Fire with Fire (Burn for Burn 2)

My eyes go wide. “Why. He thought I was someone else.”

Kat looks at me, slack jaw. “He was flirting with you, dummy! That English class garbage was the icebreaker, the opening line to get a convo going. Hello!”

“What?” I turn around and the mummy boy is standing in a circle of his friends, looking at me, but his eyes quickly go to the ground. I spin back to Kat and whisper, “Oh my gosh!”

Kat laughs. “Innocent little Mary. Do you see what I’ve been talking about now? You’ve gotta put yourself out there more. Who knows? You could have a boyfriend by Christmas.”

The thought makes me warm inside. Me? A boyfriend?

“You need to quit with this whole meek routine. This bumbling shy shit. You’re not twelve years old anymore. You’re seventeen!” Her eyes go to my chest. “Look. You’ve got boobs. And guys love boobs!”

“Quit it!” I say, laughing, and wrap my arms around myself.

Kat shakes her head. “I won’t quit it. Own the fact that you’re a smoking hot girl who any guy would want.” I open my mouth to say something like No guys want me!, but Kat shoots me a look, so I keep my mouth shut.

But really. They don’t. At least they never have before.

Or maybe it’s that I’ve never even tried to get a boy to notice me. A boy who wasn’t Reeve Tabatsky.

It takes me until we reach the front of the line to work up the courage to sneak another look at mummy boy again. He’s still looking at me, and this time he doesn’t play it off like he’s not. He gives me a sweet smile.

I manage to give him one quick smile back before I totally lose my nerve.

But it’s something!

There are two huge strobe lights going at the very entrance of the maze, flashing so fast it makes it nearly impossible to see what’s right beyond the first bales of hay. We take a couple of steps inside, to the first big intersection. You can go left or right, or keep heading straight.

Kat grabs my hand. “You’re freezing.” She pulls me along with her to the left. “Now, stick close to me. Suckers are going to jump—”

Right then two ghouls leap from the shadows. I scream and start laughing, while Kat practically leaps into my arms.

“Personal space, ass**le!” she screams at the ghouls.

“Are you okay?” I ask her. “Do you want to go back through the entrance?”

She gives me a face like I’m being stupid. “They caught me by surprise, is all. Come on. This shit is going to get tiring real fast. And the sooner we get to the end, the sooner we can hook back up with Ricky and the guys.”

I pat her on the back. “O-kay, Sister Katherine.”

We only take a few steps before I feel someone come up alongside us as if she were part of our group. Kat notices her too, and we both turn and look. This is an older woman, but she’s dressed up like a little girl in a blue dress, white lacetrimmed socks, and black velvet buckle shoes. She’s carrying around a doll covered in fake blood, and she holds it up to us. “My dolly’s sick!” she cries in a weird, whiny voice. “Help my dolly!”

Kat lets out a shriek I didn’t know she was capable of, high and shrill and raw. She drops my hand and takes off running.

“Kat!” I’m laughing so hard I can’t breathe. “Kat!”

I push my way in the direction Kat ran off, but it’s hard with all the other people in the maze. I take a left, then a right, and head straight right into a wall. I walk backward out, and someone taps me on the shoulder. “Kat?” I say, but it’s just a psychotic farmer wearing bloodstained overalls and carrying a pitchfork. I mean, another one of the workers.

He spins me around, and when I take a step forward, I realize I have zero idea where I’ve come from and where to go next.

“This way, you guys!” a girl’s voice calls out.

It’s not Kat. It’s Lillia.

I stumble in the direction of her voice, but it’s hard to tell exactly where she is, with the music and the other people screaming and laughing.

I take a couple of turns, but I don’t hear Lillia again. It’s dizzying, and the flashing strobe lights are starting to give me a headache. I shout, “Kat? Kat?”

Another ghoul jumps out at me, and this time I scream. He grabs my arm and tries to keep me from getting away from him. I shake him free and quicken my pace down a long maze alley. I need to find Kat. I don’t want to go through this thing alone. It’s definitely way scarier when you’re all by yourself. And Kat’s probably having a heart attack right now, for all I know.

I take another left and walk for a few feet until I hit a deadend hay wall. I shake out my hands, take a deep breath, and try to calm myself down. Am I ever going to get out of here?

Then I turn around and run right into Reeve Tabatsky.

I mean that literally. I run right smack into his chest. The force sends me stumbling backward a step. Reeve’s crutches clatter down on the ground, and he totally loses his balance with his bum leg. Thankfully the maze alley we are in is narrow, and one of the hay walls breaks his fall and keeps him from hitting the ground.

“Shit,” he says.

“I . . . I didn’t see you,” I say, breathless.

“Are you okay?”

It takes me by total surprise, Reeve asking me this. My cheeks heat up bright, but I lean down and pick up his crutches for him so he won’t see it.

“Don’t worry about me,” I say, the words tumbling out of my mouth super fast and nervous. I can’t believe I’m finally face-to-face with Reeve, having an actual normal conversation with him. After all these years, here we are. I straighten up and ask him, “How’s your leg?” Reeve doesn’t take the crutches from me, so I lean them against the hay wall for when he’s ready.

He says, “It’s fine,” but I don’t believe him. He looks like he’s in serious pain. I can see it all over his face. His teeth clench as he bends over to check his black soft cast and adjust the Velcro straps.

“Should, um, I get someone to help you?” I take a step back and give him some room. I hope I haven’t messed up any of the progress he’s made in the pool.

“No, don’t,” he says, quiet. Reeve pushes a hand through his hair, composing himself. He says with a groan, “It’s my own fault for coming to this stupid maze anyway.” He reaches for his crutches, slides them under his arms.

I can tell he’s about to walk away from me, but I don’t want him to. I’m not ready for this moment to be over. Not yet. It’s like when we rode the ferry together. I’d wish and wish and wish the ride could last a little bit longer. Even a minute longer.