When I caught up to the two of them, Jack had frozen Sam's head solid in a block of ice and Sam was walking around with his arms out, trying to get a hold of Jack. I rolled my eyes at the scene, but I had to hold in my laughter at the same time. "Jack, would you let him go? That can't be good for his brain."

Jack sighed in an exasperated manner. "Fine, Sel." I shot him a look and he rolled his eyes, but melted the ice surrounding Sam's head.

Sam glared up at Jack who was flying overhead. "Just for that, I'm not gonna tell you the trick to washing that off."

I saw in Jack's face that he was about to freeze something again so I jumped in between the two of them. "Knock it off. Let's just go to Sam's place and you can take a shower or something."

Under his breath, so that Jack wouldn't hear him, Sam said, "Yeah, a shower's not gonna cut it." I didn't know whether to roll my eyes or chuckle. I did neither as I was trying to be the mediator this time, not the instigator.

"Anyway." I stared the two of them down. Yeesh, I'd just met Sam - officially - and here I was, on his side. Then again, I did know Jack well enough to know that he wouldn't do any permanent damage... I think. "You two are both adults, or at least you're supposed to be, so why don't the two of you let it go for the time being and pick this up again at a later date?" I raised my eyebrows at the two of them. "Hmm?"

Jack came down to the ground, folding his arms in resignation. "Fine." He pointed his staff at Sam. "But don't think this is over."

"It never is." Sam laughed it off.

"Good, now let's go, my feet hurt and I want to sit down." I started walking, even though I didn't know where I was going. Sam maneuvered himself in front of me so he could show me the way once more, while Jack fell in between us. On the way, the boys were chatting about typical guy stuff, but at least they'd managed to put off the pranks. For now.

I was checking out the scenery. Not only was it Halloween - my absolute favorite night of the entire year. That includes my birthday, folks. Yes I like All Hallows Eve more than the day of my birth. Always have. Even when I was little there was something about the night that... I don't know, called to me, I guess. It wasn't just the candy and costumes - which, I'll be honest, are what make it pretty freaking awesome. It was the meaning behind the holiday itself. Yeah, when I was little it was just the night where we got pillowcases full of candy, but as I got older, I found out the origins of the night.

It was a night where the spirits came back and where the fae ran amok. Where witches flew and pumpkins came to life. Where ghosts and goblins existed, because that's what people believed. For hundreds of years, people have viewed Halloween as one of the most magical nights of the year. And I've always considered myself proud to be one of those people. Also, it was the one night a year where people in general viewed the world the same way I did on a daily basis. Magic was not only real, but possible, and that's what I've always loved. But the treats and costumes definitely help out.

So not only was it Halloween, but it was Halloween in Salem. Salem, Massachusetts. Home of some of the darkest days of American history. Home of the witch trials. I'd always been fascinated by the witch trials, just like mythology. Anything to do with history where magic was real had always intrigued me. And... I'd never been there before. So I was getting my fill of the sights, because who knew when I'd be back. This is Salem... I couldn't help but have flashbacks to Hocus Pocus, which was a tradition for me as long as I could remember. I loved the Sanderson Sisters. I mean, Sarah Jessica Parker? And I'd had a total crush on Thackery Binks. Not only was the boy hot as a human, but he was an adorable cat... And he was a cat. Seeing the town it was set in made it that much more real to me.

Gosh, Salem was gorgeous. And not just from the decorations either. The Salemites went all out, as well they should, being the Halloween city and all. But no, the buildings and the architecture and the history. I swear I could smell it. No, I think that's apple cider and caramel corn. I chuckled a little at my inner voice's snide comment. Trust my mind to make a joke while the rest of me is marveling. But marveling I was, and with good reason.

Sam led us deep into the oldest sector of the city - which was actually a fairly obvious destination once I thought about it. The farther in we went the older the buildings got and the more enthralled I became. I know I probably looked like a tourist, but I sort of was one. But it was more than that. Seeing things in person, things you've always dreamed of for whatever reason, it almost makes you cry. There's a certain wonder to seeing the world come to life. And being a history buff as well as a mythology one, I was on a roll.

And adding to my growing awe was the fact that I was almost being given a tour by the Spirit of Halloween. Part of me was determined to be friends with Sam if only for the fact of what his legend was. And I sure as hell wasn't gonna make him an enemy of mine. If I didn't become friends with him, then my favorite night of the year would be forever ruined to me. Yeah, we need to be friends. I was starting to realize why Jack might have hesitated on the introductions between us. Damn trickster knew I'd fangirl on him! I'd have to discreetly thank him later for looking out for me... without letting him know I was thanking him, that is.

