Page 9 of Close Your Eyes and Count to 10

“Hey, guys.”

He was supposed to sayfolksory’all.Guyswas misogynistic or at least neglectful of the fact that not everyone in his vast following was male. Though, most were. Most wereboysto be honest, teenagers, young adults. But he had his passel of teen girls, too. Apparently, he even did well with the ClickClackers who skewed a little older. According to Tavo, who knew about all things web and social, the ClickClackers were hot for Mav.

The likes and comments started streaming in.

ManSplain:Mav, where are you dude?

Kittycatxxx:You’re so so hot

Fairywings:I luv you mav

Glittergrrl:Marry me

Joshwuzhereyo:Douchebag

“Behind me you see the shell of what used to be Enchantments, a resort here on beautiful Falcão Island that sits in an archipelago the middle of the Atlantic.”

That wasn’t the actual name of the hotel. It’s original name was Esperança. But Mav kept stumbling over the right pronunciation, so he changed it—against Angeline’s wishes. But no one would care, right? The hotel went out of business long ago, and there was barely anything about it online. The wordEnchantmentssounded better to Mav thanEsperança, which meanthope. And that had clearly died here long ago. It was depressing.Enchantmentswas optimistic, magical.

Pokemaz69:Looks like a dump

Climbergirl:Holy shit that’s scary

Bloxman:What are you doing there, man?

He usually didn’t read the comments, too distracting. But lately he’d been keeping his eye on them, looking out for one person in particular. Someone he kept blocking but who kept popping up under different accounts.

Maverick went on, walking backward, the hotel growing larger behind him.

“Built in the 1980s, this place was supposed to be the epitome of luxury, an isolated, hundred-acre paradise for the very wealthy with a grand ballroom, spa, stunning suites, private casitas, trails, tennis courts, three swimming pools.”

He paused, panned the camera around so that his viewers could catch the whole vibe—dusk, the decrepit hotel, the isolation. He lowered his voice an octave.

“But because of outrageous debt and poor management, the inaccessibility of this tiny island, and a series of, um,unfortunate incidents, Enchantments went out of business in under five years. So this place has stood empty for four decades. Ravaged by time and by looters, Enchantments is a ghost of its former glory.”

There were ten thousand people watching now. He watched as a flood of hearts streamed up the screen, name after name, a full rainbow of comments from praise to trash-talking. The whole mess of humanity scrolling by. It wasn’t long before he saw the comment he was waiting for. This time it wasMavIsALiarwith three skull emojis. Formerly it wasMavSucksorFUMav. That’s how Maverick knew: those three skulls with their gray, menacing faces and holes for eyes.

MavIsALiar:Liar, liar.

He ignored it and continued.

“This is the location for my next challenge. The contestants are already on their way, and the game begins tomorrow. The winner will walk away with—wait for it—one million dollars, our biggest prize EVER.”

Alex was in his head again.

Mav, we do not have a million dollars to give away. You can’t promise people that.

We’ll have it when the challenge is a success. Trust me, brah.

We’re running on fumes.

But Mav shook off the negative vibe. He knew something that Alex didn’t seem to. Money was magic. You could manifest it from the universe. If you asked it to come, it would come. And he was asking.

Pokemaz69:Holy shit.

Wildonez55: A cool million!

Byteme$$:I’m so there

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