I see Ren and the others waiting for us, Ren’s steps anxious as he paces back and forth. He visibly relaxes when he sees us.

“Hey, how many did you find?” he asks anxiously and I can tell the same worry is on his mind.

“We found one more,” I reply. “It’s just me that needs one. And you guys?”

“We’ve all got ours,” he says with a nod and I feel relieved, if only for a moment.

“Did you check everywhere on your side?” I check and he shakes his head.

“We did clear the houses,” he tells me. “Once we found one in each house, we moved on. But we haven’t checked the old sewing store that closed down, behind them.” He gestures to a run down building with faded paint, forgotten with time. “But…”

“But what?” I ask, the fear rising back up momentarily, but I see Ren’s smile and it fades just as fast.

“Ravi got his Skill,” he informs me with a happy grin. Taken aback, it takes me a moment to find the words.

“That’s good, right? What is it? It’s not like Theo’s, right?” I don’t know how many fireball maniacs my heart can take.

“He’s calling it Spidey Hands,” Ren chuckled. “But the name works. He can make his hands sticky, and crawl up things. He crawled up the wall of the house earlier, it was wild. I was so scared he was going to fall.”

“Huh,” I thought, wondering about how he got it and why. “Well, I think it’s a good thing. Any way for the kids to be able to help themselves, if they need to.”

Ren nodded in agreement. “I hope they all get theirs, so that they can be safer.” I disagreed, but didn’t say so out loud. Sure, I want the kids to be able to protect themselves, but they’re also just kids. Most of them were four or five, and Benny was three. I didn’t want them to be put into such a position in the first place. Either way, I direct my focus back to the task at hand.

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“We don’t have a lot of time left,” I bite my lip as I think, watching the kids tell their own stories of their searches to one another. “The last house in our row is really bad. Super messy, it’s going to take forever to look through. “There’s two collectibles left, so I think it’s safe to guess that there’s one in each place. But…”

“The other collectible,” Ren murmurs, voicing my thoughts. I nod, swallowing hard.

“We haven’t seen or heard anyone,” I continue. “But that doesn’t mean if we stumble on them, they won’t attack us.”

“We didn’t see anyone either,” he said. “We’ll have to hope they stay hiding. After all, it’s not like we’ve exactly been quiet.” He’s right; with six children, it’s near impossible to actually be sneaky in any way. Letting out a sigh, I nod.

“Let’s go together,” Ren suggests. “We’ll check the sewing store first. If the door’s broken in, or it looks unsafe, we’ll leave and go check the last house together.”

“Alright,” I agree. I let Ren explain the plan and we head over to the old store, my feet heavy with trepidation. Walking around the outside, we check for any signs of break-ins or damage. Thankfully, though, the building looks untouched after our brief inspection. The front door is still locked. The dusty glass windows display a painted face of a woman, smiling enthusiastically while she sewed a plaid dress. The image was smudged and faded from time, as was the large lettering that read “Sue’s Sewing Station”. A peek through the window revealed the inside undisturbed as well.

“It looks okay,” Ren says encouragingly.

“It looks old,” Theo complains.

“And dusty,” Kena adds.

“If we find the collectible here, it will be the last one,” Ren tells the kids. “Ms. Maisy is the last friend who needs one, and then we win this game!”

“I don’t wanna go in there, is dark,” Cassidy whined, fingers tugging at the hem of her shirt.

“How about you stay by the front with me then?” he holds her hand and smiles down at her. She sniffs but doesn’t argue anymore. I have a feeling it has more to do with the contest I was having with her and her determination to win, but I kept my mouth shut. Whatever works, I’ll take it.

I pull at the locked door with one hand, shaking it a little. It gives a bit, wiggling more than I’d expected. It’s been closed for nearly a decade, with no one checking in or repairing it at all. The building had been all but forgotten and it showed. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to shatter the front glass to get in.

“Stay back,” I tell everyone and kick the metal door several times. I turn and shake my head at Theo, who has opened his mouth to ask if he can do it.

“No,” I warn him preemptively, knowing what he’ll say, and he closes his mouth and frowns at me, tiny eyebrows furrowed.

I kick it again, not really sure what I expect, but it does open, slamming back into the back wall with a smack. I wince, seeing the spiderweb cracks along the glass from the impact, but it’s open and that’s what we needed.