Demonosity by Amanda Ashby Page A

conjecture, I’ve made my peace with your decision.”
    “Well, that means a lot to me—even if I did only understand one word in three of what you just said. Now let’s get going before I freeze to death.” She got in and waited for Nash to start the car and pull away from the curb.
    Cade Taylor lived only about ten blocks away, but the temperature had dropped, plus neither of them wanted to walk past all the hyped-up kids who were crawling all over the neighborhood. A few moments later they were there, and Cassidy looked up at the house. It backed onto the woods, but the spooky factor was lost, given all the lights that lined the brickwork.
    The party was in full swing when they walked in, and they were accosted by drunken seniors all dressed up and dancing to loud music. Thankfully, Cassidy had been to enough parties with Nash to know that he had an uncanny ability to find where the real party was happening, and so she obediently trailed after him until they reached a second living room. Sure enough, everyone in there was less drunk and started their sentences with words that didn’t include “Oh, my God” and “Get stuffed, douche bag.” They were even playing Kings of Leon, as opposed to the trance music that had first greeted them.
    “See.” Nash sank down into a nearby couch and stretched his long legs out in front of him, causing a nearby Cleopatra to let out a dreamy sigh. “I told you it wouldn’t suck.”
    “Well, not yet, anyway,” Cassidy conceded as she realized that pretty much everyone was dressed up as zombies. There were Cheerios cheerleading zombies, panda zombies, Snow White zombies, and she was pretty sure that, over in the corner, she could even see a zombie nun. Too late, she realized she should’ve worn the Lara Croft costume after all.
    She turned to Nash, but before she could speak, a senior dressed as a Super Mario zombie wandered over and asked Nash his thoughts on the last biotech symposium; Cassidy contented herself with scanning the room for Travis.
    There was no sign of him, but unfortunately, she did manage to see Reuben, who was wearing a Renfield-style straitjacket. He was chatting up some girl, popping candy flies into his mouth as he swayed drunkenly. Oh, and she was pretty sure she heard him use the Dracula’s-thrall-is-nothing-compared-to-the-thrall-you-have-over-me line.
    “Is that guy eating flies?” a soft voice asked in her ear, and she turned to see that Travis, dressed as James Dean, had joined her on the couch. His dark hair was slicked back, and his plain white T-shirt clung to his chest and seemed to make his dazzling smile more dazzling than ever.
    “I don’t think they’re real,” Cassidy assured him, while trying to ignore the fact his leg was so close to hers, it was almost touching. “Anyway, nice costume, James.”
    “Pardon?” He shot her a blank look.
    “James Dean,” Cassidy explained. “Your costume.”
    “Oh.” Travis shot her a rueful smile that transformed his face and made him look like a sunbeam. “Should I confess that I’ve never heard of him? I just went to the store, and the woman thought this would suit me.”
    “She was right,” Cassidy couldn’t help replying as she fiddled with her tiara to try to hide her nerves.
    “Thank you. I like your costume, too, though where is the tattoo you had on your arm the other day? I thought that was really cool.”
    “Oh.” She unconsciously dropped her arm back down to her side, surprised that he had even noticed it, let alone remembered it. Not that she was going to tell him why it was gone, since appearing like a weirdo wasn’t in her how-to-talk-to-cute-boys handbook. “It was only a temporary one. I got it when my dad was going into the hospital, but now that he’s better, I took it off.”
    “I hope it was nothing serious?”
    “As he keeps telling me on a regular basis, it was just a small operation and he’s feeling much better,” Cassidy assured him, touched by his