Jake grabbed Cassie's hands, which were clinging to the edge of the stair. "Maybe a little less enthusiasm next time?"

She clambered up. "Y-yeah."

We descended the stairs. Surprisingly, Marco did not comment. Until we reached the bottom. While the three of us looked around for a curtain, Marco turned to inspect the stairs and nodded. "Yup. As I suspected."

"Do I want to know?" Jake asked.

"No. You don't. But you're going to. Cassie, come over here." Reluctantly, she came. "Good. Now, stand next to the staircase, right? Okay, and stretch your arms up."

"Nope, this is not going to be pleasant."

"You're right. Now are you going to stretch them up, or will I have to hoist them?"

At that, they shot up so fast that I'm amazed (and mildly disappointed) that Marco wasn't hit by them.

>Why would that be a disappointment?>

Ax…not now.

>Not what now?>

Not going to explain now.

"Okay everyone. Note-exhibit A. Cassie, how far would you estimate your fingertips are below the stair?"

"Uh…six inches?"

"Good guess! Jake, when you so gallantly dashed in there to save Cassie, you stopped her from a traumatic six-inch fall. This has been a public service announcement courtesy of Marco-"

"Is that the curtain?" Jake interjected.

"I don't know, is it?"

"Yeah, I think so." He indicated a shower curtain with a gaudy floral pattern.

"Ook…somebody needs a sense of fashion," I commented. "I'll just divert my eyes until you guys find the next clue."

"Right here," said Cassie.

You are far from the marbles, but will get hot
If you go somewhere that is not
And walk three steps to the right.
That will make your future bright.

"Someplace that is not…what?" I asked.

"Hot."

"Well, that includes any building that Marco's in. Not much help there."

Jake insisted on taking it somewhat more seriously. "Or, considering that we are in the middle of a blizzard, the entire place is bound to be relatively cold anyhow."

"But Jordan wouldn't be thinking that way, I don't think," Cassie said. "What would she consider not hot?"

"Cold…ice…water…" I automatically replied.

"Ice, that's right, the freezer," said Jake. "So is the next clue in there?"

"Three steps to the right," Cassie reminded him.

"Let's go! And…Cassie?"

"Yeah?"

"Watch your step."

She nodded. "Thanks."

We made it into the kitchen. "You guys getting hungry?" asked Jake's dad.

"Getting?" Marco's jaw dropped.

Cassie looked at the clock. "It's almost noon already!"

"I'm heating up the leftover pizza, but there won't be enough for everyone to have a full meal, so check the cupboard to see what else I can get you," Jake's dad invited. Marco took him up immediately on that offer.

Jake, however, was focused on the hunt. He walked over to the freezer. "Three steps to the right…"

For the second time in half an hour, relative size came into play. Jordan's 4 feet 7. Jake's 5 feet 4. Yeah, there's gonna be a bit of a difference there.

He took three steps, the third of which was onto his dad's foot. The cookie sheet the pizza was on went flying, and Jake's dad, startled, stepped back. Jake's momentum carried him into the oven. I pulled him out as Marco caught the pan on the fly. Unfortunately, he caught it upside-down, leaving the pizza on the floor.

The oven had presumably been on pre-heat, but Jake felt fine and waved off complaints. Cassie might have made a fuss if she hadn't found the clue.

You're almost done
I hope you had fun
But now you have to go
To where you begun.

"Tsk tsk," Marco rolled his eyes. "It's bad form to change your rhyme…uh…scheme? Is that the word? in the middle of a scavenger hunt."

"I don't think it's the middle, I think it's the end," Jake retorted. "Are the marbles under Tom's bed?"

We clambered up the stairs and poked-okay, Jake and Marco poked, Cassie and I kept a safe distance-underneath, but weren't successful.

"They should be here," I argued, "this is where we began."

"Begun," Marco tried to correct me.

"Began."

"She wrote begun."

"She's wrong."

"If you guys would shut up, Cassie has something to say," Jake chastised us.

"Yes sir," Marco saluted.

Jake took a deep breath while Cassie talked. "We didn't start up here. We started down in the living room."

"But we were in there the whole time," I reminded her. "She couldn't have hidden them."

"We were distracted," Jake remembered, "with Tom and Sara. She might have been able to."

"Worth a shot," Marco vacated the room and headed for the stairs.