Dead End: Midnight Hollow Penn Cassidy (good books to read in english TXT) 📖

only ones. Well, I supposed that wasn’t true, technically. We weren’t mortals any more, not really. All of the people I cared about died on that bus, including Maddie. If she’d been thrown from the bus, she probably wouldn’t even be here right now. She’d be back in the mortal world, her parents laying her to rest with all of the other passengers who hadn’t made it.

My dark purple cloak made it easy to blend in. People brushed shoulders with me, not batting an eye. I saw all kinds of creatures that I never really had a chance to get a good look at. Just like at school, there were people with oddly colored skin—blues, greens, purples, and sallow greys. I saw a little girl back by the candy shop that had ram’s horns sticking out of her head and cloven feet peeking from beneath her pink dress.

I smiled at two women standing outside Toil and Trouble Tea, wearing long flowing dresses and witch hats. Apparently, it was the fashion here in Midnight Hollow. One of the women was stirring a huge cauldron that smelled like vanilla as I passed them. No wart hairs in sight. They both gave me sweet smiles, and the one with long grey hair winked. I promised myself I’d hit up that tea shop later at some point.

The more I walked, the more I saw banners for that festival. Turning to Jessica, who perched on my shoulder, I asked, “So what’s with the festival?”

She moved my hair out of the way, and I felt her settle. “Only the biggest celebration in the whole world. We celebrate the solstice of the new year with pies, cakes, brewing competitions, costumes, and dancing. It’s the night of the blood moon eclipse.”

“That’s what I don’t get…” I looked up at the moons overhead. “You don’t even have a sun, so how do you keep track of the new year?” It was something that’d been bothering me since we settled here. I was fairly savvy in the ways of science and understanding nature, but this had befuddled me from the start.

Jessica giggled. “You keep thinking like a mortal, Tobs, but that’s not how things work here. A year just means the end of one harvest cycle and the beginning of another. All of the crops here grow by moonlight.”

“But moonlight is just sunlight reflected off of the moon’s surface,” I said, still not getting it. My brain didn’t want to wrap itself around any of this.

“We have a sun, Toby, but it’s not the sun mortals have. Our sun is black, kind of like Michael’s dark fire. It’s right overhead, you just can’t see it. We don’t need much of it, because our moons give us enough lunar light to feed our night blooming crops.”

“You’re awfully smart for a spi—” I cleared my throat, “arachnid.”

“And you’re awfully curious for a mortal,” she quipped with a giggle.

She had me there. Mortals, apparently, were notorious for taking things at face value rather than working to find answers. I laughed, reaching up and patting Jessica on her little spider head. “I’m glad you’re here, you know.”

“Duh, who wouldn’t be!”

“I’m serious!” I shook my head. Sometimes, she really was full of herself. “I’m glad I have you. You’re like a little conscience and encyclopedia in my ear.”

“You forgot to say intelligent, witty, and easy on the eyes.”

“Let’s not get too carried away.” I rolled my eyes.

We headed out of town, and I made sure to keep to the other side of the road when we passed the Killer Clown Motel. I shivered, remembering the way they’d chased us down the street. The fear in Jason’s eyes… I watched the motel, though, as I passed. The lights were on, but it only highlighted the wacky colors and the big light bulbs blinking around the sign. I vaguely remembered this place in the mortal world. It was an old Motel 6 converted into a church. There used to be a huge parking lot there, and a chapel a little farther back. But I supposed a church had no place in a world like this, so it made sense.

Still, I wanted nothing to do with that place. I wondered if Payton lived there. Picturing the clowny cheerleader living in a creepy, dingy place like this didn’t feel right. She seemed too high-maintenance for a motel. I still didn’t understand what I ever did to piss her off, or why she seemed to have some vendetta against mortals, but I’d gladly steer clear of her. Plus, I was getting sick of her muttering to me in riddles when we passed in the hall about how I was out to ruin her life. Like, dude, I just got here. If I was going to ruin her life, at least give me a couple of months to get my own life together.

We left town and headed farther down the street, passing the old gas station. There were a few cars parked under the pumps now and a couple people milling around, so it felt less like a horror movie than it had that first night. I thought a part of it was due to the shock of the bus accident and disorientation. Looking at this town through a new lens, it was actually quite charming. Well, to me it was. I still didn't really know how the others felt about being stuck here. I knew I needed to have that talk with Maddie. She’d been so quiet about all this, and after finding out she was a real witch with actual magical powers, she probably had a lot of adjusting to do.

I thought we all had a lot of adjusting to do. I hadn’t even begun to delve into what it meant to be a necromancer. I got the shivers just thinking about it. I’d always had a sort of fascination with morbid things, but I never thought there was a legitimate reason for it. Thinking about raising the dead