Page 21 of Enter if you Dare: Part One

“I know.”

“Aren’t you scared then, if he is so scary?”

He looks at me sideways and grins. “Terrified, but it’s fun running from Cave and talking to you. So how is it?”

“It’s been less than half an hour. Only been running for a few minutes.”

“Strong start then.”

I glance back and see nothing. “Where does this path go?”

“Cemetery on the left, then there’s a fork. One way goes to the back fence, the other toward Cipher’s shed. The shed path is safest—the other ends at a cliff. One wrong step and it’s hello sharks.”

“Shed it is, then.”

The trees get thicker, the lights from the island fading away as the path narrows and we have to run single file. Noa keeps pace just behind me, talking about headstones, something about birds, and how funny it is to be running in the dark from an unhinged scarecrow. One who is probably not running but stalking us.

“There,” Noa says, pointing ahead through the trees to where I can see a light above the shed door. We hit the clearing, and Noa reaches the door first, shoving it open.

I push through behind him, and we both stop with our hands on our knees to catch our breath.

“Ha!” Noa says triumphantly.

I peer around the shed at the tools carefully laid out on the workbench. “Where’s Cipher?”

Noa stands up straight and glances around just as we are both lifted into the air. Mesh closes around us as we are hauled up toward the ceiling. As we swing, Noa bursts into laughter. We are suspended about six feet off the shed floor, tangled together in a net, Noa’s shovel captured between us.

“Oh shit,” Noa says.

I look down to where Cipher is standing, the rope in his hand, and he is looking up at us with a smile.

“You’re helping him,” I say.

Cipher nods just as Cave stands silhouetted in the shed doorway with his corn sword by his side.

“This is not what I thought was going to happen tonight,” I tell them.

Cave glances up at us.

Inside the net, Noa shifts, causing the whole thing to swing. “To be fair,” Noa says from behind me, “I thought the shed was safe.”

“I told you about the net,” Cipher says, with a shake of his head.

“I didn’t know it was going to be for tonight. I thought it was to catch intruders.” Noa moves again, and the whole net swings like a rotisserie. “I would very much like to get down now.”

Cipher smirks. “In a minute.”

He fastens the rope around the hook on the wall and pulls out a stool to sit on, then folds his arms.

Cave hasn’t taken his eyes off me the entire time.

“You wanted to give her a taste. She ran and didn’t scream, so I think that still counts,” Noa says.

“A taste of what, exactly? Because I feel like there should have been a conversation before this.”

“There was going to be,” Cipher says. “But you ran before we could have it. Which is why we need to have you secured so you can’t escape this time.”

“Cave picked me up and carried me,” I protest.