“That’s my necklace,” I accused, sub-consciously bringing a hand to where it usually hung around my neck.
“You think this is a necklace?”
What?
What was that supposed to mean?
He tilted his head to the side. The coal black eyes of the mask met mine and trepidation skirted down my spine. I suddenly remembered him telling me he knew what the symbol meant, and I didn’t.
He hadn’t been wrong.
I grit my teeth, refusing to show any emotion in front of him.
“I’ll ruin you before they do.”
With that confusingly ominous promise lingering between us, he tucked my necklace back in his pocket and turned away. At the end of the alley, Morrigan was passed off to someone else and carried towards the ice-cream truck, her struggling form leaving our line of sight.
“What are you going to do with her?” Gracelyn called after Ciaran.
He ignored her and rounded the corner, vanishing along with his masked friends.
Seconds later the ice-cream truck pulled away.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I muted my earpiece and clasped my hands beneath my chin. Maverick and Charon had stayed with Mel and Dion up until they were herded in the direction they needed to go. That’s all we could do for now. If things went accordingly, Gracelyn and Puppet would be joining them soon.
Staring out the tinted side window, I watched the city fly by as Brody drove us towards our next destination.
I caught a flash of Group C running out of the Coffee House. The old man with them was barely keeping up.
I found it kind of funny seeing as he was the reason they’d gone inside of there to begin with. Because of that decision, his granddaughter was dead. Kyrous had watched it happen on the feed linked to his cellphone while we were in route to Vesania.
Had they realized there was nowhere to hide? Even the designated safe zones were designed to lure people into a false sense of security. The Game Master believed that it heightened fear. Nine times out of ten their theory proved to be true.
I’d lost track of how many got caught up in the relief of a momentary reprieve. I didn’t understand the logic behind that. There’s a timer counting down the seconds and minutes before you must fight for your life.
How the fuck can you believe you’re safe for a fraction of a second?
Not only that, but you also must be semi-intelligent enough to solve every riddle you’re given. You could be the fastest runner in the world but if you couldn’t piece together how X equated to Y, you were guaranteed to die miserably.
Running was never the point anyways. What we wanted was for people to turn around and fight back. Devil’ Playground was founded on three very simple ideologies.
Play to kill, then play to win.
Sacrifice when necessary.
If the mood strikes, which it often did, fuck or get fucked before death.
How many do you think turned on each other to save themselves? How many strangers wound up fucking while unknowingly on camera?
That’s what the viewers wanted. It’s what made Puppet and her friends such fan favorites.
They would kill anyone if it meant keeping each other safe. When it was time to solve a riddle, they didn’t break down or despair, they figured that shit out. They kept themselves on task and never went randomly exploring the city like so many others did.
It was rare to get candidates like these three. Even with a little help they were doing extremely well. Puppet was the sole reason Dion’s survival rate had risen. Fuck, she helped boost Selene’s ratings too and those that knew her true identity were eager to watch her be taken out.
I didn’t give a shit about any of that, though. I only needed Puppet to live. She clearly wasn’t going to remember me or what happened anytime soon, but I could handle that as we went along.
My brothers and I had a goal to accomplish, regardless.
We would live or die trying to see it through until the end and either way this shit went, the outcome of this game would change everything.
“Think they know anything yet?” Kyrous asked, lifting off his leviathan mask.
“No, and when they do it should be too late for us to be stopped.”
“And her?” Brody asked from the driver’s seat.
Realizing I was still holding onto Lana’s pendant inside my pocket, I made sure it was secure and then leaned back on the bench seat, studying the chick passed out on the truck’s floor.
“Plans still the same,” I finally replied.
“She’ll be famous for her part in this,” Kyrous stated.
“Uh-huh,” I agreed for lack of anything else to say. I doubted Morrigan was going to like the role she was about to play.
She would be well known for it, though, like he said. At least until the game was taken to the next level. Tapping my earpiece to get it active again, I gave Sainte the order to go after Puppet.