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In fact, the more I got to know my fellow candidates at UTOP, the more I liked them—minus Kira, of course. For a loner like me, that was a huge and startling personal development.

I wasn’t sure what to think of it.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

ANGEL SINCLAIR

“The next series of questions will be true or false, Angel. I want you to answer as quickly as possible, within a two-second time frame. Do you understand?” Mrs. Thompson sat patiently, her hands folded on the table, and waited for me to answer.

It was Monday morning, and I was cranky and tired. The previous group session with Bo and Jax, where we’d fielded bizarre challenges and spilled our guts, confirmed that the routine was going to be the same as last week. Now I was back undergoing more psychological testing.

Fun, it was not.

“Did you say true and false questions?” I asked to make sure I’d heard her right.

“Yes, that’s what I said. No matter how strange the question, I want you to go with the first answer that comes to mind, okay?”

I let out a breath. “Fine. I’m ready.”

She looked down at a sheaf of papers in front of her and began to read. “True or false. I’d rather be a florist than a fireman.”

“What?”I said.

She patiently repeated the question.

“False,” I said. “I totally kill plants.”

“Please don’t provide reasoning,” she said. “Just true or false, okay?”

“Sure. Whatever.”

“I’ve never lied to anyone in a position of authority.”

“False.”

“I’m a confident person.”

“Uh…false.”

This strange line of questioning went on for an hour before she was finally done. She made a couple of notes, and I stood to leave. To my surprise, she asked me to sit down and stay for a few more minutes.

Apprehensive, I returned to my seat and waited for her to speak. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.

“Angel, I want to talk to you about Friday’s trials. Would you mind if I ask you a couple of questions about it?”

My hands tensed in my lap. I didn’t really want to revisit the disastrous trial, but I nodded. “Okay.”

“In reviewing the footage, I noticed you were the first one to find the ladder to the trapdoor on the ceiling and realize the game continued on another floor. Why didn’t you climb the ladder and immediately move quickly to find the exit on the next level?”

“Well, I sort of did.”

“Explain ‘sort of.’”

“I told Wally to cover me as I climbed the ladder. I was vulnerable there and needed his protection. Unfortunately, I still got hit going up. Once I opened the trapdoor, I went through and waited for him.”

“Why did you wait for Wally?”

“Because we were working as a team. It wasn’t in the rules that we couldn’t.”