Kat’s temple ached from the pressure of her own head.
“Hey.” A bold voice slid through her ears, overpowering the buzz of the room. “What’s wrong?”
Kat raised her throbbing head to find her coworker Owen sitting in front of her. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his palm. Owen was a junior at Brookwood High, and although they didn’t have any classes together, they’d shared quite a few fun conversations at work.
“Let’s just say I’m having a weird day.”
“Yeah, I figured. You’re not usually the clumsy type.” Owen adjusted the maroon apron over his black shirt—the same uniform Kat was dressed in. His eyes jolted to her phone screen, and Kat ripped the device from the table, but she was too late. “Psychosis, huh?”
“It’s nothing.”
Owen faced the window, his dark skin glowing as the golden light struck him at the perfect angle. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I’m worried.”
“Don’t be.”
Owen tapped his fingers on the table and stared at the hills in the distance. He always had this strange caring nature. Looked out for her, gave her advice, was always the first to offer her a hand, but if Owen knew who she really was, he wouldn’t be eager to call Kat his friend anymore.
“I haven’t really been sure how to bring this up.” Owen shut his eyes, bracing himself. “But have you been—like—I don’t know—”
“Just spit it out.” Kat exited from the Reddit page before shutting her phone off.
Owen stopped tapping the table and opened his eyes to meet Kat’s. “Have you been stealing spoons?”
A grin grew across Kat’s face as she set her phone face-down onto the table. Someone had finally noticed. She’d been slipping spoons into the sleeves of her jacket on the way home from work after every shift. She now had a total of thirty-seven spoons sitting in her desk drawer at home. Seeing the confused looks on her coworkers’ faces on the rare occasion a customer ordered a soup had comprised sixty percent of her work entertainment for the past month.
“Stealing spoons?” Kat shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
“I know I shouldn’t point fingers.” Owen held his head firm, pasted in the air. He wasn’t convinced. “But we all know something weird is going on with the spoon count. I just want you to know that if you’re struggling with something right now, there are better ways to cope with it. You can talk to a friend, like me, and there’s also professional help, like therapy, or…”
Kat reached for his hand and folded his fingers against his palm until only his index finger was pointing at her. “You say you shouldn’t point fingers, but that’s exactly what you’re doing.”
“No.” Owen pulled his hand away from her grip and crossed his arms. “What I’m doing is making sure our customers don’t have to eat soup with forks.”
The front door to Halos swung open, and her eyes widened at the sight of Peter Moon. Behind him was that same girl who had run into Kat in the math hall this morning. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Peter occasionally came to eat at Halos after school, but never during sixth period, and certainly not with another person. Yet here he was.
“I’m here for you, okay? If you need help with anything—anything at all—let me know.”
Kat ignored Owen, watching Peter and the mystery girl walk their way to one of the open booths near the door. Was she a friend? Kat hadn’t heard of Peter having friends before. Not since freshman year, at least. Who would choose to be friends with a guy like him?
“You should think about skipping your shift.” Owen slid out from the booth, pausing before heading to the kitchen. “I’ll find a way to cover for you. Get some rest.”
“No need for that.” Kat tucked her phone into the front pocket of her apron and rushed toward Peter. “I got table three!”
At the sound of Kat’s voice, Peter looked over and smiled at her. Surely he had to know something about the memory she’d seen this morning.
“I see you’ve brought a date today.” Kat approached the edge of the table and studied the girl sitting across from Peter. Tan skin, infinitely dark eyes, and hair that draped across the sides of her face like wet shower curtains. Kat was positive she’d never interacted with her before this morning, but she seemed familiar.
“I’ll take a salad,” Peter said. “Balsamic vinaigrette.”
Kat had already made a mental note of his salad. That was all Peter ever ordered at Halos. Salad, salad, salad. He didn’t even switch up the dressing. But what Kat really didn’t understand was why he came in the first place. The salads at Halos were nothing special.
“You?” she asked the girl across from him.
“I’ll pass.”
“Well if you’re going to sit here and take up space, you better buy something.” Kat tapped her foot as the girl frowned at the table, contemplating her order. These two likely didn’t have a free period, which meant they were skipping class to be here. Skipping class for a meal at Halos was wildly out of character for the punctual Peter Moon, and hanging out with Peter at Halos was wildly out of character for anyone with even a pinch of sanity.
“Fine, I guess.” The girl rested her head against the wall. “A chocolate milkshake then.”
“Wow Jackie, a chocolate milkshake?” Peter spoke with a loose lower jaw and raised brows. “Doesn’t get much worse than that.”
Jackie frowned. “What’s with the salad?” Her voice was dull, uninterested. It was almost like she didn’t want to be here with Peter in the first place.
He raised his chin, eyes glowing. “I try to be healthy.”
Kat raised her voice. “That all for you then?”
“For the order. But I do have a question for you regarding something else.” Peter leaned toward her, refusing to blink. “What’s my uncle’s name?”
Kat pursed her lips, waiting for him to say something else, but he simply sat with a slappable grin on his face.
“Nicholas.” Kat plopped herself onto the booth seat next to Peter. “Why the hell do I know it’s Nicholas?”
