Chapter 96: The Fall Festival, Part Eleven

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: The Fall Festival, Part Eleven

Chapter 96: The Fall Festival, Part Eleven

Cyrus was not especially moved by what Audra had told him on the track.

She had said she rarely got to enjoy the Fall Festival. She had said family obligations and too much attention had made it easier to avoid events like this. She had thanked him for walking around with her.

Some of it was probably true.

Cyrus had no trouble believing that a girl as recognizable as Audra would get tired of being watched everywhere she went. A school festival was crowded enough without strangers stopping her for pictures, conversations, or another awkward confession.

Still, Audra had been free before today.

She had not needed him to enjoy the festival. She had chosen to find him, pulled him along, bought him food, and spent the morning beside him after learning the secret he had worked hard to hide.

Cyrus could not forget that part.

If Audra had not seen his face, he would have spent the day moving through the festival on his own. He would have eaten food, watched performances, played a few games, and kept his distance from anyone who wanted more from him than a simple conversation.

Instead, he had ended up walking beside a girl who knew too much.

He had answered her carefully because he did not have a better choice.

If Audra got upset, she could tell someone about his face. She could mention that he had been hiding it on purpose. She could make school life uncomfortable with one careless comment, and Cyrus had no interest in discovering what kind of attention followed once people started looking at him closely.

The fact that she kept paying for games and snacks did not make him trust her more.

It only made the situation easier to tolerate.

Audra walked beside him in the fox mask, the white outer costume folded over one arm. The painted ears and slanted red markings disguised enough of her face that people did not immediately recognize her, though Cyrus suspected some students still wondered.

She was hard to mistake for anyone else.

Cyrus checked the time on his phone.

His haunted-house shift would start soon.

He glanced toward Audra.

The mask hid her eyes at an angle, leaving only the lower half of her face visible. She had been quiet since Gemma called out to her from the far side of the track, but Cyrus could tell she was thinking about something.

That made him wary.

Audra was strange.

Cyrus did not understand strange people.

That seemed reasonable.

"My shift starts soon," he said.

"I will head back too," Audra replied. "We can walk there together."

Cyrus nodded.

They headed toward the academic building.

While they walked, Audra kept her attention on the path ahead, though her thoughts had gone nowhere near the pavement.

She had told Cyrus the truth.

Not all of it, perhaps, but enough of it.

She had admitted that she rarely had anyone to walk around with. She had thanked him. She had asked whether he enjoyed the day too.

Cyrus had said he had.

Could he have been mocking her?

The possibility appeared suddenly and refused to leave.

Audra’s fingers tightened slightly around the folded white fabric.

Cyrus had always acted detached around her. He accepted her tutoring help because it was useful, not because he wanted to spend time with her. He kept his face hidden. He answered her questions with cautious little replies that never gave more than he had to.

What if that was deliberate?

What if he had understood from the beginning that she was interested in him?

What if he had been acting distant because he liked watching her become more impatient?

Audra looked at him from behind the fox mask.

Cyrus walked with his hands in his pockets, his own mask angled over his eyes, his expression impossible to read. He seemed relaxed enough, but that might have been part of it too.

The thought made her pulse pick up.

She needed to use the glamourkin ring again.

She needed to make him answer honestly.

The idea came with enough force that Audra had to remind herself of the classroom on the fourth floor. She remembered the locked door, the pulled curtains, Cyrus’s helpless expression, and the way her own thoughts had turned reckless after the ring took hold.

She could not use it carelessly.

Not here.

Not yet.

At the stairwell, Cyrus stopped.

"This is where I go," he said.

Audra looked up.

"I need to change back," she said. "The costume is still in the fourth-floor classroom."

"That makes sense."

Cyrus lifted one hand in a small farewell.

"Then I will see you later."

Audra watched him for a second.

"Have a good shift," she said.

Cyrus headed down the stairs.

Audra remained where she was until he disappeared around the turn. Then she climbed toward the fourth floor with the folded white costume in her arms.

Cyrus removed the fox mask while he walked.

He checked the edge carefully before lowering it, making sure it had not slipped above his eyebrows again. The possibility of showing his full face in public had been bothering him since Audra mentioned it.

The mask stayed in his bag.

His hair fell back into place.

By the time he reached Classroom Three, he looked like the same forgettable student who had spent weeks trying not to become anyone’s topic of conversation.

The haunted house had a line.

Cyrus stopped near the front door and looked down the hall.

Students from different grades waited along the wall, some holding festival tickets, others leaning forward to peek into the darkened entrance. The room’s black curtains and purple lights had done their job. Even from outside, the faint sound effects and occasional shrieks made the place feel more convincing than a classroom had any right to be.

The publicity had worked.

Cyrus guessed that was why the line had grown this long.

A table had been set near the entrance for ticket collection and shift rotations. Faye sat behind it with a small cash box inside an open desk drawer. She wore her usual school uniform, though someone had given her a simple black ribbon to tie at her collar so she would match the haunted-house theme.

She looked up when Cyrus arrived.

"You are here," she said softly.

"I am sorry I kept you waiting."

"I only got here a little while ago."

Faye seemed about to add something else.

The back door opened before she could.

Three students stumbled out of the haunted house in a noisy group, laughing too hard to sound genuinely frightened. One of them was still holding the other’s sleeve, while the third kept complaining that the fake hand had touched his shoulder.

