Page 121 of Stay Scared

The rope catches around one cabinet.

Cade kicks it free just as movement shifts between two covered machines.

Ash turns.

The pale mask light finds nothing.

Cade raises his voice. “Rook, if you’re trying to scare us, the dramatic pauses are getting repetitive.”

A metal object rolls across the floor and strikes a cabinet near my knee.

I start to crouch.

Ash’s arm cuts across my path. “Leave it.”

The mask light catches a maintenance key attached to a red tag.

THEATER PROJECTION.

Rook left it where we would find it.

Owen steps closer. “Original inventory tag.”

“Will it open the stairs?” Cade asks.

“Possibly.”

Cade reaches for it, but Ash catches his wrist.

“Do not touch it.”

“The power is off.”

“Portable systems still exist.”

Cade pulls free. “Funny how Salem’s argument got better once it was your hand reaching.”

“I am interested in preventing another injury I should have anticipated.”

I move the key with the toe of my boot.

It slides freely.

Owen picks it up by the ring. “I’ll keep it isolated from the founder key.”

We continue through the dead arcade with Ash’s mask giving us only a few feet of visibility at a time.

Something thumps overhead.

Dust sifts through my hair.

“Keep moving,” Ash says.

“That came from upstairs,” Cade answers.

“The public route crosses above us.”

“Anybody supposed to be there?”