Ghastly Glass by Joyce and Jim Lavene

before I start wondering if the stuff around here is real.”
    “I’m right behind you,” he said with a grin.
    “If I could have a word.” Detective Almond leveraged himself between us as the rain began to fall more steadily on the roof of the pub.
    “Go ahead. I’m going on to the dungeon,” I said to Chase. “I’ll be fine. You disconnected the banshee, right? ”
    “She’s gone.” He snickered, then sobered. “No, really. There shouldn’t be any more howling or evil laughter. I’ll bring your bags.”
    I saw the look in his beautiful eyes and my heart responded by pounding faster. Even though the day had been a total mess, the night was going to be perfect. With that exciting, yet soothing assumption blanketing me from the real truth of life in Renaissance Village, I ran out through the rain to the dungeon, only a short walk away.
    But what a walk! The black bunting was everywhere. There were glowing eyes peering through holes in the brick wall that surrounded the Village. A group of laughing vampires wearing long black capes ran by me as I passed the Dutchman’s Stage.
    Good Queen Bess, her white face staring at me through the glass window of her black carriage, rattled by the privies. I don’t know where they found such a faithful replica of a funeral carriage from the 1500s, but it was frighteningly realistic. What made it even worse was that they had somehow managed to make the two horses that pulled it look as though they were headless.
    It was awful, terrifying, and would probably increase the visitors to the Village by several thousand or more in the next few weeks. I’d been to Disney World and Knott’s Berry Farm at Halloween. Neither one had anything on Renaissance Village. I was proud to be part of it.
    Soaked by the time I reached the dungeon, I opened the door to run inside and was met by the banshee. After hearing the wolf in the parking lot and seeing headless horses, I couldn’t help but jump at the banshee screams. How was it that Chase could be so incompetent in this matter? Maybe I was wrong about what was going to happen tonight.
    Ten minutes later, Chase came whistling up the cobblestone street with a bag in each hand. I was sitting in the tree swing as he opened the dungeon door and the banshee wailed for him, too. He swore and ducked inside for a moment before he came back out and looked around. “Jessie?”
    “I’m not going in there with that thing.” I twisted the swing that hung from the old oak tree that had somehow managed to survive everything this land had gone through between being an Air Force base and then the Village. “Obviously you can’t control her like you thought you could. She and I can’t stay in the dungeon together.”
    He walked up to me and pushed back the swathe of wet brown hair that had fallen into my face. “Let me make it up to you. She doesn’t mean anything to me. You’re the only lady in my life.”
    I looked up at him through the steady rain and felt that excitement again, despite the banshee that wanted to come between us. “I’ll give you one chance. After that, I’m staying with Debby. She may not be as exciting, but at least she doesn’t scream when I open the door.”
    Chase swept me off the swing and into his arms where I lay helpless against his broad chest. Oh, the fantasies I could weave with, or without, the Village.
     
     
    T he next morning, the sky was clear and the air cool. There was a faint smell of wood smoke billowing through the streets. Autumn had reached the Village at last, and the residents were happy to see it after the long, hot summer.
    “Make sure you wear your gloves.” Chase kissed me on the lips then kissed each of my hands. “I don’t want to see burns instead of grass cuts this fall. Burning is a bad thing. And don’t let me catch you anywhere near Henry’s legs again. Inside or outside. The next time I won’t go so easy on you.”
    I smiled in a dreamy, goofy way. It had been an exceptional