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“Back away now!” I yelled.
“I saw a head! In there!” a man cried.
“Fuckin’ hell,” Law muttered.
A woman shouted, “There’s something in that window!”
I glanced up at the window in question and could see an object, but I wouldn’t call it a head.
“That’s no head!” Nanci said, strolling into view. “That’s a pumpkin, you bunch of idiots!”
People turned to her.
“Bull, I know what a head looks like,” a woman snapped snottily.
“Then you should have your eyes checked.” Nanci grabbed a flashlight from Bow’s belt and shone it up at the window. Groans ran through the crowd when they saw a pumpkin grinning down at them.
“Happy now? Freaking lunatics,” Nanci said loudly. “Christ, if I were a ghost, I wouldn’t want to appear with you nutjobs around.”
The crowd began to disperse, and Nanci shook her head in disbelief. “Small problem.”
“What?” I asked.
“I didn’t put a pumpkin at that window.” I glanced upward and discovered the damn thing had vanished.
“What the hell is going on? I’d shut the town, but I think everyone would lynch me as their profits are massively up,” I murmured.
“Could we have awakened anything?” Nanci whispered, watching those around us leave.
“I don’t believe in that woo-woo crap.”
“But we are certain it exists. Babe, Aurora-Victoria…” she argued.
“Yup. Something always defies logic, and Aurora-Victoria is that. Yet all this happens during Halloween. Are you sure Phoe didn’t do shit?”
“Not even Phoe can make ghosts appear out of thin air,” Nanci retorted, wrapping an arm around my waist and resting her head on my chest. That was true, but still didn’t give me any answers.
Nanci
“Wow, Merritt is trending today!” Phoe crowed down the phone. “Great for you guys. I’m so happy.” I’d called her after lunch and wanted to check this wasn’t on her, but Phoe, as always, gave me the verbal runaround.
“It’s been mental,” I replied.
“Suck it up, sweet pea. Social media is blowing up with all sorts of images people think they’ve caught. Most are bunkum, but a few might be something. Obviously, it’s not, but just enough uncertainty exists.”
“Phoe, are you behind this?”
“Helping promote Merritt by sharing those socials? Hell, yeah.”
That wasn’t what I meant, and Phoe knew it. Before I could say anything, she cackled. “Anyway, got to go. I’ve an ally to terrify.”
I didn’t dare question who. Phoe had set her sights on someone, so I’d let her play with them. Maybe she had something else planned, but she’d not said what. Plus, that day I made the club attend Rage. What had she done? This didn’t make sense. And before I could ask her, Phoe hung up.
“Blasted woman.”
Amy laughed behind me. “Annoying, isn’t it?” she quipped, and I scowled.
“I get no respect,” I bitched, heading for the parking lot.
