If he worked here, then why hadn't she seen him at lunch earlier? Evie was sure she'd have remembered his face. He had the kind of face she wanted to punch.

That might have been pretty aggressive, but she found him so damn annoying, she couldn't help it. Every time he opened his mouth, he made a comment about Ludo being a bear or made a frustrating comment about her height. Just looking like he looked, it filled her with the near uncontrollable need to sucker punch him.

It wouldn't have been an easy feat, because he was maybe a slight bit taller than her. Well, a lot taller than her. The last time she'd been measured, at the hospital, she'd been a couple inches over five feet. He looked like he must have been about the same height as Charlie, which meant he had at least six or seven inches on her. And that also made her want to punch him.

"Look, you can stand there and glare at me, all you want, but I intend to get out of here before I'm struck by lightning," he told her as he tried and failed to fix his hair. It hung over his eyes, dripping rain water into them, and it filled Evie with a twisted kind of enjoyment as he cringed, probably because it stung. "I found what I came for, now come Muttley," instructed the sodden mess in front of her, clicking his fingers at the dog. Ludo stood where he was, beside Evie, and just stared at him.

"You came in here...looking for my dog?" Evie asked, finding it hard to believe. "Did your boss ask you to find him?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"No, it wasn't my boss," he shook his head, water flying everywhere like it did when Ludo did the same thing. "Seeing as you're here, too, I guess I'll help you find the way out, as well. That might earn me brownie points with the actual boss."

"What's your boss's name?" asked Evie, accusing him of lying without calling him a liar. But she got no answer as the guy took the turn she'd just come around. I'll just go in the opposite direction, she thought to herself, turning on her heels and squinting her eyes, hoping that would make seeing in the dark and rain easier. It didn't. There was no way she'd have been able to see the large green wall in front of her. A deadend.

"You can't go that way." His voice came from the darkened turn, his head popping around the corner and his flashlight concealed on the other side. He looked like he was smirking as she jumped around, obviously startled by his reappearance. Evie glanced down at Ludo and silently the two exchanged a debate, should they or shouldn't they? Follow or don't follow?
Eventually, Ludo started following him which made Evie do the same thing.

Putting blind trust in someone wasn't something she did often, and especially not with strangers. She'd always been pretty good with the whole stranger danger thing. She was just hopeful that he wasn't leading her the wrong way. And that he actually knew how to get to the exit. He'd known the opposite direction she'd planned to take was a deadend. That was a good thing, right? She still wasn't sure she believed he was being truthful, but she had no other options.

Walking behind him, his flashlight shining ahead of them, Evie took note of something that she wished hadn't been familiar-- the back of his head. His dark brown hair may have been flattened out and stuck to the back of his neck, but she was almost certain he'd been the guy she saw the first night she arrived, standing at the foot of the courtyard stairs. Right before she saw that girl.

He promised he knew the way out here like the back of his hand. That would only make one of them, because Evie couldn't remember which turns she'd taken to find the center in the first place. And with the markers being all messed up and out of order, she prayed he wasn't going to depend on those to get them out.

As they rounded a corner into the center, she could hear him mumbling to himself over the thunder, certain words popping out at her as she tried to listen closely. One phrase stuck out perfectly but she froze when she saw the angel again. Resigned to the ache that she'd had before abandoning the marble statue, Evie stopped. He was already at the opposite side, ready to make his way through the other entrance when he realized she wasn't close behind. "Hey, keep up or I'm leaving you--"

"It's so sad," mumbled Evie, staring at the angel with its hands now over its face.

"Eamon's choice," he mentioned her uncle's name, but it didn't regain Evie's attention, "but super creepy is more like it."

"It didn't look like that before," stated the girl, stepping closer to its stone perch, looking up at it with its face in its hands. The fingertip was still missing, there was still the emerald green toupe on its head, and she could just see its crack down the length of its face. All of the imperfections from before were there, but it was positioned wrong.

