Page 167 of Stay Scared

He lowers it without comment.

Ash follows behind him until the first junction. The theater passage splits right. The mirror-maze route continues into darkness.

Ash stops at the split, and I turn with him.

Owen takes another two steps before realizing we are no longer behind him. Cade swears quietly.

Ash stares down the passage I am about to take. The founder key rests beneath his shirt.

I catch his sleeve. “Go.”

He looks at my hand twisted in the fabric, then at the mask.

“Rook gets close to you, and I am under the stage.”

“Yes.”

“You have Cade behind a barrier and Owen behind glass.”

“Yes.”

Ash steps into me. The movement forces me back half a pace.

His face is bare. Blood has dried near his temple.

His voice drops until Cade hears every word. “I hate this plan.”

“So does Cade.”

“I do,” Cade says.

Ash ignores him.

His hand comes up toward the mask.

I catch his wrist.

He grips mine back, hard enough that my pulse jumps beneath his fingers.

“You are wearing my face into a room with him.”

“And you are taking my key under the stage.”

His eyes flare.

Neither of us releases the other.

“Mark first.”

Ash tightens his grip once, then lets go. He steps back.

“If that gallery light dies and the buzzer does not sound, I am coming up.”

“That means the plan failed.”

“Then the plan has failed.”

“Then do whatever you want.”