Chapter 1: The Circle of Shadows
The air inside the abandoned Blackwood Manor didn’t just feel cold; it felt heavy, like wet wool pressing against our lungs.
“I still say this is a terrible idea,” Ruby whispered, her flashlight beam dancing nervously across the peeling, water-stained wallpaper of the grand parlor.
“Relax, Ruby,” Kaden laughed softly, his elbow nudging my shoulder as we sat in a tight circle on the dusty hardwood floor. Under the faint, eerie glow of our flashlights, his silver eyes crinkled with that familiar, competitive spark I had known since childhood. “It’s just an empty house. Besides, Tessa isn’t scared. Right, Tess?”
“I’m terrified,” I shot back, though a small smile tugged at my lips as I bumped my shoulder against his. Kaden had been my closest friend for years, the one person who could always ground me, even when we were trespassing in a manor rumored to be cursed. “But I’m also not going to let you win the bet.”
“That’s my girl,” Kaden purred, his voice dropping into a low, playful register that always made my pulse skip a beat. We were just friends—everyone in our group of twelve knew that—but lately, every look, every accidental touch between us felt like a wire pulled entirely too tight.
“Alright, if we are going to freeze to death in a haunted house, let’s at least make it interesting,” Julian muttered from the shadows, tossing a smooth, empty glass bottle into the dead center of our circle. “Truth or Dare. Classic rules. No backing out, and no lying.”
The twelve of us crowded closer, our knees touching in the dark parlor as the wind violently rattled the boarded-up windows outside. The manor seemed to groan around us, a deep, creaking sound that echoed from the upper floors.
Kaden reached out, his long fingers gripping the base of the glass bottle. He looked across the circle, his eyes locking onto mine with a challenge. “I’ll spin first.”
He flicked his wrist, and the bottle began to whir against the dusty floorboards. Spin. Spin. Spin.
We all held our breath as the glass slowed down, its heavy green neck drifting past Ruby, skipping Owen, and coming to a dead stop.
The bottle was pointing directly at the dark, empty hallway behind me.
“Uh, guys?” Asher whimpered, pointing a shaking finger at the center of the circle. “The bottle isn’t pointing at any of us.”
Suddenly, the temperature in the room plummeted to absolute freezing. Our breaths turned into thick plumes of white vapor in the air. All twelve of our phone screens lit up at the exact same second, buzzing violently with a notification from an app none of us had ever downloaded.
A single line of text glowed in blood-red letters across my screen:
WELCOME TO THE GAME. CHOOSE TRUTH OR Dare.
Before anyone could scream, the heavy wooden doors of the parlor slammed shut on their own, and the lock turned with a loud, final click.