"What are you talking about?" The guy stood beside Evie, being butted away by Ludo as he came in to inspect, too. "It always looks like this. I don't get why your uncle would want it in here though, its eyes follow every move you make, even when your back is to it. It's creepy and pretty depressing. But Eamon insisted." He visibly cringed at the idea of the eyes tracking him. "Can we get a move on?" he requested, Evie's eyes turning up to him, wide and shocked, before she turned back to it and...
Its hands were back in the same position it had been in before, cupped in front of it, gathering rain water that trickled down its arms and dripped onto the flowerbed at its feet. But it looked desperate, longing for company, for them not to leave. Loneliness had never looked so frightening.

Horror crossed her features as her memory screamed that it had just been different. It had just had its face in its hands, she wasn't imagining it. She'd abandoned the angel and it was inconsolable, she could hear its weeps, building until they were outright wails. She could hear them over the thunder, they broke her heart and made her want to cry with it. However, it made her blood run cold.

Being pulled by the upper arm and dragged her toward the other exit, Evie heard pleas to stay, not to leave again. But the second the angel was out of sight, it went silent. Looking up at her companion, she could see his shoulders tensing up, probably imagining the eyes on him, too. She glanced back once more and silently prayed she never had to see that again.

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Caleb had kept count of how many turns they'd taken away from the center-four turns in total-and deciphered they would be out in at least three or four more. Well, that was his best guess. He'd been helping Eamon with this place for months, from the first glimmer of good weather that they'd had at the beginning of Summer until today. He was sure he'd be able to navigate it by now.

He checked the walls of green, frustration rising as he couldn't find the wooden markers. He didn't think he'd need them, not with how many hours he'd put into working here, but he'd never been in here while it was dark. Caleb had believed it wouldn't be too difficult to find his way back to the start, but he couldn't help the feeling of being completely turned around without the markers to confirm where they were. The manor's new little princess must have moved them, some kind of stupid game. No, that wasn't right, he wasn't going to let that fly. "Did you--"

"Did you bring a friend?" interrupted Evie, her eyes on the ground as he turned to accuse her. Her question only frustrated him more.

"No, I told you that I work here," Caleb raised his voice, only for Ludo to growl in response. Thunder rolled over the dog's growl, however, and made the animal cower behind Evie. Caleb cocked an eyebrow at how pitiful the dog looked, cowering behind the girl, no braver than she was.

It wasn't like he could pretend being out here, in the rain and storm, he was feeling particularly brave. Caleb and his grandmother didn't stay past a certain time, the later months of the year meant going home just after it got dark. He didn't like being near the house when the sun went down, not that he believed the cooks and their need to insist this place was haunted. It just created the uneasy sense of never leaving when the sun dropped below the horizon, eliminating whatever life remained of the estate.

"Are you trying to play some kind of game, kid?" accused Caleb, eyes not following Evie's and on the walls of green. The missing markers made him anxious. He knew this place when the sun was up. It was a different place when the sun was gone and the moon was out, when it was dark. "If you fucked with the markers, tell me right now."

"Stop calling me kid!" Evie looked as frustrated as Caleb was, only their frustrations were coming from wildly different places. "

If you brought a friend, I promise not to tell anyone, just tell them to come out," she promised, the annoyance bleeding out of her tone as dread trickled in, her hands and shoulders shaking, making her look like one of those tiny shivering dogs. Ludo looked no better.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I work here?" he inquired, eyes finally following her line of sight, his flashlight illuminating a line of footsteps in the mud in front of them. He mentally counted how many pairs he saw; his footprints, one, beside her footprints, two, beside a set of paw prints and then three...

"Just tell them to come out, I swear I won't tell my dad or Eamon," she promised, but her tone was more pleading. She saw them, too. A third set of footprints. Evie was still shaking as she turned to him, waiting for him to call out for the owner of this third pair of prints, but he had no one to call.

"They're...probably just your footprints from on your way in," he assured her, nodding his head and waiting for her to come to the same realization.

But she didn't.

"They're not mine, they're too big to be mine." Evie pointed to them and he could see it as clearly as she could. Even if they were left by someone making their way into the maze, as she'd have probably left on her way in, they were larger than the ones she'd made walking with him. Considerably larger. He could see that, his inner thought process had deduced that they were too big to be hers, but they couldn't have been anyone else's. Who else could have left them if not her on her way in?

No one had called out to them as they were trying to find the exit, no one shouted their names, as he was sure her dad would have done or his grandma. If someone had come in to find them, why hadn't they called out for them?

