by Robert Gray
Based on the humans I’d spotted walking along the streets, it seemed sneakers, jeans, and casual shirts were the fashion here. I tried to convince Mom of this, but I couldn’t find any humans my age to use as examples. At least not until we saw a group of younger girls come parading out of another small shop called Music Land, destroying my whole fashion theory.
Mom tugged on my sleeve and whispered, “Over there. Three human girls.” She smiled knowingly. “Told you the teenagers didn’t wear jeans and tee-shirts.”
The girls looked pretty much the same. Not triplets like Three Petes, but they dressed similar and wore similar makeup and hairstyles. They had on frilly checkered dresses and had deep red streaks running through their long black hair. I had to look twice, because at first I thought they were vamps, but once we got closer, I realized they looked about as much like vampires as Mom did a human.
“That’s exactly how I expected the human children to dress,” Mom said. “Now we just need to know where to find their clothes. We should ask them.”
“Are you crazy? They might … do something.”
“Don’t be silly. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Did I really have to answer that? I thought.
“Excuse me, little humans? Can you tell me where I may purchase your clothes?” Mom asked.
The humans studied my mom with a mixture of awe and amusement, which shifted to all amusement, followed by hooting laughter. One of them—the tallest one, who appeared to be their leader—said, “Nice makeup, lady. You look like a freak.”
“Oh, thank you,” Mom said. She turned to me and added, “See, these human girls are nice.”
I was no expert on humans, but these girls didn’t seem nice to me, particularly the one doing the talking. Something in her swamp-colored eyes made me think she wanted to eat me.
Mom returned the compliment. “You look like a little freak, too. All of you do.”
The tallish leader rested her hands on her hips. “Did you hear that girls? The freak just called us freaks.” After the laughter died down, the leader regarded us with a nudge of her chin. “We’re heading to a Halloween party. What’s your excuse?”
“Who needs an excuse when it comes to a good Halloween party,” Mom said. Her snakes must’ve thought they were going to the party, too, because they got all excited and started bopping, almost knocking Mom’s hat right off her head.
The leader threw up her hands defensively and took a step back. “Whoa, what was that?”
“It’s new,” Mom said, smacking the hat. “Haven’t gotten all the bugs out yet.”
“Yeah, lady, that’s cool.”
“So … about that store?” I shifted nervously from leg to leg. I wanted to get away from these humans as soon as possible.
“You want to look like us, huh?” she asked with a sneer.
“I guess so. It’s my first day at school tomorrow, and I’d like to fit in.”
The girls laughed again, and Mom and I laughed, too, though I had no idea what was funny.
“The Halloween shop’s right down that road,” the leader said, pointing down the street. “It’s perfect for two weirdos like you.”
“Did you here that, Eve? A Halloween store. How horrible! Oh, thank you so much, you little freaks. You’ve been so helpful.”
The human girls directed Mom and me to a place called Halloween World—yet another small place with a big name … Great.
But when we walked inside, I nearly fainted from excitement. Each rack overflowed with clothes, and all sorts of interesting decor filled the shelves. Most impressive of all were the masks that covered the entire back wall. Some of them even bore an uncanny resemblance to my relatives back home.
A werewolf greeted us with a “Hooowl can I help you today?” At first I thought he was real, but as he came closer, I noticed the rubber fangs and thin beads of glue that held his fur in place. He reminded me of one of my uncles. He glued his fur on, too, though he did it to cover his bald spots.
Mom, however, was oblivious to the disguise, and she couldn’t stop staring at the rubber teeth. “Oh, you poor thing, you’ve got false fangs, and at such a young age. Were you trying to eat something you shouldn’t have?” She reached for his mouth. “That one there looks ready to burst. Let me just—”
The pretend werewolf swatted Mom’s hand away. “Look, lady, do you need help or not?”
Mom turned to me. “I think I insulted him. Maybe I should tickle him under his chin. That always works with Grandpa.”
I jumped between Mom and the pretend werewolf before any tickling could occur. “Um, I’m looking for school clothes. Tomorrow’s my first day.”
“This place is a costume shop. If you want clothes, try Target or Wal-Mart.”
“Do you have any dresses in blood red?” Mom asked, disregarding the pretend werewolf’s comment.
“Yeah, sure thing.” He mumbled something incoherent under his breath and led us to a rack of clothing. I instantly fell in love with a red velvet skirt dripping with black and silver beads. A picture attached to the skirt showed a zombie woman clawing at the air, and I snickered because no zombie would ever wear anything this fashionable.
“Oh, that’s horrible,” Mom said. “And look at this.” She held up a black sequined top that matched perfectly.
I pulled another four outfits from the racks, and then moved on to the shoe section, where I found a pair of knee-high black boots, a pair of furry orange boots, and a pair of ruby-red slippers.
Next came the accessories. A girl’s got to shine, right? I grabbed some bloodstone earrings that matched the red in the skirt, a silver skull ring, and an eyeball ring that changed colors like my fairy heart necklace.
By the time I finished, I had an armful of stuff and a faceful of smile.
The pretend werewolf hurried Mom and me over to where we needed to pay.
