“Mom. I am a witch. The costumes they sell at Walmart aren’t how real witches dress.”
“Jax dresses like that.”
“Case in point. She’s not a real witch.”
“Well, the town people don’t know how real witches dress. They think you’re supposed to wear tights and a fluffy dress with a black hat.”
My arms shot out of the blankets and I tossed the covers down to my waist to turn and look at my mother harshly. “You want me to wear a fluffy dress?! You can’t be serious. No Mother, it’s not happening.”
“Mercy, you used to wear the fluffy dress and tights when you were a little girl…”
“Because I had no choice! You dressed me!”
“Mercy, please? For your brother?”
“What’s the point of just me dressing up like a witch? There’s no way I’ll be able to convince Alba to put on a witch’s costume.”
“Oh, come one, Mercy Bear. Work your magic.”
“That’s not the kind of magic I do, Mom.”
“It’s an expression. See what you can find, ok? For me and Reign?”
“Only if you go away,” I growled, rolling back onto my right side to face the wall.
“Fine. I’m going. There’s a little shop downtown, across from the bakery that sells Halloween costumes. Chesney and I just stopped over there on our walk and they have lots of stuff left and it’s all on sale.”
“Mom!”
“I’m going, but if you don’t get up now, the day is going to get away from you,” she said. Sneaks stood up and stretched, arching her back. “Love you Mercy, I’ll see you at the party!”
I turned my head to make sure that she was gone before rolling onto my back and pounding the sheets. “Ugh!” I growled as I pounded the thin mattress. Why was my mother always able to make me do what I didn’t want to do? How did she always have that affect on me?
I swung my legs off of my bed and sat up slowly. My body was tired and sore from all of the squatting and lifting I’d been doing over the last two days, but I figured if Jax was still sleeping, she had to be hurting just as badly as I was. She must have been sleeping hard too, I was surprised that my one-sided conversation with the cat hadn’t woken her. I stood up and peered up onto the top bunk, but couldn’t see anything. I stepped onto the edge of my bed and hoisted myself up higher so I could see the entire top bunk. Shockingly, it was empty! And here all this time I thought she was up there sleeping.
I heard our door handle turning slowly and little by little it opened. Her hat entered before she did, but eventually, her face caught up as she peered around the door. “Oh! You’re finally up! Yay,” Jax cheered excitedly, throwing the lights on and barging in.
Jolted by the brightness, I covered my face with my arms. “Thanks,” I hollered sarcastically.
“Oh, sorry,” Jax said brightly. “I thought you’d never wake up!”
“What time did you get up? I thought you were sleeping all this time.”
“Well that’s just silly, silly. I got up the same time I always do. I can’t let the girls in my yoga club down! I could hardly sleep anyway, the Halloween party is today!”
“Oh,” I said, stepping down off of my bed. “Have you eaten?”
“Of course I have. Breakfast and lunch. They are still serving downstairs if you want some lunch.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’ll just have a pop-tart or something. Where are the rest of the girls? I need to talk to them.”
“We are all in Holly and Alba’s room. I just came to see if you were awake yet.”
I grabbed my glasses from the desk and put them on. “Ok, come on, I need to talk to everyone quick.”
Jax led the way and in seconds the Witch Squad was reunited. Surprisingly, everyone looked bright-eyed and awake, even Alba, though she looked to be her usual grumpy self, sitting on her bed, playing a game on her phone.
“You guys look wide awake,” I told them.
Holly looked at the time on her phone. “It is past noon. We all met for breakfast.”
“Oh, wow. I guess I assumed everyone was sleeping in today. I didn’t even hear Jax get ready or leave the room. Look, here’s the deal. Sneaks came to see me just now. Mom wants us to wear witch costumes when we ride in on our broomsticks.”
Holly and Sweets nodded. “Duh?” Holly said, as if I should have known that.
“Mom already told you?”
“No. Why would she have to? We’re flying in on broomsticks and going to a Halloween party. Were you planning to wear a bunny costume?”
“I wasn’t planning on wearing any costume. I guess I hadn’t thought about it.”
