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CHAPTER 12

P
ressure. Pain.

A thousand needles danced on my flesh as fire coursed through my veins. Sweat burst from every pore. Shocks of energy burned through me, spiking the hairs on my limbs. My hands shook like leaves in a storm.

Seconds later, it was over. I flared.

I’d dropped to my knees, panting raggedly, waiting for the world to stop spinning. Suddenly, a large pink sea slug attacked my cheek.

“Blech.” I shoved Coop’s snout away. “Thanks, boy.”

Inhaling deeply, I got to my feet. Wobbled. Tried to harness the adrenaline pooling in my extremities.

That was a bad one.

Beside me, Shelton had removed his glasses and was rubbing his forehead, eyes brimming with golden light. Ben’s back was to me. His fists clenched as he struggled to tap his canine DNA. Hi had stepped to the window and was peering inside.

“Gotcha.” Ben straightened and flexed his powerful shoulders. “Contact.”

When Ben turned, his dark eyes danced with yellow light. Already handsome, flaring took his attractiveness to a whole new level. Ben’s coppery skin practically glowed in the evening light. I turned quickly, surprised by the color rising to my cheeks.

Then I noticed a thrumming in my brain. A subtle shift, like gears slotting into place, connecting my consciousness to a larger system.

I closed my eyes. My perception billowed outward. I could feel the other Virals, could point to each without opening a lid. Even Coop.

Flaming ropes appeared, linking the five us.

My pack.

Concentrating hard, I
pushed
slightly, in a way I didn’t understand, sweeping my awareness outward. My mind brushed the invisible boundary separating my thoughts from theirs. Hi. Coop. Shelton. Ben.

At first, a low buzzing. Then scattered feelings, too chaotic to follow.

I tried to pull back, mindful of invading the other Virals’ headspace. I hadn’t asked permission to attempt a link.

Abruptly, my perspective zoomed forward, like a comet being sucked into a black hole. I lost control. My mind seemed to untether from my body. Then my thoughts abruptly fired down the closest glowing cord.

Colors flashed. Red. Orange. Yellow. Black. Then a fuzzy image cut through the haze.

Me. Standing on the grass before Castle Pinckney. Eyes closed. Green-faced. Swaying.

“Stop it!” The voice was angry. Nervous. “Get out!”

The harsh words severed my fragile connection.

The universe snapped backward.

SNAP.

My eyes flew open. Ben’s fingers were digging into the flesh of my shoulders. Strongest by far, with his power unleashed he could have broken my bones.

From the look on Ben’s face, he was considering it.

“Stay out of my head,” Ben said through gritted teeth. “You didn’t even ask.”

“Sorry,” I squeaked. “I’m not sure what I did.”

Coop nudged between us, eyes fixed on Ben.

Ben took a breath, seemed to realize how hard he was clutching me. His hands dropped as if burned. He backed away, cheeks flushed, sweat dampening his brow.

I placed a hand on Coop’s head. The wolfdog sat, but his eyes tracked Ben’s every move.

“It was an accident, Ben.” I couldn’t catch his eye. “I didn’t mean to link, but somehow my mind was . . .
pulled
into it. I can’t explain it very well.”

Awkward silence.

“Hey, no sweat, Tor.” Hi forced a laugh, anxious to defuse the tension. “Just throw us a warning next time, you know? We might confuse you with an alien abductor, or a CIA operative. Can’t have that, right?”

“Everything’s cool.” Shelton worked his ear. “Whatever you did, we know it was an accident. Don’t we, Ben?”

“Our minds aren’t toys, Tory.” Ben’s voice was conciliatory, but he didn’t meet my gaze. “You can’t barge inside them without warning. Or permission.”

He was right. I told him so.

“I screwed up. I swear I’ll be more careful next time. No more mind games without explicit agreement. Promise.”

“Okay then, that’s done with!” Hi rapped the castle wall with his knuckles. “Daylight’s wasting, so let’s get back to the game.”

“Do we have a play called?” Shelton asked.

“We go inside, genius.” Hi’s glance swept the group. “Everyone still flaring?”

Nods all around. Hi pointed into the gloom. “Then get crackin’, soldiers.”

“Why don’t we look before we leap?” I suggested. “Literally.”

“Good plan,” Shelton agreed. “A little clichéd, but good.”

Focusing my hypersenses, I noted minute cracks spiderwebbing the stone windowsill. My nose detected dank, earthy scents wafting from the darkness. Molding leaves. Moss. Stagnant water.

“We spend a
lot
of time in these places,” Shelton observed. “Some might say,
too
much time.”

“Builds character.” Hi squatted down to examine the chamber’s ceiling. “Makes you tough. Manly.”

“Just what I’m looking for,” I said absently, inspecting the gloom. “Manliness.”

