My Friends Are Dead People (24 page)

“
You may want to join us.
We are also headed to Morocco.” Jacoby scanned the hundreds of
yslas standing inside the barren. “Cosqué, many deaths are to come
in this last hour. You may want to stay out of–”

“
We are not
worried.”

Whispers broke out as Dorian got up to his
feet. One yslas shrieked and shot a beam of light at him.

“
What’s wrong with you?”
roared Katie. “He’s not going to harm you! Crapper! Jack’s the one
you should be scared of! He’ll wipe out all of you! You’re fighting
someone who isn’t allowed to die! Think about it!”

Just as instantly as they arrived, the yslas
were gone in one mass psyclin.

“
We needed them,” Dorian
said to Jacoby.

Jacoby grabbed Katie’s hand, and Dorian
grabbed mine. All of us looked at Katie’s watch.

10:53 PM

I opened my eyes to see flames
everywhere.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

MEETING MEESI

Human villagers were walking in and out of
their huts, driving long bamboo torches into the ground and setting
jack-o’-lanterns out on the dirt road. Most of them wore dark
hooded garments. As we walked down the road, they would glance over
at us, but without a trace of worry, and go right back to their
business.

“
We’ll have to speak to
one,” said Jacoby.

“
But we don’t speak
Arabic,” I said. “Do you?”

“
A little. Luckily, most
of them are bilingual.”

I spotted a short, black-haired woman
cradling her toddler in front of her boxy home.

“
How about
them?”

“
They will do,” approved
Jacoby.

As we made our way across
her vegetable garden, the woman stood up. She looked to be in her
early thirties, dressed in a drab-colored cloth wound tightly
around her waist and draped gracefully over her front, not the
traditional clothing worn by a Moroccan female. She wore a
giant-beaded necklace, beaded earrings, and a coin-adorned kerchief
over her head. Her feet fit snugly into yellow slippers
called
babouches
.
Oz made me study Morocco for a month so I knew a lot about the
people.

“
Greetings,” said the
woman with a hospitable smile. “Those are some amazing costumes
you’ve got there. It looks like you all had a hard day. I had quite
a day myself. Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Nail and this is my son,
Nick.”

Nail moved little Nick to her other arm and
shook our hands as we all made our introductions. Nick was pointing
at Dorian the entire time, thinking it was funny.

“
Nick, don’t be rude,”
said Nail, lowering his finger.

“
Will you do me a favor,”
said Jacoby, “and not look into the eyes of my friend, behind me.
It’s a matter of–”

“
Certainly,” she said,
stretching her hand out to shake Dorian’s hand. “It’s nice to meet
you, Dorian. I’m guessing you want to talk to me?”

“
Yes, if that’s alright,”
said Jacoby.

“
Of course. Let’s go
inside before the town starts to wonder who you are.”

The whole village was standing outside their
home, staring at us.

“
It’s okay, they’re
friendly strangers,” she called out to her fellow villagers and
then turned to Dorian. “You come on in, too. Don’t worry, I’ve
explained to Nick about your eyes. He might be three, but he’s
smart enough to know better.”

The place was very cool to look at. There
was one room and a partially sectioned-off kitchen. Dirty flower
vases and brown pottery hung from the ceiling. The walls were
beautifully decorated with ceramic plates, colorful blankets, and
medieval Muslim paintings of women at work in the fields.

“
Jacoby, you’re a
halloween, right?” asked Nail.

“
Yes, I am.”

“
You remind me of someone
my grandfather told me about and a graven image found in Brazil.
The crazy hair, your figure . . . but you don’t have the
beard.”

“
Do you know about
Halloween?”

“
Yes. I was told about it.
You four looking for Meesi?” Nail went to the back window and
looked out at a large mountain. “Meesi’s hiding somewhere up there.
She didn’t tell me where. She said Jack was looking for
her.”

“
Do you know about Jack,
too?” asked Dorian hoarsely, sounding sick.

