‘Something happen between you and Zed, Sky?’

asked Tina one afternoon as we helped decorate the form room for Hal owe’en.

I hung a row of pumpkin lights over the whiteboard.

‘No.’

‘You seemed on the point of something until he gave you that black eye. Was there more to that than you said?’

Yeah, just a bit. ‘Like what?’

She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. ‘He didn’t hit you or anything?’

‘No!’

‘Just that the Benedicts are a little strange. No one real y gets to know them. We talk about them, of course, but no one from school’s dated them that I’ve heard about. Who knows what secrets they’re hiding up there?’

I decided to fight fire with fire. ‘You mean like their mad granny locked in the cel ar? Or the voodoo dol s hanging by their necks over the corpses of their victims?’

She looked shamefaced now. ‘I wasn’t thinking that.’

‘Zed does not beat up his girlfriends.’

She pounced. ‘So you are his girlfriend?’

Oops. ‘Not real y. Just a friend.’

‘Must admit I’m relieved to hear that.’ Tina stretched out some cobweb material over the notice board. ‘Did you know that Nelson went a round with him about what he did to you?’

‘He didn’t!’

‘Yeah, in the guys’ changing room after basketbal practice.’

‘I told him it was my fault, not Zed’s!’

‘Nelson has this protective streak a mile wide. You must have noticed. I think it’s his version of his grandmother’s desire to keep tabs on us al .’

‘Did anyone get hurt?’

‘No. Coach broke it up. Put them both in detention.

Zed’s on the watch list again for suspension.’

‘I didn’t want this.’

‘What? Boys fighting over you? You should be flattered.’

‘They’re idiots.’

‘Yeah, they’re boys. Goes with the territory.’

I crossed my fingers. ‘Look, Zed and me, we like each other, but it’s not going to go any further.’ At least, not until we’d sorted out the death threat.

‘OK, I hear you. You’re safe.’ But I could tel she wasn’t convinced. ‘So, you want to come Trick-or-Treating with us?’

‘Isn’t that for little kids?’

‘Doesn’t stop us big ones having a party. We get dressed up, enjoy the show on the streets then go hang out back at someone’s house. My mom said we can go to mine this year.’

‘What kind of dressed up?’

‘Any kind of fancy dress. Witch, ghoul, voodoo-dol -hanging-over-the-corpse-of-a-dead-granny-from-the-cel ar—that kind of stuff.’

‘Sounds fun.’

To my embarrassment, Simon was real y into the idea of making a Hal owe’en costume. He often used materials in his art and got a bit carried away when I made the mistake of tel ing him about Trick-or-Treating. He constructed a skeleton suit for me out of material that glowed spectre-like in white light and a real y convincing skul head mask. He made a costume for himself and Sal y too.

‘You’re not thinking of coming with me?’ I asked in horror as he displayed the masks in the kitchen on Hal owe’en morning.

‘Of course.’ His tone was deadpan but I caught the laughter in his eyes. ‘Just what a teenager wants: her parents tagging along to a friend’s party on her first evening out after grounding.’

‘Tel me he’s lying!’ I appealed to Sal y.

‘Of course, he is. We were just reading up on the American customs at Hal owe’en and understand that it is our duty as fine upstanding citizens of Wrickenridge to man the door in as scary a fashion as possible and spread tooth decay among the younger part of the population.’

‘You’re going to hand out candy dressed like that?’

‘Yep.’ Simon tapped his skul mask affectionately.

‘I’m glad I won’t be home.’

My friends met up outside the grocery store at seven, forming a gaggle of witches, ghosts, and zombies. The atmosphere was perfect: dark, moonless, and there was even a mist to add to the ghoulish theme. Zoe had dressed in a fantastic vampire outfit with red-lined cape and white fangs.

Tina chose the warlock look, pointy hat and long cape, face painted with silver stars. Nelson came as a zombie—a no-brainer (ha ha) for him. I felt a bit self-conscious in my figure-hugging skeleton suit.

Nelson rapped on the top of my plaster skul .

‘Knock, knock, who’s there?’

‘It’s me—Sky.’

‘It’s me, Sky who?’

‘Shut up, Nelson.’

He laughed. ‘You look great. Where did you get the suit? Did you hire it?’

I took off the mask. ‘No, Simon made it.’

‘Awesome.’

‘He and Sal y are sitting at home in similar outfits.’

He playful y began dragging me in the direction of my house. ‘No way? We’l have to go up there.’

I jabbed him in the ribs. ‘If you suggest that to the others, I wil personal y pul your dead brain out of your ears and feed it to your fel ow zombies.’

‘Ouch! Good visual threat—I like it.’

I was feeling a bit cold in my costume. ‘Can we get moving, Tina?’

‘Yeah, let’s.’

Tina handed round pumpkin-shaped lanterns on the end of poles and we processed through the streets enjoying the show. Little children paraded past with their parents, dressed in a bizarre selection of costumes. The spooky theme seemed to have got diluted somewhere along the way because it was perfectly acceptable to wear your favourite princess costume if you were a kindergarten girl, or come dressed as Spider-Man if you were a boy. The emphasis was definitely on

‘treat’ rather than ‘trick’. I saw a couple of older kids fighting each other with water pistols, but most were too busy racking up a sugar high to cause any damage to houses where they got no answer.

As we neared Tina’s house, a werewolf emerged from the mist to join our group, complete with ful face mask sprouting hair from ears, and a pair of shaggy paws. On any other night, this would be a cause for alarm; on Hal owe’en no one batted an eyelid.

The werewolf slipped through the crowd and sidled up to me. Bending down, he growled in my ear.

‘Zed?’ I yelped.

‘Ssh. I don’t want people to know I’m here. And don’t, you know, think to me, in case someone’s listening.’

I started to giggle, absurdly glad that he had sneaked out to see me. ‘Ah, Wolfman, you are a master of disguise, fooling the bad guys with your cunning.’

‘I blend, don’t I? I knew you’d be out after dark, so here I am.’

I real y didn’t need a reminder of the real horror haunting us on this night of pretend terrors, but I did feel happier now he was beside me.

A shaggy paw insinuated itself around my waist.

‘I’m not sure I approve of this costume of yours.

Couldn’t you put a cloak on or something?’

‘I feel real y cold. Simon didn’t think of this when he made it for me.’

He shrugged out of his coat and slipped it over my shoulders. ‘Your dad made this? Are we talking about the same guy who wants to lock you away until you’re thirty? Has he had a personality change since I last saw him?’

‘It’s artistic. He wasn’t thinking about how his daughter looks—just getting the right shape. He and Sal y are at home in identical outfits.’

He chuckled softly.

‘So, did you tel your parents you were going out?’

I asked.

‘No, they stil think we need to circle the wagons back home. I’m tinkering with the bike in the garage.

Xav’s covering for me.’

‘How are they going to react?’

He frowned. ‘I can’t see—it’s hard with family.

There are so many possibilities in a house of savants that I think the future gets fuzzy, like interference on a cel phone. And it’s weird: I’ve noticed that the closer I get to you, the less I see about you.’

‘Does that mean I could beat you at cards now?’

‘Probably. But I might not be able to help you out with your goal-keeping either, so there’s a drawback.’