Chapter 31

That morning, I spent a few minutes contemplating what to do with the picture. It was clearly a clue of sorts, though I had no idea if it would help me recover Grandpa Kent’s box. I was beginning to see that there was no rhyme or reason to Iridian. The Game Master threw whatever he wanted at us, and sat back laughing as we all struggled to figure it out. My second conversation with the Game Master gave me a newfound sense of motivation. He had manipulated me from the very beginning. The drifter that came into Stella’s diner, stealing my Grandpa’s box and the crystal necklace that sat at the hollow of my throat, and even when he placed the invitation on my bed. It was all a large-scale manipulation, quiet little nudges in the right direction. I wouldn’t be another chess piece he could move. I’d win his game and have the pleasure of finally seeing the face behind that illusion, if there even was a face to be seen.

What seemed to vex me most was tha