“Aunt Marie.” Carter voiced his reply to my unspoken question as he knelt down, rummaging in a duffel bag. “Not really my aunt. She lives in the old Cutler house, the one they say is haunted? Me and my friend Kian used to go trick-or-treating at hers on Halloween. We were sure she was a witch. One time we…” He trailed off, muttering “never mind” under his breath. “Anyway, she’s alright once you get used to her. She let us leave our stash in here tonight.”
Stash?
He handed me a bundle of fabric. “Put this on.”
I shook it out to see a dark hoodie.
“Shame to cover that gorgeous body, but if you’re coming with me, I’m not gonna risk you.” He helped me into it, his touch surprisingly gentle as he zipped it up. It hung almost to my knees, huge on me. I shivered as his hands brushed over my collarbone, and then his masked face was next to my ear. “I can’t wait to see you on your knees for me, later.”
I was in so much trouble.
He reached for my mask, and I shrank backwards. “No.”
“I’m only gonna swap it for a mask like mine,” he reassured me, holding up the full-face mask that was in his hand.
Biting my lip, I quickly grabbed the mask from his outstretched hand and spun around, giving him my back. I ripped off my own mask and pulled the other one over my head, then stuffed mine into the pocket of the hoodie, before I turned back to face him.
“How is it you still manage to look hot in this massive hoodie with a mask covering your face?” He fiddled with the button to turn on my mask’s LED lights, and then everything before me was suddenly lit up with a blue glow. I stifled a snort of laughter. He’d never used the word “hot” in relation to me before. As quickly as the thought appeared, it was immediately replaced by a rush of guilt at the knowledge I was purposely withholding my identity.
Thankfully, he silenced my uncomfortable thoughts by continuing, “Take this.” A cold metal canister was thrust into my hand, and I slid it into my pocket. Carter lifted my hood up over my head, then linked his fingers with mine.
The warmth of his large hand encompassing my own…it sent butterflies racing through me. I pushed down the feeling before the guilt could rise up in me again. We made our way back out into the main area of the tiny tent, and Aunt Marie stopped Carter with a hand on his arm as he brushed past her. He spun to look at her, but it wasn’t him she was facing.
It was me.
Her hypnotic eyes bored into mine, and it was like she could see into my very soul. She beckoned me closer, and my body obeyed before I even realised what I was doing.
“Two halves, so different, yet the same. Trick him once, and you have much to gain.
The gain will not come without a cost. Can you hold on when hope is lost?”
At her foreboding, low chant, a whole-body shiver ran through me, and I froze in place, unable to tear my gaze away from hers. She moved her hand from Carter’s arm to my own, her long, blood-red talons gripping me firmly, and pulled me closer. Her voice dropped to a whispered warning.
“Are you willing to pay the price? Trick him once, but don’t trick him twice.”
My heart sped up, thumping in my ribcage.
“Stop scaring her,” Carter hissed to Marie, breaking through the heavy, claustrophobic atmosphere that was holding me captive. She turned her eyes to his.
“Beware the one who seems—”
He raised his hand and sighed. Loudly. “Enough with the cryptic messages.” As he tugged me out of the tent, he whispered, “You get used to her. She always speaks in riddles.”
His assurances weren’t enough to take away the icy tendrils of fear that had wrapped their way around me, embedding themselves in my soul. She’d seen straight through the mask, straight through me. Her words were a clear message, one I couldn’t ignore.
As Carter led me away from the carnival, towards the area behind the skatepark, next to the graffitied wall by the subway where a group of masked, hooded figures waited, the warning she’d given me played through my mind, over and over again.
Are you willing to pay the price? Trick him once, but don’t trick him twice.
7
We reached the others. Only a small group, and there was no sign of the two guys in the red and purple masks—Kian and Xavier. I let myself relax a little. I doubted Kian would have even been aware of my existence, but Xavier did, since I’d been the one sewing his costumes in drama club. Although, now, with the mask covering my entire face and the hoodie swamping my body, I was pretty sure it was even harder for anyone to see through my disguise.
“You know the rules,” Carter announced. I listened, fascinated, as he continued. “Video or photograph your evidence, and upload it to the drive using the password you were given. Avoid any identifying features. No faces. Tag your evidence with your codes.” He glanced around at the group before muttering to himself, “Where the fuck are Kian and Xavier?”
“What about the girl?” someone called. Everyone’s attention swung to me, and Carter stepped closer, his arm curling around my waist protectively.
“She’s with me.”
“I thought all the girls were being taken to the cove? Those were the rules,” another guy challenged.
“She’s with me,” Carter repeated, his grip on me tightening as he squared his shoulders. “Anyone got a problem with that?”
I held my breath. There were general mutters, but no one came out and said anything.
“Okay. Three hours. Meet at the cove.” Everyone split off, and I was left standing there with Carter’s arm still around me.
“What’s going on?” I ventured, keeping my voice low.
“Just a bit of friendly competition. First, we picked the girls we wanted, now—”
“You picked the girls you wanted?” I barely managed to get the words out.
“I know where your mind’s going, and it’s not like that. No one was taken against their will or anything.”
Hadn’t he taken me against my will?
It was as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Remember, I asked you if you wanted me to let you go, and you said no.” His arm tightened around me. “Believe me, most girls would jump at the chance at being caught by one of us.” A low chuckle escaped his lips. “I can guarantee that you were the only one who really put up a fight.”
His hand ran up and down my back, and I relaxed under his touch. “Now, we get to do something to win bragging rights.”
“Bragging rights? And where did the girls go?” The questions fell from my lips before I could stop them, and I could only hope he wasn’t paying attention to my voice.
“Yeah. Bragging rights. As for the girls…they got taken on a nice little ride to the same place we’ll be going later. An all-night party.”
“I can’t stay out all night,” I whispered. Technically, I could, but I wasn’t about to. Carter started to say something, but I cut him off with another question. “Why didn’t you send me away with the other girls?”
He fell silent, then when he eventually spoke, his voice was full of confusion. “I don’t know?” He pulled me closer. “I hadn’t planned on keeping you with me. There’s something about you, though. Something addictive.”