Chapter One: The Opening

Monday

I woke up the next day to an unwelcome hangover, my head still throbbing from the celebrations the night before. It was supposed to be a small thing, but Abby and Denise had wrangled up enough booze and friends to turn it into a whole celebration. I danced with Abby, did shots with Denise, and shared old memories and stories with Talia. Brutal hangover aside, I think it was one of the best nights of my life.

There was something Talia asked me when we had a moment alone.

“So what now, you gonna try and make a career out of this?”

I chuckled, “Nah, pretty sure I just peaked. I’ll still play, but I don’t need to go pro.”

Talia smiled. “Good. You got really intense about it in high school. No disrespect to him, but I didn’t want to see you end up like Evan Boltchek.”

My mind flashed back to my encounters with the chess prodigy, his cold, hyper focused demeanor. I hadn’t really thought of him as another person before, but living like that couldn’t be easy.

“Me neither,” I replied.

It was late morning when I walked down from my dorm room to the lobby and saw a small figure in a suit hunched over on a chair, a cardboard box nestled between his legs. The figure shifted its head towards me.

“Evan Boltchek?” I asked, confused, “What are you doing here?”

Evan glared back at me, his normal composure completely absent, “It was a fluke.”

I furrowed my brow, “What?”

“A FLUKE!” he shouted, his voice sharpening with hostility, echoing down the silent dorm halls. “I have never, EVER, lost a game of chess to anyone but my father, least of all some NOBODY!” His veins were popping, eyes bloodshot. A part of me wanted to be angry at his attempt to delegitimize my win, but I found my feelings straying more towards pity than anything. The poor guy was unraveling.

“Look, it’s not that big a deal,” I began in a calm voice, “You’re still a chess prodigy, man. Nobody in their right mind would question that. Even the best players in the world lose sometimes.”

Evan’s breathing deepened, but he seemed to bring himself in check.

“I want a rematch. Winner takes all.”

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “The tournament’s already over, I can’t give you the title. If you just want another game tho-”

“Not the title,” Evan growled under his breath, interrupting my offer. He began fishing around the cardboard box in his lap before pulling out a small metallic object. It looked like a broach or something, small metal limbs outstretched in a spiderlike array with a tiny red LED light on one side and three slim metal pins on the other.

“This,” he began, “Is a device my father’s been working on. The current model only works on women, as per my father’s… personal preferences.” I gave up on trying to talk to this man, he was clearly living in another world. Sensing my doubt, Evan scowled. “Let me just show you,” he said, fishing out a headset. It looked like any typical mic and headphones array you’d see on a receptionist. “Olga, come inside,” he commanded into the microphone.

Suddenly, a professional-looking woman in her thirties marched through the front doors. Her silvery blonde hair was tied up in a neat, organized ponytail, exuding professionalism alongside her pencil skirt and blazer. Before I could say anything, Evan spoke again. “Olga, do jumping jacks.” Just like that, Olga launched into a series of controlled movements, her arms and legs outstretched with each jump while her face remained totally neutral. Her hair and breasts bobbed up and down with every motion.

Evan wasn’t done. “Act like a dog,” he commanded. Immediately, the woman fell to her hands and knees and began barking. I was stunned, what the hell was going on? “Now sleep.” Evan directed into the headset. Olga immediately fell limp onto the ground, her eyes closed. It was then that I spotted one of the metallic devices Evan had shown me attached to the nape of her neck, the LED light emitting a faint crimson glow.

“This bitch used to think she could order me around, acting all high and mighty like she was something special. Now she’s mine to command.” This had to be some sick prank, Evan certainly had the money to pay off an employee to act this out. Still, to go this far over something so trivial as a chess match was beyond bizarre.

“I want my rematch,” Evan said bitterly, “but I’m not content with a standard chessboard.” Out of nowhere, he reached his hand into the box and tossed me a plastic bag. I barely caught it, realizing quickly that it was full of identical metallic devices, albeit with blue lights, as well as a headset matching his.

“Today is Monday. We’ll have our rematch in the gymnasium at noon this Saturday, the same one as our first match.” Evan adjusted his gaze, shooting a bitter stare directly into my eyes. “You choose your pieces, and I choose mine. Winner keeps the losers’ pieces.”

