by Sarah Erber
Chapter Nine
Halloween Masquerade Ball
“Mom, do you have to go?” Nathaniel asks. “How am I going to pay for all the rides without you?”
“I’ll give you some money–”
“Hey! What about me?”
“I’ll give you some money too, Daniel. I don’t get to go to many parties anymore, and this Masquerade Ball is a wonderful opportunity for your father and I to spend some alone time.”
“Ew! You’re going to be kissing.” Nathaniel makes the face of a pug.
“Uh-huh. Where’s Temptation? I don’t want her to be late for her performance.”
“I think she’s upstairs putting on her costume. At least she’ll look like everyone else tonight,” says Daniel, while popping candy in his mouth.
“You put those down, they’re for the trick-or-treaters.”
“Mom. Seriously. Who do you think is going to walk down this street?” Daniel tosses a few more orange candy-corns in his mouth. His stained yellow teeth add to his pirate costume. “It’s going to go to waste out here.”
I am watching the conversation between Aunt Sally and my cousins from the staircase railing. I am still working up the guts to face my family in the clothing they have been dying to see me in for the past year. The glass slippers Jerald bought makes me feel a little silly. Nevertheless, I promised to wear them. I want to talk to Karma, but for the past few days, none of the phones have worked. Uncle Jack claims the weather as the culprit, while Aunt Sally believes a damaged tower is to blame. Either way, I lost touch with my only source to the outside world.
I rise up and descend the groaning staircase crawling with fake spiders. The wood on these stairs are going to break someday! Too bad it is not today. A broken leg will be a perfect excuse not to go.
“Why, Temptation, you look absolutely stunning. I haven’t seen you wear something like that since your last recital at the opera.” Uncle Jack beams at me in my wine-colored ball gown.
The top of my dress dips low, exposing part of my cleavage. I toss my white hair across my chest, when I notice the disapproving glare from Aunt Sally. Though Aunt Sally likes my return to normalcy, she dislikes anything too sexy.
The dress compliments the choker-like necklace that Herald previously locked around my neck. It does not bother me anymore. Jerald encourages me to think of it as a talisman against evil. Despite the sophisticated appearance of the dress, it appears barbaric on me. My tattoos and jewelry make me look like a savage princess.
“Figures.” Daniel leans against the railing while Aunt Sally and Nathaniel applaud. “You picked the one day out of the year when it’s okay to dress like a freak, and attempt to dress like a girl, instead. Why can’t you make up your mind?”
“Daniel, we’ve already settled this argument, and we need to get moving if we’re going to make it into town before the sun sets.”
“Dang, Mom, it’s only a joke. Temptation looks good.”
I smile at Daniel. It is rare when I get a compliment. Aunt Sally gaffs at the two.
Everyone shuffles about to gather last-minute possessions before meeting on the newly painted porch. I inhale the scent of the new paint. The sunset illuminates the sky with mixtures cotton candy colors. Aunt Sally’s eyes sparkle.
“Let’s head out.” Uncle Jack extends his arm to his wife. She loops her bony arm through her husband’s, while he leads the way to the road.
“Wait. We’re not driving?” Daniel gawks at his parents.
“I forgot to tell you. They’re having a – well I guess you could call it a hay ride. It’ll pick people up and bring them into town. We’ll start walking and when they come down the street, they’ll stop and let us on. What a treat this will be!” Aunt Sally gushes.
I gulp deep breaths like I do when performing yoga exercises. My nervousness about singing on stage creeps back. I fear another breakdown, only this time visible to the whole town. The wind carries cackling across the evening air, forcing the tiny hairs on my body to prickle. Leaves, the color of fall reds and gold’s, plummet from the tall maple trees. Listening to the leaves crackling under Uncle Jack’s shoes, I stroke the silver designs on my necklace. I have not worn my locket in ages. My parents can be with me that way.
“Temptation you’re shivering. You need a jacket. This weather isn’t good for your voice.” Aunt Sally tugs her gold shawl more tightly over her shoulders.
