In celebration of Amazon Prime Video's newest series Panic, I am thrilled to be teaming up with Amazon Prime Video and Wattpad to write this exclusive chapter that puts my characters from this story into the world of Panic!

I hope this chapter intrigues and inspires you to learn more about Panic. Visit the #PanicWritingContest on Wattpad for the chance to put your creative writing chops to the test and learn more about the show!

To find out more about the contest, prizes, and how to enter, check out the #PanicWritingContest here: wattpad.com/AmazonPrimeVideo

Don't forget to watch the series premiere on May 28th, 2021 only on Amazon Prime Video, here: http://primevideo.com/

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"This is incredibly stupid," Kayden mumbled as she pushed her way through the cornfield, "and I still can't believe we're doing this."

It was late at night. There was no light except for the small beams coming from her and Lexi's iPhones. And the only thing around them were endless rows of tall green cornstalks.

"It's going to be okay," Lexi said, ever the optimist as they pushed through the stalks.

Kayden kept her eyes to the ground, looking out for tripwires and beartraps and other reported "booby traps" that were supposedly set up all over this farm. "I don't know how we're supposed to win this thing. We're going to lose, or die trying, and we're going to be stuck in this stupid small town forever and—"

Lexi stopped, took hold of her cousin's shoulder, and stared her straight in the eye. "We won't die," she said firmly. "We're going to get out of this town alive. I promise."

Kayden could feel her eyes welling with tears. She wanted to believe Lexi so badly, but it was hard to after everything they had gone through.

It had all started a few weeks ago. One day, they had been living their normal lives—Kayden in New Jersey, Lexi in Miami—and the next, they had both woken up in a motel room in the small city of Carp, Texas. They didn't know how they had gotten there, but what was even weirder was that everyone in the town seemed to know them. It was as if they had lived in Carp their whole lives.

But they knew better. Kayden could remember everything before Carp: her mundane life back in New Jersey, and her recent summer adventure where she had met her boyfriend Blaze. He wasn't just a boyfriend, though; he was a wizard. Which is why when she and her cousin had woken up in a new state with new lives, she had immediately suspected something magical was afoot.

She and Lexi had laid low for a while, scoping out the town, thinking that whatever spell had plucked them from their lives would reverse itself in a few days and they'd find themselves back in their respective hometowns. But when that didn't happen, they had started to plot out how they could get back home on their own. Although they both had cell phones, they only seemed to be able to make local calls—any attempt to reach their parents or anyone else outside Texas only resulted in odd crackles on the lines.

And so eventually they realized that the only way to get back to their old lives was to find a way out of Carp the old-fashioned way: by plane. There was a small airport at the edge of town that flew to Dallas, with connecting flights to most major cities in America. The problem? Except for a small bit of cash they had found in an old shoebox in the motel room, they had no money.

It had seemed hopeless—until they heard about Panic.

It was a yearly contest hosted by a few anonymous high school students. The prize was $50,000. The catch? You had to compete in dangerous challenges—so dangerous, in fact, that two students had died playing the game last year.

But with no other options, Lexi and Kayden had signed up to play.

They had made it through two challenges so far, but this one was a little different. They had been told to sneak onto this piece of farmland owned by a nutjob by the name of Spurlock and steal something from his home. But first they'd have to get past all of the crazy booby traps he had littered throughout the cornfields.

Kayden was grateful Lexi was with her. For this challenge, she didn't have to be alone. Having her cousin at her side was reassuring.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, re-steadying her gaze. She couldn't lose focus now. Not when there was a game to play, money to win, and a way to get out of this stupid town and back to the people and places she loved. "Thanks Lexi," she murmured.

Lexi squeezed her shoulder. "Anytime, Kay." And they continued forward, drawing closer to the farmhouse.

Suddenly, Lexi grabbed Kayden's arm. "My stomach hurts," she said.

Before the events of the last summer, this wouldn't have concerned Kayden. But now it raised all sorts of red flags. "Psychic stuff?"

"Yeah..." Lexi said, looking down at the ground. "I just can't tell what triggered it—aha!"

She pointed, and glistening in the light of her phone was a very thin tripwire. One step further and they would have triggered the trap, and who knows what the consequences would have been.

Kayden carefully stepped over the wire. "Your psychic stuff is coming in handy tonight."

Lexi looked back. "Yeah, it is. I just hope the other kids are just as lucky."

"What are you talking about? Don't you want us to win?"

"Of course I do. But these other kids... they all have reasons they want to win this game too," Lexi said. "You've seen some of them. Bad home situations, no jobs, no sense of a future... I want to win, but if we do, I hope they manage to do okay—and at least not die in the process after what happened last year."

"We just need enough money for plane tickets, a bit of food, and subway fare," Kayden said, pushing through the stalks. "If you want, we can give the rest of the money away before we leave town."

Lexi's face brightened and she nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea—"

Suddenly her words were cut off by the loud bang.

Lexi shrieked, and Kayden grabbed onto her, pulling her into the dirt. There was a second bang, and this time, the sound was unmistakable: gunshots.