I finally broke out of my stupor. “And by pieces, you mean people?” Evan nodded. I considered everything he was talking about before giving my rebuttal. “You’re fucking crazy,” I said, walking past him out the front door. Clearly the loss had driven Evan fucking insane. There was no other explanation. I passed by a decked-out sports car on my way out. A woman was sat at the driver’s looking blankly ahead, her hands clutching the wheel with unnatural firmness. She looked unnatural. I felt a sense of unease pooling in the pit of my stomach.

I went straight to my calculus lecture first, though I barely paid attention given the hangover and the bizarre encounter that morning.

“Still knocked out?” asked Talia. I hadn’t even noticed her sit down next to me.

“Um yeah… Sort of. I’ll tell you everything at lunch.” Talia raised an eyebrow, but returned her focus to the lecture.

Our professor was Dr. Mallory. She was a ray of sunshine in the sea of gloomy old men that comprised the mathematics department. She was a newlywed in her early thirties with chin-length brown hair and square glasses framing her face. A bit nerdy in appearance, but nonetheless attractive. Not to mention that she was deeply enthusiastic, and was always willing to help her students with whatever they needed. I’d visited her a few times for math help and had nothing but good things to say.

Slowly, Dr. Mallory’s bright demeanor and teaching style helped to pull me from my funk. I heard a voice call out to me as I was leaving. “Nate!” Dr. Mallory hurried up to me with a smile and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I heard about the big win, congratulations!”

I smiled back. “Thanks Dr. Mallory, honestly I’m just as shocked as everyone else that I won.”

“Don’t go downplaying your accomplishments, Nate, that was some real genius you displayed up there. Be proud of yourself!” I let myself take in Dr. Mallory’s praise, glad to have so many supportive people in my life.

After the lesson I started making my way down to the cafeteria only to be stopped by a familiar face. “Nate!” Sandy exclaimed, rushing up to give me a hug.

“Sandy, hey! Weird to see you on campus this early.”

Sandy rolled her eyes at me. She’d decided to live with our mom instead of staying in a dorm like I did, so she didn’t have to show up before her afternoon classes. Guess she didn’t feel the same yearning for independence that I did. “Well pardon me for dropping by early to congratulate my brother on his big win.”

I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Point taken. Thanks, Sandy.”

“Where are you off to now?” she asked.

“Cafeteria, gonna meet up with Talia.”

Sandy nodded. “Cool, cool. I’m heading down to the cafe to study with my friends.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Study, yeah, totally. You’re definitely not just gonna waste two hours scrolling TikTok.”

Sandy scoffed. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. You’re the prodigy now, what I do with my life is inconsequential from here on out. Later!” She shouted, playfully flipping me off as she trotted down the hallway and around the corner, not letting me get a word in edgewise.

As expected, Talia thought my whole story was a joke or weird fever dream. But when I procured the plastic bag full of tech, her expression began to change. “Evan’s dad, Christophe Boltchek, made his fortune in robotics. There are rumors he’s been working with the military, as well. Nate, I think this might be legit.” That assessment frightened me. Talia was looking at an engineering career. She even had access to the university’s robotics lab. If she thought that was more to this than Evan being a sore loser, that worried me. I examined the devices more closely, noticing a tiny insignia near the center of each one. They all had chess symbols on them. Eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, a queen, and a king. A complete set.

“Damn, what the hell’ve you got there, kid?” came a coarse, cigarette-laden female voice from behind me. I turned to see Tina, the heavily tattooed head custodian, staring down at us, her sharp face flanked by bright red hair. It had never been proven, but a lot of students and even professors tended to notice their valuables go missing whenever Tina was in the area. I subtly clutched the bag of devices a bit tighter.

“Just some prototypes we’re testing out. For comp sci. Super run-of-the-mill stuff,” Talia chimed in.

“Hmm.” Tina grunted, turning her attention away from us. Yet somehow I still felt like she had an eye on the expensive-looking robotics.

“Nice save,” I whispered. She smiled, but not enough to hide the underlying concern our conversation had inspired.

“What are you going to do?” Talia asked with concern, returning my attention to the Evan conundrum.

“Nothing,” I replied, “I’m not playing the little psycho’s game, he’s fucking unhinged. I might email his dad’s company to let them know about the stolen tech though.” Talia opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. Her long, ginger hair silhouetted her slender frame and highlighted the worry etched on her face. She seemed at a loss. I was right there with her.