Doll Parts (The Game 4)

Lucian had been at it since after our…siesta. He and a few others had slammed up a temporary divider in the main house so that participating members could access the guest rooms on the third floor without sneaking a peek into the club area first.

Cameron had been busy too.

Noa and I had showered, watched movies, cuddled, and eaten pizza.

Although, he was missing right now. I checked my watch and wondered where he’d wandered off to. He’d said he’d just be a little while. He was busy making friends, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that, but it was time to get ready. Reese would kick-start the event in ten minutes.

Darkness was falling and—oh wow. Wow. Just then, the lights on the patio and in the pool were turned on, revealing an explosion of color. The lightbulbs had been switched out. One patio light was red, another one blue. The water in the pool was a bright purple shade, and it had nothing to do with the lights.

“You dyed the pool water?” I asked in disbelief.

Lucian smiled and dipped his chin. “Many creative ideas in this bunch.”

I’ll say.

And not to be forgotten, countless balloons, streamers, clown decorations, and more lights. Yellow spotlights around the pool area mingled with the purple.

More members poured in from the path alongside the main house, and everyone oohed and aahed at the festive atmosphere.

Reese and River came out from their cabin next door, and Reese asked if we’d seen Shay.

“Maybe he’s with Noa,” I guessed. “I don’t know if—is Cam here?” I peered into our cabin. “Cameron?”

“Almost done!” Oh. He was in the bathroom.

“Eh, he’ll turn up,” Reese said. “He could be on the front porch with Tate.”

Or perhaps down the hill…? I squinted. It was too dark, but a handful of members were definitely running around down by the fighting cages. With the house closed off, it wasn’t as easy to find something to do while we waited.

I leaned my cane against the wall so I could push up the sleeves of my shirt. Tonight’s dress code suited me well. Tops were supposed to wear black clothes that were easy to get in and out of, so I’d opted for chinos and a Henley.

Grabbing my cane again, I spotted Macklin jogging over to River.

“Sorry, couldn’t find them.”

“Damn it,” River muttered. “All right. I’ll check the attic tomorrow.”

“Is something else missing?” Lucian wondered.

Reese frowned and pinched his bottom lip. “Yeah…four fairly new outdoor spotlights on stakes—you know, the ones you stick into the ground. And two on bigger stands. We were gonna use them for the takedown event but ended up choosing lights we could tie up in the trees.”

I remembered those. I’d bought the color filters for them, one set of blue and one set of red. We’d gone with red—and smoke machines.

“I’m sure they’re in the attic.” River clapped Reese on the back and started walking toward the pool area. “We’ll just use these over here tonight for the dog course!”

Automatically, I looked down the hill. Of course, the agility course in the corner would need lighting. It was no secret that it was going to be a station at the event.

A sharp whistle pierced the air, and it was Colt coming down from the patio. “Time to gather ’round, everybody! South of the pool in five minutes! Game participants up front!” Then he turned around in the crowd surrounding him. “Luke! You know where our boy is?”

I cocked my head.

“Something’s up,” Lucian murmured.

“Definitely.” I took a careful step off our porch, testing my strength, and spotted something neon yellow on the ground. “Grab that trash for me, will you?”

Lucian bent down and picked it up. It was a Post-it note. He handed it to me, and I was about to put it in my pocket when I saw something scribbled on it. Perhaps it wasn’t trash at all. Cameron often jotted down thoughts for work on a Post-it.

I furrowed my brow. Well, it wasn’t one of his work notes. It was a playlist of some sort. Four songs were listed with specific time marks. “Ghost Love Score,” a song by Nightwish, was marked at one minute and ten seconds.

It had to be Noa’s.

“Why are you writing down songs?” Lucian asked.

“What? It’s Noa’s note.”

He chuckled. “That’s your chicken scratch.”

I didn’t have a fucking chicken scratch. “It’s Noa’s handwriting.” I pocketed the note. The boy didn’t need it right now. I didn’t even know where he was.

“You sure you’re not related?” Lucian smirked.

I snorted and started walking to where the crowd was gathering in front of the pool. I hadn’t seen so many members out here in…fuck, ever? Participants and volunteers combined with those who just wanted to watch, we had to have around one hundred people here this weekend.

Cameron ran out and joined us in the nick of time. Reese and Colt were about to begin.