My confidence wavered. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because according to the internet, he's one of the most wanted men in the country."
I shook my head. "What? No. That's ridiculous."
I turned to look for the stairs but found them too far away. If I tried to bolt, he'd catch me. He read my face and laughed.
"Oh no. See, Big Brother has a lot of secrets he's not telling you."
"No. He went to school. He's a professional editor. You're the liar!" I pointed and continued to back away. I couldn't make it to the stairs, but the elevator wasclose.
"Oh, Laney, Laney, Laney."He clicked his tongue.
"Is everything okay?"We both turned to see Tristan storming down the hall. "Delaney, why don't you come with me? With us. Me, Annie, and Juniper were going to go up to the third floor and do some Rapid-Writer Prompts."
Tristan reached me and put his arm across my shoulder. "Let's take the elevator." He pushed me forward, and I followed him into the iron death trap. Moth stared at us from the hall. As Tristan pushed the button and we jolted upward, an eerie smile spread across Moth's face, and he raised a hand to wave goodbye.
"What was that about? Was your romp a little rougher than you wanted or something?" Tristan asked as we ascended.
"No, I didn't—" My blood ran cold as a sudden thought dawned on me. Moth had been able to touch me. I knew it hadn’t been Moth, but what if I'd slept with a ghost? I gulped. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, I've got your back." Tristan put his hand around my waist and pulled me to him. "I know I was a little forward before, and I apologize for that. I think I had a minor case of cabin fever. It won't happen again, Delaney."
I stepped to the side. "Thanks. And I'm sorry for Priest's outburst. He shouldn't have attacked you like that."
"He shouldn't have." Tristan nodded. "If he'd given me time to explain, I probably would have come out of my little spell anyway. Maybe we should try to keep the classes going. It might help our sanity some.”
I realized I had barely been to any of the things Tristan had planned for his retreat. I'd been too busy canoodling with ghosts and trying to fight the tension between Priest and me. I wondered what he was doing right this minute. I hadn't seen him since... when had I last seen him?
The elevator stopped on the creepy third floor and thedoors screeched open. Tristan offered his hand as he left the elevator. "Come on, the girls are waiting for us."
I stepped out and followed beside him rather than take his hand.
"I don't have my laptop," I said.
"It's fine, we're just going to shout our ideas." The farther down the hall we got, the more nervous I became. This didn't make any sense. Shouting out things we should be writing?Tristan stopped at the door at the end of the hall and pulled out a key from his pocket.There was loud chatter coming from the other side of the door. He grinned.
"See, they are already going at it. Let's go see what they're doing." He unlocked the door and flung it open. I peered inside and didn't see Annie or Juniper. It was dark in there. I started to turn but was shoved inside.
I was pushed so hard my knees collided with the hard floor and my palms scraped as I tried to catch myself. I let out a small scream, but before I could get up, the door was slammed shut and the telltale click of the lock being turned echoed throughout the room.
"What are you doing?" I screamed and banged on the door and jiggled the handle, but it did no good.
"You fucked everything up." Tristan's voice was muffled, but I heard him through the door. "You weren't supposed to have sex. Now, you're going to pay for what you did."
"What did I do?" Tears began to stream down my face. It was pitch black inside the room, and I could hear loud, yet unclear voices coming from all around me. "I don't understand." I sank to the floor. Darkness consumed me. I sobbed as I thought of Priest. How he'd tried to save me from my dark thoughts, but they'd returned so hard and so fast I wanted to vomit. Where was he now?
"You fucked us all," Tristan said, and while I couldn't see, Iknew he'd walked away, leaving me in the terrifying darkness.Who would help me now? Michael, Moth? No.
"Priest?" I called out meekly. Would he be able to find me here? I needed my big brother now. For the first time since we'd reunited last week, I truly needed him.
I opened my eyes and stumbled to my feet, keeping my hands on the wall. It wasn't Priest I should be mad at. Or frustrated with. This entire time, he'd done nothing but save me from monster after monster in this place. It was Moth who'd put me in that chair and zapped my brain into mush. He wanted me to forget Priest, but somewhere, deep in my soul, my love for my big brother was too strong to simply be abandoned.
"Who's there?" I called out into the darkness. "Moth? Michael? I'm done playing with you. I'm not going to fall for anything else in this god-fucking forsaken place."
Suddenly, a single candle flicked on from the far end of the room. I shielded my eyes. Despite it being such a small light, it hurt my eyes.A large figure was holding the candle. He lifted it to his face, revealing a handsome, yet scary male face.
"Hello, Delaney."A second candle flicked beside him, and the second figure mimicked the first exactly, revealing twin brothers. "You're done playing?"
