Chapter 9: Secret Message
Nathan looked at where Elli was pointing and saw the title of the Smiling Critters episode written on the VHS tape label in black marker.
"What's the big deal?" Nathan asked. "It's the same title that's on the case: 'Missing Paintbrush / Bubba Keeps a Secret.'"
"You're not looking in the right place!" Elli shoved her finger down on the label. "Look at the word I'm pointing at!"
As Nathan looked, he realized the word Elli was pointing at was underlined by the same yellow crayon from the book. He then took the other two VHS tapes out of the cases and found more underlined words. Lining the tapes on the floor, a message was revealed:
-Episode 3: "Missing Paintbrush / Bubba Keeps a Secret"
-Episode 7: "KickinChicken Gets Trapped in a Haunted House / Lazy DogDay"
-Episode 9: "Riding the Waves / What's Behind the Door?"
"'Secret,' 'trap,' 'door,'" Rez said as he recited the underlined words in order.
"There's a secret trap door somewhere," Nathan concluded.
"But that doesn't explain the letters next to the numbers we found in the book," Elli said. "What do B, A, and B have to do with this message?"
Nathan pondered over it while Rez did the same. Then Rez snapped his finger.
"I got it!" Rez pointed to each of the tapes' titles. "Almost each episode of Smiling Critters has two stories, and that's why there are two titles within the title of the entire episode. So maybe whoever wrote the episode numbers in the book was trying to tell us which story they were referring to. But instead of using numbers like 1 or 2, they used 'A' and 'B' instead."
"But why would they do that?" Elli still didn't get it.
"'A' is the first letter of the alphabet, and 'B' is the second," Nathan said. "So this person used the letters as substitutes for numbers to make it less confusing for us."
"It's still confusing to me, but I think I understand," said Elli. "What you're saying is 'A' is '1' and 'B' is '2,' right?"
"Exactly," Nathan nodded. "Because if they used 1 and 2 instead of 'A' and 'B,' the numbers in the book would have been 32, 71, and 92."
"Geez," Rez remarked. "Those sound like big numbers. We would have been confused for sure if the person wrote the episode numbers like that. In fact, we wouldn't have even guessed those were episode numbers since there's only 12 episodes in the Smiling Critters show."
"So then the reason they underlined the title words on the VHS label instead of the case was to draw less attention to them," Elli realized. "And only those who read the numbers in the book would know where to look."
"Then that means whoever wrote this message didn't want just anyone to find it." Nathan looked around just in case anyone was listening in and whispered, "And by 'anyone,' I mean those who have authority."
"Like Mommy and CatNap?" Elli guessed.
"I'm also counting the workers," added Nathan. "This person obviously went through a lot of trouble to hide this message, which tells me it must be important."
"Who do you think the person who left this message is?" Elli wondered.
"Based on the yellow crayon marks, I'm guessing it's a kid."
"You don't know that," argued Rez. "It could be an adult luring us into a trap."
"That may be, but then why did the book get taken away?" Nathan asked Rez. "If the person who left this message was a factory worker that was trying to trick us, they wouldn't have needed to remove the book from the shelf after Elli and I read it."
"How does that make sense?" Elli asked.
"By not removing the book, the adult would fool us into thinking we're safe," Nathan explained. "Since that didn't happen, I think it's safe to assume the person who wrote this message is a kid that wants to show us something they don't want the workers or the toys to find out about. And because CatNap was the only one to see Elli and I reading the book, he was the one who most likely took it."
"And where did the book go after that?"
"If I had to guess, he probably gave it to Mommy and she never put the book back on the shelf it came from."
"So Mommy might be onto us." Rez shuttered at the thought and put the tapes back in their cases. "We gotta find that secret trap door."
"Agreed," Elli said. "The sooner we find it, the better."
On Sunday, the kids were outside playing various games. But Elli, Nathan, and Rez stayed inside and searched the Home Sweet Home house for the secret trap door. And to keep Mommy off their backs, they claimed they were helping the workers clean the house which she was delighted by.
"Found anything that looks like a trap door?" Rez said as he regrouped with Elli and Nathan a few hours later.
"Nothing like the kind described in books," Elli replied. "I don't know if we missed it, or it's not in the house."
"My guess is we missed it," Nathan assumed. "Based on how the other buildings in Playcare are laid out apart from the Counselor's Office, I don't think either the playhouse or the school would have a hidden trap door in them."
"But maybe you're wrong," Rez said. "The person who wrote this never specified where the trap door is. So for all you know, it could be in one of those buildings!"
"Well, I think you're wrong!"
As Rez and Nathan glared at each other, Elli forced herself between them.
"Please stop fighting!" Elli insisted. "We can't let this issue split us apart."
"Yeah, you're right," Rez realized. "Otherwise, we might as well just give up."
"How about a compromise?" Nathan suggested. "We'll look through this house one more time for anything that could be a trap door or trap door-like. And if we don't find anything, let's come up with a plan to get inside the Counselor's Office."
"But isn't that dangerous?" Rez said. "No kid has ever gone in there, except if they get in serious trouble."
"I can be sneaky if I want to," Nathan claimed. "So should we need to go into the Counselor's Office, I'll be the one to do it."
Elli and Rez weren't sure of Nathan's plan, but they agreed with his decision to prevent another argument.
To be continued…