Lillyanne Plume's Arc

Chapter 4 of 22

Lillyanne sat in her car with the envelope on her knee. The lot was empty. Snow ticked against the windshield. She broke the wax with her thumbnail. The paper inside was heavy. The letters were written in something dark and wet that had dried in ridges. Blood, or something meant to look like it. She tilted the page under the dome light and read. Miss Lillyanne Plume is invited to play. Bring one guest. This year's prize is one you will not want to miss. No date. No address. No name of a game. No instructions for how to answer. She turned the page over. Blank. She held it up to the light. Nothing hidden. She read it three more times and learned nothing new. She drove home and did not sleep. By six she was at the corner where the postwoman started her route. She knew the route because the woman had told her once, over a cup of coffee, in a voice that suggested she wanted to be known. Marjorie came around the hedge with her satchel dragging one shoulder down. Snow crusted her boots to the ankle. Her white braid hung over her scarf. When she saw Lillyanne standing on the curb, her rosy face went flat. "No," Marjorie said. She kept walking. Lillyanne fell in beside her. "You knew the seal. You told me you knew it. I opened one." "Then you're a fool." Marjorie shoved a flyer into a mailbox without stopping. "I signed a paper. I don't talk about it. Not to you, not to anyone." "Please." Lillyanne stepped in front of her. "I don't know what I said yes to." Marjorie stopped. She looked up the street, then down it. Her hand went into the satchel and gripped something for balance. Her mouth worked before words came. "It's a place of dreams," she said. "Real magic. Things you won't believe until you're in the room with them." Her voice dropped. "It's also a place of nightmares. Some come to play. Some come to kill. Some come to watch. Every year someone dies. Every year." Lillyanne's throat closed. "Who runs it?" "Don't ask me that here." Marjorie's eyes were shining. "Girl, listen. Throw the letter in a fire. Leave town. If you go, you'll wish you hadn't. And if you go alone, you won't come back at all. You bring someone. You hear me? Someone who can fight, or lie, or both. Do not walk in that door by yourself." She pushed past. Her boots crunched away up the block. Lillyanne stood in the snow with her hands in her pockets. The envelope was in her coat. So was the plus one line. She had until she found her partner to decide if she was brave or stupid, and she already knew which one she was.