10
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You can’t have a boyfriend, Kat. I cast a spell.
It’s all her fault. Everything.
Harry and I retreat to our rooms across the hall from one another upstairs and both have the same plan: We video chat with Mom and Dad at the airport, where they are waiting for their flight to Florida. Mom picks up my call while Dad clearly picks up Harry’s because I can hear both conversations.
“For the last time, I did not tell Harry you needed help with Samhain,” Mom says, rubbing her temples. I think our fight is giving her a magic migraine. “But isn’t it nice your sister came home to help anyway?”
“I don’t need her,” I say at the same time Harry says, “I’m not helping her,” from her own room across the hall from mine.
“Girls, I hate seeing you two like this,” Dad says, and normally it would pull at my heartstrings, but I know what Harry did. Not that I can tell either of my parents. They’ll rush home because it means that “Peter” isn’t real.
Unless Colton is my soulmate. Which he has to be. I’m sure of it.
My dad is still tripping down memory lane. “It used to be there wasn’t a Samhain you two didn’t spend together. You had sleepovers all week leading up to the holiday, you were so excited.”
“That was a long time ago,” I bite out.
“Maybe it’s time to re-create the memory,” Dad suggests. “You two have the whole house to yourself for Samhain weekend. Why not use it to make some new memories together?”
Harry and I both sigh so loudly from our opposite rooms, I can hear her through the walls and the FaceTime screen. The house creaks loudly as if echoing Dad’s sentiment. Downstairs, there’s a crash. It seems the magical schism we created in the house is still settling.
“She doesn’t need my help, Dad,” Harry says. “She made that clear.”
“Very clear!” I repeat. “I’m doing the protection spells Saturday with Peter.” Who is really Colton. Who now has no clue I was even having a party, thanks to Harry. How am I going to fix all this in time?
Phoebe appears at the edge of my bed and meows mournfully at me, pawing at the wall.
Her nails scratch, and I almost swear aloud.
The crack running from her nails traces all the way up to my ceiling, and it wasn’t caused by a cat.
Crap. I knew we had a fissure in the kitchen and the ceiling, but I didn’t realize the split ran all the way upstairs.
Is it in Harry’s room too? What is going on with this house?
I need to check the spell book to figure out how to mend the walls.
“Girls!” Mom commands our attention. “I don’t know what happened this morning in the hour since your father and I left the house, but I don’t care. You two are big girls.” Mom’s eyes seem to swirl with a rainbow of colors. “You’re sisters. Figure this out together!” And then the video cuts out.
Thank goodness. I’m wasting time talking to them, to be honest. As long as Harry leaves me alone, I might be able to salvage this Samhain.
The first step is figuring out how to invite everyone over to my house for a party in .
. . three days. On the biggest holiday in Mystic Hollow.
I get ready fast and head downstairs, where the back of my neck prickles with the feeling of being watched.
I look over at Great-Aunt Aida’s portrait.
Is it me or does she look particularly peeved?
I pull my coat tightly around me and look at my cat, who has followed me downstairs.
“Be good, Phoebs,” I whisper, and shut the door behind me.
Walking to school, I pull out my phone. There is a text from the aunts with a picture of Aunt Viv’s left arm and Aunt Diane’s right ear; a tiny gold broomstick hanging from her lobe.
“LOve Theeee Bt!$” says the text, which I take to mean “love the boat.” Which is great.
This is what I wanted: For my aunts to go away on a six-month cruise so I can have a Halloween party without their meddling.
But now? After this fight with Harry and Mom cutting us off, I feel alone.
I can’t even complain to anyone really about Harry’s spell without ruining my plan.
I’ve been cursed. By my own sister. The idea is so ridiculous and awful I’m not sure if I should laugh or cry.
The wind rustles through the trees, and in the distance, I hear a wolf howl.
At least I think it’s a wolf. I’ve never heard one in Mystic Hollow before.
In the distance, there are sirens, and then I see a police car rush down the street.
Another unfamiliar sight in a town where the only crime is toilet-papering people’s homes during sports initiations and Halloween.
Up ahead, I see Laney waiting for me at the edge of Mystic Hollow High’s fields, and I walk faster.
I have a lot to tell her. I bet I could scare her out of her chunky black boots in just one sentence.
At whatever face I make, she clutches her book bag to her chest and her “In My Book Girl Era” tee from her mom’s store and her eyes go wide.
