Hallow

When I first met her, Hallow was a little strange. She looked to be about 17 or 18, but her spontaneous personality was that of an eight-year-old. She was exciting and curious and crazy; just a joy to be around. Halloween was over for the year, so after we met we had a lot of time to get to know one another. I allowed Hallow to follow me all around the world to my targets, show her what I do. With that broom of hers, she kept up just fine. Her witch's broom was what enabled her to fly, but that wasn't her only power. She could also conjure any kind of candy you can imagine out of thin air.

As I took Hallow all around the world, she explained to me what she does, promising to show me next Halloween. Manny told her that it was her job to watch over the children of the world on Halloween. To make sure they're safe and watched over while they go out at night. With her ability to pull candy out of thin air, she could gift the children with even more candy than they expected. She told me that sometimes she liked to find a good kid and exchange the gross candy with one they would like. And then give the gross candy to some brat. She also told me that aside from spending time with kids and giving them candy, her other favorite thing was playing tricks.

She loved inspiring kids to throw toilet paper over someone's yard or jump out and scare their younger sibling. "It's a blast!" she hooted. I was a bit confused though. I asked her what she meant by "inspiring" and she explained to me smoothly: "Oh, one of my other powers that I found out I have is producing fear and mischief."

I was a little taken back by what she said. Bringing fear? It sounded a lot like Pitch. When Hallow saw my expression, she laughed. "It's not what you think, Lovey," she said, quickly adopting the nickname Bunny had given me. "It's a good kind of fear. The challenging kind of fear that makes you wanna go out and do something daring, you know? And the deviousness that makes you wanna just do something good-heartedly wicked?" I could tell that she sensed my suspicion and was trying to put it easily.

"You've felt that before, haven't you?" she asked. "It's Halloween night, everything is spooky, and you gotta pass that suspicious bush. You don't want to 'cause you know something's gonna pop out and get ya, but you just do it anyway." I envisioned the scene, starting to understand what she was saying. "Well, that's what I give kids. Just a tap on the shoulder with my broomstick and they'll be in the Halloween spirit in a second. Don't worry; I'll show you what I mean on Halloween."

And she did, alleviating my worries. The following Halloween night, I took a break to follow Hallow around the world. We followed around the excited children, unseen, and that was fine for once. Hallow was hopping all over the place, finding various kids to give more candy to. We found a group of kids outside a "haunted" house, debating whether they should go in or not. Hallow nudged me. "Watch this," she said, and went over to them.

I watched from a distance, intrigued at what might happen. Hallow examined each of them, listening to their argument on who should go first. Finally she smirked and tapped a tall boy on the shoulder with her broomstick. I saw orange sparkles twinkle around his eyes and suddenly he clenched his fists and stepped forward.

"All right, I'll do it!" he declared, aweing the other kids. He was trembling, obviously frightened, but he did it anyway, venturing inside the mansion first.

Next Hallow showed me what else she could do with that power. She found two brothers who were always quarreling, stealing candy from one another. With just one tap on the shoulder, one boy's eyes sparkled and he went ahead of his brother and hid. When the younger of the two went to find him, the elder jumped out of nowhere, scaring the living daylights out of the boy! After regaining himself, the younger laughed along with his brother.

Finally she showed me the fear she produced. We found the perfect boy, whose first time it was going out alone. He was walking down an alleyway, confident as could be. But then Hallow tapped his shoulder and his tracks slowed. He looked around this way and that, jumping at every shadow and little noise. It was almost comical to watch. Finally Hallow pulled me over to a chain-link fence. She waited until all was quiet…

And then beat on the fence with her broom. The boy screamed and ran for his life. Hallow laughed and laughed and laughed. I had to restrain a laugh myself. I knew that later on, the boy would look back on this and laugh himself for being so frightened. And that's when I got it. I finally understood that Hallow was nothing like Pitch. Her fear was good and fun. His fear was evil and dark.

After that year, Hallow and I only became closer friends. I even showed her how to shoot an arrow. It took a long time for her to figure it out, but she did eventually. Of course she wasn't a master markswoman like me, but perhaps one day she would be as good as me. She had all the time in the world to learn. A few times I allowed her to shoot the targets. She missed sometimes, but her reaction when she got it right was hilarious. She jumped into the air, whooping and hollering.

"Did you see that, Lovey? Did'ja see it? I totally hit that guy like a pro!" she exclaimed. I laughed and gave her a vial to quickly collect the man's Feelings. After capturing the gaseous substance, she knelt and examined the bottle. It was clear, made of glass, cylindrical, with a red cork cap. On its side, the person's name, location, crush, and date was engraved in nice cursive. "This is so cool," she breathed as I knelt beside her. "Where'd you get it?"

