“It sounds familiar,” he replied. “Maybe they do hayrides and pumpkin picking? It’s possible I went there once as a kid. My parents took me to a bunch of farms.”

  “This is Iowa,” PsychoK1ll3r agreed. “I don’t know Jefferson Farm, but I can rattle off a dozen others.”

  “Well, Google makes it look legit,” Tyler said. He angled the screen my way, highlighting a web page featuring an antique tractor and weathered barn. “Says they host fall festivals and allow visitors to wander the property.”

  “Ha!” Jedi exclaimed. “See? I was right.”

  “Is everything a competition to you?” Tyler asked.

  “I’m just saying.”

  “Why would Hondo send you there?” Alyssa wondered aloud.

  I reclaimed the phone, feeling irrationally defensive. “I wish I knew. That's why I need to check it out.”

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Jedi scoffed. “I'll bet cash money he's some creeper who lures people to dark places to murder them."

  "For real?” Tyler fired back. “Project much?”

  "I've read about this kind of thing!” Jedi doubled down. "Don't be a chump. You go out there, you’re signing your own death certificate.”

  I waved off his obvious exaggeration. "I'm not afraid. And I'm definitely going, so you can give up the criminal profiling.”

  “Your funeral, man,” Jedi persisted, folding his arms over his chest. “Just don’t come back as a haunt and say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Noah, we don't know anything about this Hondo guy,” Tyler added. “Except that he hacked into the VR Awesome servers and also somehow got his hands on your cell number.”

  “Maybe he bumped you while you were waiting for the game to start,” PsychoK1ll3r suggested.

  “Bumped me?”

  “It’s the pickpocketing technique they use in the movies. The thief bumps into the mark and uses the distraction to lift his or her wallet, or phone in this case.”

  “And how did he unlock it to see my number?” I asked. “I have Face ID on.”

  PsychoK1ll3r made a face, stymied by the response.

  “The point is, you can’t trust this,” Jedi said. “At all. I don’t know you that well, but you picked out the tells in my flying inside of a minute and blasted me to space dust, so you must be somewhat intelligent. You have to be able to reason that pursuing this is a bad idea. Serial killer or not, if you go to the farm, you’re only going to find trouble.”

  “I agree,” Shotta said. “Let it rest, Katzuo.”

  I looked at each of them, genuinely appreciative of their sincere concern for my well-being. Part of me knew they were right; I should just drop the whole thing. But the other part of me—the part that hurt so bad that if I paid it any mind, the only thing I felt was numb misery—wanted to see how deep the rabbit hole went. No, it needed to see how deep the rabbit hole went.

  “You guys don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t let it go. I have to check it out. The only other option is…” I trailed off, not wanting to go there.

  "It's nearly one in the morning,” Alyssa said gently, draping her arm over my shoulders. It was no easy task since I was nearly a full head taller than her. “Maybe sleep on it and see if he messages you again tomorrow?” Her question came out more as a plea.

  I set my jaw obstinately. “I don’t have time. It’s now or never.” I looked at Tyler. “Are you doing this with me, or what?”

  “Yeah, if you go, I gotta go; I’m driving,” Tyler replied, stepping up beside me wearing his already trademark devil-may-care grin. “I’ve got your back if things get sketchy.”

  “Then I should come too,” Alyssa decided after a thoughtful beat. “Three makes less enticing bait for serial killers.” She tried amplifying weak humor with an unconvincing smile. “Mark, is it okay if I bail an hour early?”

  “I’m not your boss,” he replied.

  “No, but you can cover for me.”

  He hesitated before nodding. “Fine. But you owe me one.”

  “Deal.”

  “Anyone else want to tag along?” Tyler asked.

  No one else came forward. They had enjoyed our match, but their sense of adventure appeared to be limited to what could be achieved in pixels.

  Jedi eyed us as if we had lost our collective minds. “I warned you. Remember that when you wake up chained inside a pit wearing a face mask made of human skin.”

  “Noted,” I said, refusing further engagement with his morbid scenario. “Well, anyway, it was great meeting you all. Assuming we aren’t chopped into little pieces by morning, T-Bone and I will be back for another round sooner or later.”

