Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (best e reader for epub txt) 📕

“His name is Damon,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Maddie snorted, and Pip outright laughed, placing her hand on her chest. “A demon named Damon… Now I’ve heard everything.” Cupping her mouth with her ring clad fingers, she winked at me and said, “And I’ve been around for centuries.”

“W-What?!” I sputtered, but she was already talking again.

“Well, Damon,” she said with her hands on her hips, “you’re just going to have to learn how to share that body. Don’t test me.” She wagged a finger at him as if he were a child. “I will spell you if I have to. Now give the poor guy his body back and stop terrorizing my niece.”

“I’m going for a walk,” I said, setting my empty mug down in the sink. “I’ll be back in a while.”

Norman stood up, his chair scraping against the floor as everyone looked at him. “You want me to come with?” I saw Michael frown up at Norman, but Freddy and Jason were smirking.

I looked at Norman finally, our eyes connecting across the dining room. The tension between us was thick, and I suddenly felt like my tongue was swollen. It was hard trying to figure out this new dynamic we seemed to have all of a sudden. Just the other day, he’d hated me, and now he was staring at me like I meant something more to him.

Shaking my head, I backed towards the door. “I’m good. I’ve got Jessica to keep me company.” I stuck out my open palm and watched as Jessica came skittering over, leaping up into my hand with a shot of her web out of her butt and making her way towards my shoulder.

“We’re going on an adventure!” she squealed in my ear. I grinned at my spider.

“Well all right then,” said Auntie Fe. She turned from her tea kettle and gave me a thin smile. “Whatever you do, please try and avoid the Hangry Forest.”

“Believe me, Auntie, nothing about either word you just said sounds even remotely inviting.” I stood there awkwardly for a second. “Can I actually talk to you two in private for a second? Something’s been on my mind.” I avoided Norman's hot glare on me as my aunties glanced at each other and followed me to the front door.

“What’s on your mind, dear?” Auntie Pip asked curiously, her gaze worried as she grabbed my hand with a small pat on my wrist, a comfortable touch.

“I’ve been hearing voices,” I whispered so low that both of them leaned in closer with their brows wrinkled.

“Oh, child, don’t we all. There, there. Nothing to worry about, they’ll go away in time.” Auntie Fe clicked her tongue and taped her temple.

“Not like…” I sighed dramatically and didn’t miss their eyes connecting with worry. “I mean ever since we got here, I’ve been hearing the guys’ thoughts,” I said in a rush, knowing how crazy I sounded.

“Ohhhh!” they both said with a relieved breath at the same time with a small giggle. “That is perfectly normal, my sweet girl. It’s just a necromancer’s curse, but it can be a gift if you let it.” Auntie Fe clapped her hands in excitement.

“See, on the night of the accident, you using your gift to bring everyone back…well it connected you to those young men's souls because you, well, uh, were already connected on a deeper level from before.” Auntie Pip swiped a white piece of my hair behind my ear, her gaze far away until she looked back at me with a proud smile. “The heart always knows,” she muttered under her breath, but I was hardly paying attention.

“So you’re telling me I’m actually not making this shit up and can really hear their thoughts?” They both nodded fast and waited for my reaction of panic and tears.

“This is so cool! Although, it’s very jumbled half the time, but still. I’m a freaking mind reader!” I grinned, plotting evil, mad genius revenge with my new super powers.

“Now that’s what I'm talking about! Let the plotting begin!” My aunties gave me a kiss on both of my cheeks and laughed with a shooing motion.

“Get out of here, silly girl, and maybe keep it a secret for now. You never know when you’ll need to get inside a man’s mind without him knowing.” They giggled and went back to the kitchen, muttering excitedly like proud parents when their kid came home with straight A’s.

Finally, I fled the room, making my way through the house and out the front door before anyone else could try and stop me. I needed to be alone for a little while and some time to think. Besides, there was a place I really needed to visit. The moons were bright as I walked down the street. Lucky for me, the layout of this town was still the same as it’d always been.

The aunties’ manor was only down the street from town, so I decided to head straight through Main Street. I could have gone the shorter way and skirted the busy shopping area packed with people, but I decided to poke around a little on my way to the cemetery.

I needed to see for myself where my parents were buried. The aunties had told me they’d been buried in a consecrated grave, therefore they’d be present in both the mortal world and this world. I remembered the day we got here, when I passed the cemetery on that long stretch of country road. It had looked so different, and immediately, dread had settled in my stomach. I needed to have access to their burial site, to be close to them, even if it was just me sitting on their plot for hours on end, talking to them about nothing and everything.

Nobody paid any attention to me as I passed them, not like they had the first time I’d come through here like a fresh tourist. I wondered how many mortals these people saw on a regular basis, or if we’d been the