“You guys hear that?” Ben had moved beside me to get a look inside.

Shelton cocked one ear toward the opening. “Dripping water? No.” His face scrunched in concentration. “Something tapping, maybe?”

Ben shook his head. “If you can’t hear it, you know the rest of us can’t.”

Hi was squinting into the inky black. “It’s a small room, with a doorway in back.”

I waited, trusting Hi’s superior flare vision.

“This first chamber seems empty,” he said finally. “We’ll have to go deeper.”

“Great.” Shelton kicked a rock. “Deeper.”

“Come on, Shel-Dogg.” Hi stuck out a fist. “After everything we’ve done, the dark shouldn’t scare you anymore.”

“And yet, it does.” A moment passed, then Shelton reluctantly bumped Hi’s fist. “I’m not going first, and that’s a fact.”

“Gimme a sec to grab lights from the boat.” Ben hurried back the way we’d come.

Hi called into the black.
“Your cache is mine, clown! I’m coming to getcha! Uncle Hiram’s got the scent!”
His words echoed in the darkness as he scrambled through the opening.

“Zip it!” Shelton hiss-whispered. “This building is struggling to hold your buck-sixty. Don’t yodel the roof down on our heads.”

“I’m light on my feet.” Hi’s response came from deep within. “Should’ve been a dancer.”

For a moment, Shelton and I stood alone.

“Hey, Tor,” he whispered, “what was that crap with Ben? Did something happen? He freaked pretty bad.”

“I’m not sure. It was such a strange feeling. For a hot second I thought—”

Ben’s reappearance cut me off. I didn’t like talking behind his back, even if my comments weren’t negative.

And I wasn’t certain what I suspected. What
had
I seen? How had it happened? This latest telepathic experience had left me with more questions than ever. Could I really have seen my own image, through
Ben’s
eyes?

I decided to keep quiet. I knew Ben wouldn’t like it.

“Let’s do this.” Ben vaulted through the opening, then offered me a hand. Brushing it aside, I wiggled over on my stomach, then dropped to the floor. Shelton climbed in last.

Two paws appeared on the sill, followed by a whine.

“Stay outside, Coop.” I patted one furry foot. “It’s not safe.”

Another whimper, then the paws withdrew.

“Now what?” Shelton whispered in the dark.

“Spread out.” Hi grabbed a light from Ben, flicked it on. “Look for a box like the one we found on Loggerhead.”

Having only two flashlights, we were forced to pair up. Hi and I went right, Ben and Shelton left. Minutes later we met at the back of the room.

“Anything?” I asked.

“Nope.” Ben’s voice was tense. Flaring, I could make out a tightness to his eyes.

Hi probed a rickety doorway straight ahead. “Let’s try in there.”

The second chamber was half as large as the first, about the size of a tennis court. It, too, was empty.

For several seconds, Hi worked his light horizontally across the room. Something winked in the pale white oval. Beside me, I felt Shelton flinch.

Hi slowly arced the beam back. Flaring, my eyes gathered enough radiance to see.

Another twinkle.

“There!” I said excitedly. “On the ground.”

Ben added his light to Hi’s. A dark metal box sat alone in the middle of the room.

“Buckeye.” Hi’s eyes gleamed golden as he hurried forward.

“Hold up!” Shelton’s voice cracked. “The noise is stronger in here. Regular, like
tat-tat-tat.
It’s coming from that box.”

Undeterred, Hi scooped our find and began pawing at the lid. “Two for two!” he crowed. “Take that, Bozo.”

“Hi, hold up.” My sixth sense was on red alert.

“It’s ticking!” Shelton yelped. “The package is ticking!”

“Ticking?” Hiram kept poking and prying. “Like a watch?”

My mouth opened to shout a warning. Too late. Hi popped the lid.

“It stopped.” Shelton’s voice trembled.

Inside the box something whirred, then clicked.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Hi aimed his beam into the box and drew his face close. I actually heard him swallow. “That can’t be good.”

“What can’t be good?” I hurried to his side.

The light was enough for my hypervision. I could see a purple plastic container sealed with black electrical tape. Affixed to its top was a digital watch with a tiny LCD.

As I watched, a message flashed on-screen: Failure to Open Properly. You Lose!

“What does that mean?” Shelton drew so close I could smell his sweat. “We didn’t
have
instructions about opening it!”

“What the hell?” Ben spoke so softly I’d have missed it without my powers.

“Guys?”

“Yes?” I didn’t like Hi’s tone.

“This watch is at thirty seconds. Counting down.”

My scalp began to tingle. “Down to what?”

“How should I know!?!”

“Turn it off!” Shelton yelped.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“How?” I ran my fingers along the edge of the container. “We don’t even know what this is!”

“Fifteen seconds.” Sweat beaded Hi’s brow.

“It’s nothing,” Ben grumbled. “A stupid trick to scare us.”

“Ten.”

Hi had barely said the word when the first message dissolved, and was replaced by a new pair of words: You’re Dead!

“Oh no!” Shelton began backing away. “No no no no no!”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Run!” I yelled. “Hi, ditch it!”

Hi flung the cache into a corner and bolted for the door, hot on Shelton’s heels. Ben and I were a step behind.

How much time left? I’d lost the count. Seven seconds? Three?

Something furry flew past me, arrowing straight for the beeping package.

I froze in horror.

“Cooper!”

How did he get inside!?

I whipped the beam his way. Coop had clamped the cache in his jaws and was shaking it like a giant bilge rat.

The box emitted a screeching tone that grew into a high-pitched whistle.

Coop went still, the package locked in his teeth.

Terrified, I lunged toward my wolfdog.

An arm circled my waist and dragged me to the ground.

“Get down!” Ben shouted.

“Coop!” I screamed, trying to claw free. “Cooper, no!”

Click.

BANG.

CHAPTER 13

A
blinding light flashed in the inky blackness.

Once. Twice.

Coop yelped and dropped the cache, then scrambled a hasty retreat.

Flaring, I saw shards of color shoot outward from the container. Red. Blue. Yellow. Green. Fluttering scraps that twirled in and out of the flashlight beams. The chamber echoed with hoots, horns, and whistles that seemed impossibly loud.

“What the hell?” Hi gasped, spitting dust. “What happened? What’s that noise?”

“Coop!” I grabbed a flashlight and rushed to my wolfdog. Coop had backed into a corner and slumped to the ground. “You okay, boy?”

He was panting, and blood trickled through the fur of his lower jaw. Heart pounding, I probed his body for wounds. Finding none, I cautiously grasped his snout. Coop tried to pull away, but I held him firmly.

“Everything’s fine,” I cooed, holding the flashlight in one hand and prying open his mouth with the other. “Just give me one look.”

A red weal ran across Coop’s tongue. The roof of his mouth was black with soot, and blood oozed from the base of a lower incisor. That seemed to be it. Thankfully, he wasn’t badly hurt.

I exhaled, suddenly aware I’d been holding my breath.

“Confetti.” Hi was crouching in the doorway, waving a flashlight. “It’s raining freaking
confetti
in here!”

“And the box is playing carnival music.” Shelton’s shirt and face were caked with dust. “Fake bomb. This was a friggin’ prank!”

I realized that no one was flaring.

“Not so fake.” My fury rose as I stroked my wolfdog’s head. “Coop’s tongue is cut, and the roof of his mouth is burned.”

“Shh!” Ben hissed.

The music had stopped. A low ringing filled the room.

“Great.” Shelton backed toward the door. “Round two.”

Furious, I stormed across the room and kicked the box. The boys flinched as it ricocheted off the wall and broke into pieces.

Something flat, black, and rectangular lay inside the wreckage.

“Are you insane!?!” Shelton shrieked. “It already exploded once!”

“That piece of crap injured my dog!” I nearly shook with rage. “When I find out who built it . . .”

“We won’t get anywhere by breaking the thing,” Hi said. “So how's ’bout getting a grip, huh?”

I nodded, blood still boiling.

Gamemaster, you’ve made an enemy.

“An iPad.” Ben stood over the wreckage, light in hand. “
That’s
what’s ringing.”

“Seriously?” Shelton inched toward Ben’s side. “This guy left a freaking iPad? Is that normal?”

“Not even close.” Hi joined the huddle, smacking dirt from his shorts. “An iPad’s
way
too valuable to cache. The first to find it would steal it for sure.”

Ben tapped the screen. A yellow background appeared, framing four words written in scrolling, purple calligraphy. Welcome to The Game.

Shelton groaned.

“The Game again?” I was reading over Ben’s shoulder. “That’s my
last
nerve.”

A swipe bar appeared below the message.

“Should I unlock it?” Ben asked.

“No way,” Shelton said. “Whatever game this is, I ain’t playing.”

“Do it.” I wasn’t making a suggestion. “We’re tracking this wacko down.”

“I’m with Tory,” Hi said. “We need intel, and the iPad’s our only lead.”

“Here goes.” Ben finger-swiped the screen.

A medieval scroll appeared, smoking purple letters affixed to its surface. A familiar signature flowed across the bottom of the page.

Valiant Players,

I’m disappointed. You failed at this task. Fortunately, the first round was mere practice. But now The Game has truly begun! From here forward the stakes increase, and there’s no turning back.

To wit: I’ve hidden a bomb somewhere in Charleston. Unlike the first, this one is very real. To disarm the device, you must follow my clues and complete the tasks.

Fail at a task, the bomb goes off. Break a rule, the bomb goes off. Refuse to continue, the bomb goes off. Reveal The Game to anyone, the bomb goes off.

