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I don’t know where I’m going, only that I need to hide until I can safely get outside. Doors fly past—some half-open, revealing rooms with strange altars, chains bolted to walls, and mirrors, too many damn mirrors. I pass a narrow staircase leading down into pitch black, the smell of damp stone and old blood wafting up.

The candle lighting down here is amber rather than cool, which should be less unsettling but somehow isn’t.

My lungs burn, but I keep moving.

Finally, I pass a room with a door hanging open and take my chance. I should be far enough away from the others by now.

I need a place to hide until it’s safe to exit the manor altogether. According to Archon, all the doors to the outside have been locked for the duration of the game.

I slip inside, slam the door shut, and twist the lock with shaking fingers. I need a second to catch my breath. But no time. As I scan the room for a place to hide, I see taxidermy animals arranged on shelves, and bolts covering two of the walls. Rows upon rows of them. I don’t even want to know.

Oh my God.

I almost jump out of my skin. There’s a woman.

Staring right at me.

She’s draped in a white linen gown that looks too pure for this place, the fabric flowing around her like liquid silk. Her hair is dark, almost jet black.

“H-hi,” I stammer, still panting. “Jesus, you scared me.” My hands clutch my chest, willing it to calm the fuck down.

She looks to me and smiles. It’s the most beautiful, warmest smile I’ve ever seen.

It feels like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. Something pulls at me, an almost magnetic draw that makes me want to step closer even as warning bells scream in my head.

“Hello, Blair,” she murmurs, like we’re old friends.

“H-how do you know my name?”

Her smile doesn’t waver, if anything, it grows brighter. “My son has taken a liking to you.”

The air drains out of my body, and what replaces it is cold and specific and settling into my spine one vertebra at a time.

…Son?

She can’t be…

“C-cage?”

She simply nods, causing the air to leave my lungs in a rush. He told his mother about me.

I don’t know what to do with that information. I don’t know where in my body or my mind to put it. Oh my God.

I swallow hard. “Wait… your voice sounds familiar. The rounds… you’re the one on the intercom announcing them?”

“Why, yes. The October Trials is my favorite night of the year. I have to participate in some way.” She chuckles.

“So, you know… you know what goes on here? These games? The killings? And you just sit back in the same house and let it happen?”

An insidious expression stretches across her face in a way that no longer looks friendly. It looks hungry. “Oh, sweetheart,” she murmurs, tilting her head. “I don’t just allow it. I adore it. The fear, the desperation, the pretty ones breaking so beautifully… there’s nothing quite like it, is there?” Her now-sharpened gray eyes scan my entire figure.

I’m not safe here.

The thought flashes again and again and again.

In my attempt to escape one set of monsters, I’ve collided head-first into another.

I need to get out of here. I need to—