Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (free novel 24 TXT) 📗

“Back when I was young, I usually attended the festival with your mother and father. Such wonderful memories.” My brows rose as he added, “Tragic, what happened to them. We were quite close in our college days, did you know that?”

“My parents never really talked about where they came from. I didn’t even know this place existed until recently.”

This conversation was getting awkward. For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of discussing my mom and dad with Ichabod. He was nice enough, but there was something off-putting about him. His smile was too wide and uncomfortably gleaming, and his eyes were so deep, they made me fidget. He was nothing like his effortlessly charming son.

He blinked, as if coming out of a fog of memory. “Ah, yes, I suppose that’s right. Well, I do hope you can make it to the festival. In fact, I’m sure my Calvin would be honored to ecsort—”

A small, barely there growl rumbled from Freddy’s throat, and I had to elbow him in the gut.

Ichabod chuckled. “I suppose not then.” His eyes then flickered to my strange ensemble. “My my, that dress suits you. Will you be wearing it to the festival? It’s…vintage.” His eyes sparkled knowingly as he raised a brow at my bare toes sticking out. I suddenly felt the need to fix my disheveled hair.

What’s his deal with the festival? Why is he pushing this? Why is he staring at my flushed cheeks and sex hair?!

My cheeks blazed as I ran my hands down the bodice of my dress. “Thanks…it’s got…pockets,” I said sticking my hands in said pockets.

Oh my god, what the fuck am I saying? Pockets?!

Freddy and Norman snorted simultaneously at my panicked rambling as I began to back away. Ichabod smiled indulgently and said, “Yes, I see that.”

Okay, time to abort. Abort the mission and gracefully bow out.

“Well, it was nice seeing you, Your Highness—I mean, Mr. Mayor—I mean, Sir—Ichabod.”

Oh good god, shut up, October!

I was dying inside.

“Likewi—”

He never got to finish before my fight or flight instincts kicked in and I promptly fled. I turned and practically spirited away, not realizing that there wasn’t a street corner in sight for me to disappear around, and it left me awkwardly speed-walking down the sidewalk while the mayor and the guys stood there watching in bewilderment.

My face was on fire, and I mumbled to myself the whole time. To make matters worse, I got about twenty feet away before I stepped on a particularly sharp rock and fell forward in an incredibly undignified way, yelping and cursing all the way down. I caught myself with my palms on the sidewalk and shoved back to my feet, gathering the billowy length of my dress, and cursed myself for leaving my heeled boots behind.

I just kept going, resolved to not look back, and just hoped the guys could somehow finesse this to seem like a normal behavior, or perhaps an off day. I just wanted to get back to the manor, change clothes, and pretend like this entire hellish morning never happened. Maybe I’d eat one of Pip’s questionable baked goods and just pass out.

My legs couldn’t keep up with the youngsters, so like any smart fella would do, I hitched a ride. I was ordered to scare the gal, but my porcelain heart didn’t want to. So what do you do when you don’t pull your own strings? You follow orders.

There I was, hiding in the alley like a darn cat in the dumpster as I spied on Little Miss Red. The only way for my job to be complete was to get the broad to use her gifts in plain sight and record my findings. But to do that, she had to be worried for her life. That’s where the zombies came in. The boob supplied them, and I didn’t like to think about how he did it. Wrong was what it was. Dark magic that made me want to go running for the hills, but you see, a dummy doesn’t run away from a job, even when his gut tells him to walk away.

Red and her two companions strolled right into my trap like planned, and I waited, strapped to the foul smelling corpse. I waited for those special gifts to come about. She looked me right in the eye, but for some reason, she didn’t seem to realize she’d seen me before. A product of my tactical stealth, no doubt. The art of blending in was an acquired skill.

The plan failed as soon as we lost her, but I didn’t worry for nothing. I knew it was time to step up my game. My master was getting impatient.

My heart didn’t beat, but I felt bad for the kid. She was only trying to learn her place in this strange, strange world. But it just kept throwing obstacles at her. He was coming for her, and I wished I had the power to stop it before the innocent gal got hurt. But alas, I wasn’t the one pulling my strings.

“Psst, October, are you ready?” Maddie whispered through my bedroom door, the heavy mahogany muffling her voice.

It was nearing midnight, and I had yet to climb out of the pile of warm bodies surrounding me, cocooning me in a protective embrace. I wanted to sink into the bed with all these strong limbs thrown over my body.

“Give me five minutes,” I whispered back, waiting a moment until I heard her feet padding down the creaking hallway.

Turning my head to the side, I grinned at a sleeping Jason muttering in his sleep. He scooted closer, burying his face in the side of my boob with a contented sigh whistling through his parted, pouty lips. The feel of fingers tightening on the curve of my hip had me whipping my head in the other direction. Norman was sleeping on his back with