The Assassin Game (23 page)

Believe me, I'm crying more than all of you put together. But we do this right. We protect ourselves, and we get whoever did this.

I_did_it

Vaughan, are you out there? Who is Skulk? Surely you know?! It's time to name names!

Grand Master

Vaughan DOESN'T know. And we don't know Skulk is definitely the one who did this.

Becky_is_Dead

Did you do this, Skulk? Show yourself! I dare you!

But Skulk is silent. It's frustrating as hell. My signal keeps dropping, I miss messages, and the timeline messes up. I click on some stuff and it takes forever to load. I want to see where Vaughan is, so I check the map for users.

I spot DeadMcTavish. His little red skull is hovering over the library, along with Banana Hammock, Grand Master, IceColdBlond, General Disarray, and Becky_is_Dead.

CharlotteCorday, I_did_it, RAW, and sooperdooper are coming up as in one of the labs, probably the computer science room. As am I, technically, as Clouseau in the sick bay.

Smee is offline, as are AllKillerNoFiller, 13*is*my*lucky*number, and Skulk. Suddenly the fun of guessing all these users has disappeared.

I continue to monitor the feed as best as I can. I long for Skulk to message me. Come on, you coward. But for now, Skulk is skulking, biding their time, playing it safe.

I hear the nurse with my food, and I scuttle back to bed. I eat quickly, then return to my spot by the window and log in again to Crypt. The signal seems even worse this time. The wind is battering the window, so maybe it's the storm that's making things more difficult. It's apparent from what chatter I can pick up that the teachers are beginning to herd everyone to dorms and bed.

Then Alex posts:

Summoning is called. Tonight, 4:00 a.m. I don't need to tell you there are police around and some loser psycho who is gunning for us. Be extra vigilant, but be there. Rick is relying on you.

Grand Master

Unbelievable. Alex is deluded. How many people are actually going to turn up for that? I'm not. I'm shutting my eyes and I'm not waking up until daylight.

I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth. When I return, there's a little plastic pot with green liquid in it by my bed. I sniff it. It smells familiar, but you never know. I open the door to the waiting room.

Both the nurse and a policeman turn around, alarmed.

“Are you all right, miss?” the man asks me.

“Yes, thanks.” I look at the nurse. “Did you leave this for me, by my bed?”

She nods, a little embarrassed. “It's cold remedy, but it will help you sleep, if you want it.”

I look at her. She doesn't look like a killer. The bottle of cold remedy is there on her table. “Thanks.” I down the liquid in one.

“I'm off to bed in an hour, but I'm just in the adjacent room if you need me,” she says. “And Sergeant Maddox is here all night.” She shoots him a shy glance. “In the waiting room, I mean.”

Oh blimey, they fancy each other. Heaven help me.

I pad back into my room and go to pick up my tablet from the window. Mr. Flynn never made it back for another visit then. I pull the curtains tight, having first checked the windows are securely locked. As I go to shut down my tablet, I take a final glance at Crypt, half expecting Skulk to post something at the last possible second. Because that's what Skulk does, isn't it? I decide right there that if they do, I'm telling. Never mind the Game, never mind Vaughan's intranet. If Skulk pops up now, I'm tracking that little psycho down and telling Sergeant Maddox, and they are catching his or her arse. I'm sick of the thrill.

But all is silent.

I get into bed, snuggle down, the muffled tones of nurse and policeman next door lullabying me to sleep with their flirting.

Next thing I know, it's dead of night, and there's someone in the room with me.

“Don't scream.”

Words guaranteed to make you scream. If I weren't under the cloud of cold remedy, I would, but instead my heart just stops.

“It's me, Vaughan.”

He's crouched by the bed. He flicks on a flashlight held under his chin, and I get a flash of his face.

“Jeez, Vaughan!” I whisper at him. “Do you want me to die of shock? What are you doing here?” I sit up in bed and shift over a little so he can get in. He shakes his head.

