Some roller coasters had a relatively large booth flanking the exit, and, inside, pictures of people riding the roller coaster flipped through several screens. Among the old televisions sat a bored staff member whose tired eyes trailed on the customers walking by, waiting for some to come buy the said pictures. But not many did.  

The roller coaster Annabelle’s group was on just so happened to offer that service. The teenager thus dashed to the booth as soon as the safety harness was lifted, even forgetting to take back her belongings that had been safely stored.

The horns were pretty and all but too dangerous to wear during the ride.    

Once at the booth, Annabelle was out of breath. Still, she burst out laughing when she saw the pictures, slapping her thighs in delight. Everyone’s faces were priceless!

In the row of five seats, they sat next to each other in this order: Bastien, Iris, Jules, Annabelle, and Melody. They all had an expression that couldn’t be more different. That was to say, Bastien was laughing his lungs out; Iris was glaring at Jules; Jules looked bored out of his mind; Annabelle was screaming; Melody had her eyes tightly shut, gripping the safety harness for her dear life. In short, it was quite the picture.

When her brother finally met up with her, holding the bag and horns she had forgotten, Annabelle peered at him and fluttered her long eyelashes. No need to be a genius to understand what she wanted.

“…Fine. How much?” Jules sighed, pulling his wallet out.

“You don’t have to bother,” chuckled Bastien, who was waving his premium ticket. “This little ticket of mine includes three free pictures. Iris, Melody, do you also want one?”

Iris pretended to be deaf while Melody hesitated for a second before nodding shyly.

“Then I’ll have three, please.”

Soon enough, the staff handed the pictures over, and Annabelle snatched hers, bringing it to her chest as if afraid that someone would steal it. Not long after, she stood on tiptoe and stretched her neck to kiss Bastien on the cheek, giggling:

“Thank you so much! I swear I’ll treasure it!”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” Bastien laughed, ruffling the girl’s hair. “What’s next?”

“The haunted house, of course! And you’re coming with us! You wouldn’t let us poor, defenseless little girls go into such a scary place alone, right?”

Jules flinched but didn’t comment. The idea of visiting a fake haunted house felt odd, though he would never admit it aloud. He just hoped his reflexes wouldn’t kick in. Accidentally beheading a staff member would be a little hard to explain to his superiors, to say the least.

After loitering around a bit more, the group thus walked to the entrance of the haunted house. It was hidden in the middle of a forest, in the corner of the amusement park. The forest was an old one of pine trees that stood tall, seemingly untouched by humankind. Fog hovered just about the ground and thick branches blocked the sun, making it hard to see the dirt path that wound through the woods and led to the haunted house. If it hadn’t been for the small lamps that enclosed and brightened the path, they’d have missed it.

“This amusement park is famous for its haunted house, I can’t wait to visit it! And did you know that it was their very first attraction? They even bought the lands surrounding the forest and built the amusement park directly next to it! From what I heard, the owner adores everything related to the occult.”

Annabelle paused to smile mischievously.

“A few decades ago, they renovated the centuries-old manor and bought in many things rumored to be cursed over the years. The pamphlet says that all the rooms have been decorated with a particular theme in mind, centered around one peculiar cursed item,” Annabelle explained in an excited voice, bouncing and clapping her hands.

“Charming,” Iris scoffed. “It’s probably just a bunch of lies to trick people into checking it out, anyway. Do you seriously think they would use real cursed objects? Like, come on! If that was the case, people wouldn’t live to tell the tale.”

“Why are you dashing my hopes, you jerk?!”

“Maybe ‘cause I don’t want Melo to faint before we even reach the haunted house?” Iris rolled her eyes, pointing at their friend, whose face was ghastly pale.

“Ah.” Annabelle scratched her cheek, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “If you don’t want to do it, we can do something else. I don’t mind. I’ll just come back another day.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Melody smiled. “A good scare never killed anyone, and we got your brothers with us. So I’m sure I’m gonna be fine. Don’t worry about me!”

“You sure?”

“Yes, of course. Just, well, I hope you won’t get too annoyed if I scream a lot.”

