"Sworn mine," Daniel whispered. "Now and forever."

The silence only lasted a few seconds, and the violence came. But from an unexpected quarter.

"No," Carlos snarled, surging forward as if he were going to attack Daniel. Daniel didn't even look at him, but Carlos suddenly crashed into an invisible barrier and fell back into Jo.

Kendall turned to look at them. "I knew you wouldn't like this—" he began, but Carlos interrupted him. His eyes were flashing in a way that they ever saw. Carlos was never really angry.

"How could you?" He looked upset and furious, like he'd been personally betrayed. "How could you?"

"Leave him alone!" GD said shortly. Kendall could see what GD thought—he thought Kendall was making the best of a very bad situation. He didn't blame him for it. "What do you want him to do?" GD asked, turning back to Carlos.

"Not go willingly," Carlos said, shaking his head in contempt. "Not give in, to that."

James was watching this whole scene with blank eyes. Kendall was really only looking at him when he said, "I'm sorry."

James's face twisted, and for a terrible moment Kendall thought the brunette was going to cry. Bu then he just shrugged. "I suppose it had to happen. That's the name of the game, isn't it?" he said, looking at Daniel. Daniel gave a small smile, and Kendall realised they were talking about something he didn't understand.

Kendall touched Daniel's sleeve. His face changed as he turned back to him, as if he'd forgotten everyone else in the room. "The ceremony's done," he said. "We're promised."

"I know." Kendall let out a deep breath. The ring made a little weight on his finger, but he felt very light and free. "Let the others go now, Daniel. I wish you'd let James go too, but if not, can you at least make him more comfortable? A game store doesn't exactly make good accommodation."

Daniel suddenly looked stricken, and doubtful. "Kendall, are you sure you want to stay here? It's going to be strange for you . . ."

"Understatement of the century." Kendall looked up at Daniel and spoke freely. "But yes. I want to stay. I never realised how much more there was to life than what I was getting. Now that I've seen it, I can't go back. I'm not the same person I was before."

Daniel smiled. "No. In less than twelve hours you've changed. You've become . . ."

"What?" Kendall raised his eyebrows.

"I'll tell you later. I'll enjoy telling you, taking a long time to do it." He turned to the others. "You can all go. Jamie too." There was a pause. "Out!" Daniel said with a snap of his fingers. For a second Kendall thought he was talking to James and the others, but then the wolf and snake left the room. Straight through the wall. The door stood open and unguarded. He could see midnight blue through the door.

"Go on," Daniel said, as if eager to be rid of them.

"Not without Kendall," Stephanie said stubbornly. GD looked surprised. He looked at Stephanie, opened his mouth. Then he shut it again. Carlos's mouth was curled angrily. Logan nodded firmly. James and Jo just stood.

Daniel's voice was impatient. "Well, go, stay, whatever you want. However, I should warn you. That door closes at six fifteen sharp. If you're still here, you're here for good. And I might not be in the mood for company."

Kendall quickly glanced at the clock on the wall—5:45 am—before turning back to Daniel. "This place is a little crowded," Daniel said.

"I know. There's a couch downstairs in Rocque Records. And in my old attic. We can go there and . . ." He finished with his hand resting on Daniel's arm. "Get acquainted."

James watched them leave, feeling his heart shatter into millions of tiny pieces. Then he was sure he felt Daniel stamping on them, making them even smaller. He couldn't believe this was happening. He was desperate to just wake up and find it had all been a horrible nightmare. That Kendall would be lying in the bed across the room, asleep, and that they'd never bought the game, that they'd just spent the rainy day watching TV instead.

But that wouldn't happen. This was a nightmare, but James wasn't asleep. Maybe Daniel hadn't actually said this was his nightmare, but it kinda went without saying at this point. He wasn't even relieved that he was no longer being used as a hostage; if anything, this was worse. He would've preferred to stay and at least see Kendall, see how he was doing. He didn't want to go back to Earth and spend the rest of his life thinking "I wonder what Kendall's doing right now. Is he still alive? Is he happy with Daniel right now? Does he miss us? Does he miss me?"

He noticed GD going towards the door, saw Stephanie look outraged and open her mouth to say something to him. Before she stopped, GD looked through the doorway and said, "That looks a little scary anyway. I'm better off staying put."

Stephanie smiled. Jo didn't even blink. She seemed to be in shock. Logan gave a long sigh. "I can't believe he would do that."

