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“You killed Navy?” Gift gasped.

Remi’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head frantically. “No! No. Not that. The—the back door in the security software…th-that was me.”

“What backdoor?” Payton asked, struggling to sit up, groaning a bit as his vision seemed to fracture then come back together.

Boone held up his hand. “Before you say another word”—he gave everyone a pointed look—“this information is on a need-to-know basis and I decide who needs to know. Got it?”

They all nodded, distracted, eyes darting back to Remi, who shrank under the scrutiny.

“Yesterday, after the video dropped, Remi discovered that someone had created a backdoor into our system. We assumed that was how they intercepted the video and created…whatever that was,” Boone said, stopping to scrub a hand across his jaw. “Only now, you’re telling me you’re the one who created it?”

Remi gave a jerky nod, visibly sweating. “Y-Yes. But I had a really good reason.”

West pushed Remi just far enough from him for him to see the scowl on his face. “You had a really good reason for creating a way for someone to break into our school’s network?” West asked, his voice strained. “Do you know the types of information held on those servers?”

“Yes,” Remi cried, blinking back tears. “That’s why I did it.”

Payton’s gaze darted to Drake, curious to hear what role he played in all of this. Remi was clearly distraught, but Drake was livid. His fists were clenched, nostrils flared, jaw tight. Was he pissed at Remi or for him? Had he done all this for Drake? No. If he had, there was no way Drake would just stand there and let Remi spill everything.

Besides, yesterday, it had seemed like Remi was done with Drake. But it was clear Drake was far from done with Remi. Payton followed the other psychoopath’s gaze, biting back a sharp laugh when he saw that it wasn’t Remi he glared at but the hand on his wrist.

Drake was pissed at West. He was jealous. He didn’t like West touching something he believed belonged to him. Did Remi see the power he held over Drake? If he did, he could exploit that in a million different ways, a revelation Payton found far more interesting than whatever this was that was happening right now.

He forced his thoughts back to the present. If not Drake, who—or what—would cause Remi to betray his country like this? It couldn’t be money. They all came from wealthy families. Blackmail, maybe? They’d find out soon. Boone wasn’t about to let this go, that much Payton knew.

As soon as Archer moved away from Payton’s bed, Boone took his place. Payton couldn’t stop himself from sagging against the reassuring heat of his body, resting his pounding head on Boone’s shoulder.

“Remi, you have to start making sense. This doesn’t look good for you,” Boone said softly.

Drake jerked to his feet, stomping his way across the room, then jerked Remi’s wrist from West’s grasp before pulling him back to his bed. Payton bit his lip as Drake pushed on Remi’s shoulder until he collapsed onto the mattress. Drake didn’t join him but instead loomed over him, arms crossed over his chest, glowering at them like he was his bodyguard.

“Tell them from the beginning,” Drake demanded. “Tell them like you told me.”

Remi gave a small nod, then took a deep breath and let it out. “It started about a week ago.”

“What did?” Gift asked.

“I was in the hallway after hours,” Remi said, twisting his fingers.

“Why were you in the hallway after hours?” West asked.

Remi’s gaze darted to his then back to his fingers. “Uh…I’d forgotten my thumb drive in the security office, so I was going to get it.”

“Why not wait until morning?” West asked, leaning against the door.

“I…was already out. So, I um, thought I could just dart in real quick and get it. I needed the encrypted files for a buyer.”

“How did you even get in?” Payton asked.

Remi winced, gaze darting to his then back to his tangled fingers again. “I have a code.”

“You have a code to the security office?” Park asked, incredulous. “So, you can just come and go as you please?” He looked at West. “Did you give him permission for that?”

“Of course not,” West said, expression grim. “But he had access to the system. It would be easy enough for him to hack it given his skill.”

“Why would you give any student that level of access?” Boone asked West.

West shot another scowl in Remi’s direction. “I thought I could trust him.”

“You can trust him,” Drake snapped, looking at West like he was some kind of insect. “He did this shit for you people.”

“Us people?” West muttered.

“How altruistic,” Archer said, sounding almost bored. “Explain how your hacking our system benefitted the Watch?”

Gift shot an angry glare towards each of the teachers, including his fiancé, then moved to sit beside Remi, opposite Drake’s ominous presence. “Just keep going,” he encouraged, rubbing Remi’s back.

