Spirit's Eve was normally one of Shane's favourite festivals.
It was sufficiently spooky to be fun for everyone, but not so terrifying that Jas would cling to his arm and demand to be taken home. It was brilliant - and he never did manage to work out how those skeletons were animated. They were remarkably realistic looking.


They were starting to set up the events early, starting as he exited JoJo Mart the day before the festival even began. There were more people milling around the square than usual, more people enjoying the autumnal day.

More people including Lucie, who appeared to have not noticed Shane as she slipped behind the Mayor's house, hiding between the house and his fence. Shane frowned at her, then moved towards the fence.

"What are you doing?" He asked, peering into the darkness. A hand snaked out, grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him into the gap too.

"You want to keep us a secret, yes?" Lucie asked, pulling his face down towards her. "Well, I want to kiss my boyfriend when he finishes work. Let's call this a compromise."

She tilted her head slightly, an invitation more than anything else. Shane obliged - after all, it would be rude not to.

"Boyfriend, huh?" He murmured into her ear, pressing the next kiss into her neck.

"Well, he wrote me a very lovely letter, so that's what I'm assuming he is. Unless boyfriend is a terrifying word, in which case, I won't use it again?" Lucie pulled apart from Shane and looked quizzically at him. He smiled back at her, and kissed her in way of an answer.

He then pulled back suddenly and glanced over his shoulder. Lucie began to mouth a question, but Shane shushed her with a gesture.

"Lewis - I don't see why we have to keep this a secret."

Lucie's eyes grew wide. She grabbed Shane's hand and jerked her head towards the fence. Shane shook his head slightly, mouthing 'they'll see us'.


A rapid conversation made up of hand gestures and mouthed words passed between the two of them, slightly panicked and incredibly awkward.

A deliberate clearing of a throat broke them out of the gestured conversation. Shane froze, not wanting to look behind him. Lucie winced and slowly leaned to the side, Lewis' face slowly becoming visible, and slowly becoming angrier looking by the second.

"Heeeeyyyyyy," Lucie said sheepishly, chancing a grin. The grin quickly turned to a grimace as Lewis stared into her very being.

"Do I want to ask why you're hiding behind my house?" He asked, sighing and rubbing a hand against his hairline.

Lucie stood, grabbing hold of Shane's hand and pulling him up with her. Shane mouthed 'no, no, no' to her, but it was in vain.

"I think all of us are good without me answering that. I think the reading between the lines is sufficient," She answered, her feet shuffling slightly further behind Shane as she glanced behind her. "And, Lewis?"

"What?"

"Marnie has a point - secret relationships? Terrible idea." Lucie glanced at Marnie and then added. "Don't say it, I'm thinking it already."


Lucie wished she could time travel, just to go back and stuff a dead fish in her own mouth.

She'd accidentally triggered an argument - an argument, she genuinely didn't care all that much about. She thought. Maybe.

She hadn't meant their relationship. That was still new, that was different - but there was no reason for Marnie and Lewis hide theirs. No one in the town would care who Lewis dated, Lucie was sure of that, and even if they did, what would they object to? The judging at the valley fair? It was a ridiculous excuse from Lewis, and Lucie knew he knew it.


What she didn't know was how she was meant to ask any of the dozen questions that Shane asked her. Particularly the one about why it bugged her that he wanted them to be a secret.
Until earlier she hadn't realised that it had. And her inability to give him an answer only wound up Shane more. Lucie could see it written on his face that he didn't believe her.


They argued all the next day, with Shane getting increasingly frustrated until he finally just walked away from Lucie, scoffing slightly as she pleaded at his retreating figure. She was being ridiculous - how hard was it to just keep it quiet for a few weeks? She was being so ridiculous that, come the Spirit's Eve festival starting, Shane lurked near Gus and avoided all eye contact with her.

"Lover's tiff?" Gus asked dryly. Shane glanced at him, and shoved his hands deep into his pockets, staring very intently at his feet.

"Yeah - no. Whatever." It wasn't his most coherent answer, but Shane didn't care. He glanced up at Gus and felt the scowl form on his face. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Gus said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. He leant against the lamppost and glanced across at his friend. Or at least, Gus considered them to be friends, he didn't know if the feeling was reciprocated. "I don't know what you're arguing about. But if I were you, I'd apologise to her."

Shane muttered his reply too quietly for Gus to hear and nudged a can, abandoned three feet from the bin. He knew the action was childish, but Yoba, he wanted to sulk.

"Look, Shane, it's Lucie. She won't be holding whatever happened against you, so if you just go talk it out, she'll probably end up blaming herself and you won't even have to say much," Gus continued.