  “Looking forward to it, Katzuo,” Jedi said. “In all seriousness, be safe out there.”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “We will.”

  We said goodbye to Mark, ShottaLotta and PsychoK1ll3r before heading for the parking lot, exiting through the front this time.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Alyssa said as we stepped outside.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this, either,” Tyler said. “I thought you hated my guts.”

  “I sort of do, but I feel this strange big sister instinct to keep an eye on Noah. Especially since he doesn’t have anyone else to watch over him.”

  “Please don’t remind me of that right now,” I said, choking back the pursuant emotions.

  “Sorry,” she replied.

  “Well, in that case, do you have a car?” Tyler said. “I mean, we can take my ride, but I have to offer another sacrifice to the Kia gods for every mile she makes it without falling apart.”

  “Sorry, Tee,” she answered. “I took an Uber here.”

  “That might not be a bad idea,” he offered.

  “Yeah, good luck getting a driver to take us out to a creepy farm in the middle of the night,” she countered.

  “You don’t know it’s creepy.”

  “I have an idea,” I said. “Let’s take your car, Tyler.”

  They both laughed. “Your wish is my command,” he joked, waving me toward the back of the lot.

  “I owe you one, Tee,” I said.

  “You owe me at least two. But what are favors among friends?” We exchanged a knowing glance. Not gamer friends or lab buddies. Real friends. He grabbed me by the back of the neck and gave me an easy jostle.

  “Aww, you two are so adorable,” Alyssa teased, killing the moment.

  I hurried to the car at a fast walk, prompting Tyler and Alyssa to do the same. There was no way for me to know for certain why Hondo had summoned me to Jefferson Farm, but by the time we reached the Kia, I had convinced myself that something inexplicable and amazing awaited us there.

  We just had to be willing to claim it.

  CHAPTER 9

  Leaning against the door, I had the Kia’s rear bench seat all to myself on our return trip through Des Moines. I watched the city quickly thin into suburbs and then scattered rural acreages before the outlying homes faded into dark countryside. Tyler had started off following Maps, but Alyssa wound up scrolling through satellite views and going audible with turn-by-turn when the algorithm lost the way. I tuned out their aimless chatter about favorite foods and game tropes, my thoughts lingering instead on Hondo's vexing disappearance and subsequent message.

  Would he be at the farm when we arrived? Or had his cryptic text intended for us to head out in the morning for a more proper meet? Would he pop out of the corn like Pennywise the clown, knife in hand, ready to skin us alive like Jedi had claimed, or did he have some completely innocent reason for the subterfuge?

  Unnervingly, the former felt much more logical than the latter. If Hondo meant no harm, why hadn’t he stuck around after the match and spoken to me in person? Why make it into a mysterious game with such dark overtones?

  If it was a game, how poorly was I playing it right now? Maybe noting specifics on the robot head advertisement could have provided clues about his identity or intent. Even now, I could only recall the post-credit scene in generic terms. I had been too pumped after winning Star Squadron to pay such close attention.

  And what the heck were we even doing out here right now? It wasn’t only my death and dismemberment at stake. I glanced at the backs of Tee and Ally’s heads, second thoughts gnawing at me. Still, my attention returning to the passing countryside, I couldn’t bring myself to ask Tyler to turn around. Not when we’d already come this far.

  "Stay with us, Noah.” Alyssa's gentle prompt nudged me back from gloomy abstraction. “We were just talking about what your parents might think if they knew you rode off into the night with an older woman.”

  I scoffed mildly. “I think they would have major issues with my life choices right about now." I once again tamped down jagged emotions that the simple reminder brought back to the surface of my thoughts. I turned my tired eyes back to the black fields sliding past the window. Lingering fog diffused occasional electrical poles along the roadside as we barreled past empty pastures. It hurt to talk about my folks in any respect, but maybe counterintuitively, it also helped me work through my grief.

