Normally, that door was locked. Q had found that out early on when he’d been part of the stage crew for a show in freshman year.
He didn’t mind picking another lock, but it would only stall him. This was his only chance. He wouldn’t be able to get Curtis out of the library again, and he didn’t know how long the task would last. So there was no time like the present.
Q tested the knob, and it easily turned in his hand. This Jacob guy had unlocked the door as a favor, probably. He knew the worst was to come, especially after watching his classmates suffer.
How thoughtful of him, Q thought as he stepped through the threshold.
Inside, the stage was dark.
‘I’ll hold it open,’ Holly said. ‘It closes automatically.’
He propped open the door with a chair, throwing light into the room. ‘Stay in the hallway and let me know if Curtis comes back. If so, you’ll need to get back to the library. I’m not going back until I win. And Curtis hearing the door close isn’t going to help me.’
Holly agreed and peered into the room before stepping back through the threshold.
The only light in the room was a candle flickering in the middle of the stage. It sat on a stool.
Q swallowed, stepping toward the candle. The thick red curtains were open, propped on either side of the stage. He was hyperaware of every sound in the room.
The flame moved in a silent dance, beckoning him closer. As he neared, he saw a thin white object next to the candle. A cigarette.
He licked his lips. After the stress of the day, he really could use a cig. But there was a zero-tolerance policy for smoking on school property. Did Jacob hope to get Q kicked out of school? On any other day, Q would have said he didn’t care, but today was different. He was determined to complete his task successfully. Even if that meant expulsion.
He glanced around the unlit auditorium. The outlines of the rows of chairs started to fill his view as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
From a few feet away, the cigarette and candle looked like two regular objects. But he wasn’t fooled. There had to be a catch.
As he reached out to pick up the cigarette, a blinding light filled his vision.
He threw his arm up, holding his hand over his eyes, shading them from the harsh light.
‘We know who you are, Jacob!’ he yelled at the light. ‘You’re not going to win this. I promise you that.’
Q turned and walked over to the cigarette. He was going to show Jacob who he was messing with.
After two steps, Q’s legs gave out from underneath him. He tried to get his balance again but realized too late that a waxy substance coated the floor underneath him. As he reached for the stool to regain his balance, he realized this was part of the plan. He failed his tasks within before starting it. The stool tipped over, knocking the candle to the ground.
Q fell at the same time. And as if in slow motion he plummeted to the ground, watching the flame remain alive against the wick.
Q slapped his hands against the ground, his wrists taking the brunt of his weight.
He let out a grunt, squeezing his eyes closed.
When he opened them, he had more to worry about than his wrists.
The flame caught onto whatever substance was on the ground. The floor around him lit up within seconds. He tried to scramble back, but it was too late. Heat spread across his hands, and he howled in pain.
He let out a string of curses while attempting to roll away from the flames. His legs slipped all over the floor, fighting to find enough resistance to stand up again.
‘Q!’ Holly said, from behind him.
‘Watch out,’ he said.
She came around the other side of him and grabbed onto his jacket, pulling him up. She helped drag him away from the ignited liquid.
‘Holy crap,’ Holly said as Q curled up into a fetal position, holding his hands. ‘We need to get the fire out.’
Holly rushed off the stage, into the hallway, hopefully to get help.
Q looked over at the flames, seeing the cigarette all curled up and blackened. His head fell back, banging against the wooden stage. He failed. He rolled over and felt his phone in his back pocket. Why hadn’t he used his flashlight to assess the situation? He would have seen the liquid on the floor and avoided it. But that stupid spotlight went off.
The spotlight…
Q sat up. Someone had turned on the light to screw him up. Jacob was in the room. At least he had been.
He shielded his eyes again, trying to squint through the harsh light to see the sound booth.
Did Holly get a look?
‘What the hell?’ Curtis shouted from the open door.
Busted.
Curtis came over to Q. ‘Are you okay?’
Q showed the teacher his hands.
