James's car was already packed around the block .

Had he even left in the first place ?

Clay stopped to look at the car for a few moments , deep down , she felt a reluctance to walk further to the car but Clay felt guilty for even feeling reluctance to a means that could save her sister .

She sighed softly and brought her hands to run through her hair , she looked at the sky and inhaled before she began to walk , blanking her mind because thinking of anything would cause her to consider turning around and going back to her sister .

She reached the car and wondered if James could see her but she had no time to consider that so she raised her hands to the window .

Clay rapped gently on the window and heard the smooth click of locks opening before she opened the door .

She entered to find that almost nothing had changed , she took another look at James though and realized that everything about him had changed .

He was seated exactly where he had sat earlier but he had left alright .

His clothing was different and he looked like a totally different person .

His hair was styled differently and his vibe in general was different .

He was putting on a black tuxedo without the usual bow tie attached to it and looked too serious , at least when compared to the James she had met some hours ago .

He did not say anything to Clay when she settled down or when the car began to move .

He was a completely different person from earlier today .

" Did you settle your sister accordingly ?", he inquired , his eyes shifting to Clay's face .

His voice was deeper and somehow more meaningful , demanding of respect , not the kind of voice that one should be nodding to so Clay answered .

" Yes , I did ", she responded .

James himself nodded and turned around to pop open the minibar that his car carried .

Clay sighed , grateful for the brief return to normalcy that was beginning to make her very nervous .

Clay almost laughed at herself , normalcy with someone she had known for barely a day ?

What was her life coming to ?

This time he brought out a drink that had not been opened .

He pulled out a wine uncorker from the minibar too and twisted the cork open .

He gave the drink to Clay and held up a finger , he produced two glass cups a few seconds later .

He gave one of the glasses to Clay .

James poured into both of their glasses and returned the bottle into the minibar.

He stared at the drink he held while Clay stared at her own too , it was a clear sparkling drink , she lifted her  drink into the air.

" To us ", He toasted .

James's voice was quiet and heavy , too heavy that it leaked so much .

Clay thought of her sister as she downed the content of the glass .

" To us " , she whispered after she took the glass from her lips.

Clay added after swallowing , she raised her head to look at James .

" You knew , didn't you ?" , James asked .

Clay nodded , a grim smile twisting her face .

Of course she had known that the drink would be spiked .

She relaxed in her seat , waiting for the drug to kick in.

" We won't be able to communicate with each other during the game ", James told him .

This was news to Clay , she wanted to ask why not but her tongue was suddenly quite heavy and would not move.

James sat forward and took the glass out of her hands .

" You know your father was an engineer, right? Every knowledge you have of your father will be very useful " , James informed her .

Again , what did her father have to do with this?

But , she could not ask because now her vision was hazy and she did not feel like expending her energy .

Clay blinked slowly as her cousin's head began to take different unflattering shapes .

" Don't fight it ", James whispered to her .

Clay scoffed at this , how foolish exactly was James ?

If she wanted to fight it , would she have drank in the first place ?

It was too late now ,the darkness had arrived .

It enveloped Clay and she drowned .

JAMES

James tapped the partition that separated Saul from he and Clay's unconscious body .

The partition came down revealing Saul's hardened and disgruntled face .

Saul had a very unique way of showing his disapproval of the situation .

" Are you ready, Sir ? ", he asked gruffly .

James nodded as he patted his cousins hair down .

" Take us to the preparatory module ", he ordered.

" Yes sir ".

Saul's face hardened more , a feat that should have been physically impossible but this was Saul , no level of gloom was impossible for his face .

James ignored him and lifted his left hand to the light to see the time from his wrist .

A few minutes past ten , they had ample time to prepare .

He closed his eyes , the drive would take a while .

James opened his eyes when his wristwatch beeped , they were almost there .

He left his seat and joined his cousin where she sat still . 

Clay did not move at all even when the car shook slightly because of the terrain , comporting herself even while unconscious .

His mother would have loved a child like Clay if the situation had been slightly different .

The people James was riding with were such overachievers .

He patted down his cousin's pants , there was nothing in them.

