The Coven's Secret

by Alicia Rades

  “But we can get free cider!” Grant exclaimed.

  He was way too fucking cheerful. Didn’t he realize this day was all about the dead? It was too depressing to handle.

  “I don’t want free cider,” I grumbled, putting the pillow back over my head.

  Grant yanked it off me. “You have to at least eat something today.”

  “Not hungry,” I told him. My stomach felt hollow, but I didn’t want to eat.

  Grant eyed me curiously, and his tone softened. “Dude, what’s up with you? Last year you couldn’t wait for Halloween.”

  I pulled the blanket up over my head. “Last year was different.”

  “Why?” Grant asked.

  I didn’t answer.

  Grant huffed. He grabbed my blanket and tore it off from me, throwing it on the floor. It was really cold without it, so I curled up into a ball to stay warm.

  “Lucas, talk to me,” Grant demanded in a harsh tone.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I told him.

  “I’m your best friend, man,” he said. “Let me help you.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned my gaze up to him. Thinking about what this day meant only made my guts twist. But Grant wasn’t going to give up until I gave him something.

  I pushed myself upright in bed. “I’m not sure I want to attend the festival tonight.”

  “Is this about your gift?” Grant asked.

  It was obvious by his tone. He worried I’d faced too much death this past year and didn’t want to celebrate. But that wasn’t it at all.

  I shook my head.

  “Then what?” Grant asked, spreading his arms out in question. “You love Halloween. The hay rides, the apple bobbing, the costume contests. You could even go to one of those Seer booths and—”

  Grant stopped in his tracks, and realization crossed his eyes. “Oh,” he said flatly, eyeing the fallen expression on my face. “You don’t want anything to do with spirits today.”

  I curled my arms around myself, because it felt like my guts would spill out otherwise. “There’s a reason I haven’t gone to a psychic since he died.”

  The words felt heavier than I thought they would. He died. Eric was gone. I knew it, and still it was hard to wrap my head around. Because he wasn’t totally gone. His spirit was out there somewhere. I was just too afraid to figure out where.

  “You don’t want to talk to him,” Grant whispered, sinking into a spot on the couch.

  “It’s not that,” I told him. “It’s just…”

  I hesitated. I wasn’t good at sharing my feelings. With Grant, we could talk about girls and crap like that, but I couldn’t talk about the heavy stuff. I couldn’t talk about my brother.

  The truth was, Eric hadn’t reached out to me in the past year. If he wanted to talk to me, he could’ve contacted a medium and relayed a message. But he hadn’t. Which either meant he was at peace with everything that happened... or he’d ended up in the Abyss.

  It was easier to believe he was at peace. I’d rather not seek out confirmation.

  “You don’t have to visit a Seer,” Grant said. “Just dress up and go to the festival with me. That’s all I ask.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, Grant. I’m not feeling very festive.”

  “Here’s an idea,” Grant said brightly. “The veil’s thin tonight, which makes séances super easy. You’ll get an A for sure.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You want to help me do a séance for my Afterlife Studies class?”

  “For sure,” Grant said. “It’ll be fun, and you have to do it sometime this semester.”

  I sighed. “I guess you’re right. But I don’t have a costume.”

  Grant smiled. “I have the perfect thing.”

  Grant’s idea of perfect was far from my definition. I lifted the hem of the robe I wore, ready to tear the freaking thing off because I couldn’t stop tripping over it. It was one of the black robes we wore the night of Nadine’s initiation. Grant said I should dress as a reaper.

  “Not cool,” I’d told him, rather harshly.

  “I didn’t mean it as a joke,” Grant promised. “It’s an easy costume.”

  I grumbled about it all day, before finally giving in. At least I could hide beneath the hood.

  It was dark by the time we finally left the dorm. I held the celestite stone Nadine had given me in my hand. It was supposed to calm me, and our goddess knew I needed some serious help in that area. So far, it didn’t seem to be working. I slipped the stone in my pocket and instead focused on not tripping over my robe. Who the fuck were these things made for? The Harlem GlobeTrotters? I wasn’t exactly a short dude.

