“It’s also the beginning of the game,” Lyle continues darkly. “Here is your first clue.” He hands Tessa a small blood-spattered envelope. “After one hundred and twenty minutes, if you’re not out, we come and get you.” He says the last five words like a warning. Then he walks out the way we just came in, leaving the six of us to start the game.
“This looks so fun, right?” Tessa says, flipping the clue over in her hands.
No, no it absolutely does not.
“Just open it,” Jonathan says flatly, arms crossed over his chest, “before we run out of time.”
“We’ve got a full two hours,” Griffin mutters, rolling his eyes. “Relax.”
Tessa carefully opens the envelope and pulls out a folded piece of paper, along with a tiny, chewed-up pencil. She holds them up, showing us, her shoulders lifting in a helpless shrug.
XQZWVPZ XHZ RKULVF KXE XZVFXZV ZXXFC. JXZQ PVLZFV VZJXZ Q KFLVVZVXQ FZZX XZ VVJ XFVQ LFXV HXQ ZK VX VKQX
“What kind of clue is that?” Marissa whines, slapping her hands against her sides in frustration.
I thought Jonathan said she was awesome at this, that she’d be done in an hour. They all start to bicker, blaming each other for not knowing what to do. Jonathan calls everyone stupid. Tessa almost cries.
“It’s a cryptogram,” I explain, trying to keep my tone friendly.
“A what?” Jonathan snaps, his irritation clear.
Everyone stares at me.
“Itisa cryptogram. Tori’s right,” Hayes chimes in, pulling me in for a quick kiss. My cheeks flush as Jonathan’s expression darkens, his jaw clenching. Marissa’s lips press into a thin, tight line.
Hayes continues, unfazed by the tension. “A cryptogram is a type of puzzle where the letters of a message are substituted with other letters or symbols. We need to figure out which symbols correspond to which letters to decode the message. Is there a key somewhere on the paper?”
Tessa turns the note over, examining it carefully. “No, there’s nothing else on here.”
“Maybe Tori doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Jonathan goads. Marissa laughs.
“This is so fucking stupid. Can’t we skip this and go back?” Griffin gripes.
“The mannequins,” I say quietly. “Look what’s on them.”
Each mannequin hangs stiffly, dressed in faded, mismatched clothes from different eras—an old wedding dress with yellowing lace, a tattered military uniform, a sequined flapper dress with missing beads. And carved into their pallid, rubbery-like skin are letters crudely painted in dripping red ink. A mannequin in a floral dress, her eyes hollow and mouth frozen in a grotesque scream, has a letter “X" with a line through it, and beside it, theletter "T." Another mannequin in a moth-eaten tuxedo, missing one arm, displays a squiggly "Q," paired with the letter "H."
Griffin squints at the mannequins, his brow furrowing. “So, we’re supposed to match the symbols on the note with whatever is on the mannequins?”
“Exactly,” Hayes says. “Once we match them, we can decode the message.”
Marissa snatches the note out of Tessa’s hands. “I’ll do it. Give me the pencil.”
Tessa reluctantly hands the pencil to Marissa. “Aren’t we supposed to be doing it as a team?”
“No,” Marissa barks, her tone dripping with condescension, “because we’re not in middle school. Just be quiet for a minute and I’ll figure it out.”
The room falls into an uncomfortable silence. I shift uneasily.
Hayes slides his hand in the back pocket of my jeans and pulls me closer. He sweeps my hair away from my neck and kisses the sensitive skin just below my ear. Warmth zaps across my skin. It’s strange having Jonathan here to witness this, but it makes me instantly feel better. It feels right, good. I giggle softly when it starts to tickle.
Jonathan’s face turns twenty shades of red, and he looks down at his shoes.
“Okay, I’m done,” Marissa announces, breaking the silence. “That was easy.”
“Five minutes ago you didn’t know it was a cryptogram,” Tessa mutters under her breath.
Marissa pretends not to hear and reads the note. “Through the bodies are thirteen doors. Each person choose a different door to see what fate has in store.”
