Orion had begged off from accompanying the trick-or-treating party, disingenuously claiming to be too old for that sort of thing. It wasn't that he minded spending time with the younger children in his clan, and he certainly wasn't opposed to receiving miniature chocolate bars and bags of cookies and popcorn, but this year, he was anxious to be at home. His friend Liam, and his family, were going to be joining the clan for the Halloween party and Orion wanted to be there to greet them when they arrived.

Aside from Sister, Liam MacMoray was Orion's best friend, and the first friend he'd ever had outside of the clan. Liam's parents had been dear to the clan for as long as Orion could remember and their children had grown up playing together, with no concern whatsoever for the fact that they were two different species. Two years earlier, when it had been decided that Orion was ready to attend a human school, Goliath, the clan leader, had asked Liam's father if he would consider allowing the boys to attend the same school together. The decision had proved more than efficacious. Liam, with his bold personality, was flourishing under his new found educational independence, and together, the pair had emboldened one another with the confidence to smoothly transition to the school and find ways to fit in among the students at Holman. With his quick, creative thinking, Liam had also managed to get his friend into a few troublesome situations, but had also found a way to get them both out again while preserving the secret that Orion was actually a gargoyle. Orion was thankful for this, but most of all, he was thankful to have Liam there with him. Having a friend to talk to and play around with was a wonderful thing, but having one who knew his secrets and still accepted him was even better.

Not that the other children in the school were particularly unaccepting. Most of them couldn't really afford to be, as their families were drawn to the unconventional and secretive school because of their own peculiarities, or at least peculiar circumstances. There was a quiet girl called Charlotte, whose parents traveled the world working as photographers for National Geographic and had taken her to so many exotic places in her short life that she had never been in the same school for more than a few months at a time. A fair few of the Holman students were professional performers, whose schooling was often interrupted by odd call times and road tours. There was a boy known only as DJ, whose father and mother ran a famous religious ministry on television. They had moved their son to Holman Academy after receiving too many death threats that specifically mentioned the school he had been attending. Joseph, the cranky boy with the superior attitude who they had attempted in vain to impress on the basketball court that day, also had no last name to share. A girl in their class had whispered a rumor at lunch that he was the son of one of Tony Dracon's most powerful capos, and the crime family paid for his tuition to attend Holman, so no one would find out about him.

"I'm not surprised," Orion had whispered back to her ominously, "Dracon ordered a shootout the other night that killed seventeen people, including two kids that were playing in their yard down the street! I wouldn't want anyone to know who I was either!"

The girl had rolled her eyes.

"That's not the reason the family hid him here. It's because Joseph's mom isn't his dad's wife!"

"What has that to do with what school he goes to?" Orion had asked but she just shook her head incredulously. Orion thought it strange that a family should hide their own son away, simply because of who his mother was. But he reasoned that human families were different and this may be the reason that young gargoyles were raised as the children of the entire clan.

For the most part, however, the students at Orion's new school seemed to respect a mutual vow of silence regarding their various unconventional homelives, and focused their conversations on their interests, their dreams, and their views of the world around them. Orion was tremendously grateful to have the opportunity to go there and learn with this motley group of young people. He felt so free with them, in fact, that he'd often indulged in the fantasy of one day telling them all about his true identity. He imagined a group of them at a lunch table, listening with casual fascination as he told them about his siblings and elders, their home in a castle atop a tower, and their mission to serve and protect the people of their city, while his friend Liam interrupted sporadically to add in all details he'd forgotten. He had grown quite fond of this fantasy, until one day when he was very sharply reminded that it was only a fantasy.

The students had been preparing for the school day when they were interrupted by a loud crashing sound in the hallway, followed by a shouted curse and the sound of stomping feet moving toward them at an anxious pace. For a moment, they beheld the crimson, enraged face of Joseph at the classroom door. He glared around the room with an expression of palatable spite, then kicked the metal waste paper basket so hard that it bounced violently across the room and landed with a large dent in the side. Then, with tears streaming, he grabbed the nearest desk-chair and flung it into the corner with a crash, an act that caused Orion to rise instinctively and put himself between the wrathful boy and the rest of the frightened students.

"What're you gonna do, huh?" Joseph had demanded, taking a threatening step toward Orion, "You got somethin to say?" He grabbed Orion's shirt, raising his arm menacingly over him, but Orion caught it easily and surprise flashed in his opponent's raging eyes. Joseph hadn't expected Orion to be so strong. A flustered Mr. Wardenberg arrived in the doorway and interrupted the confrontation with a sharp "Hey!" Joseph gave Orion a resentful, but unambitious shove before retreating angrily to the corner. The room had returned to silence, and the dumbfounded teacher and students could only stare at the suddenly quiet boy.

