Rules of the Game. James Frey

      “To Adlai?”

      We were so close to killing the Nabataean, love, Chiyoko reminds him.

      He nods. “Yes. We were very close,” An says to Chiyoko and Nori Ko.

      Nori Ko ignores An’s use of the first person plural and says, “I tried to reach the cemetery, but I was too late to help you. Believe me, I would have.”

      An thinks of what she did to the mob in Ballygunge. He says, “I believe you.”

      “Good.”

      Silence again. They pass roadside things. A group of women in bright clothing, a flock of pigeons rising from the treetops, a road crew patching potholes in the oncoming lane.

      The other side of the world faces the apocalypse, but in India life goes on.

      “What do you think of when you think of revenge, An?”

      “Blood. Ashes. Swollen things.”

      Nori Ko shakes her head. “No. I mean, who do you think of?”

      The answer is quick. “The Cahokian. The Olmec. They were there when she died. If they hadn’t been, she would’ve lived.”

      A brief silence before Nori Ko intones, “Then I want their deaths too, An Liu.”

       SHIVERshiverSHIVERshiverSHIVERshiver.

      “But tell me, An Liu—is there someone else you want dead?”

      The car jounces over a bump. Neither speaks for a moment. He looks at the instrument panel. The Defender whips along at 123 kph. The engine hums at 2,900 rpms. It is 37 degrees Celsius outside.

      “Yes,” he answers.

      Nori Ko says, “The kepler.”

      An nods. “Him. It.”

      Nori Ko grunts. “I’m also in the mood for his blood. And I will see that you have it. That we both have it.”

      An says, “You’re not like Chiyoko.”

      “I’m older than she was. Age does things to a person, and people who know of Endgame age even faster and in different ways.” She waves her hand as if to bat away a fly or an unpleasant memory. “I had ideals once, if that’s what you mean.”

       BLINKshiverblink.

      “It is.”

      “I’ve learned a lot about Endgame over the years, An. From a lot of different people, not all of them Mu. Not all of them wanting Endgame the way the Players did. My ideals, such as they were, suffered the more that I learned.” Pause. “They were dashed for good when Chiyoko was killed.”

      Hearing her name again hurts. She shouldn’t say it, he thinks.

      Chiyoko whispers, It’s all right. She will help you. Don’t be hard on her. She will help you. She will help us.

      An shakes his head—not a tic, just a hard shake to quiet her voice, which echoes in his brain.

      A car appears in the rearview mirror, driving very fast.

      “So tell me—where are we headed, Mu Nori Ko?”

      “You’ve been watching the news?”

      “Yes.”

      “And seen that someone’s destroying monuments from Maker-human antiquity?”

      “Yes. Do you know who?”

      “I have a hunch, but that’s not important. What is important is that we get to the next closest monument—which happens to be the Harappan one in western India. Odds are that is where the Nabataean is taking the first two keys. It is where he thinks he will win.”

      “Where exactly?”

      “A sunken temple near the Gujarati town of Dwarka.”

      An jams the brakes and holds the wheel tightly and Nori Ko braces herself on the dashboard and the tires squeal and they come to a lurching halt.

      The car that is driving fast so fast overtakes them. A small late-model sedan, one driver, bald and in a hurry. No passengers. The driver looks nothing like Maccabee and there is no one else in the car so An doesn’t pay it any mind. Everyone drives like a speed demon in India anyway.

      “Why is Adlai going there?” he asks urgently. “Is it because of Sun Key?”

      “Yes.”

      “Is it there?”

      “I don’t know for sure.”

      “But you think it’s at one of these monuments? The ones that are being destroyed?”

      “Yes. It is. Although I don’t know which one.”

      He pauses. Squints. The car disappears around the next turn. He says, “Then Sun Key could also be at the Mu monument? Or the Cahokian? Or the Olmec? Or—the Shang?”

      “Yes. It could.”

      An puts the car back in gear, whips the wheel around, pulls a tight U-turn, and heads back in the direction from which they came, going fast fast fast.

      “What are you doing?” Nori Ko demands.

       BlinkSHIVERSHIVERblinkBLINKBLINKSHIVERshiverBLINK.

      She reaches out and puts a hand on his arm. He yanks it away.

      China, Chiyoko says.

      Yes, he answers.

      “The Nabataean could already be halfway to Dwarka!” Nori Ko protests.

      “I know. And if he’s lucky enough to find Sun Key there, then he’s already won, and we are already too late,” An says through clenched teeth. “Nothing we do will matter. We need to get the keys to see the kepler face-to-face. If he wins, then we will have lost our chance to meet and then kill the Maker. But …”

      And then Nori Ko understands. “The pyramid of Emperor Zhao.”

      “Yes. We start at the Shang monument. If Dwarka doesn’t have Sun Key—and the odds are decent that it won’t—then Adlai will go to the next closest monument. Mine.”

      “China,” Nori Ko says. Accepting. Approving.

      “Yes. We’re going home,” he says, thinking of all the things he hated about it, of all the pain he endured during his training, of all the suffering. “My hellish home.”

       SHARI CHOPRA

       Mercedes Sprinter Van, Ayutthaya, Thailand

      Shari Chopra is not in her home, although that is where she would rather be more than anything. In her home, smelling cooking food, watching her child run through the garden, holding her husband’s hand.

      But her husband is dead.

      She is not home, but she is awake, and none of the others know it yet.