Ghost: The Halloween Boys by Kat Blackthorne

Author:Kat Blackthorne [Blackthorne, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Hearts Press
Published: 2022-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

The pirate captain’s words echoed so loudly in my mind they drowned out the medley of drums and harps a group, of what looked like people dressed as deer, played. I’d hoped to see him, the one from the stories. Ghost, they had all whispered with hushed reverence. I planned to confront him, and I’d envisioned doing it during another dance.

The music was soft and perfect for my questioning. Enough of the town’s riddles and half-truths, I wanted to ask him, the skeleton man stalking me. The pirates told me enough, but I wanted to hear it from him.

Raven nudged a soft, feathery elbow at my arm. “You look tired. Shall I walk you to your car?”

I glanced around the crowd for the millionth time. With a disappointed sigh, I agreed. Tonight had been a bust, in every sense of the word. Between my blow-up fight with Ames and now feeling stood up by my dance partner, I felt like an absolute loser. Even Ezmerelda took one look at me walking back and vanished. She didn’t want to be around me.

The only good to come from my disaster of an evening, aside from getting actual intel from the pirates, was my somehow scoring a new apartment and job. And Raven was easy company. “How long have you been coming to Hallows?” I asked as we weaved through horns and fur.

“A long time,” he replied plainly. “But I live in Ash Grove. Most here do not.”

That surprised me. “But everyone in here says they never get visitors. People in Ash Grove look at me like I have two heads. Where do all these people come from if they don’t stay here?”

A month was a long time to commit to a festival, yet I was seeing the same beautiful, masked faces every evening. It didn’t make sense. Travel to and from each day would be a logistical nightmare. My friend shrugged and shook their shoulders. Still in bird-mode, I guessed. “This town’s history draws all sorts of special people. This festival is what Halloween is all about.” His beak turned toward me, and I imagined a smile beneath it as he extended his winged arms. “Tricks, treats, a little mischief, and monsters everywhere. What’s not to love?”

A grin softly touched my lips as I fell into a walk beside him. The crowd dissipated while we broke the tree line to follow the flickering jack-o’-lanterns down the way. Raven remained by my side, his feathers from his arms so long they dragged the ground alongside us. He wasn’t small by any means, but he stood only an inch or so taller than me. I stole brief moments to inspect his costume, wondering who the kind soul was beneath. A dark Hyde hood covered his head, concealing any hint of hair or ears. He wore a plain buttoned vest over hundreds of feathers that wrapped around his frame. I wished I knew who he was so I could text him, so that maybe we could be friends.

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