Chapter 1

My brother called from inside the haunted house and told me my boyfriend was bleeding.

“A prop fell on him. Sadie, get in here. He's not answering me.”

I forgot I was afraid of the dark. Forgot the discharge instructions from last Halloween. I ran straight through the entrance.

The place was open late for a private group. Strobe lights flashed against hanging plastic. Somewhere behind the walls, a woman screamed on a loop.

Then a man in a bloody mask came after me with an ax.

I fell, got up, and ran again. By the time I found Nate, I was limping and shaking so badly I could barely reach him.

He lay on the floor beneath a broken-looking beam.

“Nate?”

Laughter burst from behind me.

Kelsey came out of the control booth, wiping her eyes. My brother and Wyatt pulled off their masks.

“Told you she'd come in,” she said. “So much for being too scared.”

Nate sat up.

No blood. No injury.

“It's Halloween, babe. You're supposed to get a little freaked out.”

I looked at the four people who had been my whole life.

Kelsey leaned against Nate. Dean stood close to her, grinning. Wyatt rested the fake ax against the wall.

I was still on the floor.

“You really ate it out there,” Wyatt said. “I tried to stop you, but you kept running.”

He had chased me into a dead end. When I fell, he'd kicked at my legs, laughing through the mask.

“Don't blame me,” Kelsey said. “You were the one refusing to join in.”

For years, I had thought the problem was being the only person in our group who couldn't handle haunted attractions.

The first time, they'd left me alone until a staff member found me at closing. The next year, Nate had slipped away and let a masked stranger take his place beside me. Last Halloween had ended in the ER.

They had watched all of it from the monitors.

Nate helped me stand, then slapped my bruised arm affectionately. I flinched.

“Come on. You're not going to hold a grudge over a little scare.”

Before we went in, he had tucked my scarf around my neck and promised burgers afterward. Same smile. Same voice.

I let go of his hand and walked toward the exit.

He followed. “Okay, I'll take you out.”

For a few steps, I let myself believe him.

Then a scare actor jumped from behind the next door. Kelsey screamed for Nate to close it.

He pushed me through first and slammed it behind me.

The actor lowered his prop.

“You okay?”

I stared at the closed door.

“Where's the exit?”

Outside, my phone filled with group-chat notifications. Dinner photos. A Venmo request Wyatt had sent only to me. Not one picture with me in it.

Finally, Nate texted.

Reflex. Thought you were one of the actors. Won't happen again.

It had been a reflex.

That was what hurt.