Book Four: Chapter 205

“Interesting take. You aren’t lured by the promise of power?”

Mike shook his head. “Not really. I’m plenty happy as it is, and I’ve seen what happened to Emily when she pursued it. But now I have a question. Why is it called the Great Game?”

“Ah, that’s a great question. I can only speak second-hand, but here is what I know. At some point, the other Caretakers found a way to communicate with each other. Though they all sought the same prize, they discovered that they enjoyed the collaborative effort of sharing clues and ideas with each other. It was a friendly competition, and they genuinely looked out for each other.”

“Boy, I bet that didn’t last.” They had exited the forest and were now on the beach.

“You are correct. It was discovered that if a Caretaker killed another one, they would take control of the dead Caretaker’s property. These new places would act as an extension of the original home.”

“Wait, really? So this shadow, if he killed me, would h