by Sarah Erber
Chapter Seven
Five Minutes
The carved oak door opens and I tiptoe into the warmth of the Victorian-styled living room. Glad to escape the pounding rain, I shut the door, and lean against it for support. Crap, I feel like I ran a marathon. My wet hair lay sleek against my oval face.
“TEMPTATION!”
I jolt backward, slamming the back of my head in the process. As I rub the sore spot, I inwardly curse Aunt Sally. “I know I’m–”
“Alive! Thank goodness you’re alive!” Aunt Sally dashes out of the kitchen, into the dimly lit living room, and asphyxiates me with an affectionate hug.
Uncle Jack comes stomping down the stairs. “Temptation, where have you been? Thank God you’re not hurt!” He rips me from Aunt Sally’s arms and embraces me with such strength, I feel my back popping.
“Uncle Jack? When did you get back and what are you two talking about? I know I’m late, but why wouldn’t I be alive?”
“Two people were killed tonight. The Blares. They were the couple who told your father about Rosewood.” Aunt Sally sniffles into a tissue.
A sick sensation bubbles in the pit of my stomach. “Did they have a daughter in high school?”
“Poor girl.” Uncle Jack shakes his head. “Victoria. Alfred told me how wonderful his daughter is at singing. She has many things in common with you, Temptation.”
What a compliment. I dread the answer to the question that springs from my lips. “Uncle Jack, how did the Blares die?”
“Their throats – completely ripped out. The police think a wild pit-bull is to blame. Rabies maybe.” He shakes his head again before ushering me to the staircase. “Let’s not get into details tonight. You’re alive and that’s what’s most important. Someone found your backpack by the lake. We thought the worst.” His eyes water which causes guilt to flood throughout my body. “You need to get out of those wet things before you catch a cold.”
“Yes, and I need to call the police to tell them we found you.” Aunt Sally bustles back into the kitchen.
I allow Uncle Jack to lead me up the moaning stairs. He leaves me at my bedroom door with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to talk in the morning.
I shut my door behind me and exhale. “The Goblin King and the twins both have good points, but who can I trust?” I shiver. “Crap, I’m freezing.”
In the bathroom, I amble to the side of the tub, and turn on the tap. Steam fills the air, along with the light sent of chamomile, and sandalwood from the bath beads. I strip and sink into the hot water, closing my eyes. My worries melt, while the warmth of the water massages my muscles.
A creaking sound, coming from my bedroom, bolts me out of my daydreaming. Heavy footsteps stop at the bathroom door. The lights flicker.
“Temptation. You in there?” Uncle Jack’s voice echoes through the door.
I sink back into the tub, while my heartbeat returns to its normal pace. “Yeah, Uncle Jack. What’s up?”
“There’s someone here to see you.”
“I’ll be downstairs in a minute, I need to get changed.” Wet feet touch the cool floor as I step out of the tub. Wrapping a royal purple towel around my body, I check my reflection, and then open the door. “What are you doing in my room? Who let you in?”
Herald yanks my hair back to investigate the curve of my neck.
“Get off!” I shove him. “Uncle Jack? Why aren’t you doing anything?” His brown eyes possess a vacancy in their cores. I cannot even see my reflection. His eyes are empty. Dead.
Herald stands next to Uncle Jack.
“You son of a –! What did you do to him?”
“He’s fine. Think of it as sleepwalking. He won’t remember a thing.” Herald reaches out and strokes my wet hair with his clawed hand. “How did you get away from the goblins? More importantly, how did you escape the king?”
I retreat when his hand forms a fist, before dropping to his side. “Why did you allow Victoria’s parents to be murdered?”
“An accident; we’ve never seen the goblins this strong. One clawed Mr. Blare’s throat out,” I remember the recruiter who attacked the goblin. It must have been Mr. Blare. “And the other ripped Mrs. Blare’s neck apart. Answer my question.”
Herald advances on me and I react by stomping on his foot. He releases me with a noisy grunt. Darting into the room, the four-poster bed separates me and Herald. His nails dig into the bedpost, proving how easy it will be to slice into my skin.
