SAVE POINT 29

Loading Our Favorite Unfavorite Pink-Haired Girl's POV...97%

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Joy

The minute I'm outta that hoarder witch-bitch's lair, I'm scheming. I mean, I was scheming before—in the witch-bitch's lair—but this is a new type and, honestly, more frantic.

Because I need to get away from the other Game Wardens long enough to integrate the code.

...For the 100-point prophesy cheat, of course.

Whizzkid19786332

Yes, numbskull, in case you can't keep up, I have photographic memory, and I'm not letting that lame-ass Rosabella bypass me on point levels when she can barely hold the swords on her belt. If the other Game Wardens are letting her tote the cheat for prophesy, you can be sure as hell I'm going to do the same. Rule-breaking 101. someone's gotta keep an eye on that girl. I don't trust her as far as I can throw her.

"We'll stop for water here," Callen announces grandly, swiping an arm upwards so our tired feet grid to a halt near the rocky portion of a stream. The water rushes over the toes of my boots, soaking the soles and weaving around the mossy rocks there. The fresh scent of it makes me wish I could find rest in...anything.

The all-knowing Callen.

It's a wonder we haven't gotten lost in these woods yet.

Rosabella is finally feeling well enough to walk so that's...something at least. She keeps looking at me with wide, frightened eyes and, to be honest, it's creeping me the fuck out. Couldn't the last Game Maker have been someone more...well, normal?

"I gotta take a leak," I announce quickly, my heart ramming in my chest from the nerves I don't typically get about anything anymore—this prophesy cheat code shit seems to really be getting under my skin—"Don't come looking for me if I fall off the face of The Game or anything."

My sarcastic jest ends flat and false in the awkward silence between the group. I hear the others shifting their feet in the grass, but their mouths stay stretched in unimpressed lines.

Rainer raises a thick, furry eyebrow, speaking under his breath to Dormouse at his elbow, "Would it hurt her to talk like a girl for one freaking second?"

I'd rather he threw his ax at my head than say those stupid words.

I quickly draw my knife and grip it in too hard of a grasp—something for my fingers to do so I don't punch the brute straight in the jaw. Of all of them, I probably like the hulking warrior the best...even if he does occasionally make smartass remarks.

I lift my thick-soled boots over the line of the underbrush and turn my back on the group.

I make sure to bring my feet down in exaggerated stomping noises through the wood because...

Well, Rainer pissed me off with his comment.

I'll show him 'girl'—how about bull-in-a-China-Shop Sasquatch?

...Snickering with Dormouse like they're all buddy-buddy in some guy posse...

...Assholes...

I try to shake it off. I have the prophesy cheat code. They can all kiss my feet when I can look into their very souls. I just need somewhere to slip away, unnoticed, for a minute so I can add it to my skillset—

I tromp over some more brush as the trees lean over my heads like friends. I welcome their cool shade on my hot skin and the playful ticking of the ferns against where my knee-high boots and black mini skirt don't cover. Callen had dared me to fight in a miniskirt so...let's just say I am in the middle of proving a point. I'd caught Dormouse staring earlier when I'd bent over and had to slap him upside the head.

Absentmindedly, I reach back and scratch the base of my neck.

My fingernails scrape over the gritty bumps there and come back plastered with dried blood and blackened pieces of peeling flesh.

The Darken rash itches so bad, especially in this heat. ...It's getting worse—even though I don't admit it to the others—and so is the pain.

The darkness is creeping up on me.

Worse...there's this voice...

No, I can't be telling my personal shit to a complete stranger. You'd never get it. I'm not going crazy, you know; there's a reason for the voice.

...Except I think it has something to do with the black spreading on my skin...

This morning, I'd found a small, dime-size patch on my cheek. I'd pulled my hair around my face to hide it, but I think Callen noticed. They say once it gets to your mouth you're as good as dead. This prophesy cheat code is the lucky break I needed. With it, maybe I can understand my fate or how to heal this itching monstrosity.

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I make sure I'm far enough away from the group, secure among a grove of sycamores and high bushes before drawing up my stats in the air.

