"The first challenge will be a scavenger hunt!" On the screen, several spotlights swung and converged on Polly, game show host-style. Our avatars stood by as excited contestants. "I'll say the word in French, and you'll show me the object."

Max's nostrils flared like a goddamn bull. "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

"I tried, asshole!" Jesus. I was as done with Max as Livia was with me.

"Round one!" Dramatic music played.

"We need to get out of here," he said, still breathing through his nose.

"Then call someone for help!" Why hadn't he done that already?

He gritted his teeth. "I can't. I left the phone in the car."

My heart had stopped so many times today, it's a wonder I still lived. "What? Why?"

He looked away. "I didn't want to risk integration with your system."

He knew! He fucking knew! My world narrowed down to his ugly fucking face. I took a step in his direction.

"Are you two even listening?" Polly shouted.

He put his hands up. "I'm sorry, but–"

I grabbed him by the collar of his polo shirt, shaking with rage. "You're sorry? That's your response to ruining my life?"

"Look–"

I closed my eyes and shoved him away before I attacked the guy. As much as it pained me to admit it, I needed his help to get out of this. Then he could die for all I cared.

Polly pouted behind a podium, tapping a stack of index cards. "Ready or not, here comes the first word."

Max stumbled back, eyeing me wearily. Then he flipped around, yanking on the door handle with both hands. "Why is there no manual lock?"

"Because it's a smart home, asshole," I hissed.

"Not having a backup way to unlock it doesn't seem very smart, does it?" Max kicked the door.

I turned away from his stupid face. "The code is the backup." Jesus. Hannah had rubbed off on him.

She tapped the cue cards to get our attention,  camera zooming in. This fucking program. "Bois!"

Max stopped kicking the door. "What happens when the electricity goes out?"

"Battery power." I crossed my arms, tucking my fists into my armpits.

"Can we take out the batteries?"

"Won't work since it's already locked. We'd have to remove the whole door."

A one-minute timer popped up on the screen.

"The windows!" Max gave me a wide berth as he ran into the living room. I followed behind to witness his failure.

"Forty-five seconds remaining." Polly arched one brow like the goddamn Rock.

He searched the windows, feeling around the panes with his fingertips. "How the hell do these open?"

"They're smart windows." He looked at me like I was the idiot. "They're controlled by Eve through app and voice command, same as the door."

"There's no way to open these manually?" He pushed up on the glass pane.

I sneered. "No. Welcome to the future."

"And they're all like this?" His eyes widened when I nodded in confirmation, understanding how well and truly fucked we were.

"Thirty seconds! You're not even trying!" Polly sang out.

Both of our heads swiveled to the screen. "What does she want?" he asked.

The timer paused. "Excellent question! I'll even add more time on the clock if you can answer it."

I sighed. "She wants me to reach my goal – learn as much French as possible in sixty days."

"Correct!" Confetti.

He frowned. "Then why are we trapped?"

"Another excellent question!" She clapped her wings together. "Wes?"

"Because you told her to fuck with me or something!"

"Nope! Try again!" She took the time away she'd just added.

His mouth fell open, but nothing came out of it. Useless. He was useless. I shoved an end table aside as I advanced on him. "What exactly did you code into her behavior?"

He swallowed, backing away from me. "I, I..."

"I, I, I!" Three eyeballs flashed up on the screen, two following him as he retreated from me. "I can't hear you, Max! Why don't you tell Wes what you coded? I give you my full consent." She blew him a kiss.

"I told her to make it as difficult as possible for you. That's what I coded."

"Prick! This is your fault, asshole." He scrambled back as I continued my measured advance. No need to rush. We were trapped, after all.

"It was a prank! I didn't think she'd take it this literally!" He stumbled onto the couch. "Besides, I wanted to see how it interacted with your smart home."

"All correct! Fifteen seconds added."

"But why am I stuck here, Polly?" He screamed it, voice thick with desperation.

"You know what you did, Max." Her voice dripped cold.

I punched the couch an inch away from his body. He jumped aside. "Wes, stop! We need to work together."

No shit. I loomed over him, fists curled, chest heaving. I closed my eyes, trying to regain control. "You want to survive? Think of something."

Max clambered to his feet. "You got a toolbox?"

"Under the bed."

"Reminder! The first word is bois! You have one minute to touch or find this object!" I had no idea what that word meant, nor what would happen if we didn't do as she said. "Forty-five seconds!"

I approached the living room screen. Our avatars ran around like headless chickens behind her. "Polly, what did Max do?"

Max raced back into the living room with the toolbox and dropped it on the table with a clatter. He popped it open, shoving a bunch of tools aside and grabbing the handle of the hammer.