"My brother's dead," he said finally, in lieu of an explanation.

One by one, the stunned students came to life, restoring the furniture in the room and gently circling around Joseph as he mourned. A few asked questions, and Joseph explained a little of what he knew. Orion didn't need to hear, however. He had already heard the story in the early morning hours.

He'd been playing with the pages and hatchlings in the nursery, when Angela had burst in from her patrol, looking nearly as distraught as Joseph looked now. Unable to find Broadway, her mate, anywhere in the castle, she'd come looking for Adelpha, who had quickly recognized her daughter's distress and asked Orion and Sister to keep the younger ones busy for a while. In the time it had taken the two of them to throw something on Netflix and sneak to the common room to eves drop on the grownup's conversation, Adelpha was comforting Angela by the fireside, while Brooklyn spoke in an agonized whisper to Ophelia and Linnet just outside the door.

The second-in-command explained how that night's attempt at apprehending a group of Dracon's weapon-smuggling men had exploded into a tragic disaster. What should have been a clean, surprise attack and arrest had turned into a chaotic gun battle with the police opening fire on the gangsters' hideout. The gargoyles had believed they had succeeded in ending the battle before anyone got hurt, but upon examining the scene, Angela had discovered the mangled body of Aldo Ragazzi, the nephew of Tony Dracon, who had been stationed as a lookout on the side of the building where the shootout had occurred. It would be hard to guess which of the many bullet wounds had killed him or which side had actually fired it. He had been only fourteen years old.

The room had fallen silent after Brooklyn's explanation, and the three adults went in to sit with Angela and Adelpha. Orion watched them grieving together from the hallway, until his confused thoughts were interrupted by Sister's anxious voice.

"Mother?"

The adults had all looked up at them sharply. Adelpha had given them a tired and saddened look, clearly not wanting them involved in this distressing moment, but understanding their desire to know what had happened.

"Orion, Sister, everything is alright," she had told them in a voice that couldn't disguise her own unease, "Please, watch over the little ones and we will be with you soon."

But Angela had gestured for Sister to come to her. Orion watched as she embraced her own daughter tightly, grieving for the young life lost that night and the other mother, somewhere in the city, who would never hold her son again. Now, Orion observed an eerily similar scene in the classroom with his classmates sympathetically circled around Joseph, all wishing there was something they could do.

"If those damned monsters had minded their own business, this wouldn't have happened!" Joseph barked in fury, "They can all burn in hell!"

Orion's mouth fell open. He glanced over at Liam, who returned a sympathetic but pleading look.

"They better hope I never catch up with any of them," the grieving boy vowed bitterly, "I'll make them pay for this!"

Mr. Wardenberg had talked to the class then, trying to help them process the situation, but Orion didn't hear any of it.

"Sorry, Bro, about before," Joseph had said to him self-consciously as they rose to go to lunch.

"It's okay, Joseph," Orion replied, though he didn't feel okay at all, "I'm sorry about your brother." He wished he could tell the grieving boy how his own family truly grieved with him, but he now realized that he would never be able to.

Orion brooded over these thoughts as he waited near a roaring fire in the courtyard for Liam and his family to arrive. The entertaining areas of the castle were decorated with all manner of elegant spookiness, and music like the soundtrack from an intensely suspenseful film was piped in throughout. Steamy, pleasant aromas rose from silver serving trays on the table, where a comforting feast awaited the guests and trick-or-treaters when they returned. From nearly every corner, the face of a jack-o-lantern glowed back at him, both eerie and comical. As he gazed at them, he found signs of the unique personalities of each of his family members that carved them. He smiled at the pumpkin that had belonged to Blaze, which one of the children had accidentally knocked off the table and smashed open on one side. Unconcerned, Thorn had taken over the project carved a city skyline into the top, and then placed a rubber T-Rex toy inside, so its head peeked out menacingly over the destruction.

He was beginning to wish that he had gone trick-or-treating with the others after all, as the quiet courtyard made him all the more anxious for the party to begin. As he watched the fire, his ears perked up at the sound of the elevator bell. He rose hopefully, watching the doorway at the end of the corridor where the elevator opened, and sighed as it was only the master of the house, David Xanatos, dressed as an Angel of Death, with his face painted white, and a set of black, feathery wings floating behind him. He was accompanied by his wife, who was dressed simply as a witch with a black dress that complimented her figure well, and Adelpha, who they were teasing for not wearing a costume to the party. Adelpha rolled her eyes and gave the man an indifferent gesture with her claw.

"The residual glitter from Lark and Lyndon's robot costumes will be adorning me for at least a year," she retorted, "That will have to suffice."

