by Cameron Jace
“But hey, you’ve done great so far. You’ve discovered the first Ten.”
“I did. But you know it’s not enough.”
“We all know. We would have preferred better results out of the Monster Games, but having a Ten is a good start. What are your next plans? Another Monster Game?”
“Really?” Xitler scoffs, staring at his iAm.
“It’s just a suggestion. I can’t think of a better way to get what we want.”
“How am I supposed to get a Ten back into the Games?” Xitler sighs. This isn’t a question. He is only thinking aloud.
“That’s not so hard. You will find a way. The question is: would Decca find what we want if she is thrown back into the Games?”
“We have no other choice. She has to eventually find it,” Xitler mumbles. “The real question is: what kind of experience does she need to be able to find it. Bear in my mind, she’s been in the Games once. Throwing her in again so fast without her growing up and maturing as a girl will not suffice.”
“You mean she needs to live in the outside world? Gain experience of life like any other teenager?”
“Exactly,” Xitler says, putting his devious mind to work again. “Let her live as a Ten. Experience fame at a young age. Scandal. Pain. Love. Hate. Friends. Foes. Lust. The need to prove herself. The stress of society. Then let her realize life is about being free and doing whatever she wants.”
“You devious and devilish man,” the voice snickers. “And then throw her into the Games again? You think she will find it then?”
“Yes,” Xitler says. “A human’s mind is all about perception.”
The voice says nothing for a couple of heartbeats. Though artificial, and out of this world, it seems as if it hesitated. As if the alien brain behind it has a soul. “The human mind,” the voice considers. “Is that why you forced Leo in Decca’s life?
Xitler smirks, almost laughs, proudly and pompously. “Decca went into the Play to save Woo, but she wasn’t sure whether she did it out of love or friendship. Woo was someone who’d taught her things. He is also a damaged boy who is incapable of showing love. So Leo had to show up in the picture.”
“You wanted her for in love, right?”
“Precisely,” Xitler said. “Humans are driven by love. Emotion. Something to believe in, and a reason to be. Without Leo showing up in the Playa, she wouldn’t have experienced certain emotion that ended up helping her in finding the hero inside her and win the games — of course I didn’t know she was the one then, but it was a necessary risk.”
“But it was Woo who sent Leo to save Decca, not you.”
“You’d be surprised at how you can manipulate the mind of teenagers. I just planted circumstance and presented them in the right time and context. It wasn’t rocket science to expect Woo asking Leo to go save Decca.”
“Especially after Leo felt he owed it to Leo’s brother saving him. Woo realizes Leo liked Decca from all the talk about her, and wanted the job anyways.”
“Another masterplan of mine. You see, I come across as arrogant and ruthless ruler, but that’s not what I am. My number one power is understanding how predictable humans are.”
“Sometimes I’m glad you haven’t found what we’re looking for,” The voice said. “Because nothing will stop you from ruling the whole world then.”
“Soon.” Xitler says. “When I find it with Decca’s help.”
“But the next time she enters the Playa, she will enter as a Ten,” the voice agrees. “A Ten is more confident now. She won’t feel the need to prove herself. She will find what we’re looking for. Her eyes will be open. And now that you complicated her love life and her friendships, she will be keen to find it.”
“She will,” Xitler says. “She thinks we know where it is, so her rebellion personality will push her to find it.”
“Poor Decca. She has no idea she’s been puppet
-mastered by you. She has no idea we’ve been waiting for her. That we’re all trapped here in Faya, even you Xitler. And that the only way out is…”
Xitler sighed, staring at Leo, Decca, and Woo being thrust into the new games. “The Rabbit Hole. We needed a Ten because only a Ten is destined to find the Rabbit Hole to get us out of here.”
“To the real world.”
“Whatever is out there.”
“The damn Rabbit Hole,” the voice sighed. “But tell me something…”
“You ask too many questions today. And you’re nothing but an A.I. I created to have someone to talk to.”
“I’m sorry but this one is killing me,” the voice said. “I am wondering about Leo again.”
“What about him?”
“You said you manipulated Woo into asking Leo to go save Decca, and then let Leo manipulate Decca to fall in love with him. Have you manipulated Leo too?”
“No,” Xitler sighed.
“But that’s too much of a coincidence. I mean Leo like Decca so much from the way Woo talked about her?”
“Leo never loved Decca.”
“Come on. That’s impossible. Don’t you see how infatuated he is with—”
“It’s an act.”
“I don’t buy that.”
“Leo is my son.”
The A.I. isn’t shocked, for shock is a human emotion. But the machine is definelty confused, so much that it actually stuttered. “Come again, please?”
“Leo is my son. His job is to kill Decca once she finds the Rabbit Hole.”
The End
Book 3 of I Am Alive is coming soon.
Follow my Mailing List to Get it upon release
Click here to subscribe now!
Other Books by Cameron Jace
The Grimm Diaries Prequels Series
The Grimm Diaries Prequels 1-6
The Grimm Diaries Prequels 7-10
The Grimm Diaries Prequels 11-14
The Grimm Diaries Prequels 15-18
The Grimm Diaries Prequels 19-24
The Grimm Diaries Main Series
Snow White Sorrow (book 1)
Cinderella Dressed in Ashes (book 2)
Blood, Milk & Chocolate Part 1 (book3)
Blood, Milk & Chocolate Part 1 (book4)
I Am Alive Series
I Am Alive (book 1)
I Am Alive 2: Increscent
Pentimento Series
Pentimento (book 1)
Books in the Insanity Series
Insanity
Figment
Circus
Hookah
Wonder
Family
Mushrooms
About the Author
The part that matters:
Cameron Jace is a storykiller. He kills older stories and resurrects them into larger-than-life tales weaved within facts and fiction. With a knack for collecting out-of-print books, he is fascinated with folklore and those who wrote it. He wonders if it’s possible to track back to the first story ever told.
The part that is nothing but propaganda:
Cameron is the bestselling author of the Grimm Diaries series and the Insanity series. Three of his books made Amazon’s Top 100 Customer Favorites books for 2013. He is a graduate of the College of Architecture, but prefers building a fortress of imagination over a house. Cameron lives in California with his girlfriend. He loves to hear from you:
Via email: [email protected]
Twitter: @cameronjace
Facebook: facebook.com/camjace
Instagram: instagram.com/storykiller
Goodreads: goodreads.com/CameronJace
class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
