Outlawry

Chapter 41 ~ Ava//Sickeningly Spooky

My mother excitedly clapped her hands together. "Oh my goodness sweet heart, you look amazing!"

I chuckled. "Mom, calm down, it's just a suit."

She suddenly puffed out her lips and curled her eyes brows up as she walked towards me. She took my hands as I playfully rolled my eyes. "I know. I am just trying to savor the last little bits of your high school career. And the time that I have left with you before you go off to college."

"Mom..." I teased. "I don't know if I'm going to college right away. We talked about this." I looked down. "Especially now. Considering the circumstances. I don't know if it would be wise."

She nodded her head. "Well, we'll talk about it later on. You have a dance to get to." She walked into the kitchen and took a pizza out of the oven. "Is Nate coming to pick you up?"

The doorbell rang. She went over to answer it with the candy bowl. "TRICK-OR-TREAT!" A bunch of little kids screamed. My mom smiled at them as she bent down to their level and offered them the candy. They thanked her and ran off to the next house.

I shook my head. "No, he's not. I'm going to meet him there."

She looked up at the clock. "Well then, you'd better get a move on. It's almost 8."

"Yeah," I said, grabbing my keys. "Be safe tonight."

"I should say the same to you, Ava." She playfully winked at me, but the words had a much heavier meaning to me.

"Yeah."

I walked out the door to my car and drove to the school. The place, despite what I thought it was going to be like, was absolutely booming with lights, music and excitement. I locked my car door and walked into the school with my ticket to the dance.

The inside was even more exquisite than the outside. Spider webs hung all over the place, a smoke machine filled the surface of the floor with fog, and a live band was playing on the platform. I smiled. This was going to be better than I had expected.

I looked around to find Nate, but he found me first. "Hey you..." he said, taking my hand. "Do you want something to drink?"

I bit my lip. "Um...I don't know, I don't want to get a side-ache."

He nodded. "I understand." He turned his head back to where the snack table was. "Well, I'm thirsty as hell, so I'm going to go get myself some punch, okay?"

I nodded. "Sure, go ahead, I'll be right here."

He smiled and nodded at me. "I'll be right back."

He walked off, leaving me alone in the sea of sweaty bodies and zombies and vampires. Everyone's costume seemed to be of something gross and undead. It was rather disturbing, but it was Halloween, after all.

I nervously looked around the room. I had this strange, unnerving feeling that Luther was going to show up out of no where. In fact, I had the feeling that he was already there. I knew that was crazy, however, because especially on a night like this, Gomez wouldn't let him out of his sight.

But he would. Gomez was going to be up and down all night answering the door for trick-or-treaters. There's no way he'd keep Luther in plain sight. He'd have him tucked away where no one could find him. Then how could Luther escape? But he's intelligent. He would certainly find a way.

I nervously bit my finger nails and looked around, hoping not to see him anywhere. "Hey," Nate said, causing me to jump. I looked at him as he gave me a strange look. "You...okay?"

I nodded my head and removed my finger from my mouth. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Halloween has just got me in a jittery mood." I laughed lightly.

He nodded and smiled as he handed me a red, plastic cup. "Here you go. I figured you would want some anyway."