Bright lights buzzed overhead, casting distorted shadows across the carnival grounds, where rides groaned and creaked like ancient beasts unwilling to sleep. Tom's voice cut through the din, low and steady, as if the weight of what he was saying demanded gravity.

“My brother knew he was about to d—” Tom’s voice faltered, his eyes gleaming with a strange intensity under the flicker of the neon lights. He swallowed, then continued, “Two things made it very clear to him—that he and his friends had made a terrible mistake sneaking to the carnival that night against the headmaster’s wishes.”

Tom leaned forward, voice dropping to a whisper that demanded listening. “First was the moment he realized his friends were vanishing, one by one, without a trace.”

A wind picked up, rustling loose scraps of paper across the midway. The flashing lights of the Ferris wheel painted fractured patterns across Tom’s face.

“What Mattheo didn’t know,” Tom said, his voice tightening, “was that they’d all been chased and eventually caught—by the second thing that told him he was about to d—” He stopped again, lips pressing into a hard line.

Tom’s gaze flickered toward the carnival’s crown jewel: the mirror maze, its entrance shimmering like a liquid dream under pulsating lights. “A clown with a weird smile was watching him,” Tom said grimly, “through a mirror as he tried to find his way out. But he didn’t find it.”

The image hung between them—Mattheo lost, reflections stretching endlessly around him, each one distorting his desperate face.

“That clown had already captured a dozen students from the castle, including his friends. And now it was after him.” Tom paused, the weight of the words sinking in. “What Mattheo didn’t know was that I was the one who summoned it.”

The confession landed like a stone dropped into still water, rippling outward.

Somewhere, deep within the maze, the faint flicker of movement caught Tom’s eye—or perhaps it was just a trick of the light.

Mattheo wasn’t the only one the clown had its eyes on.