After two weeks, I’d spent more time with Lena on the locket papers than I would have thought possible. The more we read through
the papers, the more it seemed like we were reading about ourselves. At night, we stayed up late trying to solve the mystery
of Ethan and Genevieve, a Mortal and a Caster, desperate to find a way to be together, against impossible odds. At school,
we faced some steep odds ourselves, just getting through another eight hours at Jackson, and it was only getting harder. Every
day, there was another scheme to drive Lena away, or us apart. Especially if that day was Halloween.
Halloween was generally a pretty loaded holiday at Jackson. For a guy, anything involving costumes was an accident waiting
to happen. And then, there was always the stress of whether or not you made the guest list to Savannah Snow’s annual blowout.
But Halloween took on a whole new level of stress when the girl you were crazy about was a Caster.
I had no idea what to expect when Lena picked me up for school, a couple of blocks from my house, safely around the corner
from the eyes in the back of Amma’s head.
“You’re not dressed up,” I said, surprised.
“What are you talking about?”
“I thought you’d be wearing a costume or something.” I knew I sounded like an idiot the second the words came out of my mouth.
“Oh, you think Casters dress up on Halloween and fly around on brooms?” She laughed.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Sorry to disappoint you. We just dress for dinner like we do on any other holiday.”
“So it’s a holiday for you guys, too.”
“It’s the most sacred night of the year, and the most dangerous—the most important of the four High Holidays. It’s our version
of New Year’s Eve, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new.”
“What do you mean by dangerous?”
“My gramma says it’s the night when the veil between this world and the Otherworld, the world of spirits, is the thinnest.
It’s a night of power and a night of remembrance.”
“The Otherworld? Is that like the afterlife?”
“Sort of. It’s the realm of spirits.”
“So Halloween really is all about spirits and ghosts.” She rolled her eyes.
“We remember the Casters who were persecuted for their differences. Men and women who were burned for using their gifts.”
“Are you talking about the Salem Witch Trials?’
“I guess that’s what you call them. There were Witch Trials all along the eastern seaboard, not just in Salem. All over the
world, even. The Salem Witch Trials are just the ones
your
textbooks mention.” She said “your” like it was a dirty word, and today of all days, maybe it was.
We drove past the Stop & Steal. Boo was sitting by the stop sign at the corner. Waiting. He saw the hearse and loped slowly
after the car. “We should just give that dog a ride already. He must be tired, following you around day and night.”
Lena glanced in her rearview mirror. “He’d never get in.”
I knew she was right. But as I turned back to look at him, I could have sworn he nodded.
I spotted Link in the parking lot. He was wearing a blond wig and a blue sweater with a Wildcats patch sewn on it. He was
even carrying pom-poms. He looked scary and sort of like his mom, actually. The basketball team had decided to dress up like
Jackson cheerleaders this year. With everything else that had been going on, it had slipped my mind—at least that’s what I
told myself. I was going to get a lot of crap for this, and Earl was just waiting for a reason to jump all over me. Since
I had started hanging out with Lena, I had developed a hot hand on the court. Now I was starting center instead of Earl, who
was not too happy about it.
Lena swore there was nothing magic about it, at least not Caster magic. She came to one game and I made every shot. The drawback
was, she was in my head throughout the game, asking me a thousand questions about foul shots and assists and the three-second
rule. Turns out, she had never been to a game. It was worse than taking the Sisters to the County Fair. After that, she skipped
the games. I could tell she was listening, though, when I played. I could feel her there.
On the other hand, maybe she was the reason the cheer squad was having a tougher year than usual. Emily was having a hard
time staying on top of the Wildcats pyramid, but I didn’t ask Lena about that.
Today it was hard to pick out my teammates, until you got close enough to see the hairy legs and facial hair. Link caught
up to us. He looked worse up close. He had tried to put on makeup, smeared pink lipstick and all. He hitched up his skirt,
tugging on the straining pantyhose underneath.
“You suck,” he said, pointing at me across a row of cars. “Where’s your costume?”
“I’m sorry, man. I forgot.”
