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“What the hell?” Maire turned her anger on Fern. “A knife? Really? What if I broke my neck? What if I had a bad reaction to the scorpion stings? I could have died. Any one of us could have died!” Tears of pain and anger filled her eyes. What good would ten million dollars do if she was dead? What good would she be to her children then?
“But do you need medical attention?” Fern asked with what seemed like genuine worry, but Maire wasn’t sure. She couldn’t be sure of anything anymore. Fern was the one who kept placing them directly in the way of danger. Fern didn’t care about their safety. She cared about the number of people watching the show, and the more blood, the more drama, the more viewers.
Maire looked to Alfonso, the so-called director. Why wasn’t he saying or doing anything? “You’re okay with this? This can’t be right.”
“You signed the waiver,” Alfonso said simply, though he kept sending furtive glances toward Fern. “We can call the medical team in, but if they determine that you need more expert care, you will have to exit the game. Is that what you really want?”
Did she? Maire wondered. She scanned herself for a serious injury. Every inch of her body hurt, especially her shoulder, but if she went to the hospital, Maire knew she would be out of the game, disqualified.
“No, I’m okay,” Maire finally said. “But this is...” She paused trying to come up with the right word. “Wrong.”
She wasn’t ready to quit. Not yet, even though her shoulder was throbbing. Maire thought of the bear and the lake puzzles. Two items she had a very personal connection to. There was something more going on here and Maire needed to talk to Samuel again.
Maire thought of the pill hidden in her pillowcase. Her Game Changer. The first chance she had, she was going to use it. He was done. Finished. If Maire signed a waiver saying it was okay for someone to shoot paint bullets at her, to use a knife to send her falling fifteen feet to the ground, then one little pill dropped into a glass of wine wouldn’t matter.
She was going to win this game and didn’t care whom she had to take down to do it.
NINETEEN
DaniKryngle12 sat all by herself in the computer room. Lots of times, when her cough was acting up, she’d come here instead of going outside for recess. Dani wasn’t supposed to be in here alone, but she never caused any problems. She usually just played a math game and the teacher would poke their head in every few minutes to see how she was doing.
No less than seven people, just that morning, had told her that they saw her mom online. They went on about some reality show called One Lucky Winner and how her mom had won the first challenge. Dani hadn’t believed them. Her mom was away on a business trip. Something having to do with her jewelry. But when Mr. Hale, her music teacher, even mentioned it, Dani began to wonder.
So instead of playing Math Blasters like usual, Dani typed One Lucky Winner into the search bar. Up popped several videos and, to her shock, the thumbnail on one of them showed a picture of her mother holding something like a gun and aiming it at a man. Dani was just about to click on the link when a notification on the site announced that a live event was just about to begin.
Up popped a video and for the next twenty-five minutes, Dani sat in rapt attention, watching as her mother, along with four others, crossed a balance beam, crawled through a mud pit, got shot at with a paint gun, and climbed a wall. She held her breath when the man who was apparently called the Executive used a knife to slice through her mom’s rope, and her hands flew to her mouth when her mother crashed to the ground. Thankfully, she seemed okay, but she was pissed and saying words that Dani would get in trouble for saying. Dani didn’t know the last time her mother had been so angry. Except maybe when her dad left, and even then, she was more sad than mad.
Dani watched as the pretty lady called the Confidante pulled a piece of paper out of the blue pot she won. It didn’t look like much of a prize. The lady didn’t think so either because when she opened the paper she made a funny face and said, “Well, this makes no sense, it’s a death certificate.” That made Dani shiver. She didn’t like to think about dying.
Her eyes widened when she saw the number of people who were watching the video. Over two million and counting. This couldn’t be real. Her mother had lied to them. Why?
Her attention fell to the comments.
Pillowtalk_Morgan—I can’t believe the Confidante won! I didn’t think she was going to get up after she was shot.
EnchantingWeb—I can’t believe the Executive tried to kill the Best Friend.
Summerrip5—He didn’t try to kill her. He was just playing the game. I would have done the same thing.
Perfect_Prose—I love the Best Friend. I hope she wins the ten million.
Pillowtalk_Morgan—I wonder why the Confidante won a death certificate. Who do you think it’s for?
GoKings2024—In any other situation, he’d be arrested for assault. This game is all kinds of wrong. The Executive is a fucking narcissistic asshole.
Dani looked around the lab furtively. She didn’t know what narcissistic meant but she definitely knew the F word. If a teacher saw what she was doing, Dani would get in big trouble.
Strangely, her mother was called the Best Friend, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to Dani, but from what she could tell, a lot of people were rooting for her. And ten million dollars! That was a lot of money.
Summerrip5—She kind of deserved to get cut down. She did tase the Boyfriend and she cheated using the key chain flashlight.
Dani felt sick. This person was saying her mom deserved to get hurt? That wasn’t right. And the accusation that her mom tased someone and cheated? No. Her mom was always telling Dani to be kind.
“Hey, Dani,” came a voice from the doorway. It was Mrs. Waller, the computer lab teacher. “It’s after noon, sweetie. You’re late for class. You better scoot along.”
Dani quickly exited out of the website and hurried from the room and down the hallway to her own classroom. Dani knew why her mother was doing this, why she was doing such dangerous things. It was for the money. They needed the money because her dad had run off and he had run away because Dani was sick and being sick was expensive. If only she would just get better, then her dad would come home, and her mom wouldn’t have to worry anymore. She slipped into her chair and stared down at the top of the desk willing the tears not to fall.
TWENTY
