Chapter Nine

Jonas moans in the moment before he comes back to us and I look back toward the burning bones I can't see anymore.

"How are we going to know if Dylan's already wound up in his hell?" He could be one of those skeletons for all I know.

"I don't think you will know." Julia says. "We just have to keep looking and… hope?"

I don't like that.

"He won't have left the farm." She takes my hand again. "So we check everywhere we can until there's nowhere left to look."

"First thing we need to do is get out of this maze," Jonas says, neck stretched, trying to see over the stalks. "It was creepy before. I kind of hate it now."

The maze is the same path here as it is in the living world and I follow it without hesitation.

But right before we reach the turn that leads to the exit, rustling from my right makes me pause.

I peer into the stalks. Someone is in there, and they're close enough to hear…

"Dylan?"

But the man that steps out of the stalks—his shambling, body bent at a crooked angle—isn't my friend. Eyes milky white, in jeans and a t-shirt, he's…

"The scarecrow?" Jonas asks.

"Not quite." I take a step back. "I guess you were right about the guy from your class. Do you remember his name?"

"No."

Dang.

"Hey," I say to get his attention. "Who are you?"

His head snaps up, his eyes go wide, and he bares his teeth at me. "Like you don't fucking know, Minnie."

He lurches forward, trying to bite at me, but his movements are slow… There's a hole in his chest where his heart should be.

" What are you?" And why does he think I'm my sister?

He doesn't answer, he just lurches toward me again, swiping at me with hands like claws.

Jonas steps into his way and pushes him back, sending him sprawling into the cornstalks.

"He died here, something's keeping him from finding his own hell." Julia takes my hand and tugs me away from him. "The only thing we have going for us is that the dead are slow."

Still holding Jonas's chain, I lead the way out of the maze, following the end of the familiar path, and hoping that the guy gets lost in the branching paths. Each time I look back, I feel like I see a shadow. And then, we're out of the maze and I breathe a little easier.

"Your sister took a page from the book ." Julia says, quietly.

"Yeah, but that guy was dead-dead."

Julia looks at me askance. "What was the boy's name? The one she wanted to spell…"

"Chad?"

"That's him!" Jonas says, snapping his fingers. "Chad the cheater. I knew it!"

I look from him, back into the maze.

Something very wrong is going on in the living world.