Peter’s voice reduced to nothing more than a mumble. “You saw the memories too.”
“Your fifteenth birthday?” Kat asked.
“And Jay showing up at your house.” Peter turned to the girl across the table, prompting her to hold her phone out toward Kat. On the screen was a countdown and a sentence explaining that Peter and Kat—the subjects—would meet their demise unless they completed the levels in time.
“Do you know anything about this app?” Peter pointed at Jackie’s screen. “Does it look familiar to you?”
Kat shook her head. “What does this have to do with the memories?”
“Told you she wouldn’t know.” The girl pulled her phone away, eyes drifting to the door. “We should get going.”
“You’re right.” Peter tried to get up, but Kat refused to move, locking Peter in the booth.
“Going where?” Kat asked.
Jackie stood next to the booth. “Pelle Cove.”
Kat laughed. First Peter showed up at Halos with a girl, next he finally displayed a hint of having answers, and now he was leaving to go to the beach before even finishing his salad? Oh man, now this was getting interesting.
Peter pulled his phone out from under the table. “I’ll get another Riderr.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Kat made eye contact with both of them, her smile growing so wide it made her cheeks ache. This entire situation was bizarre, and although she was wildly curious and had no idea what was going on, she couldn’t stop the excitement from seeping in. What loser would turn down the opportunity to hang out with the Brookwood crazy boy and his awkward girlfriend, two kids who were somehow involved in giving her visions of the past? “I can help.”
“No.” Peter shook his head. “No, you are not coming with us.”
; Kat pressed her glasses closer to her face. “And why not?”
“I don’t know why you’d decide to join us when you don’t even understand what’s going on, but I don’t care. You’re not coming. Let me explain this really simply for you. You and I are both in danger, and if you’d like to wake up tomorrow morning with a beating heart, you’ll get out of my way so Jackie and I can do what we have to do. You can stay here, keep up with your little shift at Halos, and assuming the next three levels are more of those weird floating capsules we have to open, brace yourself for three more random memories. Besides, we can’t mess around with time anymore. Level Three is at Pelle Cove, but the last two locations could be in Italy for all we know.”
“Which is exactly why you need my help.” Kat knew what Peter was doing. He wanted to scare her out of coming along by blabbering nonsense he knew she wouldn’t understand, but all he’d managed to do was intrigue her further. Chasing down floating capsules to unlock memories of the past? Gosh, this was either really dangerous or these two kids were messed up in the head, and both options were a lot more interesting than her usual shift at Halos. “I can get us a car.”
Before Peter could oppose, Jackie spoke up. “A car would be helpful.”
Peter blinked at Jackie a few times before turning back to Kat. “And what’s in it for you?”
“People do weird shit when they’re bored.” Kat stood from the table, finally letting Peter out. She turned to see Owen staring at her from behind the bar, his brows furrowed.
“You two can wait outside.” Kat offered Owen a subtle wave. “Give me a few minutes to change and we’re out of here.”
“Aw. What about my salad?”
Kat frowned at Peter, and he raised his hands as though she were holding a gun to his head.
“Relax.” Peter raised his brows. “I’m kidding.”
17:27:32
THE TIME WAS 3:08 in the afternoon, nearing the end of Brookwood High’s last period of the day. Peter stood next to Jackie at the front of Halos with perfect posture, eyes frozen, lips pursed. He’d finally stopped running his mouth, and although Jackie should have enjoyed the silence, his strange behavior left her uncomfortable, so she escaped reality by checking her phone.
Eugene had messaged her on Discord over an hour ago. So what’s going on with that missing kid situation?
Normally Jackie would never take so long to reply to Eugene. So much had happened in the past few hours that Jackie could hardly comprehend how on a normal day she’d be solving a LIMBO level in the middle of a boring language arts lecture right now.
Her thumb rocked back and forth over her screen, debating how to reply. She didn’t want to scare Eugene away with her personal problems, and in less than twenty-four hours this would be over with anyway, so did it really make sense to tell him about Capsule?
What if he doesn’t believe me? Jackie’s thumb paused. What if he calls me crazy?
Before Jackie could make up her mind, a second Discord message appeared from Eugene’s side of the screen. I have plans with my friends today…let’s play earlier? Like 4?
Sorry. Eugene could sniff lies from a mile away, so she refrained from messaging him a stupid excuse. I’ll be free tomorrow
Jackie bit her lip as Eugene’s typing icon appeared. Tomorrow? There’s no way your busy
Jackie responded with you’re* to dodge his indirect question. The ironic part was that she actually was busy. Probably for the first time in years. She couldn’t remember when she’d last turned down a gaming session with Eugene, if she’d even done so before. Calling Eugene had always been the highlight of her day.
“Eugenie?”
Jackie flinched at the sound of Peter’s voice in her ear. She turned her phone off and tucked it into her back pocket. “It’s Eugene.” She spoke quickly, avoiding eye-contact with Peter, who stood leaning over her shoulder. “He’s an online friend.”
Jackie’s own phrase caught her off-guard. She’d called Eugene an online friend. That was a first.
