“These are riddles,” Kylie said. “Does anyone know the answers off the top of their head?”

“No,” Matt confessed immediately. “Not even a little bit. I’ve always been horrible at riddles.”

“Is that first one really a riddle, though?” Miguel asked, staring at the first card. “I mean, it looks more like a trivia question to me. The largest ant in the world is a Dinoponera.”

“It’s definitely meant to be a set of riddles,” Kylie said. “Which would mean that the answer isn’t going to be what it seems.”

“Hmm,” Miguel said. “I think you’re right. I’m not sure what we would do with ‘Dinoponera’ anyway.”

“Exactly,” Kylie answered. “It has to be a play on words somehow.”

The others started throwing around suggestions, but suddenly Matt became overwhelmed by the task. He was so tired from the day, and the idea of trying to squeeze any effort from his brain to try to solve the riddles seemed impossible. Letting the others get into it, he quietly stepped back, walking slowly around the attic again to try to burn off the antsy feeling of wanting to be done with the game.

“I’m just thinking on my own,” he told Becca after he noticed her watching him walk around. “I swear.”

“Sure,” she said, the side of her mouth turning up just the slightest bit, but still she directed her attention back to the rest of the group, apparently understanding that he needed a break.

Thanks, Becks.

Sometimes he still couldn’t believe that Becca had become his best friend. He had to admit that at least something good had come from the Game Master’s shenanigans.

“Ant . . . think of words that have ‘ant’ in them,” Kylie speculated. “Throw out anything you can think of.”

“Chant,” Danny said.

“Pants,” Frankie suggested.

“Elegant,” Miguel threw out. “Although ‘chant’ and ‘elegant’ don’t mean anything that could be deciphered as ‘big,’ and ‘pants’ doesn’t seem right, either.” He thought for another second, and then his jaw dropped. “Holy cats, I think I have it—I think I solved the riddle!”

Matt approached a small window in the corner of the attic as the others buzzed with excitement. Set up in front of the window was an antique telescope, pointed in what appeared to be a very deliberate direction. He noticed that the window in front of it had been wiped clean—cleaner than any other window in the entire house had been. Was it a coincidence, or had the Game Master done it recently?

“What is it?” Becca asked. “What is the biggest ant in the world?”

“An elephant!” Miguel cried out victoriously. “The riddle is a nod to Elephant’s name! Maybe we’re really about to find him and Nacho, for real this time!”