Knightsen, Part 2

Halloween is the most dangerous night for necromancers, especially for Stephen and Jolisa, two teenage necromancers who are madly in love with each other. But as October 31 looms closer over the town of Knightsen, Jolisa slowly falls for the undead Sha

Part 2- Halloween

 

        The nightmare had been so real that I sprang out of bed when I forced myself awake, and tried to keep myself from screaming. I clutched my bed sheets to center myself, making myself stop feeling like I was floating away. I was safe, back at home in my room. The sun had not yet risen, but a few birds had already begun their morning songs. I closed my eyes, focused on my breathing, calming down.

        They were becoming worse and worse every night. They were more vivid, more real, and more horrific. They had disturbed me so much that I not only told Stephen about them, I told my parents too, as well as Clem and Charlie. My boyfriend, Stephen, was the only one who really understood what was going on with me. Since he, too, is a necromancer.

        In each dream I was underwater. I could breathe somehow, but I had no control over my body. I just felt myself floating down, down, down. The blue water started turning black, and huge bubbles rose past me, toward the surface. Around that time I would realize that I wasn't sinking, I was being pulled down by something. There was nothing grabbing on to me though, it was some kind of invisible force, drawing me toward it. And when the water became so dark that I was completely blinded, I could hear it. I'm still not sure if it was speaking, or breathing, or whatever, but I could definitely hear some kind of noise that was coming from the being. I could feel it all around me, like an earthquake, rumbling in my mind and through my entire body. And after descending a few more feet I could make out some kind of language, which I recognized as the language used in the Necronomicon. I still don't know any words of it, just a few banishing chants and a handful of spells, so I have no idea what it's saying to me. But the closer I would get, the more frightened I would become. I would struggle against it, and try to swim up, but whatever had caught me was too strong. I would try screaming with all my might, but soon the voice of the thing would become so loud that I couldn't even hear myself. Then would come the burning feeling, the most intense heat I have ever felt, and I knew right then that I was about to die.

        And that would be the moment where I would wake up.

        I shivered in my bed. For a second I thought I was soaked in the water from the ocean in my dream, but I realized it was sweat. I was covered in it from head to toe. I got out of the bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. I shuddered when I got in, feeling the water around me. It reminded me way too much of the dream. I washed my hair as quickly as I could and then hopped out, feeling absolutely disgusted with myself. I didn't understand why I had to keep having the same dream. When was it going to end?

        How is it that the Necronomicon has such a firm grasp on my soul?

-

        By now, Stephen automatically knew that I would be with the alpacas around the time he came to pick me up for school. I was feeding the girls when I heard the door swing open. My heart soared, knowing that in a few moments I would be in my favorite place: his embrace. I kept my back to him, pretending that I hadn't heard him. I grinned as I felt his arms encircle my waist, and his lips danced around the nape of my neck.

        “Good morning, my love,” he whispered into my ear.

        I turned around, “Good morning, dear,” I said as I grabbed his red tie and used it to pull his head down toward mine, where I kissed him a few times on his lips. His hands traveled from my waist up to my shoulders, holding me tighter.

        Once he had a good look at my face he frowned, “What's wrong?” he asked, “It wasn't the nightmare again, was it?”

        I sighed. No matter how hard I tried to hide how miserable I felt in the few hours after waking up, he could still see past me. I just nodded, and he squeezed me in a tight hug.

        “Do you want to talk about it again?” he mumbled into my hair. I shook my head.

        He let me go, holding on to my hands, and spoke tenderly, “I know just how you feel. It happens to every necromancer, I assure you. Once the Necronomicon is used to you, it will stop giving you such terrible nightmares. You just have to wait it out. Okay?”

        “But,” I spoke while trying to fight down tears, “It's been two weeks. You said yours only lasted for a few days. And they're getting a lot worse. I'm starting to really hate water,” I forced a smile, “Sounds crazy, huh?”

        “No it doesn't,” he kissed my forehead, “I promise you that one day it will get better. The book just has to adjust itself to you. Now, have you finished your morning chores?”

        “I have to feed a few more,” I looked over at the cluster of alpacas. They were staring at me with their huge, dopey eyes, begging to be fed.

        “I'll help,” Stephen said, picking up the bag of feed. He was getting more and more used to working with the alpacas, I didn't have to tell him what to do anymore, or how to do it. And almost the entire herd knew him, and they were really comfortable around him. Yet nobody loved him more than Michelle who, after Stephen fed the adults, cushed right down at his feet, begging for his attention. He laughed, and gave her a big hug around her middle. Michelle cooed with pleasure.

        “You're a great boyfriend,” I said suddenly.

        “Who, me?” Stephen looked up at me, smiling.

        “Yes you,” I said, “I think you understand me the most out of anyone I know. And I wouldn't be the same if it weren't for you.”        

        Now he frowned, “You wouldn't be a necromancer if it weren't for me.”

        “True,” I said, helping him up from the ground, “But it's worth it, to have you with me.”

        He gave me a peck on my cheek, “Do you know what day it is?”
He caught me off guard, “Um, Thursday?” I answered hesitantly.

        “Well, yeah,” he laughed, “But it's also our one month anniversary.”

        I gasped. I hadn't even been keeping track, “It is? But... oh my gosh, that's really exciting!”

        “I know,” he smiled, “And I have something special planned for us on Saturday.”
“Really? What is it?”
“I'll show you when we're in the car,” he took my hand, leading me out of the barn and toward his Prius. Words couldn't describe how happy I felt.

-

        Clem sat on my desk, “So, one month, right?”

        Stephen and I gaped at her, “How did you know?” I asked incredulously.

        She held up her school planner, which she also used as a diary to keep track of all of her and her friends' social outings, “Hell-o, I write down everything, just for moments like this. Don't tell me you two forgot?”
“I didn't,” Stephen grinned proudly, “Don't worry, Clem. She's in good hands.”
“You're telling me,” Clem's eyes looked up and down Stephen's body, checking him out.

        “No,” I nudged her off of my desk, “Stop that. Think of Dan.”

        She giggled, “I know, I'm sorry, I just can't help it. It's a joke, I swear, of course I love Dan. But speaking of important dates,” she flipped her book to next week, pointing at a specific date, “You know what's coming up?”

        I looked, and she was pointing right at October 31^st. I grinned, “Halloween!”

        “Yep!” Clem beamed. Every year she threw a Halloween party at her house, since Knightsen was always one of the worst places to go trick or treating. There was no way you could walk to every house in town in one night, and most of the residents left to go to other parties anyway. It also doesn't help that Knightsen is pitch black at night, due to the lack of street lamps. Clem's Halloween party has always been one of my favorite yearly traditions, and I always looked forward to it.

        “You two,” Clem pointed at me and Stephen, “are obviously invited. Lia and Mike are coming too. Bella is volunteering at the church so she will do her best to come. But besides her, everything is working out great!”

        I turned to Stephen, “Just wait, the Halloween party is always so much fun!” but my joyful expression went away when I saw Stephen's face. He had practically gone pale.

        “Whoa,” Clem noticed it too, “Are you okay, Steve?”

        “Um,” he muttered, “I... don't think I can make it that night. Sorry but... I don't think there's any way.”

        “Lame!” Clem exclaimed, “What could you be doing that's better than a party?”

        Stephen looked at me, pleadingly. I wished with all my might that I could read minds.

        “Don't worry,” I said to my best friend, “We'll work it out. We'll be there.”

        “Awesome, I'll put you two on the guest list,” Clem skipped off to the back of the class to sit with the rest of our friends.

        I turned back to Stephen, who was still as pale as a ghost, “What's wrong?” I whispered.

        “You can't go either,” he said to me, “We will have... business that night.”

        “What do you mean?” I felt suddenly scared, “You mean... that kind of business, don't you?”

        He nodded, “I'll explain later, but... that night... is the worst night for people like us.”

        I shuddered, not wanting to know any more. My mind went straight back to my nightmare, and I had to push it out of my brain as class began.

        Mr. Martinez started off with one of his famous lectures, but this month our book was The Scarlet Letter, which Stephen and I both dreaded reading. We both agree that the writing is outdated and the message is very old fashioned, and it failed to captivate our interest. But, just to make the class time interesting and challenging, Stephen pretended to disagree with me for the sake of our academic rivalry and pretended that he loved it. It also kept the class from killing themselves with boredom.

        Our teacher was going over the book, chapter by chapter, to prepare us for an upcoming test. As I yawned, struggling to pay attention to the useless lesson, I heard a girl's voice speak to me with a very thick Irish accent, Jo?

        I smiled. Shade O'Ireland had come to see me. She was officially known as Shade Of Ireland, but that's not at all how she really pronounces it. Ireland looked like she was just about to become a teenager, and had long, raggedy hair and a tattered dress. She was also one of the sweetest people I have ever met, dead or alive. Over the past few weeks she had become more like a little sister to me, and I felt extremely protective of her. I dreaded the day when she would move on to the Summerland.

        Jo, she continued, can you come over, sometime today? There's something you should take a look at.

        I nodded, hoping that she could see the movement between the otherworldly veil that separated our dimensions.

        Good!, she cheered, and I heard her skip away, singing. I smiled, and looked over at Stephen to see if he had heard her. He continued to look straight ahead, doing his best to be interested in Nathaniel Hawthorne. Since I was a shade necromancer, I could hear them a lot easier. What I understood from Stephen's standpoint as a general necromancer, he could deal with anything but never really had a personal connection to any specific creature in the Winterland. Shades loved me, practically worshiping the ground I walk on, while they only seem to tolerate Stephen. There was only one shade that really seemed to like Stephen, and I quickly shoved him out of my thoughts, doing my best to forget him.

        Every single day Shining Prince Shade crossed my mind, and every single time I felt incredibly guilty. I knew with all my heart that I should tell Stephen about the night that Shade and I kissed, but as time passed that conversation would become more and more uncomfortable. What would Stephen do if he found out, especially if it wasn't from me? I still didn't even know how I felt about the whole situation. I knew I loved Stephen, totally and completely, but when I was alone with Shade everything was different. I had feelings for him, that was definite. I knew that whenever I felt jealousy when he was around other girls, or how happy he made me whenever he came to my rescue. I'm just not sure exactly what those feelings are. What if I really wasn't in love with Stephen? What if I thought that was love, but the one that I truly loved was Shade and I didn't even know it?

        There was absolutely nobody I could tell about this, and that made it even worse. It was like having an invisible backpack full of stones that I had to carry around, and everyday the stones grew heavier and heavier, and nobody would be around to help me hold it. It was the worst kind of guilt, it was more like...

        “Betrayal,” Stephen said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I was afraid for a second that Stephen had found a way to listen in on my thoughts, until Mr. Martinez said, “That's a good one, Mr. Morrison. What are some other issues that Dimmesdale is dealing with in this chapter? Mr. Atkins?”

        I slowly sank back into a slouch in my seat, letting myself calm down. Stephen turned to me, oblivious to my reaction, and winked at me. I gave him a weak smile, trying my best not to think about Shade.

-

        All the girls were walking over to Lia's for lunch, as the boyfriends decided to car pool to Brentwood for fast food. I was showing them the pamphlet that Stephen had given me on the way to school.

        “It doesn't sound very romantic for a one month anniversary gift,” Clem frowned.

        “I guess it is, when you consider they are both brainiacs,” said Lia, taking the leaflet from Clem to read it over, “At least it's in San Francisco.”

        “I think it's cool,” said Charlie, “I mean, the artifacts they would have on display are probably super wicked. Literally.”

        “Lemme see,” Angie took the pamphlet from Lia and read, “'Museum of the Dead, a one month exhibit at the de Young Museum, featuring items from all over the world centering around different ideas of death from various cultures.' Yeah, that does sound way too creepy for a date.”

        I suppose it did. That was my first reaction when I saw the pamphlet myself, until Stephen pointed out a small list of the things that would be on exhibit. My jaw dropped as my eyes fell on a tiny picture of a very recognizable book. The caption next to it read “A German edition of the Necronomicon, the supposed Book of the Dead.”

        “Lia's right,” I said as I took the paper from Angie and stuck it back between my books, “It's in San Francisco, in Golden Gate Park. That's just one of the things we're going to do. We're going to spend the entire day exploring the city.”

        “That sounds great!” Clem chirped, “I remember the first time Dan took me to the city, he took me to this really nice Italian restaurant...”

        A thought came into my mind, and I interrupted Clem since I knew that she would end up going on forever if nobody stopped her, “Do I have to get Stephen something for our one month?”

        “Like what?” asked Charlie.

        “I dunno. He buys me stuff all the time. And he brings me flowers every time we go on a date. And I never really get him anything, you know?”

        “I wish Russ was still that romantic,” Charlie sighed, “He never even gets me flowers anymore, but only because we've been together for so long.”

        “You know,” said Lia, with a sneaky look on her face, “there is something that you should be giving him by now, if you know what I mean.”

        “What? Is it a... wait a sec,” I had a bad feeling about this, “You don't mean sex, do you?”

        “Well duh,” shrugged Lia, “It's what guys expect in return, for all of their hard work. And if Stephen is doing all that for you, he must be begging for it.”

        “For your information,” I stood as straight as I could, feeling like I was talking more to mischievous shades than my friends, and I had to be authoritative, “Stephen has told me that he's not ready until I'm ready. And I'm pretty sure that we're not ready yet.”

        Charlie rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sure, I've heard that one before.”
“Oh really?” I crossed my arms, “How so?”
“That's just guy speak,” she said, “He's basically saying that he's ready and willing at a moments notice, but he doesn't want to make the first move. There's no such thing as a guy who is not ready for sex, trust me.”

        Allie piped up, “Remember when I was dating Chris Hodel? And we broke up after like a month and a half? He ended it because he said that, after a month of commitment, he should be getting some.”

        “No way,” I was shocked, “I didn't know that's why you guys split!”

        Allie nodded, “Guys just expect it after a certain amount of time. Stephen is probably dying for some. Are you guys staying in a room in the city?”

        “I don't know,” I said honestly, “He's keeping most of the plans a surprise.”

        “Exactly,” Allie said wisely, “After a certain amount of time, guys have expectations. You don't have to go all the way, but there are definitely little things that he will be all too happy to do to you.”

        I looked around at the other girls, who were all nodding agreeably with each other.

        “You've got to be kidding me,” I said out loud, “That's not how Stephen works. He's different.”

        “No, he's your first,” Clem touched my arm condescendingly, “There's no such thing as a perfect guy, you'll get used to it one day.”

        “Actually I'm going to disagree,” said Lia, “I met a perfect guy once. Best kisser of my life.”

        “Really?” asked Angie, “Who?” I was afraid to hear the answer.

        “Stephen's friend from Japan. Shade,” she answered, and I cringed, “I mean, he was pretty much a total jerk, and I haven't seen him since the dance. But when he kissed me, it literally felt like an electric shock, but in a good way.”

        I stumbled a tiny bit on the dirt road. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Before the girls could say anything else I quickly said, “So what's for lunch, Lia?”

        Lia Lackey has this way of looking at you that let's you know that she knows exactly what is going on in your mind, but she won't say anything and will keep the secret to herself. She was giving me that look now, which meant she knew I was changing the subject because of Shade, but went along with me anyway, “Pork chops. It was my Dad's birthday last night, and that's his favorite. Oh, and you guys have to check out his birthday gift.”

        We had reached her house, and we dashed up the front stairs and into her home. Mrs. Lackey, the head of the Garden Club, was sitting in the living room surrounded by huge pieces of paper. Lia held one of them up, and we saw that they were plans for a lavish new house. We ooed and awed at the right places as Lia and her mother pointed out all the details.

        “We only have to figure out where we're going to build it,” Mrs. Lackey concluded, “Obviously it will be here in Knightsen, we just have to find the perfect property.”

        “I have one in mind, but it's still kinda secret,” said Lia, and this time I had no idea why she gave me her super sneaky look.

-

        “So what's the deal with Halloween?” I asked Stephen in the car on the way home from school. As he was now an official employee of Verne Alpacas, he would help me with the animals every day until sunset.

        Stephen clutched the steering wheel a little harder than usual at the mention of Halloween, “Well, you know it's the day where ghosts and witches and demons or whatever are supposed to come out and cause mischief, right?”

        I nodded, “Yeah, I went to kindergarten, I'm pretty sure I know the theory behind Halloween.”

        “The thing is, it's not just ghosts and witches. It's shades, encantado, banshees, drudes, incubi, vampires, the works. The creatures that we know and love.”

        “But wait,” I stopped him, “How can they get out, unless we have a Door open?”

        “It's the veil that goes between our worlds,” he held out his arm and mimicked putting up a wall between him and me, “It's what separates our two dimensions. An invisible barrier. Doors are basically holes that we cut in the veil to get into the Winterland. Whenever you hear a shade or a drude or whoever talking nearby, they are quiet because their voice has to go through that veil. But sometimes the veil gets weaker, and sometimes it gets stronger. I think it has to do with the tilt of the Earth, since it seems to change at specific times of the year. The time that it becomes the thinnest always falls on October 31, without fail. It's so easily breakable that some creatures can just walk right into our world, and roam free for a night.”

        “No way,” I let my head fall backwards against the headrest, “So you're telling me that anything from the Winterland can appear here, without any warning, for no reason?”

        “Yep,” Stephen smiled, “Again, like I said, it's the busiest night of the year for people like us. There's no telling what we're going to get.”

        We had arrived at my house, and Stephen reached to the backseat to get his duffel bag with his work clothes in it, “I'm going inside to change, shall I meet you in the barn?”

        “Sure. Actually, I need to drop by the Winterland, Ireland wanted to see me about something.”

        Stephen's eyes rolled behind his glasses, “I guarantee you she has a crush on a new boy, and she just wants to ask you about it. What other problem could she possibly have?”

        I gently punched his arm, “Hey, she's young, she has drama. Plus, you shouldn't talk about her like that, she's my shade.”

        “You know I don't mean it,” he kissed my cheek, “I'll watch your Door for you, if you like.”

        “That would be lovely,” I kissed him on the lips, “I'll see you when I get back then.”

        We parted ways, him walking to my house as I went out to the barn. My parents still had no idea that Stephen and I were necromancers, even though Stephen's parents offered to tell them for me. I declined; they were happy not knowing, if they did I knew they would completely flip. So anything involving the undead had to stay hidden. I kept my outfit in the barn, so I could change there and draw my Doors in privacy. The alpacas didn't care that I traveled in and out from this world in their house, and I wondered what they thought whenever I vanished into thin air in front of their large eyes. Thankfully they had learned to stop nudging me for food whenever I started drawing and chanting.

-

        I arrived in the Winterland in my regular outfit: black top, blue jeans and my tall, black boots. The latter was probably a mistake for today, since having a tween girl throw herself on you while you're wearing those heels will not keep you balanced and standing.

        “Hey Ireland,” when I finally regained myself from being pushed to the ground with her hug, I returned her affections. She really was a sweet girl, and I was really starting to understand just what happens when a creature of the Winterland calls you “theirs”.

        “Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo, Jo...”

        “Okay, yes, it's me, what is it you needed?”
“I'm so happy to see you!” and she hugged me again.

        I couldn't help but laugh, and I hugged her just as hard, “So what have you been up to?”

        “Oh, lots of things,” she said as she finally let me go and helped me up, “There's loads of gossip around the Shadetown that I have to tell you about. But right now, everyone is concerned about the ghoul.”

        “A ghoul?” now I was interested. Stephen had told me about them ages ago, and I had to think back to remember what he said. Ghosts, he had pointed out, were spirits that were trapped in our world, while ghouls were spirits that are trapped in the Winterland. Most of them were victims of botched jobs by other necromancers.

        “Yes,” she nodded, “it's hainting a few of the houses in town, people are upset.”

        “It's doing what? Oh, haunting. Okay, well, I guess I can take a look. But Stephen is the one who should deal with things like that.”

        “But you're so much better!” Ireland took my hand and led me off to the Shadetown. Everyone turned and said hello to me as we walked down the main street. It was a cute little town, with tiny houses and even a few shops that sold things like clothes and wood, even though there was no currency. On one hand, Shadetown was a very sad place as it was just people mirroring their daily lives before they became shades, continuing on as if they weren't dead. But I chose never to look at it that way, this was just their culture and how they lived, and I had to respect that.

        Ireland led me down an alleyway, and I nearly tripped over a pile of rags. To my surprise, the rags actually got up and started shuffling away from me.

        “Oh,” said Ireland, “You should probably talk to her, too. That's our new shade, and we can't get a word out of her.”

        I turned around to get another look, to see that it was a woman, draped head to toe in black cloth. She faced me, and only her eyes were visible, and they looked wide and scared. Then she dashed off around a corner.

        “She must be Arabic or something,” I thought out loud.

        “We call her Shy Shade, since she never speaks. And whenever the men try to talk to her, she wails and runs away. Poor dear, she's all alone here,” Ireland frowned, “Anyway, the homes are over here.”

        Shade houses were more about the size of tool sheds, since they really don't do much inside of them. They were more there, like I said, to act out their former lives, but it was also a matter of property and belonging. Once a shade feels comfortable in a certain town they will show it by building a house and becoming a member of the community. There was usually no care and upkeep to the houses, they only existed because the shades felt they needed them. But these homes looked different.

        “I've never seen flowers in the Winterland before!” I knelt down to a small patch of dandelions and daisies that were growing in front of the homes, “They're actually really pretty.”

        “Aye,” said Ireland, “Those were the Princess' flowers. She loved them. Everywhere she went, she would try to grow flowers. She was the only shade who could do it. All the rest are gone since she left, but Prince Shade keeps these going.”

        “Wait,” I stood up, “You mean Shining Prince Shade? He takes care of these flowers?”

        She nodded, “This is his house, here. I suppose it's hainted too, but he hasn't been around to complain. Next door, though, is our loudmouth.”

        I had never met Mr. Boston Shade, but I had heard of him. He was basically a cranky old man who only wanted to sit at home and enjoy his immortality in peace. And having ghouls move in interrupted his quiet life, and he certainly let me know that.

        “All day, and all night, all I hear is clanging and moving and banging on the walls. They're waking me up when I'm sleeping. They're moaning whenever I'm awake. Sometimes they even slam my front door open and shut. I mean, ya gotta be kiddin' me!”

        “I understand, Mr. Boston,” I spoke soothingly, since his pale face was actually turning red with his anger, “I'll get someone on it as soon as I can.”

        “Well, you had better hurry. There's no more silence around here. There was for a while, when that Japanese fella vanished. There haven't been any girls visiting him while I'm trying to sleep, know what I mean?” Mr. Boston crossed his arms angrily, “No moral, that boy, not since his girl left.”

        “Hold on,” I stood, feeling nervous, “How long has Prince Shade been gone?”

        He rubbed his balding head in thought, “A few weeks now, I'm guessing. Haven't seen or heard from him. But he must be coming back, since all of his stuff is still here. It's too bad, I'd give anything to kick him outta this street, but he won't leave those damned stupid flowers.”

        “I see. Well, Mr. Boston, it was nice to finally meet you, but Ireland and I are going to take our leave,” Ireland looked very thankful that I had said that, as she had looked like she was about to dash out the door for the entire visit. The old shade made an “Ehh,” sound and waved toward the door, ushering us out of his home.

        “That was uncomfortable,” said Ireland once we were outside, “But do you see what I mean? Ghouls are annoying.”

        “I get it. And I promise that I'll get Stephen on the case, I just think that ghouls are out of my area of expertise,” I took her hand and we walked out of the neighborhood. I couldn't resist staring at Shade's empty house as we walked past it.

        “You miss him, don't you, that Prince Shade?” Ireland asked me.

        “Yeah,” I admitted, “But I wouldn't feel as bad if I knew where he was, and what he was up to. If he hasn't been to his house in weeks... do you think he's in danger or something?”

        Ireland shook her head, “Most likely he's swimming in girls, having the time of his life. Say, you should ask the drudes where he is. I'm sure he's still keeping tabs on his lovers.”

        I felt a brief yet burning stab of anger at hearing the drudes being referred to as his lovers, “That's a good idea. I'll track down Helena, and ask her. She must know, right? Right, Ireland?”

        She wasn't listening. She was too busy staring at a pack of teenage boy shades, walking down the main road in a big group. They were all laughing at something. I recognized one of them as the boy that Ireland currently had a crush on, a tall Chinese boy who was probably around fourteen years old.

        “You should go talk to him,” I nudged her.

        “Noo,” she wailed, “I can't do that. I haven't got the courage. Besides, he's with his mates.”

        “What's the big deal?” I asked, “He's just a boy.”

        “Exactly,” she frowned.

        “Shade O'Ireland, I order you to go up to Shade Nanking and talk to him.”

        She groaned, but obeyed me. She rushed right up to him and said, “Hello, Nanking.”

        He turned from his friends and smiled at her, “Hello, Ireland. How are you?”

        “Oh, I'm fine, really I am. Just fine,” she turned around to look at me, and I gave her a thumbs up.

        “Are you hanging out with Madam Necromancer today?” he asked politely.

        “Oh yes,” she said, “Isn't she wonderful? But, er, I don't have to be with her all day. I'm free to do other things.”

        Nanking looked over at me with an expression that clearly read, “Do I have to?” I crossed my arms and nodded, looking as serious as I could. He sighed and asked her, “Do you want to hang out with my friends today? We were going to go out to the river.”

        Ireland nearly jumped in the air with joy, “Yes, I would love to! That sounds so fun!” she waved at me as she was heading out with the boys, who resumed laughing at whatever conversation they were having before.

        Now that I was alone, I turned around and went back to Shade's house. I was feeling desperate to look inside. It wasn't just curiosity, and wondering what the place he spent most of his time in the Winterland looked like, but I wondered if there were any clues as to where he had gone. I looked around, making sure nobody was watching me, before I opened the sliding front door and went inside.

        At first it seemed like a regular, two room hut. There was a low table with no seats around it in the middle of the room, with little cups set on it. There was hardly any other furniture in the room, or any decorations; It was extremely plain and minimal. There appeared to be a closet door on thefarthest wall, but as I slid open the door I found the bedroom. A simple blanket and two pillows were set on the ground, surrounded by candles.

        “This must be where the magic happens,” I muttered, looking around for anything. Shade had left behind absolutely no clues as to where he was going, and I was beginning to feel a little scared. How could he just leave his home, and all of his stuff? Was he ever going to come back?

        I was about to give up and leave, but I just had a feeling that I was missing something, as if I had overlooked some small detail. I walked around the main room a few more times, checking under the table and running my hands along the walls. I noticed that the wooden floor made a different sound under my heels at one corner of the room, which was covered by a rug. I lifted it up with my toe, and smiled. I had found it. A trap door.

        I grabbed a candle from his bedroom and lit it with a match from my pocket, silently thanking Stephen for making me carry them. I climbed inside to discover that Shade had made himself a basement, and to my surprise it was filled with charcoal drawings. I was amazed as I looked at some of them. The details in them were astounding. They were mostly traditional looking drawings, with people sitting around in circles wearing flowing robes. Most of them were women, or should I say, most of them were a woman. She looked like some kind of Japanese goddess, with her eyes closed and a very gentle smile on her face. Her hair was done up in various, difficult looking hairstyles, and all of her outfits had extremely detailed and intricate designs on them. I could tell that he had spent a lot of time on these drawings, and I was surprised that he was keeping this a secret. If I could draw like that, I would let the world know.

        I felt like I was more in an art gallery than someone's basement. I took my time to walk around and enjoy every drawing he had made. They were starting to get a little repetitive, until I reached the other end of the room, and all the drawings became completely different. Instead of a traditional Japanese style, now he had adapted a more realistic approach. This time the girl was drawn in total detail, and in modern clothes. Almost like a photo album, they showed the same girl running, sleeping, walking down a road, holding someone's hand, brushing an alpaca...

        I nearly dropped the candle. The girl was me. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice at first, since they were very well done. There was even one of me in the dress that I wore to the dance, and it looked even better than the photographs that were taken that night. There were easily over forty drawings of me on the wall, and I was stunned.

        Suddenly the trap door slammed shut, extinguishing the candle and submerging me into total darkness. I could have sworn I felt someone brush past me, and I could hear a very faint moaning sound. I reached for the matches and lit the candle as best as I could with my shaking hands. Once the light was back, I found myself completely alone.

        “Ghouls,” I sighed, still feeling shaken. I grabbed the drawing of me in the dress, and a few of the Japanese lady, and headed back up the stairs, ready to go home.

-

        I walked through the Door and returned to my realm, to find Stephen inside the barn, sweeping. He wiped his brow as he spotted me, “It's about time. I did all the chores, you know.”

        “I'm sorry, honey,” I said as I approached him, “But look what I found.”

        Stephen looked at the first drawing and said automatically, “That's you,” and when he looked at another drawing, “That's Princess. Wait a second, Shade didn't draw these, did he?”

        I nodded, “Have you ever been in his house? He has a secret art studio. There's hundreds more of these.”

        “This is really good,” Stephen held the picture of me, holding it up close to his glasses, “I mean, he's really captured a lot of details. Are there any of me?”

        “Nope, he just seems to only draw girls.”

        “Figured,” Stephen grumpily handed most of the drawings back to me, keeping my portrait, “But anyway, dinner at my place tonight. Mom called me while you were gone. I don't understand why she loves feeding you.”

        “I can get behind it,” I smiled, “She's an excellent cook.”

        “Try eating it for eighteen years. Make sure you get changed first, even though you look ridiculously hot in those clothes.”

        I kissed him on the cheek, “Thank you, dear. I think you look the best in those work clothes, whenever you're all sweaty.”

        He seriously blushed, “Really? I mean, they're just True Religion jeans and...”

        I covered his mouth with my hand, “I don't care what label your clothes are. I really don't. I just care about what's underneath them. My boyfriend,” I removed my hand so I could kiss him on the lips, “Happy anniversary.”

        Stephen dropped the broom so he could sweep me up into his arms, “Happy anniversary, Jo,” and returned my kiss.

-

        “So Halloween is coming up this Tuesday,” said Mrs. Morrison as she starting fixing herself another taco, “Are you two ready?”

        “I'm never ready,” Stephen moped, “I hate this time of year.”

        “Oh, speaking of which,” I said after I gobbled up my second taco, “there are ghouls in the Shadetown. The shades want them gone.”

        Stephen shrugged, “That's not a problem. An easy fix. I'll take care of it when I have time.”

        “I ran into one when I was there. It really spooked me out. Oh, and pass the refried beans.”

        “That's all they really can do though,” Stephen said as he handed me the bowl, “Just scare people. They can't do any real harm.”

        “I think the shades are more worried about each other being driven crazy by them. They're getting cranky.”

        Mr. Morrison set down his taco, “I get pretty jealous of you two sometimes. Always off having adventures in the world of the undead. It makes my teenage years pale in comparison.”

        “It's not as glamorous as it seems, Dad. You know that,” said Stephen.

        “Oh! I just remembered. Stevie, you didn't hear the news!” Mrs. Morrison smiled, “Guess who is coming up on Sunday to visit?”

        “Tom?” Stephen lit up, “No way. That's awesome. Jo, you get to finally meet my brother!” he looked as happy as a kid who found out what he was getting for Christmas.

        “He's bringing Caroline too,” said Mr. Morrison, “It's the last time she'll get to visit before the wedding.”

        “We just have to figure out where they're sleeping,” Mrs. Morrison said, “I'm thinking of giving them your bed, Stevie, and you can take the couch.”

        “Whoa,” Stephen wiped his hands with his napkin, “I'm cool with Tom sleeping in my bed. But Tom and Caroline? That's a little weird.”

        “She's going to be your sister soon,” Mr. Morrison glared at his son, “You should be getting used to it.”

        “I guess,” Stephen looked down at his taco, frowning a little, before changing the subject, “Dad, how is Stockton? A part of me misses home a little. It's kinda weird to not hang out at the county court house every day after school.”

        “The city is fine,” Stephen's father said as he put some more Tabasco sauce on his food, “Just the same, you know. It's getting a little cloudy, but it's the time of year. Nothing really big.”

        “I heard on the news that there was a big accident there last night. What happened with that?”

        Stephen's parents looked at each other for a moment before Mr. Morrison cleared his throat and said, “Son, do you remember your friend Victor, from middle school?”

        “Yeah,” Stephen smiled, “He was my first best friend. Remember Dad, you took us to the zoo on my twelfth birthday. Why?” his smile quickly went away, “Is he okay? Did something happen to him?”

        Mr. Morrison sighed, “I saw him in court today. He... he's the one that caused the accident. He killed a lady and her three little kids.”

        Stephen just stared blankly at his father, “He did?”

        Mr. Morrison nodded.

        “I heard it was a drunk driver, that was all. There were no names in the news...”

        “Drunk and high,” Mr. Morrison grimaced, “They found cocaine in his car.”

        “Cocaine?” Stephen said, shocked, “How did he get cocaine? What the hell?”

        I gently put my hand on Stephen's arm, since his face was starting to get red, and I knew that he must be really upset, “Are you okay?”

        “No, I'm not,” he angrily yanked his arm away from me, “What happened to him? Is he going to be okay? Is he going to jail?”

        “He's already in jail, Stephen. And most likely he's going to be there for a very long time. I'm sorry, son. You should just be glad that you got out of that circle of friends when you did.”

        “Dad,” Stephen still sounded completely shocked, “I got out of that circle of friends because I became a necromancer. I didn't have any friends because of that. I haven't spoken to him since then, I've never apologized... and now I never will.”

        “Stevie, baby,” his mother cooed, “Everything worked out for the best, didn't it? I'd much rather you became a necromancer than some murderous drug addict. Besides, look who you have beside you now, would you trade that for anything?”

        Stephen turned to me, looking me in the eyes, and smiled, “You're right Mom. I wouldn't.”

        I returned my hand to his arm, and he let me keep it there, “I'm really sorry about your friend,” I said.

        “Thank you,” he replied, and he stayed quiet for the rest of dinner.

-

        “Hey,” Stephen said suddenly in the car on the way home from his house.

        “Hey there,” I answered.

        “Seriously, can I thank you?”

        I smiled, “For what?”

        He stopped the car halfway down my driveway and turned off the quiet engine, “For just being you. For saving me. For being the best thing that's ever happened to me. For showing me I have a reason to live. For helping me when you didn't even know it. For being there for me. For holding my hand. For being fantastic and caring. For accepting me. For being the most incredible person I've ever met. For being beautiful. For making me a better person. For staying true to me while being yourself. For understanding. For unblinkingly following me no matter where I went. For being the best girlfriend any guy could ever have. For loving me. For never doubting me. For promising to always be with me. For laughing with me, and sometimes at me. For giving me a new life. Just for being Jo. Thank you.”

        I was speechless. Instead of trying to think of anything to say I just leaned my head against his shoulder and said, “Um, you're welcome?”

        He kissed the top of my head, “I really love you, you know.”

        I smiled up at him, “I really love you too. I can't make a fancy list of all the things I love about you, like you can, but I really do love you.”

        He wrapped his arms around me, nestling his head against mine, “That's all I need.”

-

        “Joli, are you awake?” my mother's voice ripped me right out of the nightmare and back into my bedroom. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face, and I found that my hands were clenching my blanket as tight as they could. It hurt to let go, my hands were terribly cramped.

        “I'm...” I was about to tell her that I was fine, just by instinct, but obviously I wasn't, “I don't know... I mean, yeah...”

        Mom laughed, “You're not making any sense, honey. Do you want something to drink?”

        “No Mom, I'm fine, I am. I guess. I just need to lie down for a second, and relax,” I could feel myself start to cry, and I had no idea why.

        “Jo, do you want to talk about it? You've been having nightmares for weeks now. Is something wrong?”

        I shook my head.

        “Are you sure? Nothing's happened to you?”

        I hated lying to her, “Everything is normal, Mom. Really.”

        “Did... Stephen do something to you?”

        I could tell she hesitated to ask. She had every right to think that, I guess, since he is the biggest change in my life right now. But still, “Mom! Stephen is nothing but great to me. He would never do anything, you know, bad to me.”

        Mom smiled, “I know, but I just had to ask. I still have to be your parent for at least a few more months, right?”

        I nodded, “Yeah. Thanks for looking out for me, Mom. But I'm just going to go back to sleep. What time is it, anyway?”

        “It's nearly sunrise, but you're right. You should rest a little more. I'll make you breakfast after your chores, if you like,” she kissed my head and left me alone.

        I didn't go back to sleep. I was too afraid to. I was also worried; the dream was getting to a point where I was waking up my parents. Just how bad were they really, and were they really just going to get worse?

        I just laid there and watched the sun come up through my window, thinking about the bottom of the ocean.

-

        Stephen and I walked into class that morning and found the girls crowded around a desk, staring at something.

        “Good morning, guys!” I greeted my friends, “What are we looking at?”

        Lia smiled up at me, “Hey. I totally picked out a place for our new house, and we were scoping out the terrain this morning with the builders, and I found a bunch of these,” she held up a small, oddly shaped white feather.

        “WHERE DID YOU...” Stephen started to yell, but I touched his shoulder, quieting him, and I said, “Amalia. Where are you building your house?”

        “That patch of land that Ol' Man Jenkins owned before he went crazy. You know, right off of Orwood Road, right by the town limit line​? There's some nice trees there.”

        Stephen and I looked at each other, wordlessly saying many things to one another, as Lia continued, “There were a bunch of these, and nobody could identify what kind of bird it could have come from. So I thought I would bring one to school, and see if anyone else had an idea.”

        “May I?” Stephen held out his hand, and Lia placed the feather in it. He analyzed it for a second, pretending like he didn't know it was a drude feather, “Hm, I see. Lia, I think you should destroy these feathers as soon as you get home.”

        “Why?” she asked.

        “Haven't you heard of the white crested kite? They're a small hawk, mostly from the Central Valley where I'm from. Last year they started turning up dead on the sides of the road, and when they were tested they were found to be carrying... bird AIDS.”

        “Bird AIDS?” Clem said skeptically, “I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as bird AIDS.”

        “Actually, there is,” Allie said, and I remembered that she would know, as her family has always kept cockatoos, “It's just better known as Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease. It's not really AIDS, but it has the same effect on birds as the HIV virus does to humans.”

        “Yeah, so anyway,” Stephen continued, “They had that beak and feather thing, and we were all told to stay away from these kinds of birds. If you found a bunch of these feathers on your new property, you should get rid of them and have someone clean out the area, just in case.”

        “Wow, good to know,” said Lia, “I had no idea.”

        “I'll throw this away now, if you don't mind,” Stephen ripped the feather in half and went over to the trash can.

        “Is that true?” Clem asked me.

        “If Stephen said it, it must be true,” I shrugged.

-

        “What are we supposed to do?” I asked Stephen on the car ride home.

        “We're going to have to sneak over there and see what's going on,” he said, concentrating on the road, “Have you opened a Door over there recently?”

        “No,” I answered, “Have you?”

        “About a week ago, I think. We'll just have to go and erase any kind of evidence of necromancy that happened there. We should go tonight, the sooner, the better.”

        “What about the ghouls?” I asked.

        “Ghouls can wait. This is more important.”

        I sighed, “You know, I'm going to have a lot more shades bugging me about them soon. I know it.”

        “You and your shades,” he grumbled, “They're all you really care about.”

        “Well, duh,” I was offended, “I'm a shade necromancer. They all look up to me. Whenever I mention you, they all look at me as if I've mentioned something boring, like a TV show that nobody watches. They all like being around me and asking me for their help.”

        “Aren't you special?” he muttered as he parked in his usual spot in front of my house.

        “Hey!” I yelled, “Why are you so grumpy?”

        He took a deep breath, “Sorry, it's not you. It's the old Door site. I'm worried about it. I'm sorry.”

        I gave him a smile, “Just don't take your frustrations out on me next time, alright? How about this. I'll take care of the ghouls, if you show me how to do it. Then you can clean up the old Door site, and make sure there's nothing fishy going on over there.”

        He smiled back, “Sounds like a plan. You're getting to be a really good necromancer, you know.”

        “Aw, shucks,” I said as I unbuckled my seat belt, “Soon I'll have ghouls under my belt. I can't wait.”

        “They're no big. It's an easy task, especially since they can't fight back,” he sighed again, “Have I mentioned how much I hate this time of year?”

        “Many times, darling.”

-

        I told my parents that I would be doing some homework at Stephen's tonight, so after dinner we slipped out into his car and headed down Orwood Road. We both frowned as we saw our old Door site covered in little flags and tape and markings, about to become the new location of the Lackey family.

        “Lots of memories, huh?” Stephen said to me.

        “Way too many,” I agreed, “I held your hand for the first time here.”

        “It was also the first place where I brought someone with me to the Winterland. I was so nervous. I didn't know what you would think.”

        “Obviously it went well, as I'm still here with you. Now let's go,” we got out of the car and walked quietly across the street into the grove of trees. One of them had a big X painted on it, marked to be cut down.

        We both looked around for a second, analyzing the spot, “Do you see anything?” I asked.

        “Nope, I got nothing. Oh wait, here's another drude feather. And I think I see part of the Door that I drew last time I was here. I hope none of the construction team saw this, they might think that a cult gathers here.”

        “I suppose,” I laughed, “Well, I'm going to open up the last Door these trees will ever see. Wish me luck.”

        “Hey,” he said quickly, “Before you go... why do you think Lia chose this place to build a house?”

        “What do you mean?”

        “She said today in school that she picked the place for the house. And she chose our one, secret spot. Why would she do that?”

        I put my hands on my hips, “You don't think she did that deliberately, just to oppose us? Stephen, I think you're getting paranoid.”

        “She knows something, Jo. I've known that for a while, and so have you. The question is, how much does she know? If she knows this is where we open Doors...”

        “Stephen, dear,” I walked over to him and rested my hands on his shoulders, “Lia doesn't know anything about anything. Especially what we do. How could she? She's not a threat to us, in any way possible.”

        “If you say so,” he muttered, “But I'm still allowed to have my suspicions, right?”

        “Of course,” I quickly kissed his forehead, “Now I'm going to work. I'll see you when I get back.”

        “Pick up some milk on the way home, could you?”

-

        I opened my eyes in the Winterland, feeling a very cool breeze as I stood up. I noticed a bunch of lights were on in the Shadetown, and there looked to be some kind of commotion in the town center. I was about to head over to see what was going on when I heard a voice behind me. A cool, sophisticated British accent said, “Ah, just the necromancer I was looking for.”

        I turned around and smiled, “Hello, Helena. I've been wanting to talk to you too.”

        Helena the drude was sitting on the large stone that I've caught plenty of people chilling out on, including Alexandria Shade before I sent her away. She was hugging her knees, and looking up at the Winterland stars through her round glasses, her 1940s haircut dancing around her face from the wind.

        “Mind if I join you?” I asked her.

        “Please,” she said, “I'd like that. So you go first, why was it that you wanted to see me?”

        I sat down next to her and sighed, “You haven't seen Prince Shade anywhere, have you? Nobody has seen him for a few weeks now, and I'm starting to get worried. I figured he would at least keep in contact with somebody, and I thought of you.”

        Helena giggled, “Funny you should ask that, seeing as how he was just here a moment ago.”

        I nearly jumped up with excitement, “He was? He's back?”

        She nodded, “He's in town right now. I hadn't seen him either for quite a while, and I was starting to feel nervous as well. Then he came out of nowhere this afternoon, looking very flustered. He said that he had been traveling and he didn't want to come home yet, but somebody had broken into his house and he wanted to figure out who and why.”

        “Oh,” I tried to look innocent, “Um, I know there's ghouls in his neighborhood, it could have been just that.”

        “Please,” Helena smiled at me, “How could I tell him that it was probably just his necromancer, worried about him? So I didn't. I let him assume that there was some sort of rogue shade plundering homes.”

        “That works,” I grinned, “So, did he say why he left? Or where he went?”

        “He didn't tell me where he went. He just said he needed a change of environment so he could think. He wanted to get away from everything, it seemed. Poor thing, I assume he needed to do some real soul searching. I hope he discovered whatever it was he was trying to find in himself. He actually told me that he's giving up women.”

        I laughed, “That's not true.”

        “Do you know what he did when he discovered me sitting here?”

        “I figure he grabbed you and kissed you, and told you that you were the most beautiful woman in the world, right?”

        Helena blushed a little, “That sounds like him, doesn't it? However, all he did was shake my hand, and speak to me very politely. He didn't even suggest a rendez-vous later on, like he usually would. He always comes back to me, you know.”

        “I've heard,” I said, “I guess I owe you for a lot of things. Like when I was fighting some succubi, he came to help me only because you wouldn't sleep with him otherwise.”

        Helena laughed, “I've had to be his moral compass quite a few times. I've found that a reward system helps him do the right thing on occasion.”

        I took a deep breath and hesitated before asking, “What does it feel like, when he kisses you?”

        Helena leaned back, closing her eyes, “It's like lightning. I don't know how he does it. It's the reason that I, and most other girls I suppose, keep coming back to him. He is quite literally the best kisser who ever lived. I could melt in his arms. And really, if you think he kisses well, you should feel it when he kisses your...”

        “What makes you think that I think he kisses well?” I was quick to say.

        “I'm not an idiot,” she smiled, “I know lust when I see it. He kissed you, didn't he, and then left, making you beg for more? That's his style. That's how he can manage having so many girls after him at once.”

        I sighed, “That's great. Yeah, okay, he did that to me. But I don't know why. He was always going on about how I was the only one for him. It was starting to interfere with my life. You know I'm dating Stephen, the other necromancer, right?”

        “How is that going?” she asked casually.

        “Great. We've been dating for a month now. We're doing wonderful.”

        “Then don't let Shade get in the way of that. You're both happy, don't worry about the Prince's happiness. I'm quite certain you don't deserve him, especially if he's going off all women, or so he claims.”

        “Hey, speaking of which,” I quickly remembered, “you weren't leaving a bunch of feathers outside of a Door, were you?”
“Goodness no! I suppose that was Shannon, the newest drude. She was just practicing, no harm intended.”

        “Alright,” I stood up, “Well, I guess I should go down there and talk to Shade myself. I really came here to get rid of the ghouls, I should really get started on that.”

        “It's that time of year, isn't it?” Helena smiled at me, “Well be careful,” she waved at me as I headed toward the town.

        I was starting to feel nervous about seeing Shade again for the first time in nearly a month. What was I going to do when I saw him again? What would he do? Is he really going to renounce all women? I had an inkling of suspicion that he would tell me he was giving up women for me, and I wouldn't know what to say to that. How much had he changed while he was away? And where did he go?

        At the gate of the town I spotted a little old lady sitting in a ball, hunched over. I thought I could hear her crying. I cracked my knuckles, figuring that it doesn't hurt to help another shade out, especially when they look so dejected. I knelt down to her and asked, “Hey there. Are you alright? Do you need help? My name is Jo.”

        She looked up at me, her wrinkling face was wet with tears, and her eyes were bloodshot. She stood, and I slowly came to the realization that I made a great, big mistake. Her clothes weren't black, she was dressed in a white nightgown, and her hair was gray. She wasn't a shade at all.

        I was about to ask if she was a drude or something when she opened her mouth and let out the worst sound I had ever heard. I clutched my ears to protect them against the ringing, painful scream, and I fell to my feet. I tried to get up to stop her, but the sound was getting louder and a lot worse. I could feel something dripping between my fingers. I had instinctively curled up in a fetal position, screaming at her to stop. I was becoming paralyzed, unable to move until she stopped the sound. The world was becoming fuzzy and black...

        The sound stopped. I felt myself being picked up. I could hear Ireland's voice calling out my name over and over, but it sounded distant, and almost like I was under water. My ears were ringing something terrible. I heard Ireland again, much closer and clearer say, “We have to take her to Stephen.” Then I felt myself being carried somewhere before I passed out.

-

        I woke up in Stephen's bed, with the absolutely worst headache I have ever had. I was blinking in the lamplight, trying to figure out if that indeed was Ireland sitting next to me.

        “Are you awake, Jo?” it was Ireland, there was no mistaking that accent.

        “Yeah,” I grumbled, “What are you...”

        “Doing here?” she smiled, “I came through the Door, Jo! I've never been brave enough to do it, but I had to, to help you. It's exciting out here, isn't it? I am really hungry though, I haven't felt hunger in ages. Eating feels wonderful, Stephen got me some cereal. I ate three bowls!”

        “Where is he?”

        “Oh! I'll get him. Oy Stephen, she's awake!” she dashed off, leaving me alone. I gingerly touched my left ear, which felt warm and dry. I looked at my hands and was surprised to see dried blood on them. I knew it, my ears had been bleeding when I was clutching them. I closed my eyes again, feeling the pain of the headache reverberate around my head.

        “Are you okay, Jo?” Stephen was now next to me, and his voice was so tender and loving that I smiled and nodded.

        “Good,” he said, “I have some aspirin for your headache. I know just what you're going through. Take some of these and you should be fine in a few hours.”

        “What was it?” I asked.

        He smiled, “I should congratulate you on meeting your first banshee. They only really come out around this time of year. As I've said before, I hate this time.”

        “A banshee,” I sat up, accepting a glass of water and two white pills from Stephen, “What are banshees, exactly? I've never seen them in the Necronomicon.”

        “You have,” he explained as I took the medicine, “it's just spelled differently. The bain sidhe translates to 'old woman fairy' in Irish.”

        “Oh, right,” I gulped down the pills, “I remember seeing that now. Those are the elderly who want to die so badly, that when they do they don't pass on correctly, right?”

        He nodded, “When someone dies of old age long after they actually wanted to die. They're so frustrated and upset that they materialize in the Winterland in a form containing all of their anger from their life. And they can kill with their scream, it's so lucky that... someone found you.”

        “Who did?” I laid back down, “I felt someone carrying me.”

        “That's not important,” said Stephen, pulling the blanket back around me, “Right now you need to sleep off that headache, I know it's a killer one.”

        “I know who it was!” Ireland said from the doorway, “I was there. It was the Prince Shade that rescued you! He clobbered that banshee, and then helped me get you through the Door to Stephen! It was brilliant!”

        “Shade?” I sat up again, looking around for him, “Is he here?”

        “Lay down,” said Stephen, “No, he isn't here. He went back to the Winterland on his own. I'm about to send Ireland on her way too, before she eats everything in my kitchen.”

        “But I want to thank him,” I said as I relaxed into Stephen's pillow, taking in his scent, “He saved me.”

        “I know, but there will be a time for that. You need to sleep now,” he kissed my cheek, “I really love you.”

        “You too,” I said as I felt myself starting to drift off again. I heard him turn out the light and mumble something to Ireland, who replied, “I thought she should at least know who rescued her!”

-

        It took me a minute to remember why I was waking up in Stephen's room. When I sat up, I felt fine. My head was a lot clearer and not throbbing at all. The alarm clock said it was just past midnight. I was about to get out of the bed to find Stephen, when he came in the room.

        “Oh, hello,” he said. He was wearing a wife beater and boxers, “I was just about to get some sleep myself. How are you?”

        “I'm fine,” I said, “Actually I feel great. I'm awake.”

        Stephen smiled at me, “That's nice. I cleaned the blood off your hands and face when you were sleeping, you look much better. Oh, and I called your parents. I told them we were studying and you fell asleep in your notes, so I'm just keeping you here for the night. I assured them you were sleeping on the couch. I felt bad lying to them.”

        “I feel really good,” I confessed, “That was the first time that I slept and didn't have the nightmare.”

        “Maybe it's because you're sleeping above the Necronomicon,” he grinned, nodding toward the mattress, “Now move over, I'm tired now.”

        I shifted over in the bed to make room for him. He took off his glasses, set them on his nightstand, and slid under the covers with me. Laying on his back, he closed his eyes and contentedly whispered, “Good night.”

        I laid there next to him, feeling a little awkward. I was no longer tired, and in fact wide awake. I couldn't stop thinking about what the girls would say if they found out about this. They would most likely say that he was trying to give me a hint, since boys have expectations after a certain period of dating. I wondered if Stephen really wanted that. Was he just lying there, waiting for me to make the first move?

        I started combing his hair with my fingers, and he smiled and mumbled, “That feels nice.”

        “Want me to keep going?” I asked, and he nodded.

        I delicately rubbed his scalp with my fingertips, giving him a massage, as I moved closer to him. I was laying alongside his body now, feeling his warmth and strength against me. I gently kissed the skin behind his ear, and I heard him sigh. I took that as a good sign, so I kept massaging him as I trailed kisses down his neck. I felt his arm wrap around me, his hand resting on my back, urging me on. I figured that the girls must have been right all along, he really was expecting a little something.

        I waited for the right moment to kiss him on the spot of his neck that I knew drove him wild. When I reached it, I not only kissed it but bit down very gently. He gasped, “Oh!” and his hand started moving up and down my back.

        I sat up and kissed him hard on the lips. He returned it, using his other hand to grab my hair and push me closer. As our tongues were wrestling with each others I slid my hand down his torso and then up his shirt, rubbing my palm against his abs.

        He broke off the kiss suddenly, “Jo, as nice as this is, I really need to get some sleep.”

        I frowned, “I thought you were enjoying this.”

        “I am, dear, but we really shouldn't,” he let me go, and he rolled over to his side, putting his back to me, “Night, Jo.”

        “Good night,” I rested my head back on the pillow, feeling put off. I thought it was what he wanted, and all of a sudden he doesn't. Did I do something wrong?

        I sidled up next to him again, and wrapped my arm around him. He laced his fingers with mine, and sighed.

        “Are you okay?” I asked.

        “Tired,” he replied.