Remi gave a stilted nod. “A-Anyway, I was in a hurry when I got to the office. I was on my phone, so I wasn’t paying attention. When I went to grab my thumb drive, it fell behind the desk. I had to crawl underneath to get it. I grabbed it and took off, worried about getting caught.”

“Not too worried,” West muttered.

Remi’s face turned scarlet. “I got back to my room and popped the thumb drive in, and that’s when I realized it wasn’t mine. I’d grabbed someone else’s by mistake. If I’d realized before I inserted it, I might have never looked. I would have just sent it back, but as soon as it opened, I realized what I’d found.”

“And what was that?” West asked, floating closer.

Remi chewed on his lower lip for a minute before meeting West’s hostile gaze. “It was a rubber ducky.”

Gift giggled, then slapped a hand over his mouth.

Boone made a noise of confusion. “Pardon?”

It was such a ludicrous answer that all but West looked stymied.

“Are you certain?” West asked, some of his anger bleeding into concern.

“Uh, I’m assuming we’re not talking about the small toy that floats in the bathtub,” Park said, droll as ever.

West gave a jerky shake of his head. “A rubber ducky is a USB drive preloaded with scripts. When executed, it can install back doors onto systems or download data.”

“And this one was downloading files?” Payton asked.

“No,” Remi said. “It installed a back door.”

“And you used that to break into our system?” Boone asked, his tone implying that Remi’s logic made no sense.

“No, of course not,” Remi said.

“Didn’t you say you created the back door into the system?” Gift asked, confusion etched on his sweet face.

Remi flushed, huffing out a frustrated breath. “I created a back door, not that back door.”

“You’re not making sense,” Boone said.

Payton was glad to know everyone else was equally confused and it wasn’t just his recent head injury muddying his thought process.

Remi shook his head. “When I realized what I had, I went back to the office and found the original code. Then I created my own back door into the system.”

“How is that better?” Archer asked.

Drake made a noise that sounded very much like a growl in the instructor’s direction.

Payton decided to interject before the two started going at it. “Why would you make your own? Couldn’t you just use theirs or…close theirs?”

“If I closed it, they’d know that we were onto them. That I was onto them. They’d just find a way to make another. Or maybe they already had the data they wanted. So, instead, I created my own back door and attached it to theirs.”

“What would that do?” Gift asked.

Remi pressed his palms against his eye sockets. “I was going to back-hack them.”

Gift’s brow furrowed. “To what?”

Remi flushed. “I created a way to monitor and log everything the hacker did. I was hoping it would lead to whoever it was who’d installed the program.”

“Why didn’t you just tell West or Boone?” Park asked.

Remi shook his head. “How could I? Whoever’s behind this knows what they’re doing. There are only a few people with access to the security room and, other than me, everyone else is staff. I…I didn’t know who I could trust. Kendrick was the head of our program and he turned out to be a traitor.”

“So then why expose the backdoor to us yesterday?” West asked.

“I panicked,” Remi answered.

“They’ve clearly figured out that Remi was the one who was onto them,” Drake said. “That stupid fucking video proves it.”

“Wait, so you think whoever created the original rubber ducky USB intercepted West’s attempt to incriminate you and replaced it using all of that deep fake shit?” Payton asked.

“What other explanation is there?” Remi asked. “Why would anyone else go at me that hard? And why in that way? Someone who knows how to create a rubber ducky would probably also know how to create deep fakes like the ones used in the email they sent yesterday.”

“Why not just tell us all of this when you told us about the back door yesterday?” West asked. “Why let me close it?”

Remi flushed. “I only let you close mine. I figured if I let you close the back door I created, you would miss the one they’d opened. I could just go back and create a new one—a better one —once the heat died down. Besides, I hoped the video would make them a little cocky. Make them think they’d won.”

“What did the video accomplish, really? Wouldn’t West’s original video of you selling files discredit you enough?” Boone asked.

“No. That’s the thing. Who here knows that I sell encryption codes to companies other than the staff? Whoever put that code in our system knew it wouldn’t be enough to get me kicked from the program. They needed to go for a complete character assassination. A handler who does drugs and who has orgies with random men would never make it past a government background check. I’d be too easy a target for bribery.”