"Neither can I," Carlos said in a low, angry voice.

James just shook his head in bemusement. He desperately wanted to follow Kendall and Daniel, but Daniel's warning about not wanting company was sufficient. They all knew what he could do. "Logan," he said. "What did you mean when you said that Kendall had to look out for number one?"

Logan gave another sigh. "Well, you know that Kendall's always doing things for other people, never really thinking about himself. Number one with him. I meant to say that even now, he's looking out for us, sacrificing himself for us."

There was a long silence.

"I hate this," Jo murmured, drying her eyes.


As soon as Kendall and Daniel had left the room, Daniel had wound his arms around Kendall's waist, and he'd felt everything spinning. Then suddenly, they were in his dad's attic. Kendall staggered, feeling Daniel support him. "What just happened?"

"I transported us down here," Daniel replied simply. "We could've gone to Rocque Records, but the smell is pretty bad there."

"You couldn't've just made it disappear?"

Daniel's eyes became more focused. "I'm a little preoccupied with something else right now."

The sofa was lumpy and worn, but wide and very soft. It sank under their weight as they sat down. Kendall found it odd to be sitting next to Daniel like this, no animosity, no need to pull away, no battles to fight. Kendall looked up to find Daniel looking at him. So close. His eyes very deep, but very gentle.

He could feel Daniel's hunger.

And he could feel himself trembling slightly. His nerves jangling with excitement—and fear. But Daniel didn't even touch him at first. He just looked at him, with an expression Kendall had never seen on his face before. A look of wonder. The tenderness he'd seen when Daniel was impersonating James. "Are you afraid?" he asked.

"A little." He was trying not to show it. "So, you're the youngest Shadow Man?"

"And the nicest."

"I believe that," Kendall said earnestly.

Daniel did touch him then, fingers light in his hair. Kendall shut his eyes and told himself not to think, not to feel anything but the featherlike touch. The lighter it was, the more it moved him. He was surprised when it stopped. He opened his eyes. Daniel's expression was even more intense than before.

"No one will ever get you here," he said. Just stating it, no real purpose to it at all. "No one. I'll keep you safe . . ."

Kendall reached for him and lightly pressed their lips together. Daniel forgot about talking, then, and kissed back—such a soft kiss, his warm lips barely brushing against Kendall's. But then the kisses developed into slow shivery kisses and then into white-hot ones. Kendall was still afraid of him, even as he clung to him—was it true that fear had to be a part of passion? Everywhere Daniel touched, he felt fire and ice.

The light off the lamps glinted off Kendall's watch, and he saw it was six a.m. He pulled away reluctantly. "I have to breathe," he whispered. "This is all happening so fast."

Daniel smiled as Kendall walked around, getting his breath back, feeling his flushed cheeks cool down. "Why did you let me through my nightmare?" he asked suddenly. "Sentimental reasons?"

"Not at all," Daniel said with a laugh. "I did play the Game fairly. I don't lie, even if I sometimes . . . withhold information. Your nightmare was remembering what happened that day. You never noticed, but the door out actually appeared once you remembered opening the closet.

"Oh," Kendall said softly. "The closet." Then he added, "What did my dad want from you?"

"What everybody wants—power, knowledge, the easy way. A free ride."

"And the runes really work," Kendall said, shaking his head slightly in wonder. He went over to the closet, looking inside. Daniel followed, standing beside him.

"I'm sorry," Kendall said without looking at him. "I'm sorry he did it. He wasn't really a bad man." Then he turned. "I can't believe he kept you in here."

"Believe it," Daniel said grimly.

Kendall shook his head. "I guess I'll always love him. But what he did was wrong." He stepped into the closet. "It's not as small as it looks."

"It's small enough." Daniel stepped in too, looking around. "This place brings up bad memories."

"Let's see if we can make a better one." Kendall smiled up at him, backed against one wall. Daniel turned and smiled down at him. In the confined space they were very close. Kendall stood shyly, one leg crossed behind the other.

Daniel bent his head again, his mouth warm and demanding. Kendall gave himself up to it. The kiss became so breathless and urgent that Kendall couldn't break it, even though he had to. He kept thinking, Just one more minute, one more minute . . .

It was Daniel who pulled back. "It's rather uncomfortable in here."

"Do you think so?" He smiled up at him, breath slowing.

"Definitely."

"Well, then. I suppose we could—"

Now! he thought.