  “Dear Goddess,” Grant groaned. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and knelt down. He grabbed the hem of my robe and tied the corner into a knot, so that it hung just above my feet.

  “There.” He stood and cocked an eyebrow at me. “Can we get to the festival now?”

  “Geez,” I said. “Someone’s in a hurry.”

  “Trick-or-treating is already over,” Grant pointed out, gesturing around the dark street. There were cars parked in every slot, which was why we decided to walk. “I don’t want to miss the bonfire, too.”

  “So, you’re gonna dance?” I asked.

  “Hell yeah,” he said as we started walking again. “What do you think Halloween’s about?”

  We turned the street corner, and it was like stepping into an alternate dimension. The last street was so quiet and deserted, but Main Street was bursting with life. All the shops were open, and there were strings of orange and white lights above us.

  People walked up and down the road, since it was blocked off to cars. They were dressed in creepy costumes like ghouls, demons, and scary clowns. I saw at least a dozen people in costume as slasher film villains, and there was an entire family dressed up as characters from the Addams Family. One girl had done her makeup to look as if her skin was falling off. Her boyfriend made it look like his head had been severed. Everywhere I looked there was some sort of dead something or other—a dead bride, dead prom queen, and a dead nurse. One kid walked around looking like a talking ventriloquist doll, which was creepy as hell. I even saw a girl dressed up as a Ouija board, with the planchette painted on her eye and the letters on her chest. A trio of girls from school had dressed up as the Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus. I noticed Lena was the one dressed as the pretty blonde.

  Up and down Main Street, the shop owners had gone all out with decorations. Skeletons hung from signs, and cobwebs had been stretched across windows. Jack-o-lanterns of all shapes and sizes were set up along shop stops or on bales of hay in front of windows.

  We passed by the four Imperium priestesses. They wore long, flowing robes and were handing out suckers shaped like their Cast’s symbol to all the kids.

  As Grant and I made our way through town and to the park, the Halloween decorations only became more prevalent. Plastic bats had been hung from the trees, and fake blood was smeared all over tree trunks. The vendor booths in the park were even more elaborate than the shops on Main Street. One looked like a gingerbread house, and a lady dressed as an ugly old witch invited kids inside for candy. A haunting melody came from the bandstand, and I could see the bonfire burning down by the river.

  “Candy!” Grant cried. He ran over to the first booth and grabbed a handful of chocolate from the bowl sitting there. He subconjured it, then grabbed another handful and shoved it in his pocket.

  I eyed him with a frown, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He pulled the candy from his pocket and held a piece out to me. “Sorry, bro. Did you want some?”

  “No, thanks,” I said.

  Grant shrugged. “More for me. So, you want to start with apple bobbing, or the hay bale maze?”

  “They’re both for kids,” I pointed out.

  Grant clapped me on the shoulder. “There’s a kid inside all of us. It’s your fault if you refuse to embrace it.”

  Grant really w
anted to do the apple bobbing, so we wove through the maze of booths to find it. Each booth had a different activity, like pumpkin painting or pumpkin carving. There were photo booths, pumpkin tosses, and all sorts of carnival games with Halloween themes. One booth had aisles made out of hay bales, and people were rolling pumpkins down them at plastic bowling pins. Beside that, miniature pumpkins had been set up on a giant checkerboard. Not far from us, a Halloween movie was playing on a projector, and kids were snuggled in blankets on the grass watching.

  If the booths weren’t hosting some activity, they were selling food. My favorites were the hotdogs wrapped in dough and made to look like miniature mummies, and the Jell-O shaped brains.

  Grant stopped at the apple bobbing booth and rolled up his sleeves. “Watch the champion at work.”

  “Yes, Grant, because they give out trophies for apple bobbing,” I teased.

  He frowned. “They should—oh my Goddess.”

  Grant’s eyes locked on something across the way, and he ducked behind me. I looked to where his gaze had gone, but I didn’t see anything. I turned toward him, but he just moved with me to stay hidden.

  “Hey, dude, what’s up?” I asked.

  Grant hid his face. “Talia’s coming. Hide me.”