“What? You’re worried about that? Girl, I’m pretty sure I’ll scream even more!”

“I still don’t get why you love to get scared shitless so much,” Iris snorted, already fearing the incoming headaches.

“Tch. You’re the one who’s too stoic.”

While the girls were busy bickering back and forth, Jules took in his surroundings, frowning. Somehow, the woods felt a little too eerie.

At first, he thought that machines were spreading the smoke-like fog, but he still hadn’t noticed any despite walking for over a dozen minutes.

…Could it be natural? No, it wasn’t possible, not with the clear weather.

As questions filled his mind, the manor finally came into view, towering over a murky stream and a narrow wooden bridge. The architecture seemed gothic, with arched windows and grayish-white tiles that had seen better days. Two turrets stood on each side of the imposing building, their blueish pointed tips adorned with a metal cross.  

It was quite an impressive sight, and the atmosphere surrounding the manor was even more impressive, giving chills. 

Crows croaked and shrill screams escaped from the sturdy-looking walls. But the latter wasn’t anything surprising considering it was a haunted house, and a creepy one at that. There were bound to be a few scaredy-cats among the people who dared to brave the haunted house, and these poor souls must have been scared silly.

Near the entrance, two staff members dressed in black and white were smiling and welcoming people. Their appearances seemed to mirror each other, both having an androgynous face and long, black hair tied into a high ponytail, with a little hat clipped to the side of their heads. Their builds were also very similar, but their clothes suggested that they were of different genders.

One wore a fancy suit and the other a doll-like dress with lots of laces and frills. They each had a black tear painted on their pale cheeks and a star covering one eye. All in all, they looked like Pierrot dolls.

In a mechanical-like voice, they told the visitors that the exit would bring them into the courtyard behind the manor. Then, they just had to follow the paved path to return to the amusement park afterward. Of course, if they couldn’t get through the haunted house, there were a few exits along the way they could use.

“Don’t worry, if you don’t feel well, someone will come to your help,” the woman said, her voice soft.

“And the ghosts will stop bothering you as soon as you tell them that you have had enough,” the man added, his gentle smile not reaching his eyes.

Jules half-listened to the staff member’s rambling, distracted by shadows dancing in the woods. He knew that it was the swaying branches and rustling leaves, yet it still felt like something was lurking in their depths.

Shaking his head, Jules told himself not to overthink. Though the place was spooky, it was merely an attraction designed to scare people, nothing to be wary of.

But in the end, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off. Hence, Jules decided to enhance his senses, spreading his awareness all over the area just to put his mind at rest. However, he could not feel any supernatural beings in the vicinity, save for Bastien.

Goddammit, why was he getting that unsettling feeling? It was starting to irritate him.

“Am I the only one, or do you also think that something isn’t quite right?” Bastien whispered just loud enough for Jules to hear. “The air… It smells strange.”

“Strange? How so?”

“It has no particular smell. Or perhaps I should say that I can hardly pick up any human scent at all. ”

“Tell me that’s a joke.”

“Unfortunately, it isn’t. It wasn’t that apparent in the woods because we were still near some of the other attractions, but here… there’s nothing.”

“Shit.”

Jules took out his cell phone, quickly browsing through his contacts to find Cains’s. If he were to report the current situation to the Association, they would take too long to react, those pricks being all about paperwork and not brains. But Jules needed someone to take care of the situation right away, not in a few days. 

Besides, he couldn't ask the Association for reinforcements without mentioning Bastien. Knowing those fools, they would rather attempt to capture the demon than listen to what he had to say.  But fear, to Bastien's kind, smelled something akin to rotten meat. And if a higher being couldn't pick up any scent in an area that should be overflowing with emotions, well...

If anything, it spelled trouble. 

“Tell the girls we’re leaving,” Jules said, his eyes locked on his cell phone as he wrote the coordinates to his colleague, ordering him to come asap.

“That’s what I intended to—fuck!”

“What?”

Lifting his head, Jules barely had the time to catch a glimpse of his sister and her friends before they disappeared behind the massive door. They took their eyes off for a second, just one damn second, but that was long enough for a disaster to occur.