First, Matt pulled out a small velvet bag that was a beautiful jewel-toned purple, which seemed weirdly out of place in its dark and dreary surroundings. Then he pulled out an envelope with another GM sticker sealing it shut. Becca plucked the letter from Matt’s hand as he opened the purple velvet bag to see what was inside.

“There’s a bunch of little plastic pieces,” he said, pulling one out to inspect it closer. It looked like a little board game tile, like the kind you’d see in Scrabble. On one side of the tile there were tiny paw prints in a line, and on the other, the letter E.

“Those look like hamster prints,” Miguel said when he saw the paw prints on the other side of the tile. Matt reached in for another tile to see if they were all the same, but one had the letter H on one side and strange swirly lines on the other.

“And those look like snake prints!” Miguel cried, grabbing the tile to take a closer look. “One step closer to Elephant and Nacho.”

“What does the letter say, Becca?” Kylie asked. Matt noticed that Becca had removed a piece of paper from the envelope and was reading it silently to herself. She lowered the paper to show that it contained a letter written with glued-on magazine letter clippings.

“Why’d they have to use the magazine letters like that?” Frankie said with a shiver. “That is so creepy.”

“They wanted to hide their handwriting,” Kylie theorized, but then Frankie pointed out that the Game Master could have just printed out a typed letter like all the other times.

“It was meant to unsettle us,” Frankie insisted, biting their lip. “I just know it.”

“Welcome to the house on Gurley Street,” Matt read out loud from the letter in Becca’s hands. “Your first task is to decode the message hidden within these tiles. You might want to hurry, though; I’m not so sure this place would be safe after nightfall. If you want to save the hamster and the snake, you’ll have to work together to beat the game I’ve created just for you. Have fun, and make sure not to wander off alone into any dark corners—you never know what might be waiting for you in the shadows.”

The letter was signed THE GAME MASTER.

“Holy fruits,” Frankie said. They wrapped their arms around themselves. “I knew this would be some spooky stuff, but this is really getting to be next level.”

“How many tiles are in the bag?” Kylie demanded, swiftly snapping into action. “You heard what the Game Master said. I have no intention of being here past dark.”

“Same,” Becca agreed, and Miguel looked nervously at the house.