Oh, wel . I shrugged and pul ed my happy jack-o'-lantern into my arms and set him on the front porch. Dark was beginning to settle, and within twenty minutes the streets would be fil ed with trick-or-treaters. My mom had strewn cotton spiderwebs across the porch and stuck plastic tombstones in the front lawn. She had even replaced the porch lights with black lights; beneath them my white zip-up hoodie glowed a toxic hue.

I headed back to the kitchen. Kate had pumpkin guts on her face, and Landon's fist was fil ed with even more of the gunk. Rachel was flattened against the wal on the far side, her expression terrified. Landon chucked the gob at Kate, but she squealed and spun away, and the guts smacked into the wal behind her.

"Landon!" I barked, jogging over to grab a handful of paper towels to mop up the mess.

"Sorry," he said in a not-so-convincing voice. "She started it."

Kate laughed. "Don't pin it on me! You're the one slinging that nasty stuff around."

"Where's Wil , El ie?" Rachel asked, daring to venture away from the wal .

"Who cares?" Landon interjected. "My pumpkin's puking his friggin' guts out." He made a grotesque sloshing face as he plunged his hands into the slimy mess. I grimaced.

"He'l be here when we get ready to leave," I explained. Thanks to our wager, Wil was coming with us to Josie's party, but until the time came, I assumed he was sitting on my roof keeping watch.

We cleaned up the last of the carving mess and placed the pumpkins out on the porch next to mine. Landon added the finishing touch of vomit to his jack-o'-lantern outside as planned.

Josie's party didn't start until nine, so we had a few hours to kil . Kate had an after party planned at her house, so I had an overnight bag packed to stay there. Chris and Evan arrived just after six. My mom mistook them for her first official trick-or-treaters of the night. They apologized for disappointing her, and we al went up to my room to watch a horror movie before getting into our costumes. I sat on my bed with Rachel and Kate, and the boys sat on the floor with their backs against my bed. We chose the original Poltergeist. Slasher movies were never my thing since they just made me sick. Ghost movies I could do.

When the movie ended, we had about an hour and a half to get ready. Kate and I curled each other's hair into big, bouncy updos and put on our costumes. She had lent me a pair of red stilettos that went with my nurse outfit perfectly. I pinned my little cap to my hair in case it decided to fly away. Despite Kate's plan to pin up Rachel's hair, we decided to leave her curls down her shoulders and back. The boys actual y took longer to get ready than we did, but I guessed that was because they were wearing twice as much makeup. My glittery false eyelashes were brutal y heavy on my lids, but I stuck it out and finished my face with some cherry red lipstick. Landon came back into my bedroom in ful zombie get-up, complete with gory prosthetics and tattered, bloody clothes. He was barely recognizable except for his gloriously highlighted hair. Evan came as a ghostbuster, and the state trooper with enormous aviator sunglasses and a bushy faux mustache turned out to be Chris. I eyed him, unable to prevent a smile from bursting through. "You weren't going for creative, were you?"

His expression exploded with shock. "Are you joking? I'm Mac!"

"Mac?"

"Super Troopers? Honestly, El ie, you need to watch better movies instead of those lame Disney flicks." He slid the sunglasses down his nose and looked me up and down.

"And don't talk to me about uncreative. You're a sexy nurse?

As much as I appreciate that, you have to realize there are going to be fifty other girls there dressed just like you. Nobody else is going to be Mac."

I eyed him careful y. "Maybe that's for a reason."

Chris waved a finger at me. "Just you wait."

Evan slapped him hard on the back. "So where are the wings?"

Chris shot him a questioning sidelong look. "What are you talking about, man?"

"Wel , you know," Evan said, visibly trying to hold in a laugh. "They'l be perfect for Hal oween. Foot fairies need wings, right?"

Chris swore at him and shoved his shoulder hard enough to knock Evan off balance. Most of the soccer players didn't take the foot fairy jokes very wel . Chris and Landon were no exceptions.

As they wrestled around and bounced against my bed, I scowled at a mess of gory makeup and prosthetics scattered across my dresser. "You're al going to clean up this crap up, right?"

"Of course," Landon assured me, and smiled brightly. He tugged on one of my hair sprayed curls and released it, letting it bounce back into place.

Right then Wil walked into my room wearing no costume except for his sword, strapped into a back scabbard over his T-shirt. The shirt also exposed the Enochian tattoos covering his arm. "Hey," he said, nodding to everyone. "Your mom let me in, El ie."

I was elated to see him. "Hey! Where's your costume?"

Disappointed, I poked at his chest. I noticed his eyes widening and his brow flickering as he took in my costume, and a twinge of triumph crossed my heart-- not that I was wearing this outfit only to get his attention. That was just a bonus.

Chris stepped up to him, eyeing his arm. "That has got to be the baddest tattoo I have ever seen. You get that done in LA or something?"

"Italy," Wil said.

"Nice. What are you supposed to be?"

"Pirate."

Chris scoffed. "Dude, your costume sucks. Sword's pretty sweet, though. No way that's plastic. Is that like a Final Fantasy replica, or something? You get that on eBay?"