Empire High Betrayal(70)

I stepped around a pond in the foyer with red water in it. “A blood bath?”

Kennedy laughed and then screamed as a skeleton swung down from the ceiling on our way to the ballroom.

“God.” I pushed the skeleton to the side. “I’m going to have a heart attack tonight.” And then I screamed when a fog machine kicked on.

Kennedy grabbed my arm. “We should have had Matt walk with us.”

“He told me to wait for him in the ballroom. Something about making an entrance.”

“I thought he was joking about that. You really have no idea what he’s dressing up as?”

I shook my head. “Are those eyes following us?” I pointed to a row of portraits that weren’t normally in the hall.

“This is giving me the creeps.” Kennedy stepped closer and then backed up, hitting me. “Yeah, there’s definitely people behind those. Stop staring at us!”

One of the pictures blinked and we both screamed. Kennedy started running down the hall.

“Wait for me!” Something popped out of a coffin leaning against the wall. But I was running too fast to even see what it was.

Kennedy stopped and I almost ran into her.

“Oh wow,” she said. “It’s even more amazing than I’d heard.”

The “Enter if You Dare” sign above our heads looked like it was written in blood. But beyond the double doors into the ballroom was a completely different vibe. The whole ballroom floor was covered in fog. There was a huge thing that looked like a witch’s cauldron in the corner. But it was actually a stage for the DJ. The smoke was bubbling from the top of it, pouring out over the room, reaching towards every corner of the ballroom.

There were lights running up the sides of the walls that looked like floating ghosts. Every inch of the ceiling was covered in interwoven spider webs. And black crystal spiders hung down from them. The bar in the corner had rows and rows of goblets filled to the brim of some red signature drink. Gold candelabras held tall white candles that were dripping wax. And the bar itself was a nod to the old Hollywood theme. It was wrapped in what looked like huge video film, each piece of film splattered with red shiny fake blood. There was a pumpkin patch in the corner filled with white pumpkins with gold stems that looked like they doubled as seats for when people grew tired from dancing. All of it was hauntingly beautiful.

“Maybe I won’t have a heart attack after all,” I said with a laugh. “It’s almost pretty.”

“It really is. I bet this is how your wedding is going to be. Like so over the top amazing. I can’t even wait!”

I hoped my wedding reception didn’t look just like this. It was still a little scary. I didn’t want the main theme of my wedding to be horror.

Guests started coming in through the doors behind us. There were gasps of appreciation. And the DJ started with some light music as waiters dressed as zombified old-fashioned movie attendants flooded the floor holding trays of hors d’oeuvres. I tried to avoid the zombie waiters because they looked like they really did just rise from the dead to come eat human flesh.

“Look, there’s Felix!” Kennedy said and waved him over.

He was wearing the signature bandana of the boy from Karate Kid on his forehead. But otherwise he was just wearing a gray sweatshirt and a pair of worn jeans.

“You two went all out,” he said and gave us each a hug. “You look great, newb. And Kennedy, you look amazing.”

I looked back and forth between them. He’d said I looked great. But he said Kennedy looked amazing. Amazing! Had she caught that too? I knew that Kennedy said she liked Rob. But I was pretty sure she loved Felix.

Kennedy shrugged. “Thanks, weirdo. I’d tell you the same, but you barely even tried.” She waved her hand in front of his sweatshirt.

“Hey, the karate kid wore a sweatshirt at some point in the movie,” Felix said.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked.

He laughed. “No, I’m not positive. You got me.” He looked up at the spider webbed ceiling. “This is insane.” He let his gaze drop back down to me. “So this is your new home, huh?”

“At least until Isabella graduates. I don’t really know what will happen after that.” It was strange that Matt and I hadn’t talked about it. We were going to be married. A fact that I was still getting used to hearing out loud. So then what? I thought about the apartment that my dad had saved for me. That seemed like a good place to go. Would Matt’s parents let him move out? Would my dad allow it?

My dad. I bit the inside of my lip. I hadn’t seen my dad all week. Just a few phone calls with him checking in. I figured dropping the news about my wedding date would be better done in person. So I hadn’t gotten a chance to tell him yet. But I really needed to soon. Justin was probably already calling him for details. Shit. My dad approved of Matt as a second choice to Mason. I still got the feeling that he was hoping I’d change my mind though. And the whole mobster thing? I felt the distance between us. And not telling him that we’d picked a date wasn’t helping anything. I wished he really would walk through the doors dressed like Al Pacino in The Godfather. At least then it would confirm my suspicions and I could actually talk to him.

“Earth to Brooklyn,” Kennedy said and waved her hand in front of my face.

“What?”