Cade glanced back and saw it was true. There were no living ants. Indeed, even the bodies had been teleported away. Only the black ichor and churned ground were evidence they had ever been there at all.

He stared at Abaddon. It was over. And at the same time … it was just beginning.

“So we get to go home?” Cade asked.

His fingers were sweaty as he ran them over the toy’s eyes. Was it time? Every cowardly instinct told him to wait. Even as his heart told him that he had made his decision a long time ago. He was only delaying the inevitable.

Abaddon’s avatar smiled sweetly at him. “Well, yes. But first … I have another offer for you.”

Cade’s finger froze. Was it a trick?

Before he could decide, the other contenders arrived around him.

“Cade,” Grace snapped. “So nice of you to invite us to your little meeting.”

Cade knew their trust in him was the lowest it had ever been. If he pressed the button, would they believe him?

The little girl held up a finger.

“I have designated Cade as your leader. There is no invitation.”

Cade stepped down from the stump and went to stand with his friends. “This time, Abaddon, we all choose. I’ll decide once I hear what they’ve had to say.”

Abaddon clapped the little girl’s hands. “Oh, how exciting! This is going to be delicious. Decisions, decisions.”

“Spit it out, Abaddon,” Amber snapped.

The little girl rolled her wide eyes. “All good things come to those who wait, isn’t that what you humans say? But I suppose you have waited long enough. Here is your choice.”

The little girl paused for dramatic effect, then giggled at their stony faces. “Oh, all right, then. You can go home now. Every one of you. I’ll even leave you all at a place of your choosing, so long as nobody is there to see it. Say what you want to the world, if you can get them to believe you. That’s choice number one. A good one, I grant you.”

She held up two fingers. “But here’s what’s behind door number two. You stay. Fight on. Defend your place at the top of the leaderboard.”

The contenders stared at him, aghast.

“I know, I know,” Abaddon sighed. “You miss your families. But I have grown so fond of you. I don’t want to let you go. But I never lie, you know. Never.”

“There is no chance in hell that we’d stay,” Amber interrupted. “You’re insane if you think we’d do so voluntarily.”

Cade’s heart twisted at her words. Would he be forced to choose this for them?

“Ah ah,” the girl said, shaking her head dramatically. “But you haven’t heard what I offer in return.”

She gestured dramatically to her right, where the leaderboard materialized into thin air. Cade could not help but feel a little pride at seeing the human skull, now sitting at the top. Even if it was an achievement in as sick and twisted a game as this one.