Silence. That's all that drenched the atmosphere as my eyes peered around, looking at the nine potential killers that could be calculating my death in their minds at this very moment.

I really was

Rucker stomped over and slung an arm over my shoulder. "Look here, people. This is my ally. I know those rewards that Jookie was spewing out his mouth sound pretty damn good, but I hope it's worth your life because I will kill you if you come for her, capeesh?"

My head swung to Rucker, surprise written in my eyes. He wasn't going to try and kill me? When we sliced each other's hands, he took that shit seriously. Yes.

But what if he just wanted to get me alone and kill me himself? He did kill his own brother.

He pointed a finger at Gmie. "Everyone already knows you have the biggest hardon for her, so I'll be watching you extra hard. Don't try it."

Gmie huffed and gritted her teeth but didn't say anything.

I could get used to this ally thing.

Sebastian glared at him. "You're the psychopath here. I trust Gmie more than I trust you."

Rucker settled his dark eyes on Sebastian, mouth frowning. "I don't trust you either, cotton candy," he said. "Anyone who looks like they should be working for the IRS isn't trustworthy."

Sebastian turned bright red. "Look here—"

Chi let out a long breathe. "Can you guys can it? We have twenty-four hours to solve this thing."

Yaz furrowed her brows. "Who said anything about solving it together? This is a game, remember?"

Chi shrugged. "We get the same points either way, so why not?"

Yaz let out a loud, condescending snort. "Just cause you left Gmie's crew don't mean your slate's clean, bitch. You guys planned on killing all of us, why would any of us want to work or help you?"

"We don't want to work with you, anyway," Gmie said, turning her eyes on me. "We'll figure out who really did this on our own."

"Goodcause I'll cut off my left nut before working with you," Rucker said.

Sebastian motioned to me. "We'renot working with you either," he said, eyeing Rucker.

Rucker cleared his throat. "Look here, pillowcase. I'm getting sick of you—"

"Can't we all just work together?" I asked, cutting him off and they both look at me. "I'm allies with both of you, so let's just work together? Same points either way."

"But he's a psycho," Sebastian said.

"And you're probably a repressed momma's boy who sniffs dirty panties." Rucker shrugged. "So, I don't trust you either."

Irritated, I smacked my hands together, making both of them shut up. "Look. We either all work together, or I'm not working with either of you."

They both glared at each other before nodding.

"Fine," Rucker said. "But I'm watching you, lily pad."

Sebastian ignored the nickname, sucking his teeth. "Whatever."

As they continued to scowl at each other, I kneeled near Layla's body. Her skin still felt warm under my fingertips, meaning she hasn't been dead long. Even the shit on her fingers glistened, still slightly moist.

A thick patch of sadness erupted through me. Less than two hours ago, she was throwing shit, yelling in tongues, and now, she was silenced. Dead.

Rucker towered near my side. "Don't say anything too important out loud. We don't want to give anything away to the others."

"So selfish," Sebastian muttered, which caused another argument.

I ignored the bickering and spoke loudly for everyone to hear, "I'm turning the body over to examine it."

Gmie rushed over, breathing heavy. "You're just trying to ruin evidence."

I rolled my eyes. "We can't see how she died unless we turn her over."

"Let me do it then." Gmie struggled to her knees, body still weak, and pushed the body over fast before making a horrified face. "Ick," she said, hopping back.

Ick was right.

Layla was definitely dead. A black pen impaled her left eye while dense white foam and chunky vomit caked her chapped lips. On the floor, where her head was faced down, small pools of vomit and bile littered the floor.

Analyzing the scene, the first word that entered my mind was poison. It would explain the foam on her mouth and the vomit.

But she was eating her own shit too, so yeah, that could've caused her sickness as well.

Moving my eyes around the scene, something white caught my eye. A bent piece of paper nestled her inner thigh. I leaned over the body, pretending to check the other side while quickly snatching the paper, keeping it hidden in my sleeve.

Sharing evidence with Gmie was not gonna happen.

Sitting back on my knees, I gave the scene one last check and discovered nothing new. Besides the foam and the pen in her eye, I couldn't decide which one killed her — the force of the pen or the poison?

And none of this led me to a suspect. Everyone was still a suspect and whoever did it left nothing behind that I could see.

The one thing that bothered me was the location. "How did she and the killer get into my room?" I whispered to myself.

Khan leaned down on the other side of me, hugging the sleeping Duke to his chest. "Poison?" he murmured.

"Possibly, but now?" I said. "I don't see needle marks, so someone would've had to feed it to her somehow and I don't think she trusted any of us that much."

"True," Khan said, eyes scanning the body. "Unless she died from the pen in her eye and it caused a seizure."

"That's possible too," I said, getting up to get a better angle of the body. Brown scuff marks marred the floor near her feet while shit splattered her soles.

Khan stood too. "Did you lose your key?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "That's what confuses me. I don't know how she got in here."

"You lured her here," Gmie said, pointing at me.

Rucker stomped up to her, causing her to stumble backward. "Your voice is annoying. Shut up so she can think. You can look at the body when we're finished."

"Who made you boss?" Gmie snapped.

"Me." He smiled, looking at her and Demo. "Either of you gonna stop me?"

