Nina promptly introduced Max to her coworkers. There were so many of them that Max had to resort to mentally matching their names to their costumes in order to remember each person.

Aracelie, the short, curvaceous zombie, was a director from another department that worked closely with Nina's team.

Vaughn, the tall, burly, smug-looking werewolf, was a manager, like Nina, who worked in Aracelie's department.

Ty, Krista, and Yukari—who opted to dress up as rock, paper, and scissors, respectively—were analysts working under Nina. They all wore glasses. Ty had on a pair of thick black frames, Krista wore round glasses with thin gold rims, and Yukari sported a pair of trendy oversized transparent frames. The three of them were the happiest to see Nina, and Nina appeared equally excited to be in their company.

And then there was Sergei, who appeared to be dressed up as... Sergei. Max noticed he was the only one in the group who hadn't come in costume and didn't specify exactly what he did at Ascension. His job seemed to have something to do with accounting, though.

Or was it tech support?

The guy's voice was soft and mumbly, and the crowds around them were quite loud. Max struggled to hear him over the chatter.

Still, most of Nina's colleagues seemed chill, even Sergei, who was definitely a character. Only Vaughn gave off a hint of a bad vibe. There was something about his appearance and swagger that reminded Max of his old high school nemesis, Ryan Dugger. Max immediately tried to shake off the feeling. He had just barely met the guy, after all.

How bad could Vaughn be if he was part of Nina's social circle at work?

As the eight of them started walking together towards the entrance to the haunted house, Vaughn glanced down at Max and Nina's interlocked hands.

His blue eyes flicked towards Max with a slight frown. "You two together or something?"

For once, Nina didn't rush in to deny or even clarify their relationship. Instead, she, too, looked to Max almost expectantly. Curiosity settled across her features. He tightened his grip around her hand. Max didn't want to stretch the truth, but something in Vaughn's accusatory tone made him deeply uncomfortable.

It triggered him to respond very firmly, "We're living together if that's what you're asking."

Vaughn's expression soured for a moment before brightening again. "Wait a minute, do I know your face from somewhere? Oh, shit! Are you one of the Wilder brothers? Dude, I love your channel!"

Max glared. "I used to work with them, but my name is Max. Max Weiser. Not Wilder."

Vaughn turned to Aracelie and snickered unpleasantly. "Can you believe this? Nina's dating an honest-to-goodness YouTuber!"

Ty, Krista, and Yukari watched them with tense, worried expressions. Sergei was the only one who seemed unaffected by the drama. He was tapping away on his phone.

"I don't see anything wrong with it, Vaughn, if they're happy together. Leave them be," Aracelie said with a sigh. She cast an apologetic look in Nina's direction. "Come on, why don't we head inside?"

Nina held Aracelie's gaze for a second longer than necessary before she agreed curtly, "Yeah, let's go.

Nina pulled on Max's hand and brushed past Vaughn as though the guy didn't even exist. Max felt baffled. The Nina he knew wouldn't have backed down from an asshole like Vaughn. Max wondered why she was acting so withdrawn all of a sudden.

The rest of the group trailed behind Max and Nina as they made their way towards the main entrance to the house. Two large, heavy wooden arched doors were propped open for guests to enter. Two workers donning Victorian-era butler and maid costumes were collecting tickets by the doorway. Max handed over their tickets, and they were allowed to go inside.

Before the others caught up to them, Max wanted to ask Nina about what her deal was with Vaughn, but all rational thought faded the moment he took in the foyer of the Rothamsted Mystery House.

The interior was dimly lit with dark, moody crimson wallpaper and dusty-looking furniture that looked like they belonged to another era. A rickety-looking chandelier dangled above his head. Goosebumps trickled across Max's skin. Nina shuffled closer to him until their sides were touching. Guests in creepy masks, spooky costumes, and scary face paint surrounded them in all directions.

