Free The Quillan Games by D.J. MacHale Page A

now!”
    â€œI—I’m sorry,” she stammered, and started to get up. “I lost control. It was the throttle—”
    â€œI don’t want to hear it,” the guy snarled. “Go!” The guy smiled at the dado and said, “Forgive me. She won’t be driving a scoot again anytime soon. At least not one of mine!” Without waiting for a response, he started to wheel the scooter away.
    The dados looked from the guy to the woman, as if they weren’t sure what to do. Finally one of them said to the other, “Come. We must continue the pursuit.” Without another word the two dados took off running after their quarry.
    The excitement was over. The crowd started to move along again. I didn’t. I kept my eye on the woman and the man. Something didn’t feel right. What happened was an accident, sure, but it all seemed to happen a bit too perfectly. The woman on the bike hit the sidewalk at the exact right time to nail the dados. Was it intentional? Who knew? Maybe it was a total accident. But one thing definitely happened because of it. The guy the dados were chasing got away.
    There was one other thing that made me think there was something more going on. It happened a moment before the crowd filled up the sidewalk once again. The woman got to her feet, brushed herself off, and looked to the older guy. I followed her gaze. The older guy was looking back at her. His anger seemed gone. That’s when it happened. He reached up and clasped his hand over his left biceps. It was an odd move. I quickly shot a look back to the woman in time to see her do the exact same thing. Her expression didn’t change; all she did was clasp her right hand over her left biceps. It was fast. By the time I looked back to the guy, he had been swallowed by the crowd.
    I stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what I had just seen. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but itsure seemed as if these two people had given each other a silent signal. I couldn’t begin to guess what it meant, but there was no question, the accident allowed the running guy to get away, and the older guy made sure the woman didn’t get in trouble for it. It all happened so fast, the dados didn’t know what hit them. I couldn’t help but feel that I had witnessed something important.
    I didn’t have much time to think about it. There suddenly came a huge fanfare from the overhead screens. It was much more dramatic than anything I had heard up until then. It was an electronic trumpet tune that called everyone’s attention to the screens. Everyone stopped and looked up at them. Literally. Everyone. All at the same time. This was way different from when the other announcements were made. The people barely paid attention to those. But not now. I felt an excited buzz travel through the crowd. People came alive. They exchanged looks. They chattered to one another. All the way up and down this crowded street, you could feel the electricity. Cars stopped, which wasn’t that big a deal because they weren’t going anywhere anyway, but the drivers got out of their vehicles to look up at the screens. Whatever was going to happen, they were excited about it. Thousands of people were suddenly all staring up, in anticipation of . . . what?
    Naturally I looked up too. The screens were all blank for a few more seconds as the fanfare built. Finally, as the music reached a crescendo, a single word appeared in a shower of light and drama.
    BLOK .
    There it was again. Blok. What the heck was it? The way it appeared on-screen with such a flourish, you’d think people would cheer, as if their favorite wrestling champion had just been announced. They didn’t. They continued to look upwith anticipation, but there was no cheering. The inspirational music continued, and a man’s voice was heard.
    â€œThe competition is about to begin,” the voice said, teasing the crowd. He sounded