The trio ehe hiddeion of the arcade.

  Risebelle seemed to shiver while looking around at the familiar yet haunting surroundings. “This pce... it’s where I saw Rosebelle for the first time. And it’s where we got trapped, too. How do you know about this part of the arcade, Sadie?”

  Sadie’s mencholic gaze remained fixed on the surroundings. “I’ve been here before, iigating simir is. It seems that this pce holds some secrets reted to the doppelgangers. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you both make sense of it all.”

  Risebelle g Sadie with a wary eye. “You know, this all feels a bit too ve. How we be sure this isn’t some sort of trap?”

  Roselle, sensing Risebelle’s tension, instinctively reached out and grasped her arm. Risebelle shot Roselle a questioning look. “What are you doing?”

  Roselle looked up. “You said it might be a trap…I…um….”

  Risebelle sighed, shaking her head slightly. “Roselle, you don’t have to g to me like that. Are you always this afraid of stuff?”

  Roselle let go of her but kept close. “N-No, it… It’s just that… I don’t want anything bad to happen.”

  Sadie observed the iion with a knowing look. “I see why you’re hesitant Risebelle. Trust is hard to e by in situations like these. I assure you, my iion is to help you. If you’d just allow me to expihing, I hope you’ll begin to see why it’s important for us to work together.”

  Sadie took a deep breath before starting. “Listen carefully, because what I’m about to tell you is crucial. There’s a sinister anization called Shadowcroft, and they operate uhe guise of a lending pany. Iy, they’re nothing more than soul harvesters. Once you fall into their trap and sign a tract, they own you, and they ge the terms at their will, making escape nearly impossible.”

  She paused before tinuing, “Retly, Shadowcroft has shifted their focus. They’re not just ied in lending anymore; they’ve taken up a more sinister agenda. They’ve started abdug and repg people, and I’ve been trag their activities. My iigation led me to you, Roselle and Risebelle, and that’s why I’m here today.”

  “Wait, are you saying that they’re after Roselle and me?” Risebelle asked. “But why? What do we have to do with all of this?”

  Sadie looked down to the ground. “I don’t know why they want you, but if Shadowcroft gets their hands on you, you’ll vanish without a trace. We have to find out their motives and put ao their sinister operation.”

  Roselle and Risebelle exged a gnce of . Sadie tinued. “And about Rosebelle... Rosebelle is inteo be the rept, the merging of both Roselle and Risebelle into one person. It might seem impossible, but Shadowcroft has an uny ability to manipute events and orchestrate circumstahat make the impossible seem pusible.”

  “I ’t believe they’re pnning te us into one person,” Risebelle muttered with one hand now raised to her . “But now, it all makes sehe way they were trying to blur the lines between us. It was all a setup.”

  Sadie nodded before turnitention to Roselle.“I’ve been watg you for a while, Roselle, which is how I know about your friends. At least three of them are ected to Shadowcroft. They’ve infiltrated your life, and they’re rep everything back to the anization. You ’t trust them.”

  “I don’t know your friends, Roselle, but we ’t let a you at risk,” Risebelle asserted. “We will have to protect you, and we o stop this anization. But how we be sure about the people you mentioned?”

  Sadie responded. “In the game Epic Quest: Realm of Shadows, the story follows a simir pattern. Pyers find themselves in a world filled with doppelgangers and mysterious disappearances, much like what’s happening now in real life. The characters in the game are being maniputed and repced by these doppelgangers, and the same thing seems to be in our world.”

  Roselle’s mind raced while trying to put pieces of this puzzle together within it. “So, you’re saying our lives are mirr the events of the game? And those doppelgangers... Are they ected to Shadowcroft?”

  Sadie nodded. “Yes, exactly. It’s as if Shadowcroft is following a script, and it’s our job to ge the ending of the story. In the game, the pyers o uhe truth behind the doppelgangers and put ao their sinister pns.

  “So, our lives are like a game, and Shadowcroft is following the script,” Risebelle mused. “But we’re not just characters; we’re real people. We won’t be maniputed like pawns in their story.”

  Risebelle raised a fist triumphantly.” Yes! This is just the information we o crack this case wide open, Sadie. Now, I o go and tell Harty everything we’ve learned.”

  Risebelle moved to dash out of the hiddeion of the arcade but Roselle reached out and grabbedher arm. “Risebelle, wait! We o think this through. It’s dangerous out there, and we don’t knoe trust.”

  Risebelle sighed. “We trust Harty, at least. He’s always been reliable.”

  Roselle nodded relutly. “Alright, I agree with that. But you shouldn’t go without me. We…we o stick together, you know?”

  Risebelle shook her head. A smirk came to her lips. “How did you ever survive a day in your life, Roselle? You’re way too damn cautious.”

  Sadie interjected. “Actually, Risebelle, it’s better if you go. There’s something private I o discuss with Roselle anyway.”

  Risebelle raised an eyebrow. “What do you o talk about that you ’t say in front of both of us?”

  Sadie smiled faintly. “Trust me, it’s important but personal. And after everything I’ve shared, you know I wouldn’t do anything harmful.”

  Risebelle hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She quickly exged phone numbers with Roselle. “Call me if anything goes wrong,” she instructed.

  Roselle clutched her phone, nodding. “I will. Be careful, Risebelle.”

