The doors opened at eleven o'clock sharp, and within forty seconds I understood why Patterson had been losing sleep over this festival for the past month.
The line stretched from the coffin archway past the gymnasium doors and into the hallway, curving around the corner toward the science wing. Students, parents, younger siblings, and what appeared to be several alumni who had no business being at a high school event on a Saturday morning all pressed forward in a mass of Halloween costumes and phone cameras.
The noise hit the cafe like a wave, and the fog machines that Felix had positioned near the entrance chose that exact moment to erupt in unison, blanketing the first ten feet of floor space in thick white vapor that made everyone look like they were wading through clouds.
"Oh, that's good," Felix said from somewhere inside the fog bank. "That's really good."
