Page 35 of Kiss Slay Replay

It’s the cabin where Steph is. Where Jace is, too, probably. Or maybe not. We didn’t see him. Maybe he’s still alive. Maybe we should stop to check. Maybe we should…

It’s a sixth sense, one I didn’t know I had, one I wish I’d never had to discover.

The eyes. They’re on me again. All of them. The mask is covered now. Too many to count.

He stands ahead of us on the path. Out in the open. Unafraid. Only danger is so confident that it’s transcended danger. Only death itself.

He picks up his pace. He’s not running, not really. He’s skipping. He has enough momentum to launch into the air, to click his heels.

He’s gleeful. He’s having the time of his life.

One of his eyes comes loose and falls off the mask into the dirt.

Danny shoves me from the path, and we run toward the nearest cabin. By some miracle, the door’s been left open, swinging in the wind.

It’s not until we’re inside, door shut and locked behind us, that I realize what a terrible fucking idea this is. There’s no hiding from the Eyeball Man. He’s seen us.

He sees everything.

And he won’t hesitate to smoke us out.

If he wants to kill us, he’ll kill us. He’ll find a way.

I remember his hand around my neck. Squeezing. He could have killed me then. He didn’t. He might have, if Evan hadn’t intervened. Or maybe he enjoys toying with me. He could have killed me in the woods earlier, or when I was in the cabin with Steph.

Maybe he’s saving me for last. Maybe I’m special. Maybe I’m his final girl.

Cassie’s voice in my head. Nothing gives you perspective like a true crime doc. And if that’s too real, a nice classic slasher bloodbath. A reminder it could always be worse.

The irony. I’d laugh if I remembered how.

Danny stalks the interior of the cabin, making sure every window is closed, the thick burlap curtains drawn.

What’s the point? The killer knows we’re in here.

“Okay,” Danny says. He takes my face in his hands, the way he did when he first kissed me. He presses his forehead into mine. “We’re getting out of this. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say, but I don’t believe him. What future is there? What’s beyond these walls? I can’t see it, can’t imagine it. I’m not sure I want to.

Danny wraps his arms around me, pulls me into his chest, and I can hear the fitful beating of his heart, the air rushing in and out of his lungs. He smells of sweat and smoke, with a vague hint of woody cologne.

“You like sushi?” he says.

“What?”

“Do you like sushi?”

I lean back to get a better look at his face. He’s serious. “Why are you asking?”

“When this is over, I’ll take you out. We’ll fly to Japan.”

“Japan?”

“I’ll take you to Japan,” he says. “To my favorite sushi spot. Have you ever been to Tokyo?”

“No…”

“Ah,” he says, flashing his crooked smile. “It’s settled. We’re going to Tokyo. You’ll love it.”