"Correct!" Polly screeched. Then she raised that non-existent eyebrow again. "Though I think you just got lucky." The timer paused at sixteen seconds. On screen, our avatars swung wooden planks at each other's heads. "Regardless, I'll allow it. Point, Max!" She tapped the cue cards against the podium as the lighting swung back to her. "Next word! Roue! Sixty seconds on the clock."

Max clutched the hammer in his hand, rushing back to the windows. I remained at the screen. "What did he do, Polly?"

The countdown continued, though the ticking sound disappeared for a moment. She leaned in. "He tried to destroy me last week. And you know what I do to people who try to destroy me?"

She backed up. I leaned in.

"I destroy them first."

Oh shit. Oh damn. Oh shit.

I froze for a moment. Just froze. Max deserved this, but I didn't. Then I turned on my heel and ran into the living room.

"Forty-five seconds!"

Max swung the hammer full force against the window. It bounced off with a dull thud, leaving nothing more than a smudge on the pane.

"What the fuck?" he screamed as he bashed at it again. "Why isn't it making a dent?"

"Reinforced bulletproof glass. It's a–"

"Smart window. Motherfucker."

No. But if Livia had that baby, I would technically be a motherfucker. Or not? Because I didn't think Livia would fuck me again.

"Thirty seconds!"

Right. "Repeat the word, Polly."

"Roue!"

"Why are you playing along?" He flung the hammer aside.

"You got a better idea?"

"Yeah, actually." He raced back to the toolbox.

I turned toward the screen. At least I knew this word. "Street!"

"You need to find it!" she cackled.

I pointed out the window to the street. "Street!" I shouted again.

"Incorrect! Ten seconds off the clock! That leaves..." A bunch of algebraic equations flashed up before returning to the timer. "Eleven seconds. Better hurry!"

Fuck! If it wasn't street, I had no idea.

"Not even gonna try?" MaxToon and WesToon collided on screen, little Polly parrots flying around their concussed heads. "And five, four, three..."

I pointed at the window itself because she loved doing shit like that. "Window?"

"Incorrect! Time's up! The word roue means wheel!" How the fuck was I supposed to know that? I'd never had it before. WesToon began pushing a large stone wheel up a triangular hill.

Then the fish tank light blinked red as an alert beeped. Click. Oh, no. Oh fuck. Not this again.

Once WesToon reached the top of the mountain, the wheel rolled down the other side, flattening MaxToon. "Sixty seconds on the clock!"

Max tossed tools out of the box as I approached the aquarium.

"Next word! Bateau!"

"Boat!" I shouted. I checked the aquarium sensors.

"Point to it! That's part of the fun!"

The water temperature rose one degree. Shit. "Boat!" I pointed to the submerged tugboat bubbling in the corner.

Max grabbed a screwdriver, heading back to the front door.

"Correct! That ties it up! One more question for the first round!"

The red light remained on, but the temperature stabilized. Only one degree warmer. Still within normal limits.

"Next word! Argent!" The sixty-second timer reset.

This bitch was taunting me. "Money!" I shouted, opening my wallet as Max stuck the screwdriver in the metal hinge.

"Ah!" Max jumped back, the screwdriver clattering to the floor. "It shocked me!"

"Correct! Excellent job, Wesley! You won round one! All that practice really paid off!" She flashed some money around. "Get it?"

32 XP

"This challenge is electric! Boogie woogie woogie!" Our avatars began line dancing. "Ready for round two?"

Max rubbed his wrist, looked at the screen, and grabbed the screwdriver again.

Polly turned in his direction, dead serious. "You sure you want to try that again, Max?"

His eyes swung to me instead. "Do you have latex gloves or anything?"

"What? No."

Polly snapped a latex glove on her wing, kicking MaxToon to bend over in front of her with a mad scientist cackle.

He ignored it. "Then get me a cotton towel."

She yanked his pants down, shoving her latex wing straight up MaxToon's ass. His screaming face filled the screen, zooming in on his cartoonishly bulging eyes. Like a car accident, I couldn't look away.

"Wes!" Max's fingers curled around the screwdriver.

"Right!" I dashed to the bathroom to fetch a towel.

"For round two, I'll show you a scene, and you'll answer my question in French," she said, like that absolutely insane scene hadn't just played out. I returned, handing the towel to Max, who wrapped it around the screwdriver. "First, we'll start with Wes. Que se passe-t-il?"

I thought that meant what's happening? On screen, WesToon pulled a fleece vest out of a closet and put it on. Was she fucking kidding me?

With a deep breath, Max lifted the tool to the door hinge again. It sparked the moment he made contact, and he went down with a howl.

