April 27th 2021

Chapter 117
Our Spooks For Candy

After so much consideration, so many – too many – ideas spinning through their heads, Maya and Lucas had finally decided to go back to the well of previous costumes and create themselves… a sequel. This would be a new chapter in the story of the Sun and the Moon. They wouldn't put on those same old costumes as the last time, they would cast those old characters of theirs in an almost modern day retelling type of presentation. And they would introduce a new member of their astral unit: their small little shining star.

It was fair to say that Maya had put a lot of work on Marianne's costume, specifically in ensuring that she would make something that her daughter would be able to endure for as long as she'd wear it. She was pretty good by now when it came to understanding what would or wouldn't work, and the result was very satisfying, not to mention ridiculously cute.

"Yeah, we really needed to get her in this," Lucas nodded when he saw her. "How did we ever think we were going to leave her in the pumpkin costume all night?"

"We were blinded by the cuteness. It's alright, it happens all the time," Maya shook her head with a smirk.

"This is my favorite part right here," he pointed to the part of Marianne's dress where Maya had managed to create a glittering rendition of a constellation. Cygnus.

"I kind of had to do it. It was right there in the back of my mind the whole time."

As they found their way outside, where the games were in full swing and the visitors were present in great numbers, they couldn't help but think of the year before. They were completely different people, weren't they? They'd been on the verge of becoming parents, almost too literally, but they weren't parents yet, they hadn't started. They had travelled so far in this one year.

"Glad to see it hasn't slowed down, huh?" Lucas commented as they moved along. He had Marianne in his arms, and she was looking all over the place.

"There has to be more people than last year, I'm not imagining it, right?" Maya took in the kids and parents milling about the games, those they could see entering or exiting the maze, and then those who were lined up in wait of their turn for either the maze or the games… There were more coming.

"Not imagining it," Lucas agreed. "And oh, look," he chuckled, nodding ahead. Maya couldn't see what he was showing her, and she moved around until she could spot through the crowd… Oh, of course. "Are we sending them home or are we letting them be seniors?" Lucas asked.

"Is it bad that I'm just happy to see them? Am I too clingy as a teacher?" Maya inquired.

"Clingy's no good, how about 'openly caring and involved?'" Lucas suggested, smiling down to her. He might have gone the way of a kiss to the head if not for her 'sunny transformation.'

"Still debatable," Maya told him before moving off toward her incoming students. Missy and Kai were already here, yes, but they had been up the road and ended up coming over to run one of the games until a school party later on.

As to the arriving pack, it featured the whole of the quiz team, being Lea, Bodhi, Rochelle, and Stella, along with the younger Sullivan-Reyes girls – twelve-year-old Lara and nine-year-old Lydia – and Phoebe Munroe.

"Wow, I love your costume!" Lydia spoke up first, running to meet her cousin's wife.

"Thanks, I love yours, too," Maya embraced her before looking to the others. "Are you guys going to the party after this, too?" she asked, indicating Missy and Kai, who waved when they looked up and spotted their classmates.

"Not really," Stella replied with a shrug.

"We're going to do our own thing, just the team," Rochelle explained.

"And Phoebe," Stella specified.

"And Phoebe, yes," Rochelle corrected.

"And my sisters," Lea added. "We're sleeping over at my house."

"All of us here," Rochelle cut to the chase by indicating everyone in their group.

"But first we had to come here," Phoebe smiled.

"Well, I am happy to have you here," Maya promised them with an affirmative tip of the head.

"I'd heard about this before, I think. I had no idea it was your house," Bodhi revealed.

"If you guys want to grab some extra candy before you go, you are welcome to it, alright?" Maya told them, and they all nodded at their own pace.

As they had been looking forward to taking Marianne through the maze, even if she wouldn't really know what it was about, Maya and Lucas went ahead and took her in while the sky was still only starting to consider going dark. Yes, there would be lamps along the way, but there would be less of a chance that Marianne would get scared and start wailing while they were stuck at the heart of the maze.

"Is it bad if I want to see what happens if we put her down and let her crawl around?" Maya asked. Even with the daylight still roughly existing, the cover of the maze enabled their costumes to emit their low lights, so that they shone as they walked along, the sun, the moon, and the little star together. Maya carried their birthday girl for now, while Lucas had the camera. They could well decide to swap later on, but for now this was good.

Marianne appeared to like where she was. They could tell by now, just from the way she would or wouldn't look back at whichever parent was holding her. If she didn't bother looking back at all, for any extended period of time… Yeah, there was clearly something very interesting that held her attention.