        “Why did you stop?”

        He let go of my hand, “For too many reasons.”

        “Aw, c'mon,” I tickled the back of his neck with my fingertips, “I can keep going, if you really want me to. It's okay.”

        He sighed again as I gently ran my fingernails up and down his back. I kissed his bare shoulder, nipping his skin ever so carefully. I grabbed his hand and forced it against the back of my head, so he was pulling me in toward him again.

        “Okay!” he said abruptly, pushing me off of him, standing up, and heading out the door.

        “Where are you going?” I asked.

        “Bathroom,” he grunted, “Be right back.”

        I laid there uncomfortably as I stared at the bathroom light shine through the dark hallway. I felt terrible. I must have done something really wrong to make him upset. Once again, the girls had steered me in the wrong direction. I suppose most boys would have welcomed that, but Stephen really was different. He really wasn't ready to have that kind of relationship with me yet.

        He came back into bed around five minutes later. His “Good night,” was no more than a grunt, and a minute later he was already snoring. I figured he truly must be tired by now, so I closed my eyes and tried to force myself back to sleep.

-

        I struggled as it pulled me deeper under the sea. The low voice was filling everything around me. I tried to swim up and away. Then I felt something grab me around my neck. Now I couldn't breathe. I grasped at it, but there was nothing around my neck at all. But I could feel it getting tighter, cutting off more air. I struggled with all my might. I knew I was going to die.

        Then it let me go. I started swimming up, but I felt something on my back propel me a lot easier than my arms were. I looked up, and I had huge bat wings coming out of me, flapping up and up so I started rising to the surface. Just when I thought I was going to escape I felt it grab me again, and yank me harder than it ever had. I started screaming.

        Very suddenly I found myself in Stephen's arms. He was gently rocking me, and shushing me. I was safe, in his room, not in the ocean about to die. I stopped screaming.

        “Are you alright?” he asked me. I was still shaking, but I nodded.

        He kissed my head, “Do you want to talk about it?”

        I stammered, “N-no.”

        “I love you,” he smiled. That was when I threw myself around him, hugging him as tight as I could, and burst into tears.

-

        I don't remember falling back asleep, but soon Stephen was gently shaking me awake, “Hey, time to go feed alpacas.”

        I rubbed my eyes, sitting up in his bed, “What time is it?”

        “Just past seven. I figure I get you home, and we can do chores and you can get changed, and then we can head straight out to San Francisco. How's that?”

        “Alright,” I smiled at him, then quickly frowned, “Hey, so, last night...”

        He interrupted me by kissing my lips, and finished my sentence for me, “...Had absolutely nothing happen in it that you need to apologize for. So don't, okay? Now, what should I wear for our big date today?”

        “I don't know, I'm never as good at styling you as you are,” I said as I crawled out of his bed, “Wait a moment, what's that on your neck?” I dashed over to him, analyzing a small purple spot that hadn't been there last night.

        “Wonderful,” Stephen quickly covered it up with his hand, “I suppose I'll pick something with a high collar then.”

        When we got to my house, my parents explained that they already did the morning chores, since they didn't know when I was going to get back. I left Stephen with them (which my parents seemed very enthusiastic about) as I went to brush my hair and teeth and get changed. I chose a recent purchase to wear, a strapless polka dot dress that Charlie chose for me when we last went shopping. When I went out to retrieve Stephen, he seemed very glad to be leaving.

        “Phew,” he sighed as we drove out of Knightsen, “That was pretty intense back there.”

        “What do you mean?” I asked.

        “Let's just say that you're not having any sleepovers with me for a while. I got lectured,” he grimaced.

        “You did?” I was shocked, “But nothing happened! I mean, not really...”

        Stephen laughed, “What was up with you last night anyway? Not that I'm complaining, I mean, it was just sudden.”

        “Well,” I debated in my mind over whether or not I should tell him, and I quickly decided that just being blunt and honest was always the best, “The girls told me that if I didn't, you know, after a certain amount of time, well, with us being together for a month, it's...”

        “Stop right there,” he said, “I get it. You don't have to worry about any of that, I assure you. I'm pretty sure I know what you're getting at.”
“You do?” I blinked.

        He nodded, “I heard the same from the guys. They were all sharing stories, and when I confessed that I was a virgin they all called me gay.”

        I tried really hard not to laugh, but it was almost impossible, “You, gay? Yeah, right.”

        Stephen did not crack a grin like I had, “It was hard to explain to them that it's better to wait for a moment when the timing is right. Nothing against you, I just think that something will happen, some circumstance will fall into place, and it will be perfect. It won't be the same if we just dove in and did it just to get it over with, don't you think?”

        I nodded, “It makes sense. It will be more special, right?”

        “Exactly. And last night just wasn't it. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but it just wasn't right. Plus, you're still technically jail bait, as your parents told me over and over again just now.”

        “I'm still sorry about that,” I sighed, “If I had known you were in trouble, I would have rescued you.”

        As Stephen merged onto Highway 4, he reached his right arm over me to hang around my shoulders, “Honey, you've already rescued me.”

-

        Half an hour later of driving we emerged from the Caldecott Tunnel, with Oakland to our left, Berkeley to our right, and up ahead... “A giant ball of fog?” I asked.

        “That would be the city,” Stephen answered, “There, you can see the peak of the TransAmerica Pyramid sticking up through the fog. All the clouds should burn off within an hour, as the sun rises and warms it up.”

        I smiled, “I guess it's only a matter of months until the morning fog reaches Knightsen. It can get so thick that you can't see your house when you're five feet from it.”

        “That's good, from our standpoint,” said Stephen, “Sometimes when a creature is out from the Winterland, it gets confused with the fog, and thinks it's still nighttime. But in fact the sun is out, which is death or imprisonment, depending on what it is. There have been a few times where I've been very grateful for fog in Stockton.”

        In fact most of the fog was dissipating as we drove over the Bay Bridge and into the city. Everything was visible by the time we found parking at Golden Gate Park, and we headed for the museum. I could already feel the presence of a nearby Necronomicon, and judging by Stephen's silence, so could he. It was almost a pulling feeling, not at all unlike what I would feel in my nightmares. It wasn't so much as we were drawn to the book, it was drawing us to it.

        We passed by various Egyptian artifacts in complete silence, and barely noticed the massive Dia de los Muertos display. We went straight for the center of the exhibit. There, surrounded by ropes and encased in a clear display, was the Necronomicon. It looked exactly like Stephen's copy, only the title was embossed differently with “DAS NECRONOMICON”. The two of us just stood next to it, hand in hand, staring at the book. Many people took photographs of it, and admired it, but we just stared.

        After what must have been about twenty minutes I shook myself from the reverie the book had on me. I looked up at Stephen, who was still gaping at it, with a misty look in his eyes. The book hadn't released him yet. Now that I was free, I could finally look around at everything else. There were some people watching us, most of them looked like tourists who must have thought we were crazy, but there was one person who looked completely out of place. She was standing in a corner, with her arms crossed, scrutinizing Stephen and I. Her long, straight black hair matched her dark blouse and suit pants.

        I almost felt like it was my duty to approach her. She smiled as I came near, and she nodded and said, “Frau Totenbeschwörer.”

        I stopped dead in my tracks, not knowing enough German to answer her back politely, “Um, Guten Tag, .”

        She turned, her hair swishing behind her, and called out, “Gustav!” Almost immediately a tall, round man with a full brown beard rushed up next to her, “Yah, Inge?” The shade nodded at me, and the man smiled, “Ah, hello there, Frau Necromancer! It's nice to meet a fellow soldier for the dead once in a while,” he held out his hand.

        “Oh!” I shook it, “Nice to meet you too, Sir Necromancer. I take it that's your copy?”

        He nodded, “Oh yes. I've had Inge here guarding it, just in case. We had an incident, when this tour was in Seattle, where we had to shut down everything because there was a threat of someone coming to steal it.”

        Suddenly Stephen was at my side, “Seattle? I know there's someone up there, maybe a community, but I don't know what they would do with a German edition. I'm Stephen Morrison, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Necromancer.”

        Now Stephen and Gustav shook hands, “I'm Gustav Schmidt, it is also very nice to meet you as well, Herr Necromancer. My, you two are very young!”

        “I know,” Stephen smiled, “But I've been in this business for a few years now. My mentor, Charles Lindsay, had no student when he found out he had two years left to live with his cancer, and he inducted me in at age thirteen. This will be my fifth year as a general necromancer.”

        Gustav laughed, sounding a bit like Santa Claus, “Five years? Try thirty-five. And I remember Dr. Lindsay, we corresponded a few times, good man. So a general necromancer, you say? You must have seen some adventures, I'm merely a drude necromancer.”

        “I thought so,” Stephen nodded wisely, “I hear they're more common in Europe.”

        “Yes, more common, and much more dangerous. Germany had the very first drude possession ever recorded in written history, back in the year 892. The title of necromancer has been passed down in my family for generations, my father being my mentor.”

        “Fascinating,” said Stephen, “But if you work mainly with drudes, why do you travel with a shade? I know they hate daytime.”

        Gustav took her hand, “Inge and I have been very close for many years. She would follow me anywhere,” he whispered something in German to her, and she smiled.

        “I see,” Stephen's smile now looked more forced, “I would invite you out to lunch with us, but I've already made a reservation for two. My apologies, I know your shade must be hungry.”

        Gustav laughed jovially again, “Always hungry, yes! However, the food here in America doesn't seem to agree with her. Do not worry about plans for lunch, we have our own as well.”

        “That's great, it was wonderful meeting you both,” Stephen shook hands with both Gustav and Inge, and I did the same, “Thank you for displaying your book for everyone.”

        “Not a problem, it was lovely to meet some friendly necromancers. But you,” Gustav pointed to me, “You are a shade necromancer, aren't you? You spotted out Inge.”

        “Yes,” I said, “I'm sorry, I never introduced myself, I'm Jolisa Verne.”

        “May I speak with you? Privately?” he looked at both me and Stephen, asking the both of us.

        “I'll be over here,” Stephen pointed toward another exhibit and walked away, leaving me with Gustav and Inge.

        The German necromancer leaned in close, “You have a shade, don't you?”

        “Um, yeah,” I said, “A teenage girl, from Ireland. She's really sweet...”        

        “No, no,” Gustav shook his head, “A gentleman shade. One who loves you.”

        I hesitantly nodded.

        “Leave him,” his friendly demeanor changed, and now he was being very serious, “Don't get close to him. Don't fall for him as he's fallen for you. It is a bad idea to fall in love with a shade, and they all know better.”

        “But...” I looked up at Inge and back to Gustav.

        “I know,” he sighed, “I met her when I was your age. Young. Naïve. I still love her, with all my heart. She's my soulmate. But every night I fall asleep next to her, I dread that the next day will be the day she remembers. She died recently, I found her in the newspapers. Thirty years ago she was hit by a bus as she was crossing the road. I've had to move across the country, just in case someone from her family recognized her with me. Your friend is right, she does hate coming out in the daylight, so our lives are rarely in sync. And as I get older, and fatter and uglier, she stays young and beautiful. I'll never have children. My life is completely happy and completely miserable, at the same time. So please, for your sake, don't make my mistake.”

        I just nodded, “I'll... okay.”

        “Good,” he smiled again, “It was such a joy to meet you, Jolisa,” he took my hand and kissed it, “Auf Wiedersehen.”

        As I walked to where Stephen was, I turned around to look at Gustav and Inge one last time. He had grabbed his shade around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her lips. I saw him mouth “Ich liebe dich,” to her, and she blushed and giggled.

-

        Stephen and I spent the next hour strolling through the museum, admiring all the different art collections, until we realized that we didn't even get the chance to look through all of the exhibit we had come to see. After a quick snack in the park, we went back to the museum to look through what we had passed by.

        “Wait,” I pointed at the shrunken heads on display, “Those were real people.”

        “Yep,” Stephen agreed.

        “These are basically corpses on display.”

        “Well, according to the...” he checked the sign, “Maori, they were used as trophies of war, and were traded as a symbol of peace between warring tribes.”

        “That is disgusting.”

        Stephen laughed, “It's just custom. It's...” he trailed off as he looked to his right, and froze. I followed his gaze, where he was staring at a blond girl who was furiously taking notes on some kind of African tribal display.

        “Stephen?” I gently shook him, “Do we know her?”

        “Just a second,” he muttered without looking at me. He let go of my hand and walked to the girl with an almost zombie like gait. I followed him at a distance. When he got close to her he asked, “Rachel?”

        The girl turned to him, and she smiled, her face lighting up, “Stephen! Stephen Morrison! I can't believe it's you! You look amazing!” she tossed down her notes and threw her arms around him. He returned the hug, and I could feel my face growing red.

        “It's been so long,” Stephen was grinning wildly, “How have you been?”

        “Great! Just great,” she said cheerfully, “I'm having a wonderful time in the city. Being a freshman is hard though, right? But San Francisco State is such a great school. Where did you get accepted to?”

        “Um, actually,” he looked down at his feet, “Remember when I flunked out of ninth grade?”

        “No way, “ she looked shocked, “You're still doing high school?”

        “Yeah,” he said shamefully, “I've hit a few rough patches. But I moved out of Stockton, and a change of scenery was just what I needed. I'm doing a lot better, I may even graduate early.”

        She shrugged, “I always just figured you would get your GED. It's a lot easier than going through school. I mean, we're eighteen right? You're an adult, you don't need to go to school with kids anymore. Where did you move, anyways?”

        “Knightsen,” he said, “It's a really tiny town, just outside of Antioch and Pittsburg and all that.”

        “Never heard of it. Oh well, Stockton was a really fun place. Have you talked to Victor recently? I know you guys had some kind of falling out or whatever, but he always tried to invite you to his parties. He would have these crazy parties like almost every other weekend. Does he still have them? We could go together, you and me. Like the old times.”

        “Um,” now Stephen looked more uncomfortable than ever, “Actually, to be honest, I haven't personally heard from him.”

        “That's too bad. Oh! I know! Do you still talk to that guy Shade? Now that was a crazy guy.”

        He smiled, “Yeah, I see him once in a while.”

        “Is he still dating that Princess girl? I hope so, because geez, they were like so in love. Like, they would be all over each other whenever they thought we weren't looking. Hey, do you remember that double date we went on, to that restaurant? It was insane. I thought we were going to get thrown out! But it was so much fun, right?”

        “Yeah,” Stephen was looking down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with her, “Actually, Princess isn't with us anymore.”

        Rachel looked terrified, “You mean.. she's dead?”

        He nodded, “Around a year ago. Maybe a year and a half now.”

        “Oh my gosh. I'm sorry to hear that. Is Shade okay? Poor guy, he must be heartbroken.”

        “Yeah, he had a really tough time of it. But he's worked it out, he's changed, but he's better now than he was when she... you know. Hey, you should meet Jo.” He finally turned around to me, holding out his hand. I took it, and he introduced, “Jolisa, this is Rachel. Rachel, Jo.”

        “Jolisa?” Rachel smiled, “What kind of a name is that?”
“My name,” I answered.

        “I mean, I like it,” she said quickly, “It's cool. Do you live in Knight Town, or whatever?”

        “Knightsen, yeah,” I said, “I've lived there my whole life.”

        “That's cool,” she said, not sounding honest at all, “Well, I've got a ton of homework to do for college, you guys have no idea. Here Stephen, here's my number, you should call me so we can catch up. It's been way too long,” she picked up her notes and tore off a piece of paper, scribbling a phone number on it quickly and handed it to Stephen, “See you guys!” and she dashed off.

        Stephen just stared at the telephone number. I just stared at him. We were both quiet.

        “I'm sorry,” he finally mumbled.

        “So that was Rachel?” I asked sternly.

        “Yes,” he said, “She and I... used to...”

        “Date,” I finished his sentence for him, “I know. I overheard Shade mention her once.”

        Stephen looked at me, perplexed, “When?”
“Before we started dating. Well, officially dating.”

        “Oh,” he stared back down at the number.

        “You're not actually going to call her, are you?”

        “No, absolutely not,” he crumpled up the paper, and handed it to me, “Take it. I don't want to call her. She broke my heart, I can't really forgive her for that.”

        I took the phone number from him, “You fell for that? Stephen, she seems terrible...”

        “I know, I know,” he held up his hands, “Believe me, I found that out the hard way. It's just that I crushed on her all through junior high, and when she finally noticed I existed I was thrilled, ecstatic. But then being a necromancer got in the way of a lot of things, including her. We became on again, off again, and it was so frustrating. She hurt my self-esteem more than anything. She turned into one of the reasons I stopped going to school. It took a me really long time to realize that me being in love with her was one of the worst things to ever happen to me, and the day I figured that out... I was a wreck, Jo. I was miserable. And she didn't even care that I loved her, she didn't care that she ruined me, she... is an emotionless, heartless b***h, and today just confirmed that.” By now he was shaking with anger, with tears welling up in his eyes.

        “Are you alright?” I asked, gently touching his arm.

        “I'm fine,” he said, “I just feel like... as if I'm getting some closure from that time in my life. She's moved on, and so have I. I went from being in love with the most horrible woman in the world to the very best,” he wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight, “I love you so much, Jo.”

-

        Our lunch reservation was at Luna Park, and afterward Stephen asked me if I didn't mind if he did some shopping. Of course I didn't, and I spent the next few hours watching him try on ridiculously expensive clothes and buying most of them with the swipe of his card. He spent so much, not to mention what he would be spending on gas and parking, that I bought us dinner. Sure it was Quizno's, but it was still delicious. By sunset we were heading back to the East Bay, content and happy and in love. We stood on my porch for ten minutes, saying good night to each other. It was a wonderful way to end a nice day in the city.

        After changing into work clothes, I headed out with my flashlight to check on the alpacas before going to bed. I walked a few feet from my house when I just knew it. I can't explain how I knew it, it's just a part of being a necromancer. I knew there was a shade out there. My mind raced, and I shined the light all over the property, trying to figure out where it would be. Then I realized that it could only be one of two shades, who would have come through last night after saving me from the banshee. I was pretty sure that Stephen sent Ireland back to the Winterland himself, which only left...

        I raced into the barn, throwing open the doors with excitement. All the alpacas looked at me curiously. I didn't see him, but I could just feel his presence. I was elated when I heard his voice, “Geez, trying to kill me with the doors, I see.”

        I spun around, dropping the flashlight. Standing behind me, pushing the door closed, was Shining Prince Shade.

        “SHADE!” I was so happy to see him that I just flung my arms around him, “I'm so glad you're here. You have no idea. I was worried about you!”

        “Who, me?” he said as he returned the hug, “You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself.”

        “Sure you can,” I took a step back, “You look good. Oh, and thanks for saving me from that banshee! I can't thank you enough.”

        He shrugged, “Well, you karate chop one banshee in the neck, you've karate chopped them all. It was nothing. You're the one who should have known what to do anyways.”

        “I know,” I laughed, feeling giddy, “I'm sorry. I'm really happy you came back just in time though. Where did you go?”

        “I...” he looked down at his fingernails, analyzing them, “I don't know. I didn't have a goal. I just went. I had to think. What I really wanted was to go home, but when you don't know where home is, that's kinda hard.”

        “Helena told me that, about you going off to think. She said you renounced women, and that can't possibly be right.”

        He thrust his hands in his pockets, “Believe it. That's the big conclusion I came up with during all that soul searching. No more women.”

        My jaw dropped, “You've got to be kidding me.”

        “It's the truth. I shouldn't be living that way. I can still admire women, and hit on them. But no sex. It's making things too complicated. But it's a long story, how about some food?”

        “Yeah, of course, follow me,” we left the barn, and headed toward my house, “But keep it down, my parents are sleeping, and they're not too happy about any boys I'm hanging out with at the moment.”

        Shade stopped in his tracks, “What does that mean? How are you and Stephen?”

        “Oh, we're great. I guess it's what we're not doing that my parents are worried about. Here, I have an idea. So you don't wake them up, why don't you go quietly wait in my room and I'll bring you something tasty.”

        “That's not the first time a girl has said that to me,” Shade grinned mischievously.

        “Shut up, Shade.”

-

        After munching a few Oreo's on my bed, Shade wiped the chocolate crumbs from his mouth and asked, “How have you been?”

        “What do you mean?” I asked, dipping my next cookie in a glass of milk.

        “Personally,” he continued, “How has your life been? Not counting Stephen and all.”

        “It's good,” I nodded, “Just normal stuff, you know.”

        “Everyone in Shadetown is raving about you,” he grinned, “They think you're the greatest thing that's happened to them. All the other necromancers that have come by, Stephen included, treat everyone a little rude, telling us we're all dead and we should all move on. But you just seem to be so nice to them.”

        “Well, yeah,” I said, “They're all people too. I don't think I could treat anyone that way, including shades.”

        “I knew you were different, in a good way,” he said as he took another cookie from the box, “But that's it? No news? Nothing exciting? You've been a necromancer for nearly a month now, there's gotta be something. Did you have your nightmares already?”

        I sighed. Before I could say anything Shade butted in, “I take it that you're still having them then?” and I just nodded. He slid closer to me, and said gently, “If you don't mind, tell me what it's about. I could probably help you.”

        “Well,” I took a deep breath, “I'm under water...”

        “The ocean?” Shade quickly asked. When I nodded he said, “Okay, so it's either Dagon or Cthulhu. Let's hope it's Dagon.”

        “Shade!” I said loudly, and remembering my parents I whispered, “Shade, you're not supposed to say those names. Those are the Old Ones in the Necronomicon!”

        He rolled his eyes, “Dagon, Dagon, Dagon, Dagon, Dagon...” I covered his mouth before he could repeat the name any more, and he laughed.

        “Geez,” he said when he grabbed my wrist and removed it from his mouth, “You can't say those names, because you're just a human. I'm from the Winterland, I could talk about them all day and not give them any power. So don't worry, the world is still safe. So anyway, you're under the ocean. Do you see any frog people, or is it tentacle related?”

        “I'd say tentacles,” I said quietly, “I can feel something pulling me down, and it's wrapped around my waist and neck. I only broke free from it once, and it just dragged me down faster.”

        Shade shook his head, “That's not good. At all. Have you been having the dreams for more than three days?”

        I just nodded again.

        “This is really bad,” Shade stood up and started pacing as he thought, “This goes beyond the Necronomicon. Cthulhu is dreaming about you. That's the worst, because if he keeps invading your sleep, you'll end up going mad. You must be a more interesting necromancer than I thought,” he stopped, and smiled at me, “There are two situations to get you out of this dreaming mess.”

        “I'm a little afraid to ask what they are.”

        “One, you ride it out and hope that Cthulhu stops dreaming about you. Either by thinking about something else, or he'll wake up and destroy the entire planet. But still, he would stop dreaming, right? The second option is to keep a piece of the Winterland close by you, at all times. That way Cthulhu will just see you as some boring Winterland creature and move on.”

        “Wait, what does that last one mean? A piece of the Winterland?”

        He sat back down next to me, “You could just grab a rock or something, but it wouldn't be as effective. What would really work best,” he ran his fingers through his hair, “is a person.”

        “You're kidding,” I said, “You just made that up, didn't you?”

        “Just who do you think I am, Jolisa?” he held us hands up innocently, “I'm pure now, remember? No more sex. I would never take advantage of you like that! I'm just trying to help out a friend, and the best way to do that would be to spend the night.”

        I sighed, but smiled, “Seriously?”

        “Seriously.”

        I thought for a second, “Okay, one night. If I get the nightmare tonight, no more sleepovers.”

        “What if my idea works?” he winked.

        Now it was my turn to roll my eyes, “I will give you a hug and say thank you. And that's it.”

        “Works for me,” he grabbed a pillow off of my bed and settled on the floor, “I could use a good nights sleep anyway. I've spent most of my time back trying to figure out who broke into my house, and whenever I have a moment of peace I get interrupted by a ghoul.”

        “That's right!” I remembered, “The ghoul! I'm sorry, I meant to exorcise it for you. I'll get to it, I promise.”

        “Good,” he laid on the pillow and closed his eyes, “I like it here.”

        “I'm glad,” I said, setting the cookies and empty glasses aside, “This is really going to work to fix my dreams?”

        “It should,” he said.

        “You seem to know a lot about the Old Ones.”

        “That tends to happen, when you live in the Winterland.”

        I paused before asking, “Have you ever met one of them?”

        “No,” he said very quickly, “And I haven't slept in a few days, so good night.”

        He certainly hadn't seemed tired the entire time I was talking with him. And now he was very suddenly asleep on my floor, or at least pretending to be. I turned out the light and slipped under my covers, wondering why he dropped the subject so quickly. Maybe he had actually met one of them, and just didn't want to talk about it, but before I could ponder it any more I drifted off to sleep.

-

        I blinked, pausing for a moment to realize that I had a night of dreamless sleep. It was after I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and tried to remember why there was a sleeping shade on the floor of my room. I quickly looked out the window, and saw that the sky was just beginning to get brighter.

        “Shade,” I shook him awake, “Get up, the sun is nearly up.”

        He opened his eyes immediately, “Did it work?”
I smiled, “I don't think I even dreamed anything. It worked.”

        He stood up, extending his arms, “Well?”

        “Oh yeah,” I remembered the deal from last night. I got out of bed and gave him a hug and said, “Thank you, Prince Shade.”

        “Of course,” he said, holding me tight, “I missed this.”

        “Missed what?”

        “Having you in my arms,” he took a small step back, still keeping me in his embrace but now he was looking right into my eyes, “Feeling your warmth.”

        “Shade,” I felt my heart beat faster, and I started to feel nervous, “I can't...”

        “Don't worry,” he interrupted, “I'm not going to kiss you.”

        I breathed a sigh of relief, “That's good. I mean, it's...” I trailed off, not knowing what I wanted to say to him.

        “It's complicated, I know,” he said gently, “I'm still confused about it too. I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry I put you in that position.”

        I just pursed my lips together, nodding thoughtfully. Even though a day didn't pass that I remembered our parting kiss, I still felt so many mixed emotions about it, as if it had just happened yesterday.

        Shade leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear, “But I don't regret it, do you?”

        I said honestly, “Not for a second.”

        “That's my girl,” he quietly chuckled before vanishing into thin air.

-

        I spent my Sunday working tirelessly on the ranch. I did absolutely every chore I could think of, to keep my mind off of Shade. It wasn't working very well. I could hear Gustav's voice in my head, saying over and over to not have a relationship with a shade, which seemed much easier said than done. And I remembered Helena's advice, that I should worry about my own emotions instead of Shade's, but the two were becoming more and more linked together.

        I wasn't sure what I felt for Shade. I liked having him around, and it felt amazing whenever he was close to me. But it wasn't love, it couldn't be. I loved Stephen. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have even known Shade.