“The Goblin King let me go. How can he be as bad as you say if he didn’t hurt me? If he did help kill the Blares, why didn’t he kill me?”
“He’s playing you, Temptation. He wants you to free him!” Herald sneers and points an arched nail at my face. “And the day you try, is the day you’ll die. I won’t let you ruin everything I’ve accomplished in this town; no matter how much Jerald likes you. Here I can live peacefully, without the outside world knowing about me and hunting me down.” Herald edges around the bed.
“You stay away from me or I will release those goblins! Do you understand me? I want you to leave me alone. I’ll keep your stupid secret, but I’m not going to have anything to do with you or your brother.”
Herald mutates into his demon form. “Jack Falls, I want you to jump out of the window.”
Before I can blink, Uncle Jack dashes past me. The windows blow open. I scream and lung forward to stop him. Hands seize my wrists. Uncle Jack jumps and disappears out of the window.
“Damn you!”
Herald takes a fistful of my hair and wrenches my head back. “Look.” He jabs a long finger at the window.
I see the motionless form of Uncle Jack, hovering in mid-air.
“I can let him drop, but I’m getting tired of this tug-of-war between us. You obey me or you’ll start losing more family members. Your defiance is disrupting the order of things in Rosewood. Should I let him fall or will you save him?”
Painful memories of my parents’ death haunt me now. Flashes of the car aflame and the first time I heard the cruel chuckle of the creatures cause me to slump in Herald’s arms. “Fine. Leave my family alone.”
Herald frees his hand from my hair and motions for Uncle Jack to return to the room. His voice changes to worry-free and intoxicating like waking to the sound of rhythmic ocean waves. “Jack Falls, you’ll not remember answering your front door. You and your wife and children went to bed. You never heard Temptation scream. If she tries to tell you about demons, you’ll be deaf to her words.” He stops to grin at my outraged expression. “Return to your wife and don’t leave your bedroom until morning.”
Uncle Jack’s eyes register nothing. His movements imitate the wobbling of a zombie as he staggers out of the room. When the door shuts behind him, Herald yanks me back against his chest, while he fumbles with something in his pockets.
The towel begins to loosen its grip on my body. “What are you doing?” I ask, eyeing his pocket.
“Hold still.” Herald unveils a gaudy necklace from his pocket. He binds the long metal necklace around my throat and mumbles a few words. I hear a loud click. “There. The goblins cannot harm you. Only a powerful demon could remove this from your neck. Next time Victoria suggests for you to do something stupid again, don’t listen to her. Seriously, I thought you were smarter.” Herald shoves me on the squishy bedspread. “You’re not to miss school on Monday. Tryouts for the lead singer at the Halloween Ball are going to be held then, and you’re going to audition–”
“I don’t sing anymore. My parents died because I tried to make it to a concert on time. I don’t want to sing. Victoria–”
“–is not who I want to hear this year.” His firm voice shows no remorse for my feelings. “You’ll sing or one of your family members will pay for it. Your younger cousin maybe. What was his name? Nathan?”
“Why does this Mask Ball mean so much to everyone? To you?”
“Because,” Herald says. “It’s the one thing in this
world that gives me pleasure. It’s almost better than sex.” He is eyeing my loose towel. “Almost.”
Securing the towel more tightly around my bodice, I say, “I’d rather sing for you than give you that kind of pleasure.”
The devilish smile on Herald’s lips does not match my own frown.
“Look, it’s been a long night and I’d really like to go to bed.”
He runs a hand over the towel along my hips.
“Alone.”
“How about a goodnight kiss? I believe you still owe me one for winning the race.” Herald snatches my wet hair and jerks me into a crushing embrace.
The kiss is bruising. I have never kissed a person who I disliked and I hope by no means to do so again. His hand slips under the towel and caresses my lower back. I bite his lip and knee him below the belt. He growls like an animal and tosses me on the bed. I try not to scream, but fail. His chrome teeth drip antifreeze green liquid over the metal necklace. He cannot bite me unless he removes it.
