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Grant frowned. “And we’re just going to hop into Octavia Falls? We can’t break Mandy and Tate out if we’re toads.”
“We need to do something… hold on! This might work!” Chloe conjured something, but it was so tiny and nearly invisible that I couldn’t tell what it was at first. “We don’t need to disguise ourselves. We just need to make people forget we were ever there in the first place!”
“Is that the whisker the glawackus gave you?” I asked.
“Yes.” Chloe nodded proudly, before turning to the others to explain. “While we were in Hok’evale, a glawackus gifted me her powers with this whisker. As legend says, you’ll lose your memory if you look into the eyes of a glawackus.”
“How do we use it?” Nadine wondered.
“I’m a Mentalist, and even though my power lies in telekinesis, my Cast specialty is mind manipulation,” Chloe said. “The Elementai have a word for harnessing magic from sources outside your own body. It’s called intrafusion. Perhaps we can perform a similar magic. As long as I can overpower the magic in the whisker, I can combine it with my own. I can cast a spell over all of us so that when anyone looks at us, they immediately forget they saw us in the first place.”
“That sounds like our best bet,” I agreed. “Let’s give it a shot.”
Red magic swirled out of Chloe’s fingers, and the tip of the whisker burned to ash. She didn’t look any different.
“I don’t think—” I glanced around the room and cut off.
“You don’t think… what?” Miles asked.
I desperately tried to grasp at the memory of what I was saying, but I had no clue. “I’m not sure.”
“That means it’s working,” Chloe said from beside me. I turned toward the sound of her voice and remembered she was there. It was definitely a jarring experience.
“You can see me and hear me, but once you look away, you forget I’m there, which is exactly what we need,” Chloe said. “Even if we’re spotted, the magic in the whisker will wipe the memory of us from whoever sees us once we’re gone from their sight.”
I offered her an approving nod, careful not to take my eyes off her, or I’d forget again. “Good job, Chloe. There is one catch, though. I still remember what you said when I wasn’t looking, which means people will be able to hear us and remember what we said, so we’ll have to keep our voices down.”
She held up what remained of the whisker. “If I do the spell right, we won’t forget each other, because we’ll all be under the spell. Everyone ready?”
Magic swirled up her fingers, encompassing the whisker until it turned to ash in her palm. Her magic swelled throughout the room and gently settled over each of us, including the cats. The cats shook their heads, like the spell made them feel funny. My skin tingled, then returned to normal.
“The spell should get us through the night,” Chloe said.
I flipped my hood up, then I lifted my hands. “I’m going to portal us a few blocks from Lilian’s mansion. We’ll have to survey the area first. Her house is likely warded, and we don’t know how many Executors might be on the property.”
Nadine nodded in approval. “Good idea.”
A portal appeared at my command, and a dark forest came into view. Everyone followed me through, and my stomach flipped before my feet landed on solid ground. The portal shut behind us, leaving us in the quiet of the forest.
“I portaled us to the woods bordering Coven Park,” I told them. “Lilian’s house isn’t far. Come on.”
I started through the forest, but the cats stopped dead in front of me, their ears perking up.
“Hold on.” Nadine grabbed my arm, and I paused to listen. The sound of distant drum beats broke through the silence… or was it footsteps? I could make out the sound of voices—a lot of them.
Onyx peered through the trees. “Something’s going on in the park.”
Chloe strolled forward, like she had no care in the world. “We have to cross the park anyway. Might as well see what’s going on while we’re at it.”
A huge crowd had gathered. It was impossible to get to the main road without wading through a horde of people. It seemed as if the whole town was here. People looked our way, but no one seemed to recognize us thanks to Chloe’s spell. I spotted a few other people in cloaks, so we blended in easily. Still, I kept my hood low as my eyes scanned the area.
Food vendors were scattered throughout the park, and people snacked on popcorn as they moved toward a large stage. Executors paced around in their black uniforms, but they didn’t seem to be patrolling for trouble. Instead, they were laughing and eating candy apples like they were celebrating something. Several of them had painted their faces blood red.
On second thought… I didn’t think that was paint.
A group of people passed in front of us, and I peeked from under my hood to step around them, but what I saw stalled my heart. Goat skulls had replaced their human features, and huge ram horns grew out of their heads. For a second, I thought I was seeing creatures of lore, until I realized they were masks. The horns were reminiscent of Santos in his godly form—as if these people had donned the masks to honor him.
We continued moving through the crowd, but I took cautious steps. This was all very strange, to say the least. There shouldn’t be a festival going on right now, because the Halloween festival was only days ago. It had never been part of our customs to paint our faces with blood or wear ram horns like our god. It was like these people were trying to make a statement, though I didn’t know what it was.
