Page 81 of Wicked Games

The group murmured their agreement. I took a deep breath and slowly began my journey across the board. My heart raced the whole time, and my breaths came in shallow, halting bursts. I knew I couldn’t die from stepping on an incorrect empty square like the other players, because of my queen status, but I was still terrified of tripping and falling or accidentally putting the edge of my foot on a square that had a stone piece on it.

My last move was two diagonal steps to avoid several pieces that stood to the left and in front of me. I stepped onto D8 and released the breath I’d been holding. “That’s it, right?” I called out to the others. “I can step off the board now?”

“Yup,” Maverick called back. “You’re done. Now you can help us plot out courses for the rest of us.”

I stepped off the board and turned to face it, slowly scanning each square, player, and stone piece. “Brooke, you’re a bishop, right?”

“Yes,” she replied, eyes wide and fearful.

“If you move two steps diagonally to your left, then one diagonally to the right, one to the left, and one more to the right, you can get to F8 without hitting any players or stones. Then you’ll be out of the way for the others to start their turns.”

Brooke nodded slowly, eyes tracing the path over the board. “Two left, one right, one left, one right. All diagonal.”

“You’ve got it.” I smiled encouragingly. “Just go slowly.”

She made it across safely. Maverick ordered Zach to take his turn next, getting him off the board so that Jasmine would have an easier time moving afterwards. Once she’d reached the last row, she stepped off the board and crumpled into a heap on the floor, covering her face with her hands as sobs racked her body.

“Sorry about Kiara,” I murmured, crouching to lay a hand on her shoulder. “I know she was your best friend. I can’t even imagine how terrible you must feel right now.”

“Fuck off, Carey,” she spluttered through her hands. “I don’t need sympathy fromyou.”

My lips thinned. “Got it,” I said, rising to my feet so I could return my focus to the board. The others were still analyzing potential paths for the remaining players.

“April, I think I see a way across for you, now that Jasmine’s off the board,” Brooke called out.

“I think I see it too,” she replied, pointing directly ahead. “If I go to A3 and then B3, I can then go to D3 and D4. From there, uhh… I can go to D6 and C6. Then… C8 to D8. Right?”

Brooke frowned as she calculated the path from the other side. Then she nodded. “That all sounds right. Ready?”

“No.” April glumly shook her head and stifled a yawn. “Honestly, I feel like I’m about to faint. I really need you guys to help me as I go.”

“We will,” I said. “We’ll call out the exact directions for you as you go. Okay? The first move is this: two steps forward and one right.”

She nodded and took a tentative step. “Two forward, one right,” she said, wearily rubbing her forehead. “Two forward, one right.”

“That’s it. You’ve got this,” Maverick called out.

She made it to B3 and covered her mouth to stifle another yawn. “It was D4 next, right?”

Maverick nodded. “That’s right. So two steps to your right, then one step forward. Okay?”

April blinked rapidly. Then she nodded and started moving. “Two steps right, one step forward,” she said as she went. “Two steps right, two steps forward.”

“No!” I screamed as she lifted her left foot to take an extra step onto D5. “Onestep forward!”

It was too late. Her foot had already come down on the wrong square. She stared across the board blankly, and then her eyes filled with horror as the gut-wrenching realization dawned on her. “Oh my god. I thought—”

She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence. A deafening crack split the air, followed by a sharp gasp from April. She staggered backward, clutching at the right side of her abdomen. Blood was seeping through her fingers, staining her pale gray sweatshirt crimson.

“April!” I screamed, dashing forward. If I could just get to her in time, apply enough pressure to the wound, she could survive this.

Zach grabbed me by the shoulder and yanked me backward a split-second before my feet touched the edge of the board. “You can’t!” he said. “Once we’re off the board, we can’t return. Remember?”

He was right. If I’d actually taken that final step back onto the board, I’d be in the exact same boat as April right now.

As I looked on in horror, time seemed to slow to a crawl. April staggered backward again, almost bumping into Courteney, who was frozen in terror on her starting square. Then she lurched forward and fell to her knees, eyes filling with naked fear as they met mine.

“April!” I choked out, desperation and helplessness surging through me. “Stay with us! Please!”

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