        Now I felt even more guilty. Was this going to be another situation that I was going to keep from Stephen? How much would I end up hiding from him? First the kiss, and now last night. I wanted to tell him, I knew that was what I should do. But I remembered whenever I did tell him situations I had with Shade, and Stephen would always get upset. How mad would he be if I told him that Shade and I kissed each other? And that I told him that I didn't regret it?

        I gave up. I had to do the right thing. I picked up my cell phone and called Stephen, intending to tell him at least about last night. The sooner I told him, the easier it would be. If I waited to tell him I would never do it. I felt butterflies in my stomach when I heard his phone ringing. I didn't even plan out what I was going to say.

        To my surprise, a deep, male voice answered the phone, “Hello Jolisa, the love of my life, apple of my eye.”

        “Um, Stephen?” I asked, even though I could obviously tell it wasn't him.

        “Of course it's me!” said the stranger on the other end, “Who else would it be?” in the background I could hear my boyfriend yelling, “Tom! Give me back my phone.”

        “Oh, hello Tom!” I smiled, “Nice to finally get the chance to talk to you.”

        Before Tom could reply I could hear a scuffle on the other end of the line. I could hear a series of, “Give it back!” “Bite me.” “Toooom! Ouch!” some fighting noises, and then, “Hey Jo. Sorry about that. What's up? How are you?”

        “Is everything okay over there?” I grinned.

        “Oh yeah, nothing big. Fighting with my brother is nothing new.”

        “That's good then. Hey, I want to talk to you.”

        “Um,” he hesitated, “What do you think we are doing right now?”

        “Well, can it be, you know, private?”
He was silent for a second, “Do you want me to come pick you up?”

        “I guess. I'd like to see you.”

        “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I just... need to say something.”

        “On my way. Love you.”

        “Love you too.”

        

-

        As I hopped into Stephen's passenger seat, I said, “You're my boyfriend.”

        “So I've been told,” he smiled. He leaned over and kissed me, “What about it?”

        “I can tell you anything. And you would trust me and still love me, no matter what,” I said as I buckled my seat belt, “Right?”

        “Sure, where are we going?”

        “Your house. I want to look at the Necronomicon.”

        As he pulled out of my driveway he said, “Of course you could tell me anything. Nothing you could say could make me stop loving you. Well, if you said you were actually a dude this whole time, I'd be pretty surprised. But besides that...” he smiled at me, “What could be so bad?”
“Shade spent the night at my house last night.”

        He nearly crashed into a stop sign. He hit the breaks just in time and asked, “What? Why?”

        “I just wanted you to hear it from me, okay? Nothing happened. He got rid of my nightmares.”

        “Got rid...” Stephen thought as he drove, “I see why you want to look at the book. But are you sure he did it? Maybe they just happened to stop last night.”

        “They were getting worse and worse. Why would they just stop?” I asked.

        “No idea,” he said as he pulled up to his house. A tall, older looking version of Stephen was waiting at the front door.

        “You must be Tom,” I said when I approached him.

        “And you must be Jolisa,” he gave me a quick hug, “You can't believe how much I've heard about you. I've been dying to meet you.”

        “Same goes for you,” I smiled.

        Stephen put an arm around my shoulders, “Introductions are going to have to wait. We have business to attend to.”

        “Sure,” Tom smiled, “Wait, do you mean necromancer business, or making out business?”

        Stephen grinned at me and pointed at his brother, “Guess who Shade learned English from?”

-

        When I grabbed the Necronomicon from under Stephen's mattress, I opened it to the page I had seen long ago about Cthulhu, when Stephen was battling the vampire. There was a picture on the following page of a huge, squid-faced winged monster rising out of the sea, his huge hands covering the Earth.

        “Whoa,” Stephen analyzed the page with me, “That's who you've been dreaming about?”
I nodded, “Shade seemed confident about it. It's either him or... someone else. He said something about frog people.”

        “Ah, the Deep Ones,” Stephen took the book from me and flipped through a few pages. Even though there was no picture, he pointed at the name 'Dagon', “I'm assuming him?”

        I nodded, “That's the one. He also said it would be better if the dreams were from him.”

        “A lot better,” Stephen agreed, “You have no idea.”

        “Who did you dream about?” I asked curiously. Stephen turned a few pages and pointed at 'Yog-Sothoth', “I try not to think about it. They were pretty frightening. But they only lasted for a few days,” he smiled at me, “I'm glad you didn't have a nightmare last night. They must feel terrible to have them for so long.”

        “Yeah, I finally feel really relaxed,” I rested my head on his shoulder.

        He kissed the top of my head, “Did you have anything else you needed to tell me?”

        “How so?”
“About Shade. Last night. Was that it?”

        I hesitated. I wanted to tell him, but I still didn't know how to say it, “No, that's it. I just wanted you to hear it from me.”

-

        I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Morrisons, watching the brothers repeatedly kill each other on Stephen's Xbox. I got to meet Tom's fiancée, Caroline Winchester, who was one of those people who you know you would like the second you met them. We sat around and talked while the boys played video games for hours.

        “So, Tom's been telling me about this necromancer stuff,” Caroline seemed hesitant to bring up the subject, “Is that all true?”

        “Oh yes, it's very true,” I grinned, “I know it seems pretty strange, but Stephen and I actually can travel to the land of the dead.”

        “Is it... scary?”

        I thought for a second, and nodded, “It can be. I mean, the last time I was there I was nearly killed by a banshee. But my line of work isn't really that dangerous.”

        Caroline went pale, “You were nearly killed? And you're so calm about it?”

        I hadn't thought of it like that, “I guess. Sure, it was bad at the time, but you just have to learn to deal with it. If I got hung up on one attack, I wouldn't be a very good necromancer.”

        “I knew necromancy had something to do with it,” Tom muttered as he gripped his controller after being killed once again, “Since suddenly my little bro has become a master at Call of Duty. I'm getting slaughtered.”

        “That has nothing to do with it,” Stephen grinned, “Although I should be crediting myself, but you're nothing compared to how Shade plays this game. I don't know how he does it, but he's become the ultimate Call of Duty king.”

        Tom laughed, “How is that guy doing anyway? Still thinks he's alive?”

        “Very much so,” Stephen spoke as he concentrated on the game. Their characters had come back to life and were now hunting each other in a war torn landscape.

        “I miss him,” Tom said while also concentrating, “He was hilarious. Does he still have a crush on Rihanna?”

        “Geez,” I laughed, “How long has he loved Rihanna?”
Stephen sighed, “We were watching the MTV Video Music Awards once, and Shade joined us. It practically changed his life.”

        “Yeah,” Tom grinned, “Remember when we couldn't get him to stop saying 'fo shizzle'?”

        “Did you really teach him English?” I asked Tom.

        “In a way,” he said, “He had the basics down, but I helped him learn modern, American English. You know, slang and all that.”
“Like 'boobies',” added Stephen.

        “Yeah, that was a fun day,” Tom laughed again, and stopped suddenly when his soldier was once again shot to death by Stephen, “Whoa, where were you hiding?”

        Satisfied, Stephen crossed his legs and rested his hands behind his head, “Maybe my necromancer skills have transferred after all. Jo, you should get in on this.”

        Caroline and I both rolled our eyes.

-

        It was a quiet yet fun night. There was a big lasagna dinner, a long game of Monopoly, and the four of us settled outside in the front yard so I could show Caroline and Tom my favorite part of Knightsen: the night sky.

        “It's beautiful,” Caroline smiled as she was nestled in Tom's arms.

        “I didn't think you could see these many stars in the East Bay,” said Tom, holding his fiancée tightly.

        She suddenly gasped, grinning at her boyfriend, “Tom, let's get married here!”

        He looked at her skeptically, “Here? In Knightsen?”
“Why not?” she said cheerfully, “I'm sure here would be cheaper than that place we were looking at in Monterey. And your family is already here. And it's so gorgeous and peaceful... what do you think?”

        He shrugged, “If it would make you happy.” Caroline squealed and squeezed him, planting a huge kiss on his lips.

        “When are they getting married?” I whispered to Stephen.

        “End of June,” he answered.

        I smiled, “That's the perfect time,” and Stephen squeezed my hand.

        The happy moment was ruined by the sound of running footsteps down Eden Plains Road, and a voice calling out, “Tom-onii-san! Tom-onii-san!”

        Tom untangled himself from Caroline so he could stand up, “There he is!”

        Shade was grinning ear to ear, “You're here!” he yelled as he ran up to us, “I missed you, onii-san!”

        “You too, um, Shade-otouto-san! How have you been?”

        “Not bad, not bad,” Shade and Tom greeted each other with two high fives, a fist bump, and a jump in the air as they yelled, “Yatta!”

        Shade looked at Tom's face curiously, “Where did your glasses go?”
“I have contacts now,” Tom pointed at his eyes, “So I don't need them. Still can't convince my Dad and baby brother to get them, though.”

        I whispered to Stephen once again, “I'm guessing that Shade and Tom get along well.”

        “Ridiculously well,” he sighed, “Almost too well.”

        “Shade-san,” Tom wrapped an arm around Shade's shoulders and directed him toward his fiancée, “This is Caroline, the girl I'm going to marry.”

        “Nice,” Shade nodded, “I mean, hello Caroline, how are you?”

        Caroline looked at Tom, “This is the dead guy you were talking about?”

        “Nope,” Shade said quickly, “Not dead. That's a terrible rumor going around about me, sorry you had to hear it. Actually, I'm very much alive, and,” he winked, “completely functional.”

        Tom let him go in disgust, “That's my future wife you're talking to.”

        “Yeah,” Shade grinned, “Not current.”

        Stephen stood up, “Shade, why are you obsessed with stealing other people's girlfriends?”

        “Oh, hello there Sir Necromancer,” Shade said sarcastically, “I was pretending you didn't exist again.”

        “And why?” Stephen crossed his arms.

        “A little drude told me something interesting,” Shade mimicked Stephen's body language, “That a certain someone broke into my house. And it wasn't another shade, and it had nothing to do with the ghoul. It was a necromancer.”

        Now I stood, “Um, Shade?”
“Where are they, Stephen?” Shade asked with a straight face, completely serious.

        “What are you talking about?” Stephen asked in return, and instead of answering Shade just barged into the house. The four of us followed him to Stephen's room, where on the desk sat Shade's drawing of me. He grabbed it and held it up, “What. The. Hell?”

        “Wow, that's a really good drawing!” Tom commented, “Did you do that, Stevie?”

        “No,” said Shade, “He didn't. He stole it. Dorobou!”

        “Don't call me a thief,” said Stephen, “I didn't take it.”

        “Then why is it in your room?”

        I stepped forward, “Because I gave it to him, okay? I'm the one that broke into your house.”

        Shade's face fell, “You did?”

        I nodded, “But it was only because I was worried about you. I didn't know where you had gone, and I thought that maybe I could find a clue or something. I didn't mean to upset you, or...”

        “I'm not upset, I'm...” he just sighed. I heard the bedroom door close, and I noticed that Caroline and Tom had left us alone with Stephen.

        “What's wrong with you?” Stephen asked him.

        “Can I talk to you, Jo, privately?” Shade asked me.

        Stephen put his foot down, “No, she can't. Since you were alone with her all last night. Anything you can say to her, you can say in front of me.”

        Shade's wicked smile returned, “You didn't tell him, Jo, what we did?”

        I rolled my eyes while Stephen started freaking out, “Tell me what? Tell me what, Jo? Shade, I swear...”

        Now Shade was laughing as I explained to Stephen that nothing had really happened, secretly glad that the worried look Shade had was gone.

-

        I was swimming for my life. I knew it was coming for me, but it couldn't find me. I could hear that voice... I wasn't deep enough in the ocean to make out the language, I could only hear the rumbling... but it was looking for me. My wings were stretched out as far as they could go, propelling me through the water that, somehow, I could breathe. All of a sudden I breached the surface, exploding into the air and inhaling deeply. I had escaped, I was free.

        Here I discovered that I wasn't in the ocean at all. It was actually just a big river, not unlike the San Joaquin River just a mile away from Knightsen. In the distance I could see the mouth of the river expanding into the sea. The current was against me, pulling me toward the ocean, and now that I was above the water I let my body float along, knowing full well that I could fly out anytime. I looked up at the sky, and saw the stars of the Winterland.

        And then I woke up, not feeling terrified and not drenched in sweat. I was perfectly alright. My nightmares were over.

        I rolled over in bed, smiling. I couldn't wait to tell Stephen and Shade. They had both taken me home not long after the small fight over Shade's drawings, Shade riding shotgun in Stephen's Prius. I had the feeling that Shade would start hanging out with us again, like he did last month. A part of me was worried about this, since there was a sort of invisible bomb that would drop if Stephen ever figured out that Shade had kissed me, but a part of me was just very glad to have a friend back.

-

        A note being tossed on my desk shook me out of my daydream and back into class, where Mr. Martinez was still giving a boring lecture about The Scarlet Letter, “Even though her community tries to ostracize her and remind her constantly of her adultery, Hester uses this experience as empowerment. A way of developing her personality through newfound freedom. It's her sin that makes her sympathetic toward others. Now does anyone think that would apply to Dimmesdale as well?”

        Ignoring my teacher, I opened up the note and read the curly, feminine handwriting, Shopping after school today? We need costumes for the party tomorrow!

        I turned around to Clem, who was smiling and giving me a thumbs up. There really was no choice, I would be shopping for Halloween costumes this afternoon.

        I tucked the note into my folder and tried to pay attention to the lesson, which bored me instantly. Listening to Mr. Martinez go on and on about examples of symbols that represent unfaithfulness and sin was making me yawn. I nearly jumped in my seat when another note was tossed on my desk, but this one had very neat, cursive handwriting, What's going on with the girls? Is Lia alright?

        I looked over at Stephen, pointed at his note, and mouthed, “What?”

        He tore off another strip of paper as quietly as he could, wrote furiously, and then passed it to me under his desk. This one said, I saw someone back there pass you a note. Was it about Lia? She looks strange. I looked behind me once again, this time at Lia. She was staring at me and Stephen, but not intently. It was a dreamy, dazed look, almost like she was looking through us. And she wasn't blinking. It was almost like she was in a trance.

        I wrote and passed back to Stephen, I don't know. The note was from Clem, I'm going shopping with her after school. But I don't know about Lia. I've never seen her not move before.

        Stephen handed me his reply, I told you.

        Told me what?, I wrote back.

        That something is going on with her. She's looking at us. What's going on through her mind? She must know something, Jo.

        Finally, Mr. Martinez finished up his lecture and the class was over. As the noise of the classroom suddenly escalated as our English teacher left and everyone reached into their backpacks to get their science work, I whispered to Stephen, “What could she possibly know?”

        “I don't know,” he said in a low voice, “But I've always had my suspicions. Something is going on with her, but I don't know what. It could just be the season...”

        “You mean Halloween? You can't be serious,” I said, “Just because it's the worst time of year...”

        “Yeah, and the veil is thin. She could be hearing stuff. It's happened before, Rachel heard shades talking once when she was at my house one October 30^th. I just told her that my house was haunted. She never came back to my house after that.”

        “Did she...” I started to say, but a commotion erupted behind us. Nearly everyone jumped up and ran for the back of the class. I saw Mike and Russ hoist a very pale Lia up from the ground. She had apparently passed out, since she was so pale and limp and unresponsive. Stephen and I rushed from our seats to join the crowd.

        “Are you okay?” Mike kept asking her. She slowly came out of her daze, but instead of answering she just rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.

        “She should go to the nurse,” Charlie said.

        “Do we still even have a nurse?” asked Bella, “I thought she just treated the elementary school kids.”

        The whole class went silent when Lia finally spoke in a quiet whisper, “Stephen,” and everyone turned their attention from her to my boyfriend.

        Stephen took a step toward Lia and Mike, “Yeah?”

        She didn't respond. She just kept her eyes closed.

        Stephen spoke to Mike, “Nurse or no nurse, she needs some first aid. Come on,” the boys helped her to her feet and walked her out the door. Stephen turned to look at me right before he left. I gave him a smile, which he didn't return.

-

        “I don't even remember what happened,” Lia said as she shifted through the aisles of the Halloween store in Brentwood, “It's like, one minute I was just sitting in class, pretending to listen to Mr. Martinez, and suddenly I was in the hallway with Mike, Russ and Stephen. They said that I fainted, but I totally didn't even feel light headed or anything this morning.”

        “Weird,” said Charlie, “Like, you haven't been sick afterwards, have you?”
Lia shook her head, “Nope, I remember the rest of the day just fine. Just nothing during English,” she suddenly laughed, and made light of the situation, “Hey, I didn't miss a test or anything, did I?”

        “You're so lucky,” said Clem, “I wish that I couldn't remember that boring class. And you got to miss half of science. Maybe I should start blacking out next time I'm bored.”

        Everyone was joking around about it but me. I couldn't help but think that Stephen is right somehow. Lia's behavior was way too weird, something had to be going on with her. I decided that during the shopping trip, I was going to figure out exactly what it was.

        “Hey,” I said, “Who is ready to try on costumes? Anyone want to join me in the fitting room?” I had already picked out the cheapest costume I could, a black witch dress.

        “Sure, why not?” said Lia, who was holding a sexy maid outfit.

        “I think I got mine too,” said Clem, “I mean, I was a pirate wench last year, but this version is way cuter.”

        “Oh please Clem,” I said, “You can be a little more creative. Come on Lia, share a room with me?” it wasn't really a question, as I grabbed her hand and led her away to the fitting room.

        As we were changing I asked, “So, really, you don't remember anything?”

        “Nothing, it's like a blackness in my memory,” Lia said as she looked at herself in the mirror, “I think I'm getting fat.”

        “Has anything strange been happening to you?”

        Lia made a face, “What, with my eating habits? I've been trying to cut down on carbs, and I heard that the pill makes you gain a few pounds...”

        “No, no. Not about you getting fat. Which you aren't. I mean just... things in general,” I didn't know what to ask her, since I really didn't know what I was looking for.

        “Well,” Lia looked through the crack in the door, to see if anyone was outside, and then said in a low whisper, “To be honest... and don't think I'm crazy or anything, but... I think I'm hearing voices.”

        “Like, what kind of voices?” I whispered as quietly as she was.

        “It's... I can't really describe it. But I think it has something to with you and Stephen. Like the voice is trying to tell me something about you two.”

        I was shocked. I didn't know what to say next, and Lia continued, “Just what is it that he does, anyway? Stephen, I mean. What does he do?”

        “What do you mean?” I asked, my mouth dry.

        “I know that he does... something... and the voice... never mind, it's stupid,” she smiled to herself, and finally started putting on her costume.

        “It's not stupid,” I grabbed her arm, “What does the voice say?”

        “Something about the dead. And how you and Stephen are necrominchers or something. I don't know what that word means. But the voice wants me to stop Stephen from doing whatever it is he does. And that's just weird, right?”

        My heart was pounding, “Yeah, weird. I don't know.”

        Lia finally had her costume on, “Maybe it's just the time of year. Ghosts and spirits causing havoc, right?”

        “Yeah,” I sighed, slipping on my own costume, “The time of year.”

-

        When I got home, my parents said that Stephen did all the chores and then quickly went back home. I took my bike over to his house, noting that the sun was setting. Tomorrow night would be Halloween, and who knew what was going to happen.

        The Morrison house was silent, as none of Stephen's parents cars were in the driveway, and Tom had left that morning. The light was on in Stephen's room, and I could hear people talking. I put my ear to the door and heard, “Shade, that is disgusting. Why would you do that?”

        “Hey, it's all you need to know! You asked for the basics, and I'm teaching you the basics!” came Shade's voice, and I could just tell from the tone of his voice that he was grinning and being mischievous.

        “That is not the basics. The basics are things like, 'Hello, how are you?', and not, 'You have nice b***s, may I sleep with you'?”

        “Then I don't know what world you live in, but where I come from, that's all you need to know,” he paused after that sentence, and then said louder, “Right, JoJo?”

        I opened up the door, “How did you know I was here?”

        Both men smiled at me. Stephen stood up and said, “Hey, you should have called me, I would have picked you up.”

        “It's okay, I rode my bike. It only took like five minutes. Now just what is going on in here?”

        “Well,” Stephen started, “we had a conversation last night about how he would teach me how to draw. That evolved into teaching me Japanese, in exchange for teaching him to write in English.”

        Shade was perched on Stephen's bed, and said proudly, “I already memorized the alphabet. Stephen, on the other hand...”

        Stephen plopped down in his desk chair, “Oh please. There are a lot more than twenty-six characters in Japanese. It's ridiculous. Jo, they have three different alphabets.”

        “Three?” I was surprised. I looked down at Stephen's notes, which were covered in Japanese characters.

        Shade nodded smartly, “Katakana, hiragana, and kanji. More like a way of writing than alphabets. They all have their place. I'm trying to teach Stephen kata, since it's the easiest and it's mostly used for foreign words. Little kids learn it,” he smiled at Stephen, “Which they do a lot faster than you.”

        “Whatever Shade, probably because their teachers don't teach them things like, 'Will you please sleep with my girlfriend?' and 'My girlfriend, Jo, has a nice rack.'” Stephen blushed, “Not that you don't, Jo, I mean...”

        I laughed, “Don't worry. Shade, you have to teach Stephen easy stuff. I'm sure Stephen is doing the best he can. Now what does this say?” Stephen had made a list entitled 'Things to say to my girlfriend' and Shade had written down some sentences. I pointed at the first one.

        “Fuku wo nugashi tai,” said Shade, “Here, I'll try to break it down for you, with hiragana. The first word is 'fuku', so there are two characters...”

        “What does it mean?” Stephen and I both said in unison.

        “What, the sentence?” Shade smiled, “That's not important.”

        “Is it about b***s again?” Stephen said skeptically.

        “No it's not. If you don't know the Japanese word for b***s by now, then I'm a horrible teacher.”

        “Shade,” said Stephen, a little more seriously, “What does the sentence say? I wanted a list of sentences like, 'You have nice eyes' or 'You look beautiful today.'”

        “Okay, fine. It translates to, 'I want to take off your clothes.' I mean, that's something you should be saying to JoJo everyday, right?”

        Stephen sighed, and was about to go off on Shade, so I quickly said, “Can I interest anyone in something to drink?”

        As Stephen said, “Water,” Shade also said, “Sake.”

        “Water it is,” I said as I headed out to the kitchen. I had to shake my head and smile when I thought about the two boys together. Even though Shade was getting on Stephen's nerves, they were still adorable together. But I started to worry when I remembered why I came over here in the first place.

        Stephen appeared at the kitchen, “This is wrong. You come to my house, and you serve us? Yeah, right. Do you want anything?”

        “Not really,” I smiled, “It's just my way of trying to curb Shade's perverseness.”

        “I guess it worked,” he smiled and kissed my cheek.

        “Uh oh,” I smirked, “You're not going to tell me you want to take off my clothes now, are you?”

        “Well, not right now,” he winked at me, and went to get some cups.

        I took a deep breath. I didn't want us to get flirty, when I came here to talk business. I just blurted it out, “You were right, by the way, Lia is hearing someone through the veil, and they're telling her about us.”

        Stephen was just putting his glass against the ice machine dispenser in the fridge. He just set his cup back down on the counter, turned to me, and said, “What?”

        “I think we're in trouble, Stephen.”

        He stared at the floor, thinking, “Do we know who, or what, it is?”

        I shook my head, “Not the slightest. If it was a shade, I don't know who it would be.”

        “Did she say if it was a man or a woman voice?”

        I sighed, “I should have asked that, I didn't even think of it. I only had a small window of time to talk to her alone. It told her that we were necromancers and that she should stop us.”

        Stephen was quiet for a minute, and I let him think. He eventually mumbled, “We have to stop this tonight. We can't afford to wait until tomorrow. Halloween. If we stop whatever it is now, we have a lot less to worry about.”

        I nodded, “We need to get to work, don't we?”

        Stephen walked past me, rushing to his room. As I followed I heard, “Shade, we have to go and... what are you doing on my laptop? Is that Twitter?”

        I peeked inside. Shade was happily pushing buttons on Stephen's keyboard, “Why aren't the letters in the order of the song that you taught me?”

        Stephen was staring at the screen, “Why do you have a Twitter?”

        Shade smiled, “After you went to sleep last night, Tom set it up for me. Why else would I want to suddenly learn how to write in English?”

        “But...” Stephen shook himself and grabbed the computer away from the shade, “You're not allowed to touch this anymore. What would you be doing on Twitter anyway?”

        Shade clutched his heart and sighed passionately, “I'm following Rihanna.”

        I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. The boys just stared at me as I giggled at them in the doorway.

-

        We began executing the plan. Stephen quietly drove me and my bike home, I told my parents I was going to bed, and I turned out my bedroom light and snuck out the window. Staying in the shadows, I crept to the barn where Stephen was waiting.

        “Where's Shade?” I whispered to him as I grabbed and squeezed his hand.

        There was a thump on the roof of the barn. Stephen pointed up, “There he is.”

        With wings unfolded, Shade glided down a few feet from the roof and landed beside us, “Shining Prince Paratrooper Shade, reporting for duty! I successfully spotted all the lights going off in the house, it looks like your parents went to bed, JoJo. We are safe and ready to go!”

        “You're late,” said Stephen.

        “Yeah, you try identifying the right house from up in the sky. I really scared some old man.”

        I gasped, “The house down the road? You scared Old Mr. Jenkins?”

        Stephen looked at me, confused, “I thought Ol' Man Jenkins went crazy and died.”

        “Actually, he had severe Alzheimer's, he didn't go crazy. And yeah, he died, but his brother is Old Mr. Jenkins. He lives on the other end of Quail Trail,” I explained.

        My boyfriend shook his head, “One month in a tiny town, and I still haven't figured it out. Anyway, we need to get going.”

        We went inside the barn. I locked the doors while Stephen went to the back corner, where a vampire had once slept, so he could open a Door. All the alpacas stirred, their sleep disrupted.

        “This alpaca is looking at me funny,” Shade pointed at a male, who actually did look pretty irritated.

        “That's James,” I introduced, “He's one of the new alpacas that we inherited from Oregon. He took a while to adjust, being pretty aggressive.”

        “He hates me,” said Shade, who was now having a staring match with James.

        “How can you tell?” I smiled.

        Shade's voice was straight and serious, “He hates me.”

        James the alpaca got to his feet, keeping his eyes locked with Shade's. I knew James was grumpy from his move, but I had never seen an animal look at another person that way. I recognized the familiar head jerk of an alpaca about to spit.

        “Shade,” I said, “He's going to spit at you.”

        “Bring it!” Shade yelled, making all the alpacas jump at the loud noise. He surprised James as well, making his spit wad misfire, landing three feet away from Shade. The Shining Prince put his fists on his hips, “Ha ha! I am the best, and you know it, arupaka-akushuu-san!”

        James quickly spat again, and it landed right between Shade's eyes. My hand flew to my mouth in shock. Shade slowly wiped the spit off of his face and gave James a death glare, “I will kill you.”

