Page 39 of The Wishing Game

"You die," Thea states in an empty voice. "If you don't complete the trial, you die."

* * *

"How will we find the location?" Thea asks as the three of us leave the club.

The chilly air of the night hits my face. I inhale deeply, glad for the absence of pain in my chest.

"We need a smartphone with GPS," I answer.

Both Thea and Cer stop in their tracks, their brows furrowed as they stare at me.

I raise my brows in question.

"What is a GPS?" Thea asks. "And what is a smartphone?"

"You don't know?"

Both shake their heads.

A smile tugs at my lips. Ah, but it seems that for the first time I am the one with the knowledge—and I'd be lying if I said this doesn't feel good.

"GPS is like an automated map. You plug in the coordinates and it shows you how to get there."

Thea's eyes widen.

"Oh my! That's so exciting! And where do we get this GPS from?"

"We need to buy a smartphone. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring mine with me." I sigh. With the police on my trail, the last thing on my mind was taking my phone with me—though in hindsight, maybe I should have been more careful.

"What is that?" Thea frowns.

As I explain what smartphones are, I notice that her brother is no longer by her side. Just as I'm about to inquire about his whereabouts, he appears from around the corner with a paper bag in his hand, which he thrusts toward me.

A little weirded out, I accept it, peeking inside to find over ten phones, stacked one on top of the other.

"Uhm, where did you get these?" I ask as I look at him.

He stares me down, his mouth closed shut.

"Did you take them from someone?" I rephrase my question. The phones are all without their original packaging, and some exhibit signs of wear.

"Open that GPS," he barks in a low voice.

Shaking my head at him, I mutter a sorry to the people he must have robbed. If I weren't wanted by the police, maybe I would have dropped them off after we're done with them. Unfortunately, the situation at hand precludes me from acting like a Good Samaritan.

"Let me see," Thea interjects, grabbing a handful of phones from the bag and studying them with curiosity. While she's playing with those, I find a phone that is unlocked and access the GPS, plugging in the coordinates.

"It's in the city," I add, surprised. I would have thought it would be some remote destination just to make it harder for us to get there. Alas, maybe this trial won't betoodifficult.

When no one speaks, I look up to find Thea taking apart the phones with her overgrown nails—or claws? Cer is behind her, looking over her shoulder and doing a great job of looking uninterested even though his eyes are glued to her hands.

I sigh as I clear my throat to get their attention.

It's only been hours since I found out that there are other species out there—non-human species—just as there are gods. Against all odds, I've ended up participating in some sort of supernatural deadly game that might very well kill me. Now, I'm teamed up with two very oddnon-humanswho are even more technologically illiterate than me. And somehow I'm very calm.

Maybe I'm still in shock.

"Oh." Thea smiles, dropping the phone parts to the ground. "Where to, then?"

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