“Shut up, Sam. You should’ve put your stocking cap on your stump. You look weird without it.” He laughed and let them pass. Something was said to Henry about having a peg leg in his pocket or just being happy to see her, but Andie and Cassandra pretended to not hear.
Sam put an arm around each of them and pointed to the food, the drinks, the DJ. Cassandra looked over her shoulder at Aidan just as the door closed and thought she saw something move in the driveway, a flash of something between a maroon Explorer and a tan Malibu. Aidan caught her eye and smiled. She smiled back and let Sam lead them through the foyer.
The temperature change inside the house was extreme. The proliferation of bodies had heated the rooms far more than the thermostat intended. It felt oddly like walking into their overheated school.
“There’s the punch,” Sam said, preparing to leave them in the kitchen. “If you want anything spiked, let me know.” He mounted his stick horse and spun away.
Andie went to the punch bowl and filled a plastic cup while Cassandra looked suspiciously at a bowl of some kind of pasta salad.
“Think it’s a prank?”
“Yes, I think it’s a prank. Who has pasta salad at a Halloween party? Stick to prepackaged foods.”
Another pirate spotted Henry and yelled. There was a small group of them dressed that way, all eye patches, peg legs, and gold teeth. Beneath the makeup, Cassandra recognized some of the varsity players. Henry waved but didn’t leave.
“You don’t have to stay glued to me all night,” Cassandra said.
Henry glanced at Aidan and smiled. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
Cassandra took a deep breath and chewed on a cracker. The kitchen smelled like pizza; three boxes sat on the table. Cassandra went to grab a slice of Canadian bacon and caught a whiff of alcohol. A puddle of something clear dripped onto the floor. She mopped it up with a napkin and sniffed. Vodka.
“Hey, Cassandra.”
“Hey, Megan. Careful, something spilled.” She grabbed the girl’s shoulder when she slid. Megan’s costume was Slutty Bo Peep, her blond hair in pigtails and a cotton bonnet on her head. She used her sheepherding cane to prop herself up and took a slice of pizza.
“I really need to eat something, or I’m going to pass out. Can you hold my sheep?” She handed off the small inflated animal, blue eyes painted onto white plastic. Then she picked up a napkin and walked off, forgetting her livestock entirely. Cassandra set it on the table.
“How can she be that drunk already?” Aidan asked, watching her wobble back to the dance floor.
“How could I have suggested Andie buy that Bo Peep outfit?”
Aidan shrugged. “It would’ve looked nice on you.” He wrapped his cape around her shoulders and stole a bite of pizza.
Getting to the party late was a good idea. They’d missed the awkward start-up, when only a few people were there and the music echoed through the space. Now it was packed, and people danced and crowded the furniture. Not a single chair or sofa arm was unoccupied and the noise stuffed itself into their ears: cackled laughter and constant conversations weaved through the beat of music. It seemed like everyone had come in costume; there were so many masks and layers of makeup it was hard to tell who was who. Girls were mostly flash and glitter, lipstick and sequins. At least five wore fishnet stockings.
Andie stood surrounded by girls from her hockey team. They pulled her toward the back of the house and up the stairs, where Sam had set up a haunted house.
“Aidan! Cassandra! You coming?” She gestured up the stairs.
Cassandra waved her off. Maybe later. Though the haunted portion of the house probably wouldn’t exist later. Whoever was doing the scaring upstairs would get bored, and people would start using the dark rooms to make out.
There was an odd synchronicity to her thoughts as a giant human condom passed by en route to the punch bowl. Cassandra laughed.
“What?”
“Nothing. Giant human condom made me laugh.”
Aidan grinned and watched the condom walk away. It was basically a huge square of gold foil with legs.
“I’m glad we came. I missed the sound of you laughing.” He put his hands around her waist and pulled her close.
Color rose into her cheeks, visible even beneath the smear of white makeup. She swallowed. Being touched by him was different now, even if she didn’t want to admit it. The heat in his hands, and the strength, made her heart pound. He kissed her and she forgot where she was and wrapped her arms around him. He lifted her like she weighed nothing. When her feet hit the floor it took an extra second for her brain to catch up.
“That was hot.”
They looked across the table. Megan stared at them with wide eyes. “Sorry. Forgot my sheep.”
Cassandra giggled into Aidan’s shoulder. “Let’s just … go find Andie.”
Somehow they managed to snag a corner of sofa in the living room, far enough away from the DJ that they could carry on a conversation. Andie sat on the arm, careful to keep her bloody entrails off of the leather, in case it would stain. A few feet in front of them, the Quentin twins showed off their new matching tattoos. The pulled- down sleeves of their costumes revealed twisting black tribal marks. Amy’s was on her right shoulder, and Angie’s on her left. Standing face-to-face in identical clothing, they were like mirror images.
“They only dress the same on Halloween,” Andie mused. “It’s weird. I wonder if they have a secret twin language.”
“Not every set of twins has weird secret twin languages,” said Aidan. “Artemis and I didn’t. Though I could read her mind sometimes.” He paused and looked down. Andie blinked and basically ignored him. Cassandra squeezed his hand. One day it wouldn’t hurt to talk about Artemis. Or maybe it always would.
Andie went back to studying the tattoos.
“Twin symmetry aside, it’s sort of cool looking. Not something I’d get, though. I don’t think I could get a tattoo. It’d be there forever unless I sprang for the laser treatments. And I hear those hurt like a bitch.”
Cassandra nodded and watched a bunch of werewolves ogle Andie’s chest from across the room. There was no shortage of skin for their eyes to feast on, but Andie’s skin was a surprise. Even Sam had stopped by more than once to put an arm around her and tell her something or other.
“Hey,” Cassandra said. “Boys are staring.”
Andie scowled. “Hey! I’m a murder victim.” She pointed to her exposed guts. The wolf howled and his friends laughed. “Perverts. What kind of sicko gets turned on by a dead girl? I’m going to find your brother.”
Andie walked away, bobbing and dodging through groups of people and dancing bodies. The way some of them were gyrating, you’d think they were trying to turn the party into a bacchanal. Cassandra’s mind slid back to Aidan and the kiss they’d had in the kitchen. She turned and whispered in his ear.
“I think it’s time we checked out the haunted house.”
He smiled, and the heat from his body jumped. “Follow me upstairs in a few minutes.” When he got up, his fingers trailed along her leg.
With Aidan gone, she looked around and tried to be inconspicuous. In the corner of her eye, someone sat in a porcelain mask, dark eyes watching her through the cutouts. But when she turned, there was no one there. Cassandra blinked.
Everyone seemed to be caught up in their own conversations, and no one had asked her to do the coin trick yet, which was nice. She wasn’t in the mood.
How long had it been since Aidan had left? Long enough to go after him? There weren’t any clocks on the walls and she hadn’t checked her phone for the time. She stood and walked toward the hallway. More than likely she’d stumble into the wrong dark room and get yelled at by some couple. Or she’d open a door and have a
