The next morning, Jazz Mina's scream echoed across the quad—just like the opening scene of Scream.
Zara ran toward the sound, finding Jazz collapsed against the cheerleading locker room door. Inside, Miguel Lopez was pinned to the wall, the axe driven through his chest so hard it had cracked the brick. His eyes were wide with terror, and his mouth was stuffed full of live cockroaches—his greatest fear made real.
Above him, spray-painted in what smelled like blood: "FOR IKE—THE FIRST TO FALL."
A phone on the floor buzzed. Zara picked it up—Vince's name flashed on the screen, and a voice message played aloud: "Jazz, where are you? Miguel's not answering—we need to talk about what we did to Ike."
The lights flickered out. When they came back on, the axe was gone. Through the broken window, Zara saw the oni figure standing in the rain, axe dripping red. It tilted its head, then disappeared.
Kairos appeared beside her, his hands shaking. "I saw it," he whispered. "The mask… I've seen it before. In my brother's things."