        “Shade, you are not allowed to kill the alpacas.”

        He took a step toward James, whose grin seemed bigger than usual. Shade whispered to him, “Don't tell Jo, but I will fight you. I will win. And then you will die.”

        Stephen appeared at my side, “What's going on?”

        “Shade is going to fight an alpaca.”

        Stephen rolled his eyes, “If he's finished, we have to get through the Door soon. You need to change and get your sword too.”

        I put a hand on Shade's shoulder, who was still facing off with James, “Prince Shade, we'll meet you in the Winterland.”

        Shade finally turned to face me, “Fine, see you there.” As I headed toward my secret nook where I hide all my necromancer stuff, I turned around and saw Shade glare at James once before vanishing, saying, “And I'll see you... in Hell! Or, most likely, here on another night!”

-

        Stephen had gone ahead of me, through the Door he had drawn in the straw in the floor. I closed my eyes, and laid down in the big circle, the actual Door to the Winterland. I still felt absolutely nothing as my body was shifted from one plane of existence to the other, due to how fast the magic worked. I blinked my eyes open a few seconds later, and I was no longer facing the ceiling of the barn, but the Winterland's night sky. The unmoving, unblinking stars of the eternal night of the Winterland seemed to stare back at me.

        As I sat up, I saw a figure running up the hill toward me from the Shadetown. By her flowing hair, I recognized her as Ireland. She called out, “Jo!” as she rushed to my side.

        “Hey Ireland,” I stood and hugged my friend, “Have you seen Stephen or Prince Shade?”

        “Yes!” she smiled, “You just missed them. They went looking for something. I don't know what, they didn't say, but I think they don't know what it is either.”

        “We don't,” I said grimly, “You wouldn't know who would be communicating to normal humans around here, would you?”

        “Not in the slightest,” she shook her head.

        “Well, then, which way did they go? I have to catch up,” I looked around, seeing no trace of either of them.

        “Oh!” said Ireland suddenly, “I nearly forgot! I was supposed to wait here for you, to tell you that they want you to guard the Door, and make sure nothing gets through. I didn't think you would arrive for a while, so I was going back home to talk to Shy Shade.”

        I didn't want to sit around and wait while my boyfriend was in potential danger, but there really was no choice. I sat on the ground next to the invisible Door barrier, which I could feel much easier than seeing, and Ireland joined me. I asked, “So Shy Shade is finally not being shy?”

        “It seems so, but only around young girls,” she smiled, “She still doesn't talk to men. I think I could have a career as a shade necromancer, it's not that hard at all, talking to shades.”

        “Well, obviously,” I laughed, “Because you're a shade yourself!”

        Ireland looked surprised, “I hadn't thought of that, to be honest!”

        I laughed again, and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, “You make me happy, you know that?”
She grinned hugely, “Thank you.”

        “Now tell me, what's going on between you and Nanking Shade? Anything good?” I was excited to get some girl talk tonight, as I didn't expect any at all.

        Ireland slouched, frowning, “I don't know. He's not exactly articulate about how he feels. I'm starting to think that...” she trailed off.

        “Think what?” I asked, “You can tell me.”

        “That... that...” her eyes brimmed with tears, “That he doesn't really care about me.”

        “Oh hush,” I said as I grabbed her into a tight hug, worried that she would suddenly start sobbing, “I'm sure he cares about you, don't worry.”

        “But... but...” she mumbled, and I quickly kissed the top of her head and spoke reassuringly, “I promise you that I will talk to him, and find out what's going on. Don't worry, whatever it is, I can fix it.”

        She looked up at me, smiling as a tear streamed down her cheek, “You can?”

        “Of course I can, I'm a necromancer, aren't I? I can do anything,” I grinned, borrowing some of Stephen's usual confidence, “As soon as all of this Halloween and veil stuff is done with, I will work on it.”

        “Great,” she wiped away her tear, “I'm glad.”

        Wanting to change the subject, I asked, “So, as much as I've heard about the veil, I really don't understand what it is, exactly. I mean, I get that it keeps our two worlds apart, but where is it? You can talk through it, and see me through it. Where is it?”

        Ireland held her hands in front of her face with her palms facing me, as if she were pressing her face against glass, “It's right here.”

        I was confused, so I just said, “Um.”

        Ireland laughed, “It's everywhere, JoJo. All around us. Even in your world, on Earth, it's around everything.”

        “It's...” I looked around, almost expecting to see some thin sheen of material somewhere, “But how can that be?”

        Ireland rested her head on my shoulder, and closing her eyes she said, "The veil is here. It is always surrounding us. In that respect, death is always near, but if that is true, Jo, then love is always closer."

        I had to pause and think about what she had said. It was actually very deep, coming from her. It made me smile to think that everyone and everything in the world was covered in an invisible blanket of love and life, yet also death.

        “Thank you, Ireland,” I said quietly, “I think I understand.”

        She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, “You're the best friend I've ever had.”

        “Aww,” I gave her a hug, “That's very nice of you. You are a wonderful friend yourself.”

        “You almost remind me of me Mam,” she looked up at me with her big, green eyes.

        “Your what? Or, your Mom,” I nodded, “Do you remember her?”

        “A little,” she sighed, “She was always kind. But busy, since we had a lot of wee ones in the house. But she was very, very kind. She would sing me to sleep every night, even when I told her I was too old for that anymore.”

        “You've never told me about her,” I said, surprised.

        “Aye, she's very vague. But I can still hear her voice, singing me to sleep. That last night...” she stopped speaking, frozen. I recognized the expression on her face, having seen it on other shades before. She was remembering. It was almost like the shade was having a seizure when something triggered their memory.

        “Talk through it,” I grabbed her shoulders, “Your mothers voice. Your bed. Are you alright? Ireland?” I started worrying, since Ireland was still quiet and had started shaking.

        “Hungry,” she mumbled, and she violently shook her head and snapped back to reality. She stared right into my eyes, “I was hungry. I had forgotten how it felt, until I helped you home, after that banshee. In the real world, I felt hunger. Very badly. And Sir Necromancer fed me, and...”

        I felt my heart sink when I started putting the pieces together. Her memories went from falling asleep to being hungry... she must have starved to death. And she was realizing it.

        “Ireland,” I caressed her long hair, “It's okay. I'm sorry, but you're going to be okay.”

        She was clutching her stomach, “We were all hungry. Everyone in the tiny house. The wee ones, they cried at night, and then they just stopped and I opened my eyes and I was in the Winterland. Then I wasn't hungry anymore. Me Mam... I didn't get to say goodbye to her... she was still singing to me when I left. Oh Lord,” her hands flew over her mouth, and she started hyperventilating.

        “Ireland,” I clutched her tight, not wanting to lose her. I had sent away a few shades before, but I never had any real connection with them, not like I had with Ireland, “Everything is going to be okay.”

        “What happened to her?” Ireland fought her gasps to speak, “What happened to me Mam?”

        I sighed. Nearly all the shades who realized they had left their loved ones behind asked me this. Somehow they expected me to know exactly what had happened to their families, “Ireland, that famine... it happened over a hundred years ago. I don't know what happened.”

        “But is she alright?” the young girl demanded.

        I didn't want to repeat what I had said, so I just gave in and said, “Yes, your mother is perfectly alright. And so are your little brothers and sisters. They're all better now. They're not hungry anymore.”

        “Oh,” she smiled and closed her eyes, looking serene as the light from the Summerland started to envelop her, “I'm glad. Thank you, Jo. I love you.”

        As the light grew brighter, her body became hotter. I tried to hold on to her for as long as I could, but it soon became too painful. I screamed from the burning feeling, torn between the pain and the need to hold on to my friend, to not let her die. But I had to let go, and I shielded my eyes as the glare became unbearable. Then it suddenly vanished. Spots clouded my vision as I looked at the place where Ireland had last sat. She was gone.

        “NO!” I clutched the grass, somehow hoping that I could get her back. But she was gone. I would never see her again. She would never smile, or laugh, or swoon over boys, or trail me around the Winterland. Not ever again. I had never felt such a terrible loss, a terrible emptiness, not ever.

        I curled up in a ball, hugging my knees, and cried my eyes out over losing my friend.

-

        “Jo?” Stephen's gentle voice and hand on my shoulder made me come back to reality. I don't know how long I had been sitting there, it could have been hours. All I remember thinking was that I didn't care if something came after me; a hundred banshees could start screaming at me and I wouldn't care. I felt like there was nothing. But then I looked up at Stephen, his face full of love and concern for me, and my life came rushing back to me. There was always something to live for.

        He knelt down next to me, “Shade and I saw the light. What happened? You sent someone away, didn't you?”

        I nodded, “I didn't mean to. It was an accident. My Ireland, she's...” there was a knot in my throat, and I couldn't speak anymore.

        Stephen kissed my forehead, “Hey, don't worry, honey, it's okay. It's what we do. She's happier now, in a much better place.”

        I concentrated on not crying, so I just stared at the ground while Stephen tucked some of my hair behind my ear and kissed my neck.

        Shade was standing at a distance from us, his wings unfurled, “I told you it was a shade. I just knew it. Who was it again? Shade O'Ireland?”

        I nodded, looking up at Shade. He just shrugged and said, “Oh well, she was TYTD anyway. But still cute.”

        Stephen and I both asked at the same time, “What's TYTD?”

        Shade blinked at us, “What, you don't know? I thought it would be obvious. TYTD? Too Young To Do. She was, what, twelve? A total TYTD.”

        Stephen just shook his head, “I am not teaching you the English alphabet anymore.”

        While Shade groaned disappointedly, Stephen stood and offered me his hand to help me up, “Are you going to be alright?”

        “I think so,” I said, clutching his hand as tightly as I could.

        “Good,” he smiled, “We didn't find anything when we were looking around. Anything at all. So most likely it's something powerful that has scared away all the other creepy crawlies that come out on Halloween. It could be a succubus or incubus that burrowed, which is why we couldn't find it.”

        “Not again,” I sighed.

        “Or,” Stephen said in a very serious tone, “It's a shade, hiding in plain sight. So we're gonna check the Shadetown, the one place we haven't looked around here.”

        Shade pointed toward his tiny town, “I should go around, warn everyone that talking to Lia is a bad idea. Nice body, that Lia, but a really bad kisser.”

        “Whatever, Shade,” I looped my arm around Stephen's as we walked down the slope of the hill toward the Shadetown. The streets were deserted, making it a ghost town in a very real sense. I asked, “Where is everyone?”

        “The light,” Shade replied, “It must have scared everyone off. They're all in their houses.”

        “Hopefully,” said Stephen, “it scared off whatever is plaguing Lia too.”

        “Maybe it's the ghoul?” Shade suggested.

        “It's not the ghoul,” Stephen said.

        “I have an idea,” Shade raised his hand, “What if it's the ghoul?”

        “Ghouls can't talk,” Stephen answered.

        “Have you ever talked to a ghoul?” Shade asked skeptically.

        “No,” Stephen sighed, “Have you?”

        “No, they don't talk.”

        “I rest my case, Your Honor.”

        As Shade was asking, “What does that even mean?” one of the doors to a house cracked open, and a head that I recognized poked out. I let go of Stephen so I could talk to him, “Hey, Nanking.”

        The young teenage boy looked at me sadly, “Who was that light? Who left us?” I put a hand on his shoulder to break the news, but before I could say anything, Nanking said, “It was Ireland, wasn't it? We couldn't find her, when we were all taking refuge. And she's always with you, and if she's not here...”

        “It was,” I said, “I'm really sorry, but she's gone.”

        Nanking stepped out of his house, closing the door behind him. He stared at the ground and shrugged, “Yeah, I mean, she's... we weren't really...”

        I hushed him, “It's okay, Nanking. She's peaceful now.”

        Stephen stepped up to my side, “Nanking? Your name is Nanking?”

        The Chinese boy nodded, looking up at Stephen curiously.

        “Like, that's where you remember living?”

        He nodded again.

        Stephen turned to me, “That's an easy one, Jo. I can't believe you haven't sent him away already. When I get an obvious one, I just tell them what happened and send them to the Summerland, and save me time.”

        “What are you talking about?” I asked him.

        Stephen looked at me doubtfully, “You've never heard of the Rape of Nanking?”

        I shook my head. Nanking looked back and forth from me to Stephen and asked, “What's going on?”

        “The Nanking Massacre,” Stephen explained, “1937. The Japanese army invades China, just because they can. They go through the city and murder and rape every Chinese person they can find. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were killed, for no reason. You've really never heard of this?”

        “No,” I said, “I've never heard anything like that,” I instinctively turned to Shade, “Have you?”

        “Oh please,” said Stephen, before Shade could answer, “He doesn't know anything about Japanese military history, not that I know of. Watch this. Shade, what does the Japanese flag look like?”

        “We have a flag?” Shade asked excitedly, “Is it pretty?”

        “See?” Stephen turned back to me.

        “Fine,” I said, “But that doesn't mean that was how he died,” I gestured toward Nanking, who was looking more and more confused.

        Stephen bent down a little, going eye to eye with Nanking, “What is the last thing you remember doing? On Earth?”

        Nanking shrugged, “Digging. With my father.”

        “Okay,” said Stephen, “But what were you digging? A hole? Were you digging up a tree stump? Or were you looking for something buried?”

        “I don't really remember,” he closed his eyes, concentrating, “I think it was just a hole. Why do you ask?” he opened his eyes again, looking a little irritated.

        Stephen stood straight, crossing his arms, “Easy. You were digging a grave.”

        “What grave?” Nanking imitated Stephen and crossed his own arms.

        “Your grave,” Stephen said calmly, “You were digging your own grave. With your father, you said? Where was your mother?”

        I watched Nanking's eyes glaze over, just as Ireland's had done not too long ago. Now it was his turn to remember, “My moth... she was... and my sisters... it was... horrible, they... guns, there were guns, bayonets, and they told us to turn around and dig. They were laughing, making rude jokes. Calling us names. We were digging, and...” Nanking fought his way out of his reverie, and suddenly raced past us and went head first into Shade, knocking him to the ground with an, “Oof!”

        Nanking sat on top of Shade, yelling at him in Mandarin Chinese, and was about to punch his face when Shade grabbed his fist, inches from his own nose. In the blink of an eye Shade had flipped Nanking off of him, forcing him on his back. Shade's arm was wrapped tightly around Nanking's neck, and the young man gasped for air and flailed his legs as he tried to move. A few more seconds later, Shade sat up, shoving one of his knees onto Nanking's stomach before he could recover. Shade reached to his hip, grabbing something by instinct, but of course he wasn't wearing any weapons. He stared at his side in wonder, possibly having his own, small memory of brandishing a weapon.

        The familiar Summerland light once again started filling up my vision. Shade jumped off of Nanking, avoiding the doorway to the afterlife. Nanking yelled out something in Mandarin, and after the blinding flash, he was gone.

        “Not another one,” I moaned as I blinked out all the spots floating around.

        Stephen removed his glasses to rub his eyes, “The light is brighter than usual, probably the time of year.”

        I noticed that Shade wasn't even having a reaction from the light. He was just standing still, and glaring at Stephen. I wasn't sure if it was my eyes, but it almost looked like his face was turning red. He was shaking a little when he said, “Stephen, why did you do that?”

        “Do what?” Stephen asked.

        “Send him away. Why did you do that?” there wasn't a hint of sarcasm or humor in his voice at all, which was very rare.

        “It's my job,” Stephen said simply, “It's what I do.”

        “But you didn't have to...” Shade thought for a moment to find the right words, “He didn't even do anything. He was just a kid. There was no reason to send him away. You just did it.”

        “I'm a necromancer,” said Stephen, almost like he was speaking to a child, “This is what I'm supposed to do.”

        Shade pointed at me, “Jo is the shade necromancer. She deals with us, not you. Not anymore. If it weren't for you, he would still be around,” he pointed to the spot where Nanking had laid, “He would still be here.”

        “You're not supposed to be here,” Stephen was starting to sound as angry as Shade was, “You all should have moved on when you died.”

        “For the LAST TIME,” Shade yelled, “I AM NOT DEAD!”

        “Yeah, sure,” Stephen rolled his eyes, “And I'm the Queen of England.”

        “How dare you,” Shade really was getting red in the face now, “You don't even know what it's like to be a shade. Why would you mock us?”

        “Guys,” I said calmly, “Let's not fight.”

        Stephen didn't seem to hear me, “Oh, sure, I bet your life is so hard, right? You sleep all day, sleep with women all night, and then come to my house and eat my food and try to steal my girlfriend, and then repeat the next day. Yeah, that really sucks, doesn't it? I wish my life was as easy as yours. If you actually lived a hard life like mine...”

        Stephen didn't get the chance to finish, as Shade rushed toward him, grabbed his neck and held him against the wall of the nearest house. As Stephen struggled against him, Shade screamed, “Don't you dare tell me that you've had a hard life, Stephen Jon Morrison! Don't you dare! You don't even know the meaning of a hard life! You've had the most comfortable life out of anyone I've ever seen. You have both your parents, who are super rich, love you and buy you a freaking car for your seventeenth birthday. And then on your eighteenth, they let you touch your college fund money, which they have been earning for you for their entire lives, and you blow it off on clothes and expensive dates with your girlfriend. You could be getting the best education money can offer, and you won't, and you know why? Because you think you have a freaking hard life! My a*s! Your friends all leave, because you become a necromancer. You get held back in school, because you become a necromancer. Your girlfriend doesn't love you, because she doesn't trust you enough, because you won't tell her you're a necromancer. And when she leaves you, you think it's the end of the world. Well screw that. That's not a hard life, you b*****d. Do you know what I got for my seventeenth birthday? I don't know, because I don't freaking remember! I don't remember s**t, Stephen! Everyone around here has a good memory of their Earth Life, and I don't. They all have one clear, happy memory. The only clear memory I have is being told that my father committed suicide! I remember being hungry! I remember being beaten! I can remember thinking that I was about to die, on multiple occasions. And I have these strange actions, and I don't know why I have them. I know how to kill people, I know I was trained to, but I have no memory of how I learned the things I know, or why. I can only remember bits and pieces, and they are all horrible. I had a freaking terrible life Stephen, not you. You live a miracle life, you have no idea just how fortunate you are! And the only person who made me happier than anything, the person who had the key to all my memories, is dead, because of you! It hurts me every single day, Stephen, that's she's gone, and you don't even give a s**t. I hate you so much! I wish I could effing kill you! Sometimes I want to just smack you. All those times you insult me or belittle me or think I'm stupid just because I'm a shade, or when you tell me I'm dead, I just hate you so effing much! You don't even know. You don't even know a thing about living a hard life. Grow up! Shut the hell up about having a hard life. You make me sick.”

        Shade dropped Stephen, who fell to his knees and grasped at his neck, massaging it as he coughed. Shade turned on his heel and walked down the road, his fists balled with pent up anger.

        “Are you okay?” I asked Stephen, who nodded.

        I wanted to stay with my boyfriend, but I could feel my duty calling me. There was an upset shade, and I was the necromancer. I had to make him better. I kissed Stephen on the cheek and went after Shade.

        “You're not...” Stephen rasped, “You're not going to him? After what he said?”

        “It's my job. It's what I do,” I answered, throwing Stephen's words back at him, and continued down the road.

        I found Shade in the outskirts of the town, not far from where I had been attacked by the banshee. He was sitting cross-legged, with his hands covering his face. I sat next to him, and put my hand reassuringly on his back, “Hey,” I said kindly, “Are you alright?”

        He didn't answer.

        “Shade?”

        He removed his hands, and I could see his eyes brimmed with tears. In a faltering voice he said, “I really miss her.”

        “Oh Shade,” I rubbed his back, comforting him, and he buried his face against my neck as he fought back his tears, gasping and choking out, “I really... really... miss her... a lot... and I want... to see her... but... I can't... I can't.”

        “Shh, just let it out, it's okay,” I whispered to him.

        He gasped, held his breath, and said, “No, I won't,” he sat up and rubbed his eyes, “I can't do this. I can't be weak in front of you. I won't let myself.”

        “You're going to have to get it out of your system at some point,” I said.

        He looked at me, and his tears were gone, “I know, but I don't want to do it now.”

        “Fine,” I sighed, “What do you want to do?”

        “Sit here,” he stared up at the stars, and I joined him. We were both quiet.

        There was something poking me in the back, and when I reached for it, I discovered a small twig. Wood was something rare and treasured in the Winterland, I assumed there were trees here once, or something resembling them. I toyed with the twig in my hand, and then started drawing with it in the dirt, making spirals and shapes. I could feel Shade's gaze on me, watching as I doodled.

        I held the stick toward him, “Draw me something.”

        He accepted it, “What should I draw?”

        I shrugged, “Whatever. What you normally draw.”

        One corner of his mouth smiled a little as he started to draw a face. I recognized the Japanese woman from his basement, “This art form is called onna-e,” he explained as he finished her round face and started on the hair, “It literally means 'woman pictures'. It's not just women, it's pictures that women would like. Like romance scenes and whatever. I'm really best at otoko-e, or 'man pictures', which are usually depictions of battles and warriors. But Hime-chan liked the romantic stuff, and she requested it a lot. After she died, it became easier to draw. I couldn't stop after a while.” He finished, since the dirt didn't allow for any details in her clothes and hair, and frowned.

        “It's very nice,” I complimented.

        With one movement he brushed away the dirt, wiping away the drawing, “If you say so.” And he sat quietly again.

        There was movement out of the corner of my eye. We both watched Stephen angrily storm out of the Shadetown toward the Door. If he noticed us, he made no indication of it. He reached the top of the hill and vanished, going back home.

        “You're not going to go with him?” Shade asked.

        I shook my head, “I think you need me more, right now.”

        Shade smiled, “I really love you.”

        I just looked at Shade, not knowing what to say.

        His smile grew, resembling the Shade I have known for the past month, and I knew he was feeling better already, “I do. I get why all the shades here are nuts for you. You're wonderful. I'm glad you're here. You don't have to love me back, I just want you to know that I love you, very much. And not in a perverted way, I'm not trying to hit on you or get you to sleep with me, I just love you, plain and simple.”

        I could feel my heart beating faster, and I felt the usual rush of panic whenever I thought about Shade romantically. I still didn't know what it was I felt for him. What if it really was love?

        “Well,” Shade smirked, “Unless you actually want me to hit on you and sleep with you, then that's okay.”

        I laughed, “I don't think so, Shade.” He laughed too, and I knew that I had done my job for the night.

        A shooting star flying across the sky caught our attention, and our laughter ceased immediately. I asked Shade, “Was that a comet?”

        “I don't know,” Shade stood slowly, “I've never seen one in this sky.”

        “What was it?” I joined him as we peered up at the stars.

        “I think the best theory,” he looked at me and said seriously, “That the veil is gone, so it's easier to see into Earth. We may have just seen, what I would call, nagareboshi.”

        “A meteorite, really,” I explained, “Nothing too dramatic. But still, the veil is gone?”

        “Happy Halloween!” Shade threw his hands up in a celebratory gesture.

        I looked up at the sky, almost expecting to see another falling star. There were an awful lot more stars out than I would normally see in the Winterland. I smiled. The cosmos of Knightsen and the Winterland were one.

        “Hey Shade,” I said suddenly, “I will tell you how I feel about you.”

        “You will?” he asked, surprised.

        “Yeah,” I nodded and smiled at him, “I will. But not tonight. Give me a day or two to think, and I swear I really will tell you.”

        “Deal,” he said, and he joined me as we star gazed for another moment. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and spoke, “Don't tell Stephen, but this is actually my favorite time of year.”

-

        I was sitting on the shore, letting the waves lap against my feet, and digging my toes into the sand. The stars were shining, the moon was huge, and there was a gentle breeze playing against my hair and wings. The air was cold, and I was still wet from the swim, and I shivered a little. I was glad I was able to fly out of the water, since no ordinary person could get out of the rivers current on their own. I remembered all the times I was told that I should never, ever swim in the main river as a child, but now I laughed. I had conquered the Winterland. The night was mine, and I didn't even care that there was a great beast underneath the very waves at my feet. I had escaped him all on my own, hadn't I? This was a victory. I felt very proud of myself.

        Then I knew I was being watched. I turned around and standing there was a man. Or not a man, I wasn't sure. His body kept changing, but the transformations were so smooth that it was hard to tell what he was. I saw tentacles, a man's face, a ball of bright colors, a dark grin, then round squid eyes, and a man again. He was constantly morphing into various animals that could not possibly live on Earth, but every so often I saw the figure of a man with olive skin and a neat, rectangular shaped beard jutting out from his chin, reminding me of an Egyptian pharaoh.

        “Who are you?” I asked.

        It spoke in a man's voice, “So you're the one.”

        I woke up at the sound of my phone chirping at me that I had a text. I sat up and rubbed my face, instantly hating whoever would text me before sunrise. I discovered it was Clem, who sent, “Don't forget to wear your costume to school! I'm already getting ready. See ya!”

        I moaned as I fell back into bed, loving the feeling of my head slamming against my soft pillow. I wasn't nearly ready to get out of bed yet. My head was feeling fuzzy from being woken up so suddenly, and I had to check my phone to make sure that Clem's text wasn't part of my dream. It was my first text in a long time, and I was irritated that it had come at a bad time. I checked to see when I had last received a text message, which was two weeks ago from Stephen, which read, “Just texting to say I love you.”

        I put my phone away, and wondered if he still had the same sentiments. When I had come back from the Winterland, his car was gone. And he left no message, no indication that he still wanted to see me.

        I closed my eyes, feeling stressed over what was going to happen to the rest of the day. I felt so agitated that I had a short frustration dream where I was trying to walk to Stephen's house to apologize, but I got lost and wandered all over Knightsen trying to find him. At the very end of the short dream I walked all the way to the San Joaquin River, and I watched the quick waves go by and wondered if he had been pulled underneath.

-

        To my surprise, I heard footsteps at the barn door that morning, at the usual time when Stephen would come to pick me up from school. I put down the bag of alpaca feed to watch my boyfriend open the large double doors and enter the barn. He wasn't smiling.

        “Hey,” I greeted.

        “Nice costume,” he said.

        I looked down at myself, at the tattering black dress from the Halloween store and my black necromancer boots. My pointed witches hat was sitting on a bale of hay next to me. I grabbed it and put it on my head, “Thanks, but this is the completed look. What do you think?”

        He put his hand to his chin, pretending to analyze me, “Well, the outfit is plain and modest and very unoriginal for Halloween, but since you're wearing it, it's amazing.” And he finally grinned.

        “What are you supposed to be?” I asked, since he was wearing one of his usual fancy outfits.

        “I dunno,” now he was looking down at himself, “Someone who wears a tie, I guess. Steve Jobs, that's who I am.”

        I took a step toward him and held his tie, playing with it, “Oh, so do I finally get to call you Steve today?”

        “No, I take it back!” he said hurriedly, “Not Steve Jobs, I'm Bill Gates, clearly, I even have the glasses!”

