Worse was being armed with a tiny ass pocketknife and going up against murderous clowns. Despite our relatively high chances of survival, the odds were not in our favor.

  The lights were dimmer, flashing less frequently in here which severely limited our visibility. We kept moving, though. I did my best to ensure she stayed with me, but I also had to watch our surroundings. We weren’t in here alone. There was a clown or two easily moving through the glass maze.

  I went forward a few steps and then attempted to move closer to Grace, only I stepped right into a mirror. I bounced back and reached out to touch it. The glass didn’t budge.

  “What the hell?”

  This was not here a minute ago. And there was no fucking way she left me. I hadn’t taken my eyes off her for more than a few seconds. Were the mirrors moving?

  I felt everywhere, I’m sure leaving a trail of fingerprints. If these things moved, it wasn’t possible for me to do it without knowing what triggered them. I gnawed my lower lip and turned. So, I was back to square one---by myself not knowing where anyone was.

  I took a moment to fumble with the pocket watch, engaging the sad excuse of a blade. I could not go right or left, leaving backward as my sole recourse, but this path had changed too. Searching for a new way to take, blood sprayed onto a few of the mirrors that appeared to be on the far right.

  The screams that had initially carried through this room had ceased, which meant I was one of the only ones still alive. I cautiously kept moving, going as fast as I was able, keeping one hand out in front of me and the other wrapped tightly around my dismal weapon.

  After I slammed into another mirror for the hundredth time, I cursed and decided it was time to switch up my tactic. I couldn’t find one specific route to take so I simply needed to go wherever the mirrors were allowing me to.

  I was expecting one of the clowns to appear behind or in front of me at any second. After another while I feared I would be stuck in this fortress of mirrors for fucking ever. Was I going in circles?

  I took another turn, maybe a few actually, and then spotted an opening seemingly straight ahead that resembled the one we had initially come through. I stopped and squinted, trying to determine if there was a mirror right there or an actual exit. I inched forward, moving closer and closer towards it. No other mirrors blocked my path, but I was not going to get my hopes up. It would be just my luck for some crazed psycho to appear at the last second.

  Miraculously I made it out without further incident. That wasn’t any reason to celebrate, though. The next room I entered was shaped like a cylinder. The walls were a black and white geometric pattern, the shapes seemed to move as the overhead lights flashed in a variety of colors.

  Getting from point A to point B was a straight shot. I simply needed to walk across some narrow bridge-type thing, and I’d reach another ominous entryway. I could go backwards, but I still had no idea where anyone was and didn’t want to risk being hunted through a maze of illusions.

  I began inching forward, careful where I placed each foot. I didn’t trust anything around me. Last thing I needed was to trigger some booby-trap or riddle because I stepped on something. I was at the halfway point when from the opposite end of the tunnel, another clown emerged.

  Huge was an understatement. This man was a giant. His hair was fireball red and wild, overalls covered in fresh blood. He was carrying a sledgehammer as if it weighed nothing. There was no way in hell I could take a blow from that and be remotely okay.

  I froze in place, not knowing what to do. I for sure wasn’t going back in that damn maze room. I could already envision my brain splattered all over the glass.

  “What’s the matter?” the clown taunted; his voice low.

  “You could say I’m having a bad day,” I quipped.

  “Aw, what a shame. Let Dandy make it better.”

  He grinned manically before charging right towards me. I instinctively hopped the metal guard rail, leaping off the side of the bridge. I landed on my feet and immediately realized that it wasn’t the shapes moving, but the wall itself that was slowly rotating.

  Due to the odd shape of the room, I had to consciously keep my balance. Dandy turned towards me, sledgehammer still in hand. With a sneer on his colorfully painted face, he swung.

  I jumped out of the way, barely managing to remain upright. The bang echoed throughout the tunnel, a nice portion of the wall caved in, revealing a jagged black hole and electrical wiring.

  “Oh, you made me miss,” Dandy whined.

  He turned towards me again and I knew I was so fucking fucked. All I had was a bullshit Swiss knife and nowhere to go. I started to retreat as far as I could, pausing when Dandy came to an abrupt halt.

  His eyes slightly widened, mouth opening and closing like a suffocating fish. I squinted, noticing a rapidly spreading amount of blood suddenly coming from beneath his overalls.

  His grip on the sledgehammer loosened and it fell from his hands, landing on the bridge with a loud clatter. Dandy stumbled forward before ultimately falling to the floor. Left standing behind him was honestly one of the last people I expected to see. In Ciaran’s hands was a long, thin bloodied blade.

  “What are you doing?” burst from my mouth before I could stop it.

  “What I promised you I would.”

  That didn’t even begin to answer my question. He’d said a lot of things that could be taken as a promise. I shifted on my feet; cognizant the wall was still turning.

  Dandy groaned and began to mumble. With the music still going it was near impossible to make out what it was. I wanted to get closer but didn’t dare with Ciaran standing a mere few feet away. Without another word he bent and grabbed hold of the sledgehammer.

  “Watch closely,” he needled, bringing the tool down on the back of Dandy’s skull.

