“It just begs the question,” Kylie started, pausing for a moment at Danny’s request so he could fire the camera back up and get the conversation on tape. “Who would go through so much effort to set up a game like that?”

“I’m starting to feel less and less sure that it could be someone like Mr. Verdi or Vice Principal Pinter,” Matt admitted, thinking it through for the first time since they’d last talked about it. “Which is to say, I have no idea who to even consider anymore. The whole thing is just way too . . .”

“Weird?” Kylie suggested. “Detailed? Yeah, I’m starting to doubt my previous guess of Mrs. Richards, too. I just can’t picture her taking this much time or effort on a random group of friends. There just isn’t enough motivation there for the theory to hold any water.”

Matt had to agree. He felt like despite having more exposure to the Game Master through the length of the game, he only knew less about the elusive figure. There were too many unanswered questions to even begin to untangle the web of possibilities. As he continued eating his dirt cake, he realized that it was a really good thing that he’d left Ralphie at home; the mud-water incident probably would have fried his circuitry and messed him up even worse.

He couldn’t help but feel a lot of resentment over whatever the Game Master did to Ralphie. Matt promised himself again that he’d figure it out somehow, help repair Ralphie back to his fully functioning state. Watching Miguel with Nacho reminded Matt of just how much he missed his robotic friend.

“This hamster cage is really something else,” Miguel said, looking over it. “It’s way nicer than Elephant’s old cage, to be honest, even if it’s a little smaller. Between that and all the little costumes, the Game Master really pulled no punches when they went through with this.” Nacho was draped around his neck, and Matt at least felt happy that his friend had been reunited with his serpent bestie. He remembered how upset Miguel had been when he first arrived at the clubhouse earlier, after discovering that Nacho was missing. Had that really only been earlier today? It all felt like it’d taken place so long ago.

“I had the same thought,” Becca said. “It all just supports the theory that whoever the Game Master is secretly wants to be our friend.”

Matt didn’t know how to feel about that idea. He stepped away, leaving the group to talk about the Game Master, and went to look out the window where Miguel had spotted the web worms, unable to stop thinking about Ralphie. It wasn’t until he leaned against the edge of the window that he spotted something crammed into the small space between the wall and the window frame—a notebook of some kind.