“I’ll grab one from my bedroom. Go ahead without me,” I say, waving them toward the street. “I’ll catch the next hay ride.”
“Well...if you’re sure. But make sure you find your cousins when you get into town. They’ll be in the town square or at least they’d better be.” Uncle Jack’s threat does not go unnoticed by the boys, who groan, and kick a couple of rocks.
I dash back into the house, smiling. In my room, the chandelier captures the twilight from my half-circle of windows. Diamond-shaped rainbows cascade across the walls and furniture. Snatching my golden locket off the vanity, I chain it on. The floorboards creak underfoot and a hair-raising chuckling emerges in the direction of the wardrobe carved with naked angels and demons. A grim figure steps out of the wardrobe. I release a girlish shriek.
“Please, m’dear, there be no one ta hear ya screamin’, and no one ta save ya, so ya better stop before ya make me mad.”
I do stop. Eye’s wide, they travel over the form of the ugly dwarf man blocking my windows. His black eyes seem void of a soul. His face, horribly wrinkled, sags, and defines his pointed chin, nose, and sharp fangs. His clothing resembles a nobleman from the eighteenth century. He carries on him a bone mask. My hand touches my necklace covering my throat – happy, for the first time – that Herald forced me to wear it.
“What be the matter, Girlie? Not afraid of ah little old goblin like me, are ye?” If possible, he grins even wider. Hundreds of lines sprout out all over his beastly face. “Ya shouldn’t be. Ya’ve already met me ah few times.”
“You’re – You’re Remorse. I met you the day the Jenkins twins took me behind the wall. And the day I got lost in the woods, but you’re supposed to be trapped behind the wall! How can you be here? The Goblin King said you could only travel outside of Rosewood on Halloween.” My hand grasps the ends of my hair. I begin twirling the strands in my fingers.
“Ya know ya have ah bad habit ta twirlin’ yer hair when yer nervous?”
My eyes twitch to my working fingers. Immediately I withdrawal them and clench my fists at my side.
Remorse delivers a throaty chuckle. “The same way I was spyin’ on ya from those woods the night yer aunt slapped ya ‘round.” He raises a finger, closely resembling a spider’s leg, at the wardrobe. “There be very old thin’s in Rosewood made from the wood in the goblin’s forest. We can use these thin’s as portals, but can’t stray more than ah few feet from ‘em. Jenkins don’t know, but we be prisoners still.”
“Why did you come here?”
The impish creature grins like a devil playing poker. “I’m here ta warn ya Temptation Belladonna Falls. Warn ya of the game yer about ta be playin’.”
“A-A game?” I shift my weight and wrinkle my brow. “No, thank you. I don’t like games.”
Remorse barks out another laugh and flexes his pointy ears. He tosses a bone mask to me and, to my surprise, I catch it. “Those Jenkins twins have been lyin’ ta ya since the day they discovered ya could see us goblins. Every person in Rosewood be ah slave demon, except those new ta town o’ course. Every year they be drawin’ more people ta Rosewood fer food. The only ones they spare be the ones who could’ve stopped ‘em. Think of these special people as human trophies. Like Victoria. Tonight they be gatherin’ all the new people fer their annual feast. Which be includin’ yer family. The Jenkins twins are goin’ ta trap ya into becomin’ their slave Temptation, because ya have ah gift they be fearin’...and desirin’.”
“But I have nothing! No gift.” Unable to control my emotions, I slam my fi
st against the wall and release a frustrated scream. “Why even bother telling me I’m going to lose my family again! I started moving on. Fitting in. There’s nothing I can do to escape–”
“That’s where ya be wrong, Girlie.” Remorse tilts his head. His bat-like ears perk up. “There be ah way ya can escape.”
“How?” I shift closer to the exit, making the four-poster bed separate the creature and myself.
“By usin’ yer gift. Ya have the gift of seein’ goblins. No other human in Rosewood can see us. Jenkins fears ya ‘cause ya have the power to release us goblins from behind the wall, before he can turn ya. But once he has ya, we can’t do nothin’ for ya.”
