Rule #6: Dress Code - No Makeup
They're even worse than the costumes.
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"This place is effing creepy," Andrew snaps, stepping over a pile of bloody, yellow bones. "That better not be real mold - if I get so much as an inch of that shit on me, I'm going to - get the hell away!"
A man with ripped policeman cloths and hair matted with blood lunches at us from behind one of the wooden pillars. Unfortunately, Andrew's in front of me. He crashes into my chest and I crash into the wall, which is painted with fake blood and mold, behind me.
"Andrew," I hiss.
"Sorry," He helps me up, giving a glare to the man who scared him, as he retreats back into his hiding spot. We head in the opposite direction.
"What a jackass," I sigh after we're out of hearing distance. "Okay, I think we should find a shortcut or something so we can go up a couple of floors. There, we can 'accidentally' run into Archer."
"I think I saw a fire escape somewhere," Andrew says, brushing off the green mold off my wings. "In the back."
After learning that Archer already entered the house, we bought two tickets to go in after him. Irene and Jake offered to stay together - although I'm sure it wasn't because they wanted to take care of Lola - by Archer's car.
Now we're both stuck on the first floor of the haunted house, which is a maze with blood, bones and creaky floors.
The next few minutes are passed by us trying to find a way out. Fear turns into annoyance as we keep running into dead ends and scares. Once, I had to stop Andrew - who barely gets scared - from nearly attacking one of the workers. We manage to get through one of the floors before finding a fire exit at the start of the next level.
"About time," Andrew mutters, still in a bad mood. He looks around to make sure nobody's looking and then, swings open the door and goes inside.
The door clangs behind us as we step out onto a metal staircase.
The wind makes it rattle dangerously. I hold onto the edges, gripping on to the cold bars until my knuckles turn white. Andrew turns to me, showing me the screen of his phone. It's already been six minutes since we entered.
I sigh loudly and look up. "What floor do you think he's on?"
"Three, probably," Andrew yells. "Come on."
Without wasting another minute, we storm upstairs and onto level three. Instead of moldy bricks like level one, level three has marble and candlelight, making dark shadows and strange sounds. Andrew and I find a shortcut through one of the doors. We only managed to get scared once so far - by a pale looking man who seems to be a ghost - until I spot a familiar face.
"Hang on," I grab Andrew's shoulder. "Julia!"
Sure enough, the teenager - along with a couple of friends - turns around. She squints her eyes as she sees me, scowling. I catch up to her easily, although the candle lights placed all the floor nearly trip me.
"How'd you get here?" Julia asks, narrowing her eyes. "I thought you weren't coming."
"I changed my mind," I say. "Hey - where's your brother?"
She shrugs. "We split up. I think he's a floor ahead of us."
Andrew grabs my elbow, tugging me back. "Let's go back the way we came from, then, and see if we can catch up to him."
"What are you doing?" Julia calls after us. We ignore her and head towards the exit, breathing hard when we storm up the stairs for the second time. A few people standing line throw us suspicious looks.
"Okay," I breathe as Andrew shuts the door behind us. "If we can't find him here - I say, we got to floor six and just wait for him to -"
"Peyton?"
We turn around.
My heart skips when I hear the voice. Sure enough, it's Archer and Sebastian (damn) coming out from the shadows. I breathe a sigh of relief and exhaustion.
Sebastian's simple dressed up as a doctor, or a scientist. I don't know - he's got a white lab coat on with a nametag and that's it.
Archer, on the other hand, has dressed up completely. Knowing him, it's probably homemade. He's wearing a form-fitting, dark gray coat, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, as well as that cliché dark hat Sherlock Holmes always wears. He also has a snug looking scarf around his neck.
I stop just a foot away from him, Andrew at my heels.
"We were looking for you," I say breathlessly.
"You could've just called," Archer says, barely paying attention. His eyes scan my outfit, his mouth fighting a smile. "Are those feathers?"
"Are those feathers?"
"That's not - yeah - but, anyways - I'm actually a salmon-crested cocktail. They're an endangered species, on the brink of extinction. Almost six thousand die every year." I blurt out, unable to help myself.
"That's horrible."