  With a final g Sadie and Roselle, Risebelle dashed out of the hiddeion of the arcade.

  Risebelle rushed into the school. She made her way to the room where the chess club, which was set up like the detective’s club, was located. Inside, she found Harty standing before the board, pinning up new evidend clues.

  Breathing heavily from her run, Risebelle excimed, “Harty, you won’t believe what I’ve just learned! We’re in grave danger, and we o act quickly.”

  Harty turo face Risebelle with . “Risebelle, calm down. What’s going on? What did you find out?”

  Risebelle quickly reted everything she had learned from Sadie. The e to Shadowcroft, the doppelgangers, and the dahat both she and Roselle were in. She watched as Harty’s eyes widen on each revetion from her. When she finished, he nodded. A serious look settled on his face. “This firms what my tipper has been sendihey mentioned something about looking into doppelgaheory, but I didn’t want to believe it.”

  Risebelle, her curiosity piqued, leaned in to him. “Who else are you w with, Harty?”

  A faint blush crept up Harty’s cheeks. “It’s just a regur person, nothing special.”

  Risebelle put her hands on her hips, giving him a skeptical look. Harty waved hands in front of his face.” R-Risebelle, please, don’t worry about them.”

  Risebelle sighed and looked off to the side. “Yeah, but regardless, we will have to tell the others.”

  Harty nodded, regaining his posure. “You’re right. But tomorrow is Saturday, so there’s no school. ives club.”

  “Not unless we make it happen,” Risebelle tered. “Text everyone you know in the club. I’ll do the same.”

  Harty nodded. “Alright, let’s get everyoogether. We ’t afford to waste any time.”

  Risebelle was on her way bae, and she decided to text Jess about the urgeing tomorrow. She pulled out her phone and started typing. Risebelle smiled momentarily in a pause while looking at Jess’ name. Her fingers danced across the s while sending a message to Jess:

  Risebelle: Hey Jess, we have an urgeing tomorrow. It’s important. you make it?

  Almost immediately, Jess’s response popped up on her s.

  Jess: [winky face] Oh, I see, I’m that important, huh? What’s in it for me? How about a Kiss?

  Risebelle rolled her eyes, even if Jess couldn’t see it through the text.

  Risebelle: [mad emoj Jess, e on! If we keep messaging like this, people will think we’re dating!

  Jess: [smirking emoj well, is that such a bad thing?

  Risebelle shook her head. The nerve of this girl.

  Risebelle: Jess, this isn’t the time for jokes! We need you at the meeting tomorrow. It’s about Shadowcroft.

  Jess: [thinking emoj Hmm, I’ll think about it. Maybe you vince me in person.

  Risebelle huffed in frustration.

  “Jess always likes to py hard to get…”

  Risebelle: Fine, be that way. Just be there tomorrow. And just so you know, it’s a matter of life ah.

  Jess: [winking emoj Life ah, huh? Oooo! You really know how to get this girl’s attention. I’ll see you tomorrow, my cute little detective. [Kissy emoj

  Risebelle: Im….never mind.

  Risebelle put her phone away, shaking her head with a sigh. “Jess is such a handful.Every day it’s something with her,” she muttered to herself.

  Risebelle arrived at her house, slightly anxious. After cheg a wat her hand, she came to realize that she was running about 20 mie. Her mother had always been strict about punctuality, and Risebelle expected tonight to not be different. She took a deep breath aered the house.

  Wheepped inside, her mreeted her as if she’d been home all along, “Risebelle, are you doalking to that stranger outside? e and sit down, dinner is ready.”

  Risebelle froze. She g the clo the wall, firming that she had just walked in. With a bewildered look on her face, Risebelle stammered, “Mom, I... I just got home. I wasn’t here before. What are you talking about?”

  Her mother raised an eyebrow. “Don’t py games, young dy. I saw you e in 20 minutes ago, but a boy showed up and wao talk to you outside. Noere you talking to outside? Was it that boy from your school?”

  Risebelle’s heart raced. She had no expnation for this strauation. “Mom, I promise, I wasn’t here. I was out with a friend from the Detective Club, not a boy… (Atleast I ’t tell her that...). Something really weird is going on.”

  Her marded her with skepticism. “Well, talking to boys like that better not bee a habit, young dy. Now, e a your dinner.”

  After a somewhat uling dinner, Risebelle decided to head to her room. She needed some time to process the strange enter with her mother and the odd feeling that someone else had been in the house pretending to be her.

  Risebelle made her stairs, and when she reached the top of the stairs, she muttered to herself, “What is going on here? Did Mom see a doppelganger of me? How could that be possible?”

  She reached her bedroom door, she hesitated for a moment before pushing it open. Inside, everything seemed normal at first gnce, but the uling feeling lingered. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

  “First Sadie’s revetions about Shadowcroft, and now this,” she thought. She o talk to Roselle and Harty about this immediately.

  Risebelle pulled out her phone, but before she could tap their numbers, she dropped it. There was movement from her bed uhe sheets that Risebelle was just notig now. Getting up from her bed was unmistakably her, right down to the blue hair and the familiar school uniform.

  The duplicate Risebelle turo look at her with shod fusion that Risebelle herself felt. Risebelle stammered, “WH-who are you? What’s going on?”

  The other Risebelle didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she seemed just as startled by the enter.