We were at the Halloween pop-up store in the closest mall, an hour away from Nowhere, prowling for costumes. Sydney and Sophia had explained that the best strategy was to choose any costume that fit the immortality theme, then give it a slutty spin. When I came up empty, they’d decided for me—an Egyptian queen, mummified but immortal. The only part that sounded remotely appealing was the “queen” bit, but other than that, I couldn’t figure out what was so sexy about a corpse.

“I’m really not feeling the mummy thing,” I said.

“What about ghost?” Sydney suggested.

I yawned.

“It doesn’t have to be boring. You can basically dress up as any famous dead person and say you’re their ghost.”

“I know!” Sophia snatched a plastic gavel off a shelf cluttered with props. “You could be the ghost of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, back to haunt the patriarchy.”

“Respect to RBG,” Sydney said, fist over her heart, “but that is not a sexy costume.”

Sophia jabbed her twin with the gavel. “Not everyone wants to be half naked on Halloween, Syd. Charlie, what about a grim reaper? You could do a black hood attached to a long dress with a high slit . . .”

“No.” Sydney blew a bubble as pink as her hair. “Long black dress? She’ll just look like a vampire.”

Oh please.

Such a stereotype, assuming vampires only wore black. I looked good in all kinds of colors. A memory flashed through my mind—the mound of dark clothes piled on the bed in the cottage, Reg criticizing my all-black wardrobe.

“I want something more colorful,” I declared out loud. “Something bright and just . . . pretty.”

“Fairies are pretty!” Sydney said.

Sophia added, “And according to Celtic myth, they are immortal.”

We found the fairy aisle, exploding with pinks and pastels and shimmer and glitter. It felt utterly un-me, and wasn’t that the whole point of Halloween?

“Yes.” I smiled. “This is perfect.”

Sydney inspected a lock of her pink hair. “Maybe I should be a fairy too.”

“No!” Sophia cried. “You promised to do angel and demon with me!” She gave me a sheepish look. “It’s a twin thing. But you will make an awesome fairy.”

I plucked a rainbow-colored crown off a shelf, settled it into my brown waves.

“Fairy queen,” I corrected.

“Nice crown.”

I turned to seen Dexter ambling down the aisle.

Sophia tugged her sister’s arm. “Hey, Syd, let’s check out the angel section again. I’m thinking of getting a different halo.”

“I thought I was the angel,” Sydney protested.

The twins said hello to Dexter as they elbowed around him in the narrow space, then Sydney winked at me over his shoulder before Sophia yanked her out of sight.

Subtle.

“Sooo . . .” Dexter shoved his hands in his pockets. “Shopping again?”

“Again? You keeping track of my whereabouts, O’Shea?”