We make it to the back of the building, where the woods are thicker and the trees will hide us.
They’ve let us go. Why have they let us go? They haven’t.
Of course, they haven’t!
The realization slams me in the face.
“It’s a trap,” I say, digging my fingers into Theo’s arm as I plant my feet. Owen is the only one of them I saw. He told us to run, but he won’t let us get away. Somewhere Caleb and Matt are waiting.
Theo’s black eyebrows knit together in the middle. “Who cares? We need to try!” He yanks his arm from my grip.
“We can’t do this, and we can’t leave the others in there!”
“What choice do we have, Piper?”
I turn my head, my body following suit as I do a one-eighty to check the surroundings. Trees line the yard, the building nestled nicely in the middle. Matt and Caleb are somewhere in those woods, waiting.
This is just one more part of the game.
There is something square on the metal siding of the building. A window? It’s too far away to see properly, but it could be a window. Where is it? Looks like it’s down at our end of the building, but we certainly don’t have any accessible windows.
“We have to go back in,” I tell him. The door is locked, so through the window, maybe. They won’t expect that. But we don’t know where it leads or if it even opens.
He grips my upper arms, his chocolate eyes pleading with me to listen to him. “If we get away, we can get help for the others.”
The world whizzes past as I spin around. “We’re not going to get away. Can’t you see that?”
“We’ll split up.”
Worst idea ever. “It’s still one-on-one. They want to hunt us, Theo. You know they’ll kill us before we get to the road.”
He still has hold of me, but I manage to swing my arms around his and place them on his strong shoulders. He’s a lot taller than me, but then most people are. “I want to run, too, believe me, I do, but we have to be smarter than them. They want us to run, so we can’t run.”
“But we may never get a chance like this again, Piper.” Gripping my arms tighter, he bends his head so we’re on the same level. “Come with me. We can take them on together. We can do this.”
“This isn’t a chance to escape,” I whisper, my eyes filling with tears at the impossibility here. “They want us to run. They want to hunt, and all we’d be doing by taking off now is giving them what they want.”
“We’ll be smart about it.”
“You don’t think they haven’t considered all the options here? If we escape, they’re going to prison.” I blink away tears before they have the chance to fall. “Theo,” I say fiercely. “We will die today if we run.”
“We could die if they put us in room zero.”
Can’t say he’s wrong, but I don’t want to invite death.
“Please, Theo. I want us to go back inside, but if you run, I have to as well.”
I let go of him.
He blows out a long breath through his full lips. “Piper, you’re putting a lot on me right now.” Dropping his hands from around my arms, he steps away, giving me some distance.
“Please, come with me.”
“You want to walk back inside that hell?”
“I did use the word want, didn’t I? That’s not exactly correct. What I want is to be home, but this isn’t the way. We have to go back inside.”
He closes his eyes, his posture collapsing in defeat. “Fine.”
“Come on. Let’s try the front door,” I say, turning around.
Theo’s footsteps trudge behind me heavily. He wants to go back in there about as much as I do, but although he understands what’s happening, what they plan to do, he still wants the chance.
He’s only heading back to hell because of me.
My stomach turns to ice as we round the building and head to the front door.
I haven’t seen any other doors yet, but we’ve only seen three of the four sides.
“Theo,” I whisper as movement in the woods catches my eye.
“Keep walking, Piper,” he murmurs, nudging me toward the door. Suddenly he’s eager to get back inside.
Caleb steps out from between two trees. He’s about ten yards away. His head is tilted to the side, sleek styled hair not moving an inch under the gel.
He lifts an arm and points a sword toward me and Theo with a wide, toothy smile on his face. The blade reflects a small slice of sun peeking through the leaves above. He has a sword!
We have to get back inside—right now. We back up, moving slowly toward the front of the building, and I grip Theo’s hand. Theo looks over his shoulder. “It’s open again,” he mutters.
Owen closed the door when we left. Where is he now, and why did he leave it open? Because this is what we’re supposed to do. They want us to run, but to survive, we have to go back in.
“Go!” Theo snaps, shoving me through the door. “This is not how you die.”
We stumble into the game room. I thought this place was so cool when I first stepped into it. I was impressed with what they’d done here, imagined myself hanging out with Caleb more.
My face heats with stupidity. How naive to believe he was genuine and actually liked me.
I stop, and my breath catches in my throat. Owen is standing tall, holding open the door to the corridor of hell. In his other hand is a gun, and the barrel is pointing at my head.
I gulp.