...The witch had worked so quickly. There has to be a bar on the side or something with an option to input the code manually into my account...

I try a few different options, but it's not what I want—

Red error message after error message pop into view:

Access Denied

...with a jarring beeping noise: Urrrr.

I close my eyes, trying to smooth over the frustrated lines gathering on my forehead. If I can just slow my memory down...

I try, scrunching my eyebrows together as I struggle to recall the enchantress's finger movements in the air...

The side bar!

I let my eyes pop open again and select the option—

Urrrr.

Access Denied

> You're stupid. Your mind is numb. It's no longer yours for use. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

The familiar voice I hate that started with the Darken rash tells me.

"Argh!" In a fit of utter vexation, I chuck my dagger into the nearest tree—

Something rustles in the underbrush.

I grab the weapon out of the bark with a quick tug, raise it, twirling around to find—

Dormouse.

Blinking stupidly at me. "...Whatcha doing?" he quips shakily.

I could have killed him with my knife.

My hand wobbles, holding the weapon.

I could have seriously injured the spindly guy when he was just accidently creeping up on me—

"Please say you did not follow me to watch me go pee," I sneer, re-sheathing the dagger at my waist and using sarcasm as a cover up to swipe my stats page out of view behind me.

His face twists as his dark hair falls from a wide, pale forehead into his eyes. "I'm a little insulted you didn't just ask," he pouts.

"Ask what?" I play dumb.

I play innocent, wide eyes and pink-hair stupid.

With an annoyed hand on my hip for extra flare.

But the kid is smarter than he looks.

I know that.

His eyes crinkle up at the corners, "If you're trying to utilize a cheat code, all you have to do is bypass the initial security protocol and bring up the secondary screen—"

I stare at him. "Do you speak English?" I ask—while thoroughly acknowledging the irony of his knight-in-shining-armor timing.

Thank God! I'd been hitting a brick wall with it...

"Why don't you just do it for me?" I suggest, pulling up my stats with a quick swipe.

The geek's white fingers type rapidly in the air, pointing and clicking till he comes to the familiar pop-up box:

Please Input Code:

It sits there, blinking at us while Dormouse waits.

"Whizzkid19786332," I recite rapidly. "You can integrate it into your account too if you want to—"

He shakes his head, tight-lipped, "No way. Sometimes it's better not to know, you know?"

I don't.

I raise an eyebrow at him.

I want to know everything: how to defeat this darkness, how much time I have and how I can make sure that little shit Rosabella fixes our world so I can live in it.

Whole.

Again.

***Cheat Code Utilized: A Nerd's Hack, Joy - Prophesy 100/100***

"You might feel a little whoozy as it integrates," Dormouse warns.

Tiredness washes over me.

"I thought I had enough stamina to bypass this," I complain, reaching out to steady myself on a tree as my head pirouettes. The rough, peeling bark steadies my fingertips only for a second till my mind spins again.

> Give in.

The voice I've been pushing down whispers.

> You are weak.

"I am strong," I bark, spitting into the grass near my feet.

I look up to lock eyes with a confused Dormouse. "...Okay," he stutters, "So, you're strong—"

"Help me back to the group," I tell him, more of a command than a request. He is younger than me and highly helpful in an annoying way—why not put it to good use?

But I pull up short when I hear the others' through the brush.

"I'll go first," I hiss in a whisper, moving past my nausea just enough to use logic and step through the bushes alone, "I don't want them to suspect anything—"

"You're welcome," he calls after me.

I ignore him.

...No wonder some people say I'm a bitch.

I hold my head high as I stride back to join the others, feeling a strange new energy gathering in my veins as I flip my pink hair back over my shoulder to hide the black spot on my cheek.

The witch said something about all of us working together to fix this. I'm going to find out what that means.

My fingertips start to burn, and my stomach flips.

I look down to see black dots clouding over my stomach and heart, blurring over my clothes and spotting up my arms. I turn over the skin there, squinting at it.

My vision?

It's the prophesy kicking in?

I have no idea what this could mean.

...At least I have time to figure this shit out.