I got the hint I was supposed to whisper, too. “Ready for what?”
He leaned in closer, enough that I felt his lips brushing against the edge of my ear. “Initiation time,” he said. “We’ve got to make you part of the team.”
Uh oh. That sounded like trouble. “How?”
“You’ve got to help me scare each one of the guys this Halloween, before midnight. We’ve already gotten Nathan and Kota. I got Dr. Green this morning when he picked me up. I kept one of the Volto masks and met him at the door with it.”
I backed my head up, my eyes wide and my mouth open. Scare the others? As in people like Silas and Mr. Blackbourne? How in the world did he expect me to do that?
He laughed and winked. “Don’t worry,” he said a little louder as he stabbed at the inside of his pumpkin, pulling out a handful of seeds and tossing it onto the growing pile on the newspapers. “I’ll help you with your...pumpkin.”
Initiation was really the word I was wanting him to explain. Initiation into what?
And secretly, I wanted to be included. After the stressful last few weeks, a little fun by a few scares, with Luke’s help, seemed a great way to pass the day.
Besides, if I was helping Luke with his pranks, he couldn’t get me again, could he?
Gabriel’s Scare
Dr. Green came back in, loaded with bags from the grocery store. Nathan and Kota went to peek at what he was carrying in. I was about to join them when Luke nudged my arm, whispering to me.
“Hurry up with Gabriel’s pumpkin,” he said. “He’ll be here soon, and I’ve got the perfect plan. We need to start with him, because we’ll need his help for the other ones.”
I pressed my lips together, hopping back to the pumpkin and trying to hurry. Luke’s enthusiastic smile, and his brown eyes lighting up with amusement, were enough to get me moving.
It warmed me, because it helped me to shake off the thought of homecoming. It helped me to forget yesterday. I wasn’t sure Luke was aware, but he was helping me by putting me to work and giving me a new focus. Initiation.
The sun was up by now. Kota put on coffee and the others took turns with pumpkins and with eating some breakfast sandwiches. I was just finishing up scraping inside the pumpkin when the sound of a car rolling up caused me to turn toward the window.
Luke nudged me and then checked around him at the others who seemed to be busy. “You ready?”
“For what?” I whispered.
He reached into his pocket and then under the table passed me what felt like a furry toy.
When I opened my palm to check, there was a spider in my hand. Gnarled legs, fuzzy and with beady black eyes.
I dropped it, wiping my hand on my clothes as if that could remove the feel of it. I choked on a squeal. I knew we were scaring Gabriel and that it wasn’t real, but it wasn’t what I expected. It was so lifelike.
Luke laughed and then knelt to pick it up. He nudged my elbow, checked to make sure the others were busy and then whispered, “Hurry. Open the top.”
I did, and he dropped the spider inside the pumpkin. I closed it back up and then stared at him. Would it work?
The front door opened with a bang. Heads turned.
“Oy!” cried Gabriel. Shortly after, he appeared in the entryway of the kitchen, bags in hand. He wore dark blue jeans and a black V-neck shirt that formed to his body. His hair was still wet from a shower, and the blond locks in the front were combed back on his head, mixed among the russet. His angled jawline, high cheekbones and piercing crystal blue eyes were more prominent now. Handsome didn’t even begin to describe it. There were orange crystals in his lobes today, and the usual three black earrings going up the side of one ear.
“Hi,” Dr. Green said, waving from the other side of the kitchen counter. He had his collection of decorations spread out. “Didn’t I get enough? I got what you wanted me to.”
“I had some more stored away,” Gabriel said. “And Victor had some from his house that we...borrowed.”
“Stole!” Victor’s voice rang out. He nudged Gabriel out of the middle of the space and continued forward, dropping a large paper witch onto the counter. His fire eyes were roaring and his wavy hair was tousled. He wore the usual black pants but now he just had on a white T-shirt. His cheeks were pink as he turned immediately to Kota. “I’m pretty sure this witch belongs to a neighbor on my block.”
