Page 164 of Stay Scared

I look at his hand, then at him. “Mark.”

His eyes lift.

“The counterweight brake is under the stage. You know the original mechanism better than any of us.”

“I also know Rook.”

“So do I now.”

“That is optimistic.”

“It is enough.”

Ash looks at the corridor leading toward the theater, then back at me. “I should be between you and him.”

Cade laughs without humor. “Get in line.”

Ash turns toward him.

Cade steps closer. “He wants to be in the maze with her. I want to be in the maze with her. Owen wants six cameras in there with her. None of that gets Mark out of the chair.”

Owen stays focused on the camera. “I would prefer eight.”

Cade glares at him.

I pull the founder key over my head. The dark steel lands against the map.

Ash watches it. His hand closes around it when I push it toward him.

“Get Mark out.”

His fingers tighten around the key. “What if Rook comes to the stage instead?”

“Then you deal with him.”

“What if he comes to you?”

The question comes too fast to hide anything.

I meet his eyes. “Then I deal with him.”

Ash slips the cord over his head. The key disappears beneath his shirt.

Cade looks toward the maze plan again. “We need a trigger.”

“Not a phrase,” I say.

Ash looks at me.

I tap the central chamber on the map. “Owen watches from the gallery. When Rook crosses fully into the chamber, the gallery light goes out.”

Owen nods.

“Cade sees the light die through the false exit.”

“And I close the barrier after Salem crosses.”

“Yes, you do.”