The wardrobe next to the window begins to shake violently.
Herald blanches and releases my wrists. He straddles my waist, but his full attention narrows in on the wardrobe.
I stop screaming.
The wardrobe goes still.
Herald regards me like a puzzle in need of solving. He frees me and backs up to the window, panting a little. “Don’t tell Jerald about what happened tonight between us. As far as he knows, I never checked up on you. I would hate to have to kill my own brother.”
“You’re insane! You’d kill your own brother over me? Why?”
Herald’s chrome teeth grind together. “Jerald’s ability to show regret, sympathy, and love,” he motions at me, “really pisses me off.”
“But why? Can’t you feel those emotions?”
“No.” Herald climbs to the window ledge. “I feel only the dark sins of human emotions. I don’t love you, Temptation, but I lust for you.” He tilts his face around so I can see his crimson eyes glowing. The night sky intensifies the vivid color. “One day, I’ll have you.” He steps off the ledge and disappears from my sight.
My world becomes silent. No bones crack from Herald’s drop from my windowsill. Careful not make a sound, I tiptoe over to the ledge. Wind and beads of raindrops attack my hair and skin. Next to the moonlit window frame, I look down into the yard that is sparkling like diamonds from the recent rainfall. Herald is gone. Everything becomes blurry and a moment later, hot tears blind my view of the world.
I awake to a cool breeze invading my bedroom through the window. Hair stuck to my face and eyes crusted with dry tears, I pull back my black hair and shiver. The towel fell off sometime during the night. I rewrap the towel, but screech when something sharp pokes my ribs. A blue rose drops to the floor. I bend forward and pick it up.
“Temptation! Are you all right?” Uncle Jack bursts in through the door. “What happened? Oh...sorry.” He backs out of the room. His usual pasty cheeks turn a shade of pink. Uncle Jack’s thumps from his boots retreat down the staircase.
The giggle coming from my own mouth surprises me after the previous day’s adventures. Laughter is not something I expect to have this particular morning. I step over to the disengaged wardrobe. Careful not to make a sound, I open both of the wardrobe doors. Nothing but clothes. Thank the Gods I did not find some new monster awaiting discovery. Tossing the rose on my bed, I pick out a graphic shirt, and faded jeans.
My cell phone battery died, so I hook it up to the charger. Karma is probably suffering an anxiety attack by now. If she can pick up on my depression for the first day of school, she definitely will have felt my fear.
After I finish dressing, I do my make-up in a more natural tone, and then hurry out of the room. Rose forgotten, I skip down the stairs, through the kitchen, and into the dining room where the family is eating eggs and bacon.
“Are you all right, Temptation?”
“Yeah, Uncle Jack. I thought I saw one of those wolf spiders. I didn’t mean to scare you after everything that happened last night with the Blares.”
“Yes, it was a tragic accident, but I received a call this morning. Apparently, they found the dog responsible for killing the Blares.”
Aunt Sally ushers me to the table. We pass the china doll masks mounted to the wall. The feathery mask I found the first day at the house outshines the rest. “Eat before the boys make it all disappear.”
“How do they know if the dog is the one that attacked them?” I ask.
“A truck hit the dog, so it’s kind of a mess. The ‘strangest dog they had ever seen’ is what the sheriff told me. Anyway, they found some skin tissue stuck in the dog’s teeth and had it tested. It ended up as a positive match to both of the Blares.”
I shake some salt on my scrambled eggs and beef sausage. “Wasn’t it a little fast for them to do DNA testing? Who works in the middle of the night?”
“They keep improving things nowadays and this is a very family oriented town, so the staff was willing to work overnight. Besides, it would be a shame if they didn’t find the dog. You kids wouldn’t be able to do anything. With Halloween right around the corner, it would’ve meant no candy or carnival.”
“I think Temptation’s pissed off it wasn’t a monster–”
Aunt Sally slams the saltshaker on the table. “Daniel, let’s not start again!”
“Wait, Sally, that’s something I wanted to ask. Temptation, have you been experiencing hallucinations again? The doctors said this might happen after moving.”