  That portion of his head deflated like a balloon getting the helium sucked out of it all at once. Something wet hit my calf and left arm. The flashing lights made the contents within his look more like remnants of a volcanic eruption than a sloppy pile of brain and skull matter.

  “Hey,” Ciaran called to garner my attention. He dropped the sledgehammer and stepped towards me; one hand outstretched.

  I was suddenly glad he couldn’t see my face. There was no way to hide the tumultuous emotions I’m sure played right across it.

  “You’re not serious?”

  “Don’t pretend to be mad at me, puppet.”

  “Quit calling me—pretend? Do you see where I’m at right now because of you?”

  “Yeah. I see you’re alive too. How about a thank you?”

  I scoffed. “Why are you helping me? And what’s with the picture?”

  “Sooner or later, you’ll understand how much we need each other.”

  “The only thing I need you to do is fuck off!”

  His responding laugh was unmistakable.

  “I’m glad it was you.”

  “Will you speak normally for once?”

  “Keep going, puppet. You’re almost right where you need to be.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  Still donning his mask as well, I couldn’t see his face, but I swear I felt his arrogant smirk as he turned away.

  This asshole.

  The second he was gone I climbed back onto the bridge. I folded up my army knife and shoved it in my rear pocket, the one that wasn’t holding the picture Ciaran gave me.

  I wasn’t sure why he left the sledgehammer behind. I was taking full advantage of the fact that he had, though. My boots squished across blood, brain, and skull as I walked to retrieve it. I’m sure there was some cerebrospinal fluid down there too. I didn’t bother trying to avoid the mess.

  Taking hold of the sledgehammer, I realized this thing was way heavier than either Ciaran or Dandy made it look, but it was better than the flimsy knife. I gripped the wooden handled tightly and carried it with me through the next partition.

  I sucked in a deep breath and let it out as soon as I exited the tunnel and got my first look at the next area. Just how big was this place? There was no sign of Ciaran anywhere. He’d vanished into thin air. Every time I saw him, I became more confused and unsure where he stood in all of this. He’d clearly saved my ass. Again.

  But why?

  No way was he keeping me around for some selfless reason or undying love. I could convince myself it had something to do with our shared past and family ties, but that didn’t tell me why he was so adamant to make me his.

  Hearing footsteps, I turned towards them. A woman in a simple mask emerged from behind another partition. Judging by the grey hair I could see sticking out from behind it, she was older. The second she saw me she immediately took on a defensive stance.

  “I’m one of the good guys,” she blurted out, raising both her hands up.

  Based on how saturated the pocket-knife she was holding appeared to be, there was no way she meant that literally. Good people didn’t easily take the lives of others. That went against their ingrained moral code.

  “Did you see a man in a mask?”

  The woman’s shoulders visibly relaxed.

  “Honey, there’s men in masks all over this place. We’re in masks. Can you be more specific?”

  “Never mind.” I shook my head and relaxed my hold on the sledgehammer, turning away from her.

  If she seen Ciaran, she would’ve either remembered him straight away or it would be impossible for her to be standing in front of me because she’d be dead.

  Essentially ignoring her, I focused on which direction I needed to go. This woman had just come from the right, so I decided to keep heading left. Flipping the sledgehammer and carrying it with both hands, I proceeded down the next path, entering a narrow hall.

  I sensed the woman behind me, still paying her no mind. There were better things to worry about right now then another tag-along.

  The walls were decorated in a special kind of paint that made them seem as if they were glowing. I hadn’t paid much attention to the details of the fun house but in a hallway that seemed endless and no one around but a quiet old lady, I now had a chance to do so.

  There were eyes painted every few feet, dark and empty as if they were watching me. The phrase we kept seeing was written too along with the names Dion had mentioned earlier.

  Azrael.

  Stolas.

  Vetis.

  I wished he were here. He could tell me what they meant. I genuinely hoped he was okay. He’d begun to grow on me, like a cute fungus. Battle Royale with killer clowns wasn’t anyone’s forte, especially his.

  The faint sound of screaming began to creep down the hall as I got further.

  I found myself glancing back more frequently as the feeling of being watched increased. However, no one appeared. It was just the old women and me still. When we finally reached the end of the hall, there was another choice to make. Once more, we could go left or right and pass through another partition.

  On the wall going right someone had written Exit while left said Enter. The woman stepped out from behind me and began going the opposite direction.

  “Sweetie, we need to go this way,” the woman urged.

  Something about her tone made my nerves fray. She kept speaking to me as if I were incompetent.

  “Commonsense advises otherwise,” I replied.

  “Suit yourself. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  I watched her hurry down the hall that said Enter, shaking my head. I made the obvious choice, ignoring the warning signs telling me to go back the other way.

  There was a sudden bang and soft cry from behind me. I stopped and looked back. Not even a few feet down the opposite hall, the woman dangled slightly off the ground, a metal rod impaled through the side of her head and another her middle torso.

  I felt no empathy for her. This was precisely why I knew not to go that way. There was an unwritten rule here: never run away from danger, instead face it head on. Choosing the path to safety more than likely would have resulted in an even quicker death, like the woman who’d just been doubly impaled. That wasn’t to say this direction was any safer, though. Nothing was safe here. This whole idea was one big fucking joke. The fun house, not Devil’s Playground.