"Tell me about it," I nod. "They suffer from loss of habitat and illegal hunting. It's really bad, considering the birds are really sweet and cuddly, but kind of scared of human interaction, which -"
"The costume fits you well then," He's fully smiling now.
"Oh," I smooth down my pink and white dress, trying to keep the warmth out of my cheeks. "Thanks. I made to resemble - ow!"
Andrew pinches my elbow. I give him a glare and shake my head, remembering where we are. "Anyways, this is Andrew. My friend from Chicago. Andrew, this is Sebastian and Archer. We need to borrow your car."
A part of me regrets all the times I've exaggerated about how horrible Archer is - they probably think of him as a monster, or even worse, somebody like Xavier.
"I see," Archer raises an eyebrow. "Why do you want to borrow my car?"
Andrew and I share a look. I decide to tell a half-lie. "We're going to zoo. It's an emergency. I'll explain everything later. Can you just please give us your car keys?"
Sebastian snort, which is to be expected. But even Archer looks a bit skeptical of our intentions. I try not to look too annoyed. They have a good reason to be suspicious. I mean, who in their right mind would give the pair of us their car, especially a rich one like an Audi?
"We'll return it just the way you give it to us," I promise when he doesn't say anything.
"I'll give it to you one condition," Archer says, ignoring Sebastian's elbow to the ribs - I wonder how, it looked like it really hurt. "I drive."
Oh, that's even worse. I don't think I could get him to go in without showing him Lola and once he sees Lola, he definitely won't give us his car. I give Andrew - who's the best liar out of all of us - a pleading look, but he's watching Archer with a weird look on his face.
"I think he should come," Andrew suddenly says.
"What?" I thought he would hate Archer. "Why?"
"Why not?" Archer says, a triumphant gleam in his eye. I have a feeling that I just made his day. "Besides, it's my car. Come on, Sebastian."
"Are you kidding? You can't just run out and leave Julia and her friends alone."
"It won't take long. Besides, you don't need to come," I say, unable to keep the scorn out of my voice. "We all know how you handle emergency situations."
That was the wrong thing to say. Sebastian glares at me and says, "I want to go."
"You're outvoted, Peyton." Andrew says smugly.
"Whatever," I sigh. "Let's just get this over with."
I text Irene on the way, telling her to her to put the blanket over Lola and meet at us Archer's car. She texts me back with a thumbs up emoji. We reach downstairs in a couple of minutes; the security guard gives us a strange look when he sees the four of us. We ignore him - well, three of us do, Archer waves.
"These are my other friends," I say once we approach the car. "Irene and Jake."
Jake shakes hands with Archer and Sebastian while Irene gives me a what-are-you-doing look. I nod towards Archer subtly.
Irene rolls her eyes and turns to the boys. "Will we all fit?"
"We'll be squished, but we'll manage," Archer smiles at Irene, not all fazed. His eyes wander from her to my hands. "What's in the basket?"
"Oh, nothing, just a gift," I start to say.
Andrew yanks off the blankets. "It's a bear."
"Andrew," Irene, Jake and I hiss.
"What the hell?" Sebastian snarls, taking a step back. His eyes dart from me to Andrew to Irene and Jake. "What the hell is this?"
Archer takes a step back as well, no longer smiling. "Is it dead?"
"No, of course not," I say quickly, giving one more angry glance at Andrew. "She snuck out from the zoo and so we're trying to get it back to where she belongs, I swear. It's not anything bad or dangerous. She's sleeping. We just need to return her."
Archer, eyebrows furrowed, opens his mouth to say something but Sebastian grabs his shoulder, muttering something I can't hear. Archer whispers something back and both of them turn their backs to us to have a quiet conversation. I use this time to turn around and stomp on Andrew's foot.
"Ouch!" He says. "What does that for?"
Irene slaps him. "Don't give me that damn attitude. We know exactly what you're doing - trying to freak out another goody-two shoes. But, guess what, dumbass, you just ruined our best chance of getting Lola home."
"We don't need help from some rich boy."
I open my mouth to protest, but Jake beats me to the punch.
"Don't be ridiculous," Jake, who's usually always on Andrew's side, hisses. "You know we need his help."
Andrew scoffs and folds his arms.
