“I don’t know, Frankie,” Danny said, getting a close-up of the cake. “I tried a dirt cake once at a birthday party, and it was pretty delicious.”

Becca had to admit that a cold chocolate treat sounded amazing right about now. “I mean, there are worse games to play,” she said, taking the spoons and handing one to each person. “The only way through is through.”

“Wait,” Frankie cried out in panic. “No, please, there has to be another way!”

“We all agreed to do what we could in order to save Elephant and Nacho,” Danny said seriously, turning the camera to Frankie. “I had to catch a spider in a jar. All you’ve got to do is eat a yummy dessert!”

“The Game Master wouldn’t want to poison us,” Becca joined in. “He enjoys toying with us too much. We just have to eat our way to find whatever is hidden in the cake. You can do it.”

Frankie stared back and forth between the spoon and the cake before reluctantly taking the spoon. “Fine,” they said. “For Elephant and Nacho.”

“That’s the spirit!” Danny said, and they all grabbed their spoons and dug in.

Becca hated to admit how delicious the first bite was. The concoction was layered with pudding, gummy worms, and chocolate cake. There was something a little crunchy, too, maybe some sort of crushed cookie. Either way, she could get used to this game.

After about five minutes, the cake stopped being fun and became a real challenge. Becca was getting full, and she could tell from the looks on her friends’ faces that they were feeling about the same way. “I’m not sure how much longer I can do this,” Danny said, sounding defeated. “That is a lot of cake.”

“Let’s keep pushing it just a little farther,” Becca insisted, scared about what might happen if they got too full or even got sick before they found whatever was waiting for them somewhere in the mush of chocolate and gummies. “It can’t be much longer now.”

Suddenly, Frankie made a weird noise, reaching into their mouth with their fingers and turning away so Becca and Danny couldn’t see them. After spitting something out into their hand, Frankie ran over to the sink to try to rinse it off, but the water wasn’t turned on.

“Here,” Becca said, rushing forward with one of the water bottles from her backpack. They poured the water over the item in Frankie’s hand, washing the remnants of chocolate cookie away until it was clean.

It was a key.

“You did it!” Danny said, zooming in on Frankie’s bewildered face. “And you did it without swallowing the key.”

“Seriously,” Frankie said, breaking out into giggles. “Can you imagine if I had?”

Filled with the excitement of beating yet another game, the group tried the key on the back door by the trash can, but it didn’t work.