We find the source of the scream at the end of the hall.

Behind an enormous wilted plant is one of our classmates. It’s hard to see who it is—not only are they hiding, but there’s a tattered old blanket draped over them.

I gesture for Mira and Rohan to wait, then step forward.

“Don’t!” a girl’s voice squeaks from under the sheet. “Don’t come any closer.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “We’re friends. Classmates. We’re trying to find everyone else.”

“There isn’t anyone else,” the girl says worriedly. “They were all taken.”

I’m reminded of the fear in Jacob’s voice, how certain he was that he was the only one left. It makes me wonder what this girl has seen, and if she thinks she’s been trapped as long as he did.

“We weren’t taken,” Mira says, stepping up beside me. “And we’re stronger as a group.”

“Tell that to Jacob,” Rohan mutters quietly behind me. I turn around and glare at him. He just shrugs in response.

He has a point.

“It’s okay,” I say. “Really.”

After a few more tense moments, the blanket shifts, and the girl pokes her head out.

I’m shocked. The tiny voice is coming from …

“Leslie?” Mira asks.

The girl nods. She no longer looks like she’s strong and in charge—her shoulders are hunched, and her eyes have the same scared, lost expression as Jacob’s. There’s a similar worn-out look to her clothes, as though she’s been here for ages, rather than just a few hours. Instead of looking at us, she peers behind Mira and Rohan and me suspiciously.

“What happened to you?” I ask. “Where did you go after the dining room?”

But Leslie only answers with another question. “Are you sure you weren’t followed?”

I glance at my friends. I mean, the skeletons in the hallway didn’t exactly follow us here, but that doesn’t mean something horrible won’t pop out at any moment.

“I promise,” I lie.

Rohan steps forward. “I thought we’d lost you,” he says. “What happened after the dining room?”

Leslie swallows hard and steps out from behind the statue, keeping the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Like a cape. Or a shield.

“I don’t know,” she whispers. “I don’t … I don’t remember what happened.”

“What do you mean, you don’t remember?” Mira asks. Skepticism fills her voice. “One moment you were on the ceiling and the next you were gone. We thought you were taken or …”

“Or dead,” Rohan finishes.

“I thought I was, too,” Leslie whispers.

Tears fill her eyes as she stares at the three of us. She looks hopeful, like we might be able to save her. It makes me feel kind of bad, because I don’t know if that’s the case. She’s supposed to be the older and wiser one, here.

Once more, she doesn’t answer the question. I can’t tell if she’s frazzled like Jacob was, or if she’s outright lying.

“I thought I heard voices from in there,” she says, pointing to a door down a far hall. “But I thought it was more monsters.”

I sigh. “Well, we better check it out.”

“No!” Leslie exclaims. “You don’t know what’s out there!” And she wraps herself back in the blanket, only peeking out through a tiny hole in the fabric.

Clearly, trying to wrangle everyone together so we can tackle this as a team is going to be harder than I thought. I didn’t expect everyone to be so scared.

I didn’t expect to be the brave one in all this.

Mira pulls me aside, back a few steps. We huddle next to Rohan.

“I don’t think we can trust her,” she whispers in my ear.

“What?” Rohan asks. “Why not?”

She looks to the cowering Leslie in the corner. Of everyone here, Leslie seems to be the least dangerous. But judging from the look in Mira’s eyes, she doesn’t share that conviction.

“Think about it,” she continues. “Leslie just happens to be in the hall we’re in, right after we were ambushed by skeletons, right after Jacob was taken. She’s the one who started this whole mess. We saw her disappear. The hotel took her. So why did it give her back?”

“Maybe she tasted funny,” Rohan suggests.

Mira glares at him.

“What if she’s behind it? All of it. She’s leading us around and watching while everyone gets taken. What if she’s being controlled by the Grand Dame somehow?”

My gut twists at the thought—not just of being controlled by the Grand Dame, but the ease with which Mira is casting blame.

“But she said the email was anonymous,” Rohan says. “I thought we were convinced it was Bradley?”

She shrugs. “It could be both of them.”

I look over to Leslie. She doesn’t look like the type who could orchestrate something like this. She doesn’t look evil. Or nefarious. Or even that brave. You’d have to be all three to try and do something like this.

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” I ask. “Even if she is behind it, we’re still better off as a group. And you know what they say—keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If she’s behind it all, or if she and Bradley have teamed up, the best thing we could do is keep them where we can see them. They’ll have less chance of hurting us if we’re all in a big group.”

Mira sighs heavily. “I suppose you’re right,” she admits. “I just don’t like the idea of having a traitor in our group.”

Her words are a punch to the gut. Poor, trusting Mira. I know Leslie is just as innocent as Mira is, but it will be impossible to convince her of that.

“This time,” I say, “we won’t let her out of our sight.” I try my best to smile at my friends. “We’re in this together. Standing to the very end.”

Mira and Rohan both nod. We take a step toward Leslie.

“Come on, Leslie. We’re going to find the others. We’ll be safer in a big group.”

Leslie pokes her head out from the blanket. When she looks at us, her eyes go wide in fear.

Behind us, from the direction of the kitchen, the lights flicker.

“Oh no,” Leslie whimpers. “It’s her. She’s back.”

Leslie hides again, cowering behind the statue, as my friends and I turn to face the coming darkness. Even as fear surges through me, I feel entranced.

As the lights in the hall flicker and go out.

As the darkness becomes solid.

As two green eyes burn in the black, accompanied by red lips tilted in a sharp smile.

The Grand Dame is here.