I scowl. “How does that help me and my family escape? Besides, the twins imprisoned your kind because you were stealing children and women.”
Remorse’s expression becomes sinister. His teeth glint red in the fading sunlight. “They imprisoned us ‘cause we stopped ‘em from killin’ those children and women. If ya release us, we be in yer debt. Ye can ask our king ta help yer family escape.”
I study the bone mask in my hands.
“One other thin’ ta think about...when me king kills Jenkins, every human he’s turned into ah demon or enslaved, will return ta normal. Use the mask ta see who be human and who be demon. In order ta save us, ya must find the Cyclops rats. Ya remember ‘em from the story?” Remorse points at the little ragged book on my vanity.
I nod.
“Follow ‘em and steal the red crystal they be guardin’. Bring the crystal ta the Goblin King, at the stone archway, and we’ll help ya save yer family. The townspeople be gatherin’ together at the theater house. They’ll start feastin’ at nine o’clock.”
I peer at the clock on my nightstand. Crap, eight o’clock already! “How do I know who’s telling the truth?”
“I can’t tell ya what ta think, Girlie. But did Jenkins trust ya enough ta tell ya everyone in Rosewood be ah demon?”
“No, but I never asked, either.”
“Has me master ever threatened or laid ah hand on ya?” Remorse paces the floor, never taking his soulless eyes off my own.
“No. He’s been kind to me, but–”
“Has Jenkins ever threatened or laid ah hand on ya?”
I rub the sides of my forehead. “Multiple times, but I can understand it if he’s trying to keep killers from escaping.”
“Temptation, me master or us goblins coulda killed ya long ago. I didn’t have ta save ya from that car crash.”
My mouth falls and I almost drop the skeleton mask. Staring at Remorse, I do not know what to say.
“Yeah, it be right, Girlie. I chose ya, cause I thought ya were strong enough ta help me king. He be dyin’, Temptation. Jenkins don’t know, but I reckon me master has little more than ah few months left ta live.”
I lay a hand over my chest. The memory of the king’s tender kiss and his attention to my emotions causes me to regret not investigating him further. “Herald gave me something to give your king.” I reach into my pocket and pull out the red crystal. Remorse’s eyes squint at the crystal. “It’s filled with the twin’s blood. He said it would…kill your king.”
Remorse licks his lips in a nervous jester. “We’re at yer mercy, Temptation. So what do ya choose?”
A pair of birds flutters past the windows. A thought enters my mind. “It’s not my only option. The first day I’d met you, the twins said I could escape from Rosewood. It’s because I have this gift isn’t it? None of their spells work on me, including your king’s spell, which keeps everyone, trapped in Rosewood.” I study Remorse’s reaction.
He frowns. “That may be true, but ya’d have ta get yer family and leave Rosewood before the clock strikes nine, and if the twins knew ya were tryin’ ta run for it...ya’d never get past the town square.”
“But I still have time.” I watch the dark horizon. “Oh, Gods. My aunt and uncle were going straight to the theater house!” Dashing out of my room, Remorse’s cackles echo throughout the Victorian house. I yank open the door and jog to the street. My glass slippers meet the pavement. Halting, I remove the fragile shoes, and then proceed to sprint down the street. The streetlights black out and Weeping Willow Road envelopes into an eerie darkness. My white hair billows behind me.
A few Halloween lights hanging from nearby houses flicker on and off like a strobe light in the darkness.
The goblin’s heavy cackling still lingers in the air.
In one hand, the bone mask glitters in the light of the moon. In the other hand, the blood-filled crystal glows on its own.
The twinkling town lights flicker ahead of me and despite the cramps forming on my sides, I pump out an extra burst of speed. I pass the run-down gas station and peer over at Mrs. Peters’ house as I go by. It looks dark. Vacant. Shadows across from the Peters’ mansion begin to flood upon the road leading to the school. Mutated shadows draw nearer with every passing second.
