Page 37 of Wicked Games

Right now, you probably all feel the need to relax and recuperate, so there are no more games until tonight. You have free rein of your quarters and can do whatever you want until dinner, which will be served in the drawing room at 5pm.

Lunch would usually be served at 12:30, but I think I can safely assume that none of you have much of an appetite after the shock of losing a player today.

If you need water, there are glass jugs and cups available in the cupboards in your rooms, and the tap water in the bathroom is perfectly safe to drink.

Thanks for playing!

“Well, at least we get some time off,” Rhys muttered, rubbing his jaw.

“Are we seriously not getting lunch?” Hudson said, upper lip curling. “That’s fucked up.”

Kiara glared at him. “You really want to eat right now? After what just happened in there?”

“It was fucked up, sure, but a man’s gotta eat,” he replied. “Besides, Evan wasn’t my friend. I barely knew the dude.”

“You’re disgusting,” Kiara hissed. With that, she stormed up the hall with Jasmine by her side.

The rest of us followed at a slower pace, not quite knowing what to do. There were books in our rooms, so we could spend the next few hours reading if we wanted, but I had a feeling most of us didn’t want to be alone right now. Not after the horror we’d just witnessed.

“Guys, I really don’t want to be alone right now,” Courteney said, echoing my thoughts. “Does anyone mind if I hang out with them?”

“Of course not,” Zach said, brushing a hand over her shoulder. “I don’t think any of us want to be alone right now.”

“Let’s go and hang out in the drawing room,” Maverick said, glancing at us over his shoulder. “We can talk about everything. Try to figure out what’s going on.”

“You guys can feel free to do that,” Rhys replied. “But I’m going back to my room to take a leak, and then I’m gonna explore again. There’s gotta be more stuff we missed earlier. I want to know exactly where all the cameras are, too.”

With that, he strode up the stairs, clearly not caring for any company. Maverick muttered something under his breath and reached for the drawing room door handle. “Fuck,” he said with a grimace, rattling the bronze fixture. “It’s locked now.”

“I guess it’ll open at five for dinner, like the text said,” I replied. “The locks in this place must be set up on an automated schedule.”

“Yeah, maybe,” April said, lifting a brow. “Or maybe the Game Master is actively controlling them from wherever he’s hiding.”

“Wherever it is, we’ll never find it,” Hudson said. “Not with all the fucking doors sealed off.”

“Where should we go for now?” Courteney asked, tilting her head.

Maverick nodded toward the staircase. “My room. It’s the closest.”

We all trudged up the stairs and headed into Maverick’s room, which was directly left of the landing.

Almost immediately, the group split into three smaller groups. Kiara and Jasmine huddled on the top right corner of the bed, and Maverick stood next to them, arms crossed over his chest as the three of them spoke in hushed tones. Hudson and Tate went to stand by the window, and I hung back near the desk with April, Brooke, Courteney, and Zach.

“So,” Zach said, leaning against the desk. “I won’t bother asking you guys if you’re okay, because I think I already know the answer.”

“No shit,” I murmured.

“Do any of you know what’s going on yet?” he asked.

April shook her head. “I’ve barely had time to think about it. I’m still in shock over…” She trailed off and shook her head before starting again. “I didn’t say this earlier, because there was already enough drama, but part of me honestly thought Tate and Evan could be right about this whole thing being a joke. At least… that’s what I hoped for.”

“Me too,” Brooke said, hugging her arms around herself. “But now we know it’s real. We can actually die here.”

“Yup.” Zach’s lips tightened. “It’s fucked up.”

“Beyond fucked up,” I said, shaking my head. “I just don’t get it. Why us? What did we do to deserve this?”

“Nothing,” April said. “We were just unlucky enough to get picked out of a crowd by a total psychopath.”

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