Scary not Scary (The Holidaze Book 3)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"The one place you know is the castle, which is the home of the King of Halloween. You also know that," Devinah offered him a cheeky grin and he smiled.

"Funnily enough, I do know that much," George agreed.

He glanced at the foreboding castle that was his temporary home. The gloom surrounding it only made it appear spookier. He could see ghosts darting in and out of the cracked windows, while a skeleton dangled chillingly from one of the towers.

"Let's make our way into Spookville."

Devinah pointed down the rocky ruin of a road that led to an eerie collection of buildings that made George uneasy. The furthest he had ventured outside of the walls of his new home was to the defunct haunted house, which still existed within the castle walls. Leaving the familiarity of even that gloomy space left him apprehensive.

"First and perhaps the most obvious for Spookville are these two adventures filled areas," Devinah gestured ahead of them.

All George could see was more gloom. As they continued walking forward, two open doorways came into view. One said Tricks not Treats while the other read Treats not Tricks. George didn't have to puzzle over the names, it made sense and that surprised him. He wasn't used to this world making sense.

"Let me guess, that shop is for tricks," George pointed to the treats shop as a joke.

"What? No, that's for the treats," Devinah stared at him in bewilderment.

"I got it, Devinah. That was me just having a joke," George blew out a breath at how his teasing had bombed.

"I didn't realise," Devinah said as she cocked her head on the side and truly looked at George.

They had spent a great deal of time together during the construction of the failed haunted house, but she realised that she never truly saw him. Her focus had been on escaping this depressing Holidaze for somewhere much brighter, and preferably with a beach. How had she missed that George had a sense of humour?

"I'm used to it. Nobody anywhere thinks any accountant is at all funny," George said wryly.

"I don't even know what an accountant is," her confusion only reminded George that this woman had spent centuries of time with Cupid. It made him feel even more inadequate.

"Okay, so there's a place for tricks and a place for treats," George cleared his throat before speaking.

"Yes. Some Haloweenies favour the tricks over treats and some are the other way around."

"In the real world it's just treats, you know that, right?"

"What? I thought the humans said trick or treat."

"Yeah, but it's just kids wanting sweets like lollies and chocolates," George explained.

"How strange. The humans are so peculiar," Devinah shook her head.

"Wait a moment, I'm human," George protested.

"You were."

"What?"

"Didn't you hear Sander? From the moment you became King of Halloween you lost the human part of you and gained everything from this world."

"Are you saying my life as a human," he stopped speaking when his voice cracked, "are you saying I'm no longer human? I can't go back. I thought we were organising the haunted house so that I could go back and you could leave here to," George babbled.

"I've never known this world that well because I don't really belong here either," Devinah admitted and George jolted in place.

"How do you not belong if you've spent centuries of time here?" George asked in amazement.