“I don’t know what is more terrifying,” Tyler said as we followed Margo down an incline and into the meadow, “knowing old age is so scary, you just stop being scared, or…” He paused. “Wait…I thought I had something else that was terrifying. Maybe it’s just age. Age is terrifying.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I know what’s more terrifying—Margo is. If you keep talking nonsense like that, I hope she proves it.”

  Margo glanced back with a furrowed brow and a smile. “Old age is a blessing. My memories are priceless. Things slow down and you learn to savor each moment, take delight in each smile, love anew with each little laugh from your grandbabies. My life is full. I cherish it. And when God calls me home, I hope I will be remembered for the gingerbread houses and the storytelling by the fire and the laughter.”

  “That’s really pretty.” I smiled.

  “It’s true.” She looked in the pot as we reached it.

  I continued walking, scanning the chairs in front of the dwelling before peering in the opened door. A dim interior hid the details. I couldn’t tell if anyone was sitting inside or not. Tyler met me there, not crossing the threshold.

  “Let’s do a perimeter check,” he murmured.

  As we moved away from the door, I could’ve sworn I heard scuffling from within. We did a sweep, finding no signs of anyone else’s passing and nothing in the meadow. Not one chair was out of place. The fire continued to crackle merrily.

  Back at the doorway, all was quiet.

  “We don’t actually have to go in,” I whispered.

  “We do,” Tyler said. “There might be something useful, like journals or books or supplies.”

  I exhaled. That was probably true.

  “I am not like Margo,” I whispered. “I still feel fear.”

  He cracked a grin. “See?”

  “Do you want me to go first?” she asked from behind us.

  Yes, I did, but I wouldn’t admit it and look like a coward.

  Tyler clearly thought the same thing, because he straightened his back and squared his shoulders.

  “Stand back,” I said as I slowly pulled out my sword so as not to cut anyone. Tyler and Margo did the same. “Okay, here we go.”

  The interior of the dwelling was cavernous, much bigger than it looked from the outside or even while standing in the doorway. Recliners sat facing a small dais. Two fires burned merrily on the outskirts with a place to eat, to rest, to sleep, or lounge. Board games had been left out in a corner and a library stretched along a wall. The inside, when one was actually inside, looked completely different than when standing at the door and looking in. This place was a mind bender.

  “What do you think all the recliners are for?” I whispered as we walked down the side of the room.

  Margo shook her head and Tyler didn’t respond. He headed for the bookcase at the back of the room.

  “Spread out,” he said, motioning us around. “Check for journals. Pick up everything. Check every drawer. Anything that can go in your inventory should go in your inventory.”

  Margo and I did as we were instructed.

  “Quinn?”

  I froze with my fingers curled around the knob of a little table at the back corner. That had sounded like a woman’s voice.

  Tyler was still at the bookshelf, touching every book on the second shelf from the bottom. He didn’t look over. Margo was wrestling with a chair, trying to shove it in front of her and into her inventory, apparently.

  I snickered at the effort, then looked a little harder at the table. It didn’t have the telltale sparkle, but maybe that hint eventually went away.

  First things first: ransack the drawers.

  I pulled. A pen and a black piece of paper awaited me. I pulled them out, checked them, and then shoved them into my inventory. Neither of them had shimmered, and they both went in. That answered that. Game on.

  I grabbed the table with greedy urgency. This thing was going on. I was going to shove it.

  “Quinn.”

  I froze again. That had definitely been my name, spoken by a woman.

  Was this place messing with me?

  I turned and straightened at the same time, looking in the direction I thought I’d heard it. Two rocking chairs sat beside a bin of yarn. Knitting needles stuck out of one of them. I headed that way, absently grabbing the needles and pushing them into my inventory. The yarn went too, one by one, as my gaze traveled to the stone wall behind it. The yarn basket wouldn’t go, passing through the screen.

  My skin prickled as though an unseen gaze watched me. Shivers washed over my skin.

  On the other side of the chair, behind a potted plant, slats made up the backdrop of a few decorative shelves. They were mostly bare but for a sculpture of a bird and a picture of a black cat with its head on backward. Odd. A small bit of air danced across my shins.

  I backed up and crouched, scanning again, furious tingles now racing across my exposed flesh. A few boards were broken, one missing, within pooling black shadows. I looked in before moving on and then froze. My whole body screamed in alert.

