“Who is he keeping it safe from? What are you hiding, Benjamin?”

“I’m sorry now, miss, but—”

“Amber. My name’s Amber.”

“Amber, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. If the Chief is after you, then you’re a criminal, and that’s all there is to it.”

“No,” Amber said, and shifted, “it’s not.”

His eyes widened at the transformation and he took a step back.

Amber watched him. “That usually gets a little more of a reaction,” she said.

Benjamin pointed a shaking finger at the door. “Leave. I want you to leave immediately.”

“Why aren’t you freaking out, Benjamin?” Amber said, moving closer. “Why aren’t you screaming right now? You’re used to this, aren’t you? You’re used to freaks like me.”

Benjamin backed up till he was standing against the wall. “This is my house and I demand—”

She lunged, pinning him where he stood and snapping her teeth an inch from his throat. He whimpered. Slowly, she raised herself to her full height and looked down at him. “Tell me what’s going on, Benjamin.”

“I don’t … I don’t know where to …”

“Where to start? Start by telling me about this festival of yours.”

He swallowed. “They call it Hell Night.”

“They?”

“They. We. Folk here. We call it Hell Night. Happens same time every year.”

She stepped away, giving him some room. “What does?”

“The town,” Benjamin said, “it … it changes. I mean, we know it’s cursed. We’re not stupid. You can feel it, sometimes. Something in the air. Something bad. It gets in your hair, your clothes, gets in your skin. Fills your head with bad thoughts. People would leave, I think, if other things weren’t so good. Businesses are doing well, always have. The ground is fertile. Animals are healthy. Those bad thoughts are the price we pay for everything else being so good.”

“What kind of bad thoughts?”

Benjamin reached out for the free chair, and collapsed into it like all his strength had left him. “They’re always there, the bad feelings. Sometimes they’re strong and sometimes they’re not. You can never forget that they’re there, but if you’re lucky you can almost ignore them. On the run-up to Hell Night they almost fade away entirely … But on Hell Night itself they come back. That’s when they’re at their strongest.”

“You said the town changes,” Amber said. “How?”

“Streets get longer,” Benjamin said, eyes glistening. “Houses get narrower. Sidewalks crack, like there’s been an earthquake or something. And the people … the people change, too.”

“In what way?”

“They change like you change,” said Benjamin.

“They’re demons?” Amber said, frowning. “For one night a year, they’re demons? All of them?”