Page 26 of Wicked Games

I padded over to the closet and opened it to see a row of identical gray sweaters hanging over a shelf containing at least twenty pairs of neatly folded black sweatpants. Black sneakersin my size had also been provided in a drawer beside the shelf, surrounded by countless rolled-up pairs of black socks and underwear.

“I wonder what I should wear today?” I muttered to myself, hoping the vague attempt at humor might help somewhat with the dread churning in the pit of my stomach.

It didn’t, of course. Nothing in the world could prepare me to step out of this room. I just had to suck it up and get it over and done with.

With a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. It was empty. When I looked to the left and right, I could see that my room was one of many in this hall. I was in the fourth one along from the staircase landing on the far right, and there were two more doors before the hall ended on the other side. There were also six rooms on the opposite side of the hall.

If every room was occupied, then that meant there were twelve ‘players’ in this terrifying situation.

A faint scuffing sound on the carpet snapped my attention toward the staircase landing.

“Oh my god!” I said, eyes widening as I spotted the person at the top of the stairs. “Brooke!”

I broke into a run a second later, and she did the same. “Carey! Thank God! I’ve been so worried,” she said in a choked tone, throwing her arms around me. “Have you seen the others?”

“April and Zach? No.” I pulled back from the hug, voice thickening with emotion. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to warn you, but they—”

“They took your phone. I know,” Brooke said hurriedly. “They did the same to me. By the time I realized I was drugged, it was too late. I couldn’t warn Zach not to come.”

“Do you remember much about what happened?” I asked.

She swallowed audibly before replying. “I had a weird feeling the second I got here. It just seemed… empty,” she said. “Apartfrom the guy in the weird mask. Did you see him too? Or was it someone else for you?”

“Was it a black mask with purple lights?”

Brooke nodded. “Same guy, then. When did you wake up?”

“About twenty minutes ago. I only just worked up the courage to leave my room a few seconds ago.”

“I don’t blame you,” she replied. “I woke up at five, and I was too scared to leave until seven.”

My brows rose. “So you’ve been exploring?”

“Sort of. There’s not much to explore. You’ll see why when you go down the stairs. But…” She trailed off, averting her eyes. “I bumped into some people. They were lured here and drugged, just like us.”

“Who?”

Brooke still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Hudson and Maverick. Oh, and Rhys Whitmer was with them. You don’t know him, but he’s Hudson’s best friend.”

“I knew it!” Fury surged in my chest, and I clenched my hands into fists. “I knew at least one of those assholes was behind this shit! I—”

Brooke interrupted me again. “Carey, wait. This is exactly why I was so reluctant to tell you,” she said, grabbing my arm. “I knew you’d think that, and I totally thought the same thing when I first ran into them. But they really,reallydon’t seem to have any idea what’s going on.”

I took a deep breath and unclenched my hands. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Very sure. They’re just as confused and freaked out as us.”

I pursed my lips, unsure if I believed that. Brooke seemed certain, though, and I didn’t want to argue with her. “What did you find downstairs?” I asked, glancing to the right.

“Not much. There are hallways and doors in every direction, but they’re all sealed off with the same sort of steel shutters that are on our windows.” Brooke sighed and shook her head. “Except one. It’s the drawing room.”

“You went in?”

“Not yet. We only found it a minute ago. The guys wanted to go in and check it out, but I decided to come back up here to see if anyone else was awake yet. That’s when I saw you.” She paused and looked over my shoulder. “Maybe everyone else is already in the drawing room. Or maybe they’re still sleeping. I don’t know. I don’t even know how many people are here.”

“I guess we should go to the drawing room and wait. The others will show up eventually, right? Because of the letter.”

Brooke nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. We should—”

---