It's not a ghost, Caleb insisted, shaking his head and just backing up, waiting for Evie and the dog to follow them. But while Evie followed, the dog didn't move. He was frozen on the spot. His entire body had gone rigid as he stared down the dark corridor of verdure, and as Caleb was about to shine his flashlight down to see what he was looking at, the light went out. It didn't even flicker, it just snuffed itself out.

To his left, Evie had grabbed his arm. The dog was acting like he saw something he couldn't, Evie's grip made it seem like she did, too. He had no idea what to do. Between Caspar the Ghost Detecting Dog and Wednesday Addams wannabe, he was quite obviously the only mentally sound in the lot.

"Whoever's there, come out," he called out, Evie's grip tightening on his arm, nails digging into his muscle and making him wince. Ludo started growling. "I'll give you to the count of three," he added, but his eyes weren't focusing on anything other than the dog. He was growling, not like he'd been when Caleb found him. Caleb was almost worried he was going to turn on the two of them and attack. But while Caleb was focused on the dog, the dog was focused on the darkness.

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Evie's entire body turned ice cold as she noticed the third set of prints. They were going into the maze, which shouldn't have scared her so much, but it did. She'd probably left footprints on her way in, too, but they were nowhere to be found. Unless someone had walked in behind her, following every foot fall she'd left, not only erasing hers, but leaving their own, almost twice the size.

"One!" the guy called, his breath fogging up the air in front of him. How had it gotten this cold already? Rain lashed their skins, it must have been so painful against his bare arms. Evie watched Ludo growl viciously at seemingly nothing, telling herself nothing was there, telling herself she was just paranoid. But as she told herself this, a chill ran the length of her body. "Two!"

The noises around her started to echo. Her eyes started to droop, fighting off sleep with all of her might. And out of nowhere, a blinding pain shot through her temple. She gripped the guy's arm so tightly, she heard him complain as he tried to pull it away. His voice sounded far away, an invisible wall or door stood between the two of them. "What's wrong with you?" he was asking, but she couldn't respond. She released his arm, stepping forward to get Ludo's collar. The dog was now barking, it resounding in her ears like a roar and made her stumble away from, having to cover her ears.

The moment that her chest grew tight, Evie couldn't contain the panic. It was there. She didn't need the light to see it. It was there. The smell of sulfur and damp moss surrounded her, choked her, made her want to cry out for her dad. But 'dad' wasn't the name that came out of her mouth. Pitifully, Evie whimpered as she begged for her mom.

Help. Mom.

Everything surrounding her began to shrink, the world caving in, crushing her and her chest, restricting each breath that scraped against the inside of her throat. It hurt. Not out here, her thoughts, not right now, not without the inhaler, not without dad, not without Charlie. Her breathing became shallow as they raced, her heart trying to keep its uneven pace alongside it.
Ice crackled in her lungs, so loud that she was sure the guy beside her could hear it over him repeating her name over and over. Her finger pointed toward the mass, the black shape. Shadowman. He was finishing off what Meister started, she knew it.

Was she having a heart attack?

Evie continued to point as the Shadowman evaporated, the guy's fingers snapping in front of her face, trying to get attention. "What's happening? Are you okay?"
Right now was not the appropriate time to notice, but this close to his face, she could see that he had green eyes. Hazel maybe? They made her think of the man from outside the house, the one who'd asked if she was okay when she'd been reading about Junebug and Meister. Maybe they were brothers?

Well, at least a pretty face would be the last one she'd see before she died.

The crackling travelled down her arms as they went limp, pins and needle-like sensations running the length of both and making them shake, restlessly. She hated this sensation, the sensation of everything going funny before she lost all feeling in them.

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"Hey, Evie, get it together," Caleb demanded, shaking her shoulders. If she was having a panic attack or an asthma attack, he knew that wasn't going to help her, but he didn't have much else he could do to actually help.

Someone was standing near the end of this hallway, staring at them. They inched forward, before retreating as the dog viciously barked at them. They were scared of him and Caleb was glad about that. "I don't know who you are, but if you don't come out, I'll sic the bear on you," he threatened, but they didn't move. He stared down the hallway, waiting for their approach, only for them to back away further. "You've had your fun, now your joke is getting old. Come out!"