“Online friend, huh?” Peter leaned away and stared at the boring parking lot again. “What do you guys even do? FaceTime all day?”
“We don’t FaceTime.” Jackie thought back to the PC in her room. Part of her wished she could quit this stupid Capsule game and play a round of Mystery Bullets with Eugene instead, but death was much more challenging to ignore when it stood right next to her.
“Really? No FaceTime?” Peter crossed his arms. “So I’m guessing that means you don’t know what he looks like.”
“No, I don’t.”
“And how old is he?”
“Sixteen.”
“Sure.”
Jackie rolled her eyes. It was true that she’d never seen Eugene before, but that didn’t mean he’d been lying about his identity for four years.
“You’re being catfished.” Peter’s face grew angular, the softness fading until his skin morphed into the mask of the boy behind Moral Moon. His complexion hollowed, leaving him lifeless.
Plastic.
“There’s nothing I hate more than fake people,” he muttered.
“Eugene isn’t fake.” Jackie took a side-step away from Peter’s unfamiliar face. “He’s my best friend, but I guess you wouldn’t know what that’s like.”
Ever since Jackie had met Peter this morning he’d caused nothing but trouble, yet none of his annoying acts had ever bothered her as much as the insults directed at her best friend. Peter didn’t know anything about Eugene and had already managed to judge him and accuse him of being a liar. The blood rushed to Jackie’s head, and her jaw went tense to restrain herself from shouting. For a moment Jackie considered handing him her phone and placing the responsibility of Capsule between his hands instead of hers.
Peter can save himself.
But Jackie couldn’t do it. She couldn’t give Peter the controller mid-way through a level. No, she was too invested for that. The first two memories framed Capsule as a narrative game. Surely the memories hadn’t been random. Capsule had a story to tell, and the game had chosen Peter and Kat as the main characters. If Jackie dropped out now, she’d never understand the story’s significance.
She’d never understand why she’d been chosen as the player.
No, I’m doing this. She folded her fingers around her screen as though she were clutching a joystick at an arcade. She’d clicked play, and now she was in this to win.
Now she was addicted.
The front door to Halos swung open. Kat stormed past them with steps daring enough to be mistaken as gunshots. She no longer wore her black work apron, but the same outfit from this morning—a white top with a sunflower embroidered into it and a pair of bright pink calf socks, the left scrunched a bit more than the right. Cartoon keychains dangled from every zipper of her pineapple-colored backpack. Among them Jackie recognized the same Baymax keychain Emmeline had clipped to her keys in the Level Two memory.
“Let’s go.” Kat gripped a key in her right hand in the same way she’d grip a knife.
Peter’s and Jackie’s eyes met, and the tension between them shattered. They followed Kat to a white Toyota Highlander a few rows from the front of Halos. Jackie still hadn’t gotten over the fact that he’d slandered Eugene, but they were in this game together, and she could at least try to get along with him until they reached the end.
Kat unlocked the SUV and held the key toward Peter. “Let’s get to Pelle Cove.”
Peter’s face went red. “Wait—no—I don’t—”
“Just spit it out.” Kat pressed the key’s tip against Peter’s chest.
“I don’t have my license.”
“Well neither do I.”
Peter pointed at the SUV. “Then why do you—”
“My friend Owen’s letting me borrow it.” Kat pulled the key away from Peter and grinned. That shade of lip gloss—it was
the same shade of pink Emmeline had worn that day.
Peter crossed his arms to protect himself from a future key attack. “And he’s trusting you with a car when you don’t even have your license?”
“Well it’s not like he knows that part.” Jackie flinched as Kat pointed the sharp end of the key toward her. “I hope you can drive, because if you can’t, we’re out of options.”
Jackie took the key from Kat with a loose grip. “I have my permit.”
“Nice.” Kat headed for the other side of the car. “I call shotgun.”
“You know what?” Peter stepped in front of the driver’s seat, blocking Jackie’s way. “Why don’t we just call another Riderr?”
Jackie guarded the key safely inside of her fist. This was their best option, and Peter knew it. They had no idea how challenging the next few levels would be, so it’d be smarter to maintain as much control over transportation as possible.
Peter sighed and stepped away from the door. “Fine.”
Jackie hopped into the driver’s seat and tightened her face to keep from smiling as Peter mumbled his complaints from the back. It was strange to think that someone as rule-following as Peter could create Moral Moon. Legally, he was a goodie-two-shoes, but socially, he was an overconfident rebel.
Peter slammed the back door shut as Jackie started the car. She wrapped her fingers around the steering wheel with a death grip, the urge to smile fading. Her only driving experience was a few trips with Jay and Mr. Mendoza back and forth from home to Brookwood High. She had actually only received her permit two weeks ago, but she wouldn’t mention that detail. As long as she drove safely, they’d be fine.
Jackie shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space. “Can you pull up directions?”
Kat reached into her backpack for her iPhone. It didn’t have a case. “I’m on it.”
“I still think this is a horrible idea,” Peter said from the back seat.
“Don’t worry, dude.” Jackie forced herself to loosen the grip on the steering wheel. “I can drive.”
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