‘What happened here?’ Mr. Curtis shook his head and ran off stage. He lifted the fire extinguisher from the wall near the exit door and sprinted onto the stage.
‘Stay back!’ he said, then proceeded to extinguish the fire.
Holly knelt down beside him and held out her hands. Q opened his shaking hands.
‘Whoa,’ she said.
‘Whoa, is right,’ Q said. He wanted to ask her if she’d seen anyone but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if they informed Curtis of the one-sided game they were playing.
Once the fire was out, Curtis came over to Q. ‘We need to go to the nurse’s office.’ He turned to Holly and lightly touched her arm. ‘Holly, go back to the library. No one is to move until we return. There have been enough distractions today.’
Q watched the interaction between the two and Jackie’s accusations started to make sense. Holly didn’t appear frazzled by her teacher’s touch, but it was still inappropriate.
‘A little help here?’ Q said.
Holly and Curtis helped Q off the floor. Q wanted to show his appreciation to her, but his hands were in so much pain. So he offered a small, pained smile instead, and allowed Curtis to lead him out of the auditorium.
‘Come over here by the sink,’ Curtis instructed once they reached the nurse’s office. He turned on the faucet and tested the water by putting his hand under the stream.
‘Put your hands under the water,’ he said, moving out of the way.
‘I know how to deal with burns,’ Q said, shoving his hands in the sink. Initially, the water stung like a thousand bees, but after a few moments, the cool water helped ease the pain.
Q whooshed out a relieved breath.
‘What were you thinking?’ Curtis asked.
‘I needed a smoke break,’ Q said, staring into his teacher’s eyes, daring him to say anything about the rules. ‘I think the janitor waxed the floor or something and it accidentally lit up.’
Mr. Curtis scoffed. ‘It’s a nasty habit.’
‘I’m trying to quit,’ Q said.
‘Is that why you wanted me out of the room?’ he asked.
It was partly the reason. The other was in his back pocket. Even though he didn’t need his phone at the moment, he felt better with it on him. He was able to control something about their situation. Though how did Jacob know that they were going to try and get the phones? Q’s red slip was in the drawer. Was that why they’d had to wait so long for another mission? Jacob was at least one step ahead of them this whole time. But how? The better question was why?
He sat back and eyed Curtis. He had been the only one in that drawer all day. Was Jackie right about his involvement in all of this? Was he going on some pranking-spree on the students that pissed him off? That didn’t make sense. Curtis was always with other kids in between classes and during other school-related activities. He appeared to love his job and Q’s classmates. Why would he try to embarrass and hurt them?
Q always talked back to his teachers for attention. But Teddy was a nerd and stuck up. And it didn’t appear as if any of the girls had done anything to piss off the teacher.
And even though Curtis did
n’t mind the kids calling him Curtis, his first name was Leonard, not Jacob. Was his middle name Jacob?
Q wasn’t sure. It seemed like a stretch.
‘I’m going to need to call your parents,’ Mr. Curtis said, indicating for Q to sit down. He opened up the container of gauze and pulled out a roll.
‘No!’ Q said. ‘Please, don’t.’ He had to think fast. Zoe and Holly still needed to have their turn. He needed to see how the game ended. ‘They don’t know I smoke. And it would kill my mom if she found out.’
‘I know you think your antics like smoking and acting out in class are funny and impress other students,’ Curtis said, ‘but they don’t. If you’d put as much effort into your schoolwork, you would be a star student. Your luck is running out.’
Curtis looked at Q as if maybe a punishment was what he needed. He held a piece of gauze against Q’s hand, and Q sucked in a breath.
‘I’ll do anything,’ Q said. ‘I’ll tell them I fell on glass or something. They will never check.’ And that was the truth. His parents believed everything that came out of his mouth, even if it was a lie. They always failed his tests.
