“It sounds kinda cool to me,” Kash agreed. For a moment, Cadence wondered why Drew and Kash ever broke up.
“Listen,” it was Taylor this time, “it’s the night before Thanksgiving. I don’t think my parents will like it if I’m out partying until the wee hours of the morning. My mom is going to expect me to help with the dinner, you know.”
“What time is the witching hour anyway? Midnight?” Sydney asked, her expression seeming to indicate that she was considering going with Drew.
“No,” Cadence said almost automatically. “It’s 3:00 AM.”
“Are you sure?” Jack asked. “I always heard it was midnight.”
Cadence’s glance became a bit sterner. “I’m sure,” she replied.
“Search engine it!” Taylor said, taking over the mouse.
Jon laughed, “Because the word Google is trademarked,” he commented quietly, almost to himself.
“She’s right!” Taylor exclaimed. “It is 3:00 AM. Says so right here.”
“On Wikipedia? The most reliable source of information since the invention of the Internet,” Jon sneered.
“No, it’s not Wikipedia! It’s a site about witches!” Taylor said defensively.
“There’s no way I’m going out to a party at 3:00 AM the night before Thanksgiving!” Sydney stated emphatically, her hands tugging absently on her light brown ponytail.
“Me neither!” Taylor agreed.
“Come on!” Drew pleaded. “We’ve gone out that late lots of times! Remember when we snuck off to Red Oak Tap? We all told our parents we were staying at Cadence’s house, and she told her mom she was at your house, Syd. It was the best time ever!”
Sydney seemed to contemplate this argument for a moment, her green eyes flickering with memories of times well spent with this group of friends. “I don’t know….” she said as the tides began to turn in favor of one last hurrah with her gang.
“Well, I’m in. And I’ll drive,” Kash said, slapping both hands down on his legs.
“I’m too scared to go!” Taylor proclaimed, pouncing back on the bed next to Sydney.
“You’ll be fine!” Kash proclaimed.
“I’ll protect you,” Jon added, rapidly raising and lowering his eyebrows.
Taylor laughed. Jon was always flirting with her, but thus far, nothing had ever happened between them. “You’re going then?” she asked, tossing her long blonde hair back over her shoulder.
“Well,” Jon said hesitantly. He looked at Kash, who was nodding his head. The two of them had gone almost everywhere together since the beginning of high school. Even now that Kash was attending Iowa Western Community College, they still found plenty of time to hang out together. Cadence knew it would be hard for him to miss out on a chance to have another adventure with his best friend. “I guess so,” he said slowly. “If Kash is going, then I’ll go. I’ve never been to a festival based on wickedness before, but I can only assume this may be a prime opportunity to see some boobies.”
The girls all groaned in disgust, and Sydney threw a pillow at him while the boys chuckled in agreement.
“Jack?” Drew asked.
Jack was fairly reserved, so the prospect of seeing topless women probably wasn’t a motivating factor for him, at least not one he would be willing to verbalize. But as his eyes glanced around the room at his friends, they lingered on Cadence. She felt uncomfortable and had to look away. “I don’t know,” he began. “Cadence, what do you think?”
Having turned her back to the group when the pressure of Jack’s intense stare became too much, she slowly turned back to face them. She was silent hoping no one would remember that she was present, and therefore, she wouldn’t be asked to go. Of course, since they were sitting in her bedroom, the chances of this were slim. “Well,” she sighed, “this certainly isn’t my thing. There’s nothing at all interesting to me about ghosts and goblins, vampires, and all that.”
“Seriously?” Drew asked, slumping her shoulders. “You know no one else will go if you don’t, Cadence.” The pouty face was back, and Drew released a loud sigh before crossing her arms and leaning back sharply. “Fine, I’ll just go by myself!”
“I said I’d go,” Kash reiterated, but Drew didn’t lose her wounded kitten expression.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for some of us to go and not all of us,” Jack stated assertively.
As much as Cadence wanted to disagree with him, he did have a point. Drew was only seventeen years old, and even if Kash and Jon went with her, they still might end up in a situation that wasn’t safe. However, if all seven of them stuck together, like they always had, she felt better about their chances of avoiding evil regardless of the theme of the revelry. She glanced at Sydney, who was chewing furiously on her bottom lip, a sign that she had not decided whether or not to risk it, and Taylor who was staring at the floor, shaking her head back and forth slowly. Taylor clearly did not want to go. Then, Cadence looked back at Drew. Her arms were still crossed, her chin forced into her chest. “Fine,” she finally acquiesced. “Let’s go.”
