Even at their young age, Connor and Alex had ghosts, as well.
Two years ago, Connor had shot a bird out of a tree with his BB gun. When he walked up to it, he heard frightened chirping above his head. The bird had been a mother, and her four babies trembled in their nest, cold and hungry and scared. Connor felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t know what to do. The babies wouldn’t stop squawking. So he knocked the nest out of the tree and killed them, too. That night, he hadn’t eaten dinner. His stomach hurt too badly.
Although his family didn’t know it, Alex was a thief. He stole his brother’s toys, change from the jar on top of his father’s dresser, and bills from his mother’s purse. He stole at school, at church, and even last year at summer camp. At his bravest moment, he’d stolen a video game from a neighbor’s yard sale. He liked how it made him feel. Liked the illicit thrill. But late at night, he worried what would happen if he ever got caught.
These were the ghosts they kept from each other—their most private, secret torments. This was what kept them apart, even on nights like this when they thought they were happy and having fun and loved.
Eventually, they entered the maze house. It was pitch-black inside. The boys led the way, stretching out their arms and touching the walls with their fingertips. Connie and Liam followed behind. In the darkness, Liam playfully squeezed her butt. Connie elbowed him in the stomach. They moved slowly, feeling their way along, and hitting many dead ends. Backtracking, they eventually found their way to the center of the building. A flashing strobe light hung from the ceiling. The entire room had been painted in a black and white checkerboard pattern—the floor, all four walls, and the ceiling. As they crossed the room, the O’Bannons marveled at the effect. It appeared as if they were moving in slow motion. It made Connie dizzy. She reached for the wall to steady herself, and noticed that the wall had eyes. And a mouth.
The mouth was grinning.
Shrieking, Connie jumped backward, hiding behind Liam. As they watched, a figure detached from the wall and moved toward them. It was another Ghost Walk volunteer. His clothing had the same checkerboard pattern as the rest of the room. Even his exposed skin—his hands and face—had been painted in the same fashion. Connie smiled in smug satisfaction as the boys and even Liam fled, screaming.
They plunged down another dark hallway, and were back to feeling their way through the impenetrable gloom. Eventually, they reached the maze house’s exit and emerged back into the night. This part of the trail had been strung with twinkling orange lights. They reflected off the white lines on each side of the path. After pausing to laugh about their encounter, the family moved along. Behind them, they heard another group screaming as they encountered the checkered man.
“That was awesome,” Liam said.
“Yeah,” Connor agreed. “Can we do it again?”
“There are people behind us, buddy. We have to keep moving. But maybe after we get to the end, we can go back through if the line isn’t too long.”
Both boys cheered. Connie groaned. They moved on. Connor and Alex ran ahead. Liam and Connie held hands.
Running footsteps pounded toward them. A man dressed like a werewolf rounded the corner, clutching his rubber mask in his hands. His eyes flashed terror.
“It’s my grandma,” he shouted, racing past them. “She’s down there!”
Liam reached for the fleeing man. “Is she hurt?”
The volunteer werewolf brushed by him, barely stopping.
“No, man. She ain’t hurt. She’s fucking dead! Has been for twenty years.”
He ran past them and disappeared into the woods.
“That guy was weird,” Connor said, staring in confusion.
“It’s just part of the show,” Liam said, trying to reassure his family. “It’s all an act.”
Connie frowned. “Well, I definitely don’t approve of his language.”
“Come on,” Alex urged. “Let’s keep going.”
More screams and laughter drifted out of the maze house as they started down the trail again. Curiously, there were now screams ahead of them, as well.
“I thought we were the first ones through,” Connor said.
“We are,” Liam assured him.
“So who’s screaming?”
“It’s just the people hiding up ahead. They’re trying to psyche us out.”
The trail sloped downhill and then began to curve around, heading in the other direction. Liam guessed they must be at the halfway point. The trail grew darker as they reached the bottom of the hill. The white lines on both sides of the path faded, as if eaten by the dark. It was colder here. Connie and the kids shivered. The string of orange lights flickered. The screams increased in pitch and intensity, and then abruptly ceased.
Liam frowned. “What the—”
As they watched, the lights began to go out, one by one. Then they realized that they weren’t going out—they were being blacked out. Something was creeping across them. Something that moved like smoke.
It was the night.
The night was moving.
“Look at that,” Alex gasped.
Darkness flowed across the forest floor like water and wound between the trees like a snake. Everything it touched disappeared, encased in an impenetrable, obsidian shroud.
Connor grabbed his mother’s hand and squeezed.
“T-this is part of the show, too, right, Daddy?” Alex asked.
Liam couldn’t answer him because Liam was speechless. Tasha, the girl he’d had the affair with, stepped out of the darkness, naked and glistening with ebony liquid. The dark matter dripped from her pores. She reached for him, breasts heaving, and Liam gasped, terrified that his worst nightmare—Connie finding out about Tasha—had now come true.
Except that Connie didn’t notice because Celeste was gripping her hand. A second ago it had been Connor. But when she glanced down to reassure her son, she saw Celeste’s arm instead, sliced from palm to elbow, flayed skin hanging down in flaps, and black blood dripping from the wound.
For Connor, the darkness sounded like a flock of baby birds. Their wings beat against his upturned hands.
For Alex, the sky rained black coins, all stolen from his father’s dresser. They pelted his skin, their impact like bullets.
The O’Bannon family screamed as one and Nodens began to feed.
At the entrance to the Ghost Walk, Ken nodded at each customer as they climbed aboard the waiting hay wagon. Many of them reacted to the sounds drifting out of the woods. Some of them looked frightened. Others looked excited.
Grinning, Ken nudged the security man next to him.
“Listen to that. You hear those screams?”
“I sure do, Mr. Ripple. Sounds like it’s a big hit. People are having fun and getting spooked. We should get some great word of mouth tomorrow.”
More screams echoed across the field.
“Yeah.” Ken smiled. “It really is beautiful, isn’t it? That’s the sound of success. We’re doing good things here tonight.”
Nodens continued to feed, sending tendrils and feelers in all directions, consuming every living thing it touched—taking the form of their greatest fears and confronting them with it, waiting until their energy peaked from terror and pain and regret, and then gorging itself, draining them dry and spreading onward.
It pushed more of itself into the world, and felt the walls shake around it. They grew more fragile with each passing minute. Soon, they would shatter altogether and the feast would truly begin.