Puzzle 6 Broadway 

“Typical! Just typical,” the voice behind you gripes as you make your way down 42nd Street. “I’m having to clean up your messes yet again.”

“I already told you,” says Teddy apologetically. “It was my job to call into Puzzle Society HQ with updates. I just forgot.”

“I’m not talking to you,” snaps Clarissa DeBrie. “I’m talking to my rival.”

Yes, the person who’d so casually interrupted you, mid-envelope extraction at the zoo, was none other than your greatest rival: the #2 to your #1 at the Academy; the person who kept you up at night gnashing your teeth whenever she got the whole punny thing the crossword puzzle was doing before you did. She always had to insert herself somewhere and shift attention to herself, and it drove you out of your mind.

“Now really,” you drawl, sounding above it all. “Isn’t ‘rival’ too strong a word?”

Clarissa looks like she’s going to rise to the bait for a moment, then collects herself and seems to smooth back her ruffled feathers.

“As if you could find the next puzzle without me,” Clarissa says as she smiles back, darkly.

“In no universe does anyone other than me find the next puzzle,” you scoff.

“I found the next puzzle,” Teddy says. You and Clarissa turn, faces painted with dual expressions of shock. Sure enough, Teddy is holding a silver-lined envelope in his hand.

He’s been acting as the mediator this whole time, bridging the gap between you and Clarissa. But finishing the hunt before the two of you even had a chance to start looking …

“How did you …” you begin.

“Did someone just …” Clarissa starts.

Behind Teddy, you see a person in a full-body knock-off Elmo costume shuffling away. Surely they didn’t just give it to him …?

“It was tucked under this stack of cardboard boxes,” Teddy offers. You’re not sure what it is about the way he says it that makes it so unconvincing.

“Open it,” you order, shifting your concerns one spot over, and the three of you gaze down at the writing within.