“No,” Kyle said. “She wasn’t. I went on three dates with her, did you know that? I thought the whole fireman-thing would really work, you know? But she just wanted to be ‘friends.’ And man, was I cool about it when she told me. But I knew she was into Tim. Everyone was into Tim. So I made sure she was on the list.”
“Why not kill Tim?”
Kyle paused at this.
“Cause he’s the only one that truly stood up to me, Quinn,” he said. “His last article was begging for me to kill him. So I didn’t. He wanted death. I thought surviving would be harder for him. And it was.”
“Why now? Why bring Lord Halloween back now?”
“Look around you, Quinn,” Kyle said. “The world is dying. Journalism is dying with it. How long before Ethan sells the paper? The Chronicle is struggling and you know it. It’s not the business it once was. Even the mighty Post is going to die soon. So I wanted a good story before it all went down. And Lord Halloween was the best story this county ever had.”
Kyle paused and Quinn could see him smiling, even in the darkness.
“Of course, that was before someone tried to hone in on my story,” he said. “Before someone tried to steal it from me.”
“I never did, Kyle.”
“Oh, who could blame you?” Kyle said. “Lord Halloween is a sick, sick fuck. I’ll admit I’m laying it on thick. The theatricality that comes with that persona is addictive once you get started. But it’s not me. Lord Halloween will have his final stand tonight, and I’ll move on. Maybe I’ll get a reporting job in Bluemont, what do you think? You could have joined me, if you hadn’t left that message on my cell phone-a dead man’s cell phone-asking to meet me here. You were a good reporter.”
“I am a good reporter,” Quinn said.
“Yeah, gotta say-I just don’t think of you in the present tense anymore,” Kyle replied.
He laughed. But far from a maniacal laugh, this one was quite casual.
“You know, I’m really enjoying this,” he said. “All the others I wanted to put on a show for. You know? To live up to their expectations. But I’m just chatting with you. It’s very freeing.”
“So glad I could help,” Quinn replied.
“It was more than just the paper, though,” Kyle said. “I did this because it’s what I do. To know that every October, you aren’t like the bogeyman, you are the bogeyman. You are the thing that keeps people up at night, the bump in the dark, the figure they see out of the corner of their eye. You own these people. Is that enough for you?”
Kyle took a step forward. Quinn backed up.
“Hang on, hang on,” Kyle said. “I wouldn’t want you to go running through those woods again. I thought you were acting all crazy. But I guess you aren’t exactly acting, are you?”
“I’m not the crazy one here,” Quinn said.
“Oh no?” Kyle asked. “What was all that shit about the Prince of something or other? I thought I must have heard your girlfriend wrong, but you must believe some of it. Why else would you be here? Why not call the police and try to set a trap? I assumed that’s what you were doing, but they didn’t know a thing. I checked.”
Kyle checked his watch.
“It’s about 10:30 now, champ,” he said. “I guess you have an hour and a half to take the ‘great power’ and defeat me with it. Right?”
Before Quinn had time to react, Kyle rushed toward him, flashed his knife and cut Quinn on the arm.
Quinn didn’t take any time to respond. Instead, he leapt into the middle of the bridge where it was darkest.
He could still see Kyle closer to the edge of the bridge, but Quinn knew he was well hidden.
“Fuck,” Kyle said. “That was fast. But I still saw blood, my boy. I still saw you bleed. So I guess you don’t have supernatural abilities after all, do you? What was that bullshit, anyway? Something you cooked up for the girl? Was this just a ploy to get into Trina’s pants, Quinn? Her mom would not have approved.”
Kyle’s voice echoed in the bridge.
“Listen, buddy, you can skulk in the shadows all you want,” Kyle said. “But I have all night. Granted, I did have plans, but you know what, this ‘Lord Halloween’ stuff is kinda overblown anyway. I can kill them just as dead on Nov. 1. Oh, but wait. That’s the day you lose your superpowers, right? When you become a real boy?”
Quinn was shocked Kyle knew about any of this. But he must have been close enough to overhear them at some point.
“You aren’t invulnerable either, Kyle,” Quinn said. “How did your face get so messed up? Did Janus give you a taste of your own medicine?”
Kyle stepped into the shadows and Quinn lost sight of him. Slowly, Quinn started moving backwards.
It was pitch black in there. Quinn didn’t know why they built the beams so close together, but there was no light inside. He couldn’t see where Kyle was and he heard nothing.
“So it’s hide and seek, is it?” Kyle’s voice echoed inside the bridge. “I can play that. I’m the one with the knife. What have you got?”
It was impossible to tell Kyle’s position. His voice was bouncing off the walls around them. Slowly, Quinn backed up again and hoped his voice would pull off the same effect.
“Where are you going to go, Quinn?” Kyle asked. “The minute I see you in the light, I’m going to find you. And believe me, I’ll catch up. You may be younger, but I have had more training, if you know what I mean.”
Quinn said nothing. He worried he could give away his position.
“Where is your girlfriend, anyway?” Kyle asked. “She was supposed to be here, wasn’t she? She left the message, after all, asking for us to meet here. So what’s the deal, Quinn? You hoping to take me down by yourself?”
Quinn had backed now to the other side of the bridge. He was so close to the edge that he worried Kyle could see him. He couldn’t stay here. Eventually Kyle would find him and Quinn had nothing to protect himself.
He had to complete the original plan. He had to get the hell out of here and face the other monster first.
“Come on, Quinn,” Kyle said, and his voice sounded frustrated. “Where are you?”
Quinn knew he had to be quick. He darted out into the moonlight and immediately ran into the woods.
Behind him, he heard Kyle yell something-obviously aware that Quinn had run away. But Quinn thought he had a jump on Kyle, regardless of his “training.”
Quinn didn’t know where to head. He wasn’t sure what was in front of him, but he had very few choices.
Fortunately, the woods on this side of the bank were not as deep, and Quinn quickly came out into a clearing. Ahead of him was a barn-the old Phillips’ place he guessed-and an overgrown pumpkin patch. It was the only place Quinn thought to go. He moved across the field as fast as he could, reached the barn, and collapsed against one wall.
His insides felt like they were burning. Quinn couldn’t tell what was wrong, but he had been feeling it build up even while he was in the bridge. He lay his head against the side of the barn. Maybe Kyle wouldn’t find him.
He wished he could hear Kate in his mind, but the connection still seemed to be blocked. From a distance he heard the sound he had been waiting for. There was precious little time left, and while the trial had evidently been delayed, it was not over.
The sound of horse hooves approached. Quinn didn’t move. He was too tired to face both of them. He had thought he would have some idea of how to defeat the Horseman, but he was just exhausted.
The sound of hooves got closer. Good. At least it will be the Horseman that gets me and not Kyle. The sound was ringing in Quinn’s ears. The Horseman was almost on top of him. He came pounding into view a second later and wheeled to face Quinn.
Quinn stood up, still leaning against the barn, and looked at his opponent for what felt like the first time. Nothing about the horse looked right. Its eyes glowed a deep red and there was blood on the edge of its mouth.
The figure on top of the horse was dressed in black, and now Quinn could tell it was a decayed uniform. Just like the story. A Hessian mercenary hired to make war on the colonists, his head removed during battle by a cannon ball.
The rider did not move. His horse snorted and pawed the ground, but he remained fixed there.