“Holly and I already have our outfits put together,” Sweets said excitedly. “They are super cute, too.”
“Huh,” I replied, stunned that Holly and Sweets were a step ahead of me. “What are you wearing, Alba?”
“I’m sure as heck not wearing a witch costume, I’ll tell you that,” Alba grumbled.
“Oh, Alba, you have to,” Jax cried. “It’s for a good cause! They are giving all admission proceeds to the women’s shelter.”
“So?”
“So? You have to dress up like a witch to play the part!”
“Maybe I don’t really want to play the part,” Alba said grouchily without taking her eyes off of her game.
Jax looked up at the ceiling and threw her arms out. “Oh for crying out loud. Must you be such a pain in everyone’s butt all the time? You have so much going for you! You’re smart and a natural born leader. You’re good at everything you do. You have powers. You can fly. You can move things with your mind. Sometimes you can even read people’s minds. You are a pretty girl, even though you don’t dress like a girl. I assume you have a family that loves you very much, even though you never talk about them. What is your problem? Where has life done you wrong?”
I was pretty sure my jaw dropped just then, as did Sweets’ and Holly’s. The room went silent for about five seconds before Alba stood up and tossed her phone on the bed, right before hulking out on Jax.
“Oh, I don’t know, Shorty. Maybe life did me wrong when I got pregnant at 16. Or when I was forced to marry the guy just because he knocked me up,” she roared. Towering above Jax, she drilled a finger into the pixie’s chest as slowly they moved backwards towards the wall. “It could have been when I lost the baby right before he was supposed to be born, but had to stay married because my father said no one would want me after all of that. Maybe I’m upset about the fact that I still live with my parents because we don’t make enough money to get our own place yet. I could also be upset because I really have no idea how my husband truly feels about me, because he has communication problems, and he hasn’t texted or called me since I left home almost two months ago. Maybe I’m just annoyed because you whine and complain about not being a witch when some people in the world have much bigger problems in life. Or just maybe I’m upset because now you want me to dress up in a frou-frou dress to be a witch in a stupid Halloween pageant!”
When Alba was done, she glared down at Jax menacingly. Jax shrank, quivering, waiting for the next barrage of verbal vomit to erupt. I could tell she wanted to take back what she had said to Alba, but it was too late. Both of them had put words out there that couldn’t be taken back.
They stood there, each not knowing what to do for several very long, very painful seconds before finally, Jax did the only thing she knew how to do. She threw her arms around Alba’s waist and squeezed. And oddly enough, Alba allowed it. As the seconds ticked by, Holly, Sweets, and I watched them, Jax hanging onto Alba while Alba’s face slowly changed from angry, vicious, uncaring Alba, to an Alba none of us had seen before, a hurt, scarred, and wounded Alba.
When the first tear hit her cheek I thought I was seeing things, but when the second tear dropped, I knew what I saw was real. Sweets and Holly saw it too. I could see it in their faces, Sweets was nearly in tears herself and Holly hung her head low – probably thinking about all the
mean things she’d said to Alba in response to Alba’s grumpiness.
Sweets took the first step forward. She wrapped one arm around Jax and the other around Alba, letting her face rest on Alba’s shoulder. Holly was next, hugging them on the other side. Even though I really hated hugging, I realized that what I hated most was silly displays of affection. But this didn’t feel silly. This felt like our friend was hurting and needed to be comforted. It felt like she had endured 8 years of pain and the universe had given her to us to help bring her out of her pain.
Making a Jax sandwich, I put my arms around Holly and Sweets and leaned my forehead onto Alba’s, smashing Jax between us. The hug was short in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough. Something happened to the five of us in that moment. The Witch Squad became something more than just five girls struggling through witch college. We became family.
{ Chapter Twenty}
I spun around in the mirror, looking at the back of my ridiculous costume with horror. My butt looked ginormous with all the black tulle that was sticking out from under the short black and orange dress I’d found at the Halloween store across from the bakery. My orange and black tights looked ridiculous on my skinny legs and the black wide-brimmed hat smashed my bangs against my forehead awkwardly. I couldn’t believe I was about to let Hugh see me in such a humiliating getup. “You owe me big time, Mom,” I whispered under my breath.
