Is it Halloween yet???
Oh … no … it’s like I can’t help myself!!!
SNEAK PEEK: Opening of A DEAD END HALLOWEEN
Chapter 1
Tess
I slumped on a stool behind the counter of my pawnshop and watched three ghosts, two witches, and a trio of KPop Demon Hunters approach in a menacing fashion. It was too late to run.
I had no weapons.
There was no escape.
“Trick or treat!”
I winced. “You don’t have to shout. I heard you. People on Mars heard you.”
One of the ghosts pushed her mask back so it rested on the top of her head and gave me a concerned look. “Miss Tess, are you okay? You never sound this cranky. And I’m a McKee, so I know all about cranky.”
I almost smiled. “Hey, Lily. I’m sorry. It has been a rough day.”
Her brother Peregrine, known (mercifully for him) as Bug, took off his ghost mask and stared at me with big eyes. “Is it because of the dead body?”
“That didn’t help.”
“Shut up, Bug!” Lily punched his arm. “It’s probably because her Aunt Ruby is a murderer.”
“She’s not a murderer!” I grabbed handfuls of my hair and tugged.
A small demon hunter pointed at me. “Why are you at work when your aunt is in jail?”
“Because I have to be! I—” I stopped, realizing I was justifying myself—and probably working out some guilt—to a group who hadn’t even hit their teens.
“It’s part of the plan,” Jack said, walking out from the back room with a giant bag of candy to refill the bowl on my counter.
It was Halloween afternoon, and I’d continued the former owner’s tradition of welcoming all kids who stopped by in costume.
Even though I wanted more than anything in the world not to be there.
To be at the jail, demanding the sheriff release my aunt.
To be at the meeting taking place—I looked at my clock—in three hours between two powerful vampires.
To be home, watching The Great British Baking Show.
While I gritted my teeth and contemplated the hideous events of the past week that put me at this place at this moment, Aunt Ruby in jail, and my friends in dire jeopardy, the kids chattered with Jack.
They were relieved, because he had a plan. He said it, so it must be true.
In the almost two years Jack had been back in Dead End, he’d convinced everyone in town that he was a person to look to in a crisis. Mostly, because he was a great person to look to in a crisis.
And this? Was possibly the biggest crisis I’d ever faced in my life.
