Chapter 2

"Well?" Rhea snapped, her voice pulling me back. "Where is this legendary loot, Maren? My boots are literally melting into the floor."

I swallowed hard. My mouth tasted like copper and ash.

In the game, we shared our perks the moment we spawned. My real friends knew my HUD tracked Boss status.

The Boss didn't.

If it knew, it wouldn't be playing hide-and-seek. It wouldn't have bothered faking its death. It would be slaughtering us right now.

"I'm zeroing in on it," I lied.

I needed them to use their powers. The Boss was severely weakened from our six-hour fight. It could steal a face. It could download a lifetime of memories. But could it perfectly replicate a supernatural perk in its crippled state?

I was betting our lives that it couldn't.

I pointed to a heavy iron chest wedged in the dark corner of the hall.

"Rhea. The signal is strongest there. But it’s locked tight. I need your muscle."

Rhea rolled her eyes. "Stand back. Let me work."

She marched over to the chest. I held my breath. My fingers curled around the grip of my dagger, the leather slick with my own cold sweat.

If she hesitated. If she fumbled. I would drive the blade through her neck.

Rhea grabbed the rusted iron padlock.

Her perk ignited. Overdrive.

Glowing, magma-orange cracks fissured violently up her forearms. The heat radiating off her skin blistered the air, smelling of burning ozone.

Snap.

The thick iron shattered like cheap plastic in her grip. She kicked the heavy lid open.

"Nothing," Rhea grunted, kicking a pile of rusted, useless swords. "Just junk."

I exhaled a shaky breath.

She was not the Boss.

But Rhea didn't turn back to the portal. She locked eyes with me. Her expression shifted from annoyed to dead serious.

She stepped away from the chest and moved directly to my right side. Close. Protective.

My heart skipped a beat.

She knew.

The unspoken bond of four years living in the same cramped dorm room clicked into place. Rhea knew my real perk wasn't loot detection. She knew we were hunting.

She was playing along.

One down. Three to go.

I didn't stop to celebrate. The HUD timer kept bleeding seconds.

Fifty-two minutes.

I scanned the vaulted ceiling. "Petra. Up there."

Petra flinched, pulling her oversized jacket tighter. "Where?"

"Those blood-red lanterns hanging over the altar," I said, pointing up. "My perk is pinging off them. Can you bring them down? I can't reach."

Petra looked completely exhausted. She was always the fragile one, but right now, she looked pale as death itself.

"I'll try," she whispered.

She raised her trembling hand. Phantom Grip.

A spectral, translucent arm of blue-purple energy tore violently out of her shoulder. It shrieked against the air, stretching high toward the ceiling.

But it flickered.

It looked highly unstable, glitching like a corrupted file.

I tensed immediately.

My hand slipped down to my dagger again. Is it her? Is she failing the copy?

The spectral hand closed around the heavy iron chain of the lantern. Petra gritted her teeth. A heavy drop of sweat rolled down her chalky cheek.

With a vicious, desperate yank, the lantern crashed to the stone floor, shattering into useless glass and ash.

Petra collapsed to her knees, panting hard. "Sorry. Empty."

I stared at her. The effort looked agonizingly real. The power was real.

I couldn't be absolutely sure. But I couldn't risk attacking her either. If I guessed wrong, I murdered my best friend.

"Good job," I said evenly.

Petra didn't retreat to the extraction portal. She dragged herself off the floor and silently walked over, standing just behind Rhea's left shoulder.

She wasn't looking at me. She was watching the other two.

She knew too.

Two left. Nyx and Seren.

The paranoia in the room was thick enough to choke on.

"Nyx," I barked, pointing to the cracked stone floor. "The signal is bouncing underground. It might be buried beneath the stonework."

Nyx crossed her arms, raising a dark eyebrow. "You want me to dive into the murder-basement?"

"We don't have time to dig," I pushed, forcing sheer desperation into my voice. "Just do a quick sweep. Please."

Nyx stared at me for a split second too long.

Her dark eyes were entirely unreadable. Then, she smirked.

"Fine. If I find a golden crown, I'm wearing it to class."

Her body began to hum with a low, vibrating frequency. Phase Shift.

Her solid form shifted instantly into a translucent, glowing blue silhouette. The temperature in the room plummeted.

She took a step forward and simply sank into the solid stone floor like it was water.

I waited.

The silence in the room was deafening. The ticking in my head was louder.

Is she the monster? Is she waiting beneath us right now, getting ready to pull me down into the dark?

Three agonizing seconds passed.

Then, the stone surface rippled ten feet to our left.

Nyx popped up, her body solidifying back into flesh and bone with a wet gasp. She shook her head violently, coughing on phantom dust.

"Nothing," she spat, wiping her mouth. "Just dirt and rat bones. Your perk sucks, Maren."

She walked over and stood right next to Petra.

Three verified players.

All three of them had formed a subtle half-circle right behind me.

Their bodies were angled outward. Defensive. Ready for extreme violence.

I swallowed the dry lump in my throat.

My chest felt so tight I could barely draw breath.

I had tested the muscle. I had tested the utility. I had tested the scout.

There was only one person left standing near the portal.

Only one face the monster could possibly be wearing.

The three girls behind me didn't say a single word. But I could feel their eyes tracking the exact same target.

I slowly looked up.

Across the blood-stained floor of The Lodge, Seren stood completely still.

The silence stretched tight enough to snap.

She was the last one.