* * *
It rained a lot in the fall. By the start of October it seemed like it had been raining forever. Mathilde slammed the door behind her and ran up the stairs to her room. She threw her soggy book bag on the floor and flopped facedown on the bed.
Her sobs mingled with the patter on the fog-painted window. In the darkness between the cage’s curtains, two tiny red stars gleamed.
WHAT TROUBLES YOU, MY MINION?
“Shut up!” Mathilde said. “I’m not your minion!”
She lifted her face from the pillow and looked at the dark, wet imprint she’d left there. She wiped her nose.
“We had to make a collage,” Mathilde mumbled. “About animals. And Billy Haggerty … he said mine was ugly … and he took it … and he threw it in the mud! It’s ruined!”
YOUR PLAN … WAS NEARLY COMPLETE?
“Yes!” Mathilde squeezed her eyes shut. “Now I have to start all over!”
DESTROY THE INTERLOPER!
“Miss Hoevener says he’s just being a boy. She said … that’s what boys do when they like you. She says if I just ignore him then he’ll stop.”
Ix’thor looked down for a moment, then raised his sword over his head. FEED HIM TO THE RAVENOUS TONGUE-BEASTS OF GARAKH’NURR!
Mathilde sniffed. “I would, but I don’t know where that is.”
Ix’thor reached out his little hand. GIVE ME YOUR SOUL AND I WILL GRANT YOU LIMITLESS POWER.
Mathilde smiled a little. “Mom says I can’t have limitless power until I’m older. But you can have a grub soul.”
Ix’thor waited patiently by the altar, his eyes glowing brightly.
EXCELLENT.
* * *
On Halloween, a witch came to their house. She had a black pointy hat and a broomstick, green skin and a big, warty nose.
“Nana!” Mathilde ran forward for a hug.
“Oof!” Nana said. “This can’t be my little Matty-Patty, can it? How’s my little angel?”
“I’m not an angel.” Mathilde raised the hood of her robe. “I’m a Dark Lord. Bow before me, mortals!”
“Oh, my! I think I felt the earth tremble for a moment.”
“Excellent. It is just as I have foretold.” Mathilde looked up. “And Ix’thor’s coming with us too.”
Nana looked outside. “Oh, sweetie, the sun’s still out. I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“It’s okay. We got him a ball. See?”
Mathilde picked up the crystal ball, which was filled with swirling black clouds. From deep inside its murky depths, two crimson points of light could barely be seen.
“I made him an angel costume,” Mathilde said. “But you can’t really see it.”
SOON YOUR TRANSFORMATION WILL BE COMPLETE. Ix’thor’s hollow voice rumbled from inside the ball.
Mathilde whispered, “I don’t think he knows it’s Halloween.”
“Well then, let’s not disappoint him,” Nana said. “Shall we collect some souls?”
* * *
Orange leaves flew across the street in twisted whirlwinds while the shadows of barren trees stretched their fingers slowly away from the sun. Mathilde made her way down the street with Ix’thor’s ball under one arm and her swollen bag of candy in the other.
“That’s an awful lot of candy,” Nana said. “I’m certain we didn’t get that much candy when I was a girl.”
“Ix’thor says fear keeps the peasants in line.”
“Aha. Mathilde … you know not everything Ix’thor says is a good idea, right?”
“Well, duh!” Mathilde rolled her eyes.
“Of course. How silly of me. Anyway, I think it’s time we started heading back home.”
“Wait!” Mathilde pulled on Nana’s cloak. “Just one more street, please? Just to the end of the block?”
Nana sighed. “All right, but that’s it. I don’t want you crossing Washington Street. There’s too much traffic.”
“I won’t.”
MWA HA HA. Ix’thor laughed with a rumble that made Mathilde’s ears tickle on the inside. NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW.
A cluster of trick-or-treaters was leaving the big stone house at the end of the street. Mathilde slowed down when she realized it was Becky and Sally Hamilton. She wanted to look away and cross the street, but Nana waved to them.
“Happy Halloween!” Nana said in her big, witchy voice. “Eee-hee-he-hee!”
“Hello.” Mrs. Hamilton wasn’t wearing a costume, just regular grown-up clothes and a bright orange vest. “Girls, say hello to your friend.”
Becky and Sally were both dressed up in big, poofy dresses with lots of lace and glitter. Becky’s was blue and came with a sparkling tiara, while Sally, who was a few years younger, wore a pale green one with fairy wings and a wand.
“Hello,” Becky said. Sally just mumbled and hid behind her mother’s leg.
“Hi.” Mathilde noted with some satisfaction that Becky’s bag had less candy than her own. “What are you dressed up as?”
“We’re princesses!” Becky straightened her tiara. “What are you supposed to be? An ink stain?”
“Rebecca!” Mrs. Hamilton said. “That wasn’t very nice.”
Becky winced at her mother’s words, but Mathilde just smiled.
“That’s okay,” Mathilde said. “I don’t mind. I’ll just take my revenge when I rule the world. Mwa ha ha.”
For some reason grown-ups always thought that sort of thing was hilariously funny. Both Nana and Mrs. Hamilton laughed out loud. Becky just glared.
“Well, come on,” Nana said. “We don’t want your mother to worry about you. Nice seeing you, Kathy.”
“Goodbye, Mrs. Clark. Say goodbye, girls.”
“B-bye,” Sally muttered.
“Bye,” Becky said.
Mathilde started to walk away. She saw Becky’s foot move, but didn’t know what was happening until it was too late.
“Oops!” Becky said. Mathilde felt the edge of her robe yank, and then she was falling forward, her hands out in front of her. The sidewalk hit her knees, skinning them. Candy scattered everywhere, over pavement and grass.
Ix’thor went tumbling through the air, his ball reflecting the cold sunlight. It bounced once off the curb and once more off the side of a parked car. For one held breath Mathilde thought it was going to be okay, that the ball might roll harmlessly to a stop.
Then her hope vanished in the heavy squeal of brakes and the sound of shattering glass.
Mathilde screamed, trying to stand up, trying to run. Later she would remember Nana’s hands grabbing her, pulling her back from the edge of Washington Street, but, at the time, all Mathilde could see was the tiny shadow on the side
