Chapter Nine: Halloween Magic

Thirteen-year-old Chris took a step back from the kitchen table and admired his work: a perfectly carved pumpkin. The jack-o-lantern's newly made face stared back at Chris, its grin consisting of pointed fangs and its eyes narrowed. Chris was happy with his job and took his prized work outside where he could put it on display for the neighborhood. After positing the pumpkin, he reached out for the candle to put inside, but realized that it had been left inside. Making sure that no one was either around or looking, Chris whispered something under his breath as he held out his hand.

"Candle," he called. In a swirl of lights, the candle for the jack-o-lantern that was once sitting on the kitchen table was now in his hand, outside. Once he put the candle in, Chris went back inside and cleaned up the mess he had made. He knew that his mother would not be pleased with the mess and wanted to get everything put away before she got home from work. It was right about then that he was wishing he had some sort of power that could get rid of the mess in an instant.

Chris had come to terms with his "gifts" at a young age. For as long as he could remember, they had always been there and they weren't leaving anytime soon, so he figured that he had better get used to their being there and try his best to learn how to control them. His mother was afraid, for lack of a better word, of the powers at first, never having believed that anything like that was real, but over time she learn to accept them just like Chris had. She loved her son and didn't hold it against him that there was something extra special about him. There was only one rule about his powers and it was one that Chris easily obeyed.

Tell no one. It was something that Chris never thought twice about. He vaguely remembered his first elementary school, how his powers were uncontrollable and how he was made fun of and punished for doing things that he never meant to do. His mother had him removed immediately and he went to another school, one where no one knew his secret and one where he could start over.

Chris thought of his powers as a curse often, wishing he never had then so that he could be a normal teenager like the rest of the kids his age. He wished he could play a sport and not have to worry about not blowing something up. There wasn't a day that went by where he wished that he could stop feeling the pain of those around him, or that he would be in class and doze off and suddenly be in another part of town.

Gathering all of the pumpkin guts and carvings onto a thick pile of newspapers, Chris took the armful and turned to go out to the trash when he heard the front door open. Max, his dog, ran from his spot on in front of the back door and in front of Chris, hitting his leg and causing him to tilt to the side. Chris saw the newspapers and carvings fall and he held out his hands to catch them, but instead it froze, inches from the ground. Looking around, Chris realized that Max had stopped in mid run and that the second hand on the clock was not moving.

"Great, I have another one," he murmured under his breath. Getting a bucket from under the sink, Chris held it under the pile of falling "mess" and waited for everything to unfreeze. It was taking too long and he could hear his mother setting her keys down and making her way to the kitchen.

"Chris?" Cathy called out. "I saw the jack-o-lantern outside. You did a great job this time hon-" Cathy stopped mid sentence as she walked into the kitchen. She stood silently at Max's side, staring down at him, until she had the courage to look up and see that Chris was in the room.

"Hi mom," he said, stifling a laugh. "I was justâ€cleaning up."

She nodded, still not saying anything. In an instant, the room unfroze and everything moved as if trying to catch up to where it was going in the first place. Max ran forward, but upon seeing Cathy, backed up and began to lick her hand that hung at her side. The second hand on the clock began to move and the mess of paper and pumpkin carvings above the bucket came crashing down.

"Looks like you have another power," she said, not knowing what else to say. "How many is that now, four or five?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't have any. But, I think that one makes five, if it means anything to you."

Cathy smiled. "Well, as much as we enjoy these conversations, I think we both better get ready for the Halloween party. I still have so much stuff to get out."

"I'll help."

The two spent the next few hours putting up Halloween decorations, lighting the jack-o-lanterns outside and getting out large bowls of candy for the kids. It wasn't until all of the faux spider webs were hung and the fake bodies parts widely spread that both Cathy and Chris went upstairs to change into their costumes. Cathy decided to go for a traditional Halloween look and dressed as a witch, while Chris, thinking he was already a freak the way he was, decided to be a ghost.

Cathy took one look at her son and tried hard not to laugh. "A ghost, Chris? You're thirteen and couldn't think of anything a little more scary than that?"

He shrugged. "I was thinking about going as myself, but then no one would get it."

Opening her mouth to say something, Cathy was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell and realized that the Halloween party had begun. Every year the neighborhood got together at one person's house and had a little party to celebrate the haunted holiday. This year, it was Cathy's turn to host the event and it had turned her schedule upside down. But nothing good ever came out of the party, whereas once everyone got together they began to bicker about the ways things were run on the street and other nonsense that could be dealt with another day.

It wasn't until the end of the party that Cathy noticed that Chris was talking to a short woman that she had never seen before. She wore a loose floral skirt, a baggy shirt and had her hair tied up in a messy bun and at first glance would be thought of as a cross between a hippy and a gypsy. Moving closer, Cathy stood behind Chris and watched as the woman took his hand, but stopped as she felt the presence of another.

"Hey mom," Chris said. "This is Fay, she's a friend of Mr. Winters."

