Page 18 of Black and White, Twice the Might

“And you’ll lose,” I tell him.

He looks at Sly as if he would give a different answer. He better not.

“Crap for today, proper healthy food tomorrow,” Sly agrees.

“Gah,” Xander stomps off towards the car.

I look at Enoch. “When you become a teenager, no getting stroppy.”

Enoch grins. “I make no promises,” and with that, he walks off to join his brother.

“Remind me again why we’re looking after them,” I say, looking at Sly.

“Because your dad is a complete shit.”

“Yeah, that’s why.” Truthfully, we’re lucky Xander isn’t really a stroppy teenager, and Enoch is too cheeky to be stroppy.

We payour money and walk into the Haunted Farm. It’s late afternoon and starting to get dark, so I’m surprised to see so many people walking around.

“Where to first?” Sly asks.

“The Haunted Walk,” Enoch says.

“Okay,” Sly agrees, and we look at the sign to see the way.

We follow the signs and reach a large entrance. Hanging from an arch is a sign sayingHaunted Walk. Both sides of the signposts are scary-faced scarecrows. I shudder a little. Not many things scare me, but scarecrows do. I always think that when darkness comes, they come alive and kill everyone, and these ones are carrying swords. Just why?

Sly laughs and nudges my shoulder. “I’ll protect you from the evil scarecrows.”

“My hero,” I say, fluttering my eyes at him.

I hear my brothers groan and ignore them, walking under the sign and into the Haunted Walk.

Jack-o'-lanterns are lining both sides of the path, with poles wrapped in orange fairy lights, on either side of the path, intermingled with more scary scarecrows. This path leads us through some trees, oaks and willows, with their long branches gently swaying, adding to the creepiness. I expect that at any moment, one of those said long branches will try to capture us, holding us captive forever.

Okay, that sounds a bit dramatic, but in my defence, there is magic in the air. Witches were used to create everything here, so I’ll just stay on my guard.

As we walk, I hear screams of agony and terror and groans of pain. I would be worried, but I spot some speakers dotted around, carefully hidden. But then I’ve been looking for them. I don’t think anyone would notice them otherwise. “There are speakers dotted around,” I tell the boys, in case they were getting scared.

“Way to spoil things, Eb,” Xander says, turning back to glare at me.

“Yeah, Ebby,” Sly says, grinning at me.

“Fine, I’ll shut up,” I grump out and shake my head.

Sly grabs my hand and kisses the back.

“Look at that,” Enoch says, pointing to a clearing in the trees, where there is a holographic projection of a headless horseman riding through the forest, swinging a sword. The hologram is on a loop, so when he reaches the end, straight away, he comes riding back in from the start. We watch it for a few minutes, but this time the rider stops. The horse rears back, kicking hisfront legs in the air, and once it lands, starts running again, but doesn’t reappear.

“That was amazeballs,” Xander says.

Enoch nods. “It was. We’ll have to keep an eye out for other holograms.”

We start walking again, and two wolves run out in front of us. One howls; the other growls, and they stand there.

“Oh, I never thought I’d see real wolves or shifter wolves, that should be. You’re both amazing,” Enoch says, with a touch of awe in his voice.

I send my magic out to check them. One is Cam, but it doesn’t know the other, only that they are brothers.