Body Games (A Games Novel) by Jill Myles, Jessica Clare Read Free Book Online Page A

make shelter knowing it was going to end up being for both of us. Lovely. I suspected Kip knew that, too. After all, if I made a fire, I couldn’t chase him away from it, could I?
    Frustrated, I turned back to the flag and the box that had been left for us. Why, oh why had I stripped on the beach? It must have been temporary insanity. Or the need to impress that hot guy that had sat next to me on the boat ride. I tried to remember his name. Jordan? Jason?
    Not that it mattered. I wasn’t here to hook up. Still, his encouragement on the beach had warmed me. If nothing else, he might end up as a friend or an ally.
    I could sure use one right about now.
    With a sigh, I pulled open the box to see what we’d have to live with for the next six weeks. Probably a stack of tampons and a “LOL GOOD LUCK” sign with the way my day had been going. The lid of the box was heavy, solid wood, and I put it aside carefully. The box was about three feet long and not very deep, but three feet of solid wood meant a decent place to sleep or even lay. Sand would be softer, but I didn’t want sand in my unmentionable places when I woke up, and given that we didn’t have blankets or underwear or anything, that seemed like a likely scenario.
    Inside the box, a small packet of grease pencils was laid atop everything else. A tiny card rested on them that read “Have your partner write your name on your back. Please make sure you are labeled at all times.” I glanced around, but Kip was nowhere to be found, so I tossed the pencils aside for now. Below the small package of pencils was a single machete, a cast-iron pot, and two canteens. I knew what that meant - giving us a pot meant we’d have to boil our water. Well, at least they weren’t going to make us drink out of coconut shells. I supposed it could have been worse. I picked up a canteen and noticed that the beige band around the middle of the metal body was a note tied to it.
    I glanced around for Kip. He was still in the water, floating on his back. Surreptitiously, I tugged the note off the canteen and glanced at it.
    The note was written in a clear hand. Want a hint for Pandora’s Box? Head for water and look for a forked tree. One foot down, there, Pandora’s Box will be.
    Oh shit.
    I read the note again, trying to memorize it. Water. Forked tree. One foot down. I rolled the note up hastily when I heard Kip begin to splash around, and looked for a place to hide the note. Shit. There was nowhere but sand - too easily discovered - and I had no pockets. After a frantic moment, I shoved the note into the opening of my canteen. There was an identical note wrapped around the other canteen, and I grabbed it just as I heard another splash and Kip came trotting up on the shore.
    He caught me red-handed, holding the other note. “What’s that?”
    “Oh. Um.” I stared down at it in my hand, then back at him. I didn’t even know what to say. I was a terrible liar in the best scenarios.
    Kip, luckily, was so full of his own self-importance that he didn’t even notice my lame attempt to find an excuse. He tossed back his flowing black hair and pulled the note from my hand. Mute, I let him take it and inwardly cringed as he studied it. After a moment, he said, “Looks like a map to the water well.”
    It was?
    Frowning, I leaned over his shoulder to see, and ignored the fact that he adjusted his arm so it’d brush against my breast. Sure enough, there was a tiny map on his note with an X that had a water symbol next to it. “Oh,” I said.
    He snorted. “What did you think it’d be?”
    I said nothing, not trusting my voice.
    Kip eyed the canteen in my hand. “Were you going to go get water?”
    “I…can, I suppose.”
    He handed his canteen to me. “Great. Could you get me some?”
    I took it without a word of protest. “See if you can start a fire while I’m gone, okay?”
    “Sure,” he said, and turned back to the water, heading for the ocean again.
    Yeah. I had a feeling