Kacper, Gabrysia and Maks launch a secret Hat Club at school, but their first challenge in the cloakroom uncovers a strange tin, a cryptic note, and something moving in the shadows.
On Monday morning, when most of 5B was still half-asleep over cereal, Kacper was already standing in front of his bedroom mirror, trying on hats like a magician choosing tricks.
There was one with an enormous brim, one with feathers that tickled his ears, one that sat so crooked it looked offended, one glittering with silver sparkles, and one from his grandfather that was slightly too big and smelled faintly of old cupboards and naphthalene.
Today was important. Today he would finally open the Hat Club.
He had invented it himself, because school needed something better than maths, spelling, and arguing over who had last used the good glue. The Hat Club would be different. Members wore ridiculous hats. Members accepted dares. Members gave dares. It was, in Kacper’s opinion, a brilliant plan.
At the first bell, he hurried into the school cloakroom, where coats hung in sleepy rows and the floor always seemed to collect lost gloves like it was hiding them on purpose.
Gabrysia was already there, adjusting a pom-pom hat so fluffy it made her look as if she had been attacked by a cloud.
Maks arrived a second later, clutching something long and lumpy under his arm, wrapped in a scarf.
“A secret club meets in a secret place,” he whispered, in the voice of a detective who had watched far too many films.
Gabrysia snorted. “This is a cloakroom, not a spy cave.”
“Give it a minute,” said Kacper, grinning. “It might improve.”
He bent down and pulled an old cardboard box from under the bench. Inside were the club hats, neatly stacked on top of one another, along with a sheet of paper covered in his best block letters:
Challenge 1: Find something unusual in the school cloakroom.
Gabrysia folded her arms and looked around. “So far I’ve found three left gloves, one right shoe, and a scarf that looks like it lost a fight.”
“Be serious,” said Maks, though he was clearly trying not to laugh.
Then he stopped.
One of the teachers’ lockers stood slightly open.
Not wide open. Just enough to notice.
Maks nudged it with one finger. The door swung back with a tiny squeak, revealing a metal tin covered in flamingo stickers and the word SNACKZ in big shiny letters.
“That does not belong here,” he murmured.
Kacper leaned closer. “Unless teachers are secretly much more interesting than they seem.”
He lifted the lid.
No crisps.
Inside were a handful of feathers, a crumpled scrap of paper, and a strange drawing in thick black ink. It looked like part of a map, or maybe a very bad treasure clue. Across the top, in uneven handwriting, were the words:
For hooded only!
Gabrysia blinked. “That is not a sentence.”
“It feels like one of those warnings,” Maks said, lowering his voice. “The sort that means you should probably not touch anything else.”
Kacper had already touched it. Worse, he had already unfolded the paper.
Something fluttered in the far corner of the cloakroom.
Gabrysia gave a little squeak and stepped back. Maks ducked behind the bench so fast he nearly knocked over the box of hats. The feathers in the tin trembled.
Then the thing on the bench moved.
Slowly.
Closer to the hats.
And when Kacper reached for the glittery one, a shadow slid across his hand.