But suddenly my anger fades and a nervous energy seems to wallop me in the face as my hands start tingling.
It’s happening again. I shake out my hands. Could this be my magic?
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“It’s the weirdest thing,” she says, pushing red glasses up onto the bridge of her nose. “I was passing the Crofts’ house and there were several police cars out front. Mayor Croft was having a meltdown. Something about an intruder standing at the foot of his bed when he woke up.”
“A break-in? In Mystic Hollow?” I can’t help sounding skeptical, which I know is foolish.
I watch crime shows with my dad sometimes.
It’s not like Mystic Hollow is immune, even though Mom and the aunts claim we’re well protected.
It hasn’t dawned on me till now that maybe that protection has to do with our Hadley spells.
But it’s not Halloween yet. They can’t be failing—can they?
“I know! That’s what I thought. One of the cops was saying he searched the property and found no one and nothing was taken. I basically hid out behind a scarecrow on the street to listen to the whole conversation. I knew you’d want details.”
She’s such a good friend. “Did you see Colton?”
Her face falls. “Yes. He’s fine. Are you still planning on going to his Halloween party?”
“What?” I rack my brain. There’s no way I missed an invitation to a Colton Croft party. “He isn’t throwing a party. When is he throwing a party?”
“Halloween,” Laney repeats, like I’ve sprouted two extra heads.
“You know, when Halloween parties are. You’ve been talking about it for weeks.
The evite went out back in September.” I check my email and see an email from Colton with the subject line: Killer Halloween Party!
(No one will die!) I click on it and read the details.
It’s my evite exactly. Down to the time, the food, and the details about the party being outside.
It’s as if Harry took my whole party and just transferred it over to Colton.
Some witch I am. This was one scenario I didn’t anticipate.
“I can’t believe this,” I grumble, getting mad at Harry all over again.
“That’s when my party was supposed to be! ”
“Your party? Your parents don’t let you throw Halloween parties.”
I groan. “Laney, I literally don’t have the energy for this.”
Laney fidgets, adjusting her jacket with the wind. “Okay . . .”
“I’m serious!” I sigh. Laney is my closest friend. If I can’t talk to her, I’m truly alone. “I know you don’t remember, but that’s because of magic. Harry found out about the party and did a spell to cancel it and make everyone forget.”
Laney pulls at a strand of her own dark hair. “Are you saying Harry cast a spell on me?” I nod. “I can’t believe her!” she says, sounding outraged on my behalf, for which I’m glad. She frowns.
“What?”
“So what are you going to do about the rituals? I know you need your one true love. If you can’t get Colton to your house for Halloween—”
“I’ll get him there,” I say.
“I think you should call Harry. Have her call her boyfriend. The one she dumped right after Halloween her senior year. What was his name? Jack?”
I pull at a loose thread on my quilted coat and watch the stitching unravel. “I don’t need perfect Harry to cast her perfect spell with her perfect boyfriend. I’m going to do it. With Peter.”
“Who’s Peter? Seriously, Kat, you are not making sense.”
“I mean Colton!” I cry. I stomp away and then wait for Laney to catch up. We’re going to be late for school at this rate.
Laney thinks for a moment. “If it makes you feel any better, Mayor Croft seemed really upset about the intruder. Maybe Colton will cancel his party—”
I brighten. “Yes! I mean, I’m not thrilled about the break-in, but maybe you’re right.
Then I can offer to have the party at my house where there are no chaperones, and Colton will think I’ve saved Halloween.
” I warm at the thought of Colton and me greeting people at my front door.
Now all I have to do is get rid of Harry.
We’ve reached the school parking lot. Kids are pouring into school, walking or getting off buses.
I see Colton and two friends getting out of a car together.
“I just need to find a way to get him alone, but we don’t have the same lunch period and the only class we have together is chemistry. I’m not doing it there.”
“Definitely not.” Laney purses her lips. “What about stopping by his house? We can do some investigating and maybe float the idea of you hosting.”
“Laney, you are brilliant!” Maybe I don’t have my sister in my life, but I do have the next closest thing to it.
I reach up to touch my crystal out of habit and remember.
It’s shattered in a million pieces in the kitchen.
My hands tingle in response to the thought.
I try to push my sadness away. I don’t need Harry or the crystal. I can do this on my own.