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‘Oh my God, their videos are so hot they could be thirst traps.’

I glance over at her screen and freeze. My stomach lurches. The videos are moody and cinematic: lots of close-ups, masked men leaning in, gestures designed to be provocative and seductive. My heart skips a beat when a tall man dressed in all black slides across the floor on his knees, eliciting a terrified scream from the group of girls in front of him. He gracefully gets to his feet, turning to the camera and striding toward it menacingly.

My eyes are glued to the masked man in the video. The way he tilts his head; the slow, deliberate movements. The same mask. The same blue eyes behind it, piercing even in footage.

My heartbeat is loud in my ears. ‘Play that again.’

Elodie does as I say and afterwards, she pauses the video, hovering the screen under my nose. Leaning in closer, I stare at the username the Shadow Land Amusements account has tagged: AshOfNight.

I can’t breathe.

Ash.

It can’t be him.

But he knew my name.

Tess notices my sudden silence. ‘Bryn? What is it?’

‘That’s him,’ I whisper, my throat suddenly paper dry. ‘The one who chased me and pinned me to the wall.’

‘Woah,’ Elodie murmurs, eyes widening. ‘He is hot.’

I nod slowly, heart hammering, every memory of last night flashing through my mind in vivid colour. The heat of his hands, the intensity of his gaze locked on mine, the way he said my name in that deep drawl of his. My thoughts spiral to Ash, the boy I have not let myself think about for a long time.

It can’t be him, can it?

‘Hot, but intimidating,’ Tess says.

Something about the masked man and our encounter has rattled me. Part of me wants to block the account and not give it any more of my time, while the more curious part of me wants to know more, and wants to go back to see him. I need to know if it’s him.

We scatter to our rooms to get ready. I rummage through my drawers, plucking out an outfit. I try to force thoughts of last night out of my head, but I can’t resist taking a peek. Pulling out my phone, I unlock it, swipe to open TikTok, and type his username into the search bar: AshOfNight.

The account pops up immediately, and … wow.

He’s famous. Like really famous. His videos are everywhere. There are clips of him in his costume, jumping out at people, running through fog, and close-ups of him leaning in just like he did last night. He looks mysterious, dangerous, and weirdly playful. There are thousands of comments under each of his videos.

He’s literally my nightmare and my dream all at once

stopppp he’s too hot for this world

i would let him jump scare me anytime

the way he moves

mask or no mask … raw

how is he allowed to be this sexy and terrifying at the same time

tears are running down my thighs

he’s a whole vibe

i’m dead. absolute perfection

I scroll and scroll, unable to peel my eyes off him. I watch a clip from last week of him creeping through the maze, the camera cutting to the terrified reactions of the guests. The way he moves, the way he looks through the mask … it’s the same magnetic energy, the same teasing dominance, that had me frozen in the maze. The next video is of him adjusting his gloves, leaning toward the camera, a smirk visible underneath the mask. My stomach twists. Every shot of him makes my pulse spike. There’s a flash and then suddenly he’s crouched low, staring at the camera, whispering in that same husky voice I recall from last night.

‘You never know who’s watching …’