I drop my fork and it clatters onto my plate. “What? You’re going to have me drugged up. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” says Daniel. “Maybe it’s because you believe magical creatures are terrorizing the town and only you can see them. What’s next? A vampire sneaking into your bedroom at night?”
My cheeks are burning. Pushing back my chair, I storm out of the dining room, ditching my breakfast on the kitchen counter.
“Calm down, Temptation. Daniel’s only teasing. You need to stop taking everything so seriously.” Uncle Jack follows me into the living room. “You have a doctor’s appointment at one this afternoon, so make sure you’re home in time.”
I exit the house. The door closes with a bang. I cannot believe it. He is crazy if he thinks I am going to let those doctors stick me with needles. The morning breeze caresses my skin. I reach up to scratch my neck. Metal meets my fingers. Stupid necklace. I tug at it, trying to pull it off. After ten minutes, I give up. “Why me?”
“Temptation!” The shaggy figure of Whelan waves to me from the end of the road.
I wave back and jog toward Whelan. “What in the name of the living dead, are you doing up this early in the morning?”
Whelan crushes me with a hug. “Those murders last night. I heard you were missing. What’s the deal?”
“Uh…you’re not going sweet on me are you?”
“Heck no! I mean you’d be hot if you dyed your hair a different color–”
I laugh and punch him playfully on the arm. “Screw you. You disappointed I’m not still missing?”
“Heck, yeah! How am I supposed to get those twins away from Victoria long enough so I can get my groove on?”
A giggle bursts out of me. “Get your groove on? Whelan, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I don’t think she knows any other guy exists except for Jerald and Herald.”
“Totally not cool. This is why you’re supposed to seduce those twins–”
“Whelan!”
“–and get jiggy with them, so I can get jiggy with Victoria.”
“Whelan!”
“What? It’s a great plan! I get some, you get some, and the twins get some–”
Holding up my henna-tattooed hand to stop his disturbing logic, I say, “I get the picture.” I twist my hair in my fingers.
“Everyone goes home happy.” Whelan pulls out a piece of g
um. Tossing it in the air, he catches the gums in his mouth.
“Herald’s a jerk on a power-trip. He thinks the sun shines out of his ass. Jerald,” I kick a pinecone out of the street, “I can’t decide what I think about him.” The trees sway in the morning breeze. I inhale the scent of fresh dewdrops.
“Everyone else thinks the sun shines out of their asses too.” Whelan shrugs a shoulder. “But I’ve seen the way they watch us. They’re jealous. They like you, Temptation. You’re probably the only girl in school who’s told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.”
“I know, but Herald deserved it.” Releasing my hair, I cross my arms and settle my dark star on the beclouded sky. A flock of birds are flying south for the winter.
“Totally, but they might not know how to react to someone acting so indifferent to their…charms.”
My eyebrows arch. “Deep talk coming from you, Whelan. Taking up philosophy?”
Whelan aims a playful punch. I duck. “Come on Temptation. Give them a chance on Monday, please.”
I laugh at Whelan’s impression of puppy eyes. “Gods, what am I about to commit to. Yes! Okay, but I’m only agreeing to do this with Jerald. Herald gives me the creeps.”
“Awesome!” Whelan passes me a couple pieces of gum. I take them and chew. It relaxes me a bit. Whelan drapes his arm around my shoulders.
“Whelan, what goes on at the Masked Ball? I mean, what’s so great about it?”
“Don’t know. I moved here after it was all over. I guess this will be a first time for both of us.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
I snort out another laugh. “So, where are we going?”
He shrugs his scrawny shoulders. “Nowhere. Chillax and walk your worries away.”
I smile. “Sounds awesome.”
I return home in time for Uncle Jack to rush us to my appointment. At the rundown gas station, we turn right, and travel a short way down the road, before swerving into a small shopping center. I thought there would be more than three cars, since Rosewood does not offer any other form of entertainment. The doctor’s office pops into view at the end of the building. I drag my feet when we enter the sanitized office. The receptionist with the horn-rimmed glasses and fuzzy hair takes our names. Before our body heat can warm the plastic chairs, the doctor calls us into a private room. I sit in a squishy chair with Uncle Jack at my side.
