Ghost (The Halloween Boys #1) (69)

The apparition rippled and spoke. “Do you want to play hide and seek?”

The question caught me off guard. I thumbed at the cool pendent on my neck. “Um, sure?”

The echoey laugh of several people, men and women, young and old, brought goosebumps to my arms. “I hear you’re good at this game, Tree Talker.”

Something moved and caught my attention. When I looked back, the being was gone. “Hey, you didn’t say who’s turn it is. Am I hiding or seeking?” My voice fell flat beneath the willow. I was alone again. My breath caught in my chest. That was one spooky and high-tech costume, that’s for sure. Whoever was on the inside of it was probably laughing their ass off right now at how scared I must have looked. But the necklace . . . It felt heavy and solid. It had to have been some sort of prop or stage jewelry. I needed to get out from the heavy curtain of the tree. Taking a deep breath on the other side, I power walked toward the populated concert area. The band played a Halloween tune now, and people were laughing and clapping along. My mood lifted with every step forward. I looked down at my necklace again before stopping slowly.

The crowd around me had dissipated, and a low fog crept into the space. I took a step backwards and my shoulder blades hit something solid. Turning, I suppressed the urge to scream. The most realistic werewolf mask I’d ever seen stared back at me from a muscular and tall form. When I looked back, another man was standing next to him. His mask was serpentine and snake-like, yet more. He was a dragon.

And the dragon spoke, addressing me. “Don’t fuck with the spirits. They’re . . . unpredictable.”

“I’m just on my way out,” I replied, trembling. Just then, the fog parted and he appeared. Ghost stepped up right beside me. Something in me felt fear but also hope that he would protect me from these guys who encircled me.

“Ah, the willow ghost is harmless.” Ghost spoke for the first time. “Mostly. Just don’t let it talk you into a game,” the wolf man purred, smirking. How was a wolf mask smirking and speaking? The other wolves weren’t like this one . . . yet there was something familiar about all of their voices.

Everything inside my mind screamed at me with the answer.

I shot him a quick glance. “What happens if I did agree to a game?”

Before he could reply, the dragon spoke. “It’s time to do this.”

“Do what?” I asked, alarmed. “Wait.” I looked around at the several pairs of eyes that stared us down. “Are you The . . . Halloween Boys?”

Ghost simply stepped backwards. “Not yet.”

“You’re outvoted on this one,” the dragon man argued. “If what she said is true, this isn’t fun and games anymore.”

I turned to see Ghost backing away into the woods. “No,” I said, pacing after him. “You’re not just going to walk away.”

But he did. And by the time I made it to into the foggy, dark forest, I’d lost sight of him. I should have known better than to go chasing my masked stalker into the isolated woods. And a few weeks ago, I never would have dared. I would have run to my car in fear. On this night, I wore a tight black mini dress with fishnets and my lacy black fox mask. If I’d chosen a disguise based on how I arrived in Ash Grove, it would have been a timid rabbit, the opposite from a clever fox. I’d run my whole life. I’d watched my mother destroy herself with men and substances, and I did and said nothing. The night my mother died, I was too much of a coward to even call the police. I walked into the house and my stepfather was drinking a beer with blood on his hands. When I screamed over her lifeless body, he shrugged and lazily dialed the police. A rehearsed dance. Suicide. Like hell it was. But did I tell the cops when they interviewed me? No. I lied. I protected him because I was afraid of him. I stayed because I was afraid of him trying to find me. I thought the Devil I could see was better than the one I couldn’t. I’d go to college pretending to believe his story of how my mom died and I’d never look back. I had no other family or friends to rely on. Where would I have even gone?

When he charged for me, the bravest thing I ever did was grab a knife instead of curling up into a ball as he beat and killed me, too. When he bled out on the floor, I didn’t feel triumph or a surge of power and bravery. Funny how it didn’t erase the fear it just . . . paralyzed it. It was why I stayed and stared at his cold, lifeless body for two days before I split. And because I was so afraid, I’d gaslit myself into questioning those two days over and over. Was he sleeping and pretending? Did I really stay two days, or two hours? I didn’t want it to be true. Something so horrific couldn’t possibly be real outside of horror films and scary stories.

But something happened. Something against all acts of God and laws of nature. The fucker came back to life . . . somehow. And he’d been chasing me ever since. And like the scared bunny I’d always been, I hopped away into whatever hole I could find until he came sniffing.

And then I came here, and I met Ames and his friends: Yesenia, witches, vampires, pirates and crows, the skeleton man . . . Ghost.

And I’d never felt more alive. I'd found my home amongst monsters.

I was done running. I was a fox now.

And now I was chasing the monster who’d been following me at Hallows. Wordlessly creeping behind me, watching, only ever offering a dance.

The stories I’d heard were infamous. They said he was the worst of the worst.