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“She’s quite intriguing,” he says quietly. “So fragile, so delicate…” He looks at me, the dark depths of his eyeholes boring into mine. “It would be such a shame if she got hurt.”

Without thinking, I grab him by the collar of his cloak and slam him into the wall so hard his head bounces off it. At six-eight, I'm taller and broader than him, so it doesn’t take much effort for me to hurt him. He doesn’t react, though, just takes it silently like the weird motherfucker he is.

“You can have your fun with any of the others, but don’t you fucking touch her,” I warn him, leaning in close in case anyone else is around. “She’s mine.”

Even though I can’t see his face, I just know this asshole is smiling. “Understood, friend.”

I let go of him roughly and take a step back. “I’m not your friend. Now leave me the hell alone and don’t touch her.”

Gideon steps away from the wall and brushes past me. “I said I understand.”

CHAPTER 5

ALIYAH

I sprint down the hall to the right wing of the house where Tyler and Cherise went, my sudden fall completely forgotten about. There’s something about that scream that sounded way too real.

I mean, of course it’s real, but it doesn’t sound like the typical scream you’d hear from someone having fun in a place like this.

It was bloodcurdling. Glass-shattering. Ear-piercing—something straight out of a horror movie.

“It’s okay,” I hear Tyler say when I reach the shadowy hall of the east wing. He’s got his arms wrapped around Cherise protectively as she cries into his chest.

“What happened?” I ask breathlessly, partly from the run here and partly from fear.

Tyler jumps at the sound of my voice and squints to see me better. He doesn’t say anything, just points to a door in front of him. My stomach drops when I peer inside and see a body lying in the middle of the floor, covered in blood.

“It looks so real,” I whisper, stepping closer to get a better look.

“No, it is real!” Cherise wails.

Tyler looks at me, then back to the body. “It’s warm.”

It. The body.

I don’t know what comes over me, but I have to know if what they’re saying is true. Slowly, I walk into the moonlit room and crouch down in front of the body.

He does look real.

The poor man’s face is barely recognizable because he’s been beaten so badly. Fresh bruises mar nearly every inch of his exposed skin, and when I reach out to touch him, he does feel a little warm.

Cold, icy fear quickly spreads throughout my body. I run from the room and slam the door shut behind me.

“We have to get out of here,” I say frantically. “Where are the others?”

“I don’t know,” Tyler says in a trembling voice. “This place is huge, and there are too many trap doors to fall down. It could take all night to find them.” I can tell he’s scared, but he’s trying not to be for Cherise’s sake.

“We need to find our phones and call the police,” she whispers. She stares ahead blankly as if she can still see the corpses on the other side of the door.

My skin prickles like I'm being watched, but when I turn around no one is there. I don’t know what the hell is going on in this house, but I'm ready to go.

“Okay, if we just stick together—” I start, turning back around to face Tyler and Cherise, but they’re gone.

“Tyler?” I call. “Cherise?”

Did they really leave me here in the middle of a dark hallway by myself with a dead body just feet away? Or did something happen to them in the five seconds my back was turned?

“I need to get out of here,” I whisper to myself before running to the front door. The table with our phones is gone, because of course it is. Grabbing the door handle, I twist and pull as hard as I can, but it won’t budge.