"Hey, cool Frankenstein costume."

After hearing variations of that line 4 or 5 times, Henry had stopped bothering to correct anyone. Clearly, his classmates weren't familiar with the specifics of Shelley's masterpiece. He was also sure no one had any clue who he was. "Thanks," he said simply. "Scary Vampire costume."

The boy bared his fake fangs and wandered off. Ashley leaned towards him and asked, "Did you really think that costume was scary, Henry? 'Cause…."

"Be nice," he told her softly, knowing she had a very limited grasp on the concept of tact. "Not everyone is like us."

Nodding sagely, she went back to surveying the room and quietly snorting in disgust at the 'scary monster' costumes.

"Hi, Henry."

He turned to see Molly, probably the only person in his class that actually knew his name. "Molly, hi….Um, who're you supposed to be?"

The girl patted the bodice of her fancy dress and said, "The W-w-wicked Queen from Snow W-w-white."

Not exactly his idea of a monster, but he suppose the Queen was evil. Ashley peered at her and announced, "I'm Ashley."

"Hi," Molly said to her with a smile. "Have you met B-b-bobby? He'd dressed as a P-p-p-power Ranger. Not a M-monster."

Ashley gave her a patented Magnus look and asked, "Who's Bobby and why do I want to meet him?"

Heaving a sigh, Henry said, "He's Molly's brother and he's your age."

She simply looked at him, clearly wondering why that should make her want to meet the boy, but thankfully she kept that opinion to herself.

"W-w-want to see the spooky lab?"

Considering where they lived and the fact that, more than once, Henry had stumbled in on an autopsy, he doubted the spookiness of Molly's dining room, but he nodded. "Okay."

Allowing Molly to lead them in, Henry quickly realized this was where the vaguely nauseating smell of a variety of foods was coming from. Tomato, spagetti, jello, grapes, some of them mixed together…yuck.

"Welcome to my lab!" A woman, probably Molly's mom, said. She wore a lab coat splattered with red dyed Caro syrup and rubber kitchen gloves. "Here I study the insides of monsters who have misbehaved. Stick your hands into the jars and feel their organs."

This was all vaguely insulting, but Henry mustered up a smile and stuck his hand into a jar that read: HEART. It was a peeled tomato. Ashley was rooting around in the jar of EYEBALLS, a heavy frown on her little face. Before she even opened her mouth, Henry knew what was going to happen.

"What kind of moron thinks a peeled grape feels like an eyeball?" she asked no one in particular, causing Molly's mom to give her a funny look. Henry hoped that was the end of her rant and Molly actually giggled behind them.

"I think it's lame too," she said, then smiled at Ashley. "Want to get some c-c-candy or a cupake?"

Henry really should have known better, but he was eager to get away from both the smell of the nasty jars and Molly's Mom, so he let her lead them to the snack table, where Ashley began grazing with gusto. At the Sanctuary, Doc Magnus and BigFoot were both strong believers in the idea of a healthy body leading to a healthy mind, so candy was not something that found its way into their diets. In fact, processed sugar was more or less banned.

So of course Ashley attacked the sweets when they were offered to her.

A half hour later, smears of chocolate all over her face, Ashley was gleefully sucking down her third soda when a boy dressed in a werewolf costume (So very, very insulting) jumped at her and yelled, "Roar!"

What the…werewolves do not roar…oh crap.

Not at all frightened, Ashley snatched up the ladle out of the punch bowl and whacked the boy over the head. "You are not a werewolf! Stop purplating a stereotype!"

Moving quickly, Henry managed to wrestle the weapon out of her hand before bodily picking her up. "Lemme at him, Henry!" she yelped, squirming in an attempt to get down. Everyone watched as he carried her out the front door to sit on the stairs to calm down.

Since she had, in her own way, been defending him, Henry couldn't find it in himself to be too annoyed. Plus, she was probably so high on sweets, she couldn't be held accountable for her actions. "Ash, calm down," he said, sitting them both down. "It's fine, really."

"No, it's not!" she wailed, then said, "I don't feel so good."

He barely got her leaning over the edge of the stairs before she puked up a whole lot of candy and soda. Behind them, he heard Molly's mom stepping out onto the porch. "Oh no, are you okay sweetie?"

After Ashley finished, Henry sat her on his lap and let her lean against him. She hated throwing up. "I think she ate too many sweets," he told the woman as he patted Ashley's back. "Could you call home for us?"

She nodded. "I suppose too much sugar might explain her little outburst in there.""Yeah," Henry agreed. "That and her inexplicable affinity for werewolves."

Tossing him an odd look, Molly's mom retreated to the house to make the call, so she didn't hear Ashley murmur, "Not inexplicable, Henry."

"I know," he told her, giving her a gentle hug, Other people might not understand their…interesting little family, but they always had each other.

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