Chapter 5
ELIAS
They think this is a game.
A chase. A thrill. Something to laugh about until the night ends and the lights come back on.
But I don’t play for laughs.
I move slowly. Always slow. Quiet steps on gravel, soft against the rustling corn. My black mask is smooth and empty, like a void swallowing the light. No eyes to blink. No mouth to betray.
I watch.
Not just Lila, though she fascinates me.
I watch her hunters.
Harlan moves like a wolf, stalking close, breathing down her neck. Adrian is reckless, too eager, too loud. He wants to scare, to taunt, to feel the hunt in his veins.
But me? I wait.
Waiting is a weapon.
The maze folds around me like a fortress. I know every turn, every dead end. I know where the fog thickens. I know where the weak spots are. I know where she will try to hide.
And I wait for her to make a mistake.
She thinks she can outsmart us. That she can map the maze with her fingertips, trick us with her footsteps.
But the maze is alive, and so are we.
Harlan stalks close behind her, a hunter hungry for the kill. Adrian is the spark, chaos wrapped in a cracked grin.
I am the trap.
When she tires… When her breath comes ragged and her eyes blur. I’ll be there.
I watch her stop now, near the center of the maze, pressing her hands to the cold wood of a fake wall, head bowed. She’s thinking. Planning a way to escape us.
Good.
That means she’s afraid.
Fear sharpens the senses, but it also makes people make mistakes.
I move closer, still just out of sight. A ghost in the corn. The blackness between the stalks.
I catch the scent of her as I draw closer. Sweat mixed with something sweet. Her heartbeat pounding like a drum beneath the skin.
She’s not running anymore.
Not really.
She’s waiting.
Waiting for us.
And I will give her what she wants.
Because the silence before the scream? That’s the best part.