The brakes on the old bus squealed in protest as Miss Olsen pressed the pedal to the floor. The sign directing all passers-by to the Happydale Corn Maze was barely visible in the rapidly fading sunlight.

Fourteen-year-old Jill Martin sat alone, staring out her window at the ancient trees that formed the hedgerow beside the road. Her best friend, Evie Jacobs, sat in the seat in front of her, and close to Evie-too close for Jill’s comfort-was Nathan McKinley, Evie’s sixteen-year-old boyfriend.

Jill glared at the back of their heads for a moment and turned her attention back to the blurry world outside the bus.

This is stupid, she thought. Why are we doing this? Corn mazes are boring. They’re not really mazes, because you can’t get lost. She glared at Nathan’s bushy brown head. And why did he have to come? He’s not even a freshman. Shouldn’t he be off doing some jock thing?
Nathan was captain of the Grinville High basketball team. He had a huge following of teenage girls who flocked to all of his games, but the only girl he ever really talked to was Evie.

Jill rolled her eyes, muttering, “Stupid jock.”
“I’ve never been to a corn maze before,” Millicent Montgomery, the school nerd, said timidly from the back of the bus. “I hope we don’t get lost.”
“We won’t get lost, Millicent,” Jill shook her head.
“How do you know?” Millicent fretted. “You don’t know! You’ve never been to a corn maze!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nathan laughed, looking back Millicent. “They hand out maps before you even get into the maze.”

Satisfied, Millicent sat back in her seat and smiled brightly.
Stupid chess player, Jill thought to herself. I just said the same thing. But, no. It doesn’t matter what I say. What do I know? If Nathan says it’s all right, it’ll be all right.
She crossed her arms and sank deeper into her seat.
“I don’t know, though,” Nathan chortled under his breath to Evie. “Getting lost might be kind of fun.”

“Don’t even joke, Nathan,” Evie shoved him gently.
Jill made a gagging noise and glared out the window.
As the hedgerow ended, Jill could see far across an empty field where a large, imposing structure stood against the flaming horizon. In spite of the dim light, Jill could see tall fences crowned with barbed wire surrounding the building. At the four corners of the structure were tall towers, each equipped with a giant spotlight.
“Wow,” Jill heard Nathan whisper suddenly. “What’s that?”
Jill smirked devilishly, “Don’t you know, Nate? That’s the Happydale Asylum.”
“I’d heard of it,” Nathan commented, “but I didn’t know what it looked like.”
“Asylum?” Evie peered over the seat at her friend, her blue eyes wide. “You mean, like, where they keep crazy people?”
“Um-hm,” Jill nodded slowly. “The state keeps all the psychos there. You know. The ones who go postal and kill everyone in sight?”
“They’re in there?” Evie’s eyes grew wider.