“Oh good, you’re both here,” said Sierra, dropping onto the other queen bed. “We have news.”
Carter crossed her arms. “Is it that Adi didn’t cheat after all and we’re back on the show?”
“Um . . . no.”
Carter huffed.
Sierra glanced at Adi, who was standing near the door as though he wanted to leave his escape route open.
“You owe them an apology,” Sierra said.
Adi inhaled deeply. “I’m sorry. I really am. I screwed this up for us, and I hate it.”
Carter narrowed her eyes. Hesoundedgenuine.
“Good enough,” said Sierra. “Now listen to this.”
She explained how the person who had given Jarius the recording was probably the Real Game Master. The whole time she talked, Adi remained silent, leaning against the wall while his attention darted back and forth from the TV. Like watching old episodes ofThe Escape Gamewas somehow more interesting than tracking down evidence of Ranielle’s crimes.
A silence fell over the group while Carter and Beck digested Sierra’s information, until Adi straightened and said, “What season is this?”
Carter glanced at him. “What?”
Striding across the room, Adi grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume. “What season is this from?”
“Um.” Carter eyed the contestants on the show, who were scrambling to wrap a strip of mummy bandage around a tall staff covered with painted hieroglyphs. “Season two.”
“What episode?”
“Huh?”
“Whatepisode?”
She let out a frustrated noise and threw her hands into the air. “I don’t know! Second, I think? What does it matter?”
“This is it. What we’ve been missing.” He whipped toward her. “Where’s Alicia’s letter?”
“Here.” Beck picked it up from the side table and handed it to him.
“Does anyone have scissors?”
“Scissors?” Sierra barked. “You can’t destroy my sister’s letter!”
“We have to.” Adi was grinning now. “It’s a scytale cipher.”
Carter gasped. “A scytale cipher. Oh my gosh. You could be right. Why didn’t we think of that?”
“Er. Yeah. Scytale cipher. So obvious,” said Beck. Then he looked at Sierra, who shrugged.
“It’s when you wrap strips of paper around a cylinder to reveal the message,” explained Adi.
A light entered Beck’s eyes. “Oh,that. Yeah, okay, that could work.”
“What if you’re wrong?” said Sierra.
“I’m not wrong. But if I am, well . . . take a photo of it first.”
After a pause, Carter said, “I think I have nail scissors in my bag . . . ?” She glanced at Sierra, unsure she should be volunteering this information.