  "My folks grounded me for a month when I went to an illegal street race back in sophomore year of High School,” Alyssa shared, evidently trying to commiserate. “I lost phone privileges and had to do all the household chores for a month.”

  “Street racing?” Tyler replied. “You don’t seem like the type to enjoy that sort of thing.”

  “Reminder,” Alyssa retorted. “You don’t know me.” She released her attitude with a shrug. “But yeah, it was stupid. I just wanted to fit in with the cool people for once. Typical teenage angst, I guess. Instead, the cops showed up and rounded up the newbies who didn’t know when it was time to make ourselves scarce.”

  “You went to prison?” I asked.

  “No. They brought us to the local precinct and called our parents. I think I would’ve been happier to spend the night in the hoosegow.”

  “Who uses that word?” Tyler laughed.

  “What word? Hoosegow? It’s a great word.”

  Our chatter devolved into a debate regarding what punishments might fit my crimes. In the end, we determined a final verdict was impossible to reach, but only because I hadn’t finished committing my offenses yet. Regardless, the turn in conversation from food and gaming had sucked me in, so much so that I flinched when Tyler shut off the engine. He left the headlights on, the beams dimming when the engine turned over a couple more times before finally sputtering and dying.

  “We’re heeeeerrre,” Tyler announced in a creepy voice, the limited light allowing us to see only a little way out into the open pastures surrounding us. We could make out the entirety of a rambling two-story farmhouse and a detached garage only because they were painted white. A leaning barn and various other outbuildings were nothing more than colorless silhouettes.

  “Are you sure this is Jefferson Farm?” I asked.

  “You didn’t see the sign back at the main road?”

  “I guess not. I was neck deep in social therapy.”

  “This is the place, man,” he assured me, finally killing the headlights and leaving us in pitch black. He turned on his phone’s flashlight and looked at me over his shoulder. “Maybe no one’s home.”

  “Maybe we should come back in the morning,” Alyssa suggested.

  “Let me see if Hondo sent me anything else. Maybe he saw us coming up the road.” I checked my phone. No new alerts waited. “Nope. We’re on our own.”

  “I should’ve listened to Jedi.”

  “What happened to taking care of your new kid brother?” Tyler asked.

  “We all should have listened to Jedi,” she corrected.

  “It’s not that creepy,” Tyler scoffed. “Come on, let’s take a look around.”

  “How? I can’t see much of anything out there.”

  He responded by shining his phone’s flashlight out through the window, the action absurd enough to draw my laughter. “That’s the spirit, compadre,” he said, shoving open his door and hopping from the driver's seat with his customary bravado.

  Alyssa slipped out the passenger side wearing a dubious expression. “At least no cleaver-wielding madman or drooling hellhounds have jumped us,” she said, closing the door.

  “Yet,” Tyler replied, sticking the phone under his chin to shine the light up at his face. “Mwahahahahaha!”

  “If there is a serial killer out here, do you really want to advertise yourself like that?” I asked.

  He lowered the phone, still grinning. “Maybe we should look around for a starship made in the shape of a robot head, ya think?”

  “Or a robot head that was converted into a starship,” Alyssa suggested.

  “Are you two mocking me?” I asked.

  “A little,” Ally admitted. “It helps with the nerves.”

  I trailed the pair toward the garage. Once we got close, we could see that the paint on it and the house was starting to peel away. Ty stopped to shine his phone light through the garage window. “No starship in here,” he said, looking back at me. “No car, either. It’s empty.”

  We headed up a cracked cement walkway to the front porch, our footsteps sounding abnormally loud given the noticeable absence of the wildlife noises one might expect on rural acreage. I followed Ty up the steps, hoping the porch light was motion activated, letting us know that the place was actually lived in. Naturally, the porch light didn’t illuminate. Neither did any lights inside the house.

  “Well, go ahead. Knock,” I suggested, once we stood at the front door.

  “What if this is all a joke, and some pissed off farmer opens the door with a loaded shotgun?” Tyler replied. “Haven’t you heard those news stories about the crazies who shoot first and ask questions later?”