“Naw,” Gabriel said. “That’s one you had in the kitchen. Your mom said I could have it. Sort of. She implied it.”
“I think we’ve got enough decorations that we don’t need to steal other people’s,” Kota said. He picked up his pumpkin, which had a spider hanging on a web. Clean lines, simple. He addressed Gabriel. “This works?”
“You did that last year,” Gabriel said. He pointed to the side of Kota’s pumpkin. “At least do a zombie on the side.”
“I can’t do a zombie,” Kota said. He turned his pumpkin toward Luke and I. “Looks okay?”
I nodded, smiling. Looked good to me. “I like it,” I said.
Kota beamed.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “I like the spiders.”
Gabriel made a noise that sounded like a snort and a grunt at the same time. “Where’s my pumpkin, anyway?”
“Sang’s gutted it for you,” Luke said. He turned the pumpkin.
“Did she do one yet?” Gabriel asked.
“Waiting for you,” Luke said.
“Can I just do a regular pumpkin face on mine?” Victor asked. He selected one and brought it to the table. “Or something a little more traditional?”
“That’s what Mr. Blackbourne does every year,” Gabriel said, stepping up to his pumpkin and then looking at the one left for me to do. He drew it close so it was next to his and looked at them both, studying. “Hmm...What do you say, Trouble? Double team our pumpkins? I’m thinking either Cthulhu fighting a T-Rex or Harry Potter in a wand battle with Voldemort.”
My eyes widened. That sounded good to me, but I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to carve a dinosaur or Harry Potter.
“We don’t have too much time,” Kota said. “We’ve got other things to set up.”
“Hmm,” Gabriel said. He pressed his fingers to his mouth, looking thoughtful as he gazed at the pumpkins. “And I want to get the gravestones set up in the yard. Hang on, what’s that fairytale story you said Sang liked?”
I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but I looked at Victor with my eyebrows up, more surprised by the question. Victor’s fire eyes sparked with curiosity. “You like fairytales?” he asked.
“She likes the Princess in Disguise one,
” Luke said. “The one about the princess that dresses up in a star, moon and then a sun dress.”
“Let’s do pretty this year,” Gabriel said. “It’ll gross out Micah and Tom. Plus, Jessica and her little friends will get a kick out of it.” He pointed to Luke’s. “Want me to poke the holes as a guideline?”
“Figured you’d want to,” Luke said. “We’re doing all three?”
Gabriel nodded, backing up and grinning big. “We’ve got this shit.”
“You’ll have to gut the rest of your pumpkin,” Luke said. He nodded to it. “Sang started but I don’t know if she finished.”
I got a nudge in the elbow from Luke. “Uh,” I said, trying to blank my face and not appear to be lying. “Yes.”
Gabriel’s crystal eyes barreled in on my face like a gunshot. “You’re the prettiest little liar, Trouble. What’s he got in there? An eyeball? A gnarled zombie mask?” He reached out to the top of the pumpkin to pull it off.
Oh no, it won’t work! I glanced at Luke, who was grinning, and looking at me directly. He made a motion with his hand quickly, a scurrying motion like a spider with his hand and then pointed to Gabriel’s back and winked.
I thought I got the picture.
I waited until Gabriel was looking over the pumpkin. He smirked at it, looking inside. “Now, is that a real spider he brought in or is it a toy?”
His head was bent over. I wasn’t sure he would feel it if I did it through his shirt, so I aimed for the back of his neck and lightly traced my fingertips there, trying to mimic a spider crawling up.
He let out the strangest squeal, hunched his shoulders and pulled back. He slapped at his neck and then cried out, “Fucking Jesus Christ! Don’t do that shit.”
Luke busted out laughing. I started to giggle. Kota shook his head but smiled. Victor rolled his eyes.
Dr. Green slapped a palm against the kitchen counter and then pointed right at me. “Look, guys, there’s Luke number two, right there. Watch out for that one.”