“No, come on. It's time for the Summoning.” He gets up and starts looking for something in the room. “We're late; I had to wait for the policeman to go to the bathroom.”

“Are you insane?” I'm angry as much about Sergeant Crappy taking a pee and putting me at risk. “Nobody in their right mind is going to be at that Summoning.”

Vaughan flings me my jeans. “Hurry up. They'll be there. And so must we.”

“We'll never make it!” I get up and start putting the jeans on anyway. “There are police everywhere!”

“Two blokes, walking a perimeter. I've watched them.” He flings a sweater at me. “They've obviously never done this before in their lives. And it's stormy as hell outside, so they're lingering in the sheltered places. It'll be easy.”

“Right you are.” I pull on the sweater and scoop my shoes up from under the bed. “Just how do we get out of the room in the first place? Wait for Hot Fuzz in there to have another slash? Or are we breaking our way out through the glass?”

“Neither.” He flashes a little key at me. “Remember when my feet were all cut up from the rocks?”

“Er, no,” I say. “I'd completely forgotten about that.”

“I came down here for some bandages. Told the nurse I'd dropped a glass in the bathroom and stepped on it.” He goes to the window and inserts the key into the lock. “It was a sunny day, and she opened the windows with this key. Keeps it on top of the doorframe in the waiting room. Actually asked me to get it down for her, because she's a short-arse.”

“Great,” I intone. “But, Vaughan, I'm not kidding. I'm not going anywhere.”

He looks at me, one foot up on the windowsill. “So why are you holding your coat?” He opens the window and a rush of cold air blows in. Without a backward glance he shimmies out and drops down on to the grass on the other side.

And I follow. Of course I do, stepping out after him and hurriedly pulling the window shut behind me.

Thankfully, it's not raining, but the wind is gusting, almost threatening to knock me off my feet. Vaughan is running ahead, keeping low, in the direction of the labs. I pull my parka around me and run, looking around me, expecting a shout, or the flash of a light to stop me in my tracks. But I'm not even sure I could hear someone yelling with this gale. We weave in and out of the classrooms, and then Vaughan diverts us around the sports center. He sprints flat-out, until we reach the corner of the gym, where he stops, panting. I catch up and throw myself against his piece of wall.

“That's where the cops are circling.” He nods in the direction of Main House. “We have to cut down the back way and head to the cliffs from the bottom of the lawn. It's longer, but we won't be spotted.”

I nod, and we set off again. It hurts to run in this wind, but every shadow, every shaking branch makes me run faster. When we reach the cliff, the wind is frighteningly strong, and I keep as far back from the edge as I can to prevent a gust from picking me up and hurtling me to the rocks below. The path down is more sheltered, but as we run out onto the beach toward the cave entrance, the wind buffets me again, pushing me backward like a giant's hand denying me of my destination. I bend over, leaning into it, and suddenly we're there, my ears popping as I stagger inside the first chamber behind Vaughan. We drop to our hands and knees and recover, then it is me who rises first, pulling at Vaughan's jacket, and making the final part of our journey into the Place Most Holy.

We are late, but we're not the only ones. In the dim light of the oil lamps, Carl, Martin, and Whitney are pacing, fretting.

“Did anyone else come with you?” Carl says. Vaughan shakes his head. Carl passes me a bottle, but I wave it away.

“You'll excuse me if I don't eat or drink anything.”

The others immediately look at their drinks with concern. Martin rushes up to me and gives me a hug.

“Thank God you're OK!” he says. “I've been so worried about you! They said you didn't eat any of the cake, but I wanted to see you with my own eyes, you know?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I frown at him. “You look…guilty. Got something you need to tell me, Martin?”

“No!” he says. “I'm not Skulk—look, let's wait until everyone's here.”

“Tesha and Anvi aren't coming, and I really doubt Cynthia will be here,” Whitney says, smoking furiously. “Tesh and Anvi have had enough. They're scared. They told me that tomorrow they're going to the police, going to spill the beans about everything, regardless of what Alex decides tonight.”