        I laughed, “You don't look nearly nerdy enough to be Bill Gates.”

        “Is that so?” Stephen took my hands in his, “What should I do to nerd it up a little bit?”

        “First you need to kiss me,” I said.

        He complied, holding my lips against his for a few seconds before saying, “I'm pretty sure nerds don't kiss witches.”

        “This one does,” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him harder. When I broke it off I asked, “Are you mad at me? About last night?”
“Not at all,” he answered, “Well, for a little bit, yeah I was pretty mad at you. But it's stupid. I love you way too much to be that mad at you. What about Shade, how is he?”

        “I don't know how he feels about you, but I got him back to his usual self after you left.”

        “Then that's good,” Stephen smiled, “I really want today to go as smoothly as possible. The less that goes wrong, the better.”

        “I agree,” I said, and quickly kissed his lips again, “I'm glad everything is better. And why aren't you kissing me back?”

        “I think I'm getting sick, actually,” he said, “I woke up sniffling this morning. I don't want you to catch anything.”

        “Silly,” I ran my hands through his hair, “I don't care about things like that. Come on, share your germs with me. Please?” I pouted, which I knew he couldn't resist. He held me tight and kissed me hard, and I knew without a doubt that I loved him more than anything.

-

        The front of the school was decorated with its Halloween finest, for the parade the elementary school was having later in the morning. Clem was helping set up a graveyard with the rest of the Garden Club, and she waved furiously at me and Stephen when his car pulled into the parking lot. She had taken my advice and deviated from the pirate wench idea, and was now a walking pile of glitter and wings.

        She ran up to me as I was getting out of the car, “What do you think? Don't I look fabulous?”

        “What are you supposed to be?” I asked, “Fantasy Glitter Barbie?”

        “No, silly,” she laughed, “I'm a fairy princess! Duh, wings!” she pointed at her back.

        “Oh, of course, how could I have missed the giant glitter wings?” I said sarcastically.

        Stephen was keeping a good five feet away from Clem, “Is that what you're wearing to the party tonight?” he asked her.

        “Well, of course!” she said, “But I'm afraid the party is going to have to be an emergency potluck. I spent all my pocket money on decorations for the house, and then I was helping the Garden Club with the school and helping out the elementary school kids, that I never had the time or money to get food for the party. And now I think it's too late, I don't have any time today to get dinner or snacks or even Halloween candy.”

        “Hold on,” Stephen opened his car door, reached into his glove box and pulled out a check book. He started writing, “How much will you need?”

        “Um, I guess...” she started, but Stephen tore off a check and handed it to her, “I left a phone number on there for Spaulding, Morrison and Goldberg, which is the firm that my Dad used to work at and now my uncle works at. It's in Stockton, and they have a discount with Straw Hat Pizza. Call the firm, they will call the Straw Hat in Brentwood, and you will get how ever many pizzas that check can afford delivered to your house.”

        Clem stared at the check, and then stared back up at Stephen, “Are you serious?”

        He shrugged, “It's the best I can do, to help out a friend.”

        She squealed, and held her arms out to hug Stephen. He put his hands up in front of her, “Please, no hugging, no glitter on my clothes.”

        “This is so awesome!” he shrieked, “Oh my gosh, I have to get this to my Mom, so she can get the order. Stephen, you are the best!” she ran into the school to get her Mom, who teaches the fourth grade class.

        “That was really nice of you,” I said to Stephen.

        “Thank you,” he replied.

        “Are you even going to the party?” I asked.

        “Probably not,” he shook his head, “And really, you shouldn't either. We're going to be busy.”

        “I can at least drop by to enjoy the food,” I smiled, “So, are you really spending all your college money on things like this?”

        As he was putting away his check book, he just said in a monotone voice, “We're going to talk about that later.”

        “Okay then,” I respected his privacy, even though Shade had been right. He could be going to a great school with all of his money, and not just spending it all on his nice wardrobe. I was silent about it, and so was he, until we were in the hallway in front of our classroom.

        “I mean,” he blurted out, “Its not like I'm ever going to go to college anyway.”

        “But you should,” I said, “Why aren't you?”
“I can't,” he looked into my eyes, sadly, “You know I can't. It's not an option anymore.”

        “It's always an option.”

        “Not for me.”

        “Do your parents know you're not going to college?”

        He sighed, “No, I haven't told them. I guess they figure that I'm dipping into my college fund, but I'm pretty sure they don't know how much.”

        “But when are you going to tell them?”

        “We're not going to talk about this anymore, seriously this time,” he turned his back to me and went inside the classroom, sitting right down at his desk.

        I took my seat slowly, getting The Scarlet Letter out of my backpack and setting it on my desk, and said, “But we will talk about it. One day.”

        “Yeah, yeah,” he flipped through his book, “It's a sore subject. And today is not the day to...” his voice trailed off as he stared at the door of the classroom. I followed his gaze, and saw Lia. I had to force my jaw to not drop.

        “Hey guys,” she sidled up to our front desks, with a huge smile on her face, “What do you think?”

        “I thought...” I struggled to speak, “What happened to the French maid costume?”

        “Are you kidding? That's way too inappropriate for school. When we were packing up stuff for the move I found this, when my parents honeymooned in India. Isn't it fabulous?”

        Lia was dressed like a belly dancer, draped in red and green flowing cloth and covered in gold bangles. She had gold bracelets jingling at her wrists, a sparkling bindi on her forehead, and her hair was flowing with curls.

        “Yeah, it's...” I composed myself, forcing a smile, “fabulous. Best costume yet.”

        “Thanks!” she said as she turned to walk toward her desk in the back of the room. But then she stopped, and pivoted around and knelt down to my face. Her eyes had changed from hazel to bright green. She said in a voice that I recognized, “I hope you're prepared for tonight, Madam Necromancer. I can't wait for our rematch.” When she straightened up, her eyes had turned back to normal. She looked around, wiped her brow and spoke in her normal voice, “Whoa, I thought I was going to my desk. Why am I still here?” she skipped to her desk, where Mike, dressed as a pirate, was grinning like a loon at the sight of his girlfriend.

        “That,” a pale Stephen whispered to me, “was Mara.”

        “Obviously,” I replied, “You really were right all along, I mean...”

        Mr. Martinez walked in, dressed like Dracula, and immediately began his lesson, “Okay everyone, we're going to have a quick lecture today, because we are attending the elementary Halloween parade in half an hour. We'll wrap up our discussion of symbolism today, starting with the meteorite symbol. After the town witnesses it fall from the sky and form the shape of the letter A, they think it means 'Angel' for the passing of Governor Winthrop. But Arthur Dimmesdale sees this as God telling him to bear the mark of adultery, and come forth as being guilty of his sin. It becomes a turning point for Dimmesdale, where he realizes that he must be truthful to his heart.”

        I couldn't help but think of the falling star in the Winterland, as I stood next to Shade. Wasn't that the moment when I promised that I would tell him how I felt? I still wasn't even sure how I felt about him. I had the feeling that he showed me a side of himself last night that he had never shown anyone before, the real Shade. He was lonely, needy, depressed, very quietly seeking help, and disguising all that behind a facade of confidence and machismo. The person that he keeps buried deep down was one I could get behind. That Shade had a small place in my heart. That Shade was actually very sweet and endearing.

        I looked at Stephen, noticing how very handsome he seemed as he was watching Mr. Martinez and taking notes. I peeked over and what he could be writing down so diligently. He was actually making a list, disguising it as lecture notes.

        Go to Winterland, last minute investigation...Protect Lia, exorcise Mara...Go to party?...Hawthorne used symbolism to demonstrate strict Puritanical...Open and guard Door? Make a trap? Bait?...Tell Jo that I love her, but could she please stop reading over my shoulder.

         I sat up in my seat and looked straight ahead at Mr. Martinez, pretending to be paying attention. I looked back at Stephen out of the corner of my eye, who was smiling at me. I felt the butterflies flutter in my stomach that appear every time he smiles at me.

        If Shade had a small place in my heart, then Stephen held the rest in the palms of his hands.

        A few minutes later, class ended early so we could all go outside and watch the elementary school kids march around the playground in their costumes. We were each given a bag of candy to hand out to any kid who asks for a trick or treat. Then they got to do crafts and apple bobbing, so pretty quickly all of the junior high and high school kids got bored and were just standing around, until Clem appeared in a glittery cloud holding a huge wash bin.

        “Look what I helped arrange!” she announced, “Apple bobbing for the big kids!” she set down the barrel full of water as Dan, her boyfriend, started unloading a bag full of apples.

        I nudged Stephen, “Did you want to do some old fashioned apple bobbing?”

        He just pointed at his glasses.

        “Alright then,” I said as I rushed off to join Clem. I was second in line, and as I watched Charlie hilariously flail around in the water, desperately trying to bite an apple, I felt a horrible, twisted feeling in my stomach. It was almost like a creature was gnawing at something inside of me. I could barely hear the crowd erupt with cheers as the drenched Charlie emerged with an apple in her mouth.

        I stepped up to the pool of water, and looked down into it. I almost felt like I was going to pass out. I knew it wasn't logical, but I felt that as soon as I dunked my head under the water, I would be pulled under, unable to fight the current to swim back to the surface, and the deep voice would echo all around me. I clenched my fists, doing the best I could to not shake.

        “What's the matter?” said Lia's voice behind me, “Afraid of water?”

        I gasped and froze.

        She put her mouth right up to my ear, and Mara's voice whispered to me, “Afraid that the great Lord Cthulhu is going to rise up and devour your soul, are you?”

        “What are you doing to her, Mara?” I breathed.

                “Using her,” Mara answered, “I can't wait to drink her libido tonight, when I can finally enter your world on my own. And it's all thanks to you,” she let me go, and then Lia said, “Geez, if you're not going to do it, then can I go?”

                “Yeah, sure,” I got out of her way and went right to Stephen. I guess he had been watching the whole thing, because he grabbed me and hugged me tightly.

                “Was it the dream?” he asked me during our embrace. I nodded, and he said, “But I thought that was over with?”

                “For the most part,” I felt the tears coming back to me, “I guess it's not completely over.”

                As he let me go he just sighed and said, “I really, really hate this time of year.”

-

        I went with Stephen to his house after school. We went right to his room where he lifted up his mattress to take out the Necronomicon. As he flipped through the pages he thought out loud, “There has to be a reason why Mara is using Lia. There just has to be. I mean, why Lia? If Mara wants to get at you, she could just use Clem. Or your parents. Why Lia?”

        “I don't know,” I leaned in a corner, still feeling uncomfortable after my near panic attack at the thought of dunking my head under water, “Why would she say that it's all because of me? What did I do?”

        “I have no clue, but I think I read something like that once in here,” he read a page, then requested, “Human possession.” The book turned its own pages, and whatever picture was on the page that Stephen asked for made him flinch and look away, “Okay, maybe not that kind of possession. Um, how would I phrase it...”

        Right then I heard Shade's voice yelling into my ear, “Hey, JoJo!” I jumped and screamed, and Stephen was so scared that he dropped the Necronomicon.

        “Shade?” I asked in the direction where his voice came from, “Was that you?”

        “Well, obviously,” his voice was so loud that it sounded like he was truly standing next to me, “Can you hear me okay?”

        “You're deafening,” I answered, “Even Stephen can hear you.”

        “Stephen can... oh, there you are, hey Stephen!” Shade's voice cheerfully greeted. Stephen didn't reply, he was still in shock from the scare.

        “What are you doing, Shade? Where are you?” I asked.

        “Talking to you, of course. And I'm in the Winterland, where else would I be?”

        Stephen spoke up, “The veil. It's not filtering any sound. Shade, we can hear you loud and clear.”

        “Oh really now? Is that why you two are so easy to see?”

        “Shade,” I said patiently, “We don't have a lot of time to play around. What is it you want?”

        “You had better get here, especially you, Jo. Something is happening in town.”

        I turned to Stephen, “Shall we head to the Winterland then?”

        “I suppose,” he stood, and picked up his book from the ground, “But we're taking this.”

-

        We opened the Door in Stephen's backyard, and when we entered the Winterland, Shade was just a few feet away, at about the exact distance from the Door to Stephen's bedroom in the real world. He ran up to me and greeted, “Hey Jo. And... Stephen.”

        “Shade,” Stephen said nervously, “Listen...”

        “Hey!” Shade interrupted, and asked cheerfully, “Remember that time when I held you by your neck against a wall, and I screamed about how much I hated you into your face for at least a solid two minutes?”

        “Well, yeah,” Stephen spoke cautiously, “That was, what, twelve hours ago?”

        Shade smiled and held out his hand as a gesture of peace, “My bad.”

        Instead of shaking it, Stephen just stared at the shade's hand, “Really?”

        Shade nodded happily.

        “Wait,” Stephen tucked the Necronomicon under his arm and said, “You were right. About all that stuff. No, I don't have a hard life, when you put it that way. And yes, it must be hard for you to live the way you do. I'm really sorry. I'm not going to make fun of you anymore. And I won't be as hard on you.”

        “Ha ha,” Shade laughed,”You said 'hard on'.”

        Stephen rolled his eyes, “I just want to apologize, okay? I was out of line, you were right.”

        Shade put his hand to his ear, as if he was hard of hearing, “I'm sorry, could you say that again?”

        “Say what again?”

        “That last part.”

        “Um, you were right?”

        Shade sighed with pleasure, “It's like a symphony. Anyway, you should say that to the rest of the townspeople, because the reason I asked you to come here is to convince them to stay.”

        I felt worried, and asked, “What do you mean, convince them to stay?”

        “Nearly everyone is jumping ship,” Shade gestured toward the town, “Leaving. They don't like it here anymore.”

        I immediately rushed to the town, where I found most of the population destroying homes, breaking down the wood into big bundles that other shades were hoisting on their backs, so they could rebuild them somewhere else.

        “What is going on?” I called out, but nobody answered. They all looked the other way.

        I spotted Mr. Boston, carrying a trundle of wood on his back and some spare black clothes in his hands. I rushed over to him, “Why is everyone leaving?”

        “Because of you!” he said angrily in his thick accent, “You and that other necromancer friend of yours. Two shades gone within minutes! Ghouls running rampant! This place is a mess. A bunch of us decided to just get outta here and leave.”

        I felt absolutely terrible, “Listen, this is my fault. I can take care of the ghoul. And I'm sorry about Ireland and Nanking, but...”

        He turned his back to me, ignoring me, and continued down the road. I felt helpless, watching people I had come to know so well leaving without saying goodbye. I wanted to run up to them and tell them to change their minds, but I knew it would be no use. It was hard to change a shade's mind. I felt something tug at my leg, and I found Big Boy giving me a hug. He looked up at me with his huge, shining eyes, “Where is everybody going, Mama JoJo?”

        I picked him up, “Somewhere else. They will like it there better. But you're staying, aren't you baby?”

        He rested his head on my shoulder, “Of course.”

        As I was holding him, I heard Stephen and Shade join me at my side. The shades passing by glared at them.

        “There's really nothing we can do,” Stephen shook his head, “They're going to leave, no matter what we say.”

        “At least they're not all going,” I said as I set down Big Boy, who clung right back to my leg.

        “Are you alright?” Shade asked me, looking seriously concerned.

        “Yeah,” I said, “It was just a long day, it seemed. And it's only going to get worse from here, isn't it?”

        Shade gently patted my shoulder, “Well, you still look really pretty, if that makes you feel better. Nice dress.”

        “Whoa!” Stephen called out, “Okay, what is with you, Shade?”

        “Nani yo?” Shade asked to Stephen.

        “You are being really nice today. Like, really nice. What is going on.”

        Shade shrugged, “I've just been in a very good mood. I had some good news recently,” he smiled at me, and I had the feeling that he was referring to the promise I made to him, to tell him how I felt about him. It seems this news was more exciting to him than anything.

        “Yeah,” Stephen crossed his arms, “Like what? Tell me.”

        Shade looked up at the sky, pretending to be lost in thought, “Hmm, remember that time when you said you wouldn't be hard on me anymore?”

        “Oh,” Stephen uncrossed his arms and looked uncomfortable, “Um.”

        “And that time, when I held you by your neck against a wall and screamed in your face?”

        “I get it, Shade, I won't ask,” Stephen opened up the Necronomicon again and started flipping through the pages.

        “Hey Shade,” I said, “I know you're secretly still mad at Stephen or whatever, but just don't be mean to him, okay?”

        “As you wish,” he smiled, “What were you two doing in his bedroom anyway? Or do I want to know?”

        Stephen answered, “It was all innocent, really. I was trying to find some information in the Necronomicon. We have a situation involving Lia.”

        “Geez, who cares about her that much anyway,” Shade grumped, “She's not a nice person. Remember when she slapped me?”

        Before I could say anything Stephen gasped, flipped a few pages, and pointed dramatically at the book, “I found it! That's it!” and he read, “'A human may become more in tune to the Winterland, if they are physically connected by a being from that realm.'” Stephen looked up at me, “When we made Shade make out with Lia, that was her connection! She'll probably have it for life.”

        Shade moaned, “I knew it was a bad idea to try to get in her pants. JoJo, this is your fault you know. It was your grand idea.”

        Stephen ignored him, “Mara found someone who was connected with the Winterland and made contact. Now that the veil is so weak, she can practically take over Lia's body,” Stephen snapped the book shut, “We have to go back. Lia's in danger.”

        I felt Big Boy tug at my dress, “Mama,” he said, and pointed at a corner. Shy Shade was huddled up in the shadows.

        I turned to Stephen and Shade, “I'll meet you later. I have to do something first.”

        Stephen cleared his throat, “Since the shades probably won't listen to me, you should tell as many as possible to not come to Earth tonight, if they know what's good for them.”

        “I'll do my best,” I said, and then knelt down to Big Boy to kiss his forehead and tell him, “Go play with your friends, okay? And stay home tonight. Tell as many shades as you can to do the same, Sir Necromancer says so. Will you do that for me?” He nodded, and ran off.

        I carefully walked over to Shy Shade, trying my best to not look intimidating or frightening, but as friendly as possible, “Hey,” I greeted.

        She whispered, “Hello,” her voice muffled by the cloth around her mouth.

        “You don't have to wear that here, you know. You can dress however you like.”

        She just shook her head, and reached up to her face, to feel that she was properly concealed.

        “Are you learning the language alright?” I smiled.

        “I think,” she finally met my gaze, and I noticed she had some of the most dazzling eyes I had ever seen. They were green, with little flecks of gold in them.

        “Your eyes are gorgeous!” I couldn't help but saying. This seemed to just deter her, and she looked away from me. I quickly apologized, “Oh, I'm sorry! Don't feel bad, it's a good thing.”

        She was silent, and appeared afraid. She was clutching her clothes tightly around her.

        “Hey, listen,” I stood, “I have to go, but I want to talk to you later. Stay home tonight, don't go out exploring, okay?”

        She met my gaze again, and asked, “Your man told you to say that?”

        “Yeah, he did.”

        She just slipped away into the darkness, a living shadow. She was gone.

-

        The sun had set when I arrived back at Stephen's house. It was time. Stephen was pacing the backyard, while Shade was watching the sky turn dark. He said dreamily, “I love the gloaming.”

        “What's the gloaming?” I asked.

        Stephen answered, “It's an old word, for the time between sunset and night. It's also known as the twilight zone. It's the time when the spirits can travel between worlds. That's why we have this guy with us now,” Stephen pointed his thumb at Shade.

        “So what do we do?” I asked, “What's our battle plan?”

        He sighed, “Well, first of all, we have to make sure the alpacas are fed. Then we are going to drop by Clem's party, to check on Lia and to get rid of Mara. Then we are going to go where the compass takes us, and take out as many intruders as possible for the rest of the night.”

        “Great!” said Shade, “What about me?”

        “You,” said Stephen, “Are going to be our aerial watch. Our eye in the sky. If you see anything otherworldly, let us know.”

        “You mean,” Shade grinned, “If I see anything that I can't punch out by myself?”

        “Sure,” said Stephen, “Like vampires or whatever. If you can take it out, then do so.”

        “Because I am very strong,” Shade flexed his arm and patted his bicep, “As demonstrated last night. Did you notice that, Jo? That I can lift your boyfriend like he was nothing?”

        Stephen sighed, “Believe me, we all noticed. Now are we all clear on what is happening tonight?”
“I think so,” I said, “Alpacas, party, compass. Got it.”

        “How about you, Shade? Know what your battle plan is?”

        “Fo shizzle.”

-

        I was in the bathroom, freshening up before the party, deciding that I needed some makeup. I applied some black eye shadow to make myself look a little more menacing. Just for fun, I found some green mascara that Clem had left at my house one night ages ago, and I added some of my Mom's bright red lipstick that she hadn't used in years.

        “Well, hello, witchy woman,” Stephen smiled at me, “That look is actually really cool.”

        “Do you think so?” I asked.

        “Perfect for tonight. Shall we?” he led me out the door, to his car, and we made the short drive to Clem's house.

        “Awesome, you guys made it!” Clem greeted us, as sparkly as she was at school today, “Come inside, the food is great! All thanks to you, Stephen!”

        “My pleasure,” he said as we made our way inside. The place was packed, most of the eleventh grade and nearly half of the twelfth grade was here. Stephen caught my eye and mouthed, “Find Lia.” I took his hand and we maneuvered through the crowd together.

        Dressed as a French maid, Lia Lackey was in the kitchen with Mike and a bunch of other guys from our class. They were hovering around the punch, laughing about something.

        “What do we do?” I asked Stephen. There was no need to whisper, the music was so loud, even in the kitchen.

        “You get her alone. Mara should come out. You remember how to send a suc... um, her back, right?”

        I felt a small rush of panic, “I'm fighting Mara alone?”

        “You're a girl,” Stephen explained, “You'll have a better chance of defeating her. All you have to do is touch her, remember?”
“Fine, I guess that makes sense. What if something goes wrong?”

        “I'm here. It will still be two against one. For now.”

        “We should have a word that we call out, in case one of us needs help.”

        “Good idea. How about 'trick or treat'?”

        “Too obvious. Pick something unique. Anybody could be saying that around here.”

        Stephen contemplated this for a second, and suggested, “Bird AIDS?”

        I rolled my eyes, “I guess that will work. Wish me luck.”

        “Good luck, baby,” he kissed me, and we strode up to the gang at the punch. Stephen greeted the guys while I approached Lia, “Hey, you look great!”

        “Thanks!” she smiled, “Wow, I really like your makeup! It's so pretty!”

        I wasn't expecting the compliment, “Oh, thanks, it's not much, it's just... you know.”

        “You have to wear more makeup after this. Promise me you'll wear makeup to school!” she said loudly, and giggled. She was acting a little tipsy, but I figured this was a good sign. She hadn't been attacked by Mara yet.

        “Hey, actually Lia,” I pointed to the wash room door in the corner of the kitchen, “Can I talk to you? Privately.”

        “Whatev,” she chuckled, and we went into the tiny room. I closed the door behind us. I had never stepped into Clem's wash room before, so it never occurred to me that it wasn't very well lit. There was only one tiny light bulb, which was very dim. With the door closed, everything was shadowed.

        “What's up?” Lia asked, “Where are we?”

        “How are those voices, Lia?” I asked seriously.

        “Oh yeah,” she grinned, “She was really loud today. It was like there was a person standing right behind me, all the time. Sometimes she would say that I should kill you and Stephen. And I would be like 'Whaaat,' and she'd be like 'Do it,' and I'd be like 'Girl, you trippin,'' and then she'd be like...”

        “Lia,” I grabbed her shoulders, “Focus. Do you know her name?”
“No.”

        “Do you know where she would be?”
“What kind of a question is that?”

        “Have you heard her voice at all tonight?”

        “Kinda.”

        “Where was it coming from?”

        Lia suddenly froze, and took a small step back. Her eyes were huge, “Right behind you.”

        “The voice is...” I was cut off by the feeling of a blade being pressed against my neck.

        “Shh,” Mara hushed into my ear, like she had done at school today, “Be quiet, Madam Necromancer, and this will be over quickly. Lia, grab her hands. Do as I say and I'll kill you last.”

        A petrified looking Lia took hold of my wrists, obeying orders. She didn't look at me, only at the succubus behind her.

        “So how does it feel,” Mara purred, “knowing that you're about to die? Scary, isn't it? You'll be going straight to the Summerland, where you will spend all eternity. I'm never going there. Do you know what would happen to me if I was ever sent away? It would not be a happy afterlife, not with the things I did during my life. I am never going there.”

        “Lia,” I said desperately, “Do something.”

        Mara hissed, “Do something, Lia, and your friend dies! Is that what you want? You've been a very good girl, Lia, this past month. Obeying my every whim, spying on the necromancers for me. You are a wonderful girl. Maybe you'll even become a succubus yourself, when you die. And speaking of which...”

        Just as Mara positioned her knife along my neck, ready to slice it open, the light bulb burnt out, launching us into darkness. Lia screamed, releasing my hands. With my new found freedom, I elbowed Mara as hard as I could. I heard the knife slide back into her bracelet as she reacted to the attack, taking a step back into the wall. I whipped around and reached out blindly. My hand touched her arm. She was done.

        The door swung open, and Stephen was standing there. Lia rushed right toward him, still screaming and staring at Mara. Now that I could see, I grabbed Mara around the neck with both hands and slammed her into the washing machine while yelling, “Get everyone out of the kitchen!”

        Stephen nodded, grabbed Lia's arm, and pulled her away, calling out, “Guys, help me out! She's having another fit!”

        Mara spat at me, “B***h.”

        “Shut up,” I said, before starting the chant of binding and sending away.

        Mara tried to break my concentration, that being her only defense now that the spell had begun, “It's no use, you know. It's Halloween, the armies of the Winterland will be pouring out of every corner of your world. This is a night of Hell. I hope you suffer.”

        Her threats didn't work on me. I recited the spell perfectly, and Mara was gone, hopefully for good.

        I stepped out of the room just as the last few people were exiting the kitchen. It was abandoned except for one person, standing in the doorway that led to Clem's backyard. He were looking around, confused. I didn't recognize him.

        “Hey,” I said, “Do I know you? Do you know Clem?”

        The man turned to me. He seemed to be college aged, with very sharp, defined features... and red, bloodshot eyes. He opened his mouth, displaying his long fangs, and hissed.

        “Oh crap,” I backed up slowly, “You're a vampire, aren't you?”
It replied with a hiss, and started unfolding his wings. They knocked over a few dishes and cups, and they shattered on the tile floor.

        “Bird AIDS!” I yelled, “Bird AIDS!” But Stephen didn't come running. I was alone in a room with a hungry looking vampire.

        My back bumped against the counter, which was holding an empty pizza box and a smaller box with bread sticks inside. I caught a whiff of them, and took a gamble.

        “Aha!” I cried out as I grabbed one of the appetizers and held it in front of me, “Garlic bread!”

        The vampire just walked closer, chuckling to himself.

