ready for business.

Aprils heart rate was just starting to return to normal when Sadie grabbed a knife and said, Now its time to try bacon!

But before April could even start to panic, someone said, Ill do that, Sade! and Tim swept into the kitchen. He snatched the sharp knife out of Sadies hand before she could attach it to the SadieMatic Twenty, because it was the unwritten rule of Winterborne House that SadieMatics and knives should never, ever mix.

A moment later Tim had the bacon open and a second pan was sizzling on the stove and the whole room smelled like the best thing ever: breakfast. Seriously, April thought. I ought to make a perfume that smells like breakfast. Shed be richer than Gabriel if she did.

But that just made April think about Gabriel. Which made her glance at the clock: ten a.m.

Mornings were coming later and nights were lasting longer, and April had to wonder if it was the time of year or something else that was keeping Winterborne House more and more in the dark.

Is he up? April asked, but Tim just looked at her.

I thought he was down here.

I havent seen him, she said, and they both glanced at Sadie, who beamed.

Ill get him! Then she ran to a small panel on the wall that had about a million buttons. They were old and brass, and had no doubt hung there, unused, for decades, but Sadie had recently made it her lifes mission to resurrect the old intercom, and when she pushed the button, there wasnt even a hint of static as she said, Gabriel! Kitchen to Gabriels room. Gabriel, are you there?

Hes not gonna answer if hes in a mood, Sade, Tim told her.

But that just made Sadie hold the button down a little more forcefully and yell a little louder, Gabriel! Gabriel! Gabriel! Gab Then Sadie stopped abruptly and looked at Tim and April. What if hes not ignoring me? What if hes gone?

Tim glanced at April, then back at Sadie. What do you mean, gone?

What if hes not in his room because hes... you know... out there. Sadie jerked her head toward the windows. What if hes... She dropped her voice. Sentineling? What if he Sentineled? she tried, but that didnt sound right either, so eventually she just snapped, What if he did it?

I dont think so, Sade, Tim said.

Why not? Sadie said. I mean... yeah. Sure. I always thought the Sentinel was an urban legend too, but now we know its real! Think about it. The Sentinel has always been real! And its always been a Winterborne. And Gabriel is the only Winterborne left, Sadie said, as if two plus two always equaled masked vigilante. Plus, Gabriel was already kinda superhero-y with his swords and stuff. Its his family legacy! Why couldnt he have slipped away last night and Sentineled?

It seemed a perfectly logical question to Sadie, but April couldnt help but think about the answers. Because he doesnt care about his family legacy? Because hes still not up to full strength after almost dying a few times, thanks to me? Because his body cant possibly be wellnot while his heart is so totally broken?