But the closer I leaned, the more sure I was. The letters swooped and swayed and dipped into the shape I was so familiar with. Angry Elephant.

I could hear Jayelle’s voice. I peeked over my shoulder and saw her coming closer to the dressing table, still patting herself down and ranting about missing something that the star needed immediately.

Time to boogie.

I didn’t give it any more thought. I reached into the bag and snatched out the matchbook, ignoring what felt like tingles of electricity shooting through my palm. I closed my fist around it and left, going the opposite way of where Jayelle was coming from and hoping that I wouldn’t run into Celeste Day on my way out.

I stole around the costume rack and into a hallway that was painted all black, even the ceiling, and I felt like I’d been thrust into a tunnel. The walls felt very close. I could still hear Jayelle’s voice, and then Celeste’s too, and I thought maybe I heard the word floater and I hurried through the hall, one hand clutching the matchbook and the other running along the wall.

The hallway took a sharp turn and I could see a lobby at the end, which housed the front double doors. It let out onto a different parking lot from where Chris was waiting, but I felt like I could more easily get to the car unnoticed outside than in.

I picked up my pace and was almost at a run when I popped out the end of the hallway.

And right into a chest.

The matchbook flew out of my hands and skidded across the floor, bumping to a stop against the wall. “Shit,” I breathed, scrambling for it.

I snatched it up, and it wasn’t until I straightened that I saw who I’d run into.

It was the belt buckle I recognized first.

Mustard. Candy cane.

Holy crap.

I slowly raised my eyes, only to find myself staring into a pair of eyes so pale blue they almost looked light gray. The white-blond-haired man. The one who’d been driving the truck. My heart squeezed until I felt as if I couldn’t breathe.

His jaw tightened, and then he said, in a cold, threatening voice, “Nikki,” sending waves of chills up my spine that almost knocked me over. He started to reach for me, and I jumped back.

“Where is she?” I asked. My hand trembled around the matchbook, and I pressed my fingers in on it tighter. “Luna?” The word scraped out of my throat like shards of glass.

His lips curled up in a growl over his perfect and blindingly white teeth. “You shouldn’t have follow—”

“Director?”

A young man wearing a headset had come into the lobby from a different hallway. We both jumped.

The man turned toward the voice and then back to me.