Page 44 of House of Deceit

Bursting through the door marked “Interview,” I see Alec standing there, hands tucked into his pockets.

“What’s up?” I ask immediately.

“I’ll give you a sip of my coffee if you win today.”

I stop midstride, temporarily looking like the person on a pedestrian walking signal.

“I’m sorry, I just hallucinated the ever-professional Alec King offering to break a rule,” I say, not wanting him to know I’d do a lot of things in this moment for a sip of coffee.

“Don’t be a smart ass. We don’t have time. I’ll give you one,” he holds up his finger emphasizing his point, “sip of coffee if you win Head Deceiver today. We need the audience to see you win some challenges.”

I stick my hand out. “Shake on it.”

His hand is warm and soft, threatening to distract me. I drop it quickly.

“Deal,” I say.

The elimination contest seemed simple when Jacob Jacobson laid out the parameters, but as I stand here staring at the math problem, I’m not so sure.

Each round, a question for a fifth-grade placement test is asked. The first person to answer correctly gets to pick a chair. After that, a game of musical chairs ensues.

I fight with the fractions until Mary Ella smacks her buzzer, yelling out her answer. Keith confirms the answer and she skips over, picking her chair. The rest of us move to a dot on the ground and ready for the music.

Adrenaline courses through me as Keith presses play on the boombox and the music starts. Repetitive notes quickly embed themselves in my brain and I know I’ll be playing this song over and over again in my head. The music cuts, and I pounce. Raven looks at me as she runs to the same chair and I ready myself to fight for it. She falls to the ground with an “oof” as I push against her with my full weight.

Everyone is playing to win but what they don’t know is, I’m not only playing for exemption from elimination, I’m playing for a sip of coffee.

All the seats are taken, and Angelica stomps her foot in anger at being the first one out and up for elimination. She moves over to the bench to wait out the rest of the game as we all return to our podiums for the next question.

We are all ready as Keith reads off the next question.

“How far is the Earth from the sun?”

Molly smacks her buzzer.

“94 million miles,” she says.

“Correct!” Keith tells her.

Molly gives a whoop of excitement and moves to take her seat. Musical notes permeate the air as we all walk in a circle, preparing for the music to stop. As silence descends, anarchy reins.

I slam my shoulder into Mateo without a hint of remorse as he goes to sit in the chair I’ve decided is mine. He sprawls on the ground as I get my ass on the seat, wrapping my hands around the edges and holding on for dear life.

Penelope scrambles up from the dirt where she landed as Raven won the seat they were both scrambling for. Digging her feet into the ground, she sprints for another of the open chairs. Penelope wins a seat by slipping underneath Parker as he goes to sit down. I cackle at the shock on the Viking’s face as he is knocked to the ground. Pushing off the ground, he all but tackles the last open chair from Jayden. The last one left, Jayden will join Angelica and will be up for elimination.

As the rounds progress, the fight for the remaining chairs becomes more and more feral. My arms are covered in scratches and one of my sleeves has been completely ripped off. Colyn holds an ice pack to her cheek; a rogue elbow having caught her across the face. Round after round we play until it’s down to the final two.

Me and Cain.

Keith flips the card over and starts reading.

“What is the longest river in the United States?”

Hope. The smallest strand of hope runs through my veins. I know this answer.

Cain and I both go to press our buttons. A second passes. Two. My button lights up showing I hit it first.

“The Missouri River,” I say.

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