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“Where are we?” I shake off the cobwebs clinging to my mind. Even with my eyes open, I can’t see anything but black.

“We don’t know,” Will says. “Someone drugged us, and we woke up here.”

I take inventory of my body. All my clothes are still on. I don’t feel bruised or hurt anywhere. There’s something cold and heavy around my ankle, weighing it down. Everything is still a little fuzzy. The last thing I remember was heading to the bathroom with Penny before the next dance.

She wanted a break from Will, and I wanted to pee before the announcements.

Wherever we are, the air is cool against my skin, sending a chill through me. Every second I’m awake, I take in more about the space surrounding us and the details don’t make me feel better. It’s too damp feeling to be somewhere in the school? Right? It’s not an air-conditioned space.

“How many of us are here?” I ask. My mouth feels like cotton, dry. Is Harper here? How is this their strategy to take her? Why are we here? I mean, Penny and I, yes, I get it, but Angela Harris?

“Five.” Penny lowers her voice. “But Angela was with Tanner when she was taken, so we think they have him too. He hasn’t said anything. Maybe they have him somewhere else or maybe even in this room. We don’t know how big it is. We’re all bound to the center and can’t reach the wall.”

A chain rattles and icy dread runs down my back.

This is the plan? But why us specifically? Is it because we could have helped Harper? Why Tanner and Angela? Or is this something else entirely? Maybe they were just in the way or saw something they shouldn’t have.

Do I tell the others about Zach and his plans for Harper? Who else might be listening in? What if this is something different?

Someone else planning on taking advantage of Homecoming night? That would be fucked up, so probably not. But given what I’m learning about this town, maybe not fucked up enough.

“Are you okay?” Brandon brushes my hair away from my face.

“I think so.” I swallow and turn my face toward his voice. “You?”

“Yeah.” He squeezes my hand. “None of us saw who took us. We don’t know how long we’ve been here. All of us were out when they brought us to wherever this is.”

I drag in a breath. The air smells stale and like dirt. That musty scent basements sometimes have. Underground?

Will anyone realize we’re gone? It’s not uncommon for couples to go missing during a dance to find somewhere to be alone, but Harper has to know I wouldn’t leave when she needs me.

“Whoever left us here isn’t around as far as we can tell.” Penny releases a breath. “We haven’t heard anything outside of us.”

“No footsteps or other sounds of occupants,” Will says. “That doesn’t mean they aren’t there. There’s no way to tell how isolated this room is. But since we woke, no one has heard anything.”

I drag in a breath. Fuck.

Pockets! My dress has pockets. I put my phone in it. But if whoever took us was smart enough to pat us down, they would have found it.

I turn until my lips are against Brandon’s ear and whisper, “Do we know if we’re being watched?”

He shakes his head and shrugs against me.

I release his hand and run my hand over the outside of my dress. My heart falls into my stomach when I realize nothing’s there.

“My phone,” I say quietly.

“They took all of ours.” Angela sighs. “It would have been nice to at least have some light. I can’t believe we missed the announcement for queen.”

My brain just about breaks. “I’m sorry? What?”

“The Homecoming queen,” she says like I’m the stupid one. Because of course that’s the most important thing when we’re chained to the floor in the dark.

“That’s really what you’re thinking about now?” Penny asks with the same incredulity that I feel.

“This is all just another prank, right?” Angela blows it off like it’s nothing. “I mean, how else would they explain six people going missing from Homecoming? That’s not how missing people generally happen. So whatever prank is being pulled, we must be part of it. Though I’m not crazy about the being drugged part. That might be crossing a line.”

“Might be? The drugs might be crossing a line? And the chains aren’t?” Will sounds just as bewildered as Penny. “You do realize we’re locked up somewhere and that as far as we know, no one has even realized we’re missing?”