“Well, she was the one who urged me to memorize the letter,” Lynell says. Is it possible? Could her mom have known there was a code in the letter? “I thought he would only leave the code to me, though. Would he want anyone else to know it was there?”

“He probably didn’t tell her what it was,” Zach says. “But he would need to make sure you’d look for it someday. Otherwise, you might never look at the letter as anything more than a letter.”

Daniel sets the paper down and meets Zach’s gaze. “Scrabble would be a perfect game for something like this. Think about it—every letter is associated with a number. That could be the key to decoding this.”

“But no one else would consider using that if they didn’t know it held personal significance to Eli,” Zach says. They’re leaning closer to each other now, excitement filling their voices.

“Wait, why wouldn’t my mom try and figure out the code herself?” Lynell asks.

Zach shrugs. “Maybe she did. But I doubt she knew what she was looking for.”

“Or maybe she knew it was just for you. Maybe she wanted to leave your dad’s secret message to you.”

“Feels like they were both leaving a lot up to chance here,” Lynell says, frowning at the letter sitting in the middle of the table.

“Maybe he was okay with the code dying with him,” Daniel says. “If your dad was questioning the Registration at all, or even if he was just worried the code would be used and make everything worse, he may not have cared if you ever found it.”

“There’s no way Eli would let the code die with him,” Zach says. “He was the Elysian heir. Even if he was starting to question the Registration, he wouldn’t just turn his back on it.”

“You said yourself that using the code to end the Registration would cause chaos,” Lynell argues. “Maybe he thought there would be a safer way to end it. People would riot and kill whoever they want in the confusion of the Registration being compromised. If the code either causes a free-for-all killing spree or gives the holder power to alter the Registration, it makes sense to try and get rid of it completely.”

“Except he didn’t. He left it for you,” Zach says.

“So, either Lynell learns there’s a hidden code in the letter and figures it out, in which case she has to decide what to do with it,” Daniel says, holding up one finger. He lifts a second and adds, “Or she never discovers the code and it dies with him. Maybe he was okay with either of those options.”

“If so, then he didn’t really decide anything,” Zach says. “He just left everything up to chance.”

Lynell groans. “And put the responsibility on my shoulders.”

“You’re not alone,” Daniel reminds her.

Lynell smiles at him. “I know.”

“We’re going to need the game to see if this Scrabble idea pans out,” Zach says. “Unless one of you has the worth of each letter memorized.”