No cell phone or personal properties , his cousin had come prepared .

If only that mattered in the slightest .

The car stopped moving but this time , the partition did not come down .

James waited but not for long .

A moment later , someone knocked on the window by his side , in the darkness , he could not make sight of even a shadow .

James bent slightly and retrieved an old wooden box that had been hidden under the car seats .

He opened it up and his mask stared at him , it had belonged to his uncle , Clay's father before James had gotten it , he had been using it for over six years now .

It was a crystal goat's face , complete with overemphasized horns .

James affixed it on to his face and also tapped the glass of the windows .

The doors opened on both sides simultaneously .

The one close to James had been opened by a person in a mask too , a squirrel mask and a workman's jumpsuit .

The squirrel bowed slightly and nodded at whoever had opened the other door.

Two people in mole masks stood there , they bowed too when James turned to them , he nodded to acknowledge their greetings and they immediately got to work .

The moles had brought along a stretcher and worked together to transfer Clay unto it while the squirrel watched , more of a supervisory watch .

When they were done , they bowed again and left , leaving behind the squirrel to accompany James .

James stepped out of the car and followed the squirrel up , the module was a glass house situated on the mountain .

It was hard to climb too but James was more athletic than he let on , his family deeply frowned on unfit members of the family .

It was always a glass house or box if you wanted to be technical , it was usually situated in different locations with every player having different teams and locations .

Last year , it had been in the Himalayas and the previous year , somewhere on Fiji island for James .

James had never burdened himself with this minute details and had usually asked the squirrel to come pick his designated partners from specific locations .

This year was different though .

There was much to lose , much to gain and it was his strikingly beautiful cousin he was offering up after all .

They finally reached the end of the terrain where the glass box was now visible .

The moles had gotten to work on his cousin, Clay lay naked on another glass table between them .

James stood outside the glass box with the squirrel , watching .

They put all of her clothes into a disposable trash bag and began to scan her with a high resolution infrared scanner .

It would detect even the smallest foreign material in her body , from chips to fruit seeds she had swallowed .

Clay had no such thing in her body , so they moved on to washing and detoxing .

James turned around, leaving them to their work .

He studied Squirrel's profile from the corner of his eyes , he had often wondered who Squirrel was .

How much Squirrel knew about them .

Did Squirrel know him personally ?

But Squirrel must have been very professional because during Alec's second year , Squirrel had seen James's face.

James had been unable to focus on the game that year , anticipating his grandfather or mother suddenly bursting in , furious with him.

But that had never happened, Squirrel had done nothing with the information on his identity.

" Are you a girl Squirrel or a boy Squirrel ?"

James waited but Squirrel only ignored him .

He chuckled and checked his watch.

It was a few minutes past eleven .

He turned back to the box , Clay was being dressed .

The Patrons usually got to choose their players clothes and one other thing they were allowed to have during the game .

Communication devices or gadgets were prohibited though .

James had chosen the perfect item for Clay .

Lights came on and flooded them , blinding .

James turned to search for the source, it was coming from far off where it looked like a giant Intense beam of light was concentrated.

Didn't they need a satellite for something of that magnitude ?

How bright exactly was it over there ?

" That's the Arena ".

It would have been a good opportunity to get a feel of Squirrel's voice but a voice changer had been used .

He watched as the light danced around , flickering harshly and finally went off .

Was there a technical issue ?

James turned to Squirrel who had noticed his confusion .

" The light alerts all the players or patron to the venue of the arena ".

James nodded thoughtfully , he turned around to view Clay's progress but was only fast enough to catch her being wheeled off .

" Your player is ready and being transported to the venue sir . You should leave too ", he was informed in a suggestive tone .

In a few minutes after he had left , the glass box would be taken care of like it had never been here .

" I should get going ".

Squirrel escorted him down again to where the car waited .

He got in while Squirrel held the door open.

" Good luck sir".

Squirrel bowed and closed the door.

As the car drove back to the Westbrook house , James thought about what the others would have prepared , especially his mother .

James needed all of the good luck he could get his hands on.