“Bull. You just didn’t want to put all this crap on. I know you, Wate. You wussed out.”
“I swear, I just forgot.”
Lena smiled at Link. “I think you look great.”
“I don’t know how you girls wear all this junk all over your face. It itches like hell.”
Lena made a face. She almost never wore makeup; she didn’t have to. “You know, it’s not like we all sign a contract with Maybelline
when we turn thirteen.”
Link patted his wig and stuffed another sock down his sweater. “Tell that to Savannah.”
We walked up the front steps, and Boo was sitting on the lawn, next to the flagpole. I almost asked how that dog could have
possibly beaten us to school, but by now I knew not to bother.
The halls were packed. It looked like half the school had skipped first period. The rest of the basketball team was hanging
out in front of Link’s locker, also in drag, which was a big hit. Just not with me.
“Where’re your pom-poms, Wate?” Emory shook one in my face. “What’s the matter? Those chicken legs a yours didn’t look good
in the skirt?”
Shawn pulled on his sweater. “I bet none a the girls on the squad would lend him a skirt.” A few of the guys laughed.
Emory put his arm around me, leaning in toward me. “Was that it, Wate? Or is it Halloween every day, when you’re hookin’ up
with a girl who lives in the Haunted Mansion?”
I grabbed him by the back of his sweater. One of the socks in his bra fell down to the floor. “You want to do this now, Em?”
He shrugged. “Your call. Bound to happen sooner or later.”
Link stepped in between us. “Ladies, ladies. We’re here to cheer. And you don’t want to mess up that pretty face, Em.”
Earl shook his head, pushing Emory down the hall in front of him. As usual, he didn’t say a word, but I knew the look.
Once you go down that road, Wate, there’s no goin’ back.
It seemed like the basketball team was the talk of the school, until I saw the real cheer squad. Turns out, my teammates weren’t
the only ones who had come up with a group costume. Lena and I were on our way to English when we saw them.
“Holy crap.” Link hit my arm with the back of his hand.
“What?”
They were marching down the hall single file. Emily, Savannah, Eden, and Charlotte, followed by every member of the Jackson
Wildcats’ cheerleading squad. They were dressed exactly alike in ridiculously short black dresses, of course, pointy black
boots, and tall, bent witches’ hats. But that wasn’t the worst part. Their long black wigs were curled into wild ringlets.
And in black makeup, just below their right eyes were painstakingly drawn exaggerated crescent moons. Lena’s unmistakable
birthmark. To complete the effect, they were carrying brooms, pretending to frantically sweep around people’s feet as they
walked down the hall, in procession.
Witches? On Halloween? How creative.
I squeezed her hand. Her expression didn’t change, but I could feel her hand shaking.
I’m sorry, Lena.
If they only knew.
I waited for the building to start shaking, the windows to blow out, something. But nothing happened. Lena just stood there,
seething.
The future generation of the DAR headed toward us. I decided to meet them halfway. “Where’s your costume, Emily? Did you forget
it was Halloween?”
Emily looked confused. Then she smiled at me, the sticky sweet smile of someone a little too proud of herself. “What are you
talkin’ about, Ethan? Isn’t this what you’re into now?”
“We were just tryin’ to make your
girlfriend
feel at home,” Savannah said, smacking her gum.
Lena shot me a look.
Ethan, stop. You’ll just make it worse for yourself.
I don’t care.
I can handle this.
What happens to you happens to me.
Link walked up beside me, yanking up his stockings. “Hey girls, I thought we were comin’ as bitches. Oh wait, that’s every
day.”
Lena smiled at Link in spite of herself.
“You shut your mouth, Wesley Lincoln. I’m gonna tell your mamma that you’re hangin’ out with that freak, and she won’t let
you outta your house till Christmas.”
“You know what that thing on her face is, don’t you?” Emily smirked, pointing from Lena’s birthmark to the crescent she’d
drawn on her cheek. “It’s called a witch’s mark.”
“Did you look that up online last night? You’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.” I laughed.
“You’re the idiot. You’re goin’ out with her.” I was turning red, which was the last thing I wanted to do. This wasn’t a conversation
I wanted to have in front of the whole school, not to mention the fact that I had no idea if Lena and I were even going out.
