SAVANTS

The Chapture 27

The next few weeks left us both frustrated. Just being able to sneak a few moments alone in school, we will never be able to be together. 

We have to be careful not to be branded as a couple by other students just in case word gets out anyone who's after the Zed family. 

This led to guilt because I had to lie to my closest friends about what was going on. 

And there's still a hunch of Zed to worry about.—he's angry because he can't be by my side to keep me safe and I get restless every time I come out after dark. The whole situation adds a lot of pressure for both of us. Two threats too many.

"Something's going on between you and Zed, Sky?" tina asked one afternoon as we helped decorate the form room for Hallowe'en.

I hung a row of pumpkin lights on the board. "Not really"

"You're like doing something with Zed until he gives you those black eyes. Is there anything you can say?"

Yeah, just a little. "What-like?"

He shrugged, looking worried about me. "He didn't hit you or anything, did he?"

"No, Zed didn't hit me"

"Just the Benedict family is a little weird. No one really knows them. When we talked about them, but no one from school was dating them that I'd ever heard of. Who knows what secrets they're hiding"

I decided to fight fire with fire. "You mean like their crazy grandmother locked in the basement? Or a voodoo doll hung around their necks over the bodies of their victims?"

He looks embarrassed now. "I don't think so."

"Zed didn't beat up his girlfriend." I said spontaneous.

She's surprised. "So you're her boyfriend?"

Oops. "Ti don't. I mean just friends."

"I must admit I'm relieved to hear it." Tina placed some spider web material on the notice board. "Know not that Nelson went to scold Zed about what he did to you?"

"He did it?"

"Yes, in the men's locker room after basketball practice."

"Tell him it's my fault, not Zed!"

"Nelson has a protective line a mile wide. You must have noticed. I thought it was her grandmother's wish to keep an eye on all of us."

"Has anyone been hurt?"

"No. Coach broke them. And put the two of them in the office to be punished. Zed's on the blacklist again for suspension."

"I don't want this."

"What's? Boys fight just because of you? You should be flattered."

"They're idiots."

"Yes, because they're men. According to his genes"

I crossed my fingers. "Listen, Zed and I, we like each other, but that's not going to go any further." At least not until we solve the death threat.

"Okay, I hear you. You're safe." But I know he's not sure. "So, you want to join the Trick-or-Treat with us?"

"Isn't it just for kids?"

"No, teenagers like us can also really, dress up and enjoy a show on the street and then go hang out at someone's house. My mom said we could go to my house this year.'

"Dress like what?"

" Wear any clothes. Witches, ghosts, voodoo dolls hanging over dead grandma's corpse from the basement—those kinds of things."

" It sounds fun."

°°°

To my embarrassment, Simon really liked the idea of making Halloween costumes. She used the ingredients in her art often and got a little carried away when I made the mistake of telling her about Trick-or-Treat.

He made a skeleton suit for me out of materials that glowed like a ghost in a white light and a very convincing skull head mask. She also made costumes for herself and Sally as well.

"You're not thinking of coming with me?" I was horrified when she put on the mask in the kitchen on Hallowe'en morning.

"Of course." His tone was flat but I caught a laugh in his eyes. "Only what a teenager wants, his parents at home to give candy to a child of a visiting child."

"Tell me he's lying!" I begged Sally.

"of course. We have just read about the American custom at Hallowe'en and understand that it is our duty as honorable citizens of Wrickenridge to guard the door in the most sinister way possible and spread tooth decay among younger population."

"You're going to hand out candy with clothes like that?"

"Yes." Yeah." Simon tapped on his skull mask with a pity.

My friends met outside the grocery store at seven in the night, forming a group of witches, ghosts, and zombies. The atmosphere was perfect: dark, moonless, and there was even fog to add to that monstrous theme.

Zoe wore a fantastic vampire outfit with a red robe and white fangs. Tina chose the look of a witch, a pointy hat and a long robe, a face painted with a silver star. Nelson came as a zombie—without a brain, it was suitable for his appearance.

Nelson knocked on the top of my plaster skull. "Tok, tok, who's there?"

"It's me—Sky."

"It's me, Sky who?"

"Shut up, Nelson."

She laughs. "You look great. Where did you get this suit? You're renting?"

I took off the mask. "No, Simon made it for me"

"It's amazing."

"She and Sally were sitting at home in the same clothes."

He started dragging me towards my house. "Can't be? We have to go out there and make sure of it"

I stabbed him in the ribs. "If you suggest that to others, I'll personally take your dead head out of your ears and give it to another fellow zombie."

"Ouch! Nice visual threat—I love it."

I feel a little cold in my costume. "Can we move, Tina?"

"Yes, come on."

Tina handed her a pumpkin-shaped round lantern at the end of the pole and we walked down the street enjoying the show. Young children march past their parents, dressed in strange costume choices.

The spooky theme seems to have diluted somewhere along the way for wearing your favorite princess costume if you're a kindergarten girl, or dress like Spider-Man if you're a man is acceptable.

The emphasis is clearly on 'treat' rather than 'trick'. I saw some older children fighting each other with water guns, but most were too busy collecting candy to cause damage to their teeth later.

As we approached Tina's house, a werewolf emerged from the fog to join our group, complete with a face mask full of hair from the ears, and a pair of feathered claws.

The werewolf slipped through the crowd and walked towards me. Bowing, then he growled in my ear.

"Zed's?" i'm suffocating.

"Sst. I don't want people to know that I'm here."

I started giggling, so glad he snuck out to see me.

"Ah, Wolfman, you are an expert in disguise, fooling the bad guys with your cunning." I said while giggling.

"I'm mingling, right? I know you'll be out after dark, so here I am to take care of you"

I really don't need a reminder of the real horrors that haunt us on this night of feigned terror, but I feel happier now that he's beside me.

A hairy claw coiled around my waist. "I'm not sure I approve of your costume. Can't you wear a robe or something?"

"I feel so cold. Simon didn't think of this when he made it for me."

He lifted his coat off his shoulder and tucked it over my shoulder. "Your father made this? Are we talking about the same guy who wants to lock you up until you're thirty? Has she had a personality change since the last time I saw her?"

"It's art. He forgot to think about how his daughter's appearance—just getting the right shape. She and Sally were at home in the same outfit."

He chuckles softly.

"So, did you tell your parents that you were going out?" I asked.

"No, they still think we need to circle the train back home. I fiddled with the stuff in the garage and got Wolfman's stelan and asked Xav to shut up."

"How will they react if you're out"

He frowned. "I can't see—it's hard with family. There are so many possibilities in the Savants' homes that I think the future is faint, like a distraction on a cell phone. And it was strange: I noticed that the closer I got to you, the less I could see about you Sky"

"Does that mean I can beat you now?"

"Maybe. But I might as well not be able to help you keep the goal, so there's a drawback." He laughed softly.

"That's fine by me. It's not fun knowing you can see so much all the time. Makes me feel, I don't know, locked up by the future."

"Yes, I'd rather be like this. It feels more normal."

We arrived at Tina's house. He had actually planned this all in advance: the carved gourd grinned at every window and its porch was filled with webs of spiders, bats, and snakes.

Her mother opened the door dressed as a witch, with large false eyelashes and red nails. I could see older brother Tina in the back, cutting the garden decoration over the campfire.