  “And you thought Jedi’s imagination cup had runneth over,” I said. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Look, shotgun or not, if anyone was home, they would have caught our headlights from half a mile out,” Alyssa said. “If they’re gonna come out shooting, we’re dead meat, right where we stand. Knock and get it over with.”

  “Go for it, Tee,” I agreed.

  “I don’t know,” he said, shining his flashlight through the plate glass window beside the door. “From the looks of it, the place has been cleaned out.”

  “As in, there’s nobody alive inside?” I asked.

  “Sure seems that way. Or if they are, they Kondo’ed the hell out of the place.”

  “I don’t get it," Alyssa whispered. "Does Hondo live here? Work here? Or maybe this belongs to the guy who custom-painted his starship?” She eyed me in amusement.

  “I never said Hondo had an actual ship,” I argued.

  “You sort of did,” Tyler countered. “Starship for rent, remember? The adventure of a lifetime.” He breathed in deeply, and before Alyssa or I could slap a hand over his mouth, he released a deep-throated bellow. “Heeeelllllooooooo! Anybody home? Olly-olly-oxen free!”

  Alyssa gave out a whimper, and we all froze as Tyler’s voice echoed in the darkness, fading away without eliciting a response. “And you gave me crap about hoosegow?” she said.

  A brittle sigh escaped my nerve-clenched throat. “This was stupid. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have dragged you both out here. We should probably get going before⁠—"

  Suddenly, a trio of floodlights flashed on—one by the barn, another at the closest corner of the cornfield in front of the house, and the third one at the far side of the house—surrounding us in brilliant white light. I staggered toward Tyler, blinded by the sudden illumination. Alyssa yelped and grabbed my arm, gripping fiercely enough to open the cut beneath one of my bandages. I reached over and loosened her fingers, but left my hand there, holding hers to my arm.Tyler stepped bravely in front of us as if preparing to ward off demons with his phone’s flashlight as they rushed from the cornstalks brandishing fiery scythes.

  No demons appeared. And yet nobody relaxed.

  “What the hell?” Tyler said.

  I waited for an encounter that seemed a foregone conclusion now that the farm was lit up like a prison exercise yard. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I could see a narrow but obvious path worn through the cornstalks. Small, battery-powered LEDs rested on either side of the dirt aisle, waiting for motion to activate them.

  “He wants us to follow that path,” I said, pointing to the evidence.

  “Isn’t that how Jedi suggested this would go?” Tyler asked.

  “A little too closely,” Alyssa agreed. “Let’s get out of here.” She tugged me down the steps, but I stopped there, Ty right behind us. Ally pulled on me but she was too small and light to detach my feet from the ground.

  My curiosity kept me from heeding Jedi’s potential warning. How could something so obviously orchestrated, not to mention incredibly visible, be a forerunner to a grisly demise among the ears of corn? “Let’s go check it out,” I countered.

  Alyssa and I both looked to Tyler for the tiebreaker. “Do you really have to ask?” he wondered out loud, flashing his already familiar mischievous grin. He pointed toward the dirt path. “Tally ho.”

  The first line of LEDs activated as we neared, kicking off a domino effect that continued onward as we pushed deeper into the corn.

  “I wonder if this will turn into a maze,” I said, excitement building as we followed the trail.

  “With Hondo playing the minotaur,” Alyssa said.

  “Or Jack Nicholson from The Shining,” Tyler added.

  “To be honest, I’d rather die out here tonight than go home without answers,” I decided.

  “That makes one of us,” Alyssa replied.

  We froze and looked back when all three spotlights went out behind us. It left us with only the motion-activated LEDs on the ground that lit up when we got within ten feet of them. Then they shut off when we moved ten feet beyond them, leaving us feeling alone and adrift in the sea of stalks.

  “I hate everything about this,” Alyssa said, eyeing our predicament with saucer eyes.

  “We’ll be fine,” Tyler said, though his tone didn’t convince me. Not that I needed convincing. I had committed fully to the adventure by now. Fear of the dark was nothing compared to what I had already experienced today. Even fear of dying took a back seat. I forged ahead, leaving Tee and Ally to follow.