Game Over by Andrew Klavan Page B

every turn.”
    â€œYes,” said Kurodar. “But this time I have a secret weapon.”
    â€œWhat’s that?” said Hepplewhite.
    â€œRick Dial himself,” said Kurodar.
    And with that, the terrorist began to laugh again, a great booming laugh that caused him to throw his head back against his seat.
    And Hepplewhite thought, Now! Like a flash, while Kurodar was fully distracted, the assassin’s hand went inside his jacket and grabbed his gun.
    A second later, Harold Hepplewhite was lying on the floor on his back, his eyes staring up at the ceiling through the round lenses of his glasses, his paisley shirt soaked with blood, his white jacket beginning to turn red, his heart shredded by the shrapnel from his exploded phone.
    The two men who were tending Kurodar’s machines—the two villagers from the continent—stood staring at the dead assassin with wide eyes.
    â€œTake him out of here and bury him,” said Kurodar quietly.

7. MOONLIT GROVE
    RICK DREADED THE darkness. He dreaded sleep. Would his nightmares return? Would they take him back into the Realm again? Would they take him back to the Golden City and its living-dead creatures, Boars and Cobras and Harpies?
    Were his dreams even dreams at all? Or were they some strange new form of reality? Was reality itself even real anymore?
    Who could you trust if you couldn’t trust yourself? If you couldn’t trust your own mind?
    Rick didn’t know. He only knew he was afraid. Of the night. Of the dark. Of sleep and dreams.
    He tried not to show his fear to the others. They were all sitting together in the Dials’ living room. Raider had been sent upstairs to bed half an hour ago. But Rick and his mother and father and Molly and Professor Jameson remained. The scene was bizarrely normal. The Christmas tree stood in the corner, its crown scraping the ceiling, its branches hung with ornaments and lights. A fire was crackling happily in the fireplace. Rick’s mother hadput some Christmas music on the Sonos—Mom loved Christmas music and played it every chance she got. Right this minute, “Adeste Fideles” was sounding softly in the background.
    And they were talking about the murdered guard.
    That’s what made the normalcy so weird. In that homey Christmas setting, the conversation seemed like something from another planet, as if an alien language had been dubbed in over an ordinary family scene.
    Outside, on the compound grounds, things were not normal at all. Ever since the guard had been found dead in the tower booth, everyone had been on edge. Commander Mars had ordered the entire area searched. The guard who had been assigned to the base of the tower was in custody and under suspicion. Miss Ferris had subjected Rick to a sharp interrogation about the incident, as if he were also a suspect, even though the Traveler had been with him the whole time. Even now, after nightfall, there were flashlight beams crisscrossing the darkness out there as guards went over the area yet again.
    â€œYou’re sure you saw the Boar?” Professor Jameson asked Rick one more time.
    â€œWe both saw it,” said the Traveler. “It was there.”
    â€œAnd not just a Boar Soldier,” said Rick. “A dead one. His face all rotted.”
    â€œEw!” said Molly.
    â€œBut how is that possible?” Professor Jameson asked.
    Both Rick and his father shook their heads.
    â€œHow do I dream about battles and wake up with scratches?” said Rick. “None of it makes any sense.”
    â€œOh, I’m pretty sure it makes sense,” the Traveler corrected him gently. “We just don’t understand the sense it makes. Not yet, anyway.”
    They were all speaking in low voices. Partly, that was so Raider wouldn’t hear them upstairs. But partly, too, it was because they did not want anyone outside to hear them either. No one would say it out loud, but the truth was they didn’t