JOOKIE WHISTLED AND MOTIONED FOR US TO FOLLOW HIM DOWN THE HALL. We had no choice but to follow him with the guards flanking us from all sides.

Layla was still off somewhere, so she didn't join us. We passed by the kitchen and the dining room, pausing at the far wall.

Snapping his fingers, the walls parted like the red sea, revealing a new location. Glittering pearl-colored granite shone under the bright fluorescent lights in the ceiling. An enormous rectangular pool filled the cerulean-painted area, a white diving board glinting toward the right. Spacious marble hot tubs took up every corner.

Everyone piled in, taking in the beautiful sight.

Jookie loitered near the entrance, arms folded against his chest. "You guys can use this room at any time."

Chi giggled, sliding her tall heels against the flooring. "I can wear my new bikini now." She waltzed around the pool, ogling the sparkling water.

Gmie joined her by the pool with a giant grin on her face. "God, I missed swimming. I'm going to use this room all the time."

"I didn't know you liked to swim so much," Demo asked, coming up behind her.

"I love it," Gmie said, eyes sparkling. "It's the best feeling to be one with the water."

My eyes watched everyone parade around the new area, excitement buzzing in the air. Yaz stayed back like me, looking almost bored.

To me, the pool didn't radiate fun. It came off as more of a death trap. Images of someone trying to drown me entered my whirling mind. Drowning was the key element here. Or slipping and falling. This room just screamed vulnerability. Death beckoned to me here.

Maybe it was Tiran's death, but something just felt wrong now. Having your worst nightmare sprung upon you before death— wow. The creators of this show were sadistic as fuck.

Tiran was a savage rapist who deserved whatever pain his victims went through but quadrupled, but still, that was a beautifully horrific way to die.

Just thinking about it made my tummy deliciously swirl and twist. I licked my lips and then shook my head, trying to ignore the tingling going through me. Stop it. I distracted myself from the sensations by thinking about Tiran again.

His answer for his actions was his father. Because his father gave him the pills and called him a lesser man, Tiran thought he had the right to do those things.
But Khan said he wasn't his father. That Tiran made his own choices. Was that true?

Could I make the choice of not becoming my mother? What if all this Betinia-Tini switch crap was bogus and it was all biological or genetic? What if I wasn't strong enough, and I was just fighting a losing battle?

Did my mother have a choice? What if that darkness was just so uncontrollable that she had no other choice but to unleash it?

I shuddered before descending out of the room, making my way back to my bedroom. With midnight approaching, being around these people would be deadly and swimming wasn't really my thing. I hated getting my hair wet.

"Betinia," Jookie sang before I could make it down the hall.

I paused, turning around. "Yes."

His eyes burned into mine. "You still haven't received your sponsor present yet."

Fuck. I forgot.

A surprise. Wasn't the tormenting masked figure enough? What the hell did I do for this person to hate me so much? Before this place, I kept to myself, and if I didn't, I was usually always smiling. Just being normal Betinia. Who did I fuck over in a past life to deserve this? To be sponsored?

My heart tumbled around in my chest cavity, thinking about the surprise. It couldn't be good.

Jookie gave me an eager grin before walking into the pool room, pulling a cage out from behind a potted plant.

A cage?

Squeaky barks wailed from the cage. My beating heart stopped. Duke, my childhood Norwegian Elkhound, jumped around in the cage. Instead of being an adult, a puppy of at least six months blinked back at me. The fluffy black, white and gray fur shimmered in the light as the doggy wagged its tail.

This wasn't Duke. Not really. He was dead. Yet again, my sponsor was fucking with my mind, trudging up sour memories that I buried deep in my brain cavity.

I stepped away from the cage. "No thanks. I don't want it."

"Do you think you have a choice, my naïve peach?" Jookie laughed, harsh yet joyful as he opened the cage, grabbing the doggy.

He threw him into my arms, and I caught him. He didn't weigh much since he wasn't a full adult yet. He licked me and nuzzled my hands. Instantly, a soft bubbling feeling entered my chest. Crap.