“Jesus. Why kill Navy?” Park asked.

“Because she was threatening to expose them,” Payton blurted, then frowned. When all eyes turned to him curiously, he shook his head. “I don’t know how I know that.” He pressed in on his temples, rubbing them as he tried to piece together his fractured memory. She’d said something to the killer. “She said…she said only Remi was supposed to get hurt. Then she said she’d tell everyone. That’s when they killed her.”

“Tell them what?” Boone asked, settling a hand on the back of Payton’s neck then squeezing gently. The pressure soothed his aching muscles and slightly dulled the pounding in his head, making it a little easier to think.

“I don’t know. They killed her before she could say,” Payton answered, shaking his head.

“This is all my fault,” Remi said, staring straight ahead. “I thought I was smarter than an actual spy, and now, Navy’s dead. She’s dead because of me.”

Payton didn’t blame Remi. If he were in the same situation, he likely would have done the same thing. If he didn’t know Boone as…intimately as he did, he wouldn’t trust the staff either. Park, maybe. But Remi didn’t know Park or Boone like he and Gift did. He only knew Drake. He only trusted Drake.

“Navy’s dead because she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong,” Drake said coldly. “She’s either directly involved with the spy or stupid enough to blindly make your life a living hell just for kicks. Either way, her death has nothing to do with you and everything to do with her own vanity.”

“You shouldn’t speak ill of the dead,” Remi muttered.

Drake snorted. “Why? Death doesn’t erase your sins, no matter who you were. There’s no participation trophy for dying. We’re all gonna do it someday. It doesn’t give people a pass on their bad deeds.”

“Well, you’re hardly one to talk,” Remi countered.

“Hey, I’m fine with who I am,” Drake said. “I don’t need the world to mourn for me when I’m gone. I’ll either cease to exist or I’ll respawn as a new character in another universe. I’m with Payton—life’s a game and you’re either a main character or an NPC. Either way, the opinions of the living have no bearing on the dead.”

“How philosophical,” Archer managed, rolling his eyes.

Payton let his eyelids float shut, enjoying the feel of Boone’s fingertips tracing patterns on the skin at the back of his neck. This was a lot of information to absorb with his head feeling a bit like a cracked egg.

“So, we’re going on the assumption that whoever created the rubber ducky is the same person who created the deep fake video and whoever killed Navy. Correct?” Boone asked. “Which means it’s either another student or staff?”

“Seems the most plausible, no?” Park asked.

“Except, that’s not necessarily true,” Remi interjected. “That’s the beauty of a rubber ducky. It can be executed by even a novice. The code is already there. Someone just has to stick it in the computer and type in the password. It will install itself. Any idiot can plug in a thumb drive. Someone could have handed it off to any student at any time, and now, they have full access to our systems.”

“Remi’s right about the rubber ducky,” West confirmed. “But…whoever installed it had to get into the security office and only a limited number of people had access. Any time the door is opened, it’s logged.”

“And there’s a camera trained on the door,” Remi said. “I went through the security footage for the room for the three days leading up to the day I found the thumb drive, but nobody unusual went in or out that I saw.”

“How often do they clean there?” Gift asked. “Could one of the cleaning staff be involved?”

Archer shook his head. “The cleaning staff can only access secure rooms once a week and only under the supervision of the MPs. And even they had to pass rigorous background checks.”

“Well, then, can’t we just access the old footage and go back a couple of months?” Gift pressed.

West looked to Boone, who shrugged. “We don’t delete the footage, just save it to the cloud. You can access it if you think you’ll find some outlier, but I have a feeling whoever did this looked like they belonged there.”

“That would make them staff,” Archer said. “Do you really think we have another mole in our operation?”

“How many people have access to that room?” Boone asked. “Other than West and me?”

“A handful of military guards, a few key members of staff,” Archer said with a shrug. “Hard to say if Kendrick had any other insiders, but if so, we’ll see it on the tapes.”

“This is a goddamn mess,” Boone snapped.

There was a soft rap on the door. West moved out of the way and opened it, allowing Mac to enter.

“Uh, we have a problem,” Mac said.

