Slowly, I’d forced myself to get used to the idea of invisible potato mouse pets. As I never had to see them, I could handle hanging out in his room for the short amount of time we did. In the past two weeks since we had made up, Ryan and I still spent most of our time back at the house.
I groaned, rolling over toward him. “What?”
Laughing at my exhaustion, he leaned in close, falling next to me on the lumpy as well as now squeaky bed. It sounded like it was going to fall apart. I remained unmoving, not letting my evening nap be interrupted.
“Come on. We have somewhere to be.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have something to show you.”
“You can’t show me here?” I blinked an eye open, feeling like I was moments away from shutting it again.
The past few days had been utter chaos. Not only had midterms felt like they had burned me out to my core, but I was also planning my first Samhain ritual for the coven this week. I’d also finally declared my major today, much to the academic office’s relief. I deserved an irresponsible late nap.
“Nooo.” Ryan laughed. He poked me again. “Come on.”
“I’m tired,” I moaned.
“Trust me, you’re going to love it.”
When he put it like that, I raised my eyebrows, sitting up.
“That’s my girl.”
I let Ryan pull me the rest of the way up off the bed. The next thing I knew, he was wrapping me in my jacket before tossing on his own. I looked him up and down—from his forest-green shirt to his dark jeans and worn sneakers.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he said with a grin.
So far, I did see why I needed my coat. At the end of October, it was turning from brisk chill to cold. Fall days might have been granting us a reprieve from the humidity of summer, but now, the nights were settling in heavy and on the verge of frost. I let Ryan lead me through campus, where the lamp lights were turning on to light our path one at a time, all the way until we headed up the hill toward a spot I hadn’t been visiting as much as of late with everything going on. I was pretty sure we’d already missed the sunset, if a relaxing walk was what he had planned.
Ryan, ever the romantic.
Only he started to pull me toward the right, and it didn’t take long before I saw it. I gasped.
As I turned into the off-campus cemetery looming above Barnett, no one laid between headstones, contemplating the state of the world. No, there was so much more.
Candles lit up the rows. Headstones were draped in fairy lights and pumpkins. There were so many pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns everywhere with a variety of faces and carving talent. Large comforters, likely torn from their dorm room beds, and picnic blankets from springs past lay over the dewy grass. People were squeezed side by side on them, together in gathering.
“Happy Samhain, Luella,” Ryan murmured into my ear.
It wasn’t everything I had planned. But with the lights, the people, it might as well have been everything and more.
I put a hand to my mouth, unsure of what would come out of it. My jaw dropped, and strange laughter huffed from my chest.
Faith was wandering in the distance. Ana sat down to look up at the bright and sparkling stars with Gertie, Celeste, and Essie. Even Celeste’s husband and son were enjoying the night.
“How did you—what did you do to make all this happen?”
“You’d be surprised how excited football players get over pumpkin carving,” explained Ryan.
That didn’t cover the half of it.
“You’re kidding.”
“I’m really not,” he said with another chuckle. “You like it? I know it isn’t your dream Samhain celebration, but I salvaged what I could and figured that we could still at least try to do something near campus even if we weren’t allowed to host it in the quad. The view would make up for it—”
