Chapter 1

Then the real game began.

[Write down the name of the person you love.]

[Your answer will be tied to all questions that follow.]

A blank box appeared on the screen.

I typed in Zane Jefferson.

Beside me, Sophie turned slightly, using her shoulder to block her screen.

Zane barely hesitated.

When he hit confirm, two words were still visible on his screen.

Cecilia Lane.

I stared at my own name for a second, my mind going strangely blank.

Sophie leaned over and smiled.

"You two are so sweet."

As she spoke, she reached up and touched the necklace around her neck.

Zane’s eyes followed the movement.

His gaze lingered on the pendant.

My fingers curled slightly.

The first round began.

Three questions appeared on the wall.

[1. Is the person you wrote down one of the three people in this room?]

[2. Do you love them?]

[3. Have you ever lied to them?]

"If they were going to ask us stuff like this, why let us hide our answers in the first place?"

Sophie complained under her breath.

In the empty room, though, every word carried.

I turned toward her.

Our eyes met.

She gave me an awkward little smile.

The system ignored her.

[Choose your answers within one minute.]

[The person with the most incorrect answers will be punished.]

I selected my answers.

Yes.

Yes.

No.

Zane chose the exact same three.

Sophie glanced at our screens, her lashes fluttering.

Then she entered hers.

The same answers again.

The screens went dark.

A second later, Sophie added quickly,

"Cecilia, I actually wrote your name."

"We’re best friends, aren’t we? Of course I love you most."

Her eyes were bright, her smile exactly the same as always.

"I love you most."

The words sounded just as light and effortless as what I had heard her say earlier.

'If we vote for her every round...'

My stomach turned.

Then the results appeared.

I had gotten one answer wrong.

Zane had gotten one wrong.

Sophie had gotten two wrong.

Silence filled the room for three seconds.

Then Sophie shot to her feet so fast that her chair toppled backward.

"How is that possible?"

"How could I have gotten two wrong?"

Zane frowned.

"Did the system make a mistake?"

[The system follows its own criteria.]

[The results are never wrong.]

"And why should your criteria be right?" Sophie snapped. "You think you understand my feelings better than I do?"

She paused.

She claimed she had written my name.

But she was looking at Zane.

"I love the person I wrote down. I don’t accept your judgment."

Then she turned to him.

"Do you?"

Zane looked at her.

Then at the answers on his own screen.

After a long silence, he said,

"No."

"I don’t accept it either."

I looked away.

[The result is final.]

[Sophie, you will receive the punishment.]

The color drained from her face.

She reached for Zane’s arm.

"Zane…"

He immediately stood and stepped in front of her.

"What kind of punishment?"

[Relax.]

[This is not a death game.]

A shadow appeared silently behind Sophie.

It seeped into her body like water.

Her entire body went rigid.

For a moment, it looked as if something had been pulled out of her.

[What if your world had never had them?]

Sophie looked down at herself.

Her arms and legs were still there.

She was still trembling.

"What does that mean?"

Her phone lit up.

A notification from the DMV appeared on the screen.

[The registration for the vehicle under your name has been canceled.]

Sophie froze.

It was the SUV she had bought less than two weeks ago.

Limited-edition blue.

The day she picked it up, she had dragged me into the driver’s seat for a selfie.

"Cecilia, we should go on road trips all the time from now on."

I had smiled and agreed, genuinely happy for her.

Now she stood there staring blankly at her phone.

"How is that possible?"

"That was my own money…"

The system answered.

[$260,000.]

[Given by them.]

My heart seemed to stop.

Two hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

That was exactly how much Zane and I had saved for the renovations on our new home.