In the middle of his sentence he moved. He'd been standing in a cross stance that Jo had taught him. Good for instant lateral movement. Now, in a split second, he used the power of his left leg to throw him to the right, vaulting out of the closet. In the same motion he slammed the door shut.

"Nauthiz!" he shouted, slashing the X in the air. When he shouted it, the rune flashed brightly on the closet door. Blue-white like ice. He didn't know if he was doing it right. He'd copied his dad's steps; shut the door, trace the rune, say the name. He'd pronounced it the same as his dad.

And Daniel didn't come leaping out after him.

The closet door stayed closed, and the silence was deafening.

Kendall turned and ran for the staircase. He lied, he thought as he raced down the steps and out the exit door. He changed the rules and he lied. Sometimes you can't return good for evil; sometimes evil just has to be stopped. He knew all this, of course; it had been in his mind from the beginning, the moment he'd offered to stay with Daniel.

He kept repeating it to the whispering, plaintive voices that were telling him to go back as he leaped up the escalator, dodging in between mirrors and past where Camille's door had been. Through the door to Rocque Records, down the hallway into the zombie room, slipping in blood as he leaped onto the last staircase. He made a mental note to thank Mr X for all the dance lessons that had kept him fit. He burst into the room. The door was open, and there were six people standing around it.

Six. All of them. Logan, he'd expected—he knew Logan. Likewise for Stephanie. He'd been worried about James; he'd wanted him to understand, but wanted him to leave the most. He'd hoped Carlos would be angry enough to go, and Jo would be sensible enough. He'd assumed GD would be out like a shot.

"Go!" he panted, clutching his side. Maybe he wasn't so fit after all. "Go!"

James's face broke into a huge smile. "Go on!" he said to the others, taking Kendall by the hand. They hurried right over to the door. Then they all stopped. Jumping straight out into the dark took guts. They were trusting to fate—actually, to Daniel, which was a lot worse. They had to trust that when Daniel had said Kendall's friends could leave, he meant alive.

"Oh, what the heck," GD said with an eye roll. He took Stephanie's hand and they both jumped out, dropping down and disappearing into the dark. Jo turned to flash a smile at Kendall, then she turned and leaped out just like a skydiver. Carlos hesitated, and Kendall was amazed.

"Where is he?"

"In the closet! Go!"

His face was grim. "I thought you meant it . . ."

Logan made an impatient noise and shoved Carlos out the door before jumping himself. James turned to glance briefly at Kendall. They both smiled, before jumping out, still holding hands.


No matter how often you faint, you never really get used to it. Kendall woke up on the floor, facing the shiny wood he'd been sitting on. He sat up so suddenly his head span. The first thing he saw was the game. It was sitting there, looking so innocent with Katie's colouring pencils next to it. The only things missing were the cards with their nightmares drawn on them. They had those themselves.

Everyone else was sitting up slowly, looking around. Just sitting there. "Maybe it was just a dream," Logan said in a small voice.

"It wasn't a dream," Jo murmured. "Camille's gone."

Kendall looked at James. He was sitting up slowly, using the coffee table to help him. He looked battered and sore, his hair tossed all over the place. "Jamie," Kendall said, worried.

James gave him a small smile. "I thought you were really staying with him. To save me—and because you wanted to. I sort of realised that when he gave you the ring."

Kendall glanced at it. Any doubts about last night been real had vanished within the group. It was there, still glittering on his finger.

"I definitely thought you were staying with him," Carlos said, suddenly back to his old self. "You had me convinced you honestly wanted to—and it was all a trick?"

"It was the truth. I was doing it of my own free will. And I did want to stay—long enough to make sure James and you guys got out."

"I knew," Logan said.

"It's those brains of yours again," Kendall said, smiling at him.

"And I thought you were such a sweet thing," GD was musing. "So simple, so honest . . ."

Kendall resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I guess I am—when people treat me fairly. When they don't kill my friends. When they don't break their word. I figured he made up the rules of that game, and trickery was a legal move—so I did it."

Jo persisted. "And you never felt anything for him? It was all an act?"

"I fooled you, didn't I?" Kendall replied. He hoped Jo wouldn't notice he hadn't answered the question.

"Who cares?" GD said. "We're home. We did it." He looked around the room. "I could kiss every inch of that couch. I could kiss the floor. I could kiss you, Stephanie."

