Page 19 of Dead End

“Are you seriously sniffing her? Dude, what’s your problem?” Michael choked out, his eyes wide on Freddy. “And stop calling her a clown.” He reached over to grab the back of Freddy’s T-shirt and dragged him away from me, even though Freddy fought to get a few more sniffs in.

What the shit is going on?!

At least Michael had come to his senses and was standing up for me. Maybe soon I'll just be regular old October again.

“Come up with something more creative,” Michael said. “We don’t want to set our boy off again.” He nodded at Jason, who in turn flipped him off without bothering to look. He was still watching Freddy struggle not to sniff me.

And there went my dreams down the drain again, any hope that they gave a shit quickly vanishing.

The sound of clicking heels had us all turning in our seats, facing the open doorway that led into a dark hallway. The noise of her heels on the wood floors clashed with a sudden crash of thunder from outside. Lightning illuminated the dim room, exposing shadows that cast eerie shapes over the boiling cauldron. A figure appeared in the doorway, nothing more than a dark shadow, until her milky white skin flashed in the light of another lightning strike. Dramatic…but wicked.

“Fe, for pumpkin’s sake, stop frightening our guests. It’s not even midnight yet. Save it for the witching hour.” Pip cackled, the sound causing me to cringe.

Auntie Pip sighed as she took a seat and proceeded to snag a cookie off the tea tray. I couldn’t help but hold my breath, wondering whether or not her death would be the result of her own baking skills. She’d likely poison herself. But it must not have been too bad because she lived, munching on the cookie with a wink thrown my way.

Michael watched her closely, his eyes shifting back and forth from her to the tray, before he grabbed one for himself. He glanced around nervously when he realized my creepy auntie wasn’t the center of attention anymore. We all watched him slowly bring the baked good to his mouth, cringing on his behalf. I wanted to smack the cookie out of his hand.

“Don’t die,” Freddy half-joked under his breath, but his brows were scrunched together in concern as he worried his bottom lip.

Michael chewed slowly, and then a loud crunch echoed around the room. He paled and coughed as he reached up and pulled a piece of bone from his mouth. He swayed in his seat, tossing the bone on the table with a clatter. I hid a chuckle behind my other hand as he grinned weakly at Auntie Pip so her feelings wouldn’t get hurt.

“Ah, that’s where that little bugger went. A nice touch, though, adds that healthy, crunchy texture.” Pip beamed proudly and ate another cookie without missing a beat. Michael just nodded eagerly, fighting a cough, before bringing his napkin up to his face to spit the rest of the cookie out of his mouth.

Auntie Fe sighed from the doorway, shaking her head while making a clicking noise with her tongue. A dramatic entrance forgotten entirely, she walked over to the cauldron to give the bubbling whatever it was a stir.

She stared at a still-cooling rack of cookies next to the pot and tsked. “Sister, stop trying to kill the guests. You’re not exactly a ghoul scout,” Fe said with a dark chuckle.

She smoothed her hand down her completely black silk power suit that had silver designs depicting double crescent moons around the collar and cuffs. She patted her red hair to make sure it was still in a perfect bun.

She did all of this while lifting something out of the cauldron, blocking my view as she faced away from us. She tsked again under her breath and turned back around to face her suspicious audience.

“I swear on the Holy Bible and Jesus himself, if there's a floating eyeball in there, I’m out.” Maddie made a peace sign and grimaced through a shudder. I didn’t blame her, as I too stared suspiciously at the cauldron. I didn’t even know we owned a cauldron.

I wasn’t sure how much more of this ridiculous nonsense we could handle. It still felt like reality couldn’t quite catch up to us, holding us hostage, frozen in time.

“Pish posh, it’s—” Pip started with a flick of her wrist, like we were the crazy ones.

“Laundry day!” Fe finished for her and sat down beside her sister with a steaming cup of tea that absolutely wasn’t there a few seconds ago.

I heard Freddy mumble, “I thought it was bat chowder.”

“Aunties, I think it’s time you told us what’s going on. Talking spiders, fangs, magic, killer clowns, and coming back from the dead.” I trailed off, feeling Jason’s burning stare on my skin. It was the first time he’d looked at me since entering this house tonight.

“The dead?” my aunties both said at the same time, causing everyone to visibly shiver, as if some phantom breeze wafted through the room. Even Jessica shivered.

There was no way—just no fucking way—this was really happening. Magic wasn’t supposed to be real. Spiders couldn’t talk, and the dead stayed dead.

“No! That was a dream! Nobody really died!” My voice sounded hollow, even to my own ears. I detected the lie the second it came out of my mouth.

That was when I realized that the next thing to come out of my aunties' mouths would change everything. My life was never going to be the same after this. None of ours would ever be the same. I almost didn’t want to talk anymore. My breathing picked up as everyone stared at me with varying levels of pity and anger. There was so much anger, in fact, that it was nearly suffocating. But I didn’t fucking care. Whatever I did, I hadn’t meant to do it! But I’d do it again in a heartbeat instead of seeing their vacant stares.

“I'm so sorry, dear,” Pip said softly, placing a gentle hand over mine. “We begged your parents to tell you a long time ago, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“Tell me what?” I wasn’t even sure I wanted to know anymore. With the way she was looking at me, I knew it was about to get weird.

Fe sighed, setting her mug of tea down with a smack as she blurted, “Oh, for pumpkin’s sake, you’re a necromancer, October. On your father’s side, of course. David should have prepared you for this, honestly.

“I’m a what?” My jaw dropped, ready for the screaming to start.

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