Fear Games

7. Admit It

I have Kael. You have thirty minutes to follow his location before I kill him. Game on, bitch.

"Colton!" I shouted, jumping off the couch. "Colton, get out here!"

My boyfriend came rushing out of the bathroom, asking, "Babe, what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"No," I said. "It's Kael. He's in danger. The killer has him and they want us to find him in the next thirty minutes or they're going to kill him."

"What the hell?" Colton asked. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"Thankfully we all decided to start sharing our locations with each other when the Fear Games started," I said as I scrambled through my phone. "I know that Kael thinks that German is the killer, so maybe it's them?"

"Are you sure this text is legit?" Colton asked. I knew he was just trying to be reassuring, but the question honestly just stressed me out more.

"Only one way to find out," I said. "We have to follow his location, which is—" I stopped when I recognized the address. "Shit. I think I know who the killer is."

EMERALD

That afternoon, I was spending quality time with my older brother Calix, which was something we hadn't done in a long time. He asked me when I got home from school if I wanted to go get some coffee, and I agreed. The two of us took his car and the ride to the shop was pretty awkward. Silence sat between us the entire way, and when we got to the place, we both took our orders and sat at a tiny table in the corner.

"So," I said, finally breaking through the quiet, "why exactly did you ask me if I want to come with you today?"

Calix shrugged. "Maybe I just wanted to spend some time with my little sister."

"Uh huh," I said. "And there's no ulterior motive here?"

"Nope," Calix said. "I just wanted to...I don't know...talk? It's been a long time since we've actually done that."

I nodded, even though I didn't quite understand. Mom had obviously shown favoritism toward Calix for a long time when we were growing up, while Dad always seemed to favor me. It was a good balance until Mom and Dad got divorced and I ended up living with Mom full-time. It wasn't that I didn't love her—it was that sometimes I worried she didn't love me enough. Calix stopped paying attention to me long before he moved away to South Carolina, and now that he was back, it felt a little strange. But I was open to improvement.

"There is something I did want to talk about," Calix said. "It's actually about Jax."

"What about him?" I asked. Cinder and I had a theory that the two of them were having a fling anyway, but the fact he was bringing up his possible boyfriend to me was weird. I wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Well, it's weird," Calix said. "He and I were sort of..."

"Seeing each other?" I finished.

He nodded. "Yeah. And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, he disappeared. I haven't heard from him at all. It's like he completely fell off the fact of the Earth."

"That's strange," I said. "Wasn't he still living in aunt Eden's house while she faked being dead?"

"Yes," Calix said. "I guess I'm just wondering if you know anything that I don't. Does Cinder? Does anyone? I thought he and I had something...special. I've not felt like this about a guy in a long time. I just don't want to think that anything might have happened to him, that he might be..."

"You don't have to say it. I understand. I'll be honest, I don't know much about him, and I doubt Cinder does either. It's not like she kept in touch with him after they left. He was mostly supposed to be looking over the house until it sold."