"Isn't this cheating?" Gmie placed her hands on her bony hips. "She has a dog to protect her. I want one."

Savage annoyance painted Jookie's face, almost like he wanted to sock Gmie in the throat. "Only she gets one. Dogs cannot be requested on the wish list either."

"What makes her so damn special?" Gmie snapped as the other contestants stared at me. Then she turned toward me. "I bet you're in on all of this. Like the little spy you are."

"Yeah, seeing my dead dog come back to life is really something positive. I don't even want it," I snapped, clutching the dog as Tini blazed full force. "I see you being a spy before me. You keep trying to tell people what to do and who to vote for. That's something someone on the inside would do. They'd try to control the game."

"You're the one who keeps winning and figuring shit out," Gmie said, grinding her teeth as she stalked forward.

My fingers buried themselves into the dog's fur. "Yeah because I pay attention. Maybe if you took your head out of your ass, you might actually be able to figure something out yourself, instead of thinking it should be handed to you because you come from a rich family."

Gmie stalked forward like she was about to attack me, but the doggy snarled, ready to attack.

Gmie backed up, eyes slitting. "This is cheating. I thought this was supposed to be a fair game."

Jookie cocked his head, placing a finger on his chin. "It is. So what if she has a dog? Doesn't mean it makes her harder to kill. You just gotta be smarter. You guys can request all the weapons you want. Except for guns. It'd make the game too easy, but anything else is fine."

"Still not fair," Gmie snapped, glaring at Jookie. "And I'm not the only one who thinks that." A few others mumbled, agreeing with her. Mostly everyone who voted for Rucker, which was basically her whole clique.

"Tough shit." Jookie shrugged. "I have a job to do, and this is what the higher-ups want. Things like this make the game interesting. Toodles." Then he left with the guards in tow.

"Who'd you suck and fuck to get a dog?" Gmie asked, teeth grinding. "Jookie?"

Yaz snorted. "You deaf? Didn't you hear that her sponsor gave it to her."

"Bullshit," Gmie said, eyes glaring.

I cuddled the doggy closer, feeling his snout nuzzle my chin. "I'm sorry, but I don't give out sexual favors like you do for free shit."

Gmie looked like she was about to explode on me, but she stalked off instead with Demo and Chi in tow.

Khan walked over to me, letting the dog sniff his hand before petting it. His eyes bore into mine, seeing past my walls. "Do you know the higher-ups? The people in charge?"

"No," I said honestly.

He petted the dog, which licked his hand. "I believe you. But they do target you a lot."

"I have no idea why," I said, shaking my head. "I wish they and my sponsor would just leave me alone."

He chuckled, letting out a soft husky sound. "Seems like you have an enemy within the administration," he said before walking off.

Sebastian walked over, hands in his pocket. "You okay?"

The dog tensed, sizing up Sebastian.

"Sorry, I'm not good with dogs. They kind of scare me," he said sheepishly.

"It's alright," I said. "He's probably just feeding off your energy."

He stared at the dog for a second. "Is this really your dead dog?"

I nodded. "Looks just like him. It's really creepy, actually."

"Probably best to not let it bother you," he said. "Just go with it. If they gave it to you, it must be for a reason."

"Not a good one," I said. My mind kept telling me that they might make me kill it or something. I closed my eyes, sighing. Not sure if I could do that.

"Probably not," Sebastian agreed. "Nothing good ever comes from the gifts around here."

We walked out of the pool room and toward the kitchen. The doggy panted as we moved, nuzzling my cheek with his snout.

"What are you doing the rest of the night?" he asked.

I looked down at the dog. "Not sure, yet. With the pact over, I'll probably be staying in my room a lot more." Gmie basically put a target on my back.

"Yeah, that makes sense since the game has officially begun," he said, hands in his pockets. "We can make a pact together."

"What kind of pact?" I asked, stopping outside my bedroom.

He stared at me with a smile. "To not harm each other. To be allies."

