Page 20 of Wicked Games

“Check the feed in the lobby,” Jace suggests as he grabs his laptop off the table and opens it. “Around one thirty.”

I switch back to the primary system and open the lobby feed. At almost exactly one thirty, the door to the basement swings open, and Felix stumbles through it.

It’s obvious he’s hurt and disoriented as he lands hard on his knees in front of the door. It takes him two tries to get back on his feet, then he lurches and stumbles into the wall a few feet away. After another few seconds, he leans on the wall and half walks, half drags himself along it, using it as a prop to stay upright, as he crosses the lobby.

The walk should take less than thirty seconds, but it’s almost fifteen minutes before he gets to the elevator.

There isn’t a soul in the lobby as he pushes the button and collapses against the wall. When the doors slide open, he kind of throws himself inside and lands on the floor in the middle of the elevator.

I flip to the elevator camera and watch as he rides it to our floor and crawls off. I switch cameras again, and my gut twists as Felix crawls down the hallway, his arms and legs shaking as he drags himself over the thick carpets.

Movement on the screen draws my attention from Felix, and I zero in on William as he leaves his room. He doesn’t seem to notice Felix as he locks his door, his attention on his phone.

It isn’t until he’s taken a few steps in Felix’s direction that he looks up and skids to a stop.

Felix doesn’t make any indication that he sees William and keeps crawling along the floor. William looks around, like he’sseeing if this is a joke or some house business that he’s not aware of.

When he seems satisfied that the hall is empty, he points his phone at Felix and laughs.

“Mother. Fucker,” I hiss as it looks like William takes several pictures.

“William?” Jace asks, not looking up from his laptop.

“Yeah,” I confirm.

“I’ll handle it,” Jax says.

I give him a quick nod and focus back on the screen as William literally steps over Felix and continues on his way.

Felix finally reaches the door to my room and pulls his key out of his pocket. The dorms are the only rooms in the house that don’t have electronic locks. The entire building is wired with cameras, including dozens of hidden ones that are periodically moved around by the staff so we can’t keep track of them, and we’re fully aware we’re being watched at all times.

The only time we have any privacy is in our rooms, and the old-school locks and keys are meant to give us the illusion that we have any control at this school.

Felix drops his key twice, then spends almost a full minute fumbling to get it in the door before he’s finally able to unlock it.

The last thing I see before the door closes are his feet disappearing as he drags himself inside.

“What the fuck?” I mutter.

“What?” Jax asks, glancing up from his tablet.

“None of what I just saw makes sense.”

“Yeah, and I know why. There’s something wrong with the camera feeds,” Jace says, his fingers moving furiously over the keys of his laptop.

“Like they glitched out, or someone fucked with them?” Jax asks.

“Fucked with them,” Jace taps on one of the keys, then turns his laptop around.

Jax and I both lean forward. On the screen is a five second clip from the pool feed showing Felix moving fluidly under the water, then breaking the surface at the halfway mark of the pool and transitioning into his perfect butterfly stroke.

“What am I looking at?” I ask, scanning for whatever he’s trying to show us as the clip automatically replays.

“Fuck me sideways,” Jax says a moment before I see it.

It’s subtle, but the entire video frame shifts slightly as soon as Felix starts his stroke, almost like something bumped the camera.

“Did you see that?” Jax asks. “With the door?”

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