Page 17 of Halloween With the Siren
Tilly’s brows rise with every extra sentence. “Another shifter with a job related to the ocean?” she asks, sounding impressed. “That’s pretty rare.”
Maisie wriggles in her seat and her eyes blaze with excitement. “Sounds like fate.”
I choose to ignore that comment, knowing it’s a dangerous thought to even consider. “There’s one more in Pack Morgan,” I say quietly, my voice a little sappy just thinking about all three of them. “He’s a free diver and lives for the ocean. Bash. A cheeky fox shifter who had me blushing one moment and in fits of laughter the next. He’s sweet and so good-looking it’s actually charming.”
Maisie claps her hands. “They sound perfect for you.”
“They were,” I say, unable to keep the longing from seeping into my words.
Tilly squeezes my hand. “Will you see them again?”
“I don’t know.” The words are hardly more than a whisper.
Maisie leans forward and catches my eye. “Do you want to?”
I clear my throat and square my shoulders, admitting bravely, “Yes. I told them about Starry Hill and gave them the name of The Singing Seahorse. If they will actually do anything with that information remains to be seen.”
Rubbing her hands together like some conspiring supervillain, Maisie intones joyfully, “Oh, we’ll definitely be meeting them soon. I just know it. How cool would it be if they all showed up for the Halloween party?”
I take that as my out and switch topics gratefully, “How’s the planning going with that? Anything significant I need to be updated on?”
“Well, yes,” Tilly says, spreading her arms wide to gesture in the general direction of Starry Hill. “Everyone wants to be involved.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone,” they confirm in unison.
Tilly butters her slice of bread as she starts to explain, “The guys have decided to transform Arran’s castle into a haunted mansion. They’re all going to dress up as zombies and the kidscan go in early to explore, then later in the evening they’ll amp things up and make it even scarier for our lot.”
My mouth falls open. “How cool is that?! And Arran is on board with all of this? Can’t believe how soft that grumpy old vampire is getting. If things keep progressing he might finally cave and get electricity. Or join us for karaoke.”
“Or get a puppy,” Maisie adds around a spoonful of soup.
“Can you imagine?” Tilly laughs.
“I don’t think I can.” Just picturing the curmudgeonly loner with a tiny dog has me giggling. Tilly, Maisie, and I eat and chat, my home rich with the company of my friends and the delicious meal they brought me.
When I get up to make a pot of tea for us, Maisie says, “Oh, Aunt Annamae, Doc Calla, and Lucille are dressing up as ghost girlies and asked to judge a costume contest. They have categories figured out and everything.”
My whole body buoys up with every new element added to the party. “A costume contest. Amazing! I still have to think of something for myself.”
Maisie taps her toes on my stone floor and adds, “And all of the main hill will be transformed into a massive Halloween town. Every shop wants to participate and everyone will dress up and help with decorations.”
I stare out the window behind my friends, imagining what Starry Hill is going to look like. “It’s going to be magical.”
Tilly holds her fingers up and taps each one as she goes down her list. “Aurelius is in charge of lanterns and lighting, mothman interests and all. Annamae will do pumpkins and all the foliage, and Richard will do trick-or-treat baskets to hand out to the kids coming up the hill.” She looks at my slack-jawed expression and continues, “Calixta and Beryl want to make a potions tree—aka shots—hanging from it. Pierre also offered to design cobwebs throughout the town, saying it’s a job that can only be entrustedto him because gargoyle wings give you some kind of advantage or something. And Katie is finding you a giant cauldron for your famous punch.”
I shake my head in disbelief and wonder. “Damnnn, you girls have been busy.”
Maisie takes the cup I offer her. “We just asked around and shared general ideas and told everyone to come to us if they have something they’d like to see or do. Everything snowballed very quickly and here we are with a full-on Halloween festival.”
“This is so impressive,” I say, truly astounded by Starry Hill’s spirit. In all my years I’ve lived here, it’s never been more than a small event for kids. But the moment Maisie suggested we should do something for the whole town, I was in. Never did I imagine the entire community would feel the same.
Tilly plops a stick of cinnamon in her cup, a couple of drops of hot tea splashing onto her hand. She quickly wipes it clean and blows on it before saying, “Don’t forget about Beck and Viggo. They’re discussing how to do floating jack-o’-lanterns in Kraken Cove and ways to keep them from drifting out into the ocean.”
I shake my head. “That’s going to look spectacular.”
A not-so-small part of me yearns to see Pack Morgan at the party, wanting to share all of this with them and picturing how well they’ll fit into Starry Hill.