Orion had to smile. His younger brothers had engineered matching Transformer costumes for trick-or-treating, each of which boasted an air cannon that shot off confetti and glitter. Together, they had managed to create a trail of sparkling carnage throughout much of the castle, as they had worked on and practiced wearing their impressive creations the past few nights. As a result, most of the clan had found themselves a bit shinier than usual. But unlike most of the clan, Adelpha was deprived of the benefit of petrified sleep, which allowed the rest to toss the mess away every sunset with their stone skin. No matter how much she attempted to wash the bright, colorful nuisance away, it seemed magnetically drawn to her blue skin.

Adelpha noticed the sound of his giggling and studied him with a slightly worried look.

"You didn't go with the others, my love?" she asked him and he shrugged in response.

"I didn't feel like it this year," he replied, "Besides, I didn't want to leave Liam alone!"

She smiled at him and replied, "If you aren't afraid of being second-hand glitter bombed, you can keep me company until your friend arrives."

They perched together on a brick wall by the fire, facing Xanatos and Fox who chattered excitedly about their plans for the evening. Owen brought him some hot apple cider in a warm mug and he glanced up at Adelpha, feeling a little awkward. He always felt awkward with Adelpha now, and he hated that. She was his biological mother. That wasn't supposed to matter to gargoyles, but he couldn't help but yearn for the closeness he had felt to her from the time he was an infant. It just seemed as if he couldn't talk to her anymore.

It had been over a year since his Goliath and Brooklyn had come to him and Sister, and asked them if they felt they were ready to begin training to patrol with the rest of the clan. Orion had been astounded by this. The clan had no children older than he and Sister, so he had not anticipated that this tremendous responsibility was on the horizon, but Goliath had explained that they were at the age where it was traditional to begin combat training. Orion had agreed enthusiastically. He was already deeply engaged in the clan's mission to protect the city and was thrilled that the grownups believed him capable enough to be trained for this honor. Sister had been excited too.

"Won't Angela and Adelpha be proud of us, Ori?" she asked eagerly, "Can we tell the clan now?"

Brooklyn gave a pained look at this remark.

"Yeah…about that…" he began in the tone of an adult who had to talk about something he really didn't want to talk about.

"What's wrong?" Sister asked.

"Children, I know this is hard to understand," Goliath had tried to explain, "But you mustn't speak to Adelpha about the things you see when you are on patrol with the clan."

"Adelpha won't know we are being trained?" Sister asked, clearly outraged at the idea. Orion cringed a little. Sister was not the most even-tempered of the clan's children. Even Orion thought Goliath's condition sounded strange, but he didn't want to see his insolent sister get herself into trouble with the clan's leader and his second by running her mouth. Goliath's reaction didn't seem cross though.

"She knows you are being trained," Goliath assured them, "She and I discussed it at great length."

"She knows, but she doesn't approve of it?" Orion had asked, "Is she afraid we're too young?"

"No, she most certainly wants you to be trained," Goliath told them with a genuine smile, "She's very proud of both of you and she's very confident in your abilities." The two rookery siblings smiled at each other at this praise, but Orion's face soon fell.

"I don't want to lie to her," he had complained.

"I don't think we could lie to her," Sister added, "She'd know right away!"

"It won't come to that," Goliath had told them, "She isn't likely to ask you anything, and if she does ask to know something you think you shouldn't tell her, you can tell her to talk to me about it instead."

"But why?" Sister pressed, "Why can't we tell her about what we do in our training? She's the one who has always worked with us the most. I would think she'd want to know!"

Goliath sighed at the question and his face looked very grieved.

"Adelpha has a wound inside her that has left her very vulnerable to darkness," he tried to explain, "She's fought hard and courageously to overcome it, but the wound remains. Here, in the castle, with us, she is safe. Out there in the world…it is much, much harder for her."

"Is that why she stays in the castle with us while the rest of the clan goes out to patrol?" Orion asked.

"I thought that she just hated humans and really didn't want to see them or hear about them," Sister replied matter-of-factly.

"Hmmm. In retrospect, this conversation could have been a lot simpler," Brooklyn commented dryly to Goliath and Sister looked at him curiously.

"My children," Goliath began again, "This is a very serious matter and I need you to take it seriously. As a clan, we protect one another. I know it is difficult to understand, but Adelpha needs this measure for her protection. If you are to train with us on patrol, I must ask you both to give your word that you won't speak to her of who or what you see, hear, or do."

