Page 153 of Catch Me
“Angry about what?”
“Just...” He sighed and shook his head once.
“Okay, well, the room is ready. Where’s he at?”
The door swung open and Kai waltzed in. When he looked at me, he smiled. “Hey, Travis. Ready to rock this shit?”
I was about to respond, but I saw someone walk in right behind him. Immediately, my mouth went dry.
Roman was wearing a dark red hoodie, and his hair, which was longer than when I’d seen him in December, hung in loose waves partway down his forehead. He didn’t look at me, and he kept his hands in his hoodie pocket.
Honestly, I should’ve known there was some shit going on. Kai could’ve asked us to go to an escape room and we would’ve said yes without that game last night. I was tempted to go off on the conniving asshole, but Sen already looked uncomfortable and it would make it seem like I gave a shit.
I didn’t.
Painting on a smile, I nodded toward the desk. “Your phones have to stay here, apparently. Can you kids handle that?”
Sen gasped dramatically, easing some of the worry in his brow. “No phones? What ever will we do?”
“I’m gonna send you nudes you can’t look at until after,” Kai said with a snicker. When Sen’s phone buzzed, Kai swiped it out of his hand and deposited it in the box. “Let’s do this, baby.”
Putting his arm around Sen, he kissed his temple. The rest of the tension fell away—between them, at least.
The girl at the front desk led us down a hallway and stopped in front of a door. She explained some rules, but I didn’t care enough to listen. I was excited for this and it didn’t matter who was here.
The theme was a haunted schoolhouse. Apparently, we didn’t know who was haunting it and in order to stop all the bad things from happening, we had to discover their identity, then figure out what was keeping them here, then find that item and destroy it. Simple enough, I guess.
The first room was dim with fake windows that let in ‘moonlight.’ It was set up like a classroom with desks and a chalkboard. Wind whistled softly through the space, and I could even feel it coming from somewhere.
I wandered over to a bookcase because that always seemed to be relevant when there were ghosts involved. None of the books movedwhen I tugged on them, which was a little disappointing. If one was a secret lever that opened a door, it would’ve been cool.
“What about a séance?” Sen suggested, glancing around. He spotted a candle on the wall and tried to remove it, but the votive was secured in place. “It’s not a real flame anyway.”
“I don’t think it’d be arealséance,” I pointed out.
“A little realism never hurt anyone. Bet we’d be the first to summon an actual ghost.”
“Maybe they’d help us solve the puzzle.”
Kai rubbed his palms together. “We can put our big brains together. Are you more than a jock, Trav?”
With a snort, I leaned back against the bookshelf. “Sure, just don’t look at my transcripts. School was never set up for the way my brain works.”
“How ’bout a battle of wits? Whoever solves the most clues buys lunch.”
“I’m not about to let you hustle me. Everyone knows you pull skills out of your ass.”
“Call me Kakashi the copy ninja.” He flipped what I assumed was an imaginary knife or something, then ‘threw’ it at Sen who stumbled back, hitting the wall. He put a hand on his chest, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the dramatic display.
“The others didn’t want to come?” I asked.
Dropping the act, Sen looked at me. “Do you want to be stuck with West in a locked room?”
I grimaced. “Touché.”
“Brooks is studying, as always. And you know Tilian. He’ll avoid the outside world at all costs.”
“He loves it outside,” Roman corrected from somewhere behind me. “The world isn’t the problem. It’s the living.”
