Samhain (Matilda Kavanagh Book 2) (21 page)

“It is pond scum that we need this kind of protection,” I said with a shake of my head.

Whatever Ronnie or Joey might’ve said in response was lost to me when the smells of the bounty of food hit me. It was all sweet and salty and warm and savory, and my mouth was full of saliva. I swallowed and moved quickly, almost forgetting about my companions as I rushed into the fairway to look at the different food stalls. My pockets were heavy with money, and I couldn’t wait to spend it. There was something special about knowing I had money to spend without worrying about paying my electric bill.

Ronnie said something, but I couldn’t hear her.
The drums were pounding, making the ground vibrate. The sun was setting fast, and people were lighting torches to keep the dark away. They cast long flickering shadows through the crowds and booths. Ronnie tugged on me, and I stopped, letting her put her lips close to my ear to be heard over the noise.

“I’m going to the vendors,” she said.

I nodded and pointed at the food stalls, then at my stomach. She smiled and gave me a thumbs-up. We managed to mime to Joey and ask her who she wanted to go with. She turned to follow Ronnie.

I walked through the food stalls, trying to decide what to spend my money on. I reminded myself that I could buy more than one treat if I wanted to, and it became a lot easier to decide what to buy. I stopped at a cart manned by a young Brownie girl who looked a lot like my friend Finn, though most Brownies looked alike, and bought a sausage roll.

The pastry was flakey and buttery, and when I bit into it, the hot sausage juices exploded in my mouth. I groaned in satisfaction, my eyes rolling back and my shoulders sagging. It was just that good. Or maybe I was that hungry. Whatever, the damn thing tasted amazing. The Brownie girl gave me a crooked smile and waved her thin, pointy hand as I turned away. I think I finished that thing in less than four bites.

I bought a cup of honey mead before I walked through the rest of the food booths, promising myself that I would come back and get something else. I turned the corner and headed down the first row of vendors, admiring the various trinkets and baubles for sale. Wading through the press of bodies and not spilling my mead was difficult, but somehow I managed it, even getting a few sips without getting any on my sweatshirt.

I ducked to one side and let some of the crowd pass by. Sipping my sweet and salty drink, I watched the crowd. A lot of people had decided to dress in costume, making the people-watching that much more entertaining. Humans with fake fairy wings and ceramic devil horns tried to blend in with the crowd, but their costume choices just made them that much more obvious.

I heard a group of girls giggling nearby, and I turned to see them gazing up at a tall, dark elf who promised them the love potion he was selling would bring them passionate, heated love. I crinkled my nose and turned to blend back in with the crowd, letting the flow of people take me to the clearing with the Great Bonfire.

It was a mountain of sticks and hay and bundles of sage that towered at least fifteen feet in the air. It was big enough to coat the entire city in a blanket of cleansing smoke. All around it, at even intervals, were unlit torches. These would be lit, and the people who had won the drawing would get to participate in lighting the Bonfire. People had left wreaths of African violets, marjoram, and barberry around the base of the Bonfire, all things that would help with healing and psychic cleansing and protection. I took a deep breath and sighed. I couldn’t wait for the lighting.

I glanced to the west and saw that the sun was half gone. As soon as the sun was wholly gone, they would ring the bells and call us back to the Bonfire. We would link hands, circle the Bonfire, and raise the power and magic of Samhain while we breathed in the smoke. Then we would dance to the beat of the drums, and it would be a new year. I was ready for a new year.

A distant howl caught my attention, pulling me out of my fantasies of dancing in the healing smoke. A chill ran down my spine when an answering howl echoed from a different direction. I didn’t know if those howls belonged to Jameson’s pack or Tollis’s, but I wished with all my heart that Jameson’s pack could’ve been at the festival. Jameson would never put innocent people at risk by bringing his pack to a festival during a full moon though. He was strong enough to control the bloodlust of the pack, but tempting them with so many people was just dangerous. Instead, they would run through the woods and the mountains outside the city. I wondered if Tollis would be as considerate. Would he keep his pack away from the city? I hoped so.

