CHAPTER 8

At school, James could barely keep his eyes open. He nodded off completely in history class and was rewarded with his teacher making fun of him. He couldn’t even muster the outrage to make fun of him back. His algebra teacher took him aside and asked him if he was OK. All James could do was nod. After an eternity, the final bell rang and James went to his locker.

He twirled the combination and tried to remember which books he’d have to bring home for homework. He’d have to walk all the way home carrying them in his arms, since he had no bike and no backpack . . . He opened up his locker and blinked.

A folded note, with JAMES written in huge block letters, sat on the shelf. In his locker. The locker no one was supposed to know the combination to.

James snatched up the note and opened it.

You have been punished. We trust you will do the right thing next time.

Right then, James’s phone rang. The school didn’t allow students to talk on their phones in the hall, but James was terrified that the news was about his grandpa.

He grabbed the phone out of his pocket and checked to see who it was. Aunt Beth.

“I’m on my way, James.” Her voice was clear and un-crackly, and the sound of it made James relax with relief.

“You were able to get away from the job? Figure out your visa and everything?”

There was a pause at the other end. And then she said, “Well, sort of. My visa’s been revoked. I just got fired. They’re kicking me out of the country.”

James’s heart clenched.

He was being punished.

*****

At 5:00, James sat in front of his computer and bounced his knee, thinking about the conversation he’d had with his aunt. She’d been fired out of nowhere. No warning, no cause. She said she was going to appeal, but she couldn’t for the life of her understand what had happened. Neither could James.

The flip side was she could get back to her dad and to James sooner.

She'd tried to sound brave about it. “Don’t worry, hon. People need doctors. I’ll find something else. And there are some things about this company that are just weird. I was thinking of quitting anyway so I could be closer to home. This just makes things faster. I can’t wait to get there and squeeze you!”

James knew that was true. She often said she wanted to come back. But the work she did felt so important where she was.

There was no way around it. This was his fault.

What he couldn’t understand was how the Benefactor did it. How could he—they—it—have that much pull? Enough to get someone fired halfway across the world?

James shook off his questions as the clock flipped to 5:00. He pulled up the contest website. A new timer was up.

72:00.

The person who was on task 4 seemed stuck, though. And now James was tied with the other two people, whoever they were. He had a chance. The words scrawled across the page.

TASK 3 COMPLETE

Task 4

Go to Burnett’s Hardware. In the back room, there is a file cabinet. Open the drawer labeled H-M and take the folder labeled “Insurance.” Keep it at your home with the backpack.

James sighed and shook his head. Was it just him or were these tasks getting harder? But not doing them . . . well, his aunt had paid a price for his stupidity. He couldn’t let that happen to his grandpa too.

He thought of his grandpa. The tubes in his nose. His grandpa’s gravelly voice and wheezy, contagious laugh.

He’d do just about anything to keep that laugh in this world.