Fay nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"I see. Nice to meet you Fay. So, what are you two doing?" Cathy asked, sitting beside her son.

"I was going to read your son's palm, if that is all right with you," Fay said, seeking permission.

"That's fine. May I watch?"

Fay only nodded again as she took Chris' hand in her own and began to read the lines on his palm. She mumbled to herself, the spoke out loud to Chris. "An interesting life, you lead, young man. I see that your mother is not your real mother, but is a mother to you nonetheless?"

"I was adopted," Chris told her.

"And I see that there is something special about you. It is a secret that only you and your mother share."

A few people were gathering around Chris, Cathy and Fay at this time, trying to see what was going on. Most just sighed and said something about clairvoyants not being real and that he was wasting his time. Fay must have sensed that Chris wasn't sure if he should believe them, for she tugged on his hand, getting his attention.

"You, young man, should know better than anyone that magic is real," Fay said. "I know you do not understand what is happening to you, and I do not have all of the answers you seek, but I can see from your hand that you are more powerful than you appear and that you are from a very special line. But I must warn you, I see sadness ahead for you, a tragedy that you must face and there will be what you will consider an unbeatable evil. But do not be alarmed for there are others like you out there and when the time is ready, you will find your way home."

Chris looked back at Cathy and then at Fay. "Home? You mean my family?"

"You will be where you belong. You will find what you have been looking for," Fay said, dropping Chris' hand. "I can tell you no more, other than give you this." She reached down into a bag that sat at her feet and handed Chris a clear crystal that hung on a silver chain. "You may be thinking that this will be of no use to you, but take it to any map and it will help you."

Taking the crystal in hand, Chris stared at Fay. "How can I know you are telling the truth?"

"You have that power. Listen to what your heart is telling you and sense if I am lying or not. You would not have you powers if you were not meant to. You may think them a curse, but they are a part of who you are and you have them for a reason."

Cathy was busy cleaning up the living room and kitchen while Chris was sitting on the couch twirling the chain on which the crystal hung. He wasn't sure if anything that had happened that night was real, but the crystal was proof that it was. Fay had left with all of the other guests once the party was over and when stopped by Cathy, Mr. Winters confessed that he had never invited a woman named Fay and that he had never known a woman by that name in his life.

"Chris, come help me a minute, will you?" Cathy called. She was just as confused as Chris was, but it wasn't because of the fact that her son was talking to a person that so far had never existed, it was because of what she had told him. Fay had known things about Chris by just holding his hand, things that no one else knew and it scared Cathy. She was scared that what the woman said was true, that there was going to be some sort of tragedy that befell Chris and that there was going to be some evil that he needed to fight.

It didn't bother her one bit that Fay had said that he would finally find his home. Cathy had told Chris a few years ago that he had been adopted and Chris admitted that he actually kind of knew. Finding his family was something that was important, no matter how hopeless it seemed, and Cathy knew that if he ever did that she would not stand in the way of his real family. She only hoped that her son would still have room in her heart for her after he was gone.

As Chris entered the kitchen he put the crystal in his pocket. "What is it, mom?"

"Will you sweep this stuff off the floor? I need to take some trash out."

Taking the broom, Chris began to sweep around the island in the center of the kitchen and under the table and chairs. He knew then that when he was older he was never inviting the neighborhood over for a party, considering how messy this one was, especially when they were guests. Moving the broom from one direction to another, Chris didn't know that the strokes were moving from east to west and didn't know that he was actually calling on the powers of All Hollow's Eve.

"So, you think what Fay said was true?" Chris asked when Cathy walked back inside.

"Wellâ€Look, Chris, I know that you have powers that we don't understand, but that doesn't really mean that anything bad will happen because of them. Besides, I can't see that anything bad is going to happen or that you are going to meet some foe that will kill you or anything." Cathy shook her head. "I justâ€don't know. That was a lot to process tonight, so I think I am going to need a little bit of time to figure things out."

Chris walked over to Cathy and put and hand o her shoulder. "I'm scared too."

She smiled and saw the crystal hanging out of his pocket. "So, that crystal will help you find anything, she said?"

Chris finished sweeping and pulled out the crystal. "She said so. I mean I hope it does. If something were to happen to me, she said that there are others like me out there. Maybe this crystal can help me find them."

Swinging the chain around his finger, Chris moved the broom one last time as he put it down and caused a magical spark and the crystal flew from his hand and landed on a local map that was lying on a desk in the kitchen. Cathy had put the map there because she was going to have to take a trip for work just out of town and wanted to make sure she knew where she was going.

Cathy and Chris walked over to the map and stared at it. The crystal was standing upright, its tip pointed at a street. Looking down at it, Cathy read the name out loud and tried to remember where she knew the name from.

"Mom? What is it? Is there something where the map landed?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, there's something there, though I don't know if you will find anyone there who can help you fight whatever you need to fight when the so-called time comes," Cathy answered.

"What's there?"

"A club I used to go to."

"A night club?" Chris repeated, sounding defeated.

"P3."