Part 47 (1/2)
She marched over to him furiously.
”What the h.e.l.l were you doing?”
”Taking care of business,” he snapped back at her.
”You stay clear of those two,” she warned.
”You mind your own business, woman, and let me tend to mine,” Fallon said.
”You steer clear of them!” Susanna persisted.
”I know what I'm about,” he told her angrily, and turned on the hose. He didn't spray her, but made it darned obvious that he would, if she got in the way of his watering.
”I'm warning you!” she said, turning to walk away.
”Don't you warn me, woman,” he said.
She swore at him then, but she was certain he didn't hear her. The old fool-always determined to have the last word.
The h.e.l.l with him.
She marched back into the house.
Fallon could dig his own grave, if he so chose.
It was a full house.
The dance floor was packed.
Every table in the place was taken.
Costumes had grown more bizarre. A giant spider with twinkling colored lights at the end of each foot roamed the room, every spider leg issuing from the shoulders of the man beneath batting everyone he walked by. Black cats abounded among the women, but then, the black costumes were mostly very good, and very s.e.xy.
There were witches galore. If Morwenna was out in the audience, she was surely about to have apoplexy by now. There were many stereotypical costumes, hag noses, broomsticks, tall pointed hats, striped hose beneath jagged hemmed skirts.
One woman had done an incredible job with face putty, creating huge warts and a nose that dipped to her chin.
There were also fairies, princesses, harem girls, and a number of women in far more beautiful costumes. Wings were plentiful that night, and, like the legs of the spiders, they brushed those in the crowd. A number of wings were bent already.
There were monks, lots of them. Grim reapers, and more-brown capes and cowls worn with masks were easy costumes, and they, too, littered the dance floor.
Theo Martin had kept his word as well. Finn didn't know if Sam Tartan had put some money into it or not, but there were a number of police officers, in uniform, just outside the doors, as well.
At their first break, Megan told him that she was going to take a look around and see if Morwenna and Joseph were there. He set about changing a guitar string, looking out at the crowd as he did so.
There was a grim reaper standing about fifty feet from the stage, talking with a Barbie doll. He didn't know the man, didn't think that he did, at least, and yet something about him was vaguely familiar. A sense of unease filled him, but then, he realized, that didn't mean a d.a.m.n thing because he was always uneasy these days.
Still, there was something. Maybe it was in the way he was standing. He took a longer look at the Barbie doll, but she appeared to be college age, and he was certain that he had never met her.
Tonight, he didn't see anyone he knew-or at least, anyone that he knew that he knew. In all the nights they had been working, he hadn't begun to see so many fantastic costumes.
He gave his attention back to the work at hand.
”Hey, how did it go at the bookshop?”
He looked up. He didn't recognize the girl in front of him. She was dressed as a witch, and she had gone all out. Wickedly pointed hat, green makeup. ”Sara?” he said incredulously.
”Yeah. Well?”
He didn't answer. He still just stared at her. Then he asked, ”Sara, isn't your costume against your beliefs?”
”I was feeling like a rebel,” she said dryly. ”Well?”
”It's all going really well, thanks,” he told her.
She came closer to him. ”Well, I'm glad to hear that, but you've really got to watch out.”
”Why is that?”
”Your friends from New Orleans... they may not be your friends.”
”Oh?”
”He was in the shop today. Look, Finn, I admit to being afraid of you, right? There's something really off with you. But I can tell you, too, that your friend Lucian... well, there's something really off with him.” ”And how do you know that? Did you read his palm or his cards?”
She shook her head, then lowered it. ”I know because...”
”Yeah?”
She stared at him again. ”When he looked at me, I would have gone anywhere with him.”
”He's got a wife. He tried to seduce you?”
”No,” she admitted. He thought that she was blus.h.i.+ng, but it was hard to tell, since she was wearing green makeup. ”But,” she continued, ”he could have made me say anything, do anything. I think he's dangerous, and... tomorrow is Halloween night. He's dangerous, and you're dangerous. I know that you're dangerous, Finn. I don't believe that you mean to be-you just are. You're the chosen, or something.”
He watched her, remembering the great hostility he had felt toward her, and the almost ridiculous desire to seize her s.e.xually, a.s.sault her. Right now, she just seemed like an ordinary young woman dressed up for a Halloween party. But she also seemed sincere.
”You should lock yourself up somewhere,” she told him.
”Thank you,” he said gravely. ”I'll give that my deep consideration.”
”Finn, I'm serious. You see, I looked at Megan tonight while she was singing, and... she had an aura around her.”
”An aura. What does that mean?”
”It means she's going to die,” Sara said, and turned and walked away, back into the crowd.