“Did we do something to set that off ?” asked Adi.
“The time,” said Carter, gesturing at the red clock ticking away above the three mirrors. “It’s been exactly ten minutes since we started the round. Maybe it happens in intervals as a distraction.”
Not finding anything else of note among the junk, Beck moved beside Carter, eyeing his reflection in the center mirror. He chuckled. “Nice giraffe neck.”
“Nice gargantuan chin,” she countered.
“A gargantuan chin?” said Adi. “Like this guy?” He pointed at one of the clowns painted on the outer wheel, who did indeed have a long, droopy chin.
“Yeah, sort of,” said Beck. “And that one over there looks like . . .”
The two of them gasped.
“That’s the clue,” said Adi, spinning the wheel so that the long-necked and big-chinned clowns lined up. “What’s the third one?”
Beck and Carter crowded together in front of the next mirror. “Short legs and a tall, skinny torso,” said Beck.
“Plus a big forehead,” Carter added.
Adi found a corresponding clown image on the innermost wheel. Once the wheels were aligned with the three clowns stacked on top of each other, he fished the tickets out from his pocket and started comparing the letters to those on the wheels.
VEKQQ
CMH
RKMX
RKWWKX
“This is it!” said Adi. “The first word is ‘floss.’”
Beck made a face. “Seriously?”
Sierra immediately crouched beside the mirror and putFLOSSinto the word padlock. “Didn’t open,” she said.
“Next one . . . ARM,” said Adi. “Then . . . CORN. And last one . . .” Seconds passed while he scanned the wheel. “C-O-T. . . COTTON!”
“Floss, arm, corn, and cotton?” said Sierra. “What—”
“‘Candy’!” Carter and Beck shouted at the same time, making Adi jump.
“Oh . . . right,” said Sierra. “Candy corn, arm candy . . . I get it.” She spun the dials on the padlock, spelling outCANDY. The lock popped open. The whole mirror swung out toward her . . . and she was promptly buried beneath an avalanche of rainbow-colored stuffed animals.
“Whoa,” said Beck. “That is childhood fantasies right there.” As soon as Sierra had extricated herself, Beck held up his arms, hollering, “Stuffie pile!” and plunged into the mound of stuffed animals.
“Beck, knock it off,” said Adi as the team started to dig through, searching for the next clue.
Beck pretended to do the backstroke. “Let me have this moment.”
“Do we have to count them?” asked Carter. “Or sort them somehow?”
Beck grabbed a frog and held it up over his head. “Here’s an idea. What if—”
But before he could finish, the lights went out again, plunging them into the same glowing purple. The wheels began to spin. That haunting laughter echoed off the walls.
Beck grimaced, working his tongue in an effort to dispel the thick, medicinal taste from his mouth.
“Adi!” cried Carter. “The graffiti!”
