When Danny pointed his camera light to the corner Frankie was kneeling in front of, there came a frantic scatter of movement over the wall, which caused Frankie to cry out and jump back. Becca fought the urge to scream at the sight of hundreds of skittering bugs, all crawling over each other to try to get away from the bright light of Danny’s camera.

“So we’ve found the bug corner,” Becca said. “See any millipedes?”

“I do.” Danny’s voice shook as he shifted his weight back and forth. “Right there, sticking out from underneath that piece of old cardboard.”

Becca spotted the cardboard and lifted it up, grossed out at the sight of a long, tube-shaped bug with so many moving legs that she couldn’t even begin to try to count them all. “I don’t think we need the microscope to confirm what this one is,” she said, standing back as Frankie rushed forward with the open jar.

“Got it,” Frankie said, standing proudly to showcase the millipede inside the jar. It ran in confused circles around the bottom of the jar before settling to nibble at the piece of rotting wood that had been placed inside.

“Okay.” Becca followed Frankie and Danny back to the table with the jars on it. “One jar down, seven to go. I think we’ll be able to find all the others around that same corner. We just have to know what we’re looking for.”

The second jar specified that the correct bug had six legs, was oval shaped, had antennae, and was approximately one to two inches in size. The first oval-shaped bug they saw lacked antennae and was too small to fit the description, but then Becca spied a group of hungry cockroaches scurrying over an old can of dog food and knew she’d found the right answer.

Catching a cockroach turned out to be filled with much more darting around and squealing than catching a millipede, but eventually Becca got one and was able to move on to the next jar.

Before they knew it, they had filled five more jars: termite, pill bug, cricket, centipede, and earwig. The pill bug and the earwig had required the use of the microscope, which Becca and Frankie took turns with, putting the end of the scope against the bottom of the glass so they could try to count the legs.

“There’s only one more jar to fill,” Becca said, turning to Danny. “The spider jar.”

“And?” Danny asked, zooming in on her expression.

“And I think you should do it,” Becca said. “This game was clearly made for you, so you could conquer your fear. I think maybe it’d be good for you to prove to yourself that you can do it.”

“Yeah,” Frankie added, stepping up beside Becca. “I agree with Becca. Don’t let the Game Master tell you what you are or aren’t afraid of!”