Accept my challenge and complete The Game, or innocents will die. Lives are in your hands. The clock is ticking!

Sincerely,

The Gamemaster

“When we find this assclown,” I fumed, “I’m going to break his freaking—”

“It’s a joke, right?” Shelton was tugging his lobe double-time. “A sick prank?”

“Of course.” But Hi’s face was uneasy. “Sorry I got us into this nonsense.”

“A bomb?” Ben was shaking his head. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Look!” I pointed to the screen.

The scroll dissolved, replaced by a grainy, green-tinged image.

Four figures, huddled close inside an empty room.

“This is stupid.” Shelton started toward the doorway. “Let’s bounce. We can toss that iPad in the freaking harbor.”

“Wait!” My heart skipped a beat. On-screen, one of the figures was moving to the right. “Shelton, walk back over here.”

He grumbled, but rejoined the group. The figure on the iPad did the same.

Goose bumps. Boatloads.

“It’s a video feed!” Hi spun, eyes darting to the ceiling.

I’d observed the screen as Hi moved. Sure enough, when he’d turned, so had one of the eerie green figures.

“It’s live,” Ben whispered. “The Gamemaster could be watching us, right now.”

“There!” Hi aimed his flashlight at the far corner of the chamber. Where ceiling met wall, a tiny red light winked. “Sonofabitch!”

“It must be a night-vision lens,” Shelton said. “That’s why the image is so clear.”

Ben handed me the iPad, scooped a rock, and fired. Coop yipped at the sound of impact.

The red light continued to wink. Ben grabbed a handful of stones and tossed them like buckshot. The rain of projectiles must’ve connected. I heard the tinkle of breaking glass, then the iPad went black.

“Can we please get out of here?” Shelton repeated. “This is way too weird.”

Not waiting for comment, he ducked back into the first chamber. Hi hurried after, followed by Ben, Cooper, and me. We regrouped by the window through which we’d entered.

Dusky light poured through the opening. The salty harbor breeze was a welcome change from the fetid, musty air inside the castle.

“Ladies first,” said Hi.

I was about to hoist myself onto the sill when I glanced at the iPad. “Crap.”

“What?” Three voices.

A new image had filled the screen—a large red circle on a white field, dancing yellow letters inscribed on its face.

Two words. Press me.

Shelton was not interested. “Does the clown think we’re idiots, or—”

Hi’s finger darted forward and tapped the button.

“Hi!” I shouted. Things were happening too fast.

“You moron!” Shelton screeched.

“I couldn’t help it.” Hi shrugged. “How do you not press a button like that?”

Shelton’s fingers found his temples. “We don’t know—”

BOOM.

This blast was larger than the first, trembling the castle walls. Dirt and ancient mortar rained down on our heads. Behind us, a stone block fell to the floor.

“Out!” I yelled.

Ben tossed Coop through the window. We scrambled after, then booked it to the shoreline, getting as far from the building as possible.

There was a rumble, followed by a series of booms. I turned to see dust billowing from every window.

“Holy crap!” Shelton panted. “Did Hi blow up the castle?”

“No.” Ben’s voice was tight as he peered back at the fortress. “The walls are still standing. Something else must’ve happened.”

“Good God.” Hi’s voice shook as he pointed the opposite direction. “Look.”

My gaze followed Hi’s finger. Across the harbor.
Downtown.

A pillar of smoke was rising from Battery Park. Below it, trees were burning like torches soaked in pitch. As I stared in horror, sirens began to wail.

“You don’t think . . .” Hi trailed off.

No one responded.

But I knew. My gaze dropped to the iPad, waiting.

In moments a new message appeared on-screen: Understand?

Two options took shape below the question: a white circle with gold writing, and a black square lettered in red.

The white circle read: Yes. Time to play The Game.

The black square read: No. I need another demonstration.

The image of a stopwatch formed. Began counting down from ten.

A hollow feeling welled in my gut.

Nine. Eight. Seven . . .

“Guys,” I whispered, “I don’t think this is a joke.”

I held up the iPad.

Six. Five. Four . . .

Hi paled. Shelton swallowed. Ben clenched his fists.

The Gamemaster’s warning flashed in my mind.

Accept my challenge and complete The Game, or innocents will die.

“We have no choice,” I said quietly.

The boys nodded.

Three. Two . . .

Feeling helpless, I pressed the white button.

The display cycled through a series of colors before fading to white. Trumpets sounded. Then a snarling clown face filled the screen.

Black letters appeared in the now-familiar script: Clues to Follow!

I wanted to scream in frustration.

Whoever this Gamemaster was, he was toying with us. Shoving us around like his personal playthings.

The clown glared up at me. Sneering. Taunting.

We’d become pawns in a madman’s game.