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“It doesn’t matter,” said Bethany, not stopping. “We’re quitting the game.”

Winston was astonished. “You’re what? Why? Because we got in trouble for stealing the key?”

Bethany shook her head. “Because of what that cheater had. Your teacher said my name was in his assignment pad.” She stopped now and faced him. “Is that true?”

“Mr. Garvey told you that?” Winston asked. Well, duh—of course he had.

“Is it true?” Bethany said again.

Winston could only nod agreement. “Yeah, it’s true. My name was in there, too.”

“It was?” Bethany looked surprised. “Your teacher didn’t say that.”

Giselle was looking at Jake’s face. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll live.”

“Did the cheater hit you?”

Jake tried a smile. “Not as hard as the sidewalk did.”

“Wait a minute,” Bethany said. She pointed at Winston. “Your name was in that book, but you guys aren’t quitting?” She looked at all of them, her eyes shining with accusation.

“Uh, no,” said Mal. “I don’t think we are.”

“But that’s not fair!” Giselle said, spinning around to face Miss Norris. “We shouldn’t quit, either!”

Miss Norris once again hadn’t realized that her girls had gotten away from her—in this case, they had stopped while Miss Norris marched onward to her car. Now she came back, looking frustrated. Her red hair was frizzier than ever—it looked like she had recently received a moderate electric shock.

“Girls, I’m done talking about this. Stay with me. Don’t you understand what’s happening? I’m taking you home right now.”

“We’re quitting for no good reason,” said Bethany.

“There’s some strange man out there who means us harm,” said Miss Norris, as firmly as Winston had ever heard her speak. “I wouldn’t call that no reason.”

Bethany groused, “I don’t understand how my name could be in his stupid book. I wasn’t even supposed to be here today. I was supposed to go to a wedding. But we couldn’t go because my father got sick. So I came to this instead. Now my whole team has to quit because I’m here.”

“Wait a minute,” Winston said. “When did your plans change?”

“Yesterday. After dinner.”

“So you didn’t know you were going to be here until last night?” Bethany nodded. “Pretty much.”

Miss Norris began leading her girls away again. Winston was processing a whole new line of thought. He wished he could stop time for a little while—just hit the pause button and sit here on the ground, thinking about what Bethany had told him. She wasn’t supposed to be here, yet her name was in the cheater’s memo pad. What did that mean?

He had to ask some questions before the girls were taken away forever. He chased after them. “Miss Norris,” he called. “Were you the one to break the code? The invitation to the puzzle contest?”

Miss Norris looked at him. “Our vice principal did it, mainly. I was there. We didn’t know what it was. A bunch of teachers helped out in the staff room.”

“Did you call the phone number?”

“No, the vice principal did.”

“But you heard him do it,” Winston persisted.

Miss Norris took a deep, annoyed breath, unsure where this was going or why she was allowing herself to be interrogated by a twelve-year-old. But she said, “Yes, I heard him make the phone call.”

“At that point, you didn’t know who was going to be on the puzzle-solving team, right? The vice principal didn’t give any names out.”

“No. He just said the name of our school into the answering machine. We didn’t figure out who was going to be on the team until later. May I ask why you’re asking?”

Winston said, “I’m trying to figure out how the cheater knew who would be here today. Bethany says that she didn’t know she was going to be here until last night. But the cheater had her name. It doesn’t make sense.”

Miss Norris nodded, as if agreeing. But she said, “It also doesn’t matter. This has gotten a little too dangerous, and I have a responsibility to these girls.”

“We’re not afraid,” said Bethany. “Are we, Elvie?”

“I’m a little afraid,” Elvie said in a quiet, serious voice. “It’s creepy that there’s this guy out there doing all these things, and it’s terrible