Maddie:
I stood at the screen door longer than I should have. The October cold bled into the cabin, while snow flurries darted across a dark horizon. Lights beckoned up the road, from every house that tried to hide behind thick hedges and towering pines. A steady stream of trick-or-treaters flowed up and down the main road, each cluster lit up with lanterns, flashlights and glow strips. I could almost smell the peppermint and chocolate that filled every bag.
Behind me, Tucker was putting the last touches on his costume, spiking his hair with my mousse, layering strands of my costume jewelry around his neck.
Meanwhile, I was waiting for the police car to leave.
I told the sheriff that I didn’t need him to stay any longer. He could come over in the morning and prowl the woods if he wanted, but right now I needed some space. Ash and Kyle stood in front of the Chevy Tahoe, talking about something. Rodriguez waited inside the vehicle, headlights cutting through the blinding darkness, white beams like tunnels of daylight washing the side of the cabin.
Kyle got in the car, put it in reverse, then started to back out of the driveway.
But Ash didn’t leave. My heart sped up when I saw him jogging back toward the house. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this, whatever these feelings were that I had for him. Some part of me felt like I’d known him a lot longer than a few days.
Wasn’t that what my mother had said about my father? She fell for him over a weekend. And look how great that all turned out.
He was coming up the stairs now, head tucked down as the wind began to blow. It caught his hair and twisted it to the side, revealing chiseled cheekbones and a strong jaw. Every part of him looked like he had just walked off a movie set. I was glad he couldn’t see the hopeful expression in my eyes. That was the last thing I wanted him to know right now—that I was glad he had decided to come back.
Just then, when he was on the top step—lifting his head to meet my gaze—a wild gust of wind latched onto his coat and blew it to the side. At that same moment, Kyle’s headlights caught him in full silhouette.
I was almost blinded for a second. Then I saw something. A beam of light, about the size of my fist, shone right through Ash’s waist.
I caught my breath.
He was one of them. He had to be. No human could have a hole like that in their side.
Then I couldn’t move. In an instant, I was sorting through all of my memories of him. Somehow Ash had turned up each time right after I had seen one of those creatures in the woods. Today, he was here when I came back with the sheriff. Yesterday, he had found Tucker and me when we were lost in the forest. And what about last night? Something had come into my room, something that smelled just like he did.
He was standing in front of the screen door, staring at me. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s car pulled out onto Main Street and the sudden breeze was gone.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for the two of you to be alone tonight,” he said. He waited on the other side of the threshold, a faceless silhouette.
I took a half step away from the door, unable to speak.
I realized that he could have worn any face, that he probably had a whole trunk full of disguises and this was only one of many. The light fell across his features then, revealed that he was as tall and dark and handsome as a human dared to be. Even more attractive than he had been a few minutes ago. But there was something else, something quiet and deadly that pulsed beneath the surface.
I nervously glanced back to make sure Tucker was still in the other room.
“I told Sheriff Kyle that I could stay and keep an eye on you,” Ash said.
“No,” I answered, forcing a smile. A moment earlier, I couldn’t wait for him to come back. Now, more than anything, I wanted him to leave. “Thanks, really, but we’re going out in a few minutes and I need to get ready.” I remembered last night, when I had left the window open and two creatures had crept into my house. Had he been one of them? I needed to check the doors and windows again before I left, make sure they were all still locked. “But maybe you could answer a question.” I paused, stiffened my shoulders, forced a courage that I didn’t feel. “What were those creatures that attacked me down in the woods?” I asked.
Silence was my only answer, uncomfortable and dangerous. It felt like shadows were melting, reality was folding and the world was changing into something unrecognizable. I took another half step away from him.
“I don’t know,” he said, finally, his voice different now, rough and raw.
“I think you’re lying.”
He started to lift his hand, palm up, and I remembered the sparkling lights—in my living room, in the forest, back in the bed and breakfast when I went back to get my credit card.
Years ago, when I woke up in the forest and the caretaker had found me.
It all came together in a flash of insight.