Page 47 of They're Watching You

One of your friends.

That’s it. I’m telling him. Not just my suspicions concerning the test. All of it. Polly and the Gamemaster’s Society. Alicia and the blackmail video. The proof Anabelle showed that Polly is being held in the catacombs.

“Dr. Yamashiro,” I start, setting the test back down on the desk, “I have to tell you something.”

“What is it, Maren? Are you sure you’re okay?” He places his hands palm-down on the desk, peering at me through the frames of his glasses.

“Look, this is going to sound ridiculous.” My gaze dives to the floor, searching for some way to explain the absurdity of the past few days to my completely rational and logical teacher. I glance up at the desk, where his hands still lie beside the fraudulent test, and a gleam from his coat sleeve snags my eye. A shiny, round, silver cufflink. Not any cufflink.

It’s a linchpin.

My heart flops. I might be sick.I think you’ll find the society’s reach is further than you can imagine.

My vision narrows and darkens like the corridors of the catacombs. A pinprick of light flickers at the end, and I blink it into focus, finding only Dr. Yamashiro’s smiling face. “What’s going to sound ridiculous?”

Staggering back, I press a hand to my forehead. “I have a fever of 102.” I giggle hysterically. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be walking around. I’m dizzy and I might be contagious. But I was so worried about the test.”

“Nothing to worry about,” he assures me. “I only wish all of my students were half as responsible as you. But you do need to get to bed. I’ll send the campus physician to your room.”

“No!” I say too forcefully. “I just need some sleep and tea. I’m sure my friends can manage. Thank you, sir.”

“Okay,” Dr. Yamashiro calls after me. “But get some rest.”

Out in the hall, the immaculate tiles spin as I hurry over them, not even conscious of where I’m headed. This is what Annabelle meant. We’re untouchable now.

Minor Supreme means elaborate cover-ups. Medi Supreme means getting bogus grades. Then there’s whatever path Gavin’s headed down, toward Major Supreme and its shady dealings. Lastly, there’s Annabelle. The Gamemaster. And if Alicia, Polly, and Jane are any indication, being Gamemaster means playing with people’s lives, even to the point of death.

It means becoming a god.

I hop on the escalator down to the lobby when my backpack starts ringing. I wrangle it off me and dig through the little pocket to find my phone.

Remington.

I don’t want to hear about how he didn’t try to sabotage Gavin last night. My finger moves to the “ignore” button but drifts over to “answer” instead.

“Maren.” The name sweeps out with relief.

“Listen, Remington. I only answered to warn you. You can’t tell anyone aboutyou know what.” I reach the lobby, where a solar-powered fountain towers up through the cylindrical building beneath a glass ceiling, and check my surroundings. “I spoke to Dr. Yamashiro—I didn’t tell him anything. But it was bizarre. I missed a test this morning and he said it was fine because I’d already taken it. Then he waved a test at me, and the thing is, it was already graded. He’d given it anA.”

“Do you think he made a mistake?”

“No, he didn’t make amistake,” I practically spit. Students are still flooding through the glass front doors, so I slip between them and out into the gardens. “At first I thought maybe I was dreaming or that Annabelle had given me some sort of hallucinogen last night. But then I noticed his cufflink. And Remington”—I lower my voice—“it was a linchpin.”

I wait for Remington to ask another frustrating question or to assure me I imagined it all; instead, he says, “Something similar just happened to me.”

“What?”

“With Dr. Sandoval. Last night, my world history project was on my desk, all ready to be turned in. When I woke up this morning, it was gone. I went to Dr. Sandoval to try and explain, but he told me to go back to my room and get some rest. He said he was giving me anAon the project. No explanation.”

“Wow,” I whisper, pausing on the bank of Mills Pond. Overhead, the blooms of a magnolia tree flutter in the breeze. “You didn’t say anything about the society?”

“No, I got out of there as fast as I could. I didn’t see a linchpin, but he’s involved. Definitely part of it. Like Gianna.”

I nod, even though he can’t see me. I thought it was strange at the ball that Dr. Sandoval was right there after I stole Paul’s linchpin pendant, yet he said nothing. Maybe he covered up the true cause of Alicia’s illness as well. He was the first faculty to reach her when she got ill. Maybe he’s still covering things up. “Dr. Yamashiro too.” I shiver. “The fact that he already had this whole story by the time I made it to class…it felt even worse than being watched. It felt like someone knew what I was going to do before I did.”

“But how could someone know you’d oversleep?”

I consider this. “Someone has been in my room at least twice. Maybe whoever it was snuck in last night and turned off my phone alarm. And took your project too.”

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