Hello everyone! The other day I had one of those ideas you get, think "that's really stupid" and then realize you want to do it anyway. So here's the finished product. :o) By the way, this story is set three years prior to the books, so Max, Fang, and Iggy are eleven, Nudge is eight, Gazzy is five, and Angel is three. Oh, and Jeb is still taking care of them.

I was just as excited as the others were. Here we were, about to go trick-or-treating for the first time in our lives. This year, we'd talked Jeb into it, though he was obviously regretting his decision. But the looks of excitement on our faces must have kept him from taking this away from us. He was probably right; it was probably much too dangerous and reckless, blah, blah, blah. But come on! We're kids! Don't all kids deserve to go trick-or-treating at least once in their lives?

The correct answer is yes, in case you were wondering.

"I'm so excited!" Nudge said for the umpteenth time. She didn't have to say it - it was eminating from her in waves of giddiness - but of course she had to vocalize her thoughts. Her hair was bobbing up and down as she bounced with anticipation. She was wearing sparkly pants and a frilly, multicolored top. Her headset completed her popstar costume.

"Me too," Angel agreed, smiling up at me. She was dressed in all green, and around her face was a mane of pink petals. Her grin made my heart melt, and I smiled back at her. I had suggested that she go as an angel for Halloween (the most obvious choice), but she had insisted on the flower costume, and she looked precious just the same.

Suddenly a white sheet came running down the hall. "BOO!" the Gasman yelled. He cackled as he raised his arms up and down. Two uneven holes in the sheet revealed Gazzy's eyes, bright blue, just like Angel's. He had insisted on making his costume all by himself, and he was very proud of it.

Fang and Iggy walked down the hall then, and my smile grew wider. Fittingly, Iggy was dressed as Daredevil, his favorite superhero. The bright red suit was very ostentatious... and tight. Fang looked only slightly different than usual. He had trails of fake blood running from the sides of his mouth to his chin. His costume was complete with all black attire (as usual) and accented by a dark cape across his shoulders.

"Here," Gazzy said, holding out some plastic vampire fangs. Fang gave him a look of disbelief. "Oh, come on, Fang! How can you call yourself a vampire without them?"

Nudge and I were trying unsuccessfully to smother our giggles as Angel chimed in. "Yeah, c'mon! Wear 'em!"

"Not gonna happen," Fang said simply. Gazzy looked disappointed but didn't say anything else.

I was still chuckling at the boys. Fang looked over at me and said acidly, "Like you look any better."

I stuck my tongue out in response, but he was right. I looked dumb. Nudge had French braided my hair into one tight braid at the back of my head, but it was covered on top by a camo hat. I was all decked out in camouflage, from head to toe. A patch on my chest said "US Army", and below that, it said "Lieutenant Maximum Ride". The combat boots I sported were ones I actually used, so they were dirty and very un-military like.

Even though I knew I looked ridiculous, I really liked my costume. It made me feel like an official protector.

"All right," Jeb called. "You kids ready?"

"Let's go!" Nudge said. Then the six of us ran to meet Jeb and leave for a night of fun... and, more importantly, candy!

"Okay," Jeb said. We were at the city nearest to our remote residence. "We'll go up to their door, knock, and when they answer, you say 'Trick or treat'" Jeb told us. "And don't forget to say thank you after."

"We know, we know," Iggy said. "Let's go for it!"

We marched up the driveway and rapped on the door, waiting eagerly with pillowcases in hand.

An older lady opened the door and smiled at us as we said, "Trick or treat!"

"Well, who have we here?" she said sweetly, grabbing a bowl of candy. "Here's a flower..." she dropped a handful of candy into Angel's pillowcase, making her smile hugely. "And a little Hannah Montana..." she dropped some sweets into Nudge's pillowcase too as Nudge beamed, flattered. "And here we have a ghost-"

"Actually," Gazzy corrected her, "I'm ET disguised as a ghost."

"Well, of course," the lady said, giving him some candy. "How silly of me. Now, we've got a soldier... And here's Daredevil - oh, he was my son's favorite superhero - And a vampire." She finished handing out her candy. "Have a good night, children."

"Thank you," we told her, and she smiled back at us. Then we hurried on to the next house.

A girl, maybe seventeen, answered the door with an annoyed glare. She was in a white tank top and some striped pink pajama bottoms. She raised an eyebrow at us, snapping her gum.

"Trick or treat!" we said in unison.

She reached for a bowl of candy and dropped a piece in each of our pillowcases without a word, rolling her eyes as if she'd rather be anywhere else. I wanted to punch this chick. She was really rude. Why was she so sour?

The others said, "Thank you," but I didn't think she deserved it, so I pointedly said nothing. Jeb noticed. As we walked away, I saw him eyeing me in a way that said, "Watch it."

We continued that way, walking along the streets of that neighborhood, and the next neighborhood over, meeting many people, none of which were as nice as the first lady or as mean as the second. Then we managed to convince Jeb to let us hit just one more neighborhood before he went home. He was apprehensive, though, always looking over his shoulder, knowing Erasers would blend right in on Halloween.

But then, so would we. Am I right?

Luckily, we were safe that night. No Erasers showed up as we finished off the last house in the neighborhood. Both Angel and the Gasman looked really tired by now, and Nudge was hopped up on sugar - due for a big crash soon.

So we went home, ooh-ing and aah-ing over the night's spoils, trading our candy. When we got back home, I could practically see all of Jeb's anxiety melt away before my eyes. Now he was glad he had taken us, now that we were safe once more.

All the candy was gone within ten minutes of getting home, not surprisingly. I suspected, however, that maybe letting Gazzy eat all of his Warheads at once might have been a bad call...

"Whose idea was if to give Nudge sugar?" Fang asked me quietly as we listened to her long strings of incomprehensible words.

I smiled and shrugged.

"Ohmygosh! Whycan'twehavecandyeveryday? It'samazingamazingamazing!" Nudge said, physically jumping up and down to compensate for the sugar overloading her system.

We were all hopped up on the sugar, but Nudge had been hopped up pre-candy. Now it was scary how much energy she had. But she was really entertaining!

We sat around, defying Jeb's requests that we go to bed, for another hour. By then Angel and Gazzy had reluctantly drifted off. Fang and I carried them to their rooms. Nudge followed me into the room she shared with Angel, whom I was carrying. She gabbed on and on, motormouth on maximum power. I had to smile at her extreme hyperness.

I removed Angel's petals and tucked her into bed, listening to "Maxthiswasthebestdayever! Let'sdothisallthetime. Itwasso-"

The abrupt stop caught me off guard. I looked back at Nudge and saw her, collapsed on her bed, out cold. I smiled and walked over to her, removing her shoes and headset and pulling the covers over her.

Then I went bed myself, with a smile on my face. I knew we would all be sick to our stomachs tomorrow, but what did it matter? We had had the time of our lives. We would never ever forget that day for the rest of our lives, I knew. For once, we were really happy.

Well, that was fun to write! It didn't last very long but... hey! I had lots of fun writing it! Hope you liked it; please let me know your thoughts! I LOVE REVIEWS!