I swallow around the lump in my throat. If I get lost, there’s no way in hell I’m finding my way out again.
My friends race ahead, shouts of excitement and laughter filling the air. I wrap my arms around myself, chewing my lower lip, and wish I hadn’t worn such a little white crop top. It’s chillier than I thought it would be. But it had looked so cute with the tiny wings and the cheap halo I got from Spirit Halloween that I couldn’t resist. Paired with white boy shorts, I know I look good. Really good.
And there’s nobody around to appreciate it except the fucking corn.
The first monster I see, a guy in a shockingly real-looking Frankenstein’s monster costume, complete with metal bolts either side of his neck, rips a scream from my throat. I almost leap out of my skin, and hurry past while he’s still groaning.
When it happens again, this time a little girl with her face painted white and fake blood dripping from her eyes, then again with a creepy scarecrow-looking dude, I’m sweating bullets and ready to go home.
I shouldn’t have agreed to come.
Right now, I could be curled up in bed on my fifteenth run ofGilmore Girlswhile I chew through a comically large candy bar. Or maybe strip naked and fuck my fist raw until I come so hard, I forget how utterly lonely I am.
I’m so stuck in my head, I don’t realize I’ve lost my friends until I glance around. It hits me like a ton of bricks; there’s nobody in this part of the maze.
No actors dressed in monster costumes. No breeze, no animals. Just dead silence.
I let out a pathetic whimper.
“Calm down, Charlie.” My voice sounds shaky to my own ears. “Turn around and try to retrace your steps. They can’t be that far away.”
Except that no matter how much I walk, I can’t find any sign of human life anywhere. The sounds of my friends have long since disappeared. Even if I text them now, how would we ever find each other?
Plus, Val will definitely call the organizers if she knows that I’m lost, and then there’ll be a search party out for me, and I’ll be the total loser who got lost in a Hallowe’en maze.
Unbidden, my eyes prickle with tears. I can’t stop them from falling, quiet sobs wracking my body. God, why do I have to be such a crybaby?
I’ve always been sensitive. When I was younger, my mom would have to turn off the TV when we watched movies together because everything was enough to trigger the waterworks. Sad, happy, scary. Doesn’t matter, I cry at it all.
It’s not that big of a deal. I’m twenty-one, not a fucking kid. I can find my way out of a maze.
“But what if I can’t?” I glance around me. Corn stretches for what feels like miles in either direction. “What if I’m stuck here forever?”
Walking for a few more minutes brings me to a small clearing in the cornstalks. Weird. I’ve never seen a blank patch in a full cornfield before. I’m about to give up and frantically ring Val when I spot something.
No, someone. By now, my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and the moonlight illuminates the person like a spotlight from above.
A real, human,shirtlessman.
2
The first thing I notice is that the man is tall. I’m not exactly blessed in the height department, topping out at five-foot-eight-inches, but this guy is almost as tall as the cornstalks.
He’s wearing two thick horns attached to his head. They look kind of expensive, nothing like the cheap devil ones I skipped over at the Spirit Halloween. Tangled, dark hair brushes the tops of his shoulders, and when my gaze meets his, glowing yellow eyes stare back.
My mouth falls open. Those are the craziest contacts I’ve ever seen in a costume.
“Oh, thank God.” I flash him what I’ve been told is my most charming smile. “I thought I was stuck wandering around forever.”
He grunts, folding his arms. “You shouldn’t be here, human. This place is not for weak beings.”
Rude much? I know I don’t look all muscled and tough, but I’m a perfectly capable guy. Kind of.
Maybe he’s still in character. That must mean I’m on the right track. “Totally agree, which is why I really need you to take me back to the maze. Pretty please?”
The man’s blank expression doesn’t change, his brows drawn over his forehead in the grumpiest look I’ve ever seen on anyone.The darkness makes it hard to see exactly what he looks like, but I can make out enough to know that he’s drop-dead gorgeous.
Instead of answering, he snorts and turns away like he’s about to leave me here. Panic shoots through me.
