Chapter 1

The boss was dead.

Or that's what we thought as we stood in the center of The Lodge, breathing in the metallic tang of blood and the ozone of fading magic.

"We did it!" Rhea screamed. She grabbed Nyx's hands and started spinning her around in a dizzying circle right in the middle of the glowing extraction circle. "We're actually going home! I can't believe we're alive!"

Nyx laughed, her head falling back, her dark hair matted with sweat. "First stop is Portland. I am going to bury my face in a dozen Voodoo Doughnuts."

"Voodoo is tourist bait," Seren muttered, though she was smiling as she rubbed her bruised wrists. "But fine. If we're celebrating, we're going big."

Petra just leaned against the stone altar, a quiet, fragile smile on her face. She looked like she was about to collapse, but the relief in her eyes was unmistakable.

I should have been celebrating with them. I should have been planning my order.

Instead, I was frozen.

My heart wasn't racing with adrenaline anymore; it was cold. Absolute zero.

Floating in the center of my vision, cutting through the shadows of the dimly lit hall, were two lines of text that only I could see.

BOSS STATUS: ALIVE.

DISGUISED.

The words were a death sentence.

The massive, horrific beast we had just spent six hours tearing apart—the thing currently dissolving into black ash behind us—wasn't the Boss. Or at least, it wasn't the real one.

The real Boss was right here. It was standing on the extraction circle.

It was wearing the face of one of my best friends.

"Maren? Hello? Earth to Maren!" Rhea stopped spinning and waved a frantic hand in front of my face. "You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost, and we literally just killed the King of Ghosts."

I forced my vocal cords to work. My throat felt like it was filled with broken glass.

"Yeah," I rasped, forcing a twitch of a smile. "Just… processing."

"Process at the Voodoo shop," Nyx said, reaching out to pull me toward the shimmering light of the portal. "Come on. This place is starting to give me the creeps now that the music stopped."

I didn't move. My boots felt like they were bolted to the floor.

If we stepped into that light, we were dead. The game rules were absolute: Kill the Boss. All members survive. Total escape.

If we left with the Boss disguised as one of us, we wouldn't wake up in Oregon. We would wake up in a loop of eternal hell, becoming permanent NPCs in this twisted nightmare.

I looked at Rhea. Her eyes were bright, full of life.

I looked at Nyx. She was already checking her gear, ready to go.

I looked at Seren and Petra.

Who was it?

I needed to know. Now.

"I'm starving," I said, my voice steadier now. "I was just thinking about that bacon maple bar. I'm going to eat three of them."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Rhea's brow furrowed. Nyx stopped moving.

"Maren," Nyx said slowly, "are you sure you didn't take a hit to the head?"

"Why?" I asked, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

"You're deathly allergic to maple, babe," Rhea said, her voice dropping the celebratory tone. "Remember? Junior year? The brunch incident? You almost died in the middle of a Denny's."

"And you hate bacon on doughnuts," Petra added softly from the altar. "You say it's a 'sin against pastry.'"

My stomach did a slow, sickening roll.

The HUD didn't lie. But the monster did.

It had their memories. It knew the "brunch incident." It knew my tastes. It wasn't just a shapeshifter; it was a perfect copy. It had downloaded their entire histories the moment we entered The Lodge.

"Right," I said, letting out a shaky laugh that sounded fake even to me. "I guess I'm just… really out of it. My brain is fried."

"Clearly," Seren said, walking toward me. "Let's just get out of here. The portal is closing in ten minutes."

I looked at the timer in the corner of my HUD.

00:59:12

We had an hour. The portal they saw was a hallucination. A lure.

"Wait," I said, stepping back.

Rhea's expression shifted from concern to irritation. "Wait for what? Maren, seriously. It's over. We won."

"We didn't," I blurted out.

Four pairs of eyes fixed on me. They were sharp, questioning. One of those pairs belonged to a killer.

"My HUD," I said, pivoting instantly. I couldn't tell them the truth yet. If the Boss knew I could see its status, it would tear us apart before I could blink. I had to play the game. "I just got a notification. A passive perk I didn't know I had."

"A perk?" Nyx asked, her hand drifting toward the hilt of her dagger. "Now?"

"It's called 'Loot Sense,'" I lied. The words felt oily on my tongue. "It's pinging. Hard. There's something in this room. Something legendary."

"Maren, forget the loot," Rhea groaned. "I want a shower and a bed that doesn't smell like rot."

"It says it's a 'Real World Relic,'" I pressured, leaning into the greed I knew they all shared after weeks of being broke in this game. "If we bring it back, we won't just be survivors. We'll be rich. Like, 'never-work-again' rich."

That stopped them.

The air in the Lodge changed. The desperate urge to leave collided with the desperate urge to never be poor again.

"Where?" Petra asked, her voice trembling slightly.

"I can't pinpoint it yet," I said, looking around the cavernous, blood-stained hall. "The signal is fuzzy. I need to move around. I need you guys to help me check the corners."

"We have ten minutes, Maren," Seren warned.

"The timer is wrong," I said, pointing to a wall that didn't exist. "My perk says we have an hour before the Lodge collapses. Plenty of time."

I watched them.

Rhea looked skeptical but stepped off the extraction circle.

Nyx shrugged and followed.

Seren sighed, moving toward the far pillars.

Petra stayed near the altar, her eyes darting between us.

The game was on.

I had fifty-eight minutes to find the monster.

I had fifty-eight minutes to figure out which one of my friends was trying to drag us into hell.

"Spread out," I commanded, my voice cold and hard. "Check everything. If you find something that looks out of place, tell me."

I turned my back on them, my hand white-knuckled on the grip of my own weapon.

The HUD flickered.

BOSS STATUS: ALIVE. DISGUISED.

I wasn't looking for gold.

I was looking for a reason to kill one of them.