We had kissed once. And we were always together, in one way or another. But she wasn’t my girlfriend, at least I didn’t think
she was, even though I thought I’d heard her say that at the Gathering. And what could I do, ask? Maybe it was one of those
things that if you had to ask, the answer was probably no. There was some part of her that still seemed to be holding back
from me, a part of her I just couldn’t reach.
Emily jabbed me with the end of her broom. I could tell the whole “stake in the heart” concept would be attractive to her,
just about now.
“Emily, why don’t you all go jump out a window. See if you can fly. Or not.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I hope you enjoy yourselves sittin’ around the house together tonight, while the rest a the school is
at Savannah’s party. This will be the last holiday
she
spends at Jackson.” Emily spun around and marched back down the hall toward her locker, Savannah and their minions trailing
behind her.
Link was joking around with Lena, trying to cheer her up, which wasn’t hard, considering how ridiculous he looked. Like I
said, I could always count on Link.
“They really hate me. It’s never going to get old, is it?” Lena sighed.
Link broke into a cheer, jumping around and waving his pom-poms. “They really hate you, yes they do. They hate everyone, how
’bout you?”
“I’d be more worried if they liked you.” I leaned over and put my arm around her awkwardly, or tried to. She turned away,
my hand barely brushing her shoulder. Great.
Not here.
Why not?
You’re just making it worse for yourself.
I’m a glutton for punishment.
“Enough of the PDA.” Link elbowed me in the ribs. “You’re gonna make me start feelin’ bad for myself, now that I’ve doomed
myself to another year without a date. We’re gonna be late for English, and I gotta take these pantyhose off on the way. I’m
gettin’ a serious wedgie.”
“I just have to stop at my locker and get my book,” Lena said. Her hair began to curl around her shoulders. I was suspicious,
but I didn’t say anything.
Emily, Savannah, Charlotte, and Eden were standing in front of their lockers, primping in front of the mirrors hanging inside
the doors. Lena’s locker was only a little farther down the hall.
“Just ignore them,” I said.
Emily was rubbing her cheek with a Kleenex. The black moon-shaped mark was only smearing bigger and blacker, not coming off
at all. “Charlotte, do you have any makeup remover?”
“Sure.”
Emily wiped her cheek a few more times. “This isn’t comin’ off. Savannah, I thought you said this stuff came off with soap
and water.”
“It does.”
“Then why isn’t it comin’ off?” Emily slammed her locker door, annoyed.
The drama got Link’s attention. “What are those four doin’ over there?”
“Look’s like they’re having some kind of
problem
,” Lena said, leaning against her locker.
Savannah tried to wipe the black moon off her own cheek. “Mine isn’t comin’ off, either.” The moon was now smeared across
half her face. Savannah started digging around in her purse. “I have the pencil right here.”
Emily pulled her purse out of her locker, searching through it. “Forget it. I have mine in my bag.”
“What the—” Savannah pulled something out of her bag.
“You used Sharpie?” Emily laughed.
Savannah held the marker up in front of her. “Of course not. I have no idea how this got in here.”
“You’re so lame. That will never come off before the party tonight.”
“I can’t have this
thing
on my face all night. I’m goin’ dressed as a Greek Goddess, Aphrodite. This will completely ruin my costume.”
“You should’ve been more careful.” Emily dug around in her little silver purse some more. She dumped her purse on the ground
under her locker, lip gloss and nail polish bottles rolling around on the floor. “It has to be here.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” Charlotte asked.
“The makeup I used this mornin’, it’s not here.” By now, Emily was attracting an audience; people were stopping to see what
was going on. A Sharpie rolled out of Emily’s purse into the middle of the hall.
“You used Sharpie, too?”
“Of course I didn’t!” Emily shrieked, rubbing her face frantically. But the black moon only grew bigger and blacker like the
others. “What the hell is goin’ on?”
“I know I have mine,” Charlotte said, turning the lock on her locker door. She opened the door and stood there for a few seconds,
staring inside.