Aracelie, Vaughn, and Sergei disappeared into the crowd behind Max and Nina right as Ty, Krista, and Yukari jogged over to them. Yukari gave Nina a comforting pat on the shoulder and muttered something along the lines of, "Don't let that jackass get you down."

Max could only guess that she was referring to Vaughn. Ty started gushing excitedly to Nina about the demonic vibes and satanic aesthetics of the mansion. Krista said nothing and simply huddled up next to Nina with a strained, awestruck expression. The poor girl's soul looked ready to exit her body.

They followed the masses through the foyer down a long corridor into a massive ballroom. Suddenly, the door to a small closet swung open, and a woman in ghostly makeup dressed in a tattered Victorian-styled dress burst out. She screamed bloody murder at them before disappearing back inside the closet. People around them yelped and shrieked. Ty laughed in delight. Yukari, Krista, and Nina wailed in terror. Max had jumped at the scare, but he managed to hold onto his man card by tampering down his desire to cry out to an almost inaudible whimper. He did, however, clench onto Nina's hand for dear life, and she had grasped onto him with the same amount of desperation.

They made it up the grand staircase to the second floor. As the five of them wandered in and out of the bedrooms, they suffered quite a few more scares from actors and actresses dressed like evil Victorian spirits. At this point, Max's senses were on high alert, and his skin felt clammy and cold. Yukari didn't seem well at all, Krista was a blubbering mess, and Nina looked as pale as a ghost. He simply didn't understand why anyone, except for maybe Ty—that crazy bastard—would pay for tickets to put themselves through this kind of torture.

After what felt like an eternity in purgatory, Max, Nina, and her three coworkers finally made it through the entire fucking house. Their group emerged from the back entrance in far worse shape than they had entered. Half the feathers from Nina's angel wings had fallen off, and Max's devil horns were askew on his head. Araceli, Vaughn, and Sergei appeared a few minutes later looking decidedly haggard as well. At this point, only Ty was smiling.

Vaughn invited all of them to go to another Halloween party at his friend's house, but everyone declined. After making small talk for about ten more minutes, Max and Nina said goodbye to her coworkers and headed out.

Once they were a safe distance away from her colleagues, Nina apologized to Max.

"Holy shit," she whispered in a hollow-sounding voice. "Never again! Never the fuck again! I can't believe I let Ty talk me into doing this. I'm so sorry for putting you through that hellish experience, Max!"

He chuckled uneasily. "It's fine, but, next time, can I be the one to make our Halloween plans?"

"Deal!" she agreed without any hesitation. "That was so horrible! I hated every minute of it!"

She gave his hand a squeeze. It was then Max realized that Nina was still letting him hold her hand as they neared the parking lot. His heart did a happy, celebratory cartwheel in his chest.

Maybe this nerve-racking night hadn't been for nothing, after all?

Max gently caressed Nina's palm with his thumb. He felt happy about this small victory. The night was over. He could go home with Nina now. The tension in Max's muscles melted away as he slowly let his guard down—

That was when Max sighted a man in a gorilla mask by his truck.

The stranger was walking towards the Rothamsted Mystery House with a girl in a banana suit. Common sense told Max that the couple was perfectly harmless, but his cartwheeling heart did a quick one-eighty. Gone was his bliss. Gone was his sense of victory. Max's pulse began to pound abnormally fast. His breathing grew ragged. It wasn't even a monkey mask, but, in that moment, his consciousness was hurled back to his sixteen-year-old self.

Max was back in Temecula. He was curled up in a fetal position on the asphalt. The gang of masked assailants wouldn't stop, kicking and pummeling his aching body until he lost the will to fight back. Max wanted to puke. The coppery taste of blood flooded his mouth. His face was fucked up. His flesh was bruised. His bones felt battered and broken. Max squeezed his eyes shut to block out the memories, but they wouldn't stop. They wouldn't fucking stop.

The shadowy phantoms from his past just kept laughing and hurting him and laughing and hurting him...