“Where is Alex?” I look around. “This was his call. Where is he?”

There's a noise behind me, and I turn around, but it's only Becky and Roger.

“Where's Alex?” Becky says. “Did we miss him?”

“Not here yet,” Carl says. “Look, let's start. The whole point of us meeting here was to discuss what to do and get our stories straight, and frankly we can do that in two minutes because I'm pretty frigging sure we're all agreed.” He looks around at us.

“Alex talked about catching whoever did this,” I say. “Obviously, I kind of have a vested interest in that.”

Carl nods. “Understandable. But let the police handle it. I'm sorry, Cate, but I've nearly lost one of my best friends here, and I'm not going to screw around playing detective.”

He walks up to the altar alcove, pulls the beads and velvet curtains to one side, and throws the bottle down on the altar.

“The Game is finished!” He tugs the curtains down and kicks at the altar; candles, photos, and the yellow skull go flying. “No more Kills!” He jumps up and swings at the fairy lights, bringing them down too in a tangle on the sand. He turns to us, strangely calm.

“Crypt is deleted, like yesterday, Vaughan, that way we don't need to tell them about your hack.”

Vaughan nods, and Carl continues.

“We're straight with the police. Tell them everything else, even about these caves. Yes, we'll get into hell for being here, but if we give them something solid, they'll think they have it all. We take anything incriminating away now.” He moves around the cave, gathering a few things—cans, an ashtray, and a small tin box—and stuffing them into a bag.

“And finally”—he turns to face us again—“Killer, whoever you are—you're over. We know you're not Skulk, and we know you're not responsible for Emily, Marcia, and Rick. Speak up if you're here, and let's end this.”

“No!” Alex appears at the door, dripping wet. “This is my Game, Carl. You don't get to end it.”

Carl shakes his head, goes over to Alex, and puts a hand on his shoulder. “It's already ended, mate—”

“I said no!” Alex swings a punch. Carl clocks it and manages to dodge, but the blow still strikes him on the ear. He turns, furious, and charges into Alex, knocking him to the floor, his hands around his neck.

Nobody yells stop. We watch, glued to the spot, as Carl's fingers tighten around Alex's neck, his face squashed and purple against the pale sand. Alex's legs kick out, hopelessly, and suddenly I'm reminded of Rick on Ezra's floor.

“OK, Carl,” I say quietly. “Stop.” But Carl just squeezes harder. “OK, I said!” I grab his shoulders and try to pull him back, and then Vaughan and Roger are pitching in and together we've thrown Carl off Alex, who sits up, spluttering and choking.

“The decision is made, Alex,” Carl grunts. “End of Days.”

Alex shakes his head. “I never thought you'd be the one to betray me, Carl,” he croaks.

“Betray you?” Carl is on his feet again. “I am protecting you, Alex!”

“Is that what you were doing with your hands around my throat?” Alex laughs. “Anyway, it's irrelevant. The reason I was late here is that they spotted me. Any minute now we're going to be joined by our friends from the constabulary.”

“What?”

“They're coming here?”

“Christ, Alex!”

Rats deserting a sinking ship. Becky, Whitney, Roger make for the exit without delay. Carl gives Alex a look and then follows them, clutching the bag. Martin flings out a hand for Alex, but he's not moving from the floor. And then Martin leaves and there's no one here except me, Vaughan, and Alex.

“How far away are they, Alex?” I ask him as he finally stands and starts to move around the cave, picking up some of the photos from the altar and shaking the broken glass off them.

“Meh. Top of the cliff. They don't even know the cave is down here. As long as they don't see those lemmings running out of here screaming, we should have a couple minutes at least.”

“Look, it's clear everyone wants to come clean,” I say. “It's best.”

“For you?” Alex stops and looks at me. “Seems it's your life at stake.”

I shake my head. “Maybe. Or maybe it's nothing to do with the Game. For all we know, Skulk has hacked into Crypt and they're not even a player.” I look at Vaughan. “It's possible?”