        “Please work,” I prayed as I tossed the garlic bread stick at the vampire. To my surprise, he actually jumped back away from it, letting out a little yelp.

        “You're kidding,” I smiled, reaching into the box. There were three left. I held one in each hand as I strode toward the vampire, who started retreating.        

        Stephen suddenly ran in, “I'm sorry, I heard you calling Bird AIDS but I couldn't get away. I think there's a vampire outside, but I lost it and...” his voice trailed off when he saw the vampire. He looked from it to me in amazement, “What's going on?”

        “Hi Stephen,” I said cheerfully, “Grab a bread stick.”

        “Is it garlic? You can't be serious.”

        The vampire was giving us a very exasperated look. If it could talk, it would definitely say something like, “I know, right?”

        Stephen took the last bread stick and we forced the vampire into a corner. We chanted together, and the vampire was sent away in no time.

        “Who knew?” Stephen said as he took a bite of our new weapon.

        “What's going on with the party?” I asked.

        “Lia is convinced that she saw a ghost of an Indian woman and panicked. I guess they were playing with the Ouija board before we got here and they're certain that they've summoned some demon. All the commotion must have attracted the vampire.”

        I breathed a sigh of relief, “Everyone is okay though, right?”

        “Right. And our job here is done, Lia is safe. Nothing else should be using her, especially for tonight. Which means that we have to get moving,” he headed for the back door.

        I followed him, “Where are we going?”
“Anywhere. I guess not your house, since your parents are there. My parents know to stay far away from me on Halloween, they're spending the night in Stockton. I'm just worried about all the people in the houses around mine.”

        “Where else could we go?” I thought out loud, “Where is the compass pointing?”

        Stephen took a small compass out of his vest pocket, and I stood close to him to see the needle. It was spinning around in circles.

        “Let's drive around,” Stephen suggested, “See if we get a hit with the compass. Bring the garlic bread.”

-

        We had ditched the party, and were now driving down the roads of Knightsen slowly, with the headlights as bright as they could be. I held the compass, watching the needle zoom around, sometimes stopping in one direction for a second before starting its rotations all over again.

        “Why are there no streetlights here?” Stephen complained.

        “We don't need them,” I said, “We're not a city.”

        “But I can't see anything,” he grumbled, “We could be running over vampires or whatever. There's no telling...”

        My attention went right to the compass as the needle stopped at north, right in the direction of where we were driving, “Hey, I think it's over.”

        “It can't be. It's only ten o'clock.”

        “But the compass went back to normal, unless...” I looked up in time to see the figure of a person standing in the middle of the road, “LOOK OUT!”

        Stephen hit the brakes, and the person jumped out of the way just in time. My nerves were frazzled, wondering just who or what it was. I felt much better when I heard a familiar voice call out, “Bloody hell!”

        I opened the door and ran right to Helena, “What were you doing, standing there in the road?”

        “Trying to get your attention, of course. Look, my trousers are all dusty,” she brushed her pants and said, “We've been looking for you.”

        “We?” asked Stephen as he slammed his car door, “Who is we?”

        There was the sound of large wings flapping, and Shade landed between us, “Helena! What are you doing here?”

        Helena grinned, “Oh, Prince Shade, darling, just the man I wanted to see.”

        “What's going on?” Stephen asked, sounding impatient.

        “Well, I knew you two would be working hard out here, what with it being All Hallows Eve and all, and that Prince Shade would be helping you. Out of the kindness of his heart, I'm sure,” she gave him a quick glare before continuing, “And since I am a friend of sorts, I decided to help you.”

        “Great!” I said, “That's really nice of you, Helena. But I don't know what good you can do, we pretty much have a battle plan laid out.”

        “Exactly,” she smiled, “There isn't much that one drude can do against the Speechless Creatures and whatever else will come at you. But there is a lot that, say, fifty drudes can do.”

        “Fifty...” my voice trailed off as an army of young women came into view, of all races and shapes. I even recognized Autumn. I looked at Stephen, who was grinning ear to ear at the prospect at having this much help on our team. Shade, however, looked downright terrified.

        “Do you recognize us, Prince Shade?” one of the drudes asked.

        “This can't be happening,” he said, stunned.

        Helena toyed with her hair, “It wasn't hard, you know, finding drudes that were willing to help out with Prince Shade. After all, you've had a personal connection with all of these women, haven't you? A very personal connection, if I do say so.”

        All the drudes simultaneously crossed their arms or put their hands on their hips, all of them while glaring at Shade.

        “This is unreal,” Shade just shook his head, appearing to be torn between laughing and crying.

        “Shade,” I said in amazement, “You've slept with all of these drudes?”

        “Not all of them,” he defended, “I'd say, most of them. Almost all of them.”

        “There were more,” explained Helena, “But most of them went into hysterics when I mentioned him. They either wanted to kill him, or just rip his clothes off. This is just the sane bunch.”

        “Oh man,” Shade was shaking his head, “This is like a nightmare, but awesome. An awesomemare.”

        “What should we do?” one of the drudes asked Stephen.

        He clapped his hands together, “Alright, since anything from the Winterland can come out from anywhere, we need to canvass the area. Spread out. If you guys work in teams, you should be able to combat anything, I know how strong drudes can be in groups.”

        “Right!” Shade seemed to come back to normal, and started giving out orders, “Marguerite, Akasha, Esther, take a team and go north. Melia, Radoslava, and Sienna, your team can go south. Tuuli, I'm sure you can handle a team by yourself, I remember how good you are at taking charge, head west. And... Shirley? Yeah, Shirley. You go east with, um, Angela and... you.”

        The last drude he mentioned puffed up, looking miffed, “You don't remember my name, do you, Prince Shade?”

        “I do! I really do! It's...” Shade thought really hard before guessing, “Big-B***s?”

        She shook her head, “If you weren't gifted at love-making, I would hurt you right now.”

        “I think that's a compliment,” said Shade, “But yeah, east. Helena, your team should be wandering. Head any direction, stay mobile the whole night.”

        “Makes sense,” Helena nodded, “Are you positive you weren't in the military?”

        “I'll take a rain check on that,” he said, “And my team is going to be the necromancers. We'll be based at Stephen's house, if anyone needs help. Yes, Brianne, do you have a question?”

        One of the drudes, apparently named Brianne, was raising her hand, “I think I saw some encantado slip out. There isn't any water around here, is there?”

        Stephen swore under his breath and bolted for the car. Shade and I tried to follow him. Before jumping back into the passengers seat, I called out, “Thank you for the help Helena! And follow Shade's orders!”

        Stephen made a quick illegal U-turn and sped down the way we had come, “I'm dropping you two off at my place.”

        “What?” I asked in shock, while Shade said from the backseat, “No way, why do you get all the fun?”

        “I can handle encantado, they were a real problem in Stockton. If it's just me and some drudes I can take them out easily. And we should be splitting up anyway, we can cover a lot more ground.”

        “But if we have the drudes...” I started to say, but Stephen interrupted me, “Drudes can fight, but they can't send anything back. They can keep things from coming in, but once something is here, then we have to fight them. The sooner we eliminate them, the sooner we might actually get some sleep tonight.”

        “I'm sorry, you want me to go to your house and sleep or something?” I felt a little outraged, “How do you expect me to do that, when you're out fighting the undead?”

        “No, don't do that, dear. I want you to find whatever you can, protect the house and the neighborhood. And Shade, you will take care of her, right?”

        “Absolutely,” I didn't have to see Shade to know that he was grinning, I could just hear it in his voice.

        “I can trust you, can't I?” Stephen asked him.

        “Of course,” Shade leaned forward, so his head was between mine and Stephen's, “I mean, what else would JoJo and I be doing in your house, alone, at night?”

        “That's it,” Stephen said, “You're coming with me, Shade.”
“I was joking!” Shade was quick to say, “Of course you can trust me.”

        Stephen didn't look convinced, so I said, “Shade stays with me. I don't want to be alone.”

        “Then that works, I guess,” he sighed as he pulled into his driveway. Before I got out he asked me, “You have your cell, right? Call me if you need me.”

        “I always need you,” I smiled.

        “Gross,” Shade scowled, “Barf. Yuck. Let's go, Jo.”

        Rolling my eyes at Shade's remarks, I gave Stephen a quick kiss and got out of his car. I watched him drive away, heading toward the river.

        “What should we do?” I said out loud.

        “It's Halloween, there's always something to do,” Shade said jovially, “Want to go inside and play Call of Duty?”

        “No, but we should go inside,” I shivered. It was a cold night. By habit I went straight to Stephen's room. It felt so empty without him in it.

        Shade slinked in behind me, “Did you know that Stephen has kept a diary since he was ten?”

        I didn't know that, “He has? Like, he still has one today?”

        Shade nodded, “He writes in it as often as possible. I've seen him do it. And I've always, always, wanted to read it,” he pointed to the small drawer inside of Stephen's night stand, “Shall we?”

        “No,” I said quickly, “I am not going to pour through my boyfriend's most private thoughts. If he hasn't told me about it and is keeping it secret, then he obviously doesn't want me to ever read it.”

        “Fine,” Shade plopped down on Stephen's bed, “So it's okay to go into my secret room in my house, but not look through one little book?”

        I sighed and sat down next to him, “I'm sorry about that. I did it because I was worried about you, you know that.”

        “I suppose,” Shade was staring up at the ceiling, avoiding me.

        “You're not upset about it, are you?”

        He looked at me, “It was something I had never planned on telling anyone. It has a lot of secrets in there. But I suppose you can't read Japanese, so it doesn't really matter. I have notes written all over those drawings. I even used to keep my list of women down there, to keep track.”

        I smiled, “Because you couldn't keep them all straight?”

        “You know, after a while, all the faces start to look the same. As you saw tonight.”

        “Shade, may I ask you a question?”

        “Anything, love.”

        “How many women have you slept with?”

        Shade looked down at his fingernails for a moment before he questioned, “Do you want an approximation, or the honest answer?”
“The honest answer, of course,” I felt a little uneasy, since I didn't expect him to ask that.

        He took a deep breath, and muttered so low that it took me a second to comprehend it, “I lost count around a hundred and fifty.”

        “You lost count?” I repeated, stunned, “Around one hundred and fifty?”        

        He shrugged, smirking to himself, clearly not wanting to admit that he was proud of it.

        “Shade,” I put an arm around him, “Why have you been with so many different women? Why?”

        “First of all, it's fun,” he stated, “It's a challenge. Almost like a game. And it's made me famous, and respected in the Winterland. I'm not the guy who lost his wife and is sad and depressed, I'm the guy who is living large and wooing every hot girl that catches my eye. I can cover up that part of me that I don't want exposed.”

        I gave his shoulder a squeeze, “But that's the Shade who I like.”

        Shade finally looked into my eyes, “Really?”

        “Yeah. Well, I'm not yet ready to tell you how I feel about you, I haven't really thought seriously about it. And I said I would wait until after Halloween anyways. But yeah, I like the Shade who is thoughtful and kind and likes to draw and prefers to sit and look at the stars at night. I don't know, but it seems to me that the type of woman who would like the crazy, wild Shade is just...” I paused to think of the right phrase.

        “A dime a dozen, I think you would say,” Shade said, “It's not hard to seduce a girl. I could write books about it. But a real, special woman,” he smiled at me, “is like a rare diamond, that you treasure and take care of.”

        I caught myself getting lost in his eyes, almost like he was putting me under a spell.

        “There's a word that I don't know how to translate into English,” Shade said quietly, “Kokoro. I guess it could mean heart, or soul, or true feelings. But that's just not quite right. It's all of that, it's the core of being, the reason for living, the ultimate feeling of love. It's what makes you love and be happy,” he rested his hand against my cheek and whispered so quietly that his voice tickled my ears, “You, Jolisa, are my kokoro.”

        Our faces were so close together that our foreheads were practically touching. I felt like melting against him.

        He continued, “Kokoro. You are all I need to live. I don't need those other women, they meant nothing to me. That's why I can't play that game anymore. I had to leave, I had to get away from you to think about you. And I wandered the Winterland and came to the realization that I absolutely should never get away from you, ever again. I can't separate myself from my kokoro, without it I am nothing. I love you, and we always need the ones we love, don't we? It should always be around us, that's why the veil is made of love. Your light and your love blankets me more than any veil. You make me whole, kokoro. Your kiss made me feel more alive that I ever have.”

        I remembered again what it felt like to kiss him, how exhilarating it felt. I wanted so badly to just lean forward and kiss him right then and there. But I had to resist, I had to listen to my logic. I had to think of Stephen... which was hard to do when I saw Shade's lips part, and I knew he was thinking along the same line as I was.

        I just stood up, removing myself from the temptation, and sat down at Stephen's desk, “Shade, you know I can't do this.”

        He rested his hands on his knees, smiling, “But it's worth it, just to have you near me.”

        I tried fighting down the grin, but it won, “Thanks. See, I like it when you're sweet. It's not that I don't want to be around you. I love it when you're around too, I really do. It's just...”

        The light flickered, and I felt something brush against my arm, even though nothing was there. All the hairs on my arm stood on end while I jumped out of the chair and screamed, “Oh my God!”

        “Shh!” Shade had also bolted up, “Listen!” I put a hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet, unsure how silent Shade wanted me to be. I could definitely hear a voice. A woman's voice, making a sort of moaning sound.

        Shade looked at me and mouthed, “Ghoul.”

        “The ghoul?” I asked in amazement.

        “I wouldn't doubt it,” he looked around, most likely searching for any signs of it, “Do you remember how to send them away?”

        “Yeah, sure. But what's it doing here? I was under the impression that ghouls were just lost souls, stumbling around the Winterland. How did it know it could come here?”

        “There's a lot of things we don't know about ghouls. They don't talk, you know.”

        “Of course, Shade,” I smiled, “I already had that lesson.” I opened a drawer in Stephen's desk, the one that contained all of his compasses. I randomly picked one, a white and blue hiking compass the size of my palm, and watched the needle. It was bouncing back and forth from Shade toward the doorway. I walked slowly toward Stephen's door, holding my hand out in front of me, “Hello? Ghoul?”

        Even though there was nothing at all in front of me, I reached into something icy cold. I flinched at the sudden feeling, but tried to keep my self composed, “Ghoul, can you see me?”

        A book on Stephen's shelf fell off, nearly hitting Shade on the head. I turned around to ask if he was okay when I saw the title of the book. It was one of Stephen's supernatural books, titled, “The Spirit World: Looking Outside the Physical Plane”. Right then I felt the whoosh of the ghoul going past me once again, making the light flicker on and off. The ghoul seemed to go in the direction of Stephen's window.

        “Outside,” I thought out loud, which prompted Shade to ask, “Nani?”

        I held up the book, “Looking outside. It's trying to tell us something.”

        “That's a book,” Shade pointed out, “I don't get it.”

        “Oh yeah, you can't read! I'm sorry. It's saying that we should look outside.”

        “Fair enough,” Shade turned around and opened Stephen's window, which he did with ease, as if he had done that a million times before, and hopped outside. I carefully followed him, holding my dress.

        It seemed darker than usual outside. Nobody on Eden Plains was home, most likely having gone elsewhere for Halloween parties. All the houses around us were dark. I moved around Stephen's backyard carefully, since it was always changing due to Mrs. Morrison's green thumb, plus they were making space to put in a pool in the spring. I checked the compass with the aid of the light in Stephen's bedroom, the only real source of illumination. It was only pointing toward Shade.

        “Maybe I was wrong,” I sighed.

        “No,” said Shade. I could see the faint glow of his skin that all shades have, thanks to the darkness. His face looked like a dog trying to get a scent, extremely keen and trying to be aware of everything, “There's something here, but...”

        I looked down the compass, the needle was still directed at Shade. When I looked up, there was a man standing directly behind him. Before I could cry out, Shade spun around toward the man. With quick reflexes he punched Shade in the gut. Shade grunted, and fell to the ground, grabbing his stomach.

        I wanted to cry out to him, and kneel down and help him, but that wasn't the option. The man was staring me down, ready to attack at any second. It slowly dawned on me that I was face to face with an incubus. He had long hair, trailing down his back like a dark shroud, and his skin was brown. When he took a step forward, I took one back. I desperately tried thinking of what to do without freaking out. But I didn't have any options; my sword was inside, so I couldn't attack, and I knew there was no way I could physically take him down.

        “Little necromancer,” he chuckled, reaching out toward me. I knew I had to act now, I just had to charge at him and attack with all my might until Shade recovered. The courage to do that was coming slowly, and I knew that I wouldn't have enough time until it was all over.

        Suddenly the incubus was yanked backwards by his hair and fell on his back. There was another shade standing behind him, a beautiful woman in flowing black robes and curly hair down to her waist. Her skin was shining, “Finish him,” she said in a voice that was very familiar.

        While the incubus was on the ground, Shade sat up and threw himself onto the creature, pinning him down. I could hear Stephen's voice in my head, reciting the chant to banish an incubus from so long ago, in the bathroom of the movie theater. I recited it, and when I opened my eyes, the incubus was gone.

        Shade and I stared up at the new shade. I was about to ask her name when I noticed her eyes. There was no mistaking that color, “Shy?” I asked.

        She just smiled at me.

        “But,” I stood, “I told you not to come here tonight. Remember, Stephen said so.”

        She put her hands on her hips, “I'm not taking orders from men anymore.”

        I grinned, “Way to go!”

        Shade stood, with one hand gripping his stomach and the other running through his hair as seductively as he could, “You may have heard of me, but unfortunately, I took myself out of the market recently. You could say I'm the hardest to get.”

        Shy had bowed her head and looked away from him the second he had started talking, I turned to Shade and said sharply, “You do not talk to her, or look at her. Okay?”

        “Yikes, fine,” he said, taken aback, “Don't be jealous or anything.”

        “I'm not jealous, it's just that Shy... where is she?” I looked around for Shy, there was no sign of her.

        “I think she left,” Shade was massaging his stomach, “Great, this is going to bruise. Stupid incubi.”

        I could hear a car coming down the road at a very fast speed. Knowing that it must be Stephen, I raced through the gate that opened into the front yard, only to see the headlights of a very hasty red Prius heading my way. He stopped in front of the house, making the brakes squeal a little, and he jumped out the door while the car was still running.

        “Are you okay?” he panted as if he had been running, “One of the drudes said there was an incubus...”

        “We got him,” I said, “How are you?”

        He pointed down the road, in the direction where he was driving, “Chasing an encantado. They're so fast. I think I need your help.”

        “Well, well, well,” Shade approached Stephen, looking smug, “I guess Sir Necromancer can't handle the encantado by himself after all.”

        “I already got three of them, Shade,” Stephen said, “But they were men, and you know they're not nearly as smart as the females. That's what I'm chasing right now.”

        Shade smirked, “True. Male encantado don't seem to think about much beyond sleeping and eating.”

        I asked, “What to encantado eat?”

        Stephen and Shade answered at the same time, “Human flesh.”

        I sighed, “Let's go get it then.”

        “Shotgun!” Shade said quickly.

-

        The compass needle was spinning so fast that I could only see it as a blur. Stephen explained, “It's the drudes. They're canvassed all over town, keeping anything from coming in. We only have to deal with the ones that arrived before they did. There's this encantado left, a banshee, a shoggoth and a few shades.”

        “And a ghoul!” Shade added.

        “I took care of a shade, she helped fight the incubus,” I said from the back seat, “Since this shade right here was too busy being in pain.”

        “He punched really hard!” Shade defended himself, “I don't know why the incubi think I make the best punching bag.”

        Stephen didn't seem to be listening to Shade's whining. He was scanning the road, decelerating slightly, “I think it's out here,” he finally said in a low voice.

        “Where?” I leaned forward to look out the windshield. Shade pressed his face and hands against his window in his effort to help look.

        Stephen stopped the car and turned it off, leaving the headlights on. We sat in silence, except for the crickets chirping outside.

        “What are we doing?” I whispered to Stephen. He put his finger to his lips. The three of us sat for a minute.

        Eventually Shade sighed, “Steve, I don't think...”

        At that moment something flung itself onto the windshield, making all of us scream. It had what appeared to be a normal human upper half, but was covered in gray scales and had huge gills on the side of its neck. Wiry black hair hung down from it's head. It opened its mouth and let out a gargling sound.

        Seconds later, Stephen brought the car back to life and punched on the gas. I had heard him tell me that his car went from zero to sixty miles per hour in a matter of seconds, but I had never seen it executed. The beast clung to the windshield briefly, holding on to the glass with its webbed hands like a suction cup, but eventually it tumbled off and the car jolted and bounced as we ran over it.

        “That was awesome!” Shade exclaimed as Stephen once again stopped the car and jumped out of his seat while the engine was still running. Shade and I quickly followed suit.

        “I've never seen an encantado,” I said as I got out of the car, “They're creepy.”

        “They live in the waters of the Winterland,” Shade explained, following Stephen to the spot where we had run it over, “They're like frogs. What's the word?”

        “Amphibious,” I said, “It can live on land and in the water.”

        “Case in point,” said Stephen, who pointed at the ground. There was nothing there.

        I was stunned, “You hit it. We all felt it.”

        Stephen swore, “I thought I had it. I thought I had tricked it. Where...” he stopped when we heard a rustling on the side of the road. Just barely illuminated from the headlights I saw two round eyes peering at us, then quickly turning away. It sounded like a huge snake, slithering away from us through the long, brown grass.

        “Where is it heading?” Stephen thought out loud, “Jo, aren't we by your house?”

        “My driveway is just a bit farther down the road.”

        “We have to chase it. Back in the car!” we all ran for it, and Stephen was driving off before I could get my seat belt buckled on again. He turned down my driveway and asked, “There isn't any water around here, is there? Besides the river?”

        “It's just the river,” I explained, “And it sounded like it was heading straight toward it. I think... LOOK OUT!” I screamed as the encantado once again jumped out toward the car. Stephen swerved out of its way instinctively, and once again we were all gently tossed around as the car drove over the rocks on the side of the road. As Stephen maneuvered the car back onto the road, I finally saw the lower half of the encantado. It looked as if its legs had fused together, all the way down to the heels of its feet, which stuck out on both sides. It looked like a grotesque version of a mermaid's tail. It continued to crawl down the road, propelling itself with its arms, and the tail swished side to side as it moved.

        Stephen followed it, trying to accelerate again, but I could feel something was terribly wrong with the car. It seemed almost like it was jerking again, running over something again every few seconds. I noticed Stephen turn pale, and he just said, “No. No no no no.”

        He parked, got out, and ran toward the front tire that had driven off the road. He ran both his hands through his hair, resting his palms on his head as he stared down dismally at the tire. Shade rolled down his window and stuck his head out to get a better look, “There's a big hole in your tire!” he remarked.

        “No s**t,” Stephen mouthed. He looked at me through the windshield, wordlessly asking me what we should do.

        I got out of the car and took his hand, “The encantado would have run off the road eventually, if it wanted to go to the river. We couldn't follow it forever in the car.”

        “My car...” he was looking down at his tire, not at me. I finally saw for myself the gashed tire, hearing the whoosh of air escaping it.

        “Don't worry,” I grinned, “I know exactly what we're going to do. But you may not like it, city boy.”

-

        After abandoning the Prius in my driveway, the three of us walked to the stable. Stephen grumbled the whole way, “I don't know if I can do this. I only did it once.”

        “Then you should be fine,” I smiled, excited to see my boyfriend once again ride a horse, and not just in circles around my yard.
“Grow up Stephen,” said Shade, “Even I know how to ride a horse.”

        “How do you know how to ride a horse?” Stephen asked him.

        “I have no idea.”

        I swung open the doors, waking up Monet and Renoir. They seemed a little confused as I led them out and started to saddle them up. Stephen was starting to look a little nervous, and I knew he would start making excuses soon about why he couldn't ride, so I just said, “Shade, help him onto Monet, please.”

        Shade seemed to relish the responsibility I gave him, assuring Stephen that everything was going to be okay as he helped hoist my boyfriend onto the horse. I tried to get up on Ren's saddle, but quickly realized that my Halloween dress was way too long to ride in. Either I would have had to bunch it up around my waist, or just ruin it. I found a place where the thread was already frayed and I started ripping the cheap material off. In no time I had changed my long witch dress into a short, thigh high dress. It almost seemed more like a teddy now than a Halloween costume. I started to get onto the saddle again as I looked over at the boys. They were frozen, even though Stephen was halfway on the horse, both gaping at me in wonder.

        “What?” I asked as I sat in the saddle.

        “Nothing,” they both said, resuming their jobs.

-

        “Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God,” Stephen said over and over as we trotted out of the barn and into the open. Shade walked alongside us, looking very pleased.

        “Now, where could the encantado be?” I looked around, which was pointless since the night was so dark.

        “Oh God oh God oh God.”

        “Allow me to translate,” said Shade, “It should be somewhere out in this field. It would be going slower, since she hasn't been in water for a while. If we go fast, we may be able to catch up to it.”

        “Excellent,” I said, “So we ride north, toward the water. Maybe we can find a few drudes to team up with and try to hunt it down. Are you ready, dear?”

        “I am very uncomfortable with this,” Stephen said timidly.

        “Relax,” Shade advised, “If the horse knows you're nervous, you're going to make it nervous. Just have confidence and keep your back straight. Pretend you're riding next to the Emperor.”

        “Oh?” said Stephen, “And just what does the Emperor look like, when he's riding his horse?”

        I sighed, “Stephen, now is not the time to play guessing games about Shade's past. We really need to hunt this thing down before it starts eating people! Let's go. Hyah!” I gave Ren some more rein and squeezed her gently with my thighs, and we were galloping off through the field. I could hear Monet behind me, not going nearly as fast as I was. With each clop from Monet I heard Stephen say, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” There was a swooping sound overhead, and from above I heard Shade call out, “I see something moving. Go left!”

        I turned the horse and we were off. I leaned forward to gain more speed, and I whispered, “Good girl, Ren. Keep going. Faster.”

        Shade was truly my eyes in the darkness, “There's a fence coming up. Can you jump over it? Oh, I guess so. I'm going to help Stephen, but keep going. Okay, now it's doing a zig zag. It knows we're following it. Oh, sharp right, it's turning!” I obeyed every order, and after ten minutes of chasing Stephen was riding at my side, imitating my pose and keeping Monet streamlined. He turned to me, “This isn't that bad, after a while.”

        “I guess it's bumpy at first, but then you get used to it, and you can enjoy it,” I smiled at him.

        Shade called out over us, “That's what she said!”

        We both groaned.

        “But seriously,” Shade continued, “The water is coming up. You have to kick it into high gear!”

        “We should surround it,” Stephen said, “Try to get in front of it, Jo. We can't let it get into the water.”

        “What would happen?” I asked.

        “It will swim away. Probably out into the ocean. And it will happily drag people underwater and eat them for all eternity. The people who it will consume will become encantado in the Winterland, and the cycle continues.”