"The Man in the Moon gave it to me," I said. I had already explained to her long ago what my job was and all that I did for the world.

Hallow went quiet a moment, and then spoke up again. "Does the Man in the Moon talk to you often?" she asked, looking at me with her large orange eyes.

I thought a moment. "Not so often," I admitted, surprising myself. "When I was all alone, we would talk a lot, but as the years have gone on, he's kind of allowed me to do whatever I want with little communication unless I really need it."

The spirit girl looked up to the moon and went quiet again. Because she was a new spirit, I told her all about the Guardians and believers. She was amazed that the Guardians really existed and disappointed when I told her about believers. She even asked the same question I did. "Do you think I'll ever be believed in?" she asked.

I touched her shoulder. "I'm actually pretty sure you will," I said honestly. "And if you want to know my opinion, I think you have the makings of a fine Guardian." She was cheered up by this comment. It was evident to me now that, yes, every spirit wants to be a Guardian. Guardians are loved, are known, are seen. Guardians have a duty greater than any of us. Though that was unlikely, it was still nice to hope.

One night after knowing Hallow for two and a half years, she decided that I was close enough to her to bring me to her home. I was a little confused; I didn't know she had a home. But it turns out that when she was first reborn in 1692, six years before we met, she would spend most of her time in the house she lived in before she died. It was an old cabin in the middle of the woods in Salem, Oregon. It was two stories high, already falling apart. There were two bathrooms; creaky stairs; five bedrooms; a small kitchen; and many more rooms for dining or playing. Upstairs, Hallow took me to a room where countries were painted onto the walls: Italy, France, England, North America. Toys littered the floor, broken and dusty.

She sat on the rug in the middle of the floor and crisscrossed her legs. "What was this room?" I asked, looking out the window.

"A playroom," she answered. "From when I was a child. And then when I got older, I let other children play in here as well."

I continued to explore the room, studying the countries on the walls, the toys in the closet. "This is where you lived. Who did you live with?"

A small, broken smile found her face. "At first my mother, father, and grandmother," she said. "And then it was just me and my grandmother."

I furrowed my brow. "What happened to your parents?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. They just never came back one day." And then, with her head down and fingers laced, she told her tale: "No one ever comes here because they think it's haunted by my ghost. That's okay, too, but I don't want anyone to live here but me." She sighed. I took a seat on the floor against a wall. "Before I was reborn, I lived alone here with – my grandma. We were wiccans, healers. No one really bothered us. I liked to go out into the village to play some pranks on the townsfolk, but they were harmless and I never got in any real trouble. But then the Salem Witch Trials began and everything went to crap. Someone accused me of witchcraft and they were going to storm the cabin to take me and my grandma in to be tried and hanged."

She swallowed hard. I listened intently. I had wondered what went wrong in Salem. Never knew the real story. Now this was it. I was getting the first-hand experience from the girl who lived through it. And died through it.

"I didn't want them to get my dear old grammy, so I decided to play one last joke while she escaped," Hallow went on. "It worked, all right. By the time I was done, half of that town was on fire and I was in a lot of trouble. They caught me and, without a trial, I was sentenced to the gallows." That's when she looked up at me. There wasn't a trace of remorse in her eyes, not even a single tear welling. "It was only after I died and Manny brought me back that I knew the truth. I had some…mental illness or something. I-I only thought that my grandma was real and alive. Truth is I didn't even have a grandma; she disappeared with my parents. I might have been spared and put on trial if I hadn't been deluded into thinking I could save her."

Through her broken window, she turned her attention from me to the moon. "I'm not sure why Manny chose me of all people to be brought back. Personally I think it was an awful choice."

I looked away, a bit stunned by this information. I was always curious to know how Hallow came to be, but I never had the courage to ask. "I don't think it was a bad choice," I said, bringing her attention back to me. "You were deluded, but you had a good heart. Maybe that's why he brought you back. I like you, Hallow. You actually have time to spend with me. You're a good friend."

Hallow blushed and turned away. "Ah, shut it, Pinky," she muttered, reminding me of Leprechaun. We let the topic drop and didn't speak of pasts again. Hallow didn't ask how I became the Spirit of Valentine's and I didn't mention it.

…It was after Hallow opened up herself to me that I decided it was time that she met the Guardians. I didn't want her to go through a century to meet them like I did. So I met up with North one day while Hallow was out doing her own thing and asked him if he'd be willing to call the Guardians together and have a celebration for Hallow like they did for me. His answer shocked me.

"Lovey, I do not think that is a very good idea," he said gently. "We do not just throw big party for anyone."

