1711

The ocean wind was quick and harsh against the skin of those aboard the Advena Avis. It was an unusually brisk day in Boston harbor for the time of year, but there were not many in the wharf that seemed to mind.

“Elmer!” shouted one of the men standing on the dock the Advena Avis was being moored to. The ship captain jumped off the side of the ship and onto the pier to embrace the man in laughter.

“Timothy! How have you been?” he asked. “I do hope you have those plots of land we requested.”

“Of course,” Timothy smiled. “I have to warn you though, stay away from the neighbors; they’re a little nervous about alchemists.”

“I know some of these people are skittish.”

“That’s putting it lightly. The surrounding area’s still reeling from those trials they had almost twenty years ago, especially around Halloween.”

“So this is Timothy Bidonet: the man who so graciously assisted us in coming over,” Maiza chuckled as he walked down the gangplank. “It is an honor to finally meet you.”

“Same here, Maiza Avaro, I presume?” Timothy reached out to shake Maiza’s hand. “Tell me, where is that bright young man you were telling me about in your letters?” Maiza fell silent; he had not yet thought of an alibi as to why there was less on the ship than originally accounted for.

“There was an unexpected storm,” Sylvie interrupted as she too disembarked from the ship. “Some of the crew fell overboard. Gerd was one of them…”

“I am sorry,” Timothy said, bowing his head in respect. “The sea is a nasty force when travelling through the Elements. I am glad that most of you made it, however, particularly you, young lady.”

“Thank you,” Sylvie responded morosely. She glanced over at Elmer and Maiza, both of whom appeared a combination of dumbfounded and grateful, and asked politely, “Would you mind if I went to our temporary home while the crew is unloading our things?”

“I don’t mind,” Maiza said. “You shouldn’t do much anyways.”

“You went through the same thing.”

“…but someone should watch Czeslaw.”

“Just put on a smile, Sylvie,” Elmer said. “All you need to do is smile.”

1913

“Come on you two! The house isn’t gonna explore itself!” the larger of the two boys in the lead yelled back at the ones who were lagging. Claire and Luck were not pleased with the face that Berga and Keith were leaving them behind again; it happened any time the elder two Gandor brothers wanted to do anything fun.

This time, however, Claire and Luck caught them before the two had a chance to escape unnoticed. All four were headed towards the old part of the city, where a fire had torn through ten years prior. It was the premier place for exploring for all those under the age of twelve.

“Wait up you guys!” Luck yelled. He nearly tripped over his own oversized shoes trying to keep up with his brothers.

“Yeah! We wanna go too! Stop trying to outrun us!” Claire demanded.

“We’re not even trying!” Keith shouted. “Berga’s right; the house is never gonna be explored if we have to wait for you two!”
Luck began sniffling while he ran, a sure sign to Claire that he was angry with his brothers. The boy thought for a moment—then stopped.

“What are you doing Claire?” Luck asked, noticing his friend had halted dead in his tracks. Claire had a vicious smile on his face… one he did not use extensively until he changed his name.

“Let’s show your brothers not to treat us like we’re nothing special.”

1939

“You sure?” the policeman asked as he prodded the body with his foot. He did not like cemeteries, particularly any time around Halloween, but was stuck in one anyways investigating a rogue corpse. “I mean, it’s not possible he’s still alive, is he?”

“I doubt it,” the groundskeeper grumbled. “He’s got two fifths of the real good stuff; the shit people buy for weddings and crap like that. If he drank that all in one night, then he drank himself dead.”

“Are you sure?” the officer asked, raising his eye.

“M’cousin did it, and he had a real tolerance for the stuff.”

“Well, at least he had the decency to not let us worry about delivery,” the policeman said. He walked away to the car where his partner waited.

“Now look at what you’ve done, worrying the police like that,” the groundskeeper scolded. He tilted his head to the side, wondering about the peculiar position of the corpse. It seemed almost as if he had been staring at something right before he died. The groundskeeper bent down and looked in the direction the corpse was facing, catching a glint in the grass right in front of a headstone.

“Oh, I’m sorry there,” he sighed as he finally saw the busted glass lying in the grass he desperately needed to cut. “Wait right here Miss Klein while I go and get a bin so I can lean off your stone nice and neat now.”

1977

“You kids behave now!” Nice yelled after some children as they left her front porch with more candy than they came with. The screen door opened behind her and the cat ran out onto the lawn.

“Having fun, dear?” she asked.

“I will be,” Jacuzzi replied. His heavy boots clunked on the wooden planks of the porch in hollow THUNK-THUNK-THUNK’s. Stopping right before he passed Nice, Jacuzzi stood still—only slightly behind her. The lone sound coming from him was that of amused tears; the grown man was trying his hardest to not laugh.

“Whoa! That’s a really cool statue you got there lady!” a group of kids giggled in awe as they ran up to Nice. They stared at Jacuzzi, who was perfectly still, with mouths agape. The entire costume was black, cape, helmet and all. In his hand was a long, thin baseball bat that had been painted black at the handle and red on the rest. A mask covered Jacuzzi’s face, hiding the silent tears that contained his laughter.

“I’m glad you like him,” Nice smiled while she placed some candy in each child’s bag. “I see one of you is dressed like Luke; am I right?”

“Yeah!” piped up the smallest boy, who was no more than eight. “I’m Luke and you killed Obi-Wan! Meanie!” The kid lunged at Jacuzzi with his own painted stick, still thinking the man was a statue… which probably explained why the child screamed when Jacuzzi parried the blow.

“You sent me off into the reaches of space! Prepare for revenge!” Jacuzzi yelled, chasing the screaming children. Nice laughed as she watched the kids get chased around the neighborhood. Before long, it became a neighborhood-wide affair, engulfing everyone and anyone not perched up on a porch-step.

About an hour later, the infamous Old Man Splot would return home after another successful Halloween of causing trouble. It was something that the rest of the adults dreaded every year, but the children looked forward to.

1956

“THEM! THEM!” the little girl on the screen shrieked. Czeslaw squirmed in his seat at the sound of the shrill screaming. His companions seemed just as unnerved; one even began to whimper.

“Czes, I’m scared,” whispered the little girl in the seat next to him. She had been insisting on a Bible movie when the group was standing in front of the cinema, but the boys would not have any of it. Instead, the other boys, who obviously outnumbered her five to one, chose a giant-insect movie. Czeslaw was not too thrill himself, but went with it anyways; Maiza did want him and Ennis to “blend in” after all.

“Chicken!” one of the boys teased as the girl clutched onto Czeslaw’s arm when a gargantuan mutated ant attacked a woman. “You’re such a little baby!”

“Am not!” the girl retorted. Czeslaw watched as the boy smirked into his soda. He looked from the boy, to the girl on his arm, back to the boy and frowned. If this was the spirit of Halloween, giant ants and making girls cry, he wanted nothing of it.