Payton huffed a humorless laugh. “You have no idea.”

Boone gave him a look, but Payton just shrugged. He returned his attention to Mac. “What’s the problem?”

“Someone wiped the footage of the Peregrine common room.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Boone growled.

There was a plinking sound from somewhere in the room. Gift frowned, pulling his phone from his pocket. A moment later, Remi did the same. Then Drake. Their notifications must have been set to vibrate.

Gift was the first to look up, color draining from his face. “It’s another video…on the school email.”

Payton grabbed his phone, sliding his thumb across the screen to unlock it, his stomach sloshing as much from nerves as from dizziness. He wasn’t one to feel fear. He lacked whatever was necessary to produce such an emotion. But there was something else, something like…awareness—this pinging of his lizard brain that told him to beware. Something bad was coming. He could feel it.

He was starting to sound like Morgan.

They each watched on their own screens, except for Boone who crowded over Payton’s with him. He hated how his hands shook, so he raised his knees and pressed the phone to them to keep the screen steady, then looked to Boone, who nodded. With a deep breath, he pressed play.

Goosebumps erupted as the video began, the familiar greenscreen apartment backdrop bleeding into view along with their…hostess. She appeared to stare directly into his soul, perfectly poised and chillingly cheerful. Her pillbox hat and vintage suit were unchanged, but there was something sharper in her smile, something malicious. The video glitched momentarily before her voice cut through the static.

“Welcome back, my curious little deviants. Did you miss me? I certainly missed you. I know it’s only been a day, but I just couldn’t stay away. I was going to give you all a moment to catch your breath, or at least a day or so to watch the downfall of our dear sweet Remi play out. But I just couldn’t. Not when things are just starting to get interesting.”

There was something so off-putting about her mannerisms, something otherworldly. What was it called when computer-generated faces seemed wrong somehow? Uncanny valley. Yeah, that was it. She gave Payton the ick. Real but not real. Almost real…and very wrong.

Almost as if she could sense his revulsion, she tilted her head unnaturally and gave the camera an exaggerated wink. “But don’t worry, darlings. Lady Watchtower never sleeps. In fact, I’ve been working hard on something very special.”

Boone and Payton exchanged uneasy glances.

“You see, I underestimated just how loyal little Remi’s friends are. One in particular. While all of you were busy whispering about poor little Remi, it seems someone else was plotting revenge on his behalf.”

Fuck. Payton didn’t like where this was going at all.

“Luckily, I know how to pivot. I decided it was time to shift focus. After all, why should one boy bear the brunt of my attention when there are so many skeletons rattling around this school?” She looked into the camera, her face morphing into a skull for a split second. “Skeletons that can’t seem to stay in their own closets.”

Her high-pitched laugh hit Payton’s ears wrong, making him wince. Her face glitched again, her smile growing unnaturally for a split second before righting itself.

“Take our dear Payton Skinner, for example. The Mad Hatter himself. Such a charming little devil, isn’t he? A psychopath with a heart of gold, championing the weak. He has quite the fan club here at the Watch—our headmaster included. Maybe that’s why he gets away with everything…even murder .”

Payton’s lips parted, but no words came out. He could feel Boone tense beside him. An old school television appeared on the screen, static filling it for a moment before grainy security footage began to play. The corner of the footage was labeled Common Room. The timestamp showed 1:42 AM.

Payton blinked rapidly as the door to the hallway opened and someone who looked very much like Payton stepped from the common room. His face wasn’t visible but the wild hair was enough of an identifier. His hands were smeared with blood—his shirt, too—and he appeared to hold a weapon in his hand.

The killer didn’t take the weapon. Did they? Payton had disarmed them, but they could have picked it up. Fuck. What had happened after he passed out? How did he get back to the room? Who tucked him in and cleaned him up?

“What the fuck?” he whispered.

Just before the figure stepped out of frame, he stopped and looked directly into the camera. Payton’s breath punched from him, leaning in close as he took in the same features that stared back at him in the mirror every single day. “That’s not me.”

“Now you know how I felt,” Remi said, not unkindly. “It’s spooky, right?”

Payton gave a barely-there nod, afraid to take his eyes off the screen. “Oh, dear. Now, that doesn’t look good, does it? Just look at those hands. So dirty. So guilty. But who was worthy of the wrath of the Mad Hatter?”