I turned back to the fairways and saw Ronnie’s red curls through the heads and shoulders of so many people. As I made my way to her, I saw the shock of Joey’s pink hair, and I managed to get to them with little trouble. When Joey saw me over Ronnie’s shoulder, she smiled brightly enough to make her lavender eyes sparkle. She bounced on her toes and waved. When I reached her side, I saw what had made her so excited: she’d bought a new pet.

On her shoulder was the world’s tiniest, fuzziest dragon. It was pale cream with little tuffs of green fur at its pointy ears, knees, and the tip of its serpentine tail. I touched its stub nose with the tip of my finger and laughed when it tried to breathe fire. All that came out was a puff of white smoke.

“He’s too young for real fire,” Joey said, touching the top of his head with her fingertips.

“He’s adorable.” I took my hand back before he bit one of my fingers.

“I know!” Joey said, bouncing on her toes again. “I love him already!”

“What’s his name?”

“Smert!”

“Really?” I asked.

“Why? I think it’s a great name!”

Before I could argue the quality of the name, Ronnie interrupted us. “Where’ve you been?” Ronnie had to raise her voice to be heard.

“Around.” I shrugged.

“Did you eat?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, we were just about to get something.”

“I could eat again,” I said.

“Of course you could.”

I stuck my tongue out at her before turning to lead the way to the clearing, planning to arc around the crowd to the food court rather than fighting our way down the merchant stalls. Joey hurried ahead of me, her excitement over the tiny dragon quickening her steps. I tried to keep up with her, but an excited pixie was like a puppy on a sugar high—I just had to hope she’d slow down eventually.

I felt Ronnie tug on my arm. I twisted to look at her, trying to keep my footing as we pushed through the throng of people.

“See that guy?” Ronnie had stopped, her fingers holding the sleeve of my sweatshirt.

I followed her pointing hand to the clearing where the Bonfire stood. A man stood by one of the unlit torches. He was smoking a dark cigarette, probably a clove, with a flat cap pulled low over his eyes and the collar of his jacket turned up as if he was trying to hide his face.

“What about him?” I asked.

“Just watch.”

So I did. Soon the man turned his head in our direction, and I caught the glint of yellow in his eyes.

My heart shot up to my throat, and I realized I recognized him. “I saw him at the gypsy camp.”

Ronnie nodded. “That’s what I thought. See his eyes?”

“Of course I see his eyes.”

“What in the name of toadstools is a Were doing here around so many people?”

“I shudder to think.”

Before I could make any guesses, the Were dropped his clove and snuffed out the bright burning cherry with the toe of his boot. He gripped the torch and yanked it free from the ground.

“Um…” Ronnie tilted her head as he hefted the six-foot torch on his shoulder and walked away, disappearing behind the Bonfire. “Maybe he’s taking it to be lit? You know, to bring it back to light the others?”

“Do you really think so?”

“I hope so.” Ronnie shrugged.

We stood there for a little while longer, watching the other torches, but no one else was lingering in the ring, and no one came up to take any of the other torches.

“That was weird,” I said.

“Yes, it was. We should go find Joey.” Ronnie’s voice was halting, as though she didn’t really want to take her eyes off the Great Bonfire. Neither did I.

“We should.” I nodded, finally blinking when my eyes began to burn. I had been holding my breath and keeping my eyes open, worried I’d miss one telltale sign that something was about to happen.

“C’mon,” Ronnie said, turning toward me and pushing my shoulder to get me to walk.

I tripped over my own feet, but I caught my balance before I actually fell. I pulled my eyes away from the clearing and hurried to catch up to our missing pixie.

Chapter 15

We found Joey in line for funnel cake. Ronnie hated funnel cake, but I wasn’t surprised the pixie wanted fried dough coated in powdered sugar and topped with a mountain of whipped cream. Sugar was like a pixie’s life’s blood. Ronnie disappeared into the crowd to hunt for something she would eat. With her picky eating habits, I wasn’t sure she’d find anything she’d like. Maybe the spiral-cut fried potato on a stick?

