‘You know I have my classes on Saturdays, Kitty-Cat,’ she said, ignoring Cat’s scowl at the use of her hated nickname. ‘Please, I really need to you to help me out. You only need to bring him up and down the street and then you’ll have the rest of the evening with your friends, I promise. Besides, Granny will be around if you need anything.’

‘If Granny’s there to watch Mikey, then why do I have to bring him at all?’

Her mam didn’t answer. She just gave Cat one of her legendary because-I-said-so stares that meant the conversation was over.

Cat’s sense of injustice deepened when her mam returned from the shops the following day with two costumes – a plastic Batman outfit for Mikey and a pointed witch’s hat for her.

‘But I was a witch last year. I wanted to go as a haunted doll this time!’ she said with indignation.

‘I know, Cat, but I couldn’t get to the shops any earlier and they were sold out of almost everything,’ said her mam as she tried to feed a protesting Mikey, who, on top of being the most annoying baby in the world, was also fussy around food. ‘You’ll have to just make do.’

Before Cat could formulate a suitable reply, her mam had turned away to tend to Mikey who was sobbing over his upended bowl of Coco Pops.

Just like that it was settled. She would be bringing Mikey trick-or-treating and, once again, she would be dressed as a witch.

After a quick detour to the school’s library room to return the book she had borrowed, Halloween Through the Ages, Cat stepped out into the yard and spotted her friends huddled in a circle by the fence.

‘Cat!’ Jess shrieked happily. ‘Come join us. We’re telling scary stories.’

‘Karol was telling us about knick-knacks,’ added Sarah, Jess’s twin sister who had been born five minutes before her and clung to the title of ‘older sister’ fiercely, always cutting across her twin whenever possible.

‘Nocnica,’ corrected Karol, blushing slightly to find himself the centre of attention. Karol was a quiet Polish boy who had moved to Clonbridge last year. He was nice, but painfully shy. When the twins noticed he spent most of his time alone they quickly co-opted him into their friend group.

‘Whatever,’ said Jess, rolling her eyes with exaggeration. ‘Go on then, tell us more about them.’

‘Well,’ he said slowly, ‘my brother Lukasz says they come to your room at night when you’re asleep and sit on your chest and suck your soul out of your mouth. Lukasz says that’s why you should always sleep on your side. They can’t steal your soul when you’re on your side.’

‘That’s stupid,’ said Shane, a tall, freckled boy who was leaning against the fence reading a comic and eavesdropping on their conversation as always. She wondered why he even bothered. Cat knew for a fact he didn’t like her, and she suspected he didn’t like her friends much either. Shane didn’t seem to like anything.