  My sword came free in my hand as I quickly backed up, my gaze snapping to the pair of eyes that gazed at me from within one of those pooling shadows.

  “You’ll want to come out of there,” I said in a low voice, the threat plain: Or I will force my way in.

  I wasn’t planning on taking chances with a jack-in-the-box.

  “Whoa, what’s happening?” Tyler said. He dropped a book, the thud making me jump.

  “Quinn!”

  My heart hammered. I knew that voice.

  The eyes disappeared, and the wooden slats popped away from the wall, creaking open like a door attached without hinges. What else was new?

  Kym exploded from the space, her hair disheveled and a relieved smile on her face.

  “Kym!” I dropped my sword and wrapped my arms around her, laughing in relief. “You made it!”

  “I made it?” She pushed back and wiped one of her glistening eyes. “What took you so long? And why are you covered in blood? Whose blood is that? What the hell happened?”

  “Okay, okay.” I laughed, putting out my hands. “Too many questions. But why are you hiding in there? And why did you wait until I was freaking staring at you before you said anything?”

  “At first because I wasn’t sure it was you—bro, you’re covered in freaking blood and you look feral. Then because I wondered if you’d find me.”

  I noticed more movement. Cadence ducked under the wall and into the room. She had blood down one arm and a large smile.

  “Quinn.” She nodded in greeting. “Good to see you again.”

  “You guys found each other. Awesome!” I laughed in relief, checking Kym over. She only had a small scrape on her side. “Died, huh?”

  She huffed. “Four times. Stupid ogre things. I couldn’t get the three together. Any more than two and forget it. I found Cadence stumbling out of a bush near four of them.”

  “The ogres weren’t what killed me, though.” Cadence’s expression soured. “A couple asked if I would help them take down the four ogres in the clearing together. Seemed doable. Teamwork. Well, we got ready, and suddenly they were attacking me with their baseball bats! The couple was, not the ogres. Before I blacked out, I heard the guy comfort his girlfriend by saying I wouldn’t really die. That I’d come back, and it was fine.”

  “They robbed her.” Kym glowered. “That is such bullshit. They could just get their own stuff. All you have to do is pick it up. Or beat down a monster rather than another person, you know?” She glanced at Tyler and Margo, who’d wandered closer.

  “Oh, sorry.” I introduced them and explained how we’d met. Then I filled in Margo and Tyler.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Tell me everything!” Kym looked down my body. “I knew you’d probably look like some sort of dirty warrior princess, but this! Are those chomps on your legs? Tell me you died at least once.”

  I shook my head, glancing at the secret door. “I’ll explain it all as we move. We need to keep going. What’s with the hiding spot?”

  Tyler was already headed over to check it out.

  Kym glanced behind her. “We didn’t want to wait along the path for you in case someone else tried to steal. And then we got here and didn’t really want to wait in plain sight here, either. It was Cadence that found this place. There’s a couple chairs back in there and a little light that alerts you when someone enters. Then, when people choose to play the instructional thing, the sound cuts off in there and the door locks. I nearly lost my mind when it first happened. I thought we were trapped. But then the sound came back on and the people were leaving.”

  “What?” I looked around. “What people?”

  “Instructional thing?” Tyler asked.

  Kym led us through the row of recliners to a little dais at the front of the space and stepped over a yellow line. An image of a woman flared to life, plain-featured and with hands entwined in front of her, her fingers dramatically long.

  “She’s like a hologram,” Cadence told me.

  “She looks like a real person,” Margo said.

  “Except for the hands.” Tyler leaned around me to see better. “Computers always seem to get the hands wrong.”

  “Welcome, challengers!” The woman smiled pleasantly. “You are currently in the Learning Phase of the Core. If your whole group is present, I would love to give you some necessary information to help you navigate your environment. Is your whole group present?”

  Kym looked back at me with raised eyebrows. “Are we waiting for anyone else?”

  I shook my head. “If we say this is our group now, can we still add to our group later?”

  “Excellent question!” The woman turned to give me a beaming smile. “You certainly may, but you will need to make sure that they get this necessary information to help them navigate their environment.”

  “Right, fine. Yes, this is our whole group.”

  “Fantastic.” The woman looked at each of us in turn. “Please, have a seat in a recliner while we wait for our other challengers, and then I will provide you with some necessary information that will help you navigate your environment.”

  “Sounds like corporate-speak,” I mumbled, taking a seat in one of the recliners.

