“I can bring a few pairs of binoculars, just in case,” Frankie added, and Matt couldn’t help but feel proud of them. Not a lot of kids would be brave enough to put aside their fears in order to help a friend. That’s what made their group special, Matt knew. He felt lucky to be a part of it.

“You gonna bring Ralphie, Matt?” Miguel asked. “Maybe he’ll end up helping us out with some more clues.”

Matt thought about it for a minute, looking at the robot that he’d set in the corner of the treehouse, the power switch turned off. “I think I’m going to leave him here, actually,” he said, surprising even himself with his answer. Usually, he took Ralphie with him everywhere. “I don’t want to risk anything else happening to him. I need to make sure he stays safe.”

“That’s totally understandable,” Becca said. “I wouldn’t put it past the Game Master to try to steal Ralphie too, on top of everything else.”

“Exactly,” Matt said. “It’ll be best to have Ralphie sit this one out.”

The rest of the group nodded in understanding.

“Um.” Miguel shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I want to say thank you for agreeing to help me find Elephant and Nacho. I don’t know what I’d do without you all.”

“Hey,” Becca said with a smile. “That’s what friends are for, yeah? We’re all in this together. The Game Master has made sure of that.”

“This darn Game Master,” Kylie said. “I sure can’t wait to find out who they are.”

“Maybe we’ll find out this time,” Matt suggested. “We almost caught them last time, and we were a lot less prepared than we are now.”

“Okay, team,” Becca said, and Matt could tell she was feeling a lot better about everything than she had before. Frankie too. “Let’s get to packing up for the journey. Flashlights, extra batteries, whatever you think might be helpful to us. I’ll make sure to grab some water bottles, too. Gotta stay hydrated!”

The group started going down the ladder of the treehouse one by one. Matt purposefully went last, to get one last moment with Ralphie before he left.

“See you soon, buddy,” he said. “Sorry I have to leave you behind this time.”

He went down the ladder and joined Becca in searching through her garage for any final supplies that might be useful. They packed up a small leather backpack of Becca’s from a school hiking trip they took last year, eventually meeting up with the others in the yard once again. Everybody looked ready to take on the Game Master.

“Alrighty,” Becca said after assessing what everybody else brought in their own packs. “Everyone ready to play the game?”

“Ready,” they echoed, Miguel the loudest of all.