Marnie had waited throughout the long summer for the first frost of fall, as she always did, but this year the wait was not nearly as long or arduous to endure. This was because it was the first time her grandmother had stayed with them all year round. Her grandmother was teaching her all sorts of wonderful, magical things, and she was learning very quickly- now if only this ease would translate to learning math! And all throughout the summer, Marnie and Aggie had been plotting.

Since the very first day Grandma Aggie had been in their little town in Massachusetts, she had taken it into her mind that this year, they would have a Halloween party. So all winter, spring, and summer, Marnie and Aggie had been making plans for the most amazing Halloween party their little division of suburbia had ever seen.

So now that the first leaves had turned golden and spiraled off the trees, carried on chilly winds, Marnie approached her mother. She and Grandma Aggie had planned this carefully. Aggie was situated in the living room, watching TV while Marnie went to talk to her mother in the kitchen. "Hey, Mom." She began. Her mother looked up from the greasy roasting pan she had been scrubbing. "Oh, hey, Marnie," She responded. "So Mom," Marnie continued. "I've been making really good grades in school- I've got all A's and B's. And because this is Grandma's first year away from Halloweentown, do you think we could have a Halloween party?"

When Marnie had mentioned her grandmother, Gwen knew immediately what her daughter was angling for. She let her sudsy brush clatter into the halfway-finished pan, and put her wet hands on her aproned hips and turned to glare at her daughter. "Absolutely not! Just because you know about where your grandmother comes from now does NOT mean that I am going to change aspects of how I have peacefully raised my family for the past fifteen years," She snapped, fuming, back to her pan. Marnie put her hands on her hips as well, and tossed her long, scrunchie-bound hair over her shoulder. "Well, because of your irrational fear of what we are, we haven't exactly been peacefully raised! It's so annoying how you never let us be normal, you never let us talk about magic or Halloweentown or anything remotely cool, and I_" "Young lady, I will not tolerate you disrespecting me like this. It's my house and my rules- you're my children and I'll raise you as I see fit, not he way you, or even my mother," Gwen spoke, casting a sharp glance at Aggie, who she now surmised was in on the whole thing because she was pretending not to have noticed a thing in the living room, "think I should."

Marnie huffed and shifted her weight to her other foot. "Mom, what's dangerous about our home? I mean, when we were younger, before we knew about Halloweentown, it kind of made sense for you not to let us have a party or go trick-or-treating, but now that we know, it's really obnoxious!" she cried, filled with welling indignation at her mother's behavior. "I've told you again and again, you're only a teenager. You don't know what you want, what will be best for you in fifteen years, and just because Halloweentown seems like fun doesn't mean that it's where you belong!" Angry tears had sprung up in Marnie's eyes. "That is too where I belong! It doesn't matter what you've tried to make yourself, or what our father was, or what you almost made me! I am a witch and Halloweentown is my home! It's more than fun, it's my heritage! Just because you made your choice to reject your background doesn't mean that I will too! And if I want to have a harmless little Halloween party, I think I should be allowed to! It's not like I'm suggesting you let us stay out until three in the morning getting drunk! You'll be right here to supervise, there'll be no magic, and I won't invite anyone stupid! I mean, really, I don't think this one little thing is asking too much!" Marnie finished her heated and loud tirade with an angry tremor in her voice. Her mother had let her finish her furious monologue because she knew there would be no reasoning with her until she did. "Now, Marnie, you listen to me. At the age of fifteen, you don't know half so much as you think you do, and it's time you realized that. You want to condemn me for treating you like a child, but is it wrong of me to do so when you not only are one, but behave like one as well?" Marnie's outrage would have been comical if she had not been so upset. Dylan finally looked up from his science textbook, peering irritatedly through his thick-rimmed glasses at the other members of his family. "When did this deteriorate into an argument about Halloweentown? I thought this was about a Halloween party?"

By now, Sophie had muted the TV and was watching the preceding argument with indecent interest. Aggie had also turned around to spectate. "I am NOT," shouted Marnie, "A CHILD!" Aggie hastened over to her granddaughters side. "Now dear, there's no need to shout. We all know you're not a child. Gwen, sweetheart, don't you think it makes sense to let the children have a party? It really isn't-" Gwen snarled, "Oh, so it's YOUR fault! You planted the idea that they should have this ridiculous party in her brain and now you're turning her against me!" Grandma Aggie tried to look calming and motherly, but came off looking patronizing instead. "Dear, I'm not trying to turn anyone against you, least of all your own children. I'm just saying that there really is no reason for you not to let them have a party. Don't you think you're being a little bit unreasonable?"
Gwen's mouth flattened into a line and her orange freckles stood out vividly on her paled face. "No, I don't think I'm being unreasonable at all. I'm the mother, and what I say goes! I shouldn't give into my child's demands just because I'm afraid of the fit she'll throw if I don't." Sophie jumped off the couch and bounced into the kitchen. "Come on, Mom! It'd be really fun! We wouldn't mention magic, or anything you don't like at all, and you won't have to plan it because Marnie and Grandma already did that, or clean up after it or anything!" Marnie glared at her little sister, for revealing the fact that they'd already made plans (which neither she nor Grandma Aggie knew Sophie knew about) and Gwen glared at her mother for daring to make plans for a Halloween party, of all things, behind her back.

"Please, Mom?" asked Sophie again, not because she wanted a Halloween party, but because she knew it was one of Marnie's deepest wishes. "Yeah, pleeeeeeeeease, Mom?" questioned Marnie. "I'll keep my rom clean, I'll was the dishes and take out the trash without being reminded for a month, I won't mention magic and I'll get straight A's- if only you'll let us have this party, pleeeease?" Grandma Aggie hadn't said anything, but the look she was giving her daughter said far more. Gwen stared icily at her three female relations, and then turned abruptly to face Dylan, who was still studiously scratching away at his homework. "Dylan?" she demanded. "What do you think? Do you think we should have a Halloween party this year?" Dylan slowly scanned the assembled faces- his grandmother looked encouraging, Sophie hopeful, Marnie incensed because her chances of having the party were being jeopardized by her notoriously anti-Halloween brother. "Well," he began. "if it'll shut Marnie up and make her do all the dished for a month, fine, why not?" and he turned back to his homework, because that was all that was truly on his mind, not whether or not they would be having the party.

Marnie, Sophie and Grandma Aggie turned back to Gwen with bated breath. Gwen threw her hands in the air and turned back to the sink. "Fine! Let's have a Halloween party!" Marnie punched the air triumphantly, Sophie jumped up and down, and Grandma Aggie capped her hands, laughed and hugged each of her granddaughters in turn. "I get the feeling this is NOT going to end well," Gwen muttered under her breath to the roasting pan.

I wrote this one because I didn't figure Gwen would have given in to letting them have a Halloween party without a lot of cajoling and arguing. I also wanted to portray that Marnie, while she has grown up since the first movie, she still is a little bit childish in her mannerisms. And as you'll recall, because of this Halloween party, Kal managed to steal the other copy of the spellbook, draw Aggie and Marnie into Halloweentown to be trapped by the Gray Spell and lure Gwen to the school dance to be hag-ified, so Gwen is right- the party decidedly does not end well.