I let out a groan. "You're such an idiot. Here, hold Lola. Let me see if I can go and convince Archer to still help us."
Without waiting for a response, I give the basket back to Irene and turn around. Archer and Sebastian break apart once they see me. Sebastian throws me an angry look - I don't have the energy to respond, knowing that he has a good reason.
"Listen," I start. One of my bobby pins is starting to come lose. I tuck it back in its spot before continuing. "You don't need to come. Just let us borrow your car for a little. After we return the bear to her mother, we'll bring it right back, before Julia and her friends finish the maze."
"This is ridiculous," Sebastian snaps. "Let's go back inside, Archer."
"No, wait," Unable to think of anything else, I grab his elbow. "Archer, please."
We look at each other for a minute. Another strand of my hair falls out. His expression softens, but just by a bit. His eyes are nowhere as warm towards me as they were before today. After a second, he nods. I let go of his elbow.
Guilt and relief churn together in my stomach. "Thank you."
Sebastian scoffs.
Irene and Jake mutter their thanks, although they're still staring at the ground. Andrew just crosses his arms and examines us with a scowl. Archer ignores them all and takes the car keys out, opening the doors. Jake, Irene, Andrew and I squish ourselves in the back while Archer and Sebastian take the front. Irene puts the basket on my lap.
Lola moves restlessly. Irene and I share a panicked look. Without even thinking, I reach one hand out to stroke her fur. She sighs, shifts to the right and starts to sleep again. I continue stroking her fur, too afraid to stop.
"Nice," Irene murmurs appreciatively. "I told you, you're the animal whisperer."
I roll my eyes and look out the window. This car is much faster than the other one we had, thank god. We might actually make it in time. I settle back in the little space I have, watching the Halloween decorations fly by.
"So," Archer says, after a few minutes. I guess no matter how annoyed he is, he can't stand the silence. "How exactly did you guys manage to steal a bear?"
"We didn't steal the bear," Jake snaps, crossing his arms, which causes Irene and Andrew to shift to away. "We found it wandering outside when we were into a souvenir shop."
"So, you didn't return it or anything?" He says skeptically.
"What, into that hellhole? Do you realize how shitty the security is?" Irene lies her head on Jake's shoulder. "No, thank you. Unlike the zoo, we actually give a damn about these animals. We weren't going to return Lola just so she could just escape again."
"So you brought to her Peyton," Archer nods, like this is a perfectly reasonable response. He seems like his old self again now that he knows I had nothing to do with the situation. "I guess she was good with animals back in Chicago."
"The best."
Hoping that my cheeks don't seem too red, I choose to glance at the window, pretending that I'm not even listening. There's an uncomfortable silence, only broken when Sebastian says that we're five minutes away. I relax a little, knowing that this whole situation will be over soon.
After five minutes, Archer pulls the car into the empty parking lot. It's a miracle that the zoo is still open this late. Archer doesn't even finish parking when I swing open the door.
I take a deep breath, stepping out into the chilly weather. I flip the blanket over Lola, trying to remain still as she shifts under the weight. I turn back to the car. Archer parks the engine, getting something out from underneath the seat. Irene and the others make to get out, but I stop them midway.
"You stay here. You guys have done enough damage."
Then, I slam the door on their protests. Luckily, none of them make any movement to get out - except, of course, for Archer. I head towards the main gate quickly, ignoring his calls. He catches to me in a few seconds.
"Calm down," Archer says, seemingly in a better mood. For the first time, I notice that he has a camera in his hand. "You're acting too suspicious. Do you even know where the bear exhibit is?"
"Yes. I've been here four times."
"I bet. So who should we give Lola to?"
"I think we should bring her back ourselves."
"What?" Archer looks at me. "Why?"
I shrug, not revealing my own reason. "If they're right about the bad security, we should be able to get in her cage no problem."
"Ah," Archer looks like he wants to argue, but changes the subject. "Do you have money?"
"No," I admit. "Can you-?"
Archer smirks at me, before turning to the security guard. His nametag reads Theo and he's eyeing us with suspicion. I make sure the blanket I covering Lola completely. Archer hands Theo the required amount of money.