‘And they won’t question why you weren’t keeping an eye on me in detention.’ Q’s eyes narrowed on Curtis. Q wasn’t afraid of his teacher, but he was afraid of what would happen if Jacob didn’t get his way.
Curtis started to wrap up one of Q’s hands with the gauze, trying to appear as if Q hadn’t just threatened him. ‘I could have informed the principal about your little stunt the other day with the fire alarm. I’m on your side here, Q. I hope that you understand that I went out on a limb for you.’
‘Why?’ Q asked. Why did he care if the students liked him?
‘Because I was a rebel as a teen too,’ he said, locking eyes with Q. ‘It didn’t make my life easy. I wish someone would have tried to set me straight.’
‘We should get back,’ Q said, wanting to be spared a lecture.
‘One more thing,’ Curtis said. ‘If I catch you smoking on school property again, you’re getting more than just detention.’
‘I get it,’ Q said.
Mr. Curtis smiled. ‘Good.’
Curtis liked being the ‘cool teacher,’ and Q knew how to play that, just like he played his parents. This guy was a sucker. And Q came out on top once more.
Though, he dreaded going back to detention to wait for his punishment for not completing his mission.
At least now he had an excuse not to be a participant in the completion of the paper chain.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ZOE
Saturday
Zoe couldn’t believe it when Holly informed them of what happened in the theater. Her imagination went into overdrive, and she envisioned Q’s angry red hands after catching on fire. They all fell silent while waiting for Q and Mr. Curtis to return. Without Mr. Curtis in the room, they could have done anything. But what could they do other than wait for Jacob to choose Zoe or Holly as his next victim? They were obviously no match for this game.
Teddy typed away on his phone, researching each of the Jacobs that they’d retrieved from the yearbooks. A scowl remained on his face the entire time. While Q and Holly had gone to fulfill Q’s task, Teddy had checked his bank account. Jacob or whoever was doing this had left Teddy with zero dollars to his name, other than the nine hundred in cash sitting in his bag.
There was nothing she could say to make him feel better. Instead, Zoe continued on both of their chains, hoping that Mr. Curtis would be satisfied with the work she’d done so he would lock himself in the office again, and they could finish this.
‘Damn it!’ Cece said.
‘What is it now?’ Jackie asked. Since returning from the bathroom, her eyes still squinted as if she were having trouble seeing. Even though Teddy’s money and Cece’s reputation were important, Zoe thought Jacob had gone too far with Jackie. And even more so with Q.
According to Holly, Q falling on the ground had been an accident, so Zoe hoped it hadn’t been Jacob’s intention to burn him. As the missions were handed out, they seemed to get worse. What fate would Zoe and Holly suffer?
‘I can’t remember my mom’s password to her email,’ Cece said. ‘I already got into Dad’s email and deleted it before he read it.’
‘Phones away,’ Zoe hissed as Mr. Curtis’s face appeared through the glass window in the door.
The door opened, and Cece and Teddy resumed working on their chains.
Jackie propped her arm on the table, shielding her face from the teacher.
‘Aren’t you going to eat?’ Mr. Curtis said, passing the table where he had placed a pile of candy and water bottles from his trek to get them food earlier. He’d arrived at the perfect time just as Holly had come for help. ‘I thought you all were hungry.’
Zoe reached for the closest candy bar. She didn’t want him to suspect anything else was off, though she didn’t plan on eating it. Her stomach was in knots thinking about her turn.
‘Q is excused from working on the chain due to his injuries,’ Mr. Curtis said. He waited for a response from them. Maybe a groan or dirty looks directed at Q, but he was left unsatisfied.
They all knew it wasn’t Q’s fault.
Mr. Curtis gave Zoe a funny look, and she shrugged, pressing down on the stapler again, puncturing one more staple into the chain.
He returned to the office and this time he didn’t close the door. They were going to have to be more careful.
‘How are you?’ Jackie asked him.
Q lifted his bandaged hands. ‘How do you think?’