“Hello, Mr. Falls. I take it you are his niece, Temptation?” The doctor extends his calloused hand. I shake it and then withdraw quickly. Nothing good ever comes from doctors. Always bad news or some new drug they want me to try. “Well, your records tell me you were in an accident not too long ago.”
“Yeah.” I press my lips together. I can feel my throat tightening up.
“I’m very sorry for your loss. It’s difficult to deal with these kinds of things. But what concerns me is the fact you were dead for approximately...five minutes.” The doctor pulls his chair in front of me and sits down. “Your uncle tells me you’ve been experiencing hallucinations. I need you to be honest with me. Have you been seeing hallucinations?”
I close my eyes and keep my arms crossed.
“My sons both told me she’s experienced them regularly.” Uncle Jack places a comforting hand on my shoulder.
I jerk his hand off. Uncle Jack just fed me to the wolves. Dad would be so pissed at him if he were here. I can feel my emotional barriers crumbling. The pressure of my life in Rosewood is not helping.
The goblins, the Jenkins twins, and even the deaths of the Blares, may have been tricks of my mind.
Five minutes.
Those five minutes of death caused me these problems. I stroke the necklace. No. The doctors are wrong. Everyone else is insane.
“Temptation, it’s very important you tell me when you started having these hallucinations.” The doctor pierces me with a strict gaze.
“WHY!” I launch out of my seat. “Why do you need to know? So you can call me crazy and pump me full of drugs?”
“Temptation!” Uncle Jack rises to his feet.
“Young lady,” the doctor stands in front of me, “People who’ve died for five minutes or more can suffer from brain damage. Some come out of it fine. We need to know how severe your symptoms are, so–”
“So, what?” I glare at Uncle Jack. “So you can stick me in another mental hospital and then Daniel and Aunt Sally won’t have to deal with me anymore.”
He snatches my shoulders and shakes me. “Temptation, that’s not fair–”
“No. What’s not fair is I know I’m not wanted. Aunt Sally might try to be fair to me, but I know she doesn’t want me around! And you’re deliberately slumming for a reason to get rid of me without looking bad.”
The doctor puts a hand on Uncle Jack’s shoulder. “I think we all need to calm down a–”
“Screw both of you!” I slap my Uncle’s hands off my shoulders. “You both stay here and decide how insane you think I am, because you obviously don’t need my input.” I dodge them and run out of the office, past the shouting receptionist, and into the parking lot. I hear everyone shouting for me to stop, but I keep running. Instead of going in the direction of home, I run straight into the woods. Twigs, leaves, and pinecones crunch underneath my shoes. “I’m not crazy. I’m not imagining these things. I’ll prove it to myself.”
I jog deeper into the forest until the stone wall comes into view. Curious fingertips brush the mossy stones. A thrill of adventure pumps through me like a shot of espresso. I follow the wall for a mile, until I spot an archway twenty feet away. My muscles ache. Leaves fall from the towering maple and oak trees.
At the crescent doorway, I peak through. No goblins are in sight. I cannot wait for them to come to the wall. If Herald finds out I came here it will be a darker nightmare. I suck in a breath and follow the stone pathway, which leads to the goblins’ cove. The further I travel, the more the sounds of the forest deafen. The trees bend inward, but make no swishing noises. Near the end of the path, I go over the steep hill, and enter the clearing where the little stream travels through the center of a cove. No bronze bodies wander through the clearing. The dark cave entrances blend in with the hills.
I would have never noticed the openings if I had not seen them the other night.
The shadowy holes beckon me forward. I spot the largest one where the king emerged from last night. I clench my sweating palms into a fist, and wobble into the cave. I draw my hands away from the moist walls.
Yuck.
Little balls of light illuminate the pathway. A small glow comes from the end of the cavern. I halt at the end of the hallway and stare at a large room. My mouth unhinges. The Goblin King’s room reminds me of bedrooms in the castles in Europe.