"Lexi!" Kayden hissed, spitting out dirt that had flown into her mouth. "A little warning would have been nice!"

"You know that's not how my psychic powers work!" Lexi hissed back.

Why does this guy have a gun? Kayden thought to herself. She didn't have to deal with this stuff back in New Jersey, but here in Texas, the weapons were a lot more commonplace.

They stayed down on the ground in dead silence for about thirty seconds. They could hear shouting—it sounded like Spurlock had wandered out of his house and was yelling something, but they couldn't quite make it out.

"Kayden," Lexi suddenly whispered, "we have to keep going. If we don't, I'm not sure we'll have enough points to get to the next round."

Kayden couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Can't you hear that shouting? Spurlock is pissed. We can't get to the next round if we're shot dead!"

Lexi ignored her. "I'm going to run to the left, and make a lot of noise in the field. That will draw Spurlock's attention. If you go right, you should pop out of the field near the back of the house. I doubt his back door is locked. Open it, grab something for us, and then run."

"Lexi I don't think this is a good idea—"

"We're not going to die," Lexi repeated. "I have a good feeling about this." And before Kayden could stop her, she had scrambled to her feet and started running, blonde hair disappearing amongst the corn.

LEXI! Kayden screamed mentally, but she couldn't stop her; it would only make things worse if she ran after her. So instead, she carefully got to her feet, and started making her way through the corn to her right, doing her best to move as quickly, yet as quietly, as possible.

Lexi better be right about this, Kayden said, her heart pounding with every step. Her cousin's newfound psychic abilities weren't foolproof, and a misinterpreted "feeling" could easily lead to their deaths. But Kayden didn't have time to second guess her cousin; all she could do was trust her and try to complete the challenge.

She heard another gunshot as she broke out of the field, but thankfully, Lexi was right: she had popped out in the back of the property, and Spurlock seemed to be shooting from the front porch.

Kayden made a mad-dash to the backdoor, catching her breath as she leaned against the dirty house siding. When her breaths were no longer jagged, she peered through the glass window and saw a small table set against a narrow hallway wall. On top of it, there was a candle and box of matches—they would have to do.

However, she hesitated before going inside, staring at the door. It was old and metallic, and she could tell from looking at it that even if it were unlocked, it was going to make a ton of noise—the hinges had likely not been oiled in a long time. She was only going to have one chance to get these items.

She hesitated, unsure what to do, when suddenly there was another bang. Spurred on by a jolt of adrenaline, she yanked the door open. It let out a loud creak, but it was mostly obscured by the residual echo from the gun shot. Quickly, she grabbed the candle and the matchbox, and as she ran out of the house, the door slammed after her with a loud metallic CLANG!

Shoot! she thought, hearing a shout behind her and another gun shot. Spurlock had heard her, and was likely racing to the backside of the house, intent on stopping her. She bit the inside of her cheek as she ran, eyes locked on the cornfields, knowing that she needed to reach the field of tall green plants in order to be safe. She did her best not to look back, but now she could make out the words Spurlock was shouting, and knew he had to have spotted her. She heard another shot—much closer this time, and she almost convinced herself that she had felt a whistle of air rush past her that could have been a bullet. But then she reached the safety of the cornfield, disappearing amongst the stalks.

She didn't stop running for a full three minutes, cornstalks whipping at her face, scratching her skin. It was only when the gunshots sounded like distant echoes that she allowed herself to slow down. As she did, she felt a rush of fatigue, as if all the remaining energy in her body had been siphoned out of her, and she stumbled and collapsed into the dirt. But she was smiling. I did it, she thought to herself, her breaths fast and hard. I did it.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Kayden flinched, holding her treasures to her chest, refusing to have another player snatch them away from her, but when she looked up, she saw blonde hair and blue eyes.

"You did it!" Lexi squealed, pulling her to her feet and wrapping her in a big hug. "You're amazing, Kay!"

"I thought I was going to die," Kayden said, leaning against her cousin.

"But you didn't," Lexi said with a wink. She rubbed her back and looked around. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

Kayden nodded, her sweaty hands clenched tightly around the candle and the matchbox. As they made her way out of the field, her heart still pounded. She was elated that had completed another challenge, and yet her stomach was already churning, thinking about what could possibly come next.

This is only the third challenge, she thought to herself. What else are we going to have to do to escape Carp? What other horrors await?

As if hearing her thoughts, Lexi squeezed her arm reassuringly. "We got this," she mouthed.

Kayden nodded, letting out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It didn't make sense to worry about the future. All she could do was be grateful she had made it through another task, and that she had Lexi: double the odds to win, plus a little bit of magic on their side.

We're coming, Blaze, Kayden thought, picturing his face in her mind. Somehow, some way, we're going to make it out of Carp... and I'm going to see you again...

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Thanks so much for reading this bonus chapter of Shift! It was a lot of fun to see how Kayden and Lexi would behave in a Panic challenge. Do you guys have any ideas of what you'd like to see these characters do next? Let me know below! Thanks for all the support!

<3 Bdicocco