The Fall of Candy Corn (24 page)

The crowd began to disperse, and she headed for her cart. Like the Scare King had said, the ravenous wolves were about to descend, and she knew they'd be wanting their candy corn.

It turned out the cart led her right back to the Holiday Zone. Candace took up position close to the exit of Candy Craze. Somehow, she never seemed to leave it, she thought with a smile.

“Candace?”

She turned and saw Lisa standing there, dressed as Candy. The other girl looked wildly uncomfortable. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“I know you could've had this part back if you wanted it,” she said.

Candace didn't like Lisa. Still, the other girl's distress made her feel sorry for her. “Don't worry about it. Just be the best Candy you can be,” she said with a smile.

“I will!” Lisa promised before turning and running toward the entrance to the maze. She stopped short and turned back around. “Oh, and I've been practicing something.”

“What?”

Lisa threw back her head and gave a bloodcurdling scream that could rival Candace's own.

“You go, girl,” Candace shouted when Lisa had finished.

Within minutes the players swarmed into the park in twice the numbers of the previous nights. It seemed like every last one of them wanted candy corn. For three hours Candace filled one order after another.

A referee ran by screaming, followed by another.

“The pirates are marauding!” someone shrieked as they rushed by her cart.

“Isn't that what pirates do?” Candace called out.

“You don't understand,” the girl yelled back, pointing the way she had come. “They're marauding this way!”

And then Candace heard them.

She turned and saw the horde sweeping toward her, players scattering before them. Suddenly they were at her cart. Candace screamed as they began to grab bags of candy corn and toss them to the crowd waiting for the maze.

“What are you doing?” she yelled, trying to wrestle the bags away from them.

“We're liberating this cart!” Gib shouted.

“But you can't! Whose going to pay for these!”

“All you need to see is this,” Gib said, pulling a piece of parchment from his vest. “Letters of Mark from the Scare King. This cart and all its candy corn is ours!”

“What?”

Gib leaned close. “These letters give us the right to do as we see fit according to the contract between us and the Scare King. And if you're worried about the pay, recheck your till. The Scare King anticipates all.”

Candace moved to the side and watched in amazement as they redistributed all the candy corn. Then she saw something terrifying. Becca had a bag of candy corn in her hands.

“No!” Candace yelled, reaching for her.

It was too late. Becca downed half the candy corn in one swallow. “Oh dear,” Candace breathed.

And suddenly it was as though there were a dozen Beccas. She was everywhere at once, moving at lightning speed and shrieking. She brandished her sword and led a charge against a group of referees who had clustered nearby.

Candace saw Becca trip and twist her ankle. A moment later Becca was up and had climbed onto Gib's back. “Hop!” Becca screamed, waving her sword. Gib led the rest of the pirates as they chased after the other referees.

Candace just stood stunned. “What just happened?” she asked in bewilderment. Her cart whirred to life, and she followed it back to the cart station where it shut back down and refused to budge.

Candace sat down and laughed hysterically. Martha finally came by. Candace told her what had happened. Martha's radio came to life, and Candace could hear security officers across the park talking to each other. It sounded like they were planning some sort of assault against the Pirate Queen.

Martha handed Candace a bag. Candace looked inside and saw her Candy costume. “What's this for?” she asked.

“You know what they say. Two Candys are better than one.”

Candace hugged Martha and then ran to change. On her way to Candy Craze, she saw the pirates. Becca was still on Gib's back shouting “Hop!” They had pinned down the security forces who had been fools to go in after them.

She ducked into the Candy Craze and found Lisa. Lisa took the first three runs through the maze while Candace took the last two. Suddenly the wait time was cut in half. None of the players seemed to notice or care that it was a different girl.

“Good to have you back,” Ray said.

“Better to have you back,” Candace joked as she struggled against him.

Players streamed through the maze, screaming at the top of their lungs and stampeding at every turn. Candace gave them the best show that she could. After all, that was what Scare was all about.

20

The first rays of the sun swept the horizon and shone their light on the park. The darkness fled before it, and the monsters crept out of their mazes and into the light. Candace could hear several giving thanks that the night was over. She had never been so tired in her entire life, and it felt good.

They all moved together toward the center of the park where they gathered in small clusters, exchanging stories, comparing bruises.

Candace looked at her friends. Most of them looked as tired as she felt. Roger had blood smeared on his chin, and Candace was pretty sure it was real. Sue's mummy bandages were unraveling, and a four-foot train fluttered behind her like she was some kind of demented mummy bride. Josh was completely white despite the fact that his makeup had worn off hours before. Becca was asleep perched on Gib's back. Gib himself was swaying on his feet as though he was going to fall over at any moment.

“I survived the Inquisition!” a ragged-looking ref said.

Pete grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “Pull yourself together, man. That's at Knott's Berry Farm!”

Candace wanted to smile, but she was too tired. Of all of them only Josh was still smiling. Candace noticed, though, that when the others weren't looking he winced in pain and he was not putting much weight on his right foot.