Wandering further into the room, I walk across a rug which reminds me of my mother’s Indian rugs. The canopy bed, draped in luscious reds and deep violet, remains empty. A large Victorian portrait hangs on the rock wall. My fingers press on the bumpy texture of the old canvas. Oil paint. The possibility that I actually just stroked the rock wall and not the canvas causes me to doubt my sanity.
I jerk back at the sound of heavy footsteps. They echo out from a different cave opening. Crap, I cannot move. Not because of a spell, but because of my own fear.
The Goblin King enters the dim bedroom. He is wearing his usual black cloak. Face unveiled, the exhaustion of his life shines in his weary eyes. With his back to me, he tosses a skeleton mask down on the vanity and glances into the cracked mirror. His eyes widen when he spots my motionless figure. Pivoting, his mouth parts in shock.
I do not move. I cannot. My joints are glued together.
The king steps forward; a small grin forms on his animalistic face. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon, Temptation.” He halts a foot from of me and stares down into my plum eyes. His grin changes into a frown when he spots the metal necklace. “Where did that come from?” The warmth in his eyes vanishes.<
br />
“H-Herald put it on me last night. He said only a powerful demon could remove it.”
The king exposes his chrome canines at the necklace.
I withdrawal against the portrait; afraid he might try to bite the necklace off. “I-I need you to do something for me.”
The king retracts his teeth and retreats a few steps. “I take it from your expression this isn’t something pleasant you want of me?”
“I need you to cut me.”
The king raises an eyebrow. “Why?”
I blink back the tears trying to push their way out. I do not want to lose my contact lenses. It will feel like taking a mask off in front of the king. No one in the world has seen my true eye color since the accident. “There’s something about me you don’t know. I died almost a year ago. Somehow – I came back – but I started seeing things. Monsters or maybe they’re goblins. They – the doctors – think I have brain damage. I’m afraid they’re going to cage me at some mental hospital. It’ll be no different than a prison. You understand how that feels.” I stir up enough bravery to move away from the wall and amble up to the king. “But I need to know I’m right. Hallucinations can’t hurt me. If you cut me it means you’re real and I’m not going crazy.”
The king smiles and closes the gap between the two of us. His fingers part my black hair back so my white hair drapes over my shoulders. “Temptation, you’re not crazy. Far from it. You have a gift that scares people. They can never understand you like I can.”
My heart hammers against the king’s wide chest. I lay one hand on his torso. “Still, I want you to cut me.”
The king’s fingers enclose my hand that is resting on his chest. Placing his thumbnail in the palm of my hand, he pushes.
I open my mouth to gasp, but before I can utter a sound, the king bends down, and crushes his lips against mine. Surprised by the tenderness in his kiss, I lean into it. It is gentle, yet powerful enough to stir dormant emotions. It sends a bud of affection blossoming in the crater of my heart. It creates a pain I never thought I would feel again. The king pulls me closer to his misshapen body. His body repulses me, but I love his attentiveness to my emotions. The butterflies escape from my stomach and travel to every inch of my body.
Rough hands roam over my lower back.
I pull away. I have been here too long.
Far too long.
If word reaches Herald about my running away, my family might pay the price. “I-I have to go before Herald realizes I’m here.” The blood drips from my fingertips. It is real. All of it is real. I’m not crazy. I shake the dizzy spell away. “He’ll start hurting my family if he finds out I came here.” I do not know if the king will allow me to depart again. I try edging around him, but his warm hand clamps over my arm. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come here. I-I just needed to be sure.”
The king tilts his head and scans my eyes. “And now, what do you think? Am I really such a monster?”
I feel another pain in my heart. Sorrow. I hate it.
“There’s also something you need to know about me, Temptation.” His eyes abandon my own and examine my hand. His arched nail traces the lines of the henna tattoo. “I sent those goblins to save your life the day you died.”
I blink. “What?”
The king stands behind me and runs his hands along my arms. “Do you remember the day when the accident happened?”
