Page 31 of Practically Magic

I sit up straight. “You remember me wanting to throw a Halloween party?”

He gives me a look. “Uh, yeah? You only mentioned it a thousand times in chem class. What happened?”

Over in the corner, Colton is completing his goodbye rituals with his teammates, which involves a lot of hand clasping and slapping. “I am still going to have a party. I just need to talk to Colton first.” I gulp down my second cider. “Thanks for the refill,” I say, standing up fast and tripping over my chair.

Zach grabs my arm to steady me. He’s standing so close, I can smell the Altoid on his breath. “Thanks,” I say, even though I can feel my stomach doing backward flips. How have I never noticed his lashes were so long?

“Excuse me,” says someone with a wisp of a voice. Zach and I are still standing close as we look over at a trio of women with long, dark hair that trails all the way down their long, black dresses. They could be in a black-and-white filter, except for their bloodred lips. “Is it true these are the very grounds the Headless Horseman is buried on?”

“That’s the rumor,” Zach says, adopting a pleasant customer service tone to his voice as he lets go of my arm. “But no one knows for sure.”

The women continue staring at us, and I feel my hands tingling. My magic. There’s something odd about this trio. “You might want to try Spirited Books,” I suggest. “They have books on the town history and the Headless Horseman.”

“Thank you,” the one in the middle says as the other two women stare at the people in line. Then they turn as one and seemingly glide away.

We both look at each other. “Tourists,” we say at the same time.

“That was weird,” Zach says, thinking what I’m feeling. “Speaking of odd, have you seen Ronald today?”

“Ronald? You mean Fred?”

“It’s Ronald. And yes. Normally he comes by at least once, but he hasn’t touched the food I left out for him. I hope he’s okay.” Zach looks out across the green, which is filling with booths for the Halloween carnival. “It’s supposed to rain tonight.”

It’s sweet how much Zach cares about this dog. I find myself smiling again but quickly hide it before he can see. “I’m sure he’s fine. If I see him on my way over to Colton’s, I’ll let you know—aaah!” I scream as a boy around our age pops up in front of us. His face is muddy and he’s got leaves in his brown hair, which is sticking up like his eyebrows. His eyes are wild as he smiles excitedly.

“HEY! HI THERE! HI! HELLO!”

Zach instinctively steps in front of me. “Hey. Can I help you?”

The guy looks back and forth, panting. “Are you going on a walk? Can I come? Can I? CAN I? I need to run! Run!” He’s bouncing around now.

“Um, go for it,” Zach says, gesturing out the door at the beautiful fall day. The sun shines. Leaves tumble. A squirrel goes bounding past.

“OH BOY!” the boy screams, and he takes off out the door.

“Thanks for the apple cider,” I say, backing away from a very confused-looking Zach. “I owe you one.”

“You owe me many!” Zach yells as I cross the green, headed for Spirited Books. Laney is waiting outside the store when I arrive.

“You just missed the weirdest tourists,” she says. “They just stood in the doorway and kept asking if they could come inside.” She fidgets with the beads on her wrist. “And one of them kept looking at me and licking her lips.”

“I think Mayor Croft might be appealing to some very strange people. There was this hairy, dirty boy—”

“Are vampires real?” Laney asks abruptly.

Yes, I almost say. But it doesn’t matter that vampires exist somewhere. There are no vampires in Mystic Hollow. The Hadley protection spells prevent that. Plus, the rest of the world doesn’t know they’re real and I’d like to keep it that way. “You read too many horror novels,” I say, even though I can’t hide my shiver.

“You’re probably right. Their skin was just so pale, and their lips were so red,” she says as we walk.

We only make it two houses before we hear shouting. When we look over at the town green, the strange boy who approached me and Zach is racing across the green with someone’s football—which would be normal, only he has it gripped in his teeth. A group of boys is trying to catch him to no avail. “It’s almost Halloween, I guess?” Laney offers.

“Right,” I say as we reach the Croft mansion. My aunts always turn their nose up at the style of the Croft home, but I like their Victorian. It’s painted white and teal, with a low picket fence lined with yellow and orange mums, and there are always candles burning in the windows. Except today.

“Are you sure they’re home?” Laney asks. “It looks dark inside.”

“I just saw Colton leave Witches Brew,” I say as I step up to the door and use the brass knocker.

The door opens so fast, the wreath flies off the door. An older woman with salt-and-pepper hair rushes past us, muttering to herself. From the open door comes a rush of cold air. Laney and I both rub our arms to keep warm.