Fresh tears welled in her mother’s eyes. “I couldn’t, honey. If you had known, you would have been so scared, and they’d have known that I told you. We’d both be dead now, and there would be nobody to protect your little brother and sister. I did the best I could think to do.”
Millie wanted to scream at her, so she took care to speak as clearly and quietly as she could. “If you knew, why didn’t you just take us and leave while he was away at work?”
Her mother’s gaze turned distant, and when she spoke, her voice was hollow. “There was a ritual. I thought Steve and I were just going to lunch … but we weren’t. They forced me. I’m bound here. I will literally die if I try to leave here with you or the twins. Steve had to promise a child to Dagon so he could rise in the ranks of the Order. He promised you. And you’re still promised.”
God. This was even more awful than she had imagined. “What happens now?”
“You have to leave here, tonight, and never come back. If they think you drowned in the ocean, the Order considers the promise fulfilled even though Dagon didn’t get another child. But if they find out you’re alive, they’ll try to get you. And if they can’t get you, they’ll demand that Steve give them a different child. And then he’ll hand over your little brother or little sister.”
Millie felt a shock run from her skull to the soles of her aching feet. “He wouldn’t. He loves them.”
Her mother gave a short, quiet, bitter laugh. She looked terrified. “He would. He’d hand over all of us if they asked him to. And he’d get married and start a new family with another woman he does his Prince Charming act for. He’s not all the man I thought he was. He’s not even the man you think he is, and I know you never liked him much.”
“He’s a monster,” Millie whispered.
Another quiet, bitter laugh. “This whole town is a monster factory, and it has been for a long, long time. But if you leave before they know you’re alive, you and I and the twins stay safe. You can’t call or write after you go; they read our mail, and they’ve tapped our phone. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but it does.”
Millie felt completely lost. “Where do I go?”
“You’re going to live with my cousin Penny in Fensmere, Mississippi. She knows a lot about monsters and cults and she can keep you safe.”
“Cousin Penny?” Millie blinked. “You never mentioned her before, and now I’m supposed to go live with her?”
“It’s not ideal. She’s sort of a hermit. Not many people in the family really know her. I think she works as a private investigator? She tried to warn me about Steve, but I thought she was a lunatic.” Her mother looked sad and deeply embarrassed. “I should have listened; everything she told me turned out to be true. She also told me that if any of my children were in danger, she would help. I called her from a payphone in Surfton the other night, and she said she’d send someone up here to collect you if you lived. And you did.”
Her mother reached into her pocket for a lighter, re-ignited the candle in the jack-o-lantern. She stood and carefully set the pumpkin up on the broad porch railing beside their other jack-o-lantern and lit it, too.
At that, a car that Millie hadn’t even noticed that was parked on the street a few houses down turned on its lights, flashed them three times, and turned them off again.
“And there’s your ride.” Her mother knelt to reach for something under the porch swing. When she stood up, she was holding Millie’s old backpack—one she thought her mother had donated to Goodwill—and her violin case. “I packed essentials. Things Steve won’t notice being gone. And a little money. I’ll try to mail things from another town later.”
The gravity of the situation finally hit Millie full-force. She was going to leave, maybe forever, and she might never see her mother again. She started to tear up. “I have to go now?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.” Her mother set the luggage down and gave her a long hug. “Be good. A day won’t pass where I don’t think of you. I love you so much.”
Tears flowed down Millie’s cheeks in hot rivulets. “I love you, too.”
“Go.” Her mother helped her put on her backpack and gave her a gentle push.
Millie hurried across the lawns to the sedan. Someone inside flung the rear driver’s side door open.
A black girl in pigtails who looked a little younger than Millie beckoned her excitedly. “Get in!”
Millie handed her the violin case. The girl grabbed it and scooted over on the seat so Millie could get in and shut the door behind her.
“Oh, cool, I play violin, too!” The girl exclaimed. “We could do duets later! Can you fiddle? I’m taking fiddle lessons from Miz Greene next year when she gets back –”
“Lena.” The driver, a thirty-something woman with a short Afro haircut and hoop earrings, turned and gave the pigtailed girl a look. “What did I tell you?”
“Wash my hands?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Context.”
Lena brightened. “Oh. Right. Introduce myself first?”
“Yes.”
The grinning girl turned back to Millie and stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lena, and this is my mom Bess. Cousin Penny sent us to get you away from this terrible place. Cultists suck.”
Millie shook her offered hand, feeling a bit like she’d fallen down a rabbit hole and this cheerful child was standing in for the Mad Hatter. “Hi. Good to meet you.”
“Perfect!” Lena’s mother started the car and pulled away from the curb. “As she says, I’m Bess. I’m Penny’s investigative partner. She sends her regrets that she couldn’t come get you herself, but she’s got a distance vision problem that limits her driving. You’ll meet her probably day after tomorrow. It’s a really long drive to Fensmere, so I was thinking we could stop outside Harrisburg and get a hotel room. Your mom told Penny you love Halloween, and there are some good neighborhoods in the suburbs where I can take the two of you trick-or-treating. You up for that, Millie?”
Lena started excitedly whispering, “Say yes, say yes, say yes!”
“Sweet pea, don’t pester her,” Bess said. “She’s been through a whole lot tonight. She might rather sleep, and we’re not going to leave her by herself,”
“I’d like that,” Millie said. “But my pirate costume is all gross, and I lost my wig and my sword besides.”
“It’s okay! I brought a whole suitcase full of costumes, just in case!” Lena replied.
“But on that note,” Bess said, “once we’re out of cult territory, I’ll find a truck stop where you can get a shower and change into fresh clothes if you like. Folks gonna think we tried to drown you if I drive around with you like this.”
“I’d definitely like that,” Millie said.
“Consider it done,” said Bess.
Millie looked out the window just in time to see the “Welcome to Marsh Landing!” sign flash past and felt a wash of relief and sadness at the realization that she might never see it ever again.
Lena nudged her. “Hey. You know what today is? Besides it being Wednesday and Halloween, I mean.”
Millie shook her head.
“It’s the first day of the rest of your life!” Lena grinned excitedly.
Millie couldn’t help but smile back. “Yeah, it sure is.”
Hell Among the Yearlings
Chet Williamson
It wasn’t scary at all. Michael was playing it well enough, that wasn’t the problem. Michael Wilkins always played great. It was just that everyone had heard the tune too many times. “Jerusalem Ridge” was one of those rare minor-key tunes that were in most fiddlers’ repertoires. It was bouncy and moved along nicely, and made a nice variation, since the vast majority of fiddle tunes were written in upbeat major keys. But scary? No. Elmer would show them scary.