“It's possible,” he says.

“So any trap we lay for Skulk may not work. Time to let the professionals deal with it, Alex.”

“Moving on, Cate?” Alex straightens up, looks at me. “Yes. Yes, you're right. Let's hand this all over to the grown-ups.” He walks past me, in his arms a bag full of things he's gathered from the cave. “Remember that, Cate, when you're at their mercy, won't you?” He pushes past me, shouting back at us. “This isn't over!”

We watch him fade into the darkness. Vaughan moves to one of the crates, sits down.

“Why does everything I play with always break?”

“Oh, this is all about you, is it?” I sit down next to him. “Good-oh. I'm really bored of it all centering around me.”

We sit there, listening to the wind and the sea outside.

“Must be raining now,” Vaughan says.

“Yeah.”

“We staying here?”

I look at him. “We are. I meant to tell you, those windows at the sick bay only open one way. When I shut them behind me I locked us out.”

Vaughan nods. “Makes sense.”

“I'm exhausted.” I lean over, grab the velvet curtain that Carl ripped down from the altar. “We can make ourselves at home. Wait for them to come and find us.”

We make a nest—rugs, cushions, blankets. A single oil lamp. It's cozy. As I settle down underneath the velvet curtain and Vaughan wraps his arm around me, I keep expecting the police to burst in or Mr. Flynn or one of the other teachers, but no one comes. We lie there, side by side, watching the entrance, the lamp flickering and casting shadows up the sides of the cave.

“What was it like when you thought you were watching Rick die?” Vaughan whispers.

At first I don't answer him. I resist the memories, watching the shadows dance, breathing with them.

“Awkward,” I say finally. “It felt…awkward. Five adults in that room—and me. And none of us knew how to react. Oh, they knew what to do—Mr. Flynn and the police—the CPR or whatever. But when it seemed like he was gone…no one knew where to look. It was like we were intruding on this…really private thing, the moment as he slipped away.” I feel a shudder move through me and try to stifle it, but Vaughan just holds me closer. “Hang on in there, Rick,” I whisper. “You've always been a stubborn donkey.” We lie there, breathing in time with each other, and I cry a little covertly. And then the tears slide away, and still Vaughan holds me, and I wish that life was just this. All the outside stuff can just go away, and I'll just stay here with my old friend, feeling safe and loved and understood. But there are always things that get in the way, like conversations that have to be had, and revelations that have to be made. I wipe away my tears. “I know who the Killer is, by the way.”

Vaughan twists around to face me. “What?”

“Not the real one, the one in the Game. It's Daniel.”

“No way!” Vaughan leans up on his elbow. “Are you sure?”

“Yep,” I say. “Found the Killer card in his violin case.”

“Strange.” Vaughan lies down again. “I didn't think it was him. Although now, I can sort of see the psychology of it. Female victims, he's hopeless around girls; he bloodies them. I was right! It was a boy.”

I frown into the gloom. “I was surprised, I'll admit. I didn't think he was so into the Game that he'd do all that preparation. But I suppose that's a good cover, the apparent lack of interest. And he's certainly clever enough to have thought it all out. I just didn't think he was motivated.”

“Hmm,” Vaughan says.

“What, you don't believe it's him?”

“Well,” Vaughan says. “And don't take this the wrong way, but…I did wonder if he was the real Killer or at least if he was Skulk.” He turns to me. “You see, I found something out. Remember we thought Tesha posted that video of you two?”

I nod. “Of course.”

“She didn't post it. I went to her room to delete the video off her mini-cam, like you asked me, and then I searched her laptop for the video, but it wasn't on there. That got me curious. I searched again, and eventually I did find it. But not on her machine. It was on her roommate's laptop.”

“Emily,” I say, sitting up. “Emily is her roommate.”

Vaughan nods. “We already know Smee posted the video. I checked back through Crypt's feed. Smee has been inactive since Emily's accident, so…”