“Should we take this notebook with us as evidence?” Kylie asked. “Or do you think it’d make the Game Master more likely to strike back whenever they discovered it was missing?”

“It’s hard to say,” Frankie said. “But I could easily imagine the Game Master being unhappy after discovering that it was gone.”

“I’ve got all the pages on film,” Danny reminded them. “We can look back whenever we want. Let’s put it back, just in case taking it would push the Game Master to mess with us again.”

“No more games,” Becca groaned. “I am so tired that my bones hurt. I’m going to sleep like a rock tonight, I can tell already.”

“I need a shower,” Kylie said, looking down at her soiled clothes. “My mom is not going to be happy about the mud on my shoes.”

Matt looked down at his own shoes, relieved that he’d put on an older pair of sneakers this morning instead of the ones his mom had bought him just last month.

“Ugh, same.” Miguel bent down to pick up the hamster cage, leaving the one Nacho had been in behind. “It’s going to be dinnertime soon. Let’s get out of here, team.”

“Yes!” everyone said together, making their way toward the exit.

Matt waited for Becca as she went to return the notebook to the hiding place where they originally found it, but his smile turned to a frown when he realized that she’d frozen in place in front of the window, as if she’d caught sight of something horrifying.

Becca

“Becca?” Matt said from where he stood near the exit. “What is it?” The others stopped what they were doing to look and see why he sounded so serious, the rope ladder still rolled up in Frankie’s hands, ready to be dropped down the open exit on the floor.

Becca didn’t move from her spot, her eyes unblinking at the sight of something mounted to one of the tree branches right outside the corner of the window, something that they’d all missed before.

“I found another telescope,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “And I think it’s pointed in the direction of our houses. At the very least, it’s definitely facing our neighborhood.”

“What?” Miguel carefully set the hamster cage down to come see what she meant, the others following him.

Becca leaned out the window of the treehouse to look through the telescope, scared at what she might see. Her mouth dropped open when she realized that she was looking into the window of her own treehouse. “Oh my gosh,” she said under her breath. “It’s the clubhouse. I’m guessing this is how the Game Master knew how to draw it.”