"Strange night to be visiting the zoo," Theo mutters, ripping off two tickets.
"I came here a few days earlier and lost something," I lie. "We're just going back to look for it."
"Must be pretty big," He glances at my basket pointedly before handing us the ticket.
"It is," Archer says and shakes the man's hand. "Thank you. Come on, Peyton. Let's go find your - thing."
We walk off together.
"Clever," I say, rolling my eyes. Archer grabs a map and unfolds it. We find the bear exhibit - it's almost on the opposite side of the zoo.
"Okay," Archer puts in his Sherlock Holmes coat. "Let's go."
It takes the both of us a few minutes to realize that trying to navigate our way through the zoo is way harder in the night. Archer, to be honest, isn't helping. He keeps stopping and taking pictures of the animals. And since I can't open the gate on my own, I need to stop with him.
"I can't believe all these animals are awake. They're never awake when I come," He says as he snaps a picture of one the larger cats. "You must have some kind of animal magic, Peyton."
Besides that, there's also the problem of Lola. She keeps shifting in her basket and I have to readjust her blanket every time she does. I think the effects of the stupid tranquilizer Andrew used is starting to wear off. Panic starts to weave its way through my thoughts. God, I don't know much about grizzly bears. What if she wakes up and hurts somebody, or herself?
"Archer, hurry up!" The basket is becoming steadily heavier. "We need to get there before - ah!"
The basket tips over, making my knees jerk. With a gasp, I fall to the ground. My arms reach out to catch me and so the basket drops. Shit. I try to get up again. In a second, Archer's by my side, helping me up.
Archer grabs a hold of my shoulder. "Are you o-?"
He breaks off staring at the basket. A small bear tumbles out of it, rolling around until she comes into a stop. The bear, Lola, shakes her head, takes one look at us and runs off into the other direction. For a second, we both watch in horror and then, we taking off running.
Luckily, the bear isn't that fast. She runs unsteadily, stumbling and crashing into things. I catch after a few minutes and scoop her up from around the stomach. I struggle to be gentle, so I don't hurt her, and steady, so she doesn't escape, as I can.
"Shh," I whisper in the tone I use at the animal shelter when one of the bigger dogs or cats used to get scared or hurt. "You're safe with me. We're return you back home."
She whimpers, but stops trying to get out my hands.
"Good girl," I whisper. "I'll keep you safe, I promise."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Archer approach me. He makes a signal for me to follow him. So I walk behind him, making sure to comfort Lola every now and then.
It's not hard to find the grizzly bear exhibit. The mother is inside, pacing anxiously now that she knows that her child is gone. There aren't any security guards or zookeepers around this are so I assume the mother is the only one who knows. I can't believe nobody noticed this horrible security. A surge of anger hits me. Does nobody care about these animals?
"Your friends were right," Archer mutters as we sneak around the cage. "This place does have horrible security."
This is only proven further when we find the back door the cage. There's only padlock on it and it's loose. Archer doesn't even need to picklock the gate to open it. No wonder Lola got out so easily.
"Okay," Archer whispers. "Just drop the bear and get out, okay? If the mother finds you with her..."
I nod nervously. Archer opens the door for me. I step inside the cage, onto the grass and mud, trying not to cringe at the odor, which only intensifies. The mother, who's way in the distance, near the bars, stops pacing. Her head tilts to the side. I wonder if she senses us. The thought sends a shiver down my spine.
I drop Lola, who is struggling more than ever now that she sees her mom, on the floor. She runs towards her other while I sprint back to Archer.
He catches me and slams the door shut. It echoes in the night. Laughing breathlessly, we run until we're a safe distance from the back. Lola and her mother are united again. We watch as her mother - Lily, the sign reads - gives her a warm welcome.
"I can't believe we just did that," Archer breathes, his hair tousled and his eyes twinkling. "You are unbelievable. I thought you were a goner.
"Me too," I murmur, running a hand through my hair which has completely fallen apart. "Me too."
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It's Halloween and this is 13th chapter. Coincidence. I think not.
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Give Crackers lots of food! This chapter's dedication goes to ashley_dance1234 and all of you to being so patient with me!
QotC: What'd you guys do on Halloween?