Page 123 of Stay Scared

“Rook built the original sections.”

The mask light passes over fresh scratches along the lower edge.

Owen reaches past Cade and presses his fingers against the seam. “Air is moving through it.”

“Could it reach the theater?” Cade asks.

“The map shows foundation behind this wall, nothing else,” Owen says.

Ash looks upward. “Some false walls were removed before renovation.”

“Not this one.”

I start forward.

The panel opens behind us.

The rope jerks hard enough to burn through my palm.

Ash disappears from the mask light as something strikes the wall.

Cade spins and grabs the line. “Ash, answer me.”

The broken beam from Ash’s mask snaps across the floor inside the opening.

Something is dragging him backward by the rope secured around his waist.

Cade tears our coil loose from his vest and charges back. Owen catches the line before it can disappear.

I follow them into the opening.

The hidden room is wider than the passage. Old scenery frames lean against one wall, and a pulley cable crosses the ceiling.

Ash is on one knee.

Rook stands behind him.

The beaked mask appears in Ash’s pale light just before a metal bar swings.

Ash turns too late.

The bar smashes into the side of his mask.

Plastic cracks, the white lines die, and darkness swallows both men.

Cade finds Rook by sound.

Bodies slam into wood.

Owen catches the back of my jacket and drags me behind a scenery frame. “Stay behind the frame.”

“I have the key.”

“He has a steel bar.”

A fist strikes wood.

Cade curses.