“At least seven children have suffered because of Roger’s illness,” Grayson says. “Four were murdered, taken from this world by Roger’s hands. Their remains dissolved and buried. He was brought up on charges for only one—his nephew—but the court failed to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.”
Legs shaking and weak, I step onto the first stone of the path. “Why didn’t you just hand the evidence over to the authorities?” I demand of Grayson.
“Because this man had no mercy for his innocent victims, he deserves to be shown none.”
I draw in a deep breath to fill my lungs. Right. I’m trying to reason with a vigilante psychopath. “I can’t do this,” I tell him. “You know I can’t do this?—”
“One last thing,” Grayson interrupts. “You should know that Roger’s most recent victim, a boy by the name of Micheal, hasn’t been recovered yet.”
Heart slamming against my chest, I lift my gaze to the man dangling above the container, vitriol burning my throat.
The speaker cuts out with a whine of feedback as I balance on the rock, taking measured breaths.
A wail rips through the canopy, raw and guttural. A scream wrenched from an abyss of never-ending pain. And I realize—as I teeter on the rock, bare feet gripping the serrated edge of stone—that it came from me.
I reach for the first key.
My fingertips graze the silver metal before I latch on. One suspended heartbeat, then I close my eyes and yank.
A grinding noise echoes through the clearing before Rodger’s body jerks and drops. He cries out. “Stop—stop,” he pleads. “Don’t do it. You’re going to kill me.”
I breathe slowly, trying to ease the nausea churning in my stomach. “And if I don’t play, he’ll definitely kill you.”
I step onto the next stone and push onto my toes, fingersstretching toward the suspended keys. Pain flares in my lower back. There’s no logic to Grayson’s game—one of these keys could free this vile man, or they could all send him plunging down.
I grasp a bronze skeleton key and pull.
Roger drops another inch.
Shit. Panicked, I skip the next stone and charge the container. It’s tall, possibly six feet high, and looks like a vertical fish tank.
A sick realization washes over me. Grayson has taken aspects of me to design my tests. He’s even turned something I used to inspire tranquility in my therapy room into a deathtrap.
Ignoring the man’s useless pleas, I inspect the rest of the container. A mounted wooden beam holds Roger aloft, thick metal cables support his weight, his torso cradled by a leather harness.
“It’s a hangman’s gallows,” I whisper. A simple structure, but built solid and sturdy. I walk the perimeter, studying Grayson’s trap, searching for a way to release Roger without dropping him straight into the vat.
Even if I was strong enough to shimmy the scaffold and pull him away from the tank, Grayson wouldn’t allow it. As if he’s reading my thoughts, a gear on the trap grinds, and Roger lowers closer to the surface.
“Oh, god, oh, god, fuck—” he sobs, his flabby body jiggling with his wretched cries.
“Christ, shut up. Just shut up.” I push my tangled hair out of my face. “Why don’t you walk me through this, Roger,” I say, deciding to follow the path back to the third stone. “Tell me about yourself. You’re here for a reason, just as I am. We’re in this together, okay?”
“Okay,” he concedes.
As he talks about his job at a local supermarket as a meat packer, I count the remaining stones ahead of me. There are onlythree. Then I gauge how many more inches Roger has until his feet hit the deadly solution. Maybe five…I can’t be sure.
Countless keys dangle from the string canopy, beyond my reach from the rocks.Follow the rules.But Grayson doesn’t abide by rules—he breaks them. He defies society’s laws. Everything with Grayson is a test.
I move down from the rock and jump, waving my hand through the air.
“What are you doing?” Roger demands.
“Hush, Roger.” I jump again and pull a key down with me.
A deep groan sounds from the gears, then Roger descends. Even lower than the previous time, he drops farther, his toes skimming the liquid. His furious shouts rake over my nerves, and I groan.
Chest heaving, I’m lost in a sea of keys, all shimmering with a mocking melody as they clang together above.