“Halloween.” I stare out of the cavern. Do not cry. Do not cry.
“Yes. Halloween. It’s the only time my goblins can leave Rosewood.”
“But I’ve seen goblins long after Halloween.”
“True, but those are a different kind of species and are not under my control. Haven’t you noticed the goblins of Rosewood have more of a conscience than ordinary goblins?”
I nod. The Rosewood goblins possess more human qualities in them than regular goblins.
“I sent them to find an older teenage girl near death. You see, goblins can sense when someone is going to die. My goblins were in the woods near the highway where you crashed. They pulled you out of the car and gave you a, well I guess you humans call it a potion, to help heal you, but also make it so you can see us permanently. I even sent Mr. Peters to talk the Blares into persuading your uncle and aunt into moving here.”
I swivel to face the king, but he does not slacken his grip. “Your goblins saved me?”
He smiles. I do not.
“I wish they would’ve left me for dead! I don’t want to live!”
“Temptation–”
“No! I want everyone to leave me alone.” I twist, forcing the king to release me. Sprinting out of the cave, I hear the king cursing his own actions. I dash to the wall. The king calls out for the goblins. The wind picks up and the trees bend inward. The goblins close in from behind. My hands clutch the top of the wall and I climb over. The goblins stop and pant for breath. I return to the main road, ignoring the hellish shouts from behind.
The sun vanishes by the time I step onto my street. The night comforts me. Bugs buzz around in the streetlights. Eerie laughter of children fills the air. Motorcycle engines rev off in the distance. “Oh no,” I mutter as I start to run and hide in the forest.
The motorcycles circle me and Craven, the leader, snatches my arm and yanks me onto the bike as if I weigh the same as a ragdoll. The bike lurches forward and I grasp his waist so not to roll off. Terror motivates me to bury my face against the back of his jacket. The wind chills my skin.
“Be very careful, Temptation. Your time is running out. Jenkins will never allow you leave.”
Lifting my face, I speak to the back of his head. “You told me to leave Rosewood the first time I met you.”
“Yes, but you’ve captured Jenkins’ attention, so you can’t escape. Beware their girlfriend, Victoria. She’s a nasty piece of work and is desperately trying to get rid of you before the Halloween Mask Ball.”
“Gods, what is it with this town and that Ball?”
Craven does not answer. He slows down at my house.
Before the motorcycle stops, I slide off, and run into my yard. Craven and the gang give me the weird assurance of, “We’ll be watching over you.” The motorcycle engines echo into the distance.
I slump and lean against the porch beam, inhaling the aroma of dinner coming from the house. “Demons for guardian angels.” I shake my hair out. “Karma’s going to love this.”
Another motorcycle pulls up to the curb. Jerald kills the engine. Before I can ponder his intentions for coming to my house or how he even knew where I live, his arms crush me, and I sink into his embrace.
“I thought I’d lost you the other night. The Goblin King didn’t hurt you, did he?” Jerald releases me and strokes my neck. He stops when his fingers touch metal. “Where did this come from?”
I remember Herald’s instructions and threats. “I’m not sure. It was on my neck when I woke up this morning. I can’t take it off. Can you?”
Jerald inspects the necklace. “I don’t see any latches. Maybe we should ask Herald. He’s better at working with metal than I am.”
“No!” My cheeks warm. “I mean, I don’t want to bother your brother about it. It’s not that important, besides, it’s kinda pretty.”
Jerald grins and leans in. “You enhance it.”
Feeling my face burn more, I move past Jerald. “So what are you doing today?”
“Hunting you.”
“You found me, so now what?”
Jerald positions himself behind me, as I gaze out over the yard. “Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do with you.”
“Do we have to dance at the Halloween Masked Ball? Like the waltz?”
“Of course. Is there something worrying you?”
“Yes.” I stare over my shoulder to capture Jerald’s eye. “I don’t have a clue on how to do any of those dances. I can belly dance, but that’s not going to do me any good a
t a ball.”
Jerald loops my arm in his. “Dance lessons it is.”
