“Did you hear that?” Matt demanded, and Danny nodded excitedly, making sure to come close enough to record everything. The others gathered around also, waiting in anticipation for what might come next.

“Listen carefully,” Ralphie the robot repeated, before going off on a ramble of numbers. “N thirty-four, three, thirteen point two eight seven. W one hundred eighteen, fourteen, thirty-three point nine five seven.”

“What in the world?” Matt said, confused, but Kylie sprang into action, shushing everybody as she retrieved a small notepad from her pocket. Ralphie repeated the same numbers over and over, Kylie scribbling them in her book furiously.

“Is that an address?” Frankie asked.

“That’s too long to be an address,” Becca said, peering down at the robot curiously. “But it certainly sounds like something.”

“This definitely isn’t random,” Matt confirmed. “Ralphie’s been saying weird stuff ever since summer, but nothing like this. This is different.”

“Listen,” Ralphie said, then went on to repeat the sequence yet again. Was it possible they’d found their first clue?

“Everybody,” Matt said as Danny moved the camera from the robot to everybody’s faces one by one, “I think this is the doing of the Game Master.”

“The first official clue!” Becca squealed, jumping up in excitement. “Finally! Something we can work with. We’re on our way, Miguel.”

The group cheered, surrounding Kylie to look at the numbers written in the notepad. Ralphie continued to repeat the sequence, his eyes blinking. Matt felt relieved to know that whatever was going on, the group was sure to figure it out before too long. Maybe they’d even be able to get Nacho and Elephant back by the end of the weekend!

Becca

“So it begins,” Becca said, biting her lip as she thought about everything the numbers could possibly mean. Maybe they represented important dates? Or maybe the sequence was in code, something they’d need to find a way to translate into words.

“Something about this is familiar,” Kylie said, staring at the sequence of numbers in her notepad. “I swear I’m this close to cracking it . . .”

“Maybe the rest of us should split up and hang some flyers while we wait,” Becca suggested, the promise of a new clue making her eyes shine. “There’s no harm in putting them up before we get started on whatever this code turns out to be.”

With new hope putting a skip in everyone’s step, the group was able to post the flyers far and wide around the front edge of the neighborhood. Whoever the Game Master was, Becca thought, they had to have friends and family in their life—maybe someone would recognize Elephant and Nacho as someone’s recent additions and turn them in. She smiled at the colorful flyer Danny had designed; the word STOLEN! was emblazoned across the top in bright-yellow letters outlined in black, and the photos he’d chosen to use of Elephant and Nacho were perfectly adorable.