"Why do you want to be allies with me?" I asked, scratching the doggy who was falling asleep in my arms.

"You're intelligent, observant and you catch things that others don't," he said with a shrug. Then he gave me a beautiful smile, one that lit up his eyes and made them twinkle like stars in a black sky. "Plus, I have this strong urge to protect you."

I jerked back, clutching the sleeping dog closer to me. "Umm why?" The way he looked at me reminded me of the way Jonathan used to look at me. Crap. Did that mean he liked me? Did I like him? I sucked when it came to feelings. And with our current situation, it seemed like a bad idea to have feelings.

But Chi said that this environment would cause us to seek pleasure from each other.

He tucked a curl behind my ear, coming in close. "I don't know. I've never had this feeling before."

"Ahh---umm..." I stammered, not knowing what to say, which caused him to laugh.

"It's fine. No pressure," he said before laughing. "Just saying I feel this connection to you. It's probably why our clues are linked."

Yeah, the king and the pawn. I still didn't know what that meant, but maybe it did mean that we were connected somehow.

We stood there for a minute in silence. His confession made me feel a bit awkward because I didn't know how I felt or if I should feel anything.

"Umm sure," I said, breaking the silence. "We can be allies. It'll make the game easier, right?"

He grinned, knowing I changed the subject on purpose. "Right."

♟♙♟

I spent the rest of the night in my room, counting down the minutes to midnight. Once it hit, nothing miraculous or murderous happened. Time just passed.

The doggy kept running around my room in circles and pooping and peeing on my dirty clothes in the corner. It was the only thing I had that resembled newspaper.

After a couple of hours of that, he tired himself out and snuggled up next to me. Soon after, he drifted off to sleep, making tiny noises ever so often.

This doggy looked just like my Duke. So identical, it was scary. Same markings and dimples.

Memories of my Duke buzzed around in my head, making me lightheaded before zeroing in on his last day alive. I still remembered that day. My fifth birthday.

It was a Disney princess-themed party. So colorful and lively. It took months of begging, but my mother got a real horse and carriage to come. So beautiful and glittery.

The white horse looked majestic and pure. It carried me and my friends around my giant backyard. It was such a fun day that it never crossed my mind that Duke wasn't around.

He slept in my bed the night before like he did every night. His massive body snuggled up next to me and my stuffed animals, basically acting like my security blanket.

But when I woke up that morning for my birthday, he was gone, which was a first since he always woke me up with kisses. My parents kept saying he was around somewhere and not to worry. But once I got dressed, Duke still never showed.

I remembered calling for him as we prepared for the party but still nothing. Once my party got started, I forgot about him missing because of the excitement of everything.

Ahh, it was such a fun day. Full of smiles, pictures, and laughter. Until the presents.

I decided to open all my presents at the party with everyone around. My mother handed me the largest present first. Wrapped in a crimson bow, the yellow box glittered under the peaking sun.

A giant smile hugged my lips as my sticky fingers opened the present like a crack addict looking for his next fix.

Underneath all that noisy tissue paper was Duke. Dead. Slashed and mutilated. Eyes open.

The screams and the cries of everyone around me were still forever buried in my brain. The shocked looks of horror and disgust etched the parents' faces while kids sobbed.

I never had another party after that, and the police never found out who did it. Probably some sick homeless person, they said. Yeah, right.

My lungs cringed when the memory of Duke's lifeless eyes flashed in my mind again. The carbon copy next to me wasn't him. He wasn't my Duke. The Duke that ate cupcakes with me and licked frosting off my nose or the Duke who snuggled me every night as a kid. Or carried me down the stairs for Christmas.

But still, this new Duke filled me with sparkling bits of nostalgia while tugging at the strings of my heart, but I brushed those feelings away.

Tomorrow was a new challenge, and I needed to be ready because my gut told me it wouldn't be easy, especially since the pact was over.

Once I walked out those doors tomorrow, the game would truly begin.

♟♙♟