I cross the street. My silk dress bellows in the breeze, creating a romantic wave as I pop in and out of the light. At the building, I hide, and peak around the corner. A group of adults, dressed in multiple hues of red-violet, stride toward the entrance to the old theater. The strange costumes remind me of the painting in my room. I grip the bone mask and pull it over my head. Body quivering, I capture my mouth to keep myself from screaming. Their faces are terrifying and hideous. They remind me of zombies in B-rated movies. A few of the women are wearing masks decorated with raven feathers to hide their faces. It is time to find my cousins. Whelan is also new to Rosewood. I will not abandon him to the zombie demons.
I sprint down the jack-a-lantern lit road, stuffing the crystal in my pocket as I run.
The carnival lights from the town square light up the night sky.
“Breathe,” I chant. “Act normal.”
At the side of the square, the carnival rides shake. No doubt, Daniel and Nathaniel are probably on the scariest ride. Sure enough, the boys both climb out of the Spider-Leg Twirl.
“Aw, hey, Temptation! What took ya so long?” Nathaniel asks, while dashing in my direction. “And what happened to your shoes?”
“Let me guess,” Daniel saunters over in his pirate costume, “you’re hoping a handsome prince would–”
“There’s no time for jokes, come on!” I yank the boys away from the carnival.
“Hey! What gives?” Daniel asks.
“Let go, Temptation. I want to go play the games before–”
“Quiet!” To my surprise, my cousins obey, and stare at me as if I suddenly sprouted an extra eye. “Listen to me you two; we’ve got to get out of here. There are demons capturing everyone who’s new in town and they’re searching for us.”
Daniel, unimpressed, curls his nose in distain at my declaration of danger. “Duh, there are demons around, it’s Halloween! They’re probably playing a prank. They can’t really kidnap people–”
“No, it’s not.” I glance at the courthouse clock. Crap, only thirty minutes left. Yanking my cousins by their wrists, I drag them down the street, and into the flickering darkness.
“Let go of my hand, you’re hurting me!” Nathaniel tries to wrench back his arm and scream.
“QUIET!”
“Dammit, Temptation, why do you have to ruin everything? School sucked for the first month because of you and now I can’t even enjoy Halloween. Can’t you get over yourself?” Daniel asks.
Shouts of protests and screams that can awaken the ghosts of a graveyard come from the end of the street. I stop. Daniel and Nathaniel bump into me. Rounding on my cousins to silence them becomes unnecessary when I note the astonishment on their faces. We creep over to the edge of the brick building and peer around the corner.
“Wait, it’s Jerald and Her–”
“Shh!” I spy on them as they drag one of the new freshmen students toward Mrs. Peters’ house. It seems Remorse knows Jerald better than me. “Shut up and look at the twins’ faces!”
“It’ll be fun.” Herald leers at the kid.
“Yeah, you’ll be one of us.” Jerald turns his head so the light from the lamppost catches his face.
Daniel jerks back and yells. Lucky for us, the captured boy screams at the same time, leaving the twins oblivious to our presence. The Jenkins twins drag the struggling boy through the theater’s brilliant door and slam it shut.
“Screw this; I’m getting out of here.” Daniel grabs Nathaniel and I by our sleeves, sprints across Main Street, and onto Weeping Willow Road. Before I can protest, the biker gang materializes in a cloud of silvery dust, cutting off our chance of escape. We jog to the rundown gas station. Boarded windows and doors offer little help. The bricks exhibit graffiti writing in multiple colors, displaying different words and phrases. The gang surrounds us. I grasp my cousins’ wrists and jerk them back. I square my posture in defiance at Craven. “What do you want? Are you trying to take us to the Jenkins twins?”
The bikers’ steady their motorcycles and Craven leans in over the handlebars, staring directly into my lime-green eyes. “We don’t work for anyone. So, Temptation...thinking of trying to escape?”
My pose slackens. I cross my arms, draw my eyebrows together, and roll my eyes as dramatically as I can. “Oh, no – I enjoy running around in the dark.”
White hair bristling; he displays a mouthful of canines. His eyes never blink while he tilts his head in contemplation. “Temptation...we,” he motions to the other bikers, “are here to help the Goblin King.”