“Cash or credit?” the woman behind the counter asked. She was dressed like one of those evil clowns in Sam’s room, so I kept my distance.
“Credit,” Mom said and handed the human a rectangular card.
The human swiped the card through some boxy thing and handed it back to Mom with a receipt. It was amazing! I couldn’t believe that little card had so much magical powers.
“Can I touch it?” I asked.
Mom handed it to me with a warning: “This is to be used for emergencies only.”
Well, I thought, if fashion isn’t an emergency, I don’t know what is.
“I guess you girls found what you were looking for?” Dad asked and gave me his I told you so smile as he loaded the back of the van with my new clothes.
Okay, maybe he’d been right. Maybe this place wasn’t that adorable, but I wasn’t going to admit it. I mean really. “We did okay.” And I left it at that.
When we got home, I rushed into my bedroom, slipped into one of my new outfits, and stared at myself in the mirror for a long while. I had to admit, I looked pretty good, for a human. There was one thing missing, though. My hair looked adorable compared to my flashy clothes.
Sometimes I think my mom has a radar in her head that can sense when I’m upset. I had barely finished the thought when she walked in. I told her about my dilemma, and her snakes got all excited about the possibility of working on hair.
“I’m thinking something big and bouncy,” I said, running my hand down my long, boring hair.
“Absolutely! Wait right here. I need to get a few things.”
Mom returned with various jars of gels and creams. Some I recognized as the stuff she used to keep her snakes shiny and healthy, and some, I knew, she used only for special occasions, which made me feel grownup and important.
I sat in a chair, while Mom rubbed a warm, tingly cream on my scalp. Bright blue sparks fired around my head, and then my hair shot straight up, as if I’d turned upside down.
Mom added another gel, which was cold, and it froze my hair in place. She considered my hair as she tapped her chin. “Somethi
ng’s missing.” Her eyes lit up bright and golden, and she snapped her fingers. “Got it! Be right back.”
She returned with a bag of glitter dust and drizzled some over me.
“Close your eyes.” She led me in front of the mirror. “Now open.”
I pulled my hands away from my face and gazed at myself, beaming. My boring brown hair had been transformed into a shimmering tower of spider-black and lightning blue.
“It’s horrible,” I said and gave her a big hug.
Mom ushered me out into the living room to show off her work to Dad.
“Bill, come see our little monster,” she called out.
Dad stepped out from the kitchen. “Wow, don’t you look …” He paused as a concerned expression grew on his face. “Hmm. Maybe it’s a little much. In Human Awareness Training I don’t recall the humans—”
“URNS and their silly Human Awareness Training,” Mom scoffed. “What do they know?”
“But, Maddie, these creatures are experts. They’ve done a lot of research—”
“Well, we did our own research out in town. And met real human teenagers. How many of those experts at URNS can say they met real humans?”
Dad shrugged.
“Exactly.”
My parents didn’t disagree on much, but it had been happening more and more ever since The Move began. For a while, they couldn’t look at me or each other, perhaps feeling some deep resentment for the way they’d acted.
Finally, Dad collapsed onto the couch and dipped his head into his hands. “I’m sorry, dear. I just want to make sure we don’t stand out. It’s just me being overly cautious, I guess.” He tilted his head toward me and smiled softly. “You do look horrible, Eve. Really.”
Mom sat next to Dad and grabbed his hand in hers. “Maybe the hair is a little too much. I could maybe lower it a little.”
“No,” Dad said. “It’s perfect. Everything is gonna be perfect.”
My parents failed to mention humans started school so early, and I was less than eager to get out of bed when Mom woke me up at some absurd hour the next morning.
I guess “woke me up” would be a bit misleading, because me and six a.m. didn’t mix, at all. Mom had to wrestle the blanket out of my clenched fists and roll me off the bed. And just to make sure I didn’t decide to climb back in, Mom yelled up to me from the bottom of the stairs, “Hurry up, Eve! You don’t want to be late on your first day!”
Fine.
I put on a frilly black skirt, a black-and-red checkered shirt, and orange furry boots, then filled my wrist with about thirty silver bangles, put on the skull and eyeball rings, and completed the outfit with my fairy heart necklace.
In the kitchen, a table full of food waited for me: chocolate chip muffins, brownies, glazed and cream-filled doughnuts, bars of chocolate surrounding a bowl of peanut butter, candy corn, lollipops, and hot pumpkin—everything I ate for breakfast at home.
Dad was loading another plate full of glazed doughnuts and shifting other dishes around to give me some room. “We thought we’d make your favorites, being it’s your first day at a new school and all,” he said.
I ate so much food that I felt my shirt buttons dig into my belly, but at least all that sugar got me moving. I threw on some black lipstick and black eyeliner, and checked my hair one last time in the bedroom mirror. I didn’t know which of my parents was right about how I should’ve wore my hair for school, but either way, I looked horrible.
Mom handed me a paper bag full of sugary goodies. “Have fun, sweetheart.”
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed to the van with Dad.
The grrr-aj doors opened, and light poured in. I took a deep, jittery breath and told myself, They’re only humans. You can do this. But by the time the van backed out into the street, an all-too-vivid image surfaced in my head. In it, an endless sea of torches and pitchforks waited to greet me.
