Page 1 of Unleashing Mayhem
PROLOGUE
Matty’s mother was here. He wasn’t sure why—he hadn’t seen that woman in over a decade.
What was weirder than her unexpected presence was that he could only see the back of her, a mass of long dark hair flowing down over her too-thin frame. And that no matter how much he shouted, she never turned around. She and her hair stayed exactly as they were, silhouetted in a doorway at the end of a long, narrow hallway.
And the longer Matty walked toward her, the longer the hallway grew.
He didn’t even know why he was walking toward her in the first place. He didn’t want to see her, not after what she’d done—what she’dfailedto do. But he couldn’t stop his feet from moving in her direction.
And now there were doors lining the hallway, misshapen wooden things, all of them shaking and pounding, like whoever orwhatever was behind them wanted out.
Matty didn’t want them to come out. He knew what he’d find if one of those doors opened.
Icy fingers wrapped around his heart, and suddenly Matty was dizzy with fear. It wasn’t a new feeling—not at all. Fear was like an old friend to Matty, if a friend was someone people hated and resented every single day of their life. But theintensityof the fear was off.
Matty had been feeling okay earlier, hadn’t he? He remembered feeling almost…safe.
Why had he felt safe?
The answer came to him in an instant, burning brightly through his mental fog. He’d felt safe because of Kai and Sascha and Seacliff. Their cozy home in Maine.
How had Matty gotten from there to here?
I’m dreaming, Matty realized in an instant. Immediately, his panic spiked sharply.Oh fuck, I’m dreaming.
It was the worst place to find himself: in a dream where he couldn’t direct the outcome. Becausehewas bound to appear. He always did.
Always.
Wake up, Matty told himself.Wake up rightnow.
He didn’t. Of course he didn’t. He wasn’t in control here. He was never in control. And any minute, one of those creepy doors was going to open.
Right on time—summoned by Matty’s thoughts, no doubt—a familiar voice called out, “Matteeeeeooooo.” The voice was singsong, falsely juvenile. Taunting. “Come out, come out, wherever you aaaare.”
Matty started running. Or at least, he tried to. But his dream legs were leaden, sinking deep into the ground no matter how hard he pushed himself to sprint.
The hallway grew longer and longer and longer, the doors all around him pounding and shaking.
Matty kept trying anyway. Running was the only solution. He needed to keep running and running. And if this stupidgoddamn hallway ever stopped growing and he came to a real exit, then he needed to hide. Hiding was good, even if he was always found eventually. At least it delayed the inevitable.
At least it gave him a few moments without pain.
“Matteo!” The voice was growing louder. Bolder. Meaner. Sharp as the knife its owner always carried. “Get the fuck back here, you little bastard!”
Matty couldn’t help looking over his shoulder. There was nothing but dark hallway behind him—too dark to see anything clearly. But was that a shadow there, coming slowly closer?
Matty whimpered, his heart racing so fast now that he thought it might explode.
But suddenly there was no more hallway in front of him. Matty hit something horribly solid and slammed backward, landing on his ass.
He stared up at the obstruction. A person. Sort of. From Matty’s sprawled position, he was mostly staring at long, unnaturally thin legs. Spindly like a spider, dark gray and blending into the shadows around them.
Familiar.
Matty looked up. Up and up and up. He saw white hair sprouting from a strangely elongated human skull, one with sharp, flesh-shredding teeth and glowing white eyes. Large, branched black antlers topping it all.
Relief flooded through Matty, so powerful he instantly started crying.
