Page 76 of Miles's Pact
Epilogue
A Few Weeks Later
Miles
Why the hell was I doing this?
Right, because I loved Duckie, and because I wanted to support my brother.
I needed to remember that.
"Ready?" Duckie asked, an excited smile on his face, and I nodded, trying not to show my nerves. While I couldn't hide all my emotions from him, I could mute them to a certain degree so he wouldn't know how uneasy I felt.
I glanced up at the entrance of the Haunted House—all of Cam's fancy name ideas had apparently been vetoed by his mates—and swallowed hard. Mateo was off making sure everything worked without a hitch. While almost everything was ready for the big launch, a few things needed some last-minuteadjustments, so Mateo would be working on those while we had our 'experience.' Basically, we were guinea pigs.
The outside of the house didn't looktooterrible. I could see Levi's contributions in the vines climbing up the walls, laden with fake cobwebs, spiders, and other bugs. The wide wooden double-doors hung open. The large claw mark on one door had to have come from Cam himself.
"Let's go! We get to experience it before the official opening. Isn't that great?"
"Mmm-hmm."
The official opening of the place was three days from now, but Cam had invited some of us today for a trial run.
Duckie squeezed my hand as we climbed up the steps, and I pushed my fear to the back of my mind, focusing on the warmth of his hand instead. I wasn't alone. I'd be okay.
Mateo was somewhere in there, figuring out his role as the manager of the place. Though he'd assured me he'd be watching my progress through the cameras. He knew better than anyone how bad I was with all things horror, and I knew he was ecstatic Duckie had convinced me to come here.
A chill washed over me as soon as we stepped over the threshold, and Duckie whistled.
We were standing at the beginning of a seemingly unending hallway, and I wondered how many of the clan members had helped with this place.
"Come on," Duckie murmured, leading me deeper into the hellscape.
As we walked, the hallway shifted, and I glanced back, swearing under my breath when I saw that the entrance was just... gone. It was subtle enough a human would think they'd been walking longer than they'd thought, but I knew this was the work of an illusion of some kind.
"Whoa!" Duckie said, stopping short, and I turned, following his gaze to the mirror he was staring at. I flinched. The mirror was reflecting us, sure, but instead of our normal faces, it showed us ones with manic grins on them. It looked like a Snapchat filter, but much, much creepier.
"Fuck," I mumbled, and Duckie chuckled.
"It's crazy, isn't it?"
I hummed, and we kept walking through the hall of mirrors. Each mirror reflected us in some weird way, and when we reached the end of the mirrors, I let out a grateful sigh.
"Oooh, looks like there are themed rooms!" Duckie exclaimed as he dragged me into the next hallway, and I braced myself.
A curtain of vines barred the entrance of the first room, with a plaque on the wall beside it proclaiming it to be the "Forest of Lost Souls" and to 'Enter at your own risk.'
Ghosts, really? Why?
Duckie pushed through the vines, pulling me after him, and I sent up a silent prayer to a God I'd never believed in as I went in after him.
I shivered as a cool breeze caressed my skin, glancing around at the trees crowding the room. I got the feeling they weren't fake, and Cam had somehow figured out a way—probably with Levi's help, since he was an earth mage—to grow them in here.
"Miles," someone whispered, and I turned to find another tree. What the hell?
"Miiiles," another voice called, teasingly dragging my name out.
"Shit!" I gasped out, stumbling a step back.