I do not understand. “But you’re demons. I thought you’re feuding with the goblins?”
“Crap! Those things are real?” Daniel punches me on the arm. “This is all your fault–”
“Don’t hit her,” the other bikers say in unison. Their eyes glint with murderous intentions toward Daniel, who cowers behind me.
“We are not made by Jenkins. The people turned by a demon end up becoming more like demon zombies. They’ll never be true demons. We are true demons. We died human and escaped Hell. When we came back, we returned as demons. There’s a small group of us who don’t like Jenkins and his ways. We would rather the Goblin King be in charge of Rosewood.”
“If you don’t like the way Jenkins runs Rosewood, why didn’t you leave?”
Craven runs a claw over the handle of his bike. “The goblins warned us about Jenkins when we were still human, but when we tried to escape, we had a small accident. We died. We became demons here in Rosewood. This is our home. It is where we were born demon, but we also feel a responsibility to save Rosewood from Jenkins, as well as to the king and his goblins for trying to help us.”
“Then why haven’t you helped the Goblin King? You’re real demons. Why not force the Jenkins twins to leave or release the goblins yourselves?”
The bikers shift on their motorcycles. Their eyes convey shame. Craven sits up straight on his bike. “Because Jenkins is a Nephilim demon. The only one of his kind. You’ve never seen his true form.”
“Yes, I have.”
“Are you serious? Crap, crap, cr–”
“Daniel, shut it!” I elbow him in the ribs.
“You haven’t, Temptation. He can only be in his true form on a night when other worlds are thin. Halloween. Tonight.”
“What makes you so certain the Goblin King can stop him?” I snatch my dress and lift up the hem. I have been standing on part of it and almost tripped a couple times when I ran from the bikers.
“You can help. If you find the real crimson crystal and give it to the king, he’ll have his old power back. Remorse told me Jenkins gave you a crystal filled with his blood.”
I nod and reveal the glowing crystal. Daniel crinkles his nose and backs away from it.
“A century and a half later and Jenkins really isn’t much smarter.” Craven’s eyes fill with greed.
“Apparently he was smart enough to trap a powerful king.” I stash the crystal back in my dress pocket.
“If you give the false crystal to the king, along with the real one, he’ll be able to absorb Jenkins’ blood. This will make him become something more than what he is. Trust us, Temptation. We’ve been waiting a long time for someone like you.”
I frown. Fingers seek out the edges of my hair, but I resist when I think of Remorse’s teasing. “But I thought demons believed goblins to be beneath them.”
“Partially true, but you see, the King is not only goblin. But be warned, Temptation, no one has ever escaped from Jenkins. If you try to run and are caught, you won’t have the chance to release the goblins. You’ll end up like Victoria and everyone else in Rosewood. A slave.”
The laughter of children fills the air, but this time it comes from the remaining townspeople entering the old theater house. The bikers speed out in a cloud of dust and retreat down into the unlit street. They are ridiculously dramatic.
“Daniel. Nathaniel. I want you to head toward the highway. You might be able to find some bicycles to ride–”
“Hey! What about my parents?” Daniel clenches his fists and furrows his eyebrows in determination.
“I am going to try and get Aunt Sally and Uncle Jack–”
“If you’re going, then so are we!”
“No–”
“They’re our parents, not yours.”
I notice my cousins shaking. I think of my own parents. “All right, all right, but you have to listen to me. Promise?”
“Promise. Let’s hurry up before we’re too late.”
Mrs. Peters’ shrieks of terror arise from within her mansion. We surge across the street and hurry to the entrance of the Gothic manor.
I place the mask over my eyes and race into the house with my frightened cousins tailing behind me. “Mrs. Peters?” I shout, entering the pitch-black living room.
“Marie!”
A tiny flash illuminates the kitchen with dim lighting. I spy the figure of Mr. Peters crouching low to the ground in the shadowy kitchen. My cousins remain silent at my side. As we enter the wrecked kitchen, I gasp as I locate Mrs. Peters on the floor with a large cut on the side of her pale face. Her gray hair fans out like a classic depiction of a witch with frayed hair. Fat spiders flee from the cobweb cabinets and scurry out of sight.
