I nudged her with my boot. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant.” She didn’t look at me. She was busy getting ready herself. “You’re fishing—wondering if I really like you or if I think you’re my best shot at surviving the concert. Well, news flash—it’s both. I love you, despite the fact that you believe we hang around you because you saved our butts once and we might need you again. That’s kinda rude, you know.” She lifted her head and gave me a pointed look.
Well, if I didn’t know my place before, I knew it now. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Just because I don’t think I’m great friend material doesn’t mean you guys agree. Then again, you might actually be stupid.”
She didn’t just nudge me with her boot, she kicked me, and it hurt, the bitch. I laughed, though.
My costume was pretty lame if I had to say so myself. Black Doc Martens, black leggings, long black sweater. It was supposed to be a fairly warm night for the end of October, but this was still New England. It wasn’t jeans-and-T-shirt weather. I’d clipped some fun-fur cat ears I’d made into my hair, and painted my face to look vaguely catlike. I felt like something out of one of those anime shows that always made me slightly uncomfortable.
It helped that Roxi, who was dressed as a werewolf, looked very similar. I knew someone would accuse us of trying to be sexy, but really we had gone for simple costumes that allowed for fighting, because that’s what we needed.
We both had on our iron rings, and had all kinds of Sharpie tattoos underneath our clothes. I stuck to things that protected from evil spirits only, because I didn’t want to hurt Wren, and after all this time with Noah, she might need me.
My sweater had a little zippered compartment in the left arm, and that’s where I put some cash, my ticket and my ID. My phone was in a special pocket in my sports bra. Yeah, I’d heard all about the risks of breast cancer, but I figured one night wouldn’t hurt. Anything else I might need was already on-site, tucked behind a shrub beside the building where Roxi’s mother worked. Thankfully, it was inside the section of grounds roped off for the concert.
Although, once it got dark, I didn’t know how security was going to make sure no one snuck in; but I’d heard that they had the place well barricaded, and of course there was a tall fence around most of it. The only way in that I knew of, other than the road, was the tree in the cemetery.
The concert didn’t start until nine, but the grounds opened at eight so people could buy merchandise and snag a place near the front of the stage. It was almost eight now. Ben had to drop his sister off at a friend’s house, and then he was going to pick up Gage and come get us. We’d meet everyone else at the grounds around eight-thirty. Then, I’d spend the entire opening act, intermission and most of the Dead Babies’ set waiting for hell to break loose.
Because at midnight, the veil practically disappeared, and midnight was when Gretchen planned to summon Joe. And I assumed that was also when Noah planned to cross over.
Finally ready, Roxi and I went downstairs to wait for the guys.
Nan was handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. She’d just closed the door on two kids dressed like vampires when the guys arrived.
“Be careful,” she said and gave me a hug.
“I will,” I promised.
She squeezed me tighter. “Call me if you need me.”
“I will.” Only we both knew I wouldn’t. I wasn’t dragging her into this. I couldn’t let myself think about how worried she had to be, or how much she wished that our family had been normal. If I thought about her worrying about me I wouldn’t be able to do everything I needed to do that night.
We went outside. It was definitely sweater weather. I had a T-shirt on under mine for a little extra warmth, but at least it wasn’t freezing. Some years we had snow on Halloween, but not tonight. The weather was the one thing we had in our favor. It would be really hard to fight ghosts in a freaking parka.
Gage jumped into the backseat when he saw us. It was kind of cute how he always gave me the front, like it was the gentlemanly thing to do. He was dressed like a lumberjack, which was hilarious because he was skinny and Latino and wouldn’t know what to do with an ax if you gave him one. I knew this, because I’d once seen him attempt to cut firewood.
Ben was dressed entirely in black, had his hair all messed up and was wearing black eyeliner.
“What the hell are you?” I asked with a chuckle.
“I’m too tragic for this world,” he informed me—entirely straight-faced.
“I’m a lumberjack!” Gage called from the backseat.
“I guessed that,” I told him with a glance over my shoulder. “Nice beard, by the way.” It was crooked.
He grinned.
I turned away with a smile. What would we do without him? Seriously, he found fun in everything. He rarely complained. He was just so cute and sweet—a genuinely good person.