Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
The tarp continued across the street, visually signaling that his decorations and Zachary’s were connected.
Gus followed the tarp and stopped in front of Zachary’s house, gawking.
They had transformed the front into what looked like a cracked wooden hull studded with barnacles and overgrown with glowing green algae. From the cracks in the wood, bony appendages protruded, composed of an array of bones from different creatures that gave the effect of never-before-seen undersea-dwelling monsters burrowing through to Casper Road.
Bram actually didn’t like to look at that part for too long because it was legitimately scary.
In the trees, other creatures lurked. The ghostly revenants of the ship’s crew? Bloodthirsty pirates who met an unlucky end? It wasn’t exactly clear and Zachary hadn’t cared as much about the story as he had about the effect. Either way, they were situated so that they seemed on the verge of bursting from the trees to chase any hapless child who stumbled into their path in search of candy.
“Oh my god,” Gus breathed. “That is so cool.”
She ran up and started staring closely at everything, hands clasped behind her back as if she were already anticipating being told not to touch anything.
“Ask Zachary to tell you how he made the monsters,” Bram called.
It would be Zachary’s pleasure to explain in detail and would give Adam and Wes a chance to catch their breaths.
“Bless you,” Adam said. “We’ve spent the whole week helping her with her costume and then she got home from school hyper on sugar because they gave them Halloween candy in class, and I swear she’s got the energy of seven people.”
Wes nodded. He was standing very still, hands in his pockets, scanning the crowd with just his eyes. Bram remembered Zachary telling him that Wes didn’t enjoy crowds.
“Let me know if you’d like a break,” Bram said quietly. “You can go hang out with Hemlock inside. My dog,” he added.
“Thank you,” Wes said avidly. “I’ll let you know.”
“This is truly incredible,” Adam said. “I knew Zachary went all out on the decorations, but I honestly wasn’t expecting something so elaborate.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty single-minded when he wants something,” Bram said.
“Hey, Mathesons and company,” Adam yelled, waving behind them.
Trooping down Casper Road were Jack Matheson and his partner, Simon, Charlie Matheson and Rye, Adam’s sibling, River, and Henry and Cameron from the Odeon.
“Wow, queer Garnet Run, represent, huh?” Rye said, high-fiving Adam when they met.
“Seriously,” said Jack.
Simon looked around with wide eyes, then tilted his chin to the ground.
“Where are your costumes, you assholes?” Rye asked. “I was explicitly instructed to wear a costume!”
“Er, what are you?” Cameron asked.
Rye glared. “I’m Theo Decker, the lead singer of Riven.”
“Oh, right, yeah,” he said with a smile. Then he peered closer. “Actually, you kinda look like him. I can’t believe I never noticed.”
“Riven?” Bram asked.
Henry shrugged.
“They’re a band,” Charlie said with the voice of someone who only knew because Rye had told him so.
“I swear some of you live under a rock,” Rye said.
“I thought that was my brother I saw under that rock,” Jack joked.
“How are the cats doing?” Simon asked River softly. The two of them stood next to each other, slightly back from the crowd.
“Good.” River smiled as they thought of the cats. “There’s this new little orange-and-white spotted cat that keeps coming up to the shelter on his own, and I’ll let him in and give him some food and he’ll let me pet him, but then he’ll go stand by the door waiting to be let out again.”
“He can’t make up his mind?” Simon asked.
“Maybe. Or maybe he just wants both,” River mused.
“What are you supposed to be?” Jack was asking Charlie.
“I’m a vampire. Obviously,” Charlie said, indicating his cape and fangs.
Jack grinned and Bram smiled too. With his massive build, ruddy beard, and aura of extreme down-to-earth competence, Charlie was an extremely unlikely vampire.
Jack had dressed as Waldo from Where’s Waldo?, and Simon was apparently a font. He was dressed in all black and had cardboard flourishes at his wrists and ankles and a black hat on. He stood with his legs together and held his arms out perpendicular to make the letter T. When he did so, Henry laughed, apparently delighted.
“I do enjoy a good serif,” he said.
Henry’s costume looked very familiar.
“Are you that Humphrey Bogart detective?” Bram guessed. His mom was very into classic noir films so he’d seen them often as a kid.
“Yes! Sam Spade.”
Bram turned to Cameron, who was dressed in all black with a strange feathered hat.
“I’m the Maltese falcon,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I told you no one was gonna get it,” he told Henry, but he didn’t seem upset.
River was dressed as a dreamy mermaid, in blue cloth that edged into silver. They had blue-and-silver glitter in their hair and their face was dappled with makeup so that it looked like scales. The effect was alien and beautiful.