I hadn’t had a funnel cake since I was a kid, so I stayed with Joey and Smert. After we both had plates full of promised heart attacks, we found a couple of empty hay bales where we could sit and wait for Ronnie. Joey had in fact gone for nearly a whole can of whipped cream, but she’d also added a lake of chocolate syrup. I’d gone with an impressive amount of chocolate and cream, but I’d topped mine with sliced strawberries. At least I could lie to myself about the fruit being a healthier choice.

Joey fed Smert tiny pieces of the fried dough while I scanned the area around us, just people watching as we waited for Ronnie to find us. The drums beat in the distance, and children danced in the center of the food court, tumbling and twirling, not keeping time with the drums at all. A group of elves sat a few yards away from us, strumming stringed instruments and singing in their foreign language. Somehow, their music went with the drums.

The sun was gone, just a deep orange-and-red tint in sky with long-reaching beams cutting through the park. The moon was visible now, however faint, and I tried to ignore the splash of red across its surface.

A man cut through my line of sight, and when I made eye contact with him, I saw the yellow glow of his irises. The berries didn’t taste so sweet suddenly. I turned my head back and forth, realizing there were more and more yellow-eyed people around us.

“Okay, this is bad,” I said, licking the sugar from my fingers.

“What?” Joey looked up, Smert nibbling at her fingers.

“See anything strange?”

Joey scanned the crowd, her thin pink brows drawn together and forming a tiny wrinkle between her eyes. “Are those guys Weres?” She turned her confused face toward me, her brows climbing her forehead and her eyes going round.

“Yes, they are.” I set my plate on the hay bale and stood, clapping powdered sugar from my hands.

At least half a dozen Weres mingled around us, but one Were, across the way, had caught my attention. One Were who wasn’t too tall, but had an easy smile. One Were who was trying to hide his face under a black baseball cap, but I was sure I’d seen him before. I was sure I was looking right at Tollis.

“Stay here,” I said to Joey. “Wait for Ronnie.”

Joey said something, but I was already moving, and her voice was swallowed by the drums, singing, and general noise of so many people. I was shouldered and knocked into. Moving through people with their hands full of food and drink felt like swimming upstream through rocks and glass. I kept my eyes on Tollis, watching him watch the people around him. I was almost upon him when he realized I was approaching him. His eyes shifted left, then right, as if he was debating trying to run away.

“Don’t even think about it, fur face,” I said when I was close enough to be heard.

Tollis rearranged his face quickly and smiled at me. It was that same slow, creepy smile he’d given me at the encampment, but tonight, the smile was full of so many razor-sharp teeth, I wasn’t sure how he was keeping them all in his mouth. He touched the bill of his cap with two fingers, pushing it up slightly so I could see his face better. His eyes were just a little bigger than I remembered and his cheekbones a little sharper. When the breeze cut through the food court, I caught the musky scent of fur and damp earth.

“Well hello, Ms. Kavanagh.” Tollis tipped forward, giving me a half bow.

“Tollis.” I didn’t bow or smile or put on any of the bullshit airs he was. I waited for that fake smile to fall from his face, but he managed to keep the mask in place even under my stare. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” Tollis wrinkled his brow and shook his head. “It’s a festival, open to the public. Isn’t it obvious why I am here?”

I crossed my arms. “No, it’s not. It’s a full moon.”

“And a beautiful one at that,” he said, taking a deep breath through his nose. He arched his back and lifted his hands over his head. When he looked at me again, he was all teeth and bright, glowing eyes.

“Tollis, what are you doing here?” I tried to put an edge to my voice, but I was sure I sounded more worried or scared than intimidating. I was seriously missing my silver knives.

“Celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?”

“The new year.” He smiled, and it wasn’t a nice smile. “Samhain is a time of cleansing, ridding ourselves of the fetters of troubles and woes, and beginning anew. Tonight we will begin anew. This city will be the start of a new life for us.”

I spread my hands in front of me. “What are you talking about?”

“Matilda, aren’t you tired of conforming to the laws set on us by the humans?”

“What?”

“Jameson bends to their will, forcing his pack to do the same. It is unnatural. We are superior beings. The humans should be bending to our will.” Tollis had taken a step closer to me, putting his face nearer to mine.

I could smell the iron tang of his breath as it washed against my face. I tried to talk around the lump in my throat. “Tollis…”