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

more scarecrows standing a distance behind him in the cornstalks. All were holding short handled sickles with a reddish brown coloring rusting on the sharp curved end. I was pretty sure they weren’t for cutting down corn.

I was going to die in a fucking field where no one would ever find me, scattered across it in pieces, perfect picking food for crows. That’s what got me moving. I knew they weren’t here to invite me to tea. It was a run or die moment.

Cornstalks slapped my face, and the mud was growing thicker as the skies opened up, the floodgates spilling out. Soon, I was covered almost head to toe in it. The laughter kept popping up every few seconds in all different directions, followed by another hard shove to the ground. The scarecrows were attacking, and I was defenseless. I was starting to wish I’d been born a witch like my mother, and not a necromancer. What good did it do to supposedly control the dead when what you really needed was to fight back?

Not that I’d even mastered how to control anything since bringing my friends back to life. I was floundering, and my vulnerability was coming back to haunt me. I should have known better than to go out on my own when there was still so much about this world we didn’t understand yet. It was risky, unnecessary, and stupid. I wished more than anything right now that I had one of the guys here with me. Norman with his super vampire speed, Freddy with his macho strength, or Jason and Michael with their strange magic. Even Maddie. She was a real witch, while I was just useless.

Terror clawed at me as I frantically parted the cornstalks, but an ice cold tingle slipped up my fingers and arms. Glancing down as I ran, I yelped as I watched each and every cornstalk I touched wither and die, turning to little black dust particles.

Holy shit, holy shit! Turn it off!

I was shoved hard again when I came to the edge of the cornfield. The shove sent me flying forward, tumbling to the muddy ground, and all I could do was roll. My body was covered in cuts and bruises, and I was getting bone tired as my energy drained fast.

There was a small road that cut through town, avoiding Main Street. It would bring me to the aunties’ house quicker than going through the usual way. Besides, I’d just create a spectacle if someone saw me like this. I didn’t know why the scarecrows weren’t really attacking me. I had a feeling they were only trying to spook me, and they were doing a bang up job. I felt like I was the star of Jeepers Creepers and it was only a matter of time before one of the scarecrows stopped messing around and cut me into little pieces, eating my eyeballs for dinner.

There were tall flickering lanterns lining the streets as it turned into neighborhoods. I ran for my life down the tree covered street, in between houses and small shops. Street after street, I tripped and wheezed and cried, until finally, the aunties’ manor was in sight. I cried out, screaming for help. I hadn’t meant to do it, it just came out when I realized safety was so close. My scream echoed down the street, and I watched as every light in the manor flickered on.

I fell to the ground, my legs collapsing under me as my strength to stand completely fled. My knees scraped against the asphalt and I tried to stifle the whimper that wanted to escape, but it was so painful that it couldn’t be helped. On my hands and knees, I crawled desperately towards the manor. I heard the sound of a wooden door clapping against a doorframe and the sudden stampede of feet. People were shouting, but they sounded so far away through the downpour.

“October!” came a familiar, deep voice. I looked up to see Freedy barreling towards me. “October, what the fuck happened?!” He dropped to a squat, hooking his hands under my arms and hauling me up. “Talk to me, what happened?”

Norman came up behind Freddy, eyes as black as the night sky, with veins of inky darkness slithering under his skin. His fangs were elongated, but at the sight of my blood, he seemed to be fighting a rage rather than hunger. Jason, Michael, and Maddie rushed up behind the two of them, circling me and blocking out the rain.

I looked up at Freddy, who held me in his arms tightly. “Scarecrows—” I choked, trying to suppress a gag. The adrenaline was beginning to fade. “Scarecrows from the fields attacked me…don’t know why…didn’t hang around to find out,” I breathed in a rush.

“I’m going to kill…fucker…” Freddy’s dark thoughts whispered through my mind. I smiled weakly at the venom in his protective tone.

“What were you doing at the cemetery by yourself?” Norman seethed. “Are you stupid?!” Hurt and surprise lanced through me.

Jason suddenly shoved Norman to the side. “Not the right time, dumbass. Can’t you see she’s fucking hurt?” He looked at me, and his gaze softened. “How bad is it?”

Surprised by the tenderness in his voice, I let myself relax in Freddy’s arms. “It hurts. I think my finger is broken, but I’ll be okay.”

Freddy started shaking. His arms were vibrating under my back, and I looked up, my eyes widening as his skin seemed to undulate. Something sharp poked me in the side, and I yelped. Jason was there in an instant, scooping me from Freddy’s arms in less than a heartbeat.

“Dude, get ahold of yourself,” Michael muttered, placing a hand on Freddy’s shoulder, but Freddy yanked his arm away and literally growled at Michael like a wild beast. His face was twisted up in a snarl, and his eyes flickered to a bright yellow that reflected the moons, the whites fading completely.

The clacking of heels ran up on us. “Move aside!” urged Auntie