Page 26 of Things Get Dark

Andy wrapped an arm protectively around my shoulders and huddled me close to his body. The move limited my happybounces, but I figured he was trying to be sweet. He got points for trying, even though the lemony scent of his laundry detergent was slightly overpowering this close. If I had a cut somewhere on my body, his scent alone would make it sting.

We entered the maze slowly and followed the path as it curved around to the left and opened in a fork. Feeling lucky and trying not to think too hard, I headed for the path in the centre. Andy’s hand on my shoulder yanked me back, pulling me to the left.

“This way,” he said. “You should always stick to one direction in a maze, so you don’t get lost.”

Good advice in a normal maze but getting lost wasn’t the major concern here. It was more about the people chasing us with chainsaws. Somewhere behind us, a wolf howled, and we picked up the pace. Smoke covered the ground, making it hard to see the path before us. The only light came from the few garden spotlights above us—not lighting the way well, but at least showing us where the walls were—and carefully placed lanterns in the maze corners. We took two more lefts and turned for a third, where we met a wall of cotton spiderwebs blocking the path. Andy stopped me from walking straight into it and getting a mouthful of webs, then steered me back down the way we came before we quickly ducked into a path to the right.

“Wait, wait.” He stopped us just before some kind of demonic clown ran past the next fork, his insane laughter echoing into the distance. “Heard him coming. We probably would’ve had to run from that one.”

Oh, no. Running in terror from a haunted maze. That would have beenawfuland totallynotthe point of coming here. Ugh.

As we continued, Andy ensured that we avoided two more actors and even snuck up on one of them dressed as Ghostface and gavehima jump scare.

Here lies my Matthew Lillard fantasy. May you rest in peace.

We left the maze without triggering a single trap or getting chased by any of the actors. My date thought this was winning, and I could only smile politely through his gloating. I knew if I opened my mouth, the date would be over faster than Freddy Krueger could say, “Boo!”

The night didn’t improve from there. As we wandered the festival grounds, Andy didn’t seem interested in anything. Well, not exactly. He took part in the games and rode the rides with me, even bought me a toffee apple. But he wasn’t in the spirit of Halloween.

When I saw someone dressed in a bright red suit with horns grab a drink using a classically designed pointed tail, he just bluntly said, “Cool animatronic.” Then carried on walking.

What the hell? Where was his spooky spirit?!

By the time we needed to think about heading to the tour’s meeting point, the actors who were supposed to sneak up and scare us were completely avoiding us. It was fucking embarrassing. If I’d seen a burial plot by any of the gravestones, I probably would’ve jumped in and dragged the dirt down on top of myself.

After checking the time quickly, I tapped Andy on the shoulder. “Hey, I’m gonna go back to the visitor centre to use the bathroom real quick. Don’t wanna need to go once we’re on the tour, y’know,” I joked, already slowly walking away. “I’ll meet you back here in ten!”

I didn’t hear if Andy responded. I was too relieved to have a few minutes to myself. There wasn’t a queue to the visitor bathrooms, so I was in and out too fast to appreciate my alone time. Huffing out a frustrated breath, I wished Lena was here. We would’ve had so much fun tonight if she hadn’t had to work and I hadn’t latched onto a failing date.

Heading back outside, I decided to take a little detour over to a large tree in a shadowy corner. I needed my sister right now.Even if she didn’t pick up the phone, I’d feel better leaving her a voicemail rant and getting it all out of my system.

Something moved in the darkness in my hiding place. A shadow swirled, coming around the tree trunk, and suddenly a figure was directly in front of me. A male figure, grinning wildly.

Yelping in surprise, I leaned back too far in an attempt to avoid him, and his hand shot out to grasp my own, halting my fall. I stared up at him, unable to tear my eyes away. His outfit was simple, a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, decorated with a black waistcoat and plain trousers. But his face was flawlessly painted in the style of a harlequin—ghostly white with black diamonds over his own equally dark eyes. A painted grin stretched his black lips into an unnatural smile that promised chaos.

“Better watch where you’re going, witchling,” the harlequin practically purred as he pulled me to my feet. “The demons here would love to chase a pretty little witch like you.”

Before I could reboot my brain enough for a response, he was already on the move. Releasing my hand, he dashed into the festival grounds and swerved between a couple of guests, sneaking into their personal space so fluidly it was like he was skating over the grass. They screamed at his unexpected presence, but he didn’t linger, immediately moving on to his next victims.

Wow. He’d had my cheeks burning bad enough I needed to fan my cloak to get a breeze on my skin. Who was he? One of the actors, I assumed by the professional-looking makeup and lack of personal space, but he didn’t avoid me like the others had. All I knew for sure was that he’d blown my date out of the water in just one move.

Shit, my date.

Pulling my phone out of the zip-pocket in my skirt, I checked the time and figured I could still squeeze in a call to Lena. Theharlequin had made me jump, but he hadn’t fixed the rest of tonight’s disaster.

Surprisingly, Lena answered on the third ring. “Hazel?”

“Hey, you free for a few?” I asked, cautious about her answering while on shift.

“Yeah, I’ve got time. Ironic that it’s Halloween and the restaurant is totally dead. I’ve been cleaning around the same table for the last twenty minutes. I swear James just hates me and puts me on shift as a punishment.” Lena huffed, and I heard the click of the latch as she went out the back door to the staff’s smoking corner by the bins. “Anyway, judging from the fact that you’re calling instead of sending a text like a normal human, I’m assuming your fella got worse.”

“He gotso muchworse.” I groaned, taking a seat at the base of the tree. “First, he was freaked out that I dressed up, even though I told him this was the plan. We went through the haunted hedge maze, and he kept protecting me from the scares. Like, not pulling me back or getting between me and the actor in a sexy way. No. He would point out everything fake and explain the trick. And that’s when he wasn’t fuckingpredictingevery jump scare so it wasn’t scary anymore! Even the actors were getting frustrated, and I just felt bad for them.”

“Ew, people like that are the worst. They deserve a punch in the nose and LEGOs in their shoes. Can you ditch him before the tour?”

A laugh bubbled out of me. I couldn’t help it. Lena was usually a pretty understanding person, except when she was missing an event to work a double shift. Then her brain-to-mouth filter took the day off and left her with the subtlety of a battering ram.

“No, I don’t think I can ditch him. Plus, that goes against the whole fucking him to trick my brain into liking him plan.”

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