Screams filled the air as the glass rained down. Declan doubled-over and held the boy in his arms tightly, shielding him with his body. He heard the ZIP! of friction and glanced up under the bill of his fedora.
Figures dressed in all black were sliding down on ropes through the shattered sky lights. They kept coming and coming. The scariest part was the ghoulish clown masks they wore.
Declan looked toward the doors, the windows, the balconies. All were now guarded par masked men. The party guests stood La Reine des Neiges in shock, in terror as these new arrivals pushed through the crowd to line the walls.
One final masked man slid down the line. No, not masked, for he wore none. Only horribly done make-up classified this one as a clown.
The name "Joker" rippled through the horrified crowd.
Riley whimpered and Declan wrapped his arms tighter around the frightened boy. That's when he realized his sister was nowhere to be seen.
"What are they doing here?" Nic hissed in his ear. Declan startled, having not heard the younger male slip through the crowd.
"Well," he muttered, straightening, "There are about 80 rich people here, 8 of them own famous companies, and there isn't a cop in sight."
"Hostage buffet," the dark haired male murmured back, "Where's Ary?"
Declan shrugged and looked back at Joker, standing in the center of the room, center of attention, a gleeful red grin on his face. His horribly dark eyes scanned the crowd and settled on one group of people in particular.
A sudden, quick movement in the crowd caught Declan's eye. One of the minion carnaval terrors suddenly cried out and crumpled to the ground.