Chapter 14

 

Serah and Grady reached the end of the path.

With the farmhouse behind them, they crossed a main road. Reds and yellows glowed from the other end of the street. Strings of lanterns hung from the porch roof of a two-story home.

They followed the porch, which wrapped around the side of the house, to where it ended in a backyard.

Serah took in a lungful of air, certain she hadn’t breathed since she’d first seen the colored lights. More lanterns, round as globes but made of paper, dangled from clotheslines and cords stretched across trees.

“You didn’t tell me Smyrna has a tradition of lighting lanterns on Halloween, too, Grady,” she whispered.

With a laugh, he answered, “I wouldn’t call it a tradition, exactly, but yeah, we have jack-o’-lanterns and stuff. And party lights, so we can see instead of tripping over ourselves in the dark.”

“Is that what you call this?” Serah pointed to one of the paper lanterns that was purple. “A jack-o’-lantern?”

“Um, no,” he said, slowly, scanning the backyard. “But I could probably find one for you.”

She twisted her face, confused.

“Hey, it’s Grady!” A creature that was part man, part wolf approached, then slapped a paw across Grady’s back. “It’s about time you got here. Ooh, and you brought a date.”

A half dozen heads turned toward them. Serah took a step backward; her shoulders stiffened. She’d been so awed by the lanterns she hadn’t taken notice of the people there—or what they were wearing.

The man-wolf wriggled his brows. “What’s your name, lovely?”

“Knock it off, Mason,” said Grady. He narrowed his eyes. “I was hoping you could tell me who this is. I found her on our property. She says her name is Sara.”

Mason frowned. “I’ve no clue, man.”

This is Mason? The friend Grady said I look the most like?

Serah looked back and forth across the yard, and shuddered. More of the guests were watching now—some with fangs poking through blood-red lips, others with grins quirked on painted faces. Instead of plain clothes like hers and Grady’s, there were pops of fabric and paint in garish shades of violet and red, some spotted and striped like the animals her father mentioned while telling tales.

A young lady with cat ears poking up from the top of her head threw an arm around Mason. She brushed a handful of dark locks off her shoulder. “Stop scaring the poor girl,” she purred.

She examined Serah from head to hemline before raising a brow at Grady.

“What, Abigail?” he said.

“Nice costumes.” She snickered and looked back at Serah. “Welcome to my party. So, how long have you two been…a thing?”

Serah frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“You know…” Abigail dropped her arm from Mason and took his hand. “A couple.”

Blushing, Serah lowered her eyes. She noticed Abigail’s shoes were spotted at the toes with painted cat claws. “We’re not betrothed or engaged,” she said.

She looked up when Abigail cackled.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Abigail,” warned Grady. He frowned. “For whatever reason, she likes to stay in character. Which of you put her up to it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The prank in the woods,” he said, his voice tinged with anger.

Abigail and Mason shared a puzzled glance.

“Like I said, I don’t know, man.” Mason squeezed Abigail’s hand. “Or are you messing with us?”

More heads turned as guests began surrounding the two couples facing each other in the yard.

“I don’t want to fight you—I want to know what’s going on.” Grady looked at Serah, who was on the verge of tears.

Her eyes darted back and forth at the party guests—ghouls, monsters with gashes that dripped lifelike blood; girls who looked like grown-up dolls, with bare stomachs and skirts much shorter than Serah’s.

I don’t belong here. I’ll never belong here, and now I’m causing trouble for Grady. He doesn’t believe me, and he doesn’t want to believe his friends.

Slowly, she took a step backward, then another as Mason and Grady squared off, staring at one another.

“Don’t ruin my party, Grady,” Abigail hissed. “Whatever you think you’re doing, it’s not entertaining.”

Serah’s stomach twisted. She pressed her hands to her middle where she felt the rumblings from her gut. The scent of roasted meat grabbed her attention. Her mouth watered. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she’d last eaten.

The table she’d nearly backed into held plates of sliced meats and cheeses, bread, salads, and foods Serah had never seen before. She lowered her nose to funny-shaped cakes dotted with raisins. They smelled of cinnamon and sugar. She reached out to take one when she noticed a bowl. Her hand froze in midair, and a jolt of nausea overpowered her hunger pangs. The bowl was filled with eyeballs floating in red liquid.

She brought her hand to her lips. The plate next to the floating eyeballs was stacked with cubes of brown cake. Fat worms, marbled with yellow, red, and green colors, surrounded the squares and were scattered over top of them. A hand reached up out of a basket filled with candy.

I can’t eat food like this. She missed Gelsey’s cooking and the warmth of the furnace. She missed Havenbrim.

Serah shrugged inside the woolen cloak and looked back at the crowd of partygoers surrounding Grady, Mason, and Abigail. The two young men were still arguing with one another—because of her.

“That doesn’t explain how I saw her inside the lantern, Mason!” Grady’s face was red and the guests were excitedly murmuring to one another.

Serah sighed.

Her head snapped in the direction of a princess wearing a tiara and layers of beaded jewelry, who was explaining that Grady’s girlfriend would be cute if she didn’t have such squinty eyes. Another girl laughed, which shook her rainbow-colored pigtails.

Serah’s fingertips skimmed across the locket. If I go, he won’t have to worry about me anymore. He’ll still have his friends.

She jumped at a roar of sound that strongly resembled music. Bass beats quickened her heartbeat, making her arms and legs want to jump around. Other guests had given in to the feeling, and were cheering as they bounced and swayed to the music. The circle around Grady and Mason scattered into pairs and smaller groups.

I should join them—at least make an attempt to fit in, she thought, her head spinning. To show I’m trying. To see if they will accept me. But she was so weak from hunger and thirst.

Her knees buckled. Colors blurred as she sank to the ground.

The girl with the rainbow hair stopped bouncing and screamed.

“Quick, get her some water!”

Serah thought she saw Abigail through the haze in front of her. The edge of a cup reached her lips. “Drink this,” someone said.

She sipped. The cool liquid was sweeter than honey. She pressed a hand to her lips to trap droplets that threatened to dribble down her chin.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Her stomach twisted at the red film that stained the bottom of the cup—the same ghastly red of the substance in which the eyeballs floated.

“Can you stand?”

“Yes,” she said, recognizing Grady’s voice.

“What happened?”

Serah shrugged.

“She’s dehydrated, obviously,” said Abigail. “Come on, bring her over here and give her more fluids. When she’s feeling better, we should play a party game.”

Grady sat down and crossed his arms.

“I’m sorry I ruined everything,” Serah said, trying to ignore the whispers behind them.

He exhaled a sharp breath. “No one will explain what’s going on. You’re as weak as if you’d actually been inside a lantern without food or water for days. And you act like someone from a different world. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”