        I gently kicked my horse, “Go, Ren!” I called out, and we were both speeding along at Ren's fastest speed, flying past Stephen. I could make out trees up ahead, meaning that the river really was close.

        “Jo!” Shade screamed, “It's turning! It's heading straight toward you!”

        I started to panic. Not knowing where the encantado was coming at me from, I cried out, “Whoa!” and yanked on the reins. Ren fought her momentum to make herself stop. I heard Stephen and Monet coming, “Don't worry, Jo! I've got it!”

        Shade swooped down to my side, holding his arms out to steady his landing and went straight into a run. They were both trying to get it to change directions, herding it like a sheep. I got off of Ren, telling her, “Stay here, and be safe,” and chased after Shade. When I reached them, I noticed they had cornered it along the river. Shade had his back to the water, and Stephen was trotting back and forth, ready to chase after the encantado wherever it decided to run. The creature was crawling around, trying to figure out a way to escape and gurgled, “Necrom. Necrom,” not able to say the entire word.

        “Help me off, Jo,” Stephen said to me, “I have to send it back.” I did so, and I rested a hand on Monet to steady her. As Stephen made his way carefully toward the encantado, slowly drawing his katana, I couldn't help but notice the water in the background. The moon was reflecting off of the the ripples in the swiftly moving San Joaquin River, almost like a little road of light. The sound of the current made me remember my nightmares, and I shivered. I could practically hear the voice, speaking incoherently in the deep.

        I should have been paying attention to Stephen and the encantado, and so should have Shade. He asked, “Jo, what's wrong?” I didn't even notice that I was starting to have another reaction to water, just like I had at school today. I was trembling, and I started to feel worried that somehow I would fall into the river and be pulled down, down, down... I heard myself whimper.

        “Shade,” said Stephen, “You have to hold the encantado for me, or it could escape.”

        “Something's wrong with Jo,” Shade replied.

        Stephen turned around to face me, his faced etched with worry, “Oh no. Water. Not again.”

        I must have looked more terrified that I thought I did. I tried my hardest to control my shaking, to reassure myself that there was no way I was even going near the water, that I was completely safe. Then why could I hear the voice so easily, chanting over and over in my mind?

        I heard Stephen call out, “No!” I looked up to see the encantado taking advantage of the boys worrying about me to make a run for the river. Shade leaped at it, trying to catch it, but missed and ate dirt as he landed face first into the ground. Stephen dropped his sword and ran after it, full force. My panic attack suddenly escalated at the thought of Stephen being near water, and how he could be pulled under as well. If the encantado reached the water, and Stephen dove in after her, he would be forced under by the current... and freeze... and drown... and most certainly die.

        It was then that I could finally make out what the low voice was saying, “I'm going to take him away from you, so mote it be.”

        “NO!” I screamed, “STEPHEN!” I chased after him, running as fast as I ever had, running with every ounce of strength in my body. We weren't fast enough, the encantado slipped into the river with barely a splash. Stephen paused, and then started to take off his shirt, preparing to jump into the water after it.

        “NO!” I screamed again, tears streaming down my face, “DON'T DO IT!” I finally grabbed Stephen and clutched him as hard as possible, “Don't you dare go under water, Stephen!”

        “We're going to lose it, Jo!” he struggled to get me off of him.

        I just kept screaming and crying, “NO! NO! NO!”

        Shade stood beside us, and he put a hand on Stephen's shoulder, “You can't go under that current, Stephen. You're not going to come back up. Give up, the encantado is gone.”

        “But...” Stephen protested.

        Shade moved toward me, holding out his arms to embrace me. I felt weak and scared, and I threw myself against him and cried with all my might, still horrified that Stephen was moments away from killing himself in the river. I heard Shade yell at Stephen, “She just saved your life! If she didn't have those dreams she wouldn't have stopped you in time.”

        “Jo,” I felt Stephen's comforting hand on my back. I was exhausted and tired and scared. But the voice was finally fading away. Whatever it was, whatever horrifying demon from the Necronomicon was haunting my nightmares, it was leaving. It wanted Stephen all along, and it would never, ever get him.

        “Never,” I heard myself saying, “You'll never take him from me. Never.”

-

        I have a faint memory of some drudes showing up right then. And I think that Shade flew me back to Stephen's house in his arms. My memory was fuzzy here, after we lost the encantado. My thoughts weren't very cohesive until I found myself curled up in a ball on Stephen's couch, as my boyfriend was placing a cold cloth over my forehead.

        Shade was sitting on the arm of the couch, and he asked me, “Have you had any more dreams about the Old Ones?”

        “Last night,” I hugged my knees, “There was a man. A shape shifting man.”

        Stephen and Shade looked at each other solemnly. Shade in particular looked petrified.

        “What did he do?” Stephen asked.

        “He just stood there. But he said, 'So you're the one.' I don't know what that means.”

        Shade actually fell off of his perch. He regained himself and stood next to the couch and demanded, “What does Nyarla... I mean, what does he want with you?”

        Stephen smirked at Shade, “I thought you were good enough to say their names. But you won't say the name of the Crawling Chaos?”

        Shade ignored him, “If you dream about him again... you let me know. Promise?”

        I yawned and said, “I promise, Shade.”

        “You should sleep,” Stephen wiped my brow again, “It's been a long night, your first Halloween.”

        “Where are the horses?” I suddenly thought.

        “Don't you remember?” Stephen said, concerned, “The drudes helped us take them home. They're fine.”

        “Oh,” I rested my head against the cushions and closed my eyes. When I opened them a second later all the lights were off, and Stephen and Shade were gone. I sat up and rubbed my face, wondering how I could have fallen asleep. It was still night outside, and I wandered out the front door, looking for the boys.

        I knew that someone was out there, I just couldn't see them. I checked my compass and looked where it was pointing, at a dark corner of the yard. My eyes adjusted, and I could clearly see a person, sitting on the ground.

        “Who are you?” I asked in a loud, confident voice. I watched the person stand and walk toward me, and I gasped. It was an old lady, with tangled gray hair and a long white nightgown.

        “The banshee,” I said, “You're the one that got loose.”

        She looked at me and smiled.

        “Karate chop,” I told myself, remembering Shade's preferred method of disabling a banshee. I watched her start to open her mouth, getting ready to scream once again, so I dashed over and hit her hard in her neck with the side of my wrist. She choked, and started coughing.

        I heard Stephen's voice from the front door, starting the chant of binding to keep the creature from running away. When I heard him start the recitation to send away a banshee, I quickly memorized the pattern and started singing along with him. The banshee was gone before she had a chance to regain her voice.

        “Much better, the second round,” he smiled at me, “Good work.”

        “Thanks,” I said, “And why are you wearing your pajamas?” I remarked, since he was wearing just his wife beater and boxers.

        “I was asleep in bed,” he shrugged, “I heard you open the front door. Didn't want you getting hurt. Are you feeling better?”

        “Yeah,” I nodded, “Actually, I'm feeling pretty good. I think whatever had a hold on me recently is gone. It served its purpose, to keep you from jumping in the river.”

        “I'm sorry,” he held my hands, “I wasn't thinking. When I'm on a hunt, I don't think very logically, especially when I was trying to protect you. I feel really horrible that there's an encantado on the loose in the bay.”

        “We can't get them all, dear,” I kissed his forehead, “We did our best.”

        “I guess. But now that the banshee has been taken care of, all that's left is the shoggoth, which Shade and Helena are taking care of right now. They don't need to be sent away, they have to be told to.”

        “What is a shoggoth, anyway?” I asked, “I read in the Necronomicon that they're servants to the Old Ones, but I've never seen them or heard anyone mention them.”

        Stephen cringed, “You really don't want to know. There's a reason that Shade is dealing with it and not us.”

        “Why? Tell me, I won't mind.”

        He gulped before saying, “They're made out of necromancers, that the Old Ones kidnap for fun. They lobotomize them and grind up the bodies and make what's left of them do their bidding. I really don't ever want to see one.”

        I felt horrified, “So they're people... but...”

        “It's one of the worst possible outcomes for necromancers. One of the reasons why Old Ones necromancers are few and far between. We are more like toys to the Old Ones rather than people who send away the dead.”

        He had been right, I didn't want to hear anymore. I couldn't help but think of what could have happened if Stephen had gone in the water. I gave him a huge hug, burying my face against his neck, “I'm glad I had those dreams now. I'm so happy you're still here.”

        He ran his fingers through my hair, “You should thank the book. It was just warning you of possible danger.”

        “I will,” I leaned back so I could look into my boyfriends eyes. When he smiled back at me, I gave in to him and kissed his lips. He pulled me in tighter, kissing me back, but then suddenly broke it off and asked me, “What's going on between you and Shade?”
“Nothing,” I said, “What do you mean?”

        “He was watching you sleep on the couch, and the expression he had... no, never mind, I think I'm overreacting.”

        I just nodded and said, “Mm-hm.”

        “You should get home,” he said as he brushed my hair off of my face, tucking it behind my ears, “And get some rest. I'm not going to school tomorrow, there's no way I can concentrate,” he suddenly sighed, “My car, I nearly forgot. I can't give you a ride home.”

        “I can walk. I will be fine.”

        “I'll put on some clothes, and walk you home.”

        “No, it's okay,” I stepped out of his embrace, “Didn't you see me take out that banshee just now? I will be alright.”

        “But...”

        I put my finger on his lips, “Hush. Go back to sleep. I'll visit you after school, and bring you the homework. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself.”

        “If you say so,” he said as I started walking out of his yard and down Eden Plains, “Good night!” he called out.

        “Good night, Stephen. Happy Halloween.”

        He shook his head at that, but then smiled and said, “I love you, Jolisa Verne.”

        I stopped in my tracks, turned around and ran back into him. I jumped into his arms, “And I love you too, Stephen Morrison.”

-

        I woke up in my own bed and could not believe everything that had happened last night. I went through probably every emotion I've ever had, and had helped send away a record number of creatures. I had never been so glad to see the sun.

        It was incredibly lonely to get the alpacas their breakfast, knowing that Stephen wasn't going to swing by to help and drive me to school. The bike ride seemed longer than usual, and as I left it at the bike rack (there was never a need to lock them up) Clem ran up to me and said, “Where is he?”

        “Tired,” I said, “We were up all night.”

        “Ah,” she winked, the lingering glitter from her costume sparkling in her eyelashes.

        “No,” I sighed, “Not that.”

        “Fine, whatever,” she linked her arm around mine and we headed toward class, “You all seemed to leave really early from the party, after Lia had another fit.”

        “Stephen's not a big fan of Halloween,” I explained, which was entirely true.

        “That's so lame,” she said, “But at least the party wasn't a huge disaster. I mean, everyone left a mess, but it's nothing that the McCullough family can't deal with. My Irish family always has big parties, last night was nothing.”

        “Ah,” I said, suddenly remembering Ireland, “That's right, I forgot you were Irish.”

        “Of course!” she smiled happily, “My family came over here during the potato famine. My ancestors have been farmers since way back.”

        I forced a grin, remembering Ireland's huge smile, her laugh, the look of pain in her face as she remembered hunger, and the look of bliss before she finally passed on. Her last conversation with me came rushing back, about how the veil of death is made of love. I suppose it meant that the more that we deal with death, the more that we deal with love. Grief, evidently, was really just another expression of love. I felt an ache in my chest, and all I could think of to say to Clem was, “Oh.”

        Lia was standing in front of the door to our classroom. As Clem and I walked in together, Lia reached out and grabbed me, “Jo, can I talk to you?”

        I let Clem skip into class as Lia and I headed into the bathroom. She just stood there, looking down at the floor, so I started the conversation, “You do know what happened last night, right?”

        She nodded.

        “You remember it all?”
She looked up at me, “I'm not telling anyone what you are. And what Stephen is. It's a secret, right?”

        “Yeah,” I said, “I mean, if people knew what we do...”

        “It's scary,” Lia whispered, “How do you do it?”

        “I really don't know, Lia,” I answered, “You just have to... go with it. And hope everything turns out for the best.”

        She leaned in close, “Is Shade really dead?”

        “Yes, but if you see him again, don't mention that.”

        “And the succubus that was possessing me...” tears started to well up in her eyes, so I gave her a big hug and told her, “If you ever hear from her again, you tell me right away, alright? In fact, if you hear anything that you shouldn't, come straight to me.” These words seemed really familiar, and it wasn't until hours later that I realized that it was almost exactly what Stephen had said to me when I first told him that I saw Shade.

        She hugged me back, “I will. And we'd better hurry, or we'll be late for English.”

        We dashed back into class right before Mr. Martinez arrived. When we took our seats, I turned around and smiled at her. She smiled back, and I had the feeling that Lia was now truly one of my best friends.

        “Pop quiz!” Mr. Martinez announced, and the whole class started complaining. Even I felt really disappointed that I had to start off the school day with that.

        As he passed out the exams he said, “This is a different kind of quiz. I want you to use your own opinions and think creatively. These are the kinds of questions that you would get for essays on the SATs or the English Advanced Placement Test. Keep your answers to two paragraphs for now, and you're allowed to use your books.”

        I gladly reached into my backpack for my copy of The Scarlet Letter when I saw a piece of paper that I didn't recognize. It looked like some of the thick paper from Shade's art room. I took it out, along with my book, and discovered a very excellent drawing of me sleeping on Stephen's couch. In very large, squiggled capital letters was my name, JOLISA, and on the back of the page there was a whole lot of Japanese symbols. But they weren't the kind that I had seen on Stephen's worksheets on his desk. These were flowing, beautifully drawn characters. It was calligraphy. At the bottom in his basic English handwriting he wrote, LUV YU.

        “I love you too, Shade,” I whispered to myself. I looked over at Stephen's empty seat and felt the pang of missing him. I stared down at the drawing before putting it away and focusing on my quiz, getting my love life out of my mind.

        I quickly scanned the first question on the sheet, which didn't sit quite right with me.

        In your opinion, what lessons did Hester learn from her infidelity?

        Once again, I had to force myself to stop thinking about Shade.

-

        Stephen had been right, he was getting sick. By the weekend, he had a full blown case of the flu. I sat at home all day on Saturday, fidgeting and waiting for his Mom to call me, and when she did to tell me he was home from the doctor, I biked with all my might over to see him.

        “I'm so glad you're here, Jo,” she smiled at me as she let me in, “I have to run over to work for the afternoon, and I don't want to leave Stevie alone when he's so sick. Could you just look after him for the afternoon?”
“Of course,” I said, “What does he need?”

        “He just needs his medication every six hours, but I should be home by then. And he hasn't thrown up in a while, so hopefully that's over with. But he does need to stay hydrated, so bring him lots of water. And I bought broth for him, he should have a bowl of that whenever he feels strong enough.”

        “Done,” I smiled, “Go do what you need to do. He's in good hands.”

        “Of course he is,” she said as she grabbed her purse, “I heard you had a fun time on Halloween.”

        “I guess that's one way you could put it.”

        She thanked me repeatedly as she rushed out the door, and when she was gone I ran right for Stephen's room. He was pale, and his face looked really thin, especially without his glasses on. I couldn't tell if he was sleeping or just resting, so I whispered, “Hey, Stephen?”

        He opened his eyes, sqinted, and weakly grunted, “JoJo?”

        I laughed, “You must be out of it, that's what the shades call me.”

        “Ah,” he closed his eyes again.

        “Do you need anything, baby?” I brushed his hair with my fingers. It was greasy and tangled.

        “Sleep,” he whispered.

        “Then I'll let you sleep. I'll put a cup of water by your bed just in case. And I will be just outside the door if you need anything.”

        It felt really good to be a nurse to him, making sure that he was comfortable and not too miserable. For a moment I almost felt like his wife, which made me feel really warm inside. I spent the rest of the afternoon helping myself to potato chips and watching TV, and when nothing was on I worked on some of my math homework. I kept Shade's drawing in the front of my binder, since it always made me happy whenever I saw it.

        And, speak of the devil, as soon as the gloaming arrived there was a knock on the front door. Before I could get up to open it, Shade invited himself in, “I thought you were here. I checked the alpaca barn first and you were gone, and this is the only other place you would be.”

        “You know me too well,” I said as I hugged him, since I hadn't seen him since Halloween, “How are you?”

        He smiled, “Great. And where is Stephen?”

        “Sick in bed.”

        “Ha ha ha, I mean, oh no that's terrible.”

        I playfully shoved him, “Shade, you are a bad person sometimes.”

        “Only because you secretly like it so much.”

        “Whatever. Do you want to see if he's awake?” I took Shade's hand and let him to Stephen's room, where my boyfriend was in the same position as I had last seen him, curled up and drooling on his pillow.

        “He looks like an angel,” Shade said sarcastically.

        I shook my head, “Do you want something to...”

        “Eat?” Shade finished my sentence, “Yes,” he went back to the living room where he grabbed the potato chips and started scarfing them down.

        “You pig,” I said as I sat down next to him on the couch, “How is the Winterland? I'm sorry that I haven't been by, but I haven't heard a demand for it.”

        “Probably because there are about forty shades in my town, nearly everyone left. The ghoul moved to another part of town, and the kids seem to think that it's some kind of game or playmate. Big Boy calls it his Invisible Friend.”

        I laughed, “He makes the best nicknames, doesn't he?”

        “The best part,” Shade set down his snack, “is that all the drudes from Halloween seem to want to be around me again. They're practically knocking down my door. But I'm sticking to my principles, no more women.”

        “Really? After all that temptation, you're not going to give in?”

        His tone became serious, “I'm doing it because that's what you want. And I want what you want.”

        I looked down at my hands,”I know that.”

        There was an awkward silence between us, until I asked, “What does the writing on my drawing say?”

        “You like it?” he grinned, “I think that's my best drawing of you. And...” he thought for a second, “I don't know how well I can translate what I wrote. It's a haiku, and the meter will be off in English. It won't have the same meaning.”

        “I think I know what it's supposed to say, anyway,” I said, a little glad that he wasn't going to tell me. If it was something devastatingly romantic, I didn't know what I would do.

        “Jo,” he sidled up close to me, “When are you going to tell me? I can only tell you so many times how I feel about you. I love you. When are you going to tell me?”

        I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and said, “Now.”

        Shade just smiled.

        I stood, and walked to the other end of the room, keeping a safe distance between us, “Shade, I love you too.”

        “You do?” Shade croaked.

        “Yes,” I said, “But listen. The love I have for you isn't the love I have for Stephen. It's different, completely different. I keep trying to tell myself that it's some kind of brotherly love, the same kind of love that I feel for my best friends and family. But it's not that. It's something completely different. I've never felt this before.”

        “Go on,” Shade said in a breathless whisper.

        “I've been thinking about this a lot. For a long time,” I said, starting to pace, “And there are a lot of things that are wrong. Helena told me that I shouldn't be worried about your feelings, and just worry about mine. But that's getting increasingly harder to do, the more that I know you. I really care about your feelings, Shade, and I really respect them. I'm really happy that you love me, and I still feel like I can trust you, despite that. And then Gustav, this necromancer that we met from Germany, told me to get rid of you. He has a shade that he loves, and he says that he's completely happy and completely miserable. And I think, based on his advice, that I would get rid of you. I should. It's the logical thing to do. But I'm already happy when I'm around you, and I already feel miserable when I think about the strange triangle that has formed between us and Stephen. You're in too much of my life to just cut you off. You're a part of me now. I don't know who or what I would be like if I didn't know you, Shade. You're so important to me.”

        Shade clasped his hands together in his lap, and he looked up at me with the saddest eyes, “After all this, you're going to tell me that you can't love me, aren't you?”

        I sighed, “I'm with Stephen. I love Stephen. We are right together. We're both humans, we're both necromancers. You are completely different. I can only see you after sunset, and you have powers that I will never have. It's just... not going to work out in the long run. I'm not immortal like you, I can't just pair up with someone who is never going to age and lives in an alternate plane of existence. It isn't going to work. I'm so sorry. I really do care about you, and I really do love you, and I still want you to be around. But it can't work.”

        He stared down at the carpet, and slowly sank down to his knees on the floor. In a begging position, he asked, “Please?”

        “I wish I could, Shade. I think that if we lived in another world, in another lifetime, we could have had something. But not here, not now.”

        “Can I have one thing from you? Just one wish?” he asked.

        “Yes, Shade?”

        “Can I keep on loving you forever, just like this?”

        I wanted to hold him so desperately. I wanted to kiss him and tell him to forget all of that, that I did truly love him and wanted him by my side. I heard Stephen grunt, and the sound of his mattress as he rolled over in his sleep. Stephen was there, he would do anything for me. Even though there were times when he seemed uncaring to the other shades, and we disagreed on things, he was still mine. Stephen needed me, without me he would have no friends, since his old ones had moved on or were apparently in jail. I was all Stephen had.

        But looking at Shade, I knew that this poor soul lived on only for me.

        “Yes,” I answered him, “Of course you can.”

        Shade slowly stood, and I could tell that he was forcing his trademark smile, “Good. I think I can live with that.”

        We just stared at each other from across the room. My heart was aching for him. My body was longing for the electric touch of his lips. I could practically touch the tension between us.

        And I realized that this was the moment. However I reacted right now would determine the rest of my life. I was choosing a path, right now, at this very instant.

        “Oh hell,” I said as I gave in, ran right up to Shade and kissed him as hard as I could. It felt exactly as I remembered, but even more wonderful. My whole body tingled with happiness as he returned the kiss, grabbing me and hoisting me off the ground as we shared our brief moment of bliss. He carried me over to a wall where he pushed me up against it so he could kiss my neck and collar bone. Every kiss he planted on me was like static electricity, creating a stinging feeling that was delightful and addicting. I moaned every time I felt his lips and tongue brush against my skin. I wanted him as close as possible, so I grabbed his shirt and tugged it toward me.

        “Oh, I see,” he purred. He grabbed my wrists and forced them behind my back. I instinctively tried to struggle, but he was too strong. As his kisses traveled along my neck and down as far as my breast I moaned and grinded my body against his, desperate to hold him again. He chuckled at my attempt to break free from his grasp. After a few minutes of agonizing joy, he let me go and my arms snaked under his shirt, and I rubbed my hands against his strong chest. He sighed, and dove in for another passionate kiss, massaging his tongue against mine.

        “So,” he said as he came up for air, “How do you feel about me, again?”

        “I love you,” I breathed, “Kiss me again. I need you.”

        “Kokoro,” he sighed as he complied with my request. Eventually his hands moved lower, settling on my waist and aligning it with his. I found that my body's reaction to this was overwhelming, as I wasn't aware that my hips had been moving rhythmically against his. I looked up into his brown eyes, which were smiling down at me as he gasped, “I love you so much.”

        “How do you say it in Japanese?”

        “Aishiteru,” he answered. I repeated him, which only led to him making out with me even more. My legs were wrapped around his, my body was pressed up against his, and I had never felt so at one with another person before.

        And that was when Stephen weakly called out, “Jo?”

        Shade and I both froze, “Yes, dear?” I called out loudly.

        “I'm thirsty.”

        I untangled myself from Shade, “Just a minute,” I announced. I went to the kitchen to fill up another cup for him, while fixing my hair and getting my clothes straightened again. I noticed that my bra was unhooked, I hadn't even felt Shade undo it. That sneaky shade.

        As I passed him in the living room, he grabbed my arm, “A car just pulled up. I think it's his mother.”

        “Yeah,” I said, “She should be home around now.”

        He leaned in closely, “I'm going to be in the Winterland.”

        “Okay, that makes sense. It's where you live.”

        “You don't understand,” he kissed my ear as he whispered into it, “I'm going to be in my house. Alone. Waiting.”

        “Oh,” I answered, shuddering from the effect of his tingling kiss, “Alright.”

        He disappeared, and I continued to bring Stephen his drink. As he took a sip I heard his Mom come back inside the house.

        “I think I'm going to give you back to your mother,” I smiled at him.

        “Mm,” he swallowed his last gulp, “'Kay.”

        There was a war going on inside my heart. On one hand I loved Stephen. With him, I had had the best month of my life. I was completely happy when I was with him. On the other hand, I was butter in Shade's hands. I couldn't resist him. Even though I was next to my boyfriend, I was longing to feel the warmth of Shade's skin against mine.

        It was the crossroads. I had to make a decision.

        “I love you very much, Stephen,” I declared.

        He closed his eyes and rested his head back on his pillow. He was completely unaware of the situation.

        “I'm going to love you forever. You know that. You have the most special place in my heart. You're my boyfriend, I'm not breaking up with you any time soon. I don't want that at all.”

        “Good,” he sighed sleepily.

        I stood, “But I'm going to the Winterland for a bit. Okay?”

        He grunted.

        “I just want you to know that. I'm coming back soon. I love you. I really do.”

        He was snoring.

        I fought back a few tears, and left so I could go home and open a Door.

-

First and foremost, I really have to thank my Mother, Julie Everington Hammond, whose last words to me were, “Don't worry, I'm going to the Summerland.” It was her that taught me that there is no difference between love and death; they are an unlikely couple, yet one and the same.

Thank you to my betas. James Tabacco, Caroline Deacon, Shannon Fricker and Johanna Poschwatta. Your input has meant everything. And a very special thanks to my friend, Sarah “Sashi” Alvarez.

Thanks to Black Diamond Alpacas in Knightsen/Brentwood, as well as the town of Knightsen and the Knightsen Unified School District. Yes, Knightsen is a very real town, and many places described in this book are real, but characters and some organizations depicted are fictional, and any similarities to persons living or dead are coincidental.

I'd also like to thank a certain Japanese city, with the most amazing database of its history on its website, in perfect English, that has contributed to this story in more ways than any reader may ever know. There are also a slough of Japanese museums, film makers, photographers, artists and historians I'd like to thank, but for now you must remain anonymous. Arigatou goziamasu.

In order of influence, I need to thank Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Naoko Takeuchi, J. K. Rowling, Meg Cabot, Philip Carr-Gomm and John Green, for making me want to be like you. And I couldn't possibly have constructed any of this plot without the brilliant H. P. Lovecraft. Thank you to the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society and worshipers of Cthulhu worldwide.

Thank YOU, everyone who has read the story at fictionpress, WritersCafe, and Tailcast. You really mean a lot to me. Again, I know I've said this a million times, but a review or a kind word (or a cruel word) would mean even more. There is much more to come, but until then, you can get your fill of Knightsen over at knightsen.ning.com. And you can also get book updates on Twitter at KnightsenNovel. Oh, and don't forget to follow Shade while you're at it, username PrinceShade.

Wikipedia and eHow, bless you.

A final thanks to the most important person in my life, and who means the world to me. Ayumi Hamasaki. If it weren't for her I wouldn't have written a word of this story,Her lyrics have shaped this novel in many ways, and yes, there are some direct quotes from her songs, translated into English, scattered throughout. May your singing voice reach us forever.

Author's Note

This is the second half of a novel, for the first half, see my profile and read "Knightsen"