Page 77 of Rattle the Cage

Before I even stepped into the gorgeous, modern loft, Cyrus was moving down a long hallway.

All I could do was look around, stunned by a second perfectly renovated apartment in the abandoned amusement park. The heavy metal door slammed behind me as I started pacing around the place.

But as I looked out the window, metal shutters slammed into place, blocking my view. Metal clattered simultaneously from every door and window in the entire apartment.

I was completely in the dark.

Behind me, the metal door’s latch clicked back into place, locking us inside.

“What the fuck?” I yelled out as my chest tightened. The lightless room was the closest I’d ever been to an abyss.

My lungs grew tense, hardly able to suck in air as I felt for a wall or a light switch.

Cyrus’s heavy footsteps grew louder as she thundered closer.

“Cyrus? What the⁠—”

A lamp clicked on.

Blinking, I could see her at the center of the living room. Her chest heaved with anger as she yelled out. “Nash! Blade! You fuckers! Let me out!”

Turning around, I looked back at the windows. Huge, metal slats had fallen over every exit.

We were trapped inside. Together.

The small lamp Cyrus had clicked on only let off a gentle orange glow, not much better than a few candles.

Cyrus was a caged lion, full of rage as she stormed back to the front door. Clenching her hands into fists, she banged into the heavy metal door. “I’m fucking serious. Open the fucking door!”

She beat on the door for a full minute, her hands turning red, threatening to bleed with every hard knock on the steel.

Without losing any steam, Cyrus kept on until a crackling voice sounded from above us.

Through an intercom, Nash’s calm voice spoke to us. “We’re not letting you out. We have too much work to do for you two to be fighting.”

Cyrus whipped around, looking directly into a corner of the room where a small white box sat.

A hidden camera.

At least, that’s what I had to assume as Cyrus played a game of chicken with the device.

“Fuck you!” Cyrus screamed out.

The crunchy audio turned back on. “Resolve your shit, tell the truth, and get over it. Then we’ll open the doors. Simple enough.”

And then Blade and Nash went silent, leaving just the sound of Cyrus’s heavy breaths and my racing pulse flooding my eardrums.

I was trapped inside with my worst nightmare: the killer clown who had been hunting me for vengeance for weeks. And there was no end in sight.

40

CYRUS

My jaw clenched tighter than a vise as I stared up at the hidden camera. This stupid fucking safehouse.

I never should have built it.

Stupid fucking Oracle.