EIGHT
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
“You’re all set up,” Dad said as we drove into the parking lot. “Just go to the main office and tell them who you are and that you’re a new student. You shouldn’t have to do anything else except enjoy your day.”
Right, like that was gonna happen, I thought. I was more scared now that I was at the school—which, by the way, looked an awful lot like the sane asylums back home.
“You’re a Hallows.” Dad gave me a hug. “You’ll be fine.”
I got out of the van and stood there. I didn’t want to do this, and I ran through every excuse I could think of to get me out of this mess. Begging was even an option, and I turned back prepared to do just that, but Dad had already pulled away.
Great! Thanks for the support!
My first day of school began with a squeak—a whole bunch of them actually—from my boots against the swirly-waxed floor. The sound echoed adorably down the hallways, drawing far more attention from the humans than I would’ve liked.
In no time at all I’d gotten myself lost, and I had no choice but to ask one of them where I could find the main office.
A woman with eyes as big as flesh-eating beetles directed my attention to a sign that read MAIN OFFICE with an arrow pointing to my left.
“Just follow the signs,” the woman said. And then she said something else, which sounded like, I bet you’re tasty. I thanked her and rushed off before I could find out for sure.
I was so anxious about finding the main office that when I finally did, I didn’t notice the glass wall in front of it. I trotted to the office, marveling at its openness, and then—smack! It felt like I’d been whacked by a giant flyswatter, and I teetered on my heels as swirling stars burst behind my eyes.
From the office, I heard an old woman’s voice call out, “You should try using the door. It works better.”
The old woman sat behind a desk at the front of the office, and when I entered—the proper way, you know, through the door—she dipped her big spectacles down her nose to get a better view of me.
“May I help you, miss?”
“Yes. My name’s Eve Hallows … I’m new here.” My hands trembled as I twirled my skull ring around my finger.
The woman stared at me for a moment, then shuffled some paperwork on her desk. She lifted a folder with the name HALLOWS, EVELYN typed along the edge.
“Ah, here we are. Miss Hallows. A freshman. How wonderful. That’s the best time to start a new school, because you’ll be in a class with a bunch of students also getting acclimated to high school.”
I doubted anyone here would be getting used to school the way I was, but I said, “That’s … wonderful.”
“Yes, so, we’ve got you set up with one of your classmates. She’ll be showing you around to help you get comfortable.”
This sounded less than great to me, but I nodded and smiled, nonetheless.
It was then that a tall human man stepped out from a side office. He had thin brown hair and thick brown eyebrows that seemed to be unraveling above his spider-cracked eyes. His huge chin eclipsed the knot of his blue tie, which he presently adjusted—the tie I mean, not the chin.
“Good Morning, Principal McDougal,” the old human said.
The principal nudged his massive chin at the woman, then stopped short when he saw me.
“You plan on staying here looking like … this?” Principal McDougal said. “And what’s with that bizarre necklace?”
I glanced down to see all of the fairy-heart stones glowing like colored fire. I tapped at the stones, trying to turn them off, but it wasn’t working.
“They don’t, er, usually, um, do …” But I was so nervous with the way the principal stared at me that I couldn’t get the words out. Thankfully, the necklace stopped glowing on its own, and McDougal seemed content to continue without an explanation.
“Here at Oak Hill High School, we have a strict dress code. And you, Miss …?”
“Hallows,” I managed.
“You, Miss Hallows, are not even close to meeting those requirements.�
� He pressed a hand onto the old human’s desk. “Mrs. Nutley, please give me a detention slip.”
“But it’s her first day. Perhaps a warning—” Mrs. Nutley started.
“Warning?” He seemed to mull this over as if the word were alien to him. “A warning?” He said again as his eyes chomped away at me.
“Principal McDougal, you’re not really considering detention, are you?” Mrs. Nutley persisted. “I believe a warning for a new student is more than sufficient.”
“Fine,” he muttered. “But it’s all you will get here, Miss …?”
“Hallows.” I gulped. “Evelyn Hallows, sir.”
“Just one warning, Miss Hallows. And tomorrow, I better see you in something more respectable, or I will send you home with an armful of detention slips. Is that clear?”
“Yes, um, Principal McDougal, um, sir.”
“Good.” He about-faced and marched back into his office.
“The principal’s not so bad once you get to know him,” Mrs. Nutley said. She checked to make sure McDougal’s office door was shut and added in a whisper, “Problem is no one ever gets to know him.”
Just then, a human girl entered the office. She had chestnut brown hair, sparkling green eyes, and soft lips that clashed with her thin, muscular shoulders and arms. But what caught my attention most about this human, about most of the humans I’d seen so far, was that she wore regular clothes: black jeans, a purple sleeveless tee-shirt, and bright green sneakers.
Those girls from last night had tricked me. If I ever saw them again …
“Perfect timing,” Mrs. Nutley said. “Eve, this is Carly Beth. She’ll be your chaperone for the next few days while you’re learning your way around school.”
“You look …” Carly Beth paused and examined me from head to toe.