The Watcher Behind the Costumes
Every Halloween, Ashwick forgets. This year, one boy is determined to remember.
Twelve-year-old Owen Pike wakes up every November first with candy in his bucket and a whole night missing. His parents brush off his questions. His teachers change the subject. Everyone insists Halloween was wonderful, but nobody can tell him what happened.
This year, Owen plans to stay awake.
Then the streetlights begin to hum.
Masked strangers move from door to door, and Owen discovers that the people of Ashwick have somewhere to go after dark. Following them draws him and his best friend, Marisol, toward an abandoned fairground hidden in the fog, where something waits behind a shifting collection of faces.
The Watcher knows Owen is awake. And a town that has spent years forgetting may be the last place he can turn for help.
Some costumes are never meant to come off.