Cipher Street

Eleven-year-old Dom is a puzzle fanatic who discovers that mysterious symbols spray-painted around town are actually a Caesar cipher — one that leads to a legendary unsolved gem heist from 30 years ago.

Dom sat at the kitchen table with a half-finished crossword puzzle, a book of logic grids, and a tall glass of orange juice. Puzzles were Dom's thing — crosswords, ciphers, escape rooms, riddles, you name it. If it had a solution to crack, Dom was all over it.

'Seven across,' Dom muttered, tapping the pencil against the table. 'Eight letters. Pattern within a pattern.' Dom filled in FRACTAL and grinned. 'Too easy.'

This morning felt ordinary. But ordinary was about to take a sharp turn.