Page 43

FORTY-TWO

brian

I’m sitting in the cafeteria, finishing up a plate of bacon and eggs when a piece of glossy paper floats down to the table in front of me.

“What’s this?”

Mina sits across from me with a cup of coffee, a wicked gleam in her eyes. At this point we’re just basically ignoring and avoiding the bad case of dead bed we’ve got. I haven’t so much as kissed her since Halloween, but as long as we’ve got the distraction of a kill, we can both pretend everything isn’t falling apart in slow motion. And we are great pretenders.

“You know how you said you’d rather be Krampus? Well… you’re in luck… There’s a Krampus Run, and guess who’s going to be there?”

“You’re kidding?” I glance down at the flyer with the date, time, and location, and already I can see the thrilling possibilities laid out before me.

“Wait, this is on Christmas Eve. Valentino doesn’t go out on Christmas Eve. You must have gotten it wrong.” Though I would love it if she hadn’t.

“Nope,” Mina says. “He’s not doing the big family Christmas this year. There’s a rumor he had a falling out with the family Matriarch, but no details were forthcoming. Nevertheless, he’ll be there. He’s on the list.”

I want to ask what list, but I’m too pre-occupied with this idea that he would ditch his family holiday. So he just decided to dress up like Krampus instead? I’m sure there must be some sort of underworld business going on. It would be a great environment to hide in. It’s the only reason someone like Valentino would participate in an event like this. So I feel immediately suspicious.

“Christmas Eve is a little late for a Krampus Run, don’t you think?” I say. It’s traditionally in early December.

She shrugs. “I’m not sure America fully gets Krampus yet. But points for effort, right?” She places a glossy gold business card with black embossed lettering in front of me.

I raise an eyebrow at the words Benjamin Barker’s Costuming Co. in a sharp block font.

“We have to have appropriate costumes, otherwise they’ll never believe we’re supposed to be Krampus and we won’t be allowed backstage at the event.”

“We?” I ask.

“I mean, yeah. I’m totally dressing up, too. The bad news is, we’re going to have to visit this guy in person and pay a lot of money, like… contract kill level money if we want him to rush us some costumes out in time.”

Of course we do. “All right,” I say with a sigh.

Mina squeals, drawing attention from several whispering women at nearby tables. “I’m so excited! I really felt like I got cheated on Halloween with all the formal evening wear and the fancy mask. You were the only one who got to wear a real scary costume.”

My expression drops at this, not wanting to be reminded of the events of Halloween. I’ve been trying to just bury it. I can’t believe she’s joking around about it—like it’s nothing. But she doesn’t notice my shift in demeanor.