From where he and Jack stood a little ahead of me, Sam turned around and pointed towards a building. "That's it there." I followed his finger and saw a house not unlike those around it... if it weren't for the fact that I could see the faint shimmering from a ward of sorts. No doubt to keep it under wraps. What surprised me, however, was how it was nestled between houses that were either occupied or that had been restored to be used as museums of sorts. It was the first immortal's home I'd ever seen that wasn't out of the way of people. Even Musie's place was up a hill and a good half hour's walk from town.

We reached the front door and he held it open for the two of us. I'll say this much, he was at least a courteous host. Immediately after we were all inside Jack made a beeline for what I assumed was the bathroom. A few minutes later I heard a showerhead turn on at full blast. I looked around at the interior of what looked like a living room, old style as it was. It looked like he'd tried to keep it as period accurate as he could, while updating a few things. Like adding electricity and plumbing. On the far side of the living room was the kitchen. Actually it was all one room, but you know what I mean. The first modern thing I saw - other than the light switch - was the furniture, which looked similar to what you'd find in any given home across America. "Nice place."

Sam shrugged, looking only a little uncomfortable by my presence. I say that not because I was nosing in, but because I was a newcomer in his home and we really didn't know each other. "Uh, you can take a seat anywhere you like. I'm gonna go and change back into my normal clothes." He gestured towards the staircase against the wall with a nervous smile on his face.

I nodded. "Okay." After he'd disappeared up the stairs I didn't sit down immediately. Instead I went to the window to look out at the street. All of the buildings on this block were probably as old as the town. The lanterns looked to be from around the same time too, though they'd been transformed into electric lights sometime in the past century. The streetlights and moon lit up the cobblestones like a scene from a movie. Yeah, I said cobblestones. No pavement around this part of town, that was for sure. I was still staring when I heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to see Sam in the same attire he'd been wearing on the Solstice. Dark gray pants, black boots that almost looked like they'd belong to pirates, a plain white tee, and a brown leather vest.

He came over to the window, bracing his arm on the frame before leaning close to the glass to peer out. "It's pretty isn't it?"

I stared up at him, not sure what to think. I may have been able to know when someone was hitting on me - drunk someones - but I was hopeless when it came to recognizing flirting of any caliber. Any flirting done on my part was always accidental and not intended. Needless to say, flirting is not my forte. So I didn't know if he was being sincere, flirting, or if he was just being nice. Mentally I shrugged. I wouldn't be able to tell either way until I got a better read on him, so I might as well dive in.

I glanced back out the window. "Yeah. The whole city is." He smiled, still looking out the window. In the background the sound of the shower was white noise by now. Aside from that it was quiet. "So, what made you pick this spot for your house?"

He shrugged, though the smile didn't leave his face. "This was the house I grew up in." My eyebrows shot up. Not only was I surprised at his luck that no one had taken it before he got to it, but I was surprised that he'd decided to actually stay there. "It was originally in Andover, but some of my family members moved it here a few hundred years ago. When they officially turned it over to the historical society as a historical landmark I took over the place."

"So... did your family know you were taking it, or was it a happy coincidence?"

He shook his head, his smile faltering a little. "No, none of them ever saw me. I'd been keeping close for years before the city got it. After the papers had been signed I fudged them around a little so that no one was allowed to enter legally. That way most people stay away and I don't have to worry about people poking around and realizing that someone lives here." He glanced down at me, eyes darting to my hair before a crease appeared between his brows. "Wasn't your hair brown?"

I scrunched my own eyebrows together as I glanced up at my bangs. "Oh! It's a wig." I'd forgotten that I was still wearing my Sam Manson costume, I was so entranced by the situation. I reached up and pulled it off, untangling it from the pins that had held it in place. After a few minutes where I searched out all the other pins that had kept my real hair hidden, my mane fell down around my shoulders once more.

His eyebrows went up a little as his smile returned. "Ah, now you're much easier to recognize. I have to admit, the goth look and the makeup threw me off a little."

"Well, when you cosplay, you might as well go all the way." I shrugged myself. "You should know Optimus."

He laughed heartily. "Finally another immortal interested in cosplay! I was starting to think it'd never happen."

"Guilty as charged. I've been making my costumes for Halloween basically since I was born. Naturally, cosplay was the next step." I moved away from the window to sit in the nearest chair. My feet had suddenly decided to remind me that they wanted relief. I set my wig down on the coffee table to free up my hands.

Sam followed my lead, sitting on the couch to my left. After a moment, his features changed to show minor surprise. "Oh, I never did get your name."

"Story Tale." I stuck out my hand.

He shook it, smiling again. "Nice to officially meet you, Story Tale."