John Hanson appeared in the middle of the crowd, a bullhorn in hand. “I want to thank you all for a great night! Thanks to your hard work this has been the most successful Scare of all time!”

A weak cheer went up from those assembled.

“I appreciate the way you all pulled through. I've never seen a finer example of teamwork either on field or off.”

The cheers were a little louder.

“And to thank you all, it's time to head on over to the Party Zone for a catered breakfast!”

The cheers were deafening.

The owner of the park led the way, his followers trailing behind. Candace smiled as she wondered if the Israelites had looked like such a ragged group as they followed Moses out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land.

Josh fell into step next to Candace, and she could definitely ascertain that he was limping. “Are you okay?” she asked.

He smiled. “Nothing an ice pack and a day of sleep couldn't fix,” he said.

“I hear that.”

“What'd you think of your first Scare?” he asked.

She pondered briefly how to answer that. It had been terrible and wonderful. It had stretched the limits of what she thought she could endure and tested her courage and fortitude. It had brought her to the depths and sent her to the heights. Excitement and fear, anger and peace, joy and sorrow had all come in their time. To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. And this is my fall.

To Josh she summed it up the only way she could. “It was life changing.”

He nodded as though he understood the meaning more fully than even she did. “You're not the first to say that,” he said.

“And I'm sure I won't be the last,” she finished.

“True.”

They made it to the Party Zone to find heaping platters of steaming pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, cereal, coffee, juice, and a minature replica of the Muffin Mansion built entirely out of muffins.

Exhausted as she was, there was one thing that Candace wanted more than sleep . . . and that was food. She filled her plate until she was afraid things were going to start sliding off the top and then sat at a table with old friends and new.

Across from her, Reggie lowered her hood, and Candace was surprised to find that Reggie was a girl roughly the same age as she was. Next to her, Ray also removed his hood, and Candace saw a kindly old man that looked a lot more like Santa Claus than a psycho killer.

She just started laughing. It was the magic that was Halloween at The Zone. Nobody was truly what they appeared to be. Yet young and old, high school students and grandparents — they could all join together for a few special nights to scare the daylights out of their fellow men.

Josh lifted his glass of juice into the air. “A toast to Scare and to Halloween. Praise God they only come once a year!”

“Hear! Hear!”

Candace raised her own glass of juice in salute. She could definitely drink to that. As awesome as it had been, as good as she felt, she was pretty sure she'd need about a year to recover.

When breakfast was over, Candace hobbled toward the Locker Room to collect her things. Sue walked beside her. Around them other referees moved just as slowly.

“The lists are out for the people who've made it through the first round of the scholarship competition!” someone in the crowd yelled.

“What?” Candace asked.

“You know, the competition where you submit a ride drawing and the winner gets a full ride to Florida Coast,” Sue said. “If I'd had any talent for that kind of thing, I would have totally entered.”

“I think Josh mentioned something about that over the summer,” Candace said.

“Come on, let's go see the list,” Sue said.

A few minutes later Sue and Candace were standing in front of the list.

“Martin from janitorial, good for him!” Sue said. “I saw his drawing and it looked pretty cool. I don't know a couple of these people. Oh, look, Rick from the front gate. Wow!”

Candace could only see one name on the list. She blinked several times. It was impossible. There was no way she could be reading it right. And then Sue saw the name too.

“Candace, that's you!” she shrieked. “You didn't tell me you entered.”

“I didn't,” Candace said, dazed. “There must be some sort of mistake.”

“No mistake,” a familiar voice said behind her. “I entered you in the contest.”

Candace turned around and stared at Josh. “How on earth did you manage that?” she asked.

He shrugged. “You gave me your Balloon Races sketch. The rest of the information I needed wasn't too hard to get.”

She wasn't sure how to feel. Part of her felt violated. There was another part, though, that was excited. Someone liked her sketch. She had a chance of winning a full scholarship because of it.

“Well, are you going to hit me or hug me?” he asked finally.

“I'm still trying to decide,” she said.

“Fair enough.”

“What happens now?” she asked.

“Now everyone who works for The Zone has the opportunity to submit recommendations for people on the list. The top candidates after that are interviewed and the final selection made.”

“That sketch was nothing,” she said.

“I disagree. And clearly, so do the judges,” he said. “To have made it this far means that several Game Masters looked over your design, liked it, and thought it was viable.”

“What happens if it wins?”

“You get a full scholarship, and they build your ride.”

For just a moment she imagined what it would be like to be on a ride she had created. That tipped the scales and made her decision easy. She hugged Josh. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” he said.

She felt tears sting her eyes. Just a few weeks ago she had been told she had no ambition, and she herself had admitted to having no focus, no path. Somehow, though, Josh had a different view of her. He had seen promise where she herself hadn't been able to. Suddenly she wanted very much to win.

“What's wrong?” Josh asked.

She pulled away. Both he and Sue looked worried. She dashed the tears away. “It's just that Tamara was right. For someone who says she doesn't like the spotlight, I seem to find it an awful lot.”

Sue smiled and Josh laughed. Candace hugged Sue and then Josh again. It was good to have friends.