“That ain’t happening,” Perry says, giving Jay a sharp look. “There’s a reason why we’re not filming this. Tonight is about the money, not a step backward.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” I say under my breath.
“Dex,” she says, pulling at my arm, eyes flashing. “Please tell me that this is just a one-time thing. Unless someone else wants to pay us an obscene amount of money, we’re not doing this again. We have to agree on that.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I tell her, but I can tell from the way Jay’s looking at me that he’s thinking about what I said yesterday. He only had to help just this once.
I ignore him and try to keep my thoughts focused on tonight, not the future, not where this might take us, as tempting as that might be.
We walk down the dark street, fallen leaves crunching beneath our feet. There are still a few groups of trick-or-treaters straggling about, but most of them are idle drunk teenagers trying to make the night last. It’s nearly ten p.m., only two more hours until the supposed witch holiday comes to an end.
“This should be the house, right on the corner,” I say, staring at the GPS on my phone. We come to a stop and stare.
The house is haunted as fuck.
I don’t have to see anything spooky to know it, and judging from the chill in the air, the silence that thickens between the four of us, we’re all feeling it.
The house is three-stories tall, the bottom half brick, the rest timbered. In the dim light of the flickering streetlight, it looks sick in color, this yellowish beige, framed with dark brown. The windows on the first two levels are all boarded up and the house looks completely dark, save for a faint light coming from one of the windows on the third floor.
There’s a set of stairs leading to the door, which, in the dark, looks almost like a church door, angled at the top.
Yeah, this is some scary fucking shit already and we’re still standing on the street, holding our breath as if the house is about to take it from us.
Maybe this isn’t a good idea?
Chapter 6
I can’t take my eyes off the house.
It’s like it’s been…waiting for us.
“Hello!” A man suddenly darts in front of us, and the four of us scream and jump in unison.
“Holy shit,” Ada yells, hand to her chest.
“I’m so sorry,” the man quickly says, holding his palms out at us. “I was sent here to you meet you.”
I try to control my heart, which is bouncing around against my ribs, focusing on the man. It’s hard to see him clearly in the dark. He’s about six feet tall, dark wavy hair, light eyes, bit of a tan, my age, maybe a bit younger or older, it’s hard to tell. He’s wearing a black trench coat, which probably accounts for us not seeing him until he was right in front of us.
I can’t get a read on him either. His vibes are a bit…off. Foggy, like the mist around us.
“You must be Dex and Perry,” the man says to us, then squints at Ada and Jay. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are.”
“Actually, we don’t know who you are,” I tell him.
“Right,” he says. “I’m Atlas. Atlas Poe.”
“Atlas Poe?” I repeat, snorting. “As if that’s your real name.”
“I’m afraid it is. But it could be worse. I could have my stepfather’s name. Harry Cox?”
“Harry is your stepfather?” Perry asks him. “He never mentioned you.”
“I suppose he wouldn’t,” he says with a tired sigh. “He’s very singularly focused these days. Some might call it an obsession.”
“Well, I’m calling it weird since I’ve only talked with him. Are you supposed to pay us now?” I ask.
“Yeah, we ain’t doing shit until we see the money,” Ada says, talking as if she’s in some gangster film.
“Shhh,” Perry shushes her. “It’s not even your money, Ada.”
“I have the money right here,” Atlas says, pulling an envelope out of his coat. He hands it to me. “Go ahead,” he says. “Take a look.”
While I open the envelope, Ada says to Atlas. “So, who are you supposed to be for Halloween?”
“Myself,” Atlas answers, a lilt to his voice.
“Uh huh,” she says. “I thought maybe you were trying to look like Edgar Allan Poe.”
“No, no,” he says. “Though I am one of his descendants.”
I pause to look at him, squinting between him and the check in my hands. “Poe had no children. That’s a known fact.”
Atlas shrugs. “How could that be known as fact?” He nods at the check. “Does that make sense to you.”
It’s hard to get a read on the check since the light is so dim, but it does look to be a one followed by six zeros.
My heart skips a beat. I look back at Poe. “How do I know this is any good?”
He gives me a faint smile. “You know, don’t you, Dex?”
The hairs at the back of my neck start to rise again, an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I swallow.
He’s right. I do know it’s real. I can feel it.
I glance at Perry, who is staring at Atlas with a peculiar look on her face, trying to get a read on him too. He’s staring right back at her, seeming smug.
He clasps his hands in front of him and then looks to Ada and Jay. “As for you two, you’re not part of the original plans. I’m afraid I can’t let you in the house.”
“What?” Ada exclaims.
“Why not?” asks Perry, both sisters getting worked up.
As for me, I mean, fuck, I have a hundred grand that I’m slipping into my wallet, I couldn’t care less what happens after this.
That’s
