“Wait, then,” Winnie interjected around a mouthful of crumbly date cookie. “That doesn’t seem fair. How are we supposed to play if the rules change on us?”

“The Architect doesn’t aim to play fair. The one time he did, he lost and the whole of Paheli nearly fell apart. Now, he’s learned from it. He and his new friend, that awful MasterMind, are going to be throwing everything they have at you.”

“The Architect?” Ahmad’s heart pounded. That was not a name he had ever made up or casually written down as an inhabitant of Paheli. It should have been unfair, and yet, somehow, when she said it, something tickled at the back of his brain: a marble palace and a cold hand on his shoulder.

Madame Nasirah snorted. “The little spoiled prince of Paheli and the originator of the game. The entire city used to quake under his terrible tantrums. He would conjure up a sandstorm if someone so much as stepped on his foot.”

“He sounds lovely,” Winnie said dryly, pushing a date cookie between Ahmad’s fingers. He bit into it, relishing the contrast of the sandy dough against the sticky filling.

“If he’s friends with the MasterMind, though, I’m not surprised. She seems like a piece of work.”

“Ah, that one, I know less about.” Madame Nasirah shoved a plate of kanafe that she seemed to have conjured out of nowhere toward Ahmad. He resignedly took a slice. The language of aunties was unspoken and brooked no complaint or refusal to obey. Besides, the sweet pastry was piping hot and delicious, tendrils of cheese sliding apart temptingly between his fingers.

“The game announces players’ arrivals, so she wouldn’t have entered that way or I would have known myself. I’m not entirely sure how the game came back to life to begin with. The last player who won—” Madame Nasirah shook her head with a fond chuckle. “She did a good job of tearing it apart to the roots. In any case, all you need to know about both of them is that they are trouble.”

Winnie leaned forward. “So, even if the rules change, there has to be something about the game that helps us figure out what we need to do, right?”

“There are three rounds,” Madame Nasirah said. “Each centers on a particular puzzle that you must solve within a given amount of time. The city will be your playing board. It shifts to accommodate whatever challenge is set before you.”

“Oh, great,” Ahmad sighed. “And here I was hoping it’d be something like a relay race.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Madame Nasirah said, leaning in closer. “In any case, if you can succeed, you will earn a puzzle piece that you need to continue on. You’ll know it when you see it.”