“Maybe. Maybe not.” Nicole smiled at him. She turned back to the computer. “Now, show me how this works, comrade. I’m ready to earn my spy stripes.”

RANSOM

SATURDAY, 2:15 P.M.

Truth be told, Stella was still undecided.

Her bright plan had been to twirl dramatically into the room to boost morale and say, Raise your hand if you believe Jewel isn’t actually missing and this is all a part of the game! She’d then use their responses as a guide on how to move forward.

But she had spotted Luna first, hiding in plain sight. She had curled around Alex as if she were a koala and he was a bamboo tree. Cute. Innocent. Eyes on everyone. Luna took her time moving from person to person, watching them process what had happened. When she finally stood up and walked into the bathroom alone, Stella knew that little Einstein had come up with a plan.

And it was good.

But not great.

“We should just—leave,” Harlow said. They had migrated to her room to keep things fresh and exciting for the cameras. Not that anyone besides Stella knew that. “We have everything we need to escape. We can use the secret passageways to get off the estate. Or—your parents are here, right?”

Stella nodded.

“Can’t you call them? Tell them Jewel’s lost her fucking mind and ask them to come get us?”

Luna said, “Running away would only make us seem like we have something to hide.”

Harlow looked elsewhere in annoyance.

Whatever were they going to do with Harlow? Stella didn’t fault her for checking out so early. If their circumstances were reversed, she couldn’t swear to probably not doing the same. But make no mistake about it, Stella fully planned to win The Cruelest Jewel. And she was going to do it by beating Jewel at her own game. If there was more than one ending, like Jewel had said, Stella wanted to find the one that would cause the biggest upset.

But first, she needed more information.

“Running away. Bickering. Waiting patiently for my love to return from the war. It’s all the same and intensely boring,” Stella said, staring at each of them in turn. “It’s time to work. This godforsaken recipe will not solve itself. Luna?”

“Yeah?”

“Assemble our goodies, here on the floor so we can see everything laid out.” Luna was in motion before Stella even finished her sentence. “Alex?”

“What?”

“Sit next to me. You have a good brain in that big head of yours. I need it.”

“I don’t have a big head,” Alex grumbled while Stella smiled to herself. He also did as instructed.

“Harlow?”

“No.”

“Good. Just checking to make sure you’re present and conscious. Your job is to sit there and look pretty.”

They had collected