She looked directly at the top of his head.
“Jack killed my parents when I was one. I know everything about
him. You want some tea? You sound like you’re getting sick. I make
my own tea from my gardens. It’s quite good.”

Dorian nodded. Nick pointed back at him when
his mother wasn’t looking.

“
Is he really coming after
her?” she said as she poured Dorian a fresh pot of tea.

“
We think he is,” stated
Jacoby.

“
You are here to help her,
I hope?”

“
Yes. We better get going.
But we would love to stop by soon and hear what you’ve been told
about Halloween.”

“
It would be my
pleasure.”

Nail set Nick on the ground, where he
immediately started spitting on a rug.

“
I think he has something
in . . .” she said, reaching into his slobbery mouth and pulling
out a wet twig. “Yuck.”

“
Thanks, Katie,” said
Nail, picking Nick back up. “You should know better, Nicky. You
thank Katie here for saving your life.”

She turned Nick around, and he just
drooled.

“
That’s his way of
thanking you. . . . It was nice meeting you all. Make sure you
bring Meesi back safe and sound. She’s a good
halloween.”

Nail lifted Nick’s hand and helped him wave
goodbye. We were out of the village in a few minutes. Dark billowy
clouds rolled in, putting the mountain in the dark. Before long, a
sudden spell of rainstorm made our progress quite difficult as we
climbed up a rugged slope. A flash of lightning illuminated the
treacherous clouds and gave us a quick view of the mountain
peak.

“
I suspect the tortics
will be here soon!” announced Jacoby over the clattering rain. He
stood on a gigantic boulder carved like a jack-o’-lantern. Half of
it had sunk below the ground. “We need to be extra
careful!”

“
They need to be dropped
off!” said Dorian. “I’m not putting them in his path!”

“
They already are! But if
it gets too dangerous, we’ll send them to Greenland!” Jacoby turned
to us. “The locals will provide you with a warm place to wait out
the last minutes of Halloween! We’re going to have to split up!
Jesse, go with Dorian! In ten minutes, no matter if we find Meesi
or not, we meet at the port of Greenland! The longer we’re here,
the more dangerous it becomes! Many deaths are expected! There’ll
be something happening here! Katie and I will check the south
side!”

“
Ten minutes isn’t
enough!” I shouted. The pounding rain was now coming down harder
than before.

“
It’ll have to be, Jesse!”
Jacoby widened his stance as the storm blew the rain sideways. “In
ten minutes, the yslas will be inside, and, if the tortics somehow
discover Meesi is here in Morocco and come here, there will be a
war between them! We’ll have to get out! Yslas don’t get along with
the tortics! If we meet an yslas, we must get them out!”

“
But they’re here for
th-the same reason as th-the tortics!” I shivered through the
blasting wind as Jacoby moved on through a flooded path of rocks.
“They want to kill Jack!”

“
But the tortics don’t
know that and will try and kill as many as they can if they run
into them! Both are strong halloweens. I truly don’t know what will
happen!”

“
What about Jack?” I
shouted.

“
We should hope he doesn’t
come here!”

“
Can he survive all those
yslas?”

“
Jack’s been around for
over two thousand years! It’s the yslas’ survival, not Jack’s,
that’s at stake!”

“
Then . . .” I followed
this train of thought, getting more frightened, just as the
ice-cold rain changed course again and plastered us from the side.
“Is it true: He isn’t allowed to die?”

“
Jesse, I don’t think Jack
will kill more than he has to!
If
he knows about Morocco! He might not figure out
Meesi’s here until days or weeks in his time! The worry is the
tortics. They’ll easily kill us! We’ll all be dead if we run into
them!”

I wanted to ask more questions, but Jacoby
continued. “I think it’s very good, Jesse, that the yslas are here!
They could give us time to escape if we run into trouble!”

“
But what if you can’t
detect Jack?” I muttered. The wind caught my words and swept them
away.

