t w e n t y n i n e ;
By the time Halloween weekend rolled around, Louise was ready. She had packed a flashlight, some water, and some snacks for their hike. Dieter had texted that he would pick her up at Logan's house, and told Louise that he was welcome to come along if he wanted to. But the seventeen year old kept the invitation to herself. She saw how awkward and quiet Logan had been at the diner two weeks prior. She didn't want him feeling like he was the odd one out on their little hike. She instead promised herself that they could do something fun together over the weekend.
Louise changed out of her St. Mary's uniform into a pair of black tights, and a comfortable black shirt, with a lime green windbreaker her parents had bought her. Her jet black hair was pulled back into a pony tail and she decided to leave her bunny ears back at her dorm room. With people as horrible as the two sisters Moira and Yami were, Louise knew she'd better not give them a reason to pick on her. Otherwise they'd end up collecting their teeth on the street. When she finished changing, she had sat on the living room couch waiting for about ten minutes when she heard a car pull up.
Soon after, she received a text from Dieter, letting her know that he was outside. Louise grinned from ear to ear and jumped off her seat. She then looked to Logan and said her goodbyes. "I'll see you later, Logan. And thank you for helping me out so much, even though you don't want to, and even though we're like enemies and all."
Enemies, she had used that word again. But Logan no longer saw them like that. Still, he nodded silently and she went out the door. She ran down the small pathway to see Dieter in his car. Liesl was in the passenger seat, and in the back was Clarissa. Behind his car were another two cars. In it were Rohan, Moira, Yami, Jai, and Finn. In the last car were Johnny, as well as two girls and boy she hadn't met yet. She assumed they were Ally and Ralph, and one other girl. She waved a small hello at everyone and Liesl got out of the car, pushing the front passenger seat forward and climbing into the back with Clarissa. Louise smiled gratefully and sat in the front passenger seat.
It only took them about forty minutes to get to the nature trail on the mountains. Yami was driving in that car and she arrived first. The second ones to arrive were Dieter's group, and the last were Ally's group who had gotten lost on top of the mountain for a few minues.
Everyone got out of the cars and gathered at the start of one of the trails. As they talked together, a boy in a black cloak approached them. "Are you all here for the black magic circle?" He asked them and everyone shot him a confused look.
"Nah man, you have the wrong group." Finn told him, and the boy scurried off into the trail.
As soon as he was out of ear shot, the group burst out laughing. They stood around for a couple more minutes before they made their way to the nearest hiking trail. Right by the entrance was a space which had once been an old zoo in the 1930s. Louise tugged on Dieter's arm, pleading. "Can we please look in there?" She asked, her eyes scanning over the vast space. There were old abandoned cages where the animals used to inhabit, and there was a little picnic area with stone tables.
Dieter stopped his friends and asked them to follow them into the old zoo. As soon as they started walking towards it, Yamilla refused to budge. With her arms crossed over her chest, she refused vehemently to go in there. And she expected every body else to do the same. "I won't go in there. The spirits don't like that." She said, nose in the air in pride, as though she had some kind of special powers.
Moira immediately chimed in. "We'd better do what Yami says. She can see ghosts, so she knows what she's talking about."
Louise snorted in amusement. For one because she thought Yamilla was ridiculous in her comments, and also because her weird sister was always backing her up and hyping her up like she was the best thing that had ever happened to the world. Being her cousin, Rohan stopped and went to stand by Yami and Moira. Then Jai went to stand next to his girlfriend. They had split up into two sides. There was the four of them, and the others stood by Louise and Dieter.
