Masked Mystery

The Battle

Serena’s POV

Where are they?! I looked around the crowd of people, desperately searching the faces for a glimpse of one of my companions. This was a bad idea… “Darien, I can’t find any of them!” The crowd in Times Square could only be described with one word. “Chaos.” I mumbled under my breath. There were so many people that you were constantly bumping into someone, and it seemed that the crowd kept growing.

“There! Look up!” I followed Darien’s finger to the tip top of a tall building. Two shadowed figures stood perfectly still, their skirts blowing in the breeze. “I can’t tell which two it is.” I looked around at the other buildings, but saw no one. The signs in the square were bright and it made it hard to see the tops of most of them.

One of the crazy celebrants beside us screamed and pointed to the timer counting down to the New Year, “Forty five seconds!” I hope this works.

Darien’s POV

I hope we have all our bases covered here. I laced my fingers between Serena’s. I felt her squeeze my hand, and she looked at me, her eyes full of concern. She pulled her winter coat that she wore to conceal her transformation clothes tighter around her with her free hand.

We had decided to split up into groups of two and place ourselves around Times Square in order to cover more ground. Serena and I were supposed to be on the ground and in the crowd to look for anything or anyone that might be unusual. Serena had tried to protest. She felt that splitting up was a bad idea, and she was worried about a couple getting jumped. As the seconds fell off the timer, I started to agree with her more and more.

The crowd began chanting. Thousands of voices sounded out.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

I looked down and nodded to Serena. She stood on her toes and kissed me. “I love you.”

Six.

Five.

Four.

“I love you too” I pulled her close and rested my chin on the top of her head.

Three.

Two.

One.

Cheers of joy filled the air, and then all the lights in Times Square went out, and the joy turned to panic. I held onto Serena and tried to stand my ground as the crowd of people shifted. I felt person after person slam into me. I turned my back to the oncoming crowd and stiffened my body in a protective hover over her. People were yelling out for their family and friends, but there were so many voices it sounded like a giant roar. Suddenly, the large screen hanging above our heads turned on and its light was so bright it almost blinded me. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw the hooded figure that I had seen that night on the rooftop.

For a moment, everyone in the square stopped panicking. They turned to the screen, expecting an explanation for the power outage. Serena broke free of my protective grip and started yelling, “Don’t stop! Keep running! Move!” But they only looked at her like she was crazy.

 A voice came from the screen, “Now, my darlings.” My stomach tightened and I heard the first scream of pain. I looked to my right and saw a tentacle extending to a man standing on the sidewalk. The yells for help starting coming from all directions and the crowd started yelling and running again.