Demo and Gmie glowered at him but stayed silent again.

I was totally enjoying this ally thing. Rucker was the perfect bodyguard.

"The killer must've lured her here," Khan said, ignoring everyone and resuming our conversation. "Probably to frame you or it's possible that Layla was in here already and the killer just acted in the moment."

"Crime of passion," I said, nodding. "I didn't think about that. I figured it was planned, but the killer could've just been walking by and did it."

My eyes glanced up at Khan, who had soft indents on his forehead from the scrunching of his face as he went deep into thought. I smiled.

Khan knew how to analyze and come up with intelligent conclusions, always thinking outside the box. And we had this calm, easy banter like without even thinking, we bounced ideas off of each other and came up with really good conclusions.

I was stuck at the moment, but I knew he would be a good person to have on my side as well.

"Do you want to work together?" I asked him flat out. It was easier to ask him for something than Rucker. "This is gonna be a tough one, and I think we need each other's brain."

His lips formed into a satisfied smile, eyes brightening. "I think so too."

"Yingyang, you gotta discuss it with me before adding people to our gang," Rucker said, walking over. "We're the elite and we gotta keep it that way." He gestured to Sebastian. "We already got vanilla coke over there, lowering our value."

Sebastian went red, eyes slitting. "Stop calling me weird names. My name is Sebastian. Se—bas—tian. You stupid?"

"You're the one who just sounded out their own name like an idiot," Rucker said, snorting.

"Did you call me yingyang," I asked.

"Yeah," Rucker said, shrugging. "I've definitely seen two different sides of you since you been here. Nice, quiet you and—"

"And psychotic you," Gmie said, rolling her eyes. "She's a basket case who's plotting to kill us all."

"Umm I think that was you," I said before smiling. "That's why you lost your lackeys."

"I wasn't a lackey," Chi said, holding her head up high.

"Bitch, you did whatever I said." Gmie laughed. "You're a mindless follower."

"Fuck you," Chi said, hands on her hips. "I'm so glad Layla stuffed that shit down your throat. It was very fitting since you're a piece of shit."

"Oh, such a great come back," Gmie said, shaking her head. "You're pathetic. Stick to what you know. Sucking dick. And leave thinking to the smart people."

With the speed of a rabid cheetah, Chi charged at Gmie and smacked the shit out of her. It all happened in one fluid motion, Chi's hand connecting with her cheek and Gmie's face flinging back, spit flying.

"Don't touch her." Demo laced her hands around Chi's hair, wailing punches on her face.

Chi screamed, hopping around while scratching Demo's arms and face. Aries rushed forward, trying to break it up.

"Can I join your gang too?" Yaz sauntered over. "You guys are the smartest ones here, and I need the points." She eyed the catfight in the corner. "And I don't like any of them."

I laughed. "At least you're honest." That's the one thing I liked about Yaz. She was real. What you see was what you got. "I'm fine with it, but I have to discuss it with my ally first."

"See? Learning, ally." Rucker tapped my temple, and I rolled my eyes. He turned to Yaz. "Is a hot dog a sandwich?"

Yaz wrinkled her forehead. "Depends."

"On what?"

"How you hold it," Yaz said, shrugging.

Rucker burst out laughing. "Yeah, you're in," he said before nodding to Khan. "You too."

I cocked my head, trying to figure out his initiation process. "That's all? When I asked, you had to think about it, and you sliced my hand open."

"That's because you earned my trust." He folded my arms. "We're partners. I'll share things with you and protect you. Not them. They have to earn that."

Sebastian snorted. "Like we really care what you think."

"You're pushing my buttons, cinnamon roll," Rucker said, cracking his knuckles.

"We should really start investigating now," Khan said, interrupting their next argument.

"We should check her room," I said, nodding to him. "Might give us some good clues."

Khan rubbed Duke's sleepy chin. "Me and you can go."

Rucker stared at Khan and then me. "You trust that he won't try to kill you?"

"He's healed me before, I'll be fine," I said, honestly. "Plus, we need people to guard the body from them."

I eyed the corner. Demo and Chi were still trying to rip each other's face off, while Aries tried to break it up as Gmie just stood there, looking nauseous.

Layla's shit must've really made her sick. Good.

"We need pictures of the body and the room too," Khan said. "Good pictures from all angles."

"I watch SVU," Yaz said, taking out her iPad. "I got this."

"And I'll watch the rejects over there," Rucker said, gesturing to the corner.

"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Sebastian asked, eyeing Khan.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, patting his arm. "Plus, you're kinda of friendly with Gmie and her posse, so it'd probably be best to stay here and help guard the body until pics are done."

He smiled. "Will do, ma'am."

Right before Khan and I started walking out the room, Rucker stopped us. "Should we give our gang a name? Might make the viewers like us more."

True. "I guess..." I shrugged. "Does anyone have something in mind?"

"The A team," Sebastian offered.

"Nah, icicle," Rucker said, palming his face. "We need something epic like The Avengers."

Yaz let out a loud chuckle. "We are so not superheroes."

Rucker gave us all a sadistic smirk. "Cause we're villains. How sick is that?"

♟♙♟

Do you like Betinia's new gang?