Book Six, Chapter 13: The Promotion

On-Screen

We were back inside in the kitchen.

“Lock the doors!” Ramona called out. Nathan quickly ran to the front door and locked it.

“Are you okay?” Cassie asked Isaac, cradling him despite his desire to pull away from her.

“I’m fine,” he said. “They didn’t hurt me, they just got my neck, that’s all.”

Thank goodness it was only his neck.

Cassie took a moment to look closely and examine him. Then she slapped him hard on the shoulder.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, looking betrayed. “They just started following me and saying weird stuff.”

“They said you entered a contract with them,” she responded.

“They were lying. I’ve never seen them before in my life,” Isaac said. But after he spoke, his eyes glazed over, and a look of fear crossed his face at the same time; a shadow seemed to dance against the ceiling, if only for a split second.

“What?” Cassie said. “What is going on here? Something is happening, you have to tell me.”

“I don’t know,” Isaac said.

The kitchen was pretty big, and everyone stood around. Those who had not gone outside were acting confused, and those who had gone outside were even more confused but also scared.

Yes, there was a certain level of goofiness to demons wearing skin suits, but there was nothing goofy about those demons. Just being around them, they radiated an evil presence. Maybe I picked up on it because I had equipped My Grandmother Had the Gift as a background trope, which made me like a junior psychic, but I doubted I was the only one who felt it. Just looking at Ramona’s face told me that.

She was supposed to look afraid, but I didn’t think she was acting. Luckily for her, she had tropes that would help her soothe nervousness and unease by acting nervous and uneasy.

“Am I the only one who noticed that that guy’s head wasn’t real? His face was just like a mask or something… like a costume?” she asked, freaking out like a good Hysteric.

I backed away and leaned against a countertop next to the oven, which I glanced at, as if remembering old Hot Head back at the pizza parlor.

“I don’t know what I saw,” Camden said.

“I think they’re shadows,” Isaac said. He stared ahead blankly. “Or at least, I think they can be shadows.”

“What are you talking about?” Cassie asked, trying to sound annoyed at his assertion, but clearly showing interest and fear.

“I’ve been seeing shadows all day,” he said, “ever since this afternoon.”

“You’ve been seeing shadows?” Cassie asked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t want people to think I was crazy,” he said.

It was quiet for a moment, and people stared at him.

“Just flickers of darkness where it shouldn’t be?” Ramona asked. “Like you think you shut your eyes, but you didn’t?”

Isaac looked at her. “Yeah. They zoom around. But when I hit that guy’s head, I swear I saw one.”

Ramona got quiet.

“What is going on?” Anna asked.

No one answered, and for a moment, there was just more silence.

“The trespasser has been advised,” Camden said. “‘Satisfaction must be guaranteed.’ Is that what he said? What a strange thing, but I can’t shake the feeling I’ve seen it before.”

He looked around the room to see if anyone knew what he was referring to.

“Of course you’ve seen it before,” Evan said. “It’s on every advertisement. Or at least the part about satisfaction. What are you guys talking about? What happened out there?”

Camden talked to himself, just muttering with a furrowed brow, as Cassie explained what had just happened at the trash can.

“Do you have a newspaper?” Camden asked, interrupting Cassie’s explanation.

Cassie thought for a moment and nodded. “There’s a magazine rack next to the recliner.”

Camden was quickly out of the kitchen and back into the living room as Cassie finished her explanation, which was just a quick rundown.

“Those men tried to kidnap him?” Anna asked. “What would they want to do that for?”

“They must not know him very well,” Evan said.

I shot him a stern glance. He needed to cool it with the subtle bullying. Luckily, I could do that in character.

“They weren’t men,” Cassie said. “There was something strange about them. Something strange has been happening for days now, and I just can’t put my finger on it.”

Cassie struggled in the way that a psychic would struggle, attempting to reconcile their awesome powers with the mundane veil she had to hide them in.

It was challenging to establish her vague abilities while also allowing her to be a genuine character who loved her little brother, despite having a tumultuous relationship with him. She was doing a fine job.

She had a trope that would increase his Grit by showing concern for him, and she had used it several times: Empathic Shield. I had a feeling Isaac was going to need it.

“I knew I had seen it,” Camden said, coming back into the kitchen and plopping the newspaper down on the island prep station in the middle of the room.

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I looked closely and saw the very ad that had been the omen to bring us here.

PECATTO’S OLD-FASHIONED PIZZA PARLOR

Est. 1966 · Ash & Market, Northwest Carousel · Call 555-7468

BUY 5 PIZZAS IN ONE WEEK, GET YOUR 6TH FREE

No coupons. No cards. We’ll keep track.

New Management has taken possession.

Same crust. Same sauce. Greater bargain.

Open late. Dine in, take out, or delivery.

Trespassers be advised. Satisfaction guaranteed.

PECATTO’S — A SLICE ABOVE.

“Look at this,” he said. “‘Trespassers be advised. Satisfaction guaranteed.’ Why in the world is that in an advertisement for a pizza parlor?”

“I thought it was a joke,” I said. “That ad’s all over the place.”

“But it makes no sense,” Camden said. “For these advertisements, they pay by the letter or something. Why would you add in an odd joke like that?”

“That’s the ad for the ‘Buy 5 pizzas, get one free,’” Isaac said.

We all read over it again.

“The promotion has been redeemed,” Cassie said. She looked at Camden, then at Anna, and then at me. “The man said, ‘The promotion has been redeemed,’ right? Something like that?”

“Yeah, that was one of the first things he said. What was it again?” Camden asked. “The promotion has been redeemed. The trespasser has been advised.” He paused for a moment, not able to remember what came next.

“‘The consumer has indulged freely,’” I said.

“Right. ‘The consumer has indulged freely,’” Camden repeated. Then, after a few moments of thinking, he said, “‘Satisfaction must be guaranteed.’”