“I’m all right, Dearies. Charles...can you help me up, please?” Mrs. Peters extends a frail arm. It resembles a corpse at the beginning stage of decay. The Peters are zombie demons too.
Mr. Peters cradles his wife’s head and helps lift her into a standing position. Mrs. Peters reaches over to the counter and tugs a washrag out of one of the drawers. Soaking it in the sink, she begins dabbing at her bloody face. “Oh, Temptation! I’d hoped you would’ve figured everything out before it was too late!”
My posture drops and my arms hang at my side. I gape at Mrs. Peters. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mrs. Peters chuckles. She winces and touches her wounded cheek. “Would you have believed me if I’d told you? I don’t think so.”
“Marie’s right,” Mr. Peters says. “But you still have a chance to escape and you must get out of town or stay hidden until after the stroke of midnight.”
“Why midnight?” Daniel looks to everyone for an answer.
“Because,” I say, “it won’t be Halloween anymore. It’ll be November the first, and they won’t be able to do their ritual on us until next year. Unless they decide they don’t want to wait, then they could kill us.”
“True,” Mr. Peters says. “But it’s too late to make it out of town. You should hide.”
“Oh, sick,” Nathaniel says. “There’s a huge rat in your kitchen!”
Everyone stares at the stone-tiled floor where Nathaniel is pointing. Sure enough, a rat the size of a small house cat scuttles about my feet. Suddenly, the rat bolts at Mr. Peters. Within a matter of seconds, the rat claws and bites at his body. Mr. Peters’ painful screams echo throughout the kitchen. I rip the rat off his chest. I rotate the writhing hairbal
l. My stomach lurches and twists into a tight knot. The rat has one eye! Just like…I think back to Remorse’s instructions. I give the rat its’ freedom. It scurries over to the opening of the darkened hallway leading into the theater house. I gaze into the depths of the gaping mouth and cannot help a sense of curiosity for seeing the strange world.
“Rats attacked us because we’re helping you. Jenkins will soon know we betrayed him. Hide at your home! The rats will inform Jenkins you’re here and you’ll be dragged into the theater.” Mr. Peters scratches a hand through his hair. The decay of his body from living far past his time only enhances the guilt and shame in his eyes. He survived too many tragedies.
“I think it would be wise for you two to head home and stay there. I’ll go and follow the Cyclops rats. I think the only way to end this is to free the goblins.”
“But, Temptation,” Nathaniel says. “What if the goblins are badder than the demons?”
“We can’t go home until we save our parents,” Daniel states. He balls his hands into fists.
Mr. Peters lays a comforting hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “I think Temptation has the right idea, but we do need to try and get your parents out of there. Go ahead and head back home. I can get to your parents better than you can. I’ll try to lure them away without getting caught.”
Daniel and I glance at each other. Daniel’s body registers defeat. He nods at me and takes Nathaniel’s shaky palm.
“Right then,” Mr. Peters says. “My wife will walk you boys home and I’ll retrieve your parents. Good luck, Temptation.” Mr. Peters kisses his wife on the cheek and exits into the living room. A few seconds later the front door shuts behind him.
“Right, Dearies, let’s head off. We can’t waste any more time.” Mrs. Peters sweeps up her hair into a messy gray bun and takes hold of Daniel and Nathaniel’s hands, before whispering a quick word of encouragement to me. She marches the boys out of the kitchen. The door shuts a few seconds later.
Alone in the deserted kitchen, I hear the scurrying feet of the rats. Lifting the mask off my face, I grimace at the pitch-black hallway. Cyclops rats swarm the entrance. Gods, I feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole, except my hole is more demented. Alice has a fluffy white bunny to follow and what do I have – hundreds of deformed rats.
The rats tumble off the ceiling and bounce on the floor. I crinkle my nose in disgust. Taking a deep breath, I descend into the dark doorway to seek out the Jenkins twins’ most guarded possession.