Faye turned toward the exit at once.

"Next group can come in," she said.

A boy who had been waiting near the front stepped forward and placed his payment on the table. He disappeared through the entrance curtain. The next two visitors followed after him, a girl and another boy who looked less certain now that the sounds inside were louder.

Faye collected the money and placed it in the cash box.

Her movements were practiced.

Cyrus watched for a moment, then stood.

"Let us switch seats."

Faye looked at him.

"You do not need to."

"I arrived late," Cyrus said. "You have already been handling the line."

Before she could finish protesting, he moved around the desk and took the seat closer to the waiting students.

The new position placed him directly beside the line. He could collect payments, answer questions, and tell people when the next group could enter. Faye’s chair sat farther from the crowd, with less noise and fewer people leaning over the desk to ask about ticket prices.

Faye looked at the space he had given her.

"Thank you," she said.

"It is not a big deal."

For Cyrus, this part was easy.

He worked at The Full Moon Lounge. Taking money from customers, answering the same questions, and directing people toward an entrance were barely work compared to managing a crowded bar table or explaining a cocktail menu to someone who had already made up their mind.

Faye was quieter than he was.

She could do it if she needed to, but Cyrus did not mind taking the busier position.

He sat down.

The chair retained a trace of warmth through his uniform pants.

Cyrus noticed it only because his own body was sensitive to temperature. The warmth faded quickly, and he did not give it another thought.

Faye shifted in her seat.

The movement was so small that Cyrus did not notice she had edged slightly farther away.

The two of them looked suited to the task in a way that made some visitors hesitate before approaching.

Cyrus sat with his dark hair falling over his eyes, his expression flat enough that he could have passed for part of the haunted-house décor. Faye had the same quiet, withdrawn air, her hands folded near the cash box whenever there was no one in front of them.

A girl near the front of the line leaned forward.

"Excuse me," she asked. "Is Audra Sloane going to be inside?"

"You can go in and find out," Cyrus said.

The girl’s face brightened.

Before she could say anything else, the hallway stirred.

Students farther down the line shifted aside. A few people whispered. Someone near the entrance lifted their phone, then quickly lowered it when a friend elbowed them.

Audra appeared at the end of the hall.

She had changed back into the white festival costume.

The long pale outer layer fell around her uniform again, and the silver details in her hair caught the overhead lights. Even in a corridor filled with costumes, she stood out too clearly.

The girl at the front of the line stared.

Audra seemed to have heard her question.

"She is inside now," Audra said.

The girl’s smile widened.

Audra walked toward the entrance table.

In one hand, she carried a small bottled sweet drink.

Cyrus recognized it immediately.

It was his.

The bottle had been in the fourth-floor classroom before Audra found him there. He remembered it falling. He remembered picking it up. He remembered holding it after the strange blank stretch in his memory.

Now Audra placed it on the desk in front of him as though she had brought him something fresh.

Cyrus did not touch it.

Audra glanced toward Faye.

The look lasted only a moment before she turned toward the haunted-house entrance and slipped inside.

Cyrus stared at the bottle.

The drink sat between him and the cash box.

He could not decide whether he was supposed to thank her, ask how she had gotten it, or pretend it had not appeared there at all.

He chose the last option.

Around them, the students in line had noticed.

Several classmates stood among the visitors, some with friends from other grades. One girl whispered something to the person beside her. Another glanced from the bottle to Cyrus, then toward the haunted-house curtain where Audra had disappeared.

"Was that the third time?" someone murmured.

"I think so," another student answered. "She keeps giving him drinks."

"What is going on with those two?"

Nobody asked Cyrus directly.

Nobody knew enough to answer.

The line kept moving.

The girl who had asked about Audra paid for her ticket and stepped inside with a smile she could not quite hide. She had come because she wanted to see Audra in costume, but a small part of her hoped the beautiful snow-ghost character might jump out at the right moment and scare someone close enough that she had to grab their arm.

Even a haunted house sounded appealing when someone beautiful was waiting inside.

Cyrus continued taking payments.

The crowd rotated in small groups. Some people emerged laughing. Some complained that the fake limbs had looked too real. One student came out swearing that someone had whispered directly into his ear, only for his friends to insist it had probably been a speaker.

Faye watched Cyrus handle the line.

He did not look like the withdrawn boy he pretended to be in class.

He greeted visitors without hesitation, collected money, kept the order straight, and gave quick answers whenever someone asked the same question for the fifth time. His voice stayed calm. His expression did not change much, but he was not awkward.

Faye had known that already.

Cyrus had been comfortable at her house. He spoke easily enough with Miles and Lena once they started playing. He did not panic when things got loud, and he never treated her like she was fragile or strange.

Even when he had seen her away from school, he had not reacted with the exaggerated interest or discomfort that other people sometimes showed.

He had simply accepted what was in front of him and continued acting like Cyrus.

That was one reason Faye liked having him around.

A group exited through the back door.

Cyrus checked the line, then reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a few wrapped candies from the dart booth earlier that day. He had forgotten about them until his fingers found the wrappers.

He placed one in front of Faye.

Faye looked down.

"Is this for me?"

Cyrus shook his head slightly.

The gesture meant she did not need to thank him.

Faye unwrapped the candy.

Then she held the first piece up toward Cyrus’s mouth.