"Oh, if you have to," Stephanie said. They both leaned forward.

Logan was frowning. "What about the ring? The betrothal? You're supposed to be promised to him."

"What about it?" Kendall said quietly. "I'm going to throw the ring away. Along with the rest of this garbage."

He folded the game box up, putting it back in the box. Then he picked up the paper dolls they'd drawn, along with the game card, and jammed them in too. Then he added the dolls of the wolf and the snake. He stopped when he got to the last paper doll; the boy with the shocking blue eyes. He tossed it in and dropped the ring on top of it all. Then he crammed the lid on.

There was a roll of duct tape in with Katie's pencils. Kendall started winding tape round and round the box, sealing it shut. When he ran out of tape he sat back. A smile started somewhere and slowly travelled through the group. Not a partying smile, but one of relief and joy. They'd won. They'd survived—most of them.

"What are we going to say about Camille?" Jo asked.

"We'll tell them the truth," Logan said after a minute.

"They'll never believe us," Stephanie said, eyebrows raised.

"I know," Logan sighed. "We'll tell them anyway."

"It'll be ok," Kendall said. "After everything we've been through, it'll be alright, as long as we're still together."

James nodded in agreement. "I guess we'd better call the police now."

It was Jo who made the phone call from the cordless phone hanging in the kitchen, dumping the white box on the island as she dialled the number. GD and Stephanie were standing at the window together. Carlos and Logan had gone into one of the other rooms. James suddenly took Kendall by the hand and pulled him in behind the swirly slide. "I wanted to show you this," he said.

He pulled a paper card out of his pocket and handed it over. Kendall looked at the picture drawn in the middle, trying to make out what it was.

"I'm a crappy artist. I thought you'd be able to tell by the yellow hair and green eyes."

"I'm your worst nightmare?" Kendall said, only half joking because he was totally bewildered.

"No. It was hard to draw, but it's what I meant when I told Daniel that it had to happen. The name of the game was to face your worst nightmare, and that was mine. Losing you."

Kendall could only look at him with wide eyes.

"I've never been good at showing it. And I was never brave enough to say it, but—I love you. As much as he does. More."

All Kendall could think of was little James the day they'd met in Kindergarten. James comforting him as he cried the first time his dad hit him. James on the first day of High School. James at Gustavo's audition. James. It had always been James. James holding him and kissing him at Rocque Records—what did it matter if it had really been Daniel? Kendall had thought it was James—and he'd known how he felt.

"I love you too," he whispered. "So much."

At first neither of them knew what to do. Then James's lips were on his, and Kendall was wrapping his arms around the taller boy's neck, pulling him closer, and James had his arms around Kendall, holding him so gently. A gentleness that Daniel would never have.

Everything happened in a split second. The door to the apartment burst open, and two guys dashed in, both in dark sweaters with the hoods pulled up. Jo was hampered by being on the phone. James was hampered by Kendall. Kendall was hampered by the slide. The other two were just plain frozen.

Then suddenly, the white box wasn't on the island anymore, and they'd run straight back out. Carlos and Logan had come running into the room when they heard the noise, and now they were both dashing out after the thieves.

After a few seconds, they came back. "They just disappeared," Logan panted. "They were flying."

"Neither of you are in the best shape right now," GD said. "Honestly, I don't think it would've been a good idea to give the game to the cops. It probably won't work for anyone else."

"But what just happened?" Jo said, looking bemused. "Who were they?"

"Why would they even want to—"

Kendall tuned them out. He didn't know who those two were, but he certainly hoped GD was right, and the game wouldn't work for them. Even if it did, what were the chances of them making it all the way to his floor? And what were the chances of them opening an attic closet?

"Good riddance to it," James said. "Everything I need is right here." He held him arms out, smiling at Kendall. Kendall rested against him, ignoring the "aww"s of their friends. It didn't matter.


Outside in the Palmwoods parking lot, two guys in dark sweaters were panting. "I think we lost them," one said.

"They weren't even trying," said the other.

They'd seen James Diamond and Logan Mitchell walking through the lobby with that white box, and suddenly they'd been compelled to follow it. Fearing it and wanting it in equal measure. They'd watched the apartment all night, it wasn't until now that they'd had the nerve to break in.

Now they finally had it.

One of them pulled a knife out of his pocket and slit the tape.

Well, there you go! Story done! There's gonna be a sequel, though I don't know when I'll start it. Pretty please review!