A new email notification scrolled across Lia’s phone.

“Hunting season is open?” Gem asked, reading aloud.

Lia opened hers.

Hello, assassins.

Are you ready to finish your jobs? This email serves as the official notice that you have not completed the final round of Assassins and still fall under our command. Instructions will follow.

Happy hunting,

The Council

“They’re not serious,” Devon said, shaking his head incredulously. “Right?”

“I don’t know.” Gem swallowed and checked another message. Assassins had been officially banned. No one had dared to argue it. No one even wanted to. “It looks like other people besides us got this message, too, even the ones who withdrew ages ago.”

A second email appeared in Lia’s inbox. It had no subject and took up only two lines.

“Let’s not worry about the game anymore,” Lia said, shivering in her paper-thin cotton top. The game was in the past. Her future, whatever it was, lay in front of her.

Devon reached for her hand. “Cold?”

“Yeah.” An unsettling feeling had formed in her stomach. She ran her hands over her bare arms, which were now covered with goose bumps. Lia deleted the second email and put her phone away. “Come on. Let’s get away from here.”

Lia Prince, you will miss your friends next year,

but you have bigger things to worry about.

This time, we won’t let you ruin our fun.

But then again, murder is a necessity. Fun is optional.

The Council

I am so thrilled to be a part of Underlined and Penguin Random House!

I owe a tremendous amount of thanks to Wendy Loggia, who is an amazing editor and was a dream to work with. Alison Romig and the entire Underlined team—thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Rachel Brooks, for being the best agent I could have ever asked for.

Brent, thank you for being a great husband and suffering through the trials of living with me while I’m on deadline.

And as always, thank all of you for reading The Game. Happy hunting.

Aiden isn’t watching the movie.

My skin grows warm as I realize he’s not even pretending to watch the movie.

“You know, you were the one who picked this.” I extend a finger toward my laptop. “What happened to all that ‘I can’t believe you’ve lived in New Jersey for nearly a year and you still haven’t seen Garden State’?”

I barely get the words out before Aiden’s hand fits to my jaw and he leans in to kiss me. It’s a good kiss, the kind that makes my skin tingle and the whole world fade away until we’re the only two people on the planet. His free hand slides around my waist, pulling me closer, and a light sigh escapes from me. I could get so lost in him if I let myself.