Page 5

They look like someone made this bed not long ago.

Somewhere in the house, a sound crackles through the darkness, and my blood turns cold.

Just a step creaking. A wall settling, that's all.

…Maybe the wind?

My throat tightens as icy fingers curl around my heart.

I need to get the fuck out of here.

My hand trembles as I lift my phone again. The flashlight reflects off the mirror, making the room look twice as large. Twice as empty.

I switch to the camera and take a deep breath.

Just say it and leave.

I lift the phone to my face. My lips feel stiff, like they’ve forgotten how to form words. I stop the recording, take another shaky breath, then hit the record button again.

“There’s no such thing as monsters,” I manage to choke out, throwing in a sarcastic eye roll for Alicia’s benefit before I smirk at the camera. “There’s no such thing as monsters,” I say again, the unnerving feeling of earlier melting away.

Good, now I can get the actualfuckout of?—

“That’s where you’re wrong, little princess.”

The voice cuts through the dark like a blade.

Low. Rough. Amused.

My body locks up.

“They very muchdoexist.”

2

MILENA

I go completely still.

My skin prickles. My pulse stutters. My lungs forget how to pull in air. For a split second, I think maybe I imagined it.

Then the shadows…move.

A figure detaches from the far corner of the room—tall, broad, and wearing a matte black mask bearing the visage of a freakingwolf.

I scream, and just as the nightmare lunges at me, my survival instinct kicks in. I turn and bolt, my heel catching the edge of the rug, my breath leaving my chest in sharp, terrified sobs as I shove through the bedroom door and into the hall.

Footsteps thunder behind me.

Fast.

He’s coming after me.

I bolt down the stairs, almost tripping over my feet before I catch myself and hurl myself down a hallway. It’s only after I do so thatI remember the bedroom was on thethirdfloor, not the second, which means I just got off at the wrong stop.

Too late to fix that now.

I can hear his shoes slamming on the floor, gaining on me with every breath. I run faster, the clicks of the heels of my shoes bouncing off the old walls like staccato war drums.