I almost cry when I see my mother’s name. Maybe I am losing my mind. Because I wanted it to say something else almost if only to prove that I’m not crazy. Or that I’m not delusional when I believe everyone around me is deceitful. Whywould Grandma come up with such a story? But the evidence is right in front of me. Proof. Maybe I wanted it to not be her, so I don’t have to discern that I killed the woman who gave birth to me. But I want her to be my mother. None of my thoughts are making sense. Even as I walk back to the car, I feel out of sorts.
A message chimes on my phone. The one I’ve dreaded more and more with each passing day.
Truth if you dare. Meet at the old Belgrave Academy at midnight—Or beg for Mercy.
I watch as the communication fades. It’s almost over. But after the last one, I don’t want to think about what is planned. What if someone else dies? Brooke is distracted and worried about her mom. I’m lost in my own head. Luca and Micah are determined to defeat the other no matter the cost, and it’s down to the four of us. I don’t want to see what’s ahead.
76
LUCA
“Hey, where’ve you been?” I ask as she climbs out of her car.
“Requesting an official copy of this.” She pulls out a folded paper and passes it to me. “It has my mother’s name on it too.”
It’s a copy of her birth certificate. I’m unsure what she’s getting at. “Why would you expect different?”
She utters, “Just a conversation with my grandma. It’s nothing.”
It doesn’t seem like it, but we have something else more pressing right now—challenge twelve. And it’s nearly midnight and time for it to begin.
When Micah and Brooke arrive, the four of us follow the markers that lead to the back of the cemetery and into a mausoleum.
“This is where we did the whisper dare at,” Ivy mutters, her vision glazed over. “That feels like a lifetime ago.”
It really does. So much has happened since then.
Decider is already waiting as we approach. He’s silent until exactly midnight.
“Face the truth if you dare. You proved worthy of trust in the last round. But what is trust without truth? Trust remains fragile even after established.”
The dread in my gut tells me that it’s not fragile as in weak, but more destructive like a bomb waiting to detonate. And it’s about to implode my world.
77
IVY
“Can you get to the point?” I say, wanting to hear whatever hoops we have to jump through now.
“Ivy.” Luca tugs me towards him as I yank my arm away.
“What? Is he going to kill me like he did Remy?” I glare at the masked figure who doesn’t even have the balls to show his face. “How can you stand there and pretend like this shit is okay when someone died?”
“The dead are gone. The blood is shared amongst us all.”
“More fucking riddles,” I mutter, earning another keep-your-mouth-shut glare from Luca. “He was your friend and you’re fine with all of this.”
I peek over to Micah and Brooke. “Is this really worth it?”
Brooke responds, “We don’t have a choice.”
I’m so sick of hearing that excuse. The truth is we tolerate and put up with exactly what we want.
“If it’s the truth you want, you’ll get it,” Decider states. Two hooded figures enter and guide us to the same exact tomb where we were blindfolded for the whisper challenge.
“Do we have to whisper to each other again? Share our truth and tribulations?”
Decider enters as he announces, “Truth is inevitable. Everyone must accept that before they can advance to the final round. Each team has a secret that will bond or destroy the trust that was built over the entirety of Mercy. Whose bond is strong enough to withhold and earn the right to make it to the end?”
