At least that meant that maybe the Game Master hadn’t actually snuck into the clubhouse at some point. The idea of the Game Master in her own yard was scary. Becca backed away from the telescope, careful not to move it from the direction it was pointing so that Kylie could take a look for herself.

“No way,” Kylie said as she peered through. “That is seriously freaky. It’s like the Game Master has thought of everything.”

Becca looked at Matt in shock. All this time, when they’d been meeting up to discuss the Game Master or whatever else, they were being watched from all the way over here, deep in the forest behind Gurley Street.

“Okay,” Frankie said, a little pale. They looked at the telescope with distaste. “I don’t care how good these gummies are, we need to get out of here, and now. I’m officially creeped out all over again.”

Becca took one last long look through the telescope pointed to her backyard as everybody else made their way down the rope ladder, Miguel having to go especially slow with the hamster cage gripped firmly under one arm. Becca imagined that she was seeing the clubhouse through the eyes of the Game Master, watching the group’s every move, plotting and planning and gathering details to use against them. She made a note to cover the big window that the telescope could so easily see through as soon as she got home.

After making sure the notebook was wedged properly back into its hiding place, she made her way down the rope ladder, going as quickly as she could manage without slipping off. The group waited for her at the bottom, with Matt on his scooter that he had retrieved from its spot near the mailbox. When she finally hopped down to the ground, she turned toward the old creepy house for one last look before she left and never came back.

The open window of the attic seemed to mock her, a stark reminder of what they’d all been through. She thought of the stale air inside the house, the giant red stains on the floor, the horrifying corner in the basement that was crawling and squirming with an endless amount of bugs and spiders. She wondered how long it would take for all the water on the floor of the mudroom to evaporate, and if the red writing on the mirror would eventually melt away.

Most of all, she wondered if the mad lib story about the ghosts living inside had been true.

Suddenly, something moved across the porch, catching her eye. Becca gasped and pointed, causing the team to turn and look. There, standing in the front window of the house, was a dark figure that cast a shadow over the porch. It moved again—there was someone standing in the house watching them!