A photo of Navy appeared on the screen a moment before it began to glitch, Xs appearing over her eyes. “Oh, poor Navy…she really should know better than to trust a killer,” she chided. “Poor dear couldn’t have known she was messing with a monster…but the staff did. Waylon Boone did.”

The footage of the security camera reappeared, freezing on Payton’s face mid-turn, before a series of deadlines began flashing on the screen, one after another in quick succession, accompanied by the sound of faint, echoing whispers.

LOCAL MAN FOUND MUTILATED IN UPSCALE APARTMENT – SUSPECT REMAINS AT LARGE

BODY OF PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN FOUND DISMEMBERED – NO SIGNS OF FORCED ENTRY.

THE XECUTIONER STRIKES AGAIN

“The Xecutioner. My, how salacious,” Lady Watchtower said, clutching her pearls. “Who could have done such a thing? Who could have committed such heinous acts? Oh, fear not. They left a calling card.”

Payton expelled a breath through his nose as police crime scene photos appeared. The Xs painted over walls and along the body were unmistakably his own. But just in case nobody made the connection, an old modeling photo of Payton appeared highlighting the Xs tattooed on his torso.

“That’s right, ladies and gentleman, Project Watchtower allowed a serial killer into our midst. Despite explicitly stating that any acts of violence would get you blacklisted from the program, they knowingly allowed Payton Skinner—the Xecutioner—into our program. And now, Navy is dead.”

The way the killer was spinning this was diabolical. There was no doubt in Payton’s mind that they’d probably staged the crime scene after he was unconscious to show his signature. But who knew about his past life of crime? Thomas Mulvaney? Molly Shepherd? Boone himself. Who else was around when the program formed? Was all of this in his file? Had that been one of the things they’d hacked?

“How could that happen? Who would allow someone like that into a program like this?” she cried dramatically, pulling Payton’s attention back to the present. “Well, they say it’s not what you know but who you know that gets you ahead in life. Isn’t that right, Boone? I suppose every program needs its star pupil . But just how far would you go to protect him? Or, more importantly, how far did he have to go for you to protect him? I’m guessing…all the way.”

Payton wanted to see Boone’s reaction but didn’t dare look. More grainy footage appeared on the screen of Boone kissing Payton goodbye at his door before gently pushing him out. Jesus. They had fucking everything. Whoever this was knew what they were doing and they knew how to work fast.

Lady Watchtower gave a dry chuckle. “Guess they don’t call him the Sin Eater for nothing.” She winked, then glitched. “Bet bedding a notorious serial killer keeps him well-fed.”

Payton could only imagine how this was all playing out beyond the walls of this room. The student body was probably in a frenzy like sharks at feeding time. He didn’t really care what happened to him, but Boone didn’t deserve to have his career ruined. He’d done nothing wrong.

“So…what happens next?” she asked. “Will you all play the fools, turning on one another like rats in a sinking ship? Is it all real? Is any of it? Oh, I assure you this one is one-hundred percent true. Look up the articles for yourself if you don’t believe me. Our Mad Hatter is famous, after all. Some monsters don’t hide under the bed—they sit right beside you at breakfast.”

She leaned in close to the camera, her image getting more distorted the closer she grew. “Tick-tock, little Watchers. The truth always comes out in the end. But I’m afraid time’s run out for the Mad Hatter and the Whipping Boy.” Pictures of Payton and Remi appeared, both X’d out like a no smoking sign. “Not even their saviors can protect them now.” Boone and Drake morphed onto the screen, then disappeared. “But don’t worry. There are plenty of secrets left to spill. The question is…who’s next? And are you ready for it?”

Lady Watchtower appeared once more, giving a savage smile. As Payton watched, heart hammering against his ribcage, her creepy grin widened menacingly as everything around it faded away. When only her smile remained, it morphed into that of the Cheshire Cat from Through the Looking Glass, then a sentence appeared, written in capital letters in a dripping crimson font.

WE’RE ALL MAD HERE

When the video came to an end, they all sat silently.

Drake’s gaze drifted to Payton, taking him in with those reptilian eyes. “You really are a fucking serial killer?”