Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 25
“Are you here to save me?”
Ethan snapped back to reality. He’d considered the possibility that Bella might side with the humans and find some way to protect him as he followed the card’s instructions, but he never expected her to show up in person. That had to carry some risk for her too.
“Don’t flatter yourself into thinking I wanted to rescue you,” Bella said with a huff. “If it weren’t for all those unreliable guests I’ve dealt with over the years, I wouldn’t have pinned my hopes on you.”
Right now, she didn’t seem like the obedient girl she acted as around her parents, nor the deliberately fierce one she put on for guests. This version of her felt like she’d shed her masks and returned to her true self.
Still, she carried a bit of resentment from how Ethan had challenged her earlier in the day, wearing the sulky expression typical of someone her age.
“What do you mean?” Ethan asked, genuinely curious. He wanted to know what had happened with the previous groups of guests.
“Don’t even get me started,” Bella replied, wrinkling her small nose in frustration, her face flushed with irritation. “You think I’m this cautious for no reason? At first, I opened up to them completely, but that quickly broke the rules, and none of those guests survived. Later ones, I tried to scare off, but it didn’t change a thing.”
“After several groups died one after another, I realized I might not be able to help them at all, so now I don’t even bother interacting with guests. They’re all doomed transients anyway, and getting attached just makes it hurt more.”
“At most, when they first arrive, I give them a token scare. If they pick up on the danger and run, great. If not, their death isn’t on me, it’s just going through the motions.”
“But I had no idea about the world outside the Castle, or that you couldn’t leave it. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered with even that.”
Ethan nodded, then asked, “Why do you protect the guests? Is it some kind of rule?”
“No,” Bella said, her mood suddenly dipping, her voice growing quieter. “I just don’t want my family to commit more killings.”
“About your family, and the castle, can you tell me more?”
Bella shook her head and fell silent.
From her reaction, Ethan figured it wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but that she couldn’t.
“Were you the one who called Lily out yesterday?” Ethan tried a different question.
“Lily?” Bella tilted her head, clearly not bothering to remember guests’ names.
Ethan reminded her, “The woman who died in the game room this morning.”
“No,” Bella said, realization dawning on her face before she continued. “I was actually puzzled about that myself.”
“I saw you weren’t scared off by me, so I figured this batch of guests was hopeless too. But that night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and eventually prepared a card to give you.”
“That card had my custom rules, and as long as they weren’t broken, you’d get clues and my protection.”
“But for some reason, the card’s function didn’t activate last night. I assume the person who got it violated the rules.”
Ethan fell into thought. When Lily had spoken to him that first night, she’d hesitated as if tempted to mention the card but held back.
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