The sky was pitch black, clouds covering whatever stars may dare to shine. The moon hung low, its enervating journey home to the horizon almost concluded. Though it was late November, the chill seemed to come from within, not from the cool breeze that gently nudged her back to the safety of their vehicle.A glitch in the passage of time took place, and suddenly they were in the midst of the festivities. Flashes of smoke and fire clouded her vision. Many of the participants were masked, or perhaps their faces were contorted. They wound their way amongst the ghouls and specters. A p
Kash’s mom had driven the same Suburban for the last twenty-two years and, even though it was old and had no bells and whistles, it had enough room for all seven of them to ride in one vehicle, so most times, it was their vehicle of choice. When they all piled in at 3:15 in the morning to make the short trip to Villisca, most of the girls did so reluctantly, particularly Taylor, who was actually crying, and Cadence, who had clearly lost her battle with Drew, and once again, given in to the sobs and declarations of attending solo. Cadence hated being late, but she figured for an event such as this it didn’t really make much difference.
As they poured out of the vehicle, Cadence paused for a moment to look up at the sky. A soft haze illuminated the night around the festivities, but the rest of the firmament was nothing but ebony, crowned by a full moon sliding below the horizon, its pale orange hue lending an air of foreboding. Cadence knew this scene looked familiar, and she braced herself for what she felt may come.As they approached what seemed to be an entrance, the entire party tensed up. They had no idea if they would be charged a monetary fee, required to show an invitation, or sign over their first-born child. There
Just then, a loud booming began to shake the ground. From the back of the outer circle, a stream of percussionists started to pour out of one of the tents. They began to dance their way down the worn dirt path, banging methodically on their instruments, winding their way around the perimeter of the circle. There were other musicians within the parade as well, but it was the deep vibration of the bass drums that carried the reptilian line along.Most of them wore costumes, almost all in shades of red. It was difficult to see anyone’s full face. Either a half mask, paint, outlandish makeup
By the time the others left and Cadence continued down the path the parade had followed, she couldn’t even see the end of the chain anymore. In fact, the crowd had filled in the trail so completely she had to push her way through just to continue her search.Upon reaching the tent at the back of the outer circle, where the parade had begun, she realized Jack and Kash were now far behind her, several groups of people separating them. She sighed in despair, running her hands through her long brown hair and stomping her booted foot on the ground. There, in the dirt, she saw a Guy Fawkes mas
There had been plenty of chatter on the Intelligence Assistance Communicator, or IAC, recently, so it was no surprise to Aaron McReynolds to see Cadence and her friends arrive at the Eidolon Festival. He believed he had brought enough of his team with him to sufficiently cover anything that might arise, although he was hopeful that Holland and her clan would be particularly careful considering who Cadence was and how obligated he was to provide her with unconditional protection. He was, however, extremely surprised to see Carter pull such a bold move and whisk one of Cadence’s friends away like that. The Vampire should have known that would not be permitted. Nevertheless, he took her, and that livened things up beyond a typical peacekeeping operation.
Jack was terrified. He almost could not fathom what was happening around him, not to mention that he was holding the body of a dear friend. He could see what appeared to be vampires swooping in on them from all directions. He thought that, if he left Drew behind, perhaps they would have a better chance of escaping, but he couldn’t consider leaving her, especially not when he knew how much she meant to Kash and Cadence.As they were exiting the fairgrounds, the bike hesitated just a second. Jack felt an icy cold flick on his shoulder. He glanced down to see that the fabric of his jacket w
The trip back to Shenandoah would have typically taken about forty minutes, but the man steering the bike was flying, and Cadence found herself winding through her own neighborhood in just under twenty minutes. Though she was happy to have the speed of the bike, at this point, she really wished she had been in a car with this person so that she could ask him some questions. The more she thought about all that had just happened, the more surreal it became. By the time she reached her house, she was quite certain she had lost her mind entirely.And yet she knew she had not. As he pulled the bike