My eyebrows knitted together. "You threw a party for me…"

He came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "That was a long time ago," he said. "Times have changed. Guardians no longer have time to stray from our duties. We are very busy, Cupid. I am sorry."

I was upset after that. Hallow deserved to meet the Guardians, our heroes. Why wouldn't North just give the time to at least meet her? It wouldn't hurt anyone! She didn't even have to interrupt his work. I thought North was overreacting, so I asked the same thing of Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny. All of them turned me down. I didn't understand. What had happened to my friends? After the war with Pitch, none of them were the same. It was always "Work, work, work!" "Busy, busy, busy!" I was always busy, too, but I found the time to spend with the people I loved. It wasn't fair.

Instead of taking Hallow to see them, I had to settle with telling her all about them and the good times we spent with one another. She was especially interested in Nicholas, as she said that Christmas was her favorite holiday as a child. North was the one that she desperately wanted to meet. I had to break it to her that the Guardians are extremely busy. Only Sandy is like me, always zooming about. The other three are always cooped up in their kingdoms, working. She was disappointed, as I thought.

So, I took her to meet Sandy at the very least. The small man was ecstatic to meet her, and welcomed the Spirit of Halloween warmly. I left her behind with him because I had my own duties to carry out. Sandy had no complaints, which was great. Hallow couldn't meet her idol, Nicholas St. North, but she could meet the bringer of sweet dreams.

I didn't see Hallow again for months. I got so distracted in my work I didn't realize it was already December. Already Christmas. It was snowing outside. I stood near a window inside a cabin, watching two men read together. They were best friends. Destined to be with one another. I had shot the blonde man long ago. Today was the day that his friend would realized he loved him, too.

I loaded an arrow just as the blonde man brought the brunette closer. I aimed. They kissed. I fired. The arrow pierced the brunette and Feelings arose from his shoulders. I collected them promptly and stood back, watching the two come closer to one another. Forbidden love was my favorite, even more than a tragic romance. Forbidden love was pure, sweet, and exciting. I enjoyed making those of the same gender fall in love because it was beautiful. The world still hated the idea of letting love be. The world didn't see that love is blind to gender, color, and size. I hoped that one day that would change. For now, I would watch how it all unfolded.

With a sigh of admiration, I turned away from the men, allowing them privacy. It took a moment to do so, but I had to focus my energy on the wall. It took a lot out of me, but I was able to phase through walls. Once on the outside, I released my held breath and looked up to the night sky. Snowflakes fell gracefully, landing in my hair and on my face, the cold nipping my nose.

I smiled, enjoying the peace and quiet snow brought. Then I paused and thought about it. How long had it been snowing? I rummaged through my knapsack and pulled out the glowing hourglass. I pressed the blue button on top and wisps of smoke appeared in numbers:

December 25th, 1700

1:19:07

Time continued to tick, 08, 09, 10…

My eyes widened. North! I always saw him off on Christmas and I missed it! He should have been long gone around the world by now. I had to-

"There you are, Lovey!"

I turned around just as Bunny hopped out of a hole in the ground. My eyes sparkled at the sight of him. It had been so long! "Bunny! What are you doing here?" I asked, going over to him, storing the hourglass away. "Is it because I missed North's takeoff? I-I'm so sorry. I didn't realize-"

"North never took off, mate," the Easter Bunny interrupted, silencing me.

"What…?"

"Your little friend Halloween, she attacked him just as he was about to. Tied him up and stole the sleigh. I've been looking for you for hours."

My heart began to race. Hallow? It was impossible. She would never do that. "That's…that's impossible. How did she get passed the yetis? How is she controlling the reindeer? They only listen to North," I tried to reason.

"Do I look like I know?" Bunny snapped, surprising me. "We have to find her or else Christmas will be ruined forever. We may be too late already."

I nodded, swallowing hard. Without another word, I pulled out my magic mirror. "Show me Hallow," I commanded. Bunny came behind me to look over my shoulder. Our image rippled and changed, revealing Hallow instead. She wore North's cap, a grin plastered on her face. She sat in the driver's seat of the red sleigh, cracking the reigns, leading the reindeer into another town. It looked like somewhere in Greenland.

Bunny and I exchanged a look and we both nodded. I shoved the mirror in the sack and took off into the sky as Bunny disappeared into the ground. What was Hallow thinking? Stealing someone else's holiday. Stealing a holiday at all! I knew she liked Christmas, but this was going too far. She could permanently damage North. If enough children stopped believing in him, he could disappear. We couldn't let that happen.

When I arrived in a town in Greenland, I quickly located the sleigh taking off into the sky. "Hallow!" I shouted, zooming toward it. I landed on top of the sack of toys, and then jumped down behind the girl. She turned and grinned at me. "Lovey! There you are!" she exclaimed. "Check it out, I'm Santa!"

