back. It felt so weird at the time that it stuck in my memory.”
“You think that’s when he poisoned Shaun-bot?” Kevin asked.
Yes. “It’s possible.”
“But why would Wes be killing us off?” Riot shook his head, limp Mohawk waving like palm fronds in the desert wind. “He’s clearly not out to get revenge for the Brownes’ deaths since he’s the one who started this mess in the first place.”
“He was also desperate for money,” Neela said. “Was he not?”
Persey was so glad someone else had picked up on Wes’s motivation. “Yes!”
“Maybe Leah offered Wes cash to do some of the dirty work for her.”
“Then killed him off?” Mackenzie sounded skeptical. “How could she be sure Wes would die back there?”
“Perse,” Kevin said, touching her arm. “Did you see anything suspicious?”
Persey shook her head slowly. “Sorry.”
“It might have been an accident,” Riot added. “And if so, that means—”
Neela jumped to her feet, energized. “That means maybe we’ll be okay! If Wes was the murderer, we might make it out of here!”
Persey watched the glimmer of hope ripple through the group. They stood straighter, raised their heads, moved with more energy. The mood was infectious: perhaps they were all going to survive after all?
“Okay, kids,” Kevin said, clapping his hands like a motivational speaker. “If we’re going to see the light of day, we’d better get cracking at this…” He turned, taking in their new challenge. “This classroom?”
Persey examined the room for the first time, and she had to agree with Kevin’s assessment. This room had been dressed to look like a schoolroom.
Wooden chairs with attached desktops stood in pristinely aligned rows, all facing away from them. An open wardrobe was tucked into one corner, filled with winter coats and lunch bags as if the students who had piled into school that day were outside at recess. Inspirational posters with slogans like “Dare to Dream! Work to Achieve!” and “Play Nice, Work Hard, Stay Kind” in rainbow-colored fonts were plastered on the walls beside cubby storage bins overflowing with school supplies.
The door that must have been the exit stood adjacent to a map of the world, near the corner of the room, and it was the only item in the entire space that seemed out of place and wrong. Instead of a wooden classroom door with a window and a simple doorknob, it was a steel security door with five different numbered touch pads lined up down its center.
Lastly, beside the door and taking up the rest of the front wall of the classroom, was a classic dark green chalkboard, filled with numbers and letters in crisp white chalk.
Persey inwardly groaned. A math problem? She hoped (prayed) that she wouldn’t be forced to solve for x here because if so, they were all screwed.
“Recess,” Riot said. “Now I get it. This looks like a fourth-grade classroom when all the kids are outside.”
Kevin walked up to one of the desks and ran his finger over the back of the wooden chair. “It’s like actually the polar opposite of what I thought we’d find. Like if you looked up ‘polar opposite’ in an encyclopedia, there would be side-by-side photos of the Pointy Floor of Death and this.”
Riot approached the door, examining its five different combination locks. “Looks like a classic escape room scenario. Find the clues to open the lock. Should be pretty basic.”
“Nothing about this place has been basic,” Mackenzie said, then added, “except her,” with a nod toward Persey. Because even facing death, Mackenzie was unable to finish a sentence without getting a dig in. You’re making it kinda hard for me to care whether you live or die.
Neela edged her way toward the chalkboard, slow and cautious, as if afraid the floor might fall out from under her at any moment. Which, in fairness, was an absolute possibility. But despite the danger, Neela was drawn to the mathematics like a moth to the flame. “If three-x minus y equals twelve,” she read from the chalkboard, “what is the value of eight to the x power over two to the y power?”
“The answer,” Kevin said quickly, “is I don’t fucking know.”
Neela glanced back over her shoulder and grinned at him. “Anyone mind if I try my hand at this?”
Thank God Neela was a math fiend. “Go for it,” Persey said. “We’ll look for any other—”
Before she could finish the sentence, a rumble rolled through the room. By now, Persey knew what that feeling meant: somewhere nearby, a motor had roared to life. “Watch