Page 54 of Catch Me (Becoming Us #4)

Travis

Surprisingly, I’d never been to an escape room. Maybe I just didn’t hang out with people enough. I was excited for it, even though Kai had apparently reserved the longest, most complicated one. Considering who he was, it tracked.

I’d tried to bring my dad along, but he wasn’t interested. He was the type who would get a kick out of hearing about it, not actually participating. It was a shame because I thought he’d be good at it.

As I waited for them, I studied the pictures on the walls. It looked like they put up the ones of the groups that won. The idea of it made me feel competitive. One way or another, we were going to get our faces on that wall.

Sen walked through the door and smiled at me, but it was tight.

“Why do you look like that?” I asked.

“No reason. Definitely not because of my fiancé.”

“Ah, so he’s on some shit today.”

“Today, tomorrow, probably the whole time we’re here. Don’t get too angry, ’kay?”

“Angry about what? ”

“Just...” He sighed and shook his head once.

“Okay, well, the room is ready. Where’s he at?”

The door swung open and Kai waltzed in. When he looked at me, he smiled. “Hey, Travis. Ready to rock this shit?”

I was about to respond, but I saw someone walk in right behind him. Immediately, my mouth went dry.

Roman was wearing a dark red hoodie, and his hair, which was longer than when I’d seen him in December, hung in loose waves partway down his forehead. He didn’t look at me, and he kept his hands in his hoodie pocket.

Honestly, I should’ve known there was some shit going on. Kai could’ve asked us to go to an escape room and we would’ve said yes without that game last night. I was tempted to go off on the conniving asshole, but Sen already looked uncomfortable and it would make it seem like I gave a shit.

I didn’t.

Painting on a smile, I nodded toward the desk. “Your phones have to stay here, apparently. Can you kids handle that?”

Sen gasped dramatically, easing some of the worry in his brow. “No phones? What ever will we do?”

“I’m gonna send you nudes you can’t look at until after,” Kai said with a snicker. When Sen’s phone buzzed, Kai swiped it out of his hand and deposited it in the box. “Let’s do this, baby.”

Putting his arm around Sen, he kissed his temple. The rest of the tension fell away—between them, at least.

The girl at the front desk led us down a hallway and stopped in front of a door. She explained some rules, but I didn’t care enough to listen. I was excited for this and it didn’t matter who was here.

The theme was a haunted schoolhouse. Apparently, we didn’t know who was haunting it and in order to stop all the bad things from happening, we had to discover their identity, then figure out what was keeping them here, then find that item and destroy it. Simple enough, I guess.

The first room was dim with fake windows that let in ‘moonlight.’ It was set up like a classroom with desks and a chalkboard. Wind whistled softly through the space, and I could even feel it coming from somewhere.

I wandered over to a bookcase because that always seemed to be relevant when there were ghosts involved. None of the books moved when I tugged on them, which was a little disappointing. If one was a secret lever that opened a door, it would’ve been cool.

“What about a séance?” Sen suggested, glancing around. He spotted a candle on the wall and tried to remove it, but the votive was secured in place. “It’s not a real flame anyway.”

“I don’t think it’d be a real séance,” I pointed out.

“A little realism never hurt anyone. Bet we’d be the first to summon an actual ghost.”

“Maybe they’d help us solve the puzzle.”

Kai rubbed his palms together. “We can put our big brains together. Are you more than a jock, Trav?”

With a snort, I leaned back against the bookshelf. “Sure, just don’t look at my transcripts. School was never set up for the way my brain works.”

“How ’bout a battle of wits? Whoever solves the most clues buys lunch.”

“I’m not about to let you hustle me. Everyone knows you pull skills out of your ass.”

“Call me Kakashi the copy ninja.” He flipped what I assumed was an imaginary knife or something, then ‘threw’ it at Sen who stumbled back, hitting the wall. He put a hand on his chest, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the dramatic display.

“The others didn’t want to come?” I asked.

Dropping the act, Sen looked at me. “Do you want to be stuck with West in a locked room?”

I grimaced. “Touché.”

“Brooks is studying, as always. And you know Tilian. He’ll avoid the outside world at all costs.”

“He loves it outside,” Roman corrected from somewhere behind me. “The world isn’t the problem. It’s the living.”

“Ah, well, you know what I mean. He probably would’ve walked out as soon as they told him to leave his phone behind.”

“Fair enough,” I said, following it up with a casual chuckle.

Glancing slightly to the left, I saw Roman running his hand over a wall. He rose up on his toes, then dropped back down. When he turned in my direction, I stepped away from the bookshelf and looked at the books again. It seemed pointless to have this if there wasn’t a secret inside of it .

Roman was getting closer, and I considered moving somewhere else, but it was stupid to actively avoid him at all times. I wasn’t going to run away every time he got close to me.

He continued to run his hand along the wall, then transferred it to the bookshelf. As he dragged it over the books, I started to wonder if he was just doing some bullshit.

“I already checked them,” I said.

The corner of his mouth lifted, but he didn’t respond. When he was right next to me, I stepped back. I needed to know.

“What are you doing?”

He ignored me, then stopped moving. With two fingers, he felt the spine of a book.

“Roman.”

He looked at me for the first time since getting here. I felt rooted to the spot, not because his eyes were on me but because of what was in them. He was just open, unguarded. I didn’t really know how to read him, but I thought he looked curious.

“What?” he asked.

I gave him an expectant look.

“You said my name,” he reminded me.

Shit, I did. “What are you doing?”

“Following clues.”

“What clues?”

“Find your own.”

Pursing my lips, I watched him move his finger down the spine, then to the lower shelf.

“Isn’t this about teamwork?”

Looking up at me, he seemed to almost smile. “You wanna work with me, Travis?”

I swallowed and clenched my fists. “Sure. It’s just a game.”

“Okay.”

He straightened and motioned for me to follow him to the wall he’d been studying before. When he put one finger on it, I touched the spot beside it, but I didn’t feel anything. He huffed and tapped the wall a few inches away. It felt different, like there was a deep scratch across it.

Realizing what he’d done, I followed it to the bookshelf, then to the place he was at before .

“The spirit dragged something along here on its way to this clue,” he mused. “I’m thinking that whatever made the mark is stored in...this.” He touched one of the books.

“Why do you think that?” I asked, feeling a little smug since I already knew that he was wrong.

“Because there’s only one line, which means it didn’t walk away with it.”

“Or it just didn’t drag it on the wall.”

“Let’s see.” He tipped the book forward, whereas I’d tried to pull on it. With a smile, he slid a compartment from the bottom of the book. Inside, there was half a pair of scissors.

When he passed it to me, I ran my fingers over the metal. “Do we need the other half or something?”

“No idea, man. Maybe you can put in some effort this time.”

He sounded lighthearted, but when I looked at him, his jaw was tight and he was staring at the floor.

“You okay?” I asked cautiously.

“Why?”

“Sen mentioned you’re going through some shit.”

His expression shifted from indifferent to annoyed. “I am.”

When he walked away to join the others, I shook my head. It was a mistake to ask about it. I was already starting to feel tired and we weren’t even out of the first room.