Sorry we left you out at the end there. We know they’re not going to like our story—Francis thinks the aftermath won’t be pretty, so we’ve taken necessary precautions.

We decided to give you all our presents.

Solve the recipe. Save Jewel.

Make us proud.

—The Crayola Hall Coalition
(Especially Stella. It was my idea. Mine.)

Luna raised her chin, squared her shoulders, and spoke with every ounce of confidence she possessed. “Stella bet on the game. And she’s betting on me to end it.”

“Us,” he said, looking up from the tablet. “We have to end it.” While she was searching her codex, Alex had opened The Cruelest Jewel app.

A twitching purple envelope waited to be pressed on the prompt screen.

Please proceed to wherever you think is best.

Your key code: (heavy is the head that wears the crown)

“There they are!” a high-pitched voice shouted from their left.

This time, Luna grabbed Alex’s hand.

SUFFOCATE

“I hate you so much right now.”

Francis.

Was he talking to her?

Stella turned her head toward his voice. She couldn’t see anything through the black bag over her head. The cloth loosely clung to her nose and mouth each time she breathed in—how long would it take to suffocate? As she marched forward, the tip of something cold occasionally pressed between her shoulder blades to keep her moving.

“I’m not wrong,” she whispered. For them. For herself.

“We should’ve gone home.” Harlow.

“I’m not wrong.” She was losing feeling in her hands, tied behind her back.

Were the cameras even still on?

I LOVE YOU / I KNOW

The security guards were fast, but Alex was quicker. He carried her while she navigated, and he ran like the wind.

It had been at least two right turns and a long hallway since she’d seen them, but she knew they were in pursuit. Their angry voices carried through the empty halls.

Her best friend, the genius track star, truly was something.

“There! The red one!”

Alex stopped a few feet before a small, square door on their left and put her down. Kneeling, she quickly found the secret white button hidden under a panel in the floor and entered the key code from Nicole’s iron box.

“My back hurts looking at that,” Alex complained as she crawled through. He followed her in, continuing to complain, this time about his knees. Luna hit the corresponding button to close the door behind them, which also opened the blue door in front of her.

“Is it clear?”

“Yeah. We’re in the upside-down.” Luna laughed. The room beyond had been flipped, with the ceiling as the floor and the floor with all its attachments as the ceiling. “But there’s probably a camera, so let’s stay in here as long as we can. Hopefully, it isn’t pointed at the opening.”