My only saving grace was the fact that I’d found some black 80’s punk arm warmers at the vintage shop next to the Halloween store. Those at least made my witch costume look more vintage rock than cliché.
I inspected my appearance one last time and then unlocked my dorm room door and pulled it open. Holly, Jax, and Sweets were waiting for me anxiously in the hallway.
“Ahh!” Jax screamed when she saw me. “You look so cute!”
Holly’s huge smile faded when she looked down at my feet. “Why are you wearing those?”
I looked down at my feet as well. I had my Converse hi-top sneakers on as usual. “Wearing what?”
“Those sneakers!”
I glanced at her feet. Sure her pointy-toed witch boots fit the theme better, but no one was promising her comfort.
I shook my head and laughed. “Because they are comfortable. I wouldn’t be caught dead in pointy-toed shoes.”
Holly put a hand on her hip. “They are throwing off the whole vibe.”
“Then so be it. My mother told me I had to wear the dress, the tights, and the hat. She didn’t say a blessed word about the shoes. I’m going as an 80’s punk witch and they wore Converses in the 80’s,” I told her. “Besides, no one is going to be looking at me anyway. The three of you will steal the show in those outfits.”
“You think?” Jax asked excitedly, spinning around for me to see the full effect of her outfit. “I’m bringing spooky back,” she added with a wink.
“Yes, you are,” I agreed, chuckling. She’d gone all out. She’d traded in her usual cutesy witch garb for a long, floor-length, black gown with a black satin cape and a long stringy black wig. Holly had done an amazing job on Jax’s makeup, giving her green skin, dark circles under her eyes, exaggerated black pointy eyebrows and an oversized nose with a wart. Jax had even put on green pointy fingernails and thrown in fake jagged teeth. She’d managed to give the Wicked Witch of the West a run for her money.
“If Jax is bringing spooky back, then I’m bringing sexy back,” Holly said. She turned and strutted down the hallway as if she were walking the catwalk at a runway show. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever seen a witch wearing a bustier as a top before, but I guess it worked. It had the intended effect anyway – her boobs looked amazing. In addition to her exposed breasts, her skirt was short and I was more than slightly afraid if she bent over she might not have any secrets left to spill. To top off her mini-dress-thing, she wore pointy thigh-high stiletto boots and a cute little witch hat on a headband that was cocked ever so slightly to the right.
“You look cute Holly,” I agreed. “You realize there are going to be children at this event, though, right?”
“Nothing they haven’t seen before at home, I’m sure,” she said with a laugh and a twinkle in her eye.
“How about you, Sweets? What are you bringing back?”
“I’m bringing Mary Sanderson back,” Sweets announced proudly as she spun around.
“Who is Mary Sanderson?” I asked, cluelessly.
The girls all giggled.
“You know, in Hocus Pocus? Kathy Najimy? The one with the mouth thing?” Sweets pinched one eye shut and tried to make her mouth mimic Mary’s funny expression in the movie.
It had been years since I’d seen that movie, but once she told me who she was supposed to be and made the face, it clicked. “Did Holly do your hair?”
She nodded. “Isn’t it great?”
“Yeah, it looks amazing,” I said of the witch hat that Holly had crafted by twisting Sweets’ brown hair up high onto her head into the shape of a hat. She’d even perfected the thick eyebrows and moles just like in the movie. “And where did you get the rag dress? It looks very authentic.”
Sweets squealed excitedly. “Jax helped me put it together.”
“I thought you two couldn’t sew,” I said, looking at them suspiciously out of the corner of my eye.
“We can’t,” Jax giggled. “We watched YouTube videos. There wasn’t much sewing involved, mostly we were just layering things on top of each other. We only sewed a few patches onto the skirt to make it look more like a rag skirt.”
“We got the pieces from the thrift store. It actually wasn’t that hard,” Sweets explained.