"Same to you, Sam Owen." We sat in silence for a few minutes... and it started getting awkward. "So... cosplay. When did you start getting into it? Was it just progressing from costumes?"

"Pretty much. For my first hundred years or so I didn't really dress up, other than the ghost or pumpkin head, but those were the basic costumes back then. When people started coming up with more elaborate costumes I started encouraging my kids to make their own costumes. Eventually I started giving little rewards to the kids who'd taken their costumes to the next level."

"Which is where that competition you mentioned comes in."

"Exactly. I made a game of it for them. Motivates them more." He shrugged again. "Plus, it's only natural to reward them with candy."

"Tricks and treats. You're definitely living up to your holiday." I smirked over at him, mentioning the reason our now orange friend was in the shower.

He laughed loudly at that. "Yeah, I never really thought of mine and Jack's war as tricks. What I do with my kids to stingy houses, yeah. But not the prank war." He looked thoughtful about that.

"What do you do with the kids?"

He shrugged, grinning innocently. "Oh, you know, the usual. Egg houses, toilet paper teepee the front lawn. Harmless fun."

"Harmless? You do realize that the owners then have to clean up the mess, right?" There was a little old lady who'd lived down the street from us when I'd been mortal who'd gotten teepeed for no reason one year. She was sweet as could be and everyone in the neighborhood was outraged, especially because she was too old to clean it up herself.

"Nah. My kids know they need to help with the cleanup afterwards. Unless the person really deserved it, then we let them fend for themselves." He sat back on his couch, arm draped over the back.

"I can't really argue with you without being a hypocrite. I'm selective in my good nature too." He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh, I can be downright evil when I want to." I flashed him my evil smile, along with my evil laugh which was deep and creepy. I knew it was because it'd scared teachers and peers alike when I'd demonstrated it. Basically, imagine a female, non-British version of Tim Curry's laugh, and you've got mine. Coincidentally, that's who's evil laugh I admire most.

Sam raised his eyebrows and clapped. "Impressive."

I waved my hand in mock humility. "Thank you, thank you."

He laughed and I was glad. We were off to a good start as friends. Now if I can manage to not piss him off in any way, we'll be all set. "So, what do you do in your free time? When you're not hanging out with Jack or starting fights at Legends."

"Hey, that fight wasn't my fault. And it wasn't even a fight." That was because Annie had broken it up before it started, but hey. "No, I hang out with my believers or bask in alone time at my place."

"What does one do with her alone time?"

I chuckled at his use of what I'd always referred to as 'ye olde speak'. "One reads, draws, sings, writes and basically creates. I'm an artist and a writer. Stories are what I do, it doesn't matter what form they take." I sat, lost in thought for a second. "One also travels."

"I noticed your fascination with the city. Is that from the travel bug or from it's history?" Though his body language said it was an honest question, his voice betrayed a slight emotion that I wasn't quite sure what to call.

"Both." I wanted to tread carefully, as his tone had mildly suggested, but I had to be honest, if only so I could convey my true thoughts of his hometown. "I grew up in a small-ish town and I always wanted to leave. So for the past eight years I've been travelling almost nonstop. I've hit most of the bases I'd wanted covered, but it's a big world and there's a lot to see." I looked over at him. "I'm nowhere near done yet."

He didn't say anything for a minute and I hesitated before explaining the second half of my intrigue of the city, remembering Jack's warning about Sam not liking being called a witch. "But, of course, this is Salem. The witch trials are infamous, even if they were over three hundred years ago." I glanced around the room. "Being in the town, especially the old sector... sort of brings it back to life." I'd always considered myself an old soul with a young spirit. I liked new things and nothing ever got old, and old things felt not only sacred to me, but familiar. Salem was like that. "Even though I've never been here before, I can imagine how it used to look."

"Well, it's not hard with how well the city preserves the historical districts." The edge was still in his voice, even though I'd explained my side. I assumed that the trials were a touchy subject.

Well, I've never been one for subtlety. "Were you around for the trials? Is that why you sound like you don't wanna talk about it?"

He shot me a look before turning his gaze to the floor, running the toe of his boot back and forth. "No I was born after they ended." I was about to ask what it was that bugged him about it when he elaborated. "My grandfather was one of the convicted witches." He looked up at me. "Samuel Wardwell. My father was young at the time. When he was older, and the truth of the accusations was revealed, he sued for the 'trouble our family had gone through'. This was all before me, though."

"So was that your name, when you were mortal? Samuel Wardwell?"

He nodded. "My father decided he was going to name his son after his father. So he named my older brother Samuel." He had a brother with the same name as him? "He died when he was three. After five girls my parents finally had another boy and I was bestowed with not only the name of my grandfather, but my brother as well."