“
Jack is smart, Jesse! He
knows when not to play! He might not show up even if he knows where
Meesi is. But yes, it’s going to be hard to detect him! Halloween
traditions revolve around Jack: turnips, pumpkins,
jack-o’-lanterns, the games – everything is connected to Jack! It’s
this fearful sociability that created the festivals! Our fear has
put him in control of us! And fear never goes away! And so, neither
does Jack!”

“
Has anyone tried to
attack him in the past?” I asked.

“
There has been many
attempts! They never cease! Some much larger in scale than others!
But today we must be careful! Another one is about to take place!
And what shall pass if he does come . . . is the largest battle
against him since the Veil of Time! The tortics and the yslas!
Hopefully, Jack refrains from turning up for such a confrontation!
Remember, Jack typically doesn’t like venturing out into a crowd!
Alright, it’s time to go!”

Dorian had already gone off the trail.
Jacoby and Katie stayed on it. I didn’t think us splitting up was a
good idea at all.

I caught up with Dorian, who was sniffing a
muddy stream. He winced and said something right as thunder shook
the sky. We were right in the middle of the storm.

“
The tortics and the yslas
are already here!” repeated Dorian.

With some difficulty, I pulled myself over a
boulder and crept past some trees, which were being blown almost
completely sideways. Barely visible through the downpour was a
small entrance into the mountain.

“
I’m going in,” I
said.

He didn’t say anything and
followed me, entering it with extreme caution. The pounding rain
echoed loudly inside. It was no use to shout. Dorian stretched out
his hand after he stepped onto a dark ridge, but before I could
grab a hold of it, I slipped and shot off the edge into the
darkness. Seconds later, I crashed into a pool of raging water and
was instantly sucked under. I fell into another pool and bounced on
down to two more. Every ledge I hit had the same
inscription:
Put out a wet painting with
the best in the world, and it’ll capture everyone’s
attention.

I tiredly swam across a shallow basin and
threw myself onto the granite surface. Sensing a presence, I slowly
looked up. It was the other menala. It had to be. She had the
common menala features of old man’s ears, scaly skin, long forearm
hair, and odd-shaped blotches around the neck. But her color was
different: she had pearl white skin, long white hair, white eyes,
and white fingernails and toenails. And she was young. Her human
age could have been fourteen or fifteen. She was wearing a flannel
shirt and orange sweats, all completely soaked.

The white menala gaped at me while a dot of
fluorescent light lingered in the air next to her playing soft
music.

“
Hi,” I said quietly,
getting to my feet. “My name is Jesse . . . Jayden. You don’t need
to be scared of me.”

Her light dimmed a bit, and the music got
softer.

“
Are you a menala? You
have the ears and . . .”

Her big ears flattened out of sight behind
her hair.

“
No-no, they’re nice ears.
It’s just that Dorian has them, too.”

She tried to get a closer look at me by
leaning in on her tiptoes.

“
We were looking for
you.”

She didn’t look that interested.

“
Jacoby and Dorian, and my
friend, Katie.”

Her mouth moved slightly.

“
What did you say? I
didn’t hear you.”

“
Why?” she
muttered.

“
Why were we looking for
you?”

Was it possible she didn’t know why? I
didn’t want to be the one to tell her that the most dangerous
halloween wanted her dead. But she had to know. Then why would she
be here alone in the mountains? Nail even said she was up here
because of Jack.

“
Meesi . . .” I
dawdled.

She was startled at my mention of her name.
I thought of something.

“
Do you know what happened
to Kala?”

She shook her head as her eyes got
bigger.

Oh, great. I wasn’t going to tell her now. I
stood there, listening to the chorus of the gentle song, enjoying
it for a second. I wasn’t sure how, but somehow I knew it was in
Hungarian.

“
Are you from Hungary?” I
asked.

She shook her head.

“
This is Hungarian right?
Oh, you just speak it?”

She shook her head faintly. “I like the
sound of it,” she admitted bashfully.