I looked around as the woman continued shouting about me, and other people were starting to stop and stare. One guy came forward and sat a wrapped Subway sandwich at the woman’s feet like it was an offering or something. The woman he was with gave him a pat on the back like he’d just performed the world’s best deed.

“The beast has his eyes set on you! And tonight, it will be satisfied!” The old woman cackled as she bent down to pick up the sandwich and secreted it away beneath her tattered rags.

I was genuinely shaken. What did she mean? Why was she saying these things to me? Clearly, the lady wasn’t in her right mind…but that didn’t make what she was saying any less troubling.

This was what I got for skipping studying, for believing Simone about me needing a night of fun. So far, this night had been the complete opposite of fun, and now I was being verbally assaulted by some lunatic raging on and on about me being some kind of chosen one?

No, thanks. I’d backslid from studying, and now I was paying the price.

The woman pulled her robes tighter around her bony shoulders and then leveled her gnarled index finger at me again and let out a shrieking laugh. I reared back like she’d slapped me. I wanted to run away, but something kept me fixed to the spot, almost like I needed to hear what else she had to say.

Her glare seemed to lance right through me, and she bared her yellowed, sparse teeth as she shouted, “Look around you! Open your eyes! The beasts are all here among us. Do not ignore their advance; do not deny that you’ve caught the beast’s attention! Accept your fate!”

A couple dressed like teddy bears giggled as they hurried by, and not for the first time, I truly regretted not dressing up more elaborately. Perhaps if I was wearing a mask like those two, the old lady wouldn’t have recognized me as someone who needed to hear her unhinged prophecy.

The old lady finally stopped pointing at me and aimed both of her hands at the sky. “The veil has been broken! Darkness is upon us! Prepare for the surge!”

I’d had enough. I hurried away, rattled by the woman’s ramblings.

What does she mean “prepare for the surge”? In fact, what did any of that mean?

I scolded myself for trying to make sense of something that was obviously nonsense. It would be better for me to forget about everything the old woman said and concentrate on making my way back to Brooklyn.

As was typical for Halloween night in the city, the streets were jam-packed. Manhattan was truly in rare form, and since that old crone had put me on edge, all the shouting and blaring music and gallivanting was really trying my nerves.

I pressed through the crowds and tried to keep my head down as I made my way to the Q train. I’d checked on my phone, and a train was due to pull into 34^th street station in five minutes. I wanted to be there when it arrived. I’d feel better once I was on the train headed home.

Why did I ever agree to go out on Halloween night? New York is bizarre enough, but tonight it’s on steroids. I don’t know about the veil being broken, but the night is getting weirder by the second.

Everyone was dressed up in strange costumes, most people were drunk or stoned, and way too many merrymakers kept trying to engage me in conversation. I had to stop myself from flying off the handle when a guy dressed up as a parking meter asked me if I was wearing a mongoose costume.

A mongoose costume? Really? I’m not even wearing the ears anymore, so what would give him that impression?

I groaned as I realized that even though I’d removed the cat ears, I still had whiskers painted on…though that still didn’t explain why he thought—whatever, it didn’t matter. I just wanted to get home.

I moved out of the path of a drunken group wearing togas and came up against a store window. I caught a glimpse of the street’s reflection behind me, and my heart skipped a beat.

It’s him.

A shock of cold ran down my back, and I forced myself not to turn around. The fake cop from the party was standing across the street watching me.