Reluctantly, both children had agreed to follow this rule. Later, when it was decided that he would attend Holman Academy, Orion had made a similar promise of secrecy. He couldn't have imagined how awkward it would make things between him and Adelpha though. Training and study made up the majority of his waking hours. They were the focus of nearly all his joys and anxieties. It was hard for him to think of a topic that didn't connect to one or both of them in some way. Now he sat beside the same mother to which he'd always taken his every joy or woe when he was little, yet he could not tell her of what Joseph had said about gargoyles, or that he was considering learning to speak Spanish, or that he had helped to stop an arsonist, or that it turned out he was quite good at basketball but really shouldn't be allowed near a ukulele, or any of the many other things that weighed on his heart.

He couldn't tell her, but she seemed to sense them anyway as she drew her wing around him, humming softly a tune she had sung for him many times before. She almost seemed to absorb his sorrow without either of them saying a word. Xanatos and his wife seemed to have changed their topic of discussion and were now looking at something on Xanatos' phone and laughing at it together. The atmosphere was calm and pleasant as they waited, until suddenly Orion cried out,

"What's that?!"

The others all turned and looked where he pointed, and beheld a strange shape that seemed to be moving quickly toward them. It made no sound and the way it moved was most peculiar. Low to the ground and almost slithering, the shape morphed and grew into a long body with great claws. The serpentine creature extended its impossibly long neck and hissed at them menacingly, its eyes glowing a deep, garnet red.

"What is that thing?" Fox demanded of her husband, as if she was quite sure he had brought the strange lizard-like creature home and set it loose in their midst as a joke. Xanatos, however, looked at the invasive monster with wide, fascinated eyes. He clearly had no idea what it was and why it was in his home.

The creature lifted its head toward Orion and Adelpha as it passed, giving them a curious look. Orion backed up into a standing position on the wall. The creature was as large as Bronx and its black, scaled body glistened somewhat like undulating smoke as it moved. It silently made its way around the firepit, toward Fox, who backed away from it defensively, clearly struggling to maintain her composure.

"David?" she asked anxiously, looking around for something to hit it with.

Her husband rose protectively and whispered, "Stay still!"

Orion glanced at Adelpha, who was perched silently, watching the suspenseful interaction with a strangely curious gaze and the very slightest smile on her lips. The creature's neck extended again, cocking to a strange angle as it seemed to study the red-haired woman. Slowly, she inched further away from it, but froze in fear when it seemed to lunge toward her, its claws closing on her knees and its face, with its glowing eyes, now inches from her face.

"David!" she whispered again frantically. The creature's forked tongue flickered and kissed her nose.

"Trick-or-Treat, Mom!" it greeted her in a clear, cheerful voice, "Do you like my costume?"

"Alex!" the woman squealed and her husband laughed with delight as the smoke like body of the basilisk morphed into the form of a mischievously grinning young man with a broad, muscular build, hair and a beard of dark auburn, and piercing eyes of the strangest color.

"You certainly got us into the spirit, Son," Xanatos complimented him as he embraced them both warmly.

"You'll forgive me, I hope," he replied laughing, "When else can I act out, if not Halloween?" He turned toward Orion and Adelpha, and pulled a bouquet of Tootsie Roll Pops from the pocket of his long, wool jacket and handed them to Orion.

"Happy Halloween, Little Man," he greeted and Adelpha snorted at the salutation. Orion reached for her claw. He knew she loathed him being referred to as a "man" in any case, but he also knew that if anyone could get away with such an offense with her, it was Alexander Xanatos. He smiled at her now, and pulled her to her feet so he could greet her properly.

"Thanks for not giving me away," he said with a chuckle, and glancing at the shimmering layer of glitter on much of her lower extremities he asked, "What on earth has happened to you? Is this some sort of costume?"

"Adelpha is going as a glitter monster this year," Orion giggled, "Lark and Lyndon did it!"

"I see that," Alexander teased, "Well, it's possibly the most threatening costume I've ever seen. I'm not sure I'll risk going in for a hug, even from my favorite gargoyle! But maybe a kiss?"

He drew her face to him gently and kissed her wild, red curls. At that moment, the glitter that had plagued her puffed off of her skin and into a colorful cloud and when she withdrew from him, her skin, from her tail to the tip of her wings had gone to a shiny black. The buckskin that formed her bodice and loin cloth had transformed into a shimmering gown. Her wings were now outlined with white, painted bones as if they were merely the skeleton, and her face was painted with the elegant image of La Catrina, complete with a wreath of teal and orange blossoms at her crown.

"Wow!" Orion exclaimed, "You look great!"

"Absolutely lovely," Xanatos complimented, "Wait until the others see!"

They wouldn't wait long, for just at that moment, Liam and his family tumbled excitedly out of the elevator.

"That will be Luach with his wife and children," Adelpha commented quickly, ready to redirect the attention from her enchanted costume.

"Excellent!" Alexander exclaimed, returning to the form of the mythical lizard, "Let's go say 'hello', Ori!"