James Frey - The Calling

This book is a puzzle. i

Within its pages lie clues that lead to a key hidden somewhere on Earth.

Decipher, decode, and interpret.

Search and seek.

The first to find the key and deliver it to its proper home will be rewarded with gold. ii

Stacks and stacks of gold. iii

$$$ . $. iv

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2014

Endgame: The Calling

Copyright © 2014 by Third Floor Fun, LLC.

“Ballad for Gloom” excerpt hereby Ezra Pound, from Collected Early Poems , copyright

© 1926, 1935, 1954, 1965, 1967, 1976 by The Ezra Pound Literary Property Trust. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Puzzle hunt experience by Futuruption LLC.

Additional character icon design by John Taylor Dismukes Assoc., a Division of Capstone Studios, Inc.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.You do not need to prove that you purchased this book to enter. Copies of the book may be available to you through other resources, such as your local library. Contest begins 9:00 a.m. EST, October 7, 2014, and ends when the puzzle has been solved or on October 7, 2016, whichever is earlier. Open to ages 13 and older. Entrants under 18 must have consent from a parent or guardian. Void where prohibited. Total value of prize: approximately $500,000.00. Sponsor: Third Floor Fun, LLC, 25 Old Kings Hwy N, Ste 13, PO Box #254, Darien, CT 06820-4608. For Contest details, prize description, and Official Rules, visit www.endgamerules.com

HarperCollins Publishers is not responsible for the design or operation of any contests related to Endgame, and is not the sponsor of any such contest. All such contests have been designed, managed, and sponsored by Third Floor Fun, LLC, which is solely responsible for their content and operation.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source HB ISBN: 9780007585168

Source TPB ISBN: 9780007586448

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007585212

Version: 2014-09-22

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Marcus Loxias Megalos

Chiyoko Takeda

Sarah Alopay

Jago Tlaloc

Baitsakhan

Sarah Alopay

Maccabee Adlai

Sarah Alopay

An Liu

Jago Tlaloc, Sarah Alopay

Christopher Vanderkamp

Chiyoko Takeda

Christopher Vanderkamp

Marcus Loxias Megalos

Kepler 22B

All Players

Christopher Vanderkamp

Kala Mozami

Christopher Vanderkamp

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Chiyoko Takeda

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Chiyoko Takeda

Shari Chopra

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Christopher Vanderkamp

An Liu

Chiyoko Takeda

An Liu

Jago Tlaloc

An Liu

Maccabee Adlai

Baitsakhan

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Chiyoko Takeda, An Liu

Shari Chopra, Baitsakhan

An Liu, Chiyoko Takeda, Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Aisling Kopp

Christopher Vanderkamp

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Christopher Vanderkamp

Chiyoko Takeda

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Alice Ulapala

Chiyoko Takeda

Kala Mozami

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

An Liu

J. Deepak Singh

Aisling Kopp

Kala Mozami

Alice Ulapala

Kala Mozami

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Christopher Vanderkamp, Kala Mozami

Chiyoko Takeda

Baitsakhan

Kala Mozami, Christopher Vanderkamp

Baitsakhan, Maccabee Adlai

Aisling Kopp

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Christopher Vanderkamp, Kala Mozami

Chiyoko Takeda, Kala Mozami, Christopher Vanderkamp

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

Chiyoko Takeda

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc

Baitsakhan, Maccabee Adlai

Kala Mozami, Christopher Vanderkamp

Chiyoko Takeda

Kala Mozami, Christopher Vanderkamp

Baitsakhan, Maccabee Adlai

Chiyoko Takeda

Kala Mozami, Christopher Vanderkamp, Baitsakhan, Maccabee Adlai, Chiyoko Takeda

An Liu

Kala Mozami, Christopher Vanderkamp, Baitsakhan, Maccabee Adlai, Chiyoko Takeda

Alice Ulapala

Chiyoko Takeda, Kala Mozami, Maccabee Adlai, Baitsakhan, Christopher Vanderkamp

Christopher Vanderkamp

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Chiyoko Takeda

Baitsakhan, Maccabee Adlai

Shari Chopra

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Chiyoko Takeda, Christopher Vanderkamp

Aisling Kopp

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

Maccabee Adlai, Baitsakhan

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Chiyoko Takeda, Christopher Vanderkamp

Maccabee Adlai, Baitsakhan

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Chiyoko Takeda, Christopher Vanderkamp

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

Sarah Alopay

Chiyoko Takeda

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Christopher Vanderkamp

Chiyoko Takeda

Aisling Kopp, Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Christopher Vanderkamp

Chiyoko Takeda

Hilal Ibn Isa Al-Salt

An Liu

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Christopher Vanderkamp

Maccabee Adlai, Baitsakhan

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Christopher Vanderkamp

An Liu

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Christopher Vanderkamp

Chiyoko Takeda

Christopher Vanderkamp, An Liu

Sarah Alopay, Jago Tlaloc, Chiyoko Takeda, An Liu, Christopher Vanderkamp

All Players

Shari Chopra

Endnotes

About the Publisher

Much of this book is fiction, but much of the information in it is not. Endgame is real. And Endgame is coming.

Everything, all the time, every word, name, number, place, distance, color, time, every letter on every page, everything, always. So says, and so has been said, and so will be said again. Everything.

ʿ Ēl v12 12 12 vi

Endgame has begun. Our future is unwritten. Our future is your future. What will be will be.

We each believe some version of how we got here. God made us. Aliens beamed us. Lightning split us, or portals delivered us. In the end, the how doesn’t matter. We have this planet, this world, this Earth. We came here, we have been here, and we are here now. You, me, us, the whole of humanity. Whatever you believe happened in the beginning is not important. The end, however. The end is.

This is Endgame.

We are 12 in number. Young in body, but of ancient people. Our lines were chosen thousands of years ago. We have been preparing every day since. Once the game begins, we must deliberate and decipher, move and murder. Some of us are less ready than others, and the lessers will be the first to die. Endgame is simple this way. What is not simple is that when one of us dies, it will mean the deaths of countless others. The Event, and what comes after, will see to that. You are the unwitting billions. You are the innocent bystanders. You are the lucky losers and the unlucky winners. You are the audience at a play that will determine your fate.