Page 27 of Drop His Mask

I jerked my head to continue.

Quinn was a sweet boy from my childhood. He was doting and kind. He didn’t deserve to be here, tied to this table, awaiting his demise.

We could at least help him.

Jayce unlocked him, tugging him up and off the table. Quinn still didn’t speak, but allowed us to walk him the few steps to the barrel; he stepped inside on his own.

“Come here, Raven,” Quinn said.

The tone wasoff. It was dull, emotionless.Monotone.

But he was my friend. He was one of the last remaining pieces frombefore.

“Don’t.” Jayce attempted to grab my arm, but I side-stepped him.

I didn’t think. I leaned forward. Into Quinn’s arm range.

It was a mistake.

Quinn lunged forward, tugging me into the barrel with him.

I felt something sharp against my throat.

The shears I had used to cut off his hood.

I ignored Jayce, the worry on his face, his pinched lips and clenched jaw. His hands stretched out to me. As if he could pull me away and protect me.

Except I had done this to myself.

“Rose is dead. My little sister is dead! And I am in this Hell because ofyou.” Quinn pressed the blade further into my neck.

“Rose?” I asked breathlessly. My mind was splitting. “How?”

Quinn was always like an older brother. But that was no longer the truth. Evident by the sharp metallic blade digging into my skin.

Another scar I would wear.

If I made it out of this.

Why had I been so stupid? Were Jayce and Levi turning me soft? Had the conversation about Sparrow left me too rattled?

“Congratulations you have secured twenty organs,” the robotic voice chirped through the speakers.

The shears dropped from Quinn’s hand, his hold on me loosening.

“She died because—” He didn’t finish his sentence as he fell to the floor. His words, a broken croak.

Spinning around, I collapsed to my knees, shaking him.

“What have you done? What did you do to him?” My words were directed at the Creators, at the game. My vision blurred as I continued to shake Quinn.

Jayce bent over me, checking his pulse. “He’s dead, Raven.”

Jayce placed his bulky hands onto my shoulders, squeezing me,groundingme.

Exhaling shakily, I rose to my feet as the guards entered our space. I shut down the anxiety and overwhelming emotion that threatened to take hold. To drown me and sink me so deeply that I would not be able to escape.

It was what I had done to survive. And I needed to do it again here.

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