His green eyes shine with amusement as he lowers the gun and tilts his chin in the direction of the door. “We’ll have to do that again and see if anyone else wants to play,” he says.
Ignoring him, I step forward, pressing my side into Theo’s as we walk past him. The gun follows us, and although my heart is racing, I try to stay calm. Shooting us right now isn’t going to be part of their game. How anticlimactic would that be?
Six doors line the long, dark, narrow corridor. A shiver runs the length of my spine as we pass room five and room zero. I pray I never have to go into either of those.
Theo places his palm on the small of my back, fingers digging in just a little too much. His jaw is set hard. He’s angry with me still.
He saw Caleb waiting for us with a damn sword, and Owen had a gun. How can he blame me for being back in here? We had to! Somewhere out there, Matt was also waiting and who knows what weapon he was carrying.
The doors in front of us click as we dash back through to the main room. Is Matt pulling the strings instead of waiting in the woods? Or did Owen leave the door and go back in to do this? Maybe there are more of them. I’ve only seen three, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone else.
Not that it matters how many are involved. Two against one isn’t good odds when that one is sporting a massive sword.
We enter the room again and it’s eerily quiet, even for this hour.
I turn to Theo, wringing my hands. “Do you want a cup of tea?” I ask.
He freezes, side-eyeing me and clenching his jaw.
Still mad, then.
“Theo, talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to say. I’ll put the kettle on. I need something to do.”
He storms past me, narrowly missing running into me completely.
Things could get fun in here if he’s going to stay angry. There are four rooms, one a bathroom, so it’s not like we can avoid each other until he gets over it. If he honestly believed we could have gotten away, he wouldn’t have followed me back in here.
But it’s obviously all going to be my fault.
We don’t have access to broadcast TV, but we do have DVDs, so I stick Hocus Pocus on and take a seat on the sofa.
Theo slams the kettle down, slams the mugs on the counter, and rips the silverware drawer open so hard it bangs.
I wince at the fury in his actions. This isn’t good.
“Hey, what the hell is going on?” Kevin asks, rubbing his eyes as he stumbles from the bedroom like he’s drunk. I think in reality, Theo has woken him, but he’s still half asleep.
“Nothing,” Theo grunts. “Sorry. I’ll make you some coffee.”
Kevin’s light eyes linger on Theo for another second, his eyebrows pulled together. I don’t think he believes Theo.
Deciding not to push Theo, Kevin walks toward me and sits.
“Hey,” I say, doing a much better job of being cheerful than Theo. “How did you sleep?”
He shrugs. “Not too bad when I actually fell asleep.”
“You’re having trouble?”
His eyes widen like a deer caught in the headlights. “I…”
“Kevin, I know you’re the big, strong, sports-loving guy who works out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be scared in here. This affects us all.”
He laughs humorlessly. “Yeah, it does. I hate feeling powerless.”
“You’re not. You’re super-strong.” I lower my voice. “We’ll get our chance to escape one day.”
He cracks a smile and nods. “I can’t wait to face them.”
The speaker crackles. “Kevin to the waiting room,” Owen instructs.
Did they hear that? Is Kevin getting his chance to face them now?
Without looking back, Kevin stands and heads out of the room.
I watch him go, watch the door click locked behind him, and my heart tumbles to the floor. Hazel walks into the room, her eyes fixed on Kevin.
My heart leaps again as the familiar sound of crackling echoes through the room. “Piper,” Caleb says, a smile highlighted in his voice. “Come to the waiting room.”
Is this punishment for earlier? Because I didn’t run like they wanted.
But Theo isn’t being summoned, and he was the one wanting to take our chances. Why would I be the only one going into a room? Not that I want Theo to, but it doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t send us both.
None of this makes sense!
Theo glances my way, his manner somber. He might be angry with me, but he doesn’t want me to go in there.
“Pipes?” Hazel says as I stand. She shakes her head.
“It’s fine,” I reply. It was my idea to come back in here and not take a chance, and although I believe it was the right decision, I have to face the consequences.
Hazel and Theo’s eyes are on me as I walk to the door and open it.
“Oh God, Piper!” Hazel shouts.
I spin around just as the door slams shut and locks.
The hairs on my arms stand with goose bumps at the terror in her scream. They want me to go to room zero with Kevin.
I brace myself on the wall and breathe.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. I can’t fight someone to the death, and I certainly can’t fight Kevin. He’s big and strong.
The door at the end of the waiting room clicks. It’s now unlocked, and I have to move.