Voices on the outside of the maze erupted as two men called and called Evie's name. The girl's drooping eyes went wide and Caleb seized the opportunity. "That's it," he decided, arm around Evie's shoulders. Whoever this person was was a danger to the two of them, they were getting out of here. "Come on, kid, run," he instructed, ushering her in the direction of the exit. The overhead clouds had parted and the moon illuminated the way enough for Caleb to get a proper glimpse of...it? No, it's just someone in a costume, he told himself as he tripped and both himself and Evie splashed face first into a puddle of mud. It went everywhere, up in his hair and in his mouth. Spluttering and complaining, spitting it out, he just saw Evie regain use of her arms and push herself up. Standing, she reached for the dog but froze again, staring again, like she couldn't take her eyes away or something awful would happen.

Caleb reached out to grab Evie's hand as the costumed person flickered, like the flashlight had done, as clouds rolled over the moon. He watched as it disappeared, watched as it was there one second and not the next, but reappeared again. What he was seeing with his eyes wasn't being accepted by his brain.

It disappeared entirely, everything went ethereally silent. Everything around them slowed down to almost a standstill as Evie's knees locked up, her hands and shoulders dropped, going limp, and Caleb could hear her breathing heavily, struggling to fill her chest. His hand hung in the air as he heard something else in silence.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

Wet footsteps. Coming toward them. They were almost cautious, spaced out as though the person wanted to make sure they still had time to back away.
Evie panted for breath, but she'd started humming a song that he didn't recognize. She was scared and she didn't have to say it to him for Caleb to know. He just couldn't get to her, to calm her, to let her know she was safe and that...person couldn't hurt her.

"The moon shone its rays on her locks of raven hair," sang Evie, voice trembling, barely above a whisper as a sadness invaded.

His heart started thumping, hard and ached like it was breaking as the slapping footsteps started up. They raced toward them and in a split second, the words 'She swore she'd be my love forever' played in Caleb's thoughts, a choked scream broke from Evie.

He had never heard anything quite as horrifying as that scream. She was flung backward into him, the boy just able to get a grip of her waist as the two fell onto the flooded grass. Ludo had started barking again, the rain sounded again, and thunder was roaring louder than ever before.
Caleb landed with one arm behind him and his hand sunk into thick mud, squishing between his fingers. Tearing it free, he tried and tried to make sense of what was happening. Not for himself but for Evie. Well, a little bit for himself. But also for her, because the girl had started sobbing hard, having heard the voices of the two men again. And this time, she reacted more than she had before.

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The force that the Shadowman had hit her with drove all of the ice in Evie's chest out and pushed her scream up her windpipe. She landed on top of the guy, the grass having become bog land and splashing muddy water onto them both. Evie could hear her dad calling her name, and Eamon, too.

"Dad!" she called in a sob, mentally praying that he'd find her. Daddy, please find me, she prayed, Ludo barking like crazy. But he was alerting them, he was letting them know where they were. He was nudging the guy to let go of her, his soaked snout rubbing against her cheek as she just laid there.

She wasn't having an asthma attack, something about it was different. Her chest hurt, it ached so much that she grabbed it and squeezed hard, praying the pain would stop. But it wouldn't.

Evie couldn't open her eyes, she was too scared to, but she knew the familiar voices of her father and Eamon when she heard them. And the more familiar embrace of her dad, hugging as tightly as he could.

When the voices started to melt together, Evie identified that something wasn't quite right. Her dad was holding her, carrying her toward the house, but he repeatedly shouted to Eamon, to the guy, to Mrs. Garroway, something that she couldn't make out. '911', was being yelled, 'she's dying', as well.

Rain hit Evie's face, blurring her eyesight as she squinted. Just behind them, as she was being raced to a car or to the house, a young woman stood and watched. White dress and black hair being whipped around in the wind. She watched and slowly, painfully slowly, raised a hand.

Involuntarily, Evie did the same thing until she lost the strength to be able to hold up her own arm.

Limp and lifeless, she was bundled into the back of her dad's car, her eyes fluttering shut and darkness consumed her.