  “Right?” Kym sat next to me. “Lame. If you’re going to abduct us, at least be less formal about it.”

  We looked at each other for a silent beat.

  “Yeah, okay.” She nodded at me. “Maybe formal is better than probing.”

  “Don’t count your chickens,” Cadence murmured.

  After our group was seated, a wave of tingling heat washed over us and hazy forms crystallized around us into people. Many had tight eyes and nervous postures as they looked around warily. All wore the clothing we did, some with pins and others with sandals. Many of their gazes found me and stuck, fear lighting their eyes. I was suddenly rethinking the respawning issue.

  The “woman” still stood on the dais, looking around at the gathered people.

  “Please feel free to take notes,” she said. A notepad and pen appeared on the arm of each recliner. “A copy of my debriefing will be provided to you as well.”

  A man down the row stood up, his face red with anger. “What’s the meaning—”

  He grabbed this throat as though he were choking. Gagging noises came out of him as he staggered back into his recliner.

  A woman screamed. Someone started crying, but they were immediately cut off.

  I grimaced. Kym reached over to squeeze my forearm, her eyes wide and watchful. Beside me, Tyler leaned back in his seat, as though wanting to get as far away from the presenter as possible. Rough start to the meeting.

  As if hearing me, the presenter said, “I apologize for the heavy-handedness. It has been shown, however, that this is the way humans respond best. Now, if I might continue?”

  She paused with a hopeful and somewhat kind smile. Soft crying and sniffling drifted from a few more people, but they weren’t gagged for it. Small miracles.

  “Fantastic. First, let me congratulate you on reaching the halfway point in the Learning Phase. Great work!” She clapped, her fingers weirdly floppy. “You have undoubtedly learned a lot so far and hopefully have a fair idea of the mechanics of this new environment. I will now provide you an overview of what’s to come as soon as you exit the Learning Phase.”

  She paused expectantly, and I hurriedly took up my notepad and pen.

  A straightforward map appeared above her head. It had a large brown path leading through green, with a few offshoot paths along the way. A dot formed at a little house with the words YOU ARE HERE. An arrow pointed to it.

  “As most of you know, within the Learning Phase we allow you unlimited lives. If you use all your health, expressed as human hearts, you pass out before being respawned. The moment you leave the Learning Phase, however, you will no longer be respawned. You will only have one life. Please keep that in mind. If you die in the main trials, your death is permanent.”

  Soft murmuring rose from the group, but no one dared raise their voice.

  “Have no fear.” Her smile grew as she raised an unnaturally spindly, slightly curved backward finger. “As nearly all of you have learned, there are ways to regenerate your health. Additionally, there are ways to increase your health and stamina capacity. Everything you need is provided; you simply have to learn how to use it to your best advantage. There are books and lessons and tutorials along the way to make it easier, and please lean on your new friends, your teammates, strangers, and the traders and merchants within the Core to increase your store of items and knowledge. You can make it out of here alive. You do not need to do it alone.”

  That actually sounded like we should not do it alone. It was a hint if ever I’d heard one. That was what they wanted us to prove we could do, after all, right? That we could unify and embrace change without violence.

  “As I said, this is the halfway point. There is more learning ahead of you. In order to ease you into the main Core system, after this meeting, you will have a time stamp. You must exit the Learning Phase within the time allotted. Now, this is important.”

  She paused and looked across the crowd. I braced my notepad studiously.

  “Within the main Core system, there are six challenges. Once you set foot in each challenge, the time will reset until completion of that challenge. Upon completion, it will reset again. You should have plenty of time for each phase. Additionally, there are various demi-challenges along the way. Completing each of those will give you resources and a time boost. Complete a demi-challenge in under the time allotted, and you will have gained time. Complete it too slow, and you will have lost time.”

  “Math,” I murmured.

  Kym gave me a shove to shut me up.

  “If you need a learning refresher or a break, you may come back here. Your goal is to stay alive and reach the end.”

  “Logic,” I whispered this time. Another shove. Honestly, what were we supposed to be writing down?

  “About the challenges—there are five main challenges. Each challenge holds a corresponding token. You must have all five tokens to progress to the sixth and final challenge.”

  She paused to make sure we had that. She clearly didn’t think much of humans’ intelligence. This was terrifying, not complicated. Might as well ask us to have a seat and jot down our greatest fears.