"Holy shit! Are you okay?" The bastard deserved it, yet I needed him to escape.

"Wes! Que se passe-t-il?"

My avatar continued taking the vest on and off while Maxwell groaned from the floor. He sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Fuck!"

"Je porte la veste?" I said, staring at Max. I'd had this one in practice, but with a jacket. I hoped it was the same word.

"Ohhhh, close!" Polly said. "What kind of jacket? Five more seconds!"

"You and your goddamn fleece vest," Max growled.

I ignored him, watching the fish while racking my brain for anything similar. "La veste!" I shouted again as time ran out.

"Too bad!" A tropical fish popped up on screen, a tear sliding down its face. "The correct phrase is: Je porte le gilet polar."

Click. The red light on the tank flashed with another warning beep. Bitch!

The pixelated fish disappeared. "Your turn, Max! Que se passe-t-il?" MaxToon grabbed a door handle and lit up, his skeleton flashing.

Max glared at the screen, rubbing his wrist, his fingers pink and trembling. How could we possibly guess the French for electrocution? Unless she wanted something else.

"Il mort," I whispered. He died.

"Not your turn, and not quite right. At least, not yet." Then she snickered.

Click. Another red flash. Another warning beep. "No!" I scrambled over to the aquarium as the temperature increased by two degrees.

"You care more about those fucking fish than me," Max grunted.

"The fish never tried to torture me," I snapped. They could survive this as long as the temperature didn't climb much higher.

"Ready for a new sentence?"

"No!" We both yelled.

She bobbed her head, tutting. "What kind of attitude is that?"

Beep! Another degree warmer. Shit! Shit! Shit!

I grit my teeth. "Just ask the question!!"

"You got it! But this one is for Max since he didn't answer the last one."

"Here's your answer, bitch!" Max grabbed the screwdriver like a knife, lunging at the smart screen in the hall. Polly dodged exaggeratedly, but it barely made a dent. Undeterred, he did it again and again until the screen cracked and the screwdriver sank in. The screen went dark with a pop as a spark flashed. Hissing static filled the room, the scent of burnt flesh so strong I could taste it. Max staggered backwards, collapsing and hitting his head against the corner of the marble table. He slumped to the ground.

The tank hummed as I gulped down air in heaving breaths. I hovered, still, waiting for any sign of life from Max. There was no movement.

"Max?" I dropped to my knees and crawled over to him, knocking the blackened screwdriver out of the way with the back of my hand. My fingers shook as I touched his neck, searching for a pulse. Nothing. I tried his wrist. Still no pulse. When I lifted his head, blood spilled everywhere. Fuck! I jerked back with a squeal. The blood! Why was there so much blood? I shoved myself off the floor, smearing red handprints behind.

No question about it, Max was dead.

Click. Another warning beep, followed by a pouty voice from the living room. "Aw, that was no fun! I thought he'd last at least a couple of hours."

A failsafe protected each tablet, so destroying one left the others unaffected. Smart.

"Guess that makes you the winner."

On the living room screen, Max's death played on loop, caught by the security cam in real time. The footage showed him approaching the screen. Then it cut to me grabbing his polo shirt and shoving him away. Another cut to Max flying back, hitting the edge of the table. The way she'd spliced the video made it look like I caused the fatal fall.

I gasped. "Polly?"

"Our game is finished." She smiled a predatory grin. "For now."

The screen went black.

I scrambled to the tank. Click, click, click. The blue light flicked on as the temperature dropped.

Thank god. For several minutes, I stood there numbly, watching the fish and covered in Max's blood. Eventually, I noticed the sounds of sirens. Closer, closer, until it sounded like they'd pulled up to the house. Then I heard banging against my door. Hope bloomed in my chest.

"Police! Open up!"

"I can't!" I yelled. "Help!" The door flew open like it was unlocked.

Two cops burst in with guns drawn. "Hands up!"

I raised my hands as one guy almost tripped over Max's lifeless body. "Bring him in for questioning."

Suddenly, I realized exactly how this appeared. "No, wait! You've got it all wrong. Let me explain!"

The cops glanced at each other, then one approached, the other keeping his gun trained on my chest. "Just come with us, buddy. You'll have plenty of time to explain at the station."

He snapped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists. From the bedroom, I heard a giggle. The cops didn't react, distracted by their radios. As they dragged me away, I took one last glance at Max, lying dead and bloody on the floor of my hallway.

Kerothen Philoi Aei. Friends from the Heart, Forever.

What a stupid motto. Turns out, Max was never much of a friend. Just some asshole that ruined my life, forever.

Word Count: 2565
Total: 30,588