I take a step back as the leaves slide apart. Another.
Whatever it is, it’s not going to be something I want to stick around for.
It only takes a second.
Hundreds –thousands– of motherfucking rats flood out of the walls in a squeaking, hissing, scrabbling ambush.
The noise that erupts from my throat is not the most dignified. Swearing, I dance back like a fucking ballerina.
Idespiserats.
My knee burns as I turn and haul ass. They follow after me, flooding the fucking space with their creepy squeaky little chirps.
Reaching a crossroads, I veer to the right, hoping to run into Aiden. The little fuckers fall back behind me until I can slow again.
A scream sounds in the distance. A male scream.
Tensing, I pause to listen.
It sounds again, closer this time.
It sounds like—
Aiden.
But it’s my name he’s screaming. I break into a run, shouting back. He’s screaming it over and over again as I shout back to him.
I’m coming. I force myself to runfaster,my knee screaming.
The walls of the maze stretch out in never-ending fucking twists and turns as I race through them, not seeing anyone else. And those screams follow me, growing louder.
Except—
I spin around a corner, nearly stumbling.
Empty.
I force myself to breathe over the panic hammering at my chest.
The screaming is impossibly loud now, repeating over and over and over again, scraping at my fucking eardrums.
I stop. Listen.
The same scream.
A recording, from last night.
Not real. It’s not real.
I take off again. I need to find him. And all the while, the sound of my twin screaming my name follows me, pounding at my head, burrowing inside my skull.
Slamming my hands over my ears, I keep running.
When I peel them away, the screaming is still going. But there’s something else, something that doesn’t match the terror. A shout from ahead of me.
“Aiden!”
“Kayd?”