  “Within each of the five challenges, there are multiple points at which you can defeat a lesser enemy, or solve a riddle or puzzle, and add that waypoint onto your map. For your information, this is a waypoint.”

  The map materialized above her again. This time, the arrow pointing to the house was animated, extending from the word “waypoint” to the house in a loop.

  “You can travel between waypoints at any time. Within the final challenge, however, you do not have that luxury. Once you are in the final challenge, you must remain there until you win or lose.”

  Until you lived or died, she meant.

  I raised my hand to ask about the cabin’s inventory when in the final challenge. Kym punched me to take my hand down.

  “Questions can be saved for your guide,” the presenter said pleasantly.

  I lowered my hand. I didn’t want to get choked out. Though now I also wondered who the guide might be and when we got to meet said person.

  “Within each challenge, you must activate the beacon to populate your map. Your guide will have more information once you reach the challenge. Now, this is important. Hopefully everyone is paying attention.”

  Her gaze zipped around to the people who obviously weren’t.

  “A token is not awarded to each individual who completes the challenge. A token is awarded to each group. If you are a group of ten, and your group defeats the challenge, your group will be awarded one token. If your group then splits up, part of the group will have a token and the other must repeat the challenge to acquire a new token.”

  The murmuring was louder this time. I looked over at Tyler with wide eyes.

  “A token can also be stolen,” she went on. “It does not belong to any one person. If the person carrying the token dies, the token becomes part of their loot. If someone puts the token into their cabin and they die, that token is lost.”

  What cabin? That place we first emerged from?

  If that was a place we could go back to, wouldn’t it be a waypoint?

  Tyler looked at me in confusion. Kym had an equally confused scowl. None of us knew. There seemed to be some gaps in information here.

  Regardless, the issue with tokens was huge. Most notably, the ability to loot to get those tokens.

  The breath left me like a deflating balloon. What in the absolute hell?

  Implications pinged through my head. Red flags. Warnings.

  We’d be stronger in groups, but we’d have to really trust the people in that group. Whoever held the token was both a lifeline for the group and a target for everyone else.

  Because you didn’t have to complete the challenges at all.

  She hadn’t explicitly said that, but the rules were clear. To get into the final challenge, you needed all five tokens. She hadn’t said you needed to personally win those tokens, just that you needed to have them.

  The people who didn’t want to work for it would steal it, like they were doing for weapons and other items. Just like now, they wouldn’t realize that to beat the sixth and final challenge, they’d need more than the higher-tier weapons and crafting items. They’d need the skills to go with them. They’d go in unprepared. They’d die and lose the tokens. Meanwhile, they’d be hunting humans and leave a trail of bodies in their wake.

  I sagged in my chair. This had just become worse than I could’ve imagined. Sure, yeah, take notes, why didn’t I? Another nightmare to add to my dream board.

  “Within the Core are many simultaneous trials,” the being said. “You will likely meet other humans on your journey. Maybe some in this plane or room.”

  I put up my hand to ask if they would win the same tokens. Then lowered it.

  Okay, she’d been right. Watching someone get choked was a damn good conversation ender.

  A moment later, she affirmed that they could.

  “The challenges are in the same locations and with the same themes. They each distribute the same individual token. Other challengers, though, might have chosen a different path. They might have different skills and a different understanding of the Core. Feel free to share knowledge and trade resources with other challengers. Include them to form larger groups.”

  Her last words lingered as she looked around, eyebrows slightly lifted. Another hint to form teams, and this one was blatant. The “Core” required us to work together to beat the challenges.

  Her encouraging smile was starting to get annoying.

  “That is all you need to know for now. Everything else you will hopefully learn as you interact with the Core. We do hope that you succeed. As your saying goes, many hands make light work.”

  Yes, we get it. Team up. Message received.

  I glanced at Tyler. He’d slumped back in his chair, randomly staring at the ceiling in boredom.

  I spat out a laugh, slapped my hand over my mouth, and coughed to hide it when she looked at me.

  “Just”—I beat on my chest and coughed again—“allergies.”

  I gave her a thumbs-up before hunching down.

  “She is going to choke the crap out of you,” Kym whispered behind her hand.

  The presenter offered a strange side bow, as though her body didn’t work right, before winking out.

  We were on our own, and we were at the mercy of those who were the most violent. Power in numbers, but with a bunch of strangers, and we’d only know who couldn’t be trusted after we needed that information. Everyone had just become so much more dangerous.