The clock blinked 7:02 a.m. again. Same gray light on the curtains, same five kids in the same sleeping bags, same syrup on the same five plates. The pancakes tasted like wet cardboard, just like before. Pip counted on her fingers. "Guys," she whispered, "this is the fourth morning. The fourth time. We keep starting over." Mara dropped her fork. "Okay. So how do we make it stop?"

"Forget the clock," said Theo. "Something is keeping us here. Let's just leave. Open the front door and walk out before 7:02 comes back." They tiptoed down the hall in their socks. The front door was right there, with morning light glowing under it.

Theo turned the knob and pulled. The door opened onto the exact same room they'd just left, gray light and all, with five sleeping bags and five plates. "It loops back on itself," Pip said, stunned. "There's no outside yet. We have to break it from in here."

"If every door leads back here," Mara said, "then maybe ALL of us have to walk out at once." They lined up at the front door, held hands, and stepped through together on the count of three. This time the gray room didn't appear. Just a yard, wet grass, and a real sunrise. The loop let go.