"Hallow, are you insane? What do you think you're doing?" I yelled, going over to her.

She shrugged. "I'm just having a little fun. What's the big deal, Cupid?"

"The big deal? The big deal?" I exploded. "Hallow, you're ruining Christmas! What in MiM's name made you think you could steal Christmas?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "It's not stealing, I'm just taking the sleigh out for a joyride," she said stubbornly. "I can handle being Santa for the day. It's not even that hard."

I wanted to slap her across the face. Instead I controlled myself and forced her to sit on the seat. Taking the reins, I directed the reindeer back to the North Pole. I didn't know how to drive the sleigh, but I did my best.

"Cupid, what're you doing?" Hallow whined. "I was having so much fun!"

"Too bad. You could have hurt someone."

Hallow sat back down and crossed her arms and legs.

…Back at the Pole, I narrowly landed the sleigh on the takeoff ramp. I couldn't drive it inside, so I would leave that for North and the yetis. The yetis welcomed us first. Two of them grabbed hold of Hallow and dragged her inside. Another was trying to talk to me and ask me questions, but I didn't know what he was saying. The others directed the sleigh inside safely.

"Someone go make that Aurora Call thing to the Guardians," I ordered, following the yetis that held Hallow.

It wasn't long later that the Big Four was standing in the parlor, the same place I first met them. The yetis and elves around us were running around, trying to correct things. The Guardians and I were seething with rage. Hallow simply sat on the floor like a stalwart child. North came into the room, pacing. He glared deeply at the Halloween spirit. I had never seen him so angry. He went over to her and snatched his hat back.

"You," he growled lowly, "are forever on Naughty list."

There was something about him that looked dulled already. I followed the broad man as he strode off to the sleigh. "Is there still time to save Christmas?" I asked, starting to tremble.

"Still time? To save Christmas?" North asked. "Of course there is. I am Santa Claus!"

I stopped walking and watched him go. I had to believe in him. I had to believe that Hallow hadn't ruined the holiday forever. After North disappeared, I sighed and went back to Sandy, Tooth, and Bunny. Bunny's fists were clenched at his side; he was ready to punch Hallow in her face. Tooth was trying to remain calm as she flittered about, ordering her fairies to different teeth around the world. It was nice to see her out of the Tooth Palace again. Sandy stood with his arms crossed, glaring at her, little foot tapping impatiently on the ground.

I supposed they were all waiting for me to say something. I stood beside Tooth and narrowed my eyes at Hallow. She refused to look at any of us. "What do you have to say for yourself?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

Hallow paused for a while. And then released her breath in a groan. "Look, I don't know what the big deal is," she snapped. "I was doing fine. I wasn't hurting anybody. I just wanted to know what it was like to be the keeper of some other holiday."

"Yes, you were hurting somebody! You were hurting a lot of people!" Bunny snapped, coming forward. I kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't hurt her. "You had no business trying to take over a holiday you know nothing about. Do you know that if enough children stop believing in a Guardian, that Guardian begins to disappear? We're not immortal, Halloween. We can still die!"

"See, I didn't know that!" Hallow shouted, standing on her feet. "No one told me that! Besides, I was delivering presents!"

"To the right people?" I asked, stepping forward.

Hallow started to speak, but then stopped.

Tooth spoke up from behind us. Her voice was gentle, but stern at the same time. "You have no idea what you could have done tonight, Hallow. There may and there may not be time to fix this. North only has one night."

Everything went quiet. I watched the lights on the giant globe go out in some places. My heart sank. North had to hurry. I looked to Manny as if he could do anything to fix this. He said nothing, but I knew that was unlikely. All we could do was wait.

When I looked back at my friends, Bunny and Hallow were inches apart, glaring one another down. He was taller than her by a longshot, but the girl didn't back down. "We oughta banish you to the darkest depths of the world," he growled.

"Do it. Go on," Hallow challenged. That was a bad idea. Bunny raised a fist, but Sandy quickly grabbed his wrist.

"Stop, both of you," I said sternly, looking from the Pooka to the girl. Both took a step back. "We'll let North decide what happens to her."

Though I was furious at Hallow, I didn't want anything to happen to her. They banished Pitch Black, they could definitely banish her. The Guardians had the power. If anything went wrong this Christmas – if anything happened to North – Hallow would be in more trouble than she ever imagined. I wouldn't doubt it if North himself wanted her exiled. And that worried me.

A/N: Oof, a lot of information in this chapter. Hope you guys liked it! Lemme know your opinions on Hallow? How about that Nightmare Before Christmas complication in this chapter? :D Thanks for reading! I'll see ya soon! -Eri