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Chapter Three

"Okay Nick, you get serious points for finding this place," Rochelle said.

All seven of us peered through the windshield as the house came into view.

It had to be the perfect Halloween night. It was windy and cold and there was a full moon up in the sky. The branches of a huge bare tree in the front yard scraped against the house.

"Oh this is creepy," Leighanne said. Bri stretched his arm along their seat and squeezed her shoulders.

It was eight o'clock. The mystery would officially begin at ten. It would end when the first girl correctly solved the case. The place had been set up with video cameras; Jen and Justin would be monitoring all the activity.

And I would be running around trying to scare people. I had determined that was going to be my mission in life.

After all, it was All Hallow's Eve.

"You aren't wearing that in," Leigh said. I turned around and grinned. Every now and then Howie had a good sense of humor. Tonight was one of those times. He had been wearing a giant Wookie head for the past two hours. If you ask me, it was still an improvement over his 'Jesus hair' phase. He turned to Leigh and made the Wookie noise.

"I just got a text from Justin," AJ said. "Jen and him are already inside. They've got everything ready for us."

There were nine different rooms that were part of the game. Six of those rooms would be inhabited by Bri, Howie, AJ, Leigh, Leighanne, and Rochelle. The other three rooms were empty. In each room, Jen hid a small jump drive thing. The six girls (and me!) had to find the jump drive and plug it into a device we would be given to hang around our necks. The clue from the jumpdrive would be transferred into our device.

I personally thought it was all very Matrix-y. BSB didn't mess around.

Anyhow, if we entered a room that had one of the 'players' in it, once we found the jumpdrive thing, they would give us another clue to plug in. So six rooms had the chance to get two clues. Of course, we had to listen to them give their corny 'defense' of why they couldn't possibly be the murderer.

I glanced over at Leighanne. My money was on her.

Always expect the unexpected, right?

"NICK!"

I jumped. "What?"

Bri smirked. "I asked you if you had the prizes on you."

I patted my pockets. The guys had loaded me down with all sorts of goodies - stickers, lanyards, autographed pictures. I was a walking kiosk.

"I'm all set," I said.

The car pulled to a stop. The driver turned.

"I'll be back to pick you guys up. Have a fun night."

He made a 'mwhahaha' sound that sent shivers up my spine. AJ laughed and swung himself out first. Ro quickly followed.

Once I stepped foot onto the grass, I jogged in place. Howie's Wookie head smacked into me.

"HEY!"

"Sorry," came the muffled voice from inside.

"Guys, in here!"

We turned. Justin was hanging out at the door.

"The winners will be here any minute. Let me walk you through the house."

Everyone headed up the old creaking stairs. Little bits of dust flew up into the air. The realtor had told me that nobody had lived here for a long time.

She didn't give the reason why.

We entered a dark, dank foyer. A chandeler that looked like it hadn't been turned on in a century swung omniously above our heads.

"Nick, you stay here," Bri said.

"What? Why?"

"Because dumbass! You're playing the game!" AJ said. "You can't know where everything is."

I folded my arms across my chest. "So you're just going to leave me here by myself?"

The guys all grinned.

"Yep."

"You can greet the girls if they arrive early," Justin said.

I leaned against the wall as they all took off. I could hear Justin explaining against about the jump drives and everything.

I looked up and waved at a camera.

"Hi Jen!"

I walked around the foyer. It smelled musty. Cobwebs stretched from one corner to another. All of a sudden a spider dropped down on my shoulder.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

I swatted at it. Then I shook out my hair. I knew it was all psychological, but I could almost feel those eight spindly legs still crawling on me.

"Hello?"

"AHHHHH!!!!"

I jumped again. I looked towards the front door.

The girls had arrived. The two busty ones held onto each other and giggled. I ran a hand over my shoulder one more time.

"Welcome!" I said.

"This place is creepy," Desiree, the brunette said.

"It's just old," Ivanka said. I had to wonder whether the place was an improvement. She looked like she slept upside down from the rafters. She stared at me and I almost screamed again.

"So are you playing too?" Kasey said. She was wearing an orange long sleeve top with black cuffs. It was cut low.

Even though I was dating Lauren, I couldn't help but take a look. I smiled at her.

"I am," I said. "So go easy on me."

Alyssa, the strawberry blonde, laughed.

"Is everyone here?"

I turned around. Justin came up to us holding six lanyards.

"They're all here," I said.

"You guys excited?" Justin asked. All of the girls except Ivanka were staring at me when they nodded.

"Alright, where let's go over the rules..."

Justin explained the logistics of the game.

"And if you bump into Nick along the way you'll get extra prizes."

I grinned. I wouldn't mind bumping into four of the girls in a dark hallway...

"Now, I also want to mention that only one person is allowed in a room at any one time," Justin said.

I hadn't heard that part. I looked at him.

"How's that going to work?"

Justin smiled. "Before you enter a room you'll tap your device against a panel by the door. The door will unlock and you can enter. It will lock again behind you and a red light will turn on. The red light will go off once you leave."

"So we'll be locked in with Brian?" Alyssa asked. I knew she wanted Bri!

"You will," Justin said slowly. "But you'll also be monitored. Jen and I will be up in the control room. We also have a security guard. Since you guys all passed the background checks, I'd assume you aren't going to murder anyone in cold blood." He grinned.

The girls laughed. Well, except for Ivanka. She just snickered.

"Okay, so you guys ready to go?"

"YES!"

Justin handed out the devices.

"You're first clue is downloaded onto your device. See if you can find it."

I put the lanyard around my neck and held the little device. It looked kind of like an IPod. I tapped the screen. A second later I saw the first clue.

All it said was 'Rope.'

"Anytime you get a clue you can consider that item not a part of the murder scenario," Justin said. "You have a list of all the possibilities on your device. Once you're left with one suspect, one weapon, and one room you're ready to solve the case. If you're the first to come up to the control room and tell us, you win."

"Sweet," Andrea said. The girls looked at each other. Suddenly they didn't look so buddy-buddy.

They had their game faces on.

"Alright," Justin said. "On the count of three."

"One---"

"Two---"

"THREE!"

The girls all took off. I glanced at Justin. He smiled.

"Have fun. We'll be watching."

He disappeared up the stairs. I looked around.

My goal was to get clues, look cute, and hand out prizes to the girls if they bumped into me.

I could handle that.

I brushed my shoulder again.

What I couldn't handle was any more spiders.