For the first time since Zoe had known Q, his words weren’t laced with harsh sarcasm. He seemed almost playful at the moment, which wasn’t something Zoe expected after what he’d gone through.
Q glanced at Holly. ‘Did you see him?’
‘See who?’ Holly asked.
‘Jacob,’ he said.
‘You saw him?’ Cece asked Q.
‘No,’ Q said. ‘When I was close to getting the cigarette, the spotlight turned on. I assumed Holly would have seen him.’
‘I didn’t,’ Holly said. ‘I was by the door, remember?’
Zoe couldn’t believe Q and Holly had been in Jacob’s presence. He almost seemed like a ghostly figure at that point.
‘We were so close to having him,’ Q said as if reading her thoughts.
‘He’s been a step ahead of us this whole time,’ Teddy said. ‘I doubt he would have let himself get caught.’
‘He has to be somewhere in the building,’ Cece said. ‘Unless he has an accomplice. Do you think he’d give us his name and then come here, risking us getting a look at him?’
‘Someone is here, watching us,’ Q said. ‘If we catch that person then we’re that much closer to Jacob.’
Zoe wasn’t sure if Jacob would let himself or his accomplice get caught. If there even was one. Jacob seemed to have control over the situation—though Zoe couldn’t help but wonder, what if?
‘We can’t leave this room,’ Zoe said. ‘I doubt Mr. Curtis is going to let us out of his sight again.’
‘And none of us should face Jacob alone,’ Teddy said. ‘After Jackie and Q’s tasks, he seems like a deranged person.’
‘He was deranged from the start,’ Cece said.
Zoe nodded. Someone finally agreed with her instead of biting her head off.
‘Is there any way we can get ahead of him?’ Jackie asked.
Teddy tapped his pencil against his lips. Zoe knew that look well. It was something he did during tests in the few classes they had together in the past.
No one else said anything. They were stumped. Zoe sat there, her damp hands clasped in her lap, wondering who was next.
Selfishly, she wanted Holly to go next. Zoe had buried her head in the sand for years, avoiding conflict. She couldn’t have done anything to make Jacob or anyone that angry with her. She was under the radar of everyone in school. She wanted to put off her task until the last possible second.
Based on school rumors, Holly slept her way through the junior and senior classes. She deserved a task before Zoe.
Even though she hated herself for throwing someone under the bus, her survival instincts kicked in, and there was no stopping them now.
Several minutes later, the phone in the librarian’s office rang. One of her responsibilities as a librarian’s assistant was to field the phone calls that came in during her shift. Who called a school library on the weekend? In her weeks at detention, Zoe never heard the phone ring.
Her heart leaped. Was this her punishment? Did Jacob know that she was a library assistant? That was a dumb question. Of course he did. He knew everything. She wasn’t sure what to do, though.
But that decision was made for her when Mr. Curtis picked it up.
Inside, she panicked. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Did she automatically fail because he picked up instead of her? She glanced across the table. There weren’t that many slips left and none of them were red.
Her eyes snapped back to Mr. Curtis. The corners of his lips tugged down, and his eyes narrowed. He slammed the receiver down and stood up, shoving the rolling chair away from him. It banged against the filing cabinet where he’d stored the phones earlier.
Cece and Jackie glanced in his direction.
‘What’s going on in there?’ Teddy asked, shoving his phone into his bag.
Zoe shrugged. She didn’t know if she should say anything about it being her turn. Maybe if she pretended as if she didn’t know, then it would go away. She doubted that, but at least it would delay the inevitable for a little while.
The phone rang again, catching everyone’s attention.
Mr. Curtis dug his fingers into his hips and stared at it. He didn’t move until the phone stopped ringing.
Then a text tone went off.
Zoe’s gaze darted around. ‘I thought we agreed to keep our phones on silent.’
‘It’s not any of us,’ Holly said, pointing at Mr. Curtis.
Mr. Curtis picked up his cell phone from the desk and held it in his hand. He didn’t answer the call.
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