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Chapter One

Hugging herself tightly, April Powers stared out at the tossing ocean waves. A bolt of jagged lightning flashed on the horizon. in the sudden light, the water flared green, bright as day.

Thunder crackled in the distance. Lightning flickered, closer this time.

Shivering, April turned to her three friends. "That storm is heading this way," she muttered.

"Perfect," Kristen Wood said, shaking her head bitterly. "We're abandoned on this empty island. And now we're going to be washed away."

"Marks will come back for us," Anthony Thomas said. He pulled a beetle from his red hair and crushed it between his fingers. "He has to come back. This is probably some kind of test."

I don't see any boats in the water," April replied, shivering again. She felt a heavy raindrop on her shoulder. Another one on the top of her head. "They took the boats and left us here. They're not coming back."

"It's a survival game," Anthony insisted. "Marks is the director of The Academy. He's a businessman, right? He's not going to abandon four kids on an island."

"But ... what if something went terribly wrong?" April asked. "What if it was some kind of emergency? And he gathered up everyone he could-and split?"

Marlin Davis had been silent this whole time. He was hunched beside the others on the small dock, watching the waves grow higher, watching them crash onto the rocky shore.

He pulled off his baseball cap and scratched his head. "They did leave in an awful hurry," he said softly.

"But they took everything with them," Anthony said. "That means their escape was planned."

He brushed a raindrop off hi's forehead."I'm telling you, guys, it's a game. Part of the Life Games. This is the bravery competition. So ... don't panic."

"Don't panic?" April's words came out shriller than she had planned. "Don't panic? We have no food. No phones. No way to contact anybody — "

Kristen placed a hand on April's trembling shoulder. "Are you sure there's no food?" she asked.

A- deafening boom of thunder made all four of them jump. The rain came down harder, pattering noisily on the planks of the dock.

Marlin jumped to his feet. "Let's go check. Let's see what they left us."

Ducking their heads against the pouring rain, April and her friends ran off the dock, across the shore, and to the cabins and huts of The Academy Village. By the time they burst through the open mess hall door, they were soaked.

Marlin tried the light switch. He clicked it several times. "They must have turned off the generator," he said.

"Oh, great," April moaned. "No power at all."

Lightning flickered outside the window. April could see that the tables had been pushed against the wall. The chairs were all overturned.

"Did they leave anything in the kitchen?" Kristen asked. She was already halfway there, her wet sneakers sliding on the wooden floor.

April shook out her short brown hair as she trotted after her friend. This isn't happening, she thought.

It's the middle of the night. And I'm having a nightmare. I'm dreaming that Donald Marks took his assistants and the other kids and roared away on the only two boats.

Wake up, April, she urged herself. Please-wake UPI

But no. She joined the others in the dark kitchen. Anthony had found a flashlight and was sending a darting circle of light around the room.

"Oh, wow. The shelves are bare," Kristen murmured.

"Try the fridge," Marlin said.

April pulled open the heavy metal door. Anthony beamed his light into the big refrigerator.

"Oh, gross!" April screamed. "I'm going to be sick!