Nora touches them each on the shoulder as she leaves.

“Oh,” Rose says, looking about the room at something only she can see. “This feels nice.”

Kara assesses me with a quirk of her lips and says, “Of course you belong here. The house wouldn’t want anyone else.”

The house rumbles its agreement, and I grin.

The twins buzz around me, applying different things with brushes. Normally I don’t wear makeup—I always forget and touch my face—but every year I let them do it on Samhain as part of my costume.

“Nothing too ridiculous,” I warn them.

“Never,” they agree together.

When they finish, I have no choice but to grudgingly admit they’ve done a good job. They always do. Shadowy eyes and perfectly drawn whiskers. The cat mask will cover most of it, but at least I’ll look great when I take it off.

“Yeah you will,” Kara says.

I grab the mask from the bed and fix it carefully on my face.

I love parties, especially on Samhain, but by the end of them I’m usually exhausted and have seen far too many people die. Most of them are peaceful, people passing away in hospitals or asleep in their beds, but every once in a while, there’s a car crash or an accident that sears itself in my mind. All those images and, worse, the emotions, add up.

But tonight, I feel as though I can face it.

“Ready?” Kara asks, offering me her arm. The buzz of the growing crowd downstairs is already filtering up to my room.

Rose holds out her arm, too, and I step between them, taking both. “Ready,” she says.

“Not even close,” I reply with a grin.

Chapter 24: Colin

The ballroom is in top form tonight. I’ve never seen Halloween decorations look so elegant. Orange paper lanterns hang from the ceiling among the teardrop lights, and the tables are draped with shimmering cloths. Jack-o’-lanterns with intricate designs sit next to autumn wreaths and red apples. Scattered among the tables and the lights above are glass figurines in the shapes of bats, cats, and other magical creatures I now recognize: kelpies and black dogs, merrows and selkies, and even a Jabberwocky, though the house gave it the worst spot in the room.

My favorite, though, is Max, who sits still as a statue until someone approaches saying how lifelike he looks before lunging.

It’s almost enough to distract me from what’s coming. Almost.

We’d gathered that morning to review the plan: once Fin arrived, Kara and Rose would scan the crowd with their powers, looking for dead spots. Then Anna would approach and touch each person nearby. If she found Fin, she would signal Gran or Nora, who would be watching her, and then get to safety.