“That doesn’t matter now,” Xoco said with a wistful sigh. “It’s human to think of ways we could have done better, could have saved people, but it’s too late to turn back time.”

Lupe closed her eyes for a moment. Squeezed them. Then, with resolve, said, “but what if there-” At the last word, her voice became a wheeze. Her face started to turn red as Lupe clearly tried to force out more words.

“Lupe!” Tiberius called, a frightened expression on his handsome face. He ran out and quickly came back with a cup of water, which he forced into Lupe’s hand. She was coughing, gasping for air.

“Lupe, are you alright?” Nour asked, then made their way over to her. “Does this happen often? Are you ill?”

“You didn’t catch my cough, did you?” Georgie asked, pale faced.

Eventually, Lupe caught her breath. As she chugged down the water, Devorah turned to look at Anna. Anna was watching Lupe dispassionately, but Devorah knew that Anna had to have known what would happen. These were just like Devorah’s headaches.

Her headaches…

That’s right. Hadn’t her headaches also been around when Devorah was in her own game? And hadn’t she had her own coughing fits too? How had Devorah forgotten that?

Surely that was important. It meant that Lupe had been about to say something that the makers of the Champions’ League hadn’t wanted her to say. And based on the conversation, it was definitely about time travel.

But logically, the cast of this game must have realized time travel was possible, if they had already discarded the afterlife theory. How else would they have been able to come together like this? They likely weren’t clones, and they definitely weren’t AIs like Devorah had been forced to become. Anna would know the answer, know exactly what everyone else at the table knew.

Anna showed Lupe no sympathy as she took control of the conversation again, leading it back to the discoveries she had made with her new investigative team. Back when that team had been Anna and Devorah against the world, watching Anna strike at weaknesses and take advantage of pauses had been invigorating. Now, it seemed cold and cruel.

“Let’s get back on track? We were at a critical moment.” Anna said, not looking directly at Lupe despite her position at the opposite head of the table. “Xoco was right. We need to move forward at all costs.”

Xoco herself looked pleased at Anna’s agreement, but Devorah felt sick. Though she didn’t have real guts, not anymore, the space where they once writhed felt like it had been replaced with boulders, weighing her down.

Devorah herself was a thing of the past.

Anna had moved on, obviously. It would have been silly not to. Especially in another game in the Champions’ League. You needed friends. Lovers. Companions. A fake ghost that could only touch things twice a day couldn’t be that.

“Then I will ask again,” Sushruta began, “where was this passage? I did not find any passages when I searched the kitchen.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You do remember how we searched the kitchen,” Budi said, with a haunted and tired expression.

Both of them turned to look at Brad, who seemed not to notice. He had an arm around Kefilwe’s shoulders, and looked off into the distance with blank eyes. Kefilwe leaned into him, but she looked much more alert. Devorah honestly respected Kefilwe for how she was acting in the face of betrayal. She would have been shaking, emotions blown about like an umbrella in a sandstorm.

And if Anna had been the one to betray her?

Devorah didn’t even know what she would have done.

Devorah couldn’t even see Anna’s full face, turned as she was now to Xiao Li. But even her profile was lovely. She looked almost regal, perfect for a cameo portrait. The cut of her nose and chin, the way she was smirking ever so slightly…

Then Devorah remembered Xiao Li was there and unrolling a map on the table. She used her prosthetic arm to hold down the pieces of paper, while her fleshy arm spread it out with a series of flourishes. It looked like a map of the house, and Devorah did her best to get a good look of it.

There were only two maps displayed, one for a floor labeled “Servant’s Quarters” and the other labeled “Ground Floor.” There had to be more to the building, likely other floors and even an open ground space, but these were the two sections Xiao Li chose to present to the table.

Devorah noticed Bell, Eugenia and John crowd around too, just as the living had. These maps cast light on the halls Devorah had been forced to wander for days, trailing after Jacob and his friends. As Jacob hadn’t systematically entered every room and walked every hall, this new set was mostly a mystery to her. Even still, Devorah could point out a few locations. There was the study she had woken up and, and attached to it was the library. On that floor there was also the tea room-likely where Brad had been doing that strange form of self-mutilation- along with a smoking room and another room dedicated to porcelain. Finally, there was the grand hall, a ballroom, and another dining room.

That made it even more clear that the cast was being made to live downstairs in the servant’s quarters. There were a few more offices for higher ranking staff, but most of the floor was taken up by bedrooms. Alongside those were the lounge, the kitchen, dining room, and a laundry room. How convenient, in-house laundry.

Between some of these rooms, lines were drawn. For example, looking at the maps, Devorah could tell that the smoking room was directly over the laundry room. Xiao Li had drawn a line indicating that there was some sort of way to move in between these two rooms. How? Devorah couldn’t tell. The notes were written in what looked like Chinese. For all that the translation modules allowed them to understand each other speaking, the Champions’ League had decided not to splurge on the tech that would translate writing as well.

As the people around her discussed some of the various hidden passages, all Devorah could think about was three rooms in particular. Jacob’s room and Anna’s room, with only Xiao Li’s bedroom in between. For days, Devorah had been so close to Anna and she hadn’t even realized. How had she never even realized?

Devorah was startled out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Bell, with a concerned look on her face.

“Dev are you… okay?” She asked, hesitant.

What a strange question to ask.

“I’m trying to focus on the investigation,” Devorah said. “Let’s talk about it later.” She shook Bell’s hand off her shoulder.

For a moment, Bell left her hand raised in the air. Looking conflicted, she slowly lowered it back down to her side.

There was no chance of pretending that she was alright. Devorah knew she was well past that point. But she didn’t want to talk about her emotions with Bell, as sweet and well meaning as she was. It was annoying, actually. Bell had been in this murder game too. Bell had also died! So why did she seem so normal? Why did Bell still get to act like herself, as if it wasn’t a struggle to exist at all?

She turned back to the table, but out of the corner of her eye, Devorah could see Eugenia approach Bell. In a low voice, Eugenia said, “let her be.”

Devorah wasn’t sure whether or not she was meant to hear it. And frankly? It was pissing her off. But Devorah bit her lip and ignored it. Like she said earlier, she just wanted to focus on the investigation. She would think more about her friends and Anna later.

Finally, the people at the table were getting to the good stuff. Xiao Li uncapped a pen with her teeth and circled the kitchen, then drew a line… to the hallway?

In fact, if Devorah was judging space correctly, it was the same hall that had the painting trap that had caused all this trouble in the first place. Which was why the trap was probably there! In the Champions’ League, there were a few instances of randomly placed traps, sure. But most of them, especially the most dangerous ones, were meant to make finding important things more exciting.

After all, what’s more exciting to watch? Languidly walking up to a treasure chest and opening it, easily looting it and walking out unscathed? Or daringly dodging spike pits and rolling boulders before scooping up the treasure and running, because your life did depend on it?