  I scanned the crowd again, and sure enough I spotted Talia and Nadine coming our way. Talia was dressed in a short green dress and faerie wings. Her cat wore a sack with something written across the side, though I couldn’t read it.

  Nadine looked absolutely stunning in a plaid shirt, overalls, and a straw hat. Her hair had been twisted into braids, and her makeup was done up to look like a scarecrow. I didn’t know what it was about her outfit—maybe the way the overalls hugged her curves—but she looked amazing.

  It took me a few moments to tear my gaze off of her.

  “Relax,” I told Grant. “They’re not coming over here.”

  Except they were. They hadn’t seen us yet, but they stopped beside the booth next to us, where a dozen other college girls were giggling. At first I didn’t know why, until Grant inhaled a sharp breath.

  “That’s the matchmaker booth,” he pointed out. “Do you think Talia will get me?”

  I shot him a side-eye look. “You'd have to be dating her first.”

  “It could happen,” Grant shot back.

  “Come, come, ladies.” Professor Wykoff gestured Nadine and Talia forward. She was dressed in a medieval Celtic dress and was running the matchmaker booth. The booth drew in high school and college girls, and they performed various rituals that would tell them about their future relationships.

  “Come,” she said again. “Open your minds, and your future husband shall be revealed.”

  Nadine shot Talia a skeptical look, but she giggled like she was having fun. She stepped up to the booth. “How does this work?”

  “Well, my dear, there are many rituals performed on the night the veil is thin,” Professor Wykoff said in a mystical voice. “The spirits of our ancestors will guide you and tell your future.”

  Talia nudged Nadine forward. “It’s worth a shot.”

  “Okay,” Nadine agreed, though she didn’t sound sure of herself.

  “Start with the mashed potatoes,” Professor Wykoff said, holding out a small bowl to each of them.

  “Oh, this one’s fun,” Talia said chipperly.

  “You’ve done this ritual before?” Professor Wykoff asked.

  Talia’s cheeks blushed pink. “Once, but I didn’t get the ring.”

  “What do you mean?” Nadine asked. “What’s supposed to happen?”

  “We’ve made a large batch of mashed potatoes,” Professor Wykoff explained. “And I’ve hidden a ring inside. Whichever young lady finds the ring is said to be married by next Halloween.”

  Nadine chuckled. “If I find the ring, I think it’ll come as a shock to all of us. I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

  Professor Wykoff smiled. “Well, you never know, my dear. Things can move quickly when they’re meant to be.”

  She handed each of the girls a spoon, and they both took a scoop of mashed potatoes. I didn’t know why, but I found myself holding my breath. I breathed a sigh of relief when Nadine swallowed—no ring to be found.

  Nadine handed back the bowl. “No ring, but that was delicious.”

  “Thank you,” Professor Wykoff said. “Not to worry, my dears. We have plenty of other rituals for you.”

  Professor Wykoff offered them a bowl of hazelnuts. “In this ritual, you’ll name each hazelnut for each of your suitors. You’ll place them into your fire at home. The nut that burns to ashes will represent your future husband.”

  Nadine hesitated. “Oh, um… I don’t really have any suitors right now.”

  Grant stiffened beside me, like he hoped Talia might take a hazelnut and name it after him. But she refused the bowl as well. “We don’t have a fire in our dorm.”

  “Not to worry, not to worry,” Professor Wykoff said. “Let’s try the apple peels.”

  Professor Wykoff held out another bowl, which was filled to the brim with apple peels.

  “What do we do with these?” Nadine asked.

  Talia bounced on her toes. “Oh, I like this one. I never got a good reading on it, though.”

  “It’s simple,” Professor Wykoff told them. “Take a handful of apple peels and toss them over your shoulder. The shape they land in will reveal to you your future husband’s initials.”

  Nadine laughed. “I guess I’ll try it.”

  She and Talia both took a handful of apple peels and tossed them over their shoulders on the count of three. Grant grabbed my robe and tugged on it, but when I glanced over to him, his eyes were locked on Talia. He didn’t seem to notice he had a hand on me at all.