"Yeah she's already done that."

"Then what's the problem?" Gus's exasperated fuelled the spin to look at Shane. "Lucie's a really sweet girl and obviously she's good for you, so why are you trying to sabotage this?"


Lucie couldn't stop herself from looking for Shane every time her gaze slid away from Haley and Alex. He stood on the other side of the square, looking sullen and distracted. He wore the same expression that Lucie had seen on his face that first festival - like he wasn't even really present.

A hand snapped in front of her eyes, and Lucie followed it back to its owner, dragging herself back to Haley's wittering.

"Hey. You're the one that pushed me to ask him out, the least you could do is listen to the story," Haley sighed, putting the snapping hand back on her hip. Lucie apologised and refocused on her voice, moving so that her back was to Shane. Haley's gaze softened and she glanced over Lucie's shoulder to look at Shane. "You know, if you did want to talk about it, we'll listen, right?"

Lucie smiled half-heartedly at her, and gave her a quick hug.

"Thanks, Haley. But unfortunately, I can't talk about it because the ability to talk about it is the crux of the argument." Lucie rubbed a hand against the back of her neck.

"Oh - is he doing the 'can we keep the relationship a secret' thing?" Alex asked suddenly. Haley elbowed him in the ribs as Lucie looked up at him suddenly. "I had a buddy in high school that used to do that and date, like, four girls at the same time."

"Alex!" Haley hissed. "Not helpful!"

But Lucie smiled.

"Was your friend called John Tucker?" She asked with a wry smile. Alex frowned.

"No. He's called Charlie," he answered, confused, whilst Haley shook her head slightly. "And I heard that Shane did the same thing with his last girlfriend."

"Okay, now that one was unnecessary," Lucie admitted, struggling to keep the thought out of her head. "But now you've said it - last girlfriend?"

Haley looked at Alex, the warning glower so obvious that Lucie was sure alarms were audible from it. Yet, Alex answered without so much as a slight hesitation.


Lucie really didn't need to know that she was one of the girls who'd come in on the bus from the city that afternoon. And really wished she hadn't seen the over-enthusiastic greeting she gave Shane.

And so was so grateful when Jas gave her an excuse to escape the town hall and go into the maze.


Armed with rubber swords from Pierre's stall, Jas and Lucie braved the maze, faux attacking everything faintly scary as they wandered through the hedges. Lucie intermittently turned to her and asked if she was frightened, but Jas would just stick her jaw out and plough on, determined to find the prize hidden at the centre of the maze. She strode rapidly around corners, moving as quickly as her little legs would allow her too, her heart pounding the whole time. Jas was not going to let Vincent out do her, and she'd seen him go in five minutes before her.

Jas and Lucie reached the centre of the maze, and came face to face with Penny and Vincent.

"I can't find anywhere further to go, I'm sorry kiddo," Penny was saying to Vincent when Jas leapt out at her and prodded her with the rubber sword. Penny shrieked in surprise, sending Lucie into fits of laughter. She swatted the sword away playfully, and Lucie handed hers to Vincent, letting the two children spar around the playground-turned-quicksand-pit.

"So, no hidden treasure?" Lucie finally said, if just to break the silence. Penny glanced sidelong at her and shrugged.

"I couldn't find any hidden entrance - and if I'm honest, I think it'd be dark and spooky and Vince wouldn't handle it well. Jas neither, but she'd never let on," She said in a low tone, making sure that both kids were sufficiently distracted to not hear her.

"Ah," Lucie replied with a smile. "That makes sense."

Her smile faded rapidly as she saw Shane emerge out the hedge. Penny quickly cleared her throat and called both Jas and Vincent to head back out, ushering them away hurriedly. She glanced back to Lucie, almost apologetic, and then disappeared back towards the square.


"What the hell do you think you're doing? Bringing Jas in here, she won't sleep for a week!" Shane hissed to Lucie. Lucie crossed her arms defensively and stared him down.

"Yes, because she is clearly terrified," she retorted, gut roiling with irritation. "She practically dragged me in here - I figured if I didn't go with her, she'd go alone. Would you prefer that?"

Shane scoffed.

"Are you telling me that you couldn't say no to a seven year old?"

"Are you telling me that you can say no to Jas when she's decided she's doing something?"

Shane tore his gaze away, shaking his head slightly. Lucie stepped back into his sightline and tilted her head up at him.

"Look, if you want to pick a fight, go for it, but this is a shit basis for a fight." She held him with her gaze, and fixed him to the spot. Shane didn't reply to her. "If you won't talk to me like an adult, then I don't want to talk to you."


And so she walked away from him, leaving him in the centre of the maze, and alone.