“Nice,” I said. I took one of her hands and twirled her around so I could see the whole outfit again. They’d paired an orange peasant top with a burgundy bustier over the top of it and a purple rag skirt. Her purple stiletto ankle booties and burgundy cape tied at the neck really set the whole outfit off. “You guys really get into Halloween, don’t you?”
“Of course we do,” Jax chirped.
“We’re witches!” Holly agreed.
“Well, you’re going to kill it at the party. Where’s Alba? Is she still getting ready?”
Holly shrugged. “I’m not really sure what she’s doing in there.”
“I’ll get her.” I walked down the hallway and knocked on her door quickly. “Alba, it’s almost time to go. Are you ready yet?”
“Who is it?” she barked.
“It’s Mercy. Can I come in?”
“Just a minute,” she said. Seconds later I heard the door being unlocked and Alba peeked her head out. “Are you alone?”
I looked down the hallway at the girls. “The girls are down there waiting for us, what’s taking you so long?”
She opened the door wider and pulled me inside. “Alba, what the ….,”
As soon as the door shut behind me, I noticed her outfit. The cheap witch costume we’d purchased earlier was still sitting on her bed and Alba was wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt that said: “This is my costume.”
“Alba! You’re not dressed!” I complained, looking down at my Batman watch. “It’s time to go. It’s almost dark and we’re supposed to fly over the restaurant in about 15 minutes!”
Alba looked at me anxiously. “Red, I can’t do this. I can’t dress up like a frickin’ idiot.”
I grunted and ran my hands up and down my sides. “Look at me! Look what I’m doing. You think I wanted to dress like this?”
“Yeah, but you’re doing it for your mom and your brother. I have no reason to dress like a fool.”
“You’d be helping me out! I really don’t want to do this without you,” I explained, nearly losing my patience. I really had thought that the moment we’d had earlier in the day had convinced Alba to be a little bit more empathetic to the group’s needs instead of just her own. I guess I was wrong.
“I know, Red, but I had an even better idea. Something that would make everyone happy,” Alba said as a slow sneaky
smile spread across her face. “But I’m gonna need your help to pull it off.”
***
Jax, Holly, Sweets, and I drove into town in Sweets’ cars with all five broomsticks stowed away in the backseat. The weekend before we’d decided that we were going to take off on our broomsticks from the park instead of the Institute since most of us were still novices and were worried about flying that far on such an important night.
Jax had chosen to watch us take off instead of land because she wanted to be part of the group right up until the end, even though she couldn’t participate in the flying part. Then she was going to drive Sweets’ car to the party and park in the back so we had our car when it was time to leave.
Alba asked me to relay to the girls that she was running late but would catch a ride to the park with Hugh and Tristan, who were going to be leaving for the party shortly after we were. The boys hadn’t seen us yet and wanted to be surprised by the big reveal as we rode in on our broomsticks.
“I can’t believe Alba’s late,” Holly complained, as she straddled her broomstick in the middle of the park. “It’s getting darker by the minute. We’re supposed to get there before it’s really dark and no one can even see us!”
“I totally thought Alba was going to change,” Sweets said, hanging her head sadly.
As if on cue, my phone rang. I pulled it out of the waistband of my skirt and looked down at the caller ID. “Oh! It’s Alba,” I said with mock surprise. “Hi Alba, what’s going on?” I asked stiffly, while I turned to give the girls a toothy smile, before faking a conversation on my end, “Uh-huh, ok, oh, really? Oh, that’s too bad. No, that’s fine, we’ll see you there then.” I hung up the phone.
“Alba said that she can’t make it. The boys are having car trouble.”
Holly stomped her foot down on the soft grass. “Well for pity sake. Why doesn’t she just fly here then?”
Jax pointed to the car. “Because, she told us to take her broomstick for her, remember?”
“Ugh,” Holly groaned. “It’s just like Alba to do this. I bet she did something to Hugh’s truck so she wouldn’t have to fly in with us.”
Witch Degrees of Separation: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #3 Page 18