  “Mine doesn’t look like anything,” Nadine said.

  She was right. It just looked like a mess.

  “I think mine worked!” Talia exclaimed.

  Grant tugged on me harder, until my robe was practically choking me. I coughed, and he let go, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from Talia.

  “That could be a G…” Talia said thoughtfully, pointing down to her apple peels.

  Grant gasped.

  “Or a C,” Nadine added.

  Grant sighed.

  Talia tilted her head to the side, inspecting the peels. “True. I can’t make out the last initial, though.”

  “Did you hear that?” Grant said to me. “It might be a G! That’s me!”

  “Or a C,” I reminded him. “Could be Cody.”

  Grant frowned. “Screw that asshat. He doesn’t deserve her.”

  I shrugged. “Then ask her out.”

  Grant ignored my suggestion and tugged on my sleeve again. “Good Goddess, Nadine’s doing the mirror!”

  I looked back to Nadine, and sure enough, Professor Wykoff had guided Nadine in front of a full-length mirror. It was pointed in our direction, so I could see her reflection perfectly. She looked nervous as she stepped up to it, but there was curiosity in her eyes, too.

  “Take this and concentrate on the spirits around you,” Professor Wykoff instructed. “Ask them to guide you to see your future husband’s face.”

  Professor Wykoff placed a lit candle into Nadine’s hand. Nadine took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Talia stood off to the side, peering curiously at Nadine.

  “What if Talia sees me?” Grant whispered from beside me.

  “Shh…” I hissed at him.

  I shouldn’t have cared what Nadine saw in that mirror when she opened her eyes. Whichever guy she saw, it wasn’t going to be me. That shouldn’t have bothered me, since I knew we’d never end up together, but for some reason, it did.

  Nadine’s eyes shot open, and she gasped. “Lucas!”

  My heart jolted in my chest. No, she didn’t see me. She couldn’t have.

  She whirled around, and her eyes locked on mine. Shock was etched into her features for a moment, until a darkness akin to anger took over.

  “Luca
s,” she snapped. “You ruined my spell!”

  I was so stunned by the accusation that I just stood there for a moment. “I—I what?” I stammered.

  “What are you doing standing there?” she demanded.

  It was only then that realization hit. She had seen me in the mirror, but it wasn’t because of the spell. It was because I was standing right there, the mirror pointed straight at my face.

  “I didn’t try to mess up your spell,” I defended. “Grant wanted to apple bob.” I gestured to the booth we stood next to.

  “No, I didn’t,” Grant said quickly, shooting a glance over at Talia. “Apple bobbing is for kids.”

  Talia chuckled. “No, it’s not. It sounds fun.”

  Grant’s features brightened. “Oh, well… I’m pretty good if you want to challenge me.”

  Dear Goddess. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

  Talia stepped toward him and raised a challenging eyebrow. “Maybe I will.”

  “Don’t forget these!” Professor Wykoff shoved a small bag of treats into the girls’ hands. “It’s walnuts, hazelnuts, and nutmeg. Eat it before you go to bed tonight, and you’ll dream of your future husband.”

  “Um… thanks,” Nadine said, glancing down to the bag. She eyed it like she wasn’t quite sure of this future husband ritual, since I’d screwed the last one up.

  “Maybe after apple bobbing, we could dance around the bonfire?” Grant suggested to Talia.

  “Sure, that sounds great!” She sounded really excited.

  Grant suddenly didn’t sound so shy. “Cool. So, what are you supposed to be? An Arcanea?”

  Grant was careful with his words. It was offensive to dress up as other races for Halloween, and we all knew it.

  Talia frowned. “I’m Tinkerbell. Gus is my bag of fairy dust.”

  Gus was licking his paw. He stopped when he heard his name.

  “You’re not a Midnighter, are you?” Talia asked, eyeing Grant’s costume.

  He looked disappointed she didn’t recognize him. “I’m Dracula.”

  “Ah, I see it now,” she teased. “You’re missing the receding hairline.”

  “I know, my hair’s just too perfect for Dracula,” Grant joked, running his hands through his gelled hair. “Anyway, shall we?”