Bailey and her friends, who were still in line for the concessions.
“It’s really sweet that you look out for her,” Ash said, glancing up at me for only a moment before she looked away. She pulled a pink lip balm pot out of her purse, unscrewed the cap, and ran her ring finger over the surface of the balm before transferring it to her lips. It was enough of a distraction that I forgot about my parents entirely.
“Look,” I said, trying to ease some of the sudden awkwardness between us. “It’s not a big deal. People slip up about my parents all the time. Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me.”
“Yeah, but it’s tactless,” Ash said. She slipped her hand out of mine, the sudden cold startling me. “Guess I’m just a little nervous.”
“You, nervous?” I laughed. “I doubt it.”
“I like you, Justin,” she said quietly. “Maybe at first it was just a game, but you’re sweet.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything. We waited near one of the benches until Bailey and her group of freshmen sauntered past, barely looking at us. I noticed Luca in the group. “I didn’t know he was a freshman,” I said to Ash.
“He’s not,” she said, watching the group thoughtfully. “But Maddy’s cousin is, and he basically chauffeurs the both of them around whenever they want. Sara’s a lot nicer about it than Maddy is, though.”
“So he’s just like … on call all the time? That kind of sucks.”
“He doesn’t seem to mind,” Ash said absently, like she’d never given it much thought. “You ready?”
I nodded. We headed into the theater and waited near the door, until our eyes adjusted to the change in lighting. The previews had already started. “Come on,” Ash said, grabbing my arm and dragging me up the stairs. She chose seats a few rows up from Bailey’s group, for which I was eternally grateful. I looked them over as we passed, Bailey making every effort to act like she didn’t know me. There were only a couple of guys, and Luca on the end. I nodded to him as we passed.
“So, since we’re chaperoning, how much trouble are we allowed to get into?” Ash pulled off her jacket, and set it on the seat next to her. The gloves she pulled off a finger at a time.
“Yeah, you’re not exactly chaperone material, I’m afraid.”
She gasped. “Are you telling me I’m a bad influence?”
“I’d give you examples, but you know I’m not supposed to talk about your criminal charges until the jury comes back with a verdict.”
“Touché, Mr. Daggett,” she laughed, grabbing my hand again. The movie started soon after that, and I was quickly caught up in holiday cheer and dismemberment. The premise was fairly simple: evil Santa. It wasn’t highbrow by any means. About halfway through, just as the heroine and her love interest were finally getting close for the first time, I turned to see Ash watching me, not the movie.
“What?” I said, dropping my voice so it wouldn’t carry. “Is there something on my face?”
“You’re not anything like I thought you’d be,” she said, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.
“Fi-first impressions aren’t what they used to be,” I said, transfixed. I wasn’t sweating now, but my skin was flushed. Hot. I couldn’t stop staring at her lips, and wondering what her lip balm tasted like.
“Definitely not,” she whispered, leaning in.
Just before our lips would have touched, our first kiss, I happened to look down past her nose, and pulled up short. “What is he doing?” I demanded.
Ash pulled back in surprise. “What?” It took her a second to follow my line of sight. There had been some seat changes in the freshman group, and now instead of having a girl on either side, Bailey was on one of the ends, and talking to a blond-haired kid with a bowl cut. He kept leaning in to her, showing her something on his forearm.
“Relax,” she chuckled. “At least they’re not making out.”
Making out? I almost jumped out of my seat. But Ash grabbed my hand, stopping me. “Relax, it’s just a movie. They’re just talking.”
“That’s not the point!”
“God,” she said softly. “You really do think of her as your little sister.”
“Of course I do,” I said, suddenly confused.
But before I could push the issue any further, sirens wailed in our ears.
Twenty-Four
“The alliance between Illana Bryer and
Robert Cooper gave us a fighting chance.
But for three years, we stayed at a stalemate. Moonset went to ground, and continued to direct the war front from the shadows.
We thought they’d never be found.”
Adele Roman
Moonset Historian, From a college lecture series about Moonset
The movie kept playing, but the lights rose in the theater. Emergency sirens continued to blare from the hallway—they weren’t the ringing bell of a fire alarm, more the whoop-whoop of a tornado alarm.
“What’s going on?” a girl cried from behind us.
“Trying to watch the movie,” someone bellowed from down below.
Bailey twisted in her seat, her eyes meeting mine for the first time tonight. She looked afraid.
But more than that, she looked aware. Like she knew something the rest of us didn’t. “Oh no,” I muttered, getting to my feet. Not now.
Ash looked up at me. “Justin?”
One by one, like items being checked off a list, each one of the light bulbs exploded with a paff. Darkness was gradual, but by the time the last one popped, the only light was from the projector. People screamed, and there was movement all around me.
“Justin,” Bailey called warningly.
I spun around, looking for the source. If this was a Maleficia attack, there would be a feeling.
A sense in the air where nothing was visible, but something was definitely there. “Please be wrong, please be wrong,” I whispered.
“What the hell?”
The shout came from the floor, and I whipped around immediately. Someone had come into the theater while I was distracted. The emergency lights flicked on, spotlights that did little more than create an ominous amber glow.
“We … we … we … we … ” The movie began to skip, cutting the same moment of an earnest blonde dropping a cell phone onto a table. Over and over again, that same two second clip. I took my eyes from the floor, from the new arrival, and that was long enough for chaos to break out.
Another shout, pained this time, as a body went flying through the air. From beside me, Ash’s shock was palpable. “Santa?”
She was right. It was Santa. More specifically, one of the zombie Santa mannequins that had been set up all over the megaplex. And he was heading directly for my sister.
I leapt over the chairs in front of me in an instant, already shouting for her. Bailey took one look at her friends, and then a longer look at the Maleficia-possessed spirit of Christmas, and started backing away down her aisle.
“Only … only … only … only … ” The movie jerked again, cutting to a totally different scene.
The man’s voice was hoarse and full of rage.
More Santas surged into the theater, their movements jerky and awkward. As people tried to run, the Santas grabbed them in mitted hands. Most they pushed aside, but a few they threw.
Quickly, the crowd of theatergoers realized that running for the door was not an option. The crowd, however, was evenly divided on an alternative route. Half ran down the stairs on the far side, heading for the emergency exit that led outside. The other half ran for the top of the theater … and no route of escape.