"You know, one of these years, we might decide just to have this part and do away with the 'party inside the house' part. We can do all the games, and the maze, but then after that we can just take her out for some actual trick-or-treating," Maya reflected, looking to Marianne as they were nearing the heart of the maze. As fascinated as she'd been, the slow pace and the quiet had finally lulled their little star to sleep in her mother's arms.

"I wouldn't say no to that," Lucas smiled. He could already imagine it, Marianne just a few years older… a younger sibling or two by then along for the ride… "The party's always great…" he stated.

"So great," Maya nodded.

"It definitely was, when we were dating, and engaged, and married, but now she's here. And everyone else's kids are… out there," he gestured, to the great 'out there' of wherever they'd been left with a sitter or another. None of them were going to be staying all too late, the better to get back to them anyway.

"Yeah, exactly," Maya tapped his arm. "It's going to be hard to change the routine like that, won't it?" she asked after a moment. "Like it'll mean we're… grown up…" she whispered, twisting on a bit of spooky voice, perfect for the occasion.

"Us? Never. Take that back," he teased, which made her laugh.

"Afraid so," she sighed. "And as… g-word u-words… I think it's time this little star got back to the house. Might be time for her to become a human again."

"You want to sing 'twinkle twinkle little star' right now, don't you?" Lucas asked as they started on their way out of the maze.

"So much, you have no idea," Maya laughed, even as she did her best not to wake the birthday girl.

Getting to the center and back out again was a lot easier when you'd been involved with the designing and assembly of the maze in question. Maya and Lucas both could have navigated their way with blindfolds on. Despite all that, they took their time to a degree, walking casually as a family. Lucas offered to take Marianne, but Maya was good with her at the moment, and she was not ready to risk waking her.

When they finally emerged back out of the maze, the sun was properly setting. The games were still occupied, but they'd reached the point of the night where they would have no more waiting line, and the remaining visitors would soon be leaving, which meant that the part inside the house would be starting.

"Hey, did you find the candy?" Maya asked Stella when she spotted her, standing on the porch on her own. "Figured you might have gone by now, for your… Are you looking for something?" Maya stopped and asked, noticing the way her student kept scanning the front lawn, the various games, the candy table, all the people…

"Phoebe, I can't find her," Stella explained. "The others are ready to go, they're waiting at Bodhi's car, we're only missing her, but…" she kept looking. She had just this edge of worry in her, the kind that was like a sixth sense, an inexplicable feeling like something was up and you just didn't know what, not yet, but you really needed to.

Maya could feel it off of her, and in return it awakened a similar feeling in her, like she knew… She knew somehow that something had happened, something had changed. And she didn't like the potential, the almost foregone conclusion.

"Okay, well, when was the last time you saw her, that you remember?" Maya asked. "Where was she?" Stella considered the question, played back the last few minutes.

"We went to the candy table," she pointed. "We told them what you said, about taking some for our night, and they told us we could go inside and take some of the leftover bags. Lea stayed out with her sisters, so they could play the games a while longer. Then… Well, when we were inside, we weren't sure what we should take, there were so many kinds. I went back out to find Lea and the girls, to ask them what they liked. They wanted me to play with them, so I just texted what they said about the candy. Then when Rochelle and Bodhi came back, they didn't know where Phoebe had gone, so I came to look…" she gestured to show she'd caught them up.

"Right, well… Can you…" Maya turned to Lucas, who carefully took Marianne from her and carried her inside. "Okay, come with me a second," she led Stella into the house as well, but while Lucas took Marianne up the stairs, Maya looked to Bishop, who was already here and standing at his usual post. "Hey, did you see a girl dressed like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz?"

"I did," Bishop nodded, tipping his head to Stella to show he recalled they'd been together. "Came back from upstairs and she was standing over there. Then she saw me, and she headed out the door."

"When you say 'standing over there…'" Maya asked.

"There," Bishop pointed. "I think she was looking at the pictures on the wall," he explained.

Maya turned to the pictures now, and there was the feeling again. She knew which one had caught her eye, knew what exactly she might have been looking at, enough to get stuck in place, frozen.

"Mrs. Friar?" Stella's voice startled her into turning again. "What's going on?" Maya stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out… It's probably nothing, we just need to…

"Did you try calling her? Texting her?" she asked. Stella shook her head. "Can you do that now?" Her shy bird looked more like the frightened bird here. She knew something was happening with her best friend that had their teacher worried. "Did you see which way she went?" Maya asked Bishop.

"No, not really," Bishop shook his head, looking baffled.

"She's not picking up," Stella informed them. "Mrs. Friar, what aren't you saying?" Quiet as she was, she didn't miss much. Gracie was like that, too. And all this time, there'd been instances where she'd noticed… something… Maya had been able to dodge each time but not now, not anymore. "Where's Phoebe?"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners