Winnie gingerly lifted her heel. Beneath it, the black mass had shattered like the glass on a dropped phone screen. She looked at Ahmad with wide eyes. “This is real. It’s not special effects.”

“It’s my screen, and now I’m going to have to waste time on repairs,” the girl seethed. “Oh, you’re going to be so sorry once the game’s started.”

Ahmad’s heart was lodged in his throat. All of this felt so familiar in the worst way: games, and players, and Paheli. “This is real, Winnie,” he mumbled. “All of this is real. I don’t know how I know, but it is.”

“Ahmad, are you serious?” Winnie flung out her arm toward the screen surrounding them on all sides. “This has to be a prank. It has to be. This weirdo heard us talking about Paheli just now and set up this whole reality TV show nonsense. This can’t be real.”

“Look at his face,” the MasterMind jeered. “It’s starting to sink in for him, at least. But if you don’t want to believe me without some further evidence . . .”

She waved a hand, and the screen directly in front of them shimmered out of existence. Disappeared into thin air. They were once again staring out across their frozen city.

“What—” Winnie started, but a rustling in the tree beside them had Ahmad seizing her arm. Something felt very, very wrong.

“Ask him if he’s made of smoke and mirrors,” the MasterMind’s voice floated over them.

And then Winnie let out a shriek. “What is that?”

Crawling deliberately down the trunk, every one of its beady eyes trained on them, was the biggest spider Ahmad had ever seen in his life—at least, while he was awake. He was sure he’d seen it in a nightmare one time, only different. With a metallic sheen to its fangs and an odd hum of a voice.

Its back bristled with tan hairs, and with every step something seemed to pop and slide off them. Whatever it was crackled under the monster’s feet as it moved forward.

“Sand,” Ahmad said softly, another of his strange dream-details popping into place. “Everything in Paheli is made of sand. This is a sand spider!”

Winnie jerked him backward, her eyes glancing about wildly for some form of escape. “Okay!” she yelled. “Okay, we get it. This is real. Now make it stop!”

“Already?” The girl’s disembodied voice sounded disappointed. “And you haven’t even given him a chance to have a taste.”

But she snapped her fingers, and the spider dissipated into a pile of dust.

Winnie slowly walked forward until the tip of her sneaker was in the dust. She kicked it tentatively, watching the dust rise, and then looked up at the screen.