painted onto the white tile—matte paint on the glossy surface. Glancing up, she found a giant cage propped up on a counter above.
Not just a cage, a cage filled with muscly, half-naked wrestlers. A steel-cage wrestling match.
The costumed performers were from a variety of different eras—” minimalist seventies, Technicolor eighties, dark and Goth nineties—who were posed in a frenetic mix of wrestling moves, including one guy in a flying nelson, hung suspended from the roof of the cage by near-invisible wires.
She wasn’t even sure what she was looking for, other than that a redheaded Mohawked wrestler had appeared in the case upstairs, and supposedly represented Riot. Maybe there would be another version of that wrestler down here that would clue them into the figure’s purpose?
But as Persey stepped closer to the toy set, she realized that there was something out of place. Literally. The floor of the case was coated in a thin layer of dust, and right in the middle, there were two prints. Foot-shaped prints.
Was that where Mr. Mohawk had been before he was moved?
She shifted her focus to the floor: the painted footprints matched the configuration of the smaller version perfectly.
“Riot,” she said, eyes still fixed on the wrestling cage.
He appeared at her shoulder immediately. “You rang?”
“What’s happening?” Arlo said, close on his heels. God forbid anything transpire that she wasn’t a part of. “What did you find?”
“N-nothing,” Persey said, flustered. Why did she let Arlo get to her? She shook her head, pushing aside her momentary (permanent) self-doubt. “Riot, can you stand here, in front of the case?”
“Of course.” Riot took up a position in front of the wrestling cage. “Now what?”
“I…I don’t know.” Persey wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting. A door to swing open? A light to go on?
“Fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Mackenzie repeated, as helpful as ever. “Do we need to start searching for some other puzzle to solve?”
“Maybe you just need better wrestling flair,” Kevin joked. Then he struck a pose, reminiscent of the one in the display case upstairs. He flexed his right bicep toward his head, and rotated his left arm so it twisted away from his hip, looking very much like Pee-wee Herman doing the “Tequila” dance.
Riot rolled his eyes. “The figure upstairs was posed like this.” Then he re-created the pose, but with more teeth gritting and neck vein popping. Like a real wrestler. “How do I look?”
But nobody answered. Their eyes were all fixed on the wall behind Riot, where one of the red lightbulbs that surrounded the countdown clock had just flickered to life.
“THAT’S IT!” NEELA SQUEALED. “YOU DID IT!”
“Persey did it,” Riot said, dropping the pose in his amazement. “I can’t take credit.”
The moment he let his arms fall back into place by his side, the light went out.
Perplexed, Riot struck the pose again, trying to hold his arms in the exact same positions as before. The light went on. He dropped them, and again, it extinguished.
“Spread out,” Arlo said, not waiting for anyone to comment. “Each of our totems must be represented by footprints somewhere in this room.”
Gee, you think?
“If we can get all of those lightbulbs lit,” she continued, “maybe we can figure out the rest of this challenge.”
“Mackenzie and Wes are Sanji and Sue Storm,” Neela said, ticking them both off on her fingers. She spun around, pointing. “And the Marvel collection is right next to the anime.”
“Maybe Kevin’s the anime guy?” Mackenzie whined. “We don’t know for sure it’s Wes.”
Kevin tossed his hair out of his eyes as he descended from the balcony. “If it was supposed to be me, they’d have kept the hair blond. Besides, I don’t smoke.”
Persey smiled. She was pretty sure that was bullshit, but she appreciated that he wasn’t falling into Mackenzie’s hands.
Neela rushed across the room. “Footprints! Two sets!”
“At the juncture between Marvel and anime,” Arlo said, nodding her head in understanding. “No wonder I didn’t see these. I was distracted by the amazing collectibles.” Because there had to be a reason why she wasn’t taking the lead.
Wes was unimpressed. “Okay, so what? We found some feet. What are we supposed to do with this information?”
“You two.” Arlo pointed to Wes and Mackenzie. “Match your feet to those and see if it replicates the pose from upstairs.”
“Why me?” Mackenzie whined even louder.
“Maybe Leah wants to watch you make out with Wes?” Kevin suggested.
Persey was pretty sure the comment was meant as a dig, not a compliment, but Mackenzie missed no opportunity to flirt. “Would you like