Page 130 of Stay Scared

The words come out harder than anything I have heard from him tonight.

The thumbnail shows the white server room. Me in my bra. Owen in front of me.

The feed has no duration listed.

Ash turns toward him. “What did he capture?”

Owen stays silent, but his face gives Ash enough.

Cade looks at me.

I walk to the console. “Is it live?”

Owen checks the stream metadata. “I cannot verify that yet. The metadata is inconsistent.”

“I need better than that.”

“I’m checking every source attached to it.”

His fingers move quickly.

The viewer count jumps again.

The server-room thumbnail shifts one position higher in the queue.

Ash reaches across Owen and slams his palm against the desk. “Find out.”

Owen turns toward him. “Do not touch my controls while I am tracing it.”

Ash steps into his space. “You lost control of the feed.”

“So did you.”

Cade catches Ash’s shoulder before they close the remaining distance. “Save the dick-measuring for the man broadcasting her.”

The central screen flickers.

Static tears across it.

Rook’s beaked mask fills the display.

A live comment feed races beside him while the viewer count jumps again.

A title appears beneath his face.

LIVE FROM CRIMSON NIGHT: THE UNMASKING.

Rook looks directly into the camera.

Behind him, the torn theater screen hangs above Mark.

The audience can see him too.

One comment asks whether Mark is an actor. Another wants Rook to remove the gag.

Someone has already clipped the moment Cade slammed me against the hallway wall.

The clip is spreading faster than the live viewer count.