  We’d been forced into this place and then told to fight for our lives using pathetic pocketknives. Up against clowns and their weapons of choice, this was one giant shit show I’m sure meant to entertain a wider band of sadistic fucks. It would’ve been comical if me and my friends weren’t stuck in here too.

  I pushed through the next partition and entered a dome shaped room that had a few other entrances. I think I caught a glimpse of Grace and Dion amongst a few others mere seconds before a whooshing sound came from behind me.

  All the lights went out along with the music, plunging us into blinding darkness and almost total silence. There were people still moving around, I could hear them.

  I moved forward a few paces, freezing in when something hard pressed against the center of my back. Someone had come up right behind me.

  “Well done!” Kink’s voice called out to us.

  She began to clap, and the lights came back on, revealing her standing in the center of the room on a small dais like stage. If there was one thing Kink’s was going to do, it was put on a show. Behind me, holding what I now knew was a gun to my back was one of the pandas.

  I scanned over everyone in the room, seeing Grace on the far side with another guy and girl. I couldn’t look for Mel or Dion yet. I didn’t want to take my eyes off crazy too long. She was looking around with a wide smile on her perfectly made-up face.

  This girl either had a setting spray made to hold up through warfare, or someone was on standby with an elite brand of makeup. She stared towards Grace for a few extraneous seconds, her gaze intensely scrutinizing.

  When she was done her eyes landed on me and she tilted her head a little. If possible, she smiled bigger.

  “There’s our lucky lady,” she cooed, hopping off her dais.

  “I’ll keep this safe for ya,” she admonished, coming right up to me, and grabbing the sledgehammer.

  If not for the gun and room full of her masked goons, she and I would be brawling right now.

  “Smile, cupcake. You get to meet the hellraiser himself.”

  That didn’t sound like anyone I wanted to see, but I wasn’t at liberty to object.

  “Take her to him. And be gentle, you know how he gets.”

  Two masked clowns suddenly appeared on either side of me, silently urging me to start walking.

  “Where are you taking her?” I heard Gracelyn’s voice question behind us.

  “You should worry more about who you’re going to be meant for,” came Kink’s reply.

  I furrowed my brow, wondering what she meant by that, momentarily shelving the thought when a loud bout of cheering erupted as I exited the fun house. A crowd stood on either side of a fenced walkway that led to a massive black and white tent.

  There was a pop and fizzle overhead, flashy confetti rained down on me and another set of fireworks began. This must have been the cause of them the first time. That was seriously insane. I wondered how many of us had succumbed to Kink’s pandemonium and who else managed to survive.

  As we drew closer to the tent’s entrance, my stomach became alight with nerves. Why did I have to be the lucky one going to meet whoever this hellraiser person was?

  The clown on the left moved ahead and pulled back the heavy flap on the tent, revealing a makeshift door of a wooden structure.

  “Go,” a gruff voice commanded.

  When I didn’t move fast enough to appease them, I was given a not too gentle shove forward.

  Now fully inside, the door slammed shut and the flap fell over its tiny window, entrapping me with the three masked figures standing on the other side of the room.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I should’ve known it was going to be him. Of the three masked figures, Ciaran stood in between the guy that kept watching us from the rooftops and the same person who’d accompanied him down the alley.

  “Scared yet?”

  I scoffed and reached for my mask.

  “Leave it on,” he ordered coolly.

  “Why? You already know who I am.”

  There was a pause before he replied. “You’re right. I do know who you are.”

  I had a feeling he was referring to something else. I shifted my weight, wondering what happened now. I could still hear the various sounds of the carnival intermingling with the fireworks still going off overhead.

  “Do you wanna tie yourself up? Or do you need help?”

  Tie myself up?

  He answered my silent question with a slight nod. I looked at the left side of the room, seeing a heavy piece of plywood with makeshift restraints drilled into it. There were loose pieces of rope that had noose like ends, just big enough for my wrists. Blood—some old and some fresh covered the board and the dirt floor around the plywood. Only the ropes appeared be unused.

  If I thought I was fucked before, I was royally fucked now. There didn’t appear to be any way out of this tent aside from the door I’d just come through.

  Plus, there were three on one. Ciaran was a force to reckon with all on his own.

  Oddly enough, I didn’t have any sense of fear. Ciaran was the most dangerous person in this room. I wasn’t afraid of him. I was more concerned about him killing me.

  I took a steadying breath and made my way over to the ropes. There was no point in fighting or delaying the inevitable. Dragging this out would only prolong me discovering the reason I’d been brought in here.

  I knelt to gather both ends of rope, then I turned and slipped them around my wrists, looking to Ciaran when I was done. He leaned towards one of his friends and whispered something I couldn’t hear. Whatever it was had him nudging the other guy before moving towards the exit of the tent. One knocked twice, and then they were let out, leaving Ciaran and me all alone. It felt like eons ago since he and I were locked away somewhere together.

  If I really wanted to, I could slip these ropes off and…well, I’m not sure what I’d do after that.