Ellis was the first to speak.
“What did I tell you all?” he said. “Didn’t I say it? We’re in trouble. We’re in so much fucking trouble.”
Today at 9:58 a.m. you’re going to play a game I call: The Balloon Game. Every hour you must choose who is theguiltiest among you. Before the hour ends, that person must leave the circle, where they will die. If no one leaves, all of you will die. Only one can survive. Happy anniversary.
6
Ana
“It can’t be right. I mean, what freaking circle? There’s no circle here. And what’sThe Balloon Game? I’ve never heard of that. It must be a mistake. Right?” Raya looked around.
All seven students were gathered around the fire now. Only Benny was absent; he hadn’t emerged from his room since he’d gotten the key.
Ana shivered, despite the heat from the flames.
“Why the fuck do you think it’s a mistake?” Ellis blurted out. He was squatting close to the fire, fidgeting with a quarter, rolling it across his knuckles, one way and then back again. “There’s no one else here. Our bus has been destroyed. We’re in the middle of nowhere. This message is clearly not a mistake.”
As Ellis said it, Ana knew he was right. Nothing about this was accidental. They were being played—some strange, twisted game.
You are all guilty.
Guilty.The word burned through Ana. Had someone found out what she’d done? How could they? There were only two people who knew what really happened a year ago.
Danny couldn’t have told anyone. He never woke up after the fire.
The other person wouldn’t tell anyone—not without betraying patient confidentiality. In a moment of stupid weakness, a few weeks after the fire, Ana tried to talk to Mr. Dankman during one of their mandatory therapy sessions, only to have him diagnose her with ‘survivor’s guilt’ and send her home with a prescription for Zoloft and the unhelpful suggestion that she get some sleep. Even though she had a pretty low opinion of Dankman’s skills as a therapist, she couldn’t see him intentionally revealing her confession. Though, to be fair, he might have said something by mistake. Maybe to another patient or student, or one of the teachers? There was no way of knowing.
Or maybe someone had found out another way? Had someone seen her? Had someone else been there a year ago? The thought made Ana feel physically sick. She looked around at the others. If she was actually guilty, then what did that mean about the rest of them? Were they all guilty too? What secrets were they hiding?
Seven survivors on this trip. Was it possible that a year ago,eachof them had done something? Something bad enough to die for?
The shadows from the firelight were dancing across their faces, making their expressions morph and contort, rendering them unrecognizable. How well did she even know them? Any of them? What were they capable of? What had they done? Ellis, Jade, Jax, Caden… She looked around at the ring of faces. Raya. Alex.
No.
She shook her head, as though the thoughts might fall away. She was playing into the trap, allowing herself to think that way. Whoever sent the message was manipulating them, wanting them to doubt each other, to feel afraid. She had to be stronger than that. She had to do better, thinkclearer. Whatever this was, it was just getting started and she was going to need her wits about her.
“It’s gotta be a joke, right?” Jade asked. Her voice sounded small and childlike. She was pushed up against Jax, his arm around her.
“Yeah, for sure. It’s a prank. It’s gotta be a YouTube thing.” Jax was nodding vigorously to himself, as though that would make it true. “Loads of content creators post stuff like this all the time. Last one to leave the circle wins a suitcase of money. We’re probably being filmed right now.”
“I found a microphone in my bathroom,” Ana said quickly. “And there are hidden cameras all over this place.” As soon as the message arrived, she’d ditched Raya’s theory that the small black dots were a relic from the past. From now on, she would assume that they were being watched at all times.
“Oh my god, me too!” Jade added. “I found a mic over the mirror—it totally creeped me out.”
“There were cameras in the reception area,” Alex said. “I saw, like, maybe…three?”
“See?” Jax said, vindicated. “Someone’s trying to record this from every angle. We’re totally being filmed. It’s a prank.”
“Just because there are cameras doesn’t mean we’re being filmed. It means we’re being watched,” Ellis said. “Do you honestly think anyone would be stupid enough to take a group of school-fire survivors and publicly torture them for fun? You’d get canceled if you tried to pull that kind of shit.”
Jax scrunched up his face in thought as he tried to follow Ellis’s reasoning.
“Maybe it’s some kind of secret government experiment?” Raya piped up. “I bet there’s, like, some hallucinogenic shit in the air that’smessing with our heads. Or some bored motel employee who’s been hitting up their home-grown weed and decided to play a twisted mind game on a busload of heteronormative rich kids.” Raya laughed. She seemed to be enjoying herself far too much.
“For fuck’s sake, Raya,” Ellis cut in. “You need to quit smoking and grow up. Weed? Jesus Christ.”
“Dude,youneed to cut down on the steroids,” Raya retorted, her tone instantly hardening. She could flip on a dime, from laid-back to warrior queen. Ana got it. Raya had learned to protect herself; it hadn’t been easy being the only openly trans kid in the whole high school.
