The world plunged into darkness.
collective gasp surged through the crowd at the carnival as the lights suddenly went out. Music stopped, rides halted, and the colorful, glowing atmosphere was swallowed by pitch-black silence. Screams erupted from all directions, people stumbling, children crying, and parents calling out for their kids. Panic brewed instantly, like a storm brewing on calm seas.
"Alejandro? Scar Face?" Rose's voice quivered as she called out, her hand reaching out blindly to push through the disoriented crowd. Her breathing was already irregular, heart pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird. "Matt? Kile?" she cried again, each name an anchor she hoped would pull her back to safety.
Alejandro was already calling for her. "Rose? ROSE!" he shouted, desperation clinging to his voice. He pushed through the masses, squinting in the dark, trying to trace the sound of her voice. But the chaos distorted everything. People bumped into each other, tripping, shouting, and turning the event into a cacophony of confusion.
Scar Face was already on the phone, pacing toward the edge of the crowd where cell signal was clearer. He barked instructions to Nikolai's stationed men, his voice low and commanding.
Meanwhile, Rose was sinking.
Her breaths came in short, panicked gasps as she stumbled further into the dark, her chest tightening, memories clawing at her like cold fingers from the past.
"Stay in there and repent, you sinner!"
The voice. The same chilling, authoritative voice of the orphanage teacher that haunted her nightmares. The same basement that had imprisoned her in suffocating blackness.
"No, no, no..." Her lips trembled, tears welling in her eyes. Her legs moved on autopilot, stumbling and weaving, trying to find a way out of the crowd, a place of light, of air. Anything.
Laughter echoed around her. High-pitched, cruel laughter. The kids from the orphanage. Their voices in her head again.
She pushed harder, her shoulder slamming into someone, a mumbled curse behind her. She didn't care. All she wanted was out. Somewhere without the crushing dark.
A dim sign glowed faintly ahead. "House of Mirrors."
She ran. Without thinking. Without stopping. Into the only thing that seemed open.
---
The mirrors greeted her like ghosts, tall and cold and endless. And yet it was darker in here than outside. The moon offered no help through the roof. The twisted reflections of her own body distorted, stretched, and multiplied, enclosing her like specters.
She suddenly remembred her phone, it was in her pocket. She reached into her pocket with trembling hands and fumbled for her phone. Her fingers slipped, her nails scraping plastic before she finally managed to pull it out and switch on the flashlight.
A narrow beam of white light pierced the darkness. It shook slightly in her hand as she breathed.
And then... footsteps.
Soft.
Deliberate.
Too soft to be real. Too deliberate to be imagined.
She turned sharply. The light caught her own reflection in the mirror and made her flinch. She spun the other way. Another reflection. Her heart beat so loud she could hear nothing else.
"Rose," a voice called softly.
It wasn't Alejandro.
It wasn't anyone she knew.
It was mocking. Like a cat calling to a mouse.
"Who—who is there?" she asked, her voice breaking in the middle. Her hand shook so badly the flashlight beam danced across the mirrors like lightning in a storm.
Through the glass, she saw him.
A masked figure. Just behind her.
She turned. He was real.
And then he moved.
She screamed. Bolted.
But he was faster. He lunged and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her back so hard she fell to the floor, her phone skidding away.
She fought. She bit into his arm, hard enough to draw blood. She kicked, thrashed, screamed.
"LET GO!" she howled, her voice echoing off the mirrored walls.
"Scream all you want, baby girl," he said, his voice close, too close. A grin behind the mask. "Nobody's coming to your rescue. Time to sleep princess."
A cold, sharp edge touched her neck.
She froze.
And everything went black.
The masked man lifted her limp body, moved swiftly through the now partially lit carnival paths, and disappeared into a black van parked near the side of the house of mirrors. Moments later, the carnival lights flickered back to life.
---
Cheers of relief rose through the crowd as the lights returned.
Children were found. Parents held their loved ones close. Rides rebooted. The music tentatively resumed. But Alejandro wasn't cheering. Neither was Matt, Kile, or Scar Face.
They stood close to each other, eyes scanning, breaths heavy.
"Where is she?" Scar Face asked, eyes narrowing.
Alejandro turned in every direction. Panic slowly blooming. "Rose?"
No answer.
"Let's split up," Matt said. "We have to find her."
The four men scattered. Alejandro moved faster than the others, cutting through the remaining crowd. He knew Rose's fear. The dark. Her panic attacks. It had happened once at Salvatore's mansion. She'd run into the street. They were lucky a cop had found her in time.
"ROSE!" he shouted. Every shadow, every stranger's face he passed, made his stomach sink deeper.
Scar Face found Konstantin and the other men he had called by the food stands. "Alexei!" Konstanin said. "Anything?"
"No. Did you find her?"Scar Face asked.
Konstantin shook his head. "We need to keep looking. She can't be far."
A yell broke through. "Guys!"
Matt came sprinting toward them. Alejandro, Kile, and Scar Face all ran to him.
Matt held up something.
"Is that her phone?" Alejandro asked.
"Found it in the house of mirrors. Flashlight still on. It was lying on the floor."
Alejandro's eyes widened. "No. Rose wouldn't drop her phone. Especially if it was her only source of light."
"What does that mean?" Kile asked, his voice tight.
Scar Face looked around. "Something's wrong."
"She didn't just drop it and leave," Alejandro growled. "What if someone took her?"
"People go missing every year at this carnival," Kile muttered. "Usually kids."
"Not someone like Rose. There hasn't been a case involving anyone over sixteen," Alejandro said. "And she had us. This must have been planned."
"So you're saying she was kidnapped?" Matt asked.
Scar Face crossed his arms. "Let me get this straight. You come to a carnival every year that's known for kids going missing and you still bring her here? Are you stupid or brave?"
Matt swallowed hard. "We were always careful. The lights have never gone out before."
"There's always a first time for everything," Konstantin said dryly.
"No time for finger-pointing," Alejandro snapped. "We need to find her. Let's search further out. Meet back at the main entrance in an hour. Whoever did this, knew that rose was afraid of the dark."
They all nodded.
The men scattered once again, canvasing every ride, every booth, every corridor of the carnival. They asked workers. They asked vendors. They asked parents and teenagers and anyone who would talk to them. But no one had seen her. Just chaos when the lights went out.
Alejandro paced the fence line, hands on his head, breathing heavily. He felt sick. She had been right beside them. One moment she was laughing, the next she was gone.
An hour passed.
They reconvened at the entrance.
All of them silent. All sweating, dirt on their clothes, eyes full of dread.
Scar Face looked around. "Nothing?"
Alejandro shook his head slowly. "She's gone."
Matt exhaled harshly, punching his thigh. Kile looked away, jaw clenched.
"Rose is this year's target," Konstantin muttered. His voice sounded final. Heavy.
A chill settled over them all. A dread that ran deeper than the dark that had swallowed the carnival earlier.
Alejandro looked out past the gates into the road. His hands balled into fists.
Whoever had taken her, had planned this. This pre Halloween festival, was just a trap they set to lure her out.
And now, Rose was gone.