"I was named after my great-grandmother. My middle name. AnnaMae." I couldn't stop myself. If I have something to interject into a conversation, I have to say it. Otherwise I have to physically stop myself from speaking.

He nodded slightly, to show he'd heard. "Because of the trials, there was a lot of suspicion surrounding the families of the accused witches. Even after the truth came out. So I grew up without interaction with the other kids in town. I was really close to my sisters though, so it was okay. But our whole family shunned the church after the whole ordeal of the trials. I was pretty much raised believing that superstition was nonsense and that people who were superstitious were bigots." Well, that's not far off. "Needless to say I thought most of my neighbors were idiots." A small chuckle rose out of him at that. "Of course, now I know that they were right to an extent." He gestured between us, plainly saying that, as immortals, we proved his statement.

From within the walls came the sound of pipes banging., which reminded me that Jack was in the shower... and only had his costume to change back into. I'd put our clothes in my bag, assuming that we'd be changing right after the night ended. I winced. "As fun as it is chatting with you. I really should be running to get my bag before Jack's done in there. I sort of left it in Burgess and it has both of our normal clothes in it." I stood up and Sam was quick to do the same. "I should be back somewhere between twenty minutes and half an hour. Less if the winds decide to give me a shove."

True to my initial assumption of him being a courteous host, he walked me to the door. "If he's trying to wash that dye off then he should still be in there when you get back."

"Right." I stood on his front step, lit only by the moon and the light from inside. "See ya in a bit, then." I waved bye a little as I stepped away so I could call my wings. Once they'd formed I was up and away, speeding back to Burgess.

About ten minutes later I was squatting on the windowsill of Sophie's room. She was still awake, even though it was close to midnight. I knocked on the glass and her head turned towards the sound. Upon seeing me crouched outside of her window, she jumped up and ran over to unlock it. Once she had, I jumped into the room and she closed it behind me. "Where'd you guys go? Did Jack get whoever pumkined him?"

"Yes, sort of. We went to Salem." I glanced around her room, looking for my things. "Where's my bag?"

"I put it in my closet." She went over to said door and opened it to reveal the most cluttered closet I'd ever seen. "Who's in Salem?"

"The spirit of Halloween, if you can believe it."

She turned to me with wide eyes. "There's a spirit of Halloween?!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, there is! I had the same reaction as you when Jack told me that. Turns out, him and Sam - that's who Mr. Halloween is - have a long standing prank war stretching back almost three hundred years."

"I bet Jack started it." She was giggling as she said it and I was sure she was thinking about how the white haired boy was happy to play pranks on people before knowing who he was even messing with.

"He did." She found my bag amongst the mess and tugged it out, bringing it over to me. "Thanks."

"So, what'd Jack do?"

"To start the war or as revenge for the pumpkin?"

She considered it for a moment. "Both."

"Well, to start, Sam accidentally made Jack mad. Jack then froze him solid in a block of ice and left him."

She giggled, flashing her smile. "That sounds like something Jack would do."

"Totally. This time he froze his legs to the ground so he was stuck. Then, later, he froze Sam's head solid." Now Sophie was doubled over in laughter. "Yeah, I have to admit, it was funny." Her laughter had spread to me as I remembered how funny Sam had looked while he'd been stumbling around, trying to catch Jack.

Once she'd stopped laughing enough to speak she straightened up. "Where is Jack anyway?"

"He's still in Salem. He's probably taking a shower right now. That's why I came back for my bag now, so he can have his normal clothes to change into when he gets out." I opened it to peer inside, making sure everything was there. "Plus, I wanna put my normal clothes on too." Once I was sure all of my things were there I closed it and swung it over my shoulder. "Alright, I'm heading out."

"Wait!" She ran out of her room and thundered down the stairs before I could even ask why. When she came back she was carrying a bowl filled part way with candy. "These are our leftovers from the trick-or-treaters. You can have any that you want. Jamie says that I shouldn't eat too much or the Toothfairy will be disappointed." She shrugged. "You can take some for Jack and the Halloween guy too." She held the bowl out to me.

"Oh, thanks, Sophie!" She'd surprised me yet again with generosity. I took a few handfuls, enough so that the three of us could each have some, and stuffed them into my bag. "Okay, I really need to go if I'm gonna get back before Jack gets out of the shower." I gave her a mock salute, which was becoming the norm for my departures, before jumping out the window, my wings already having been called.

As I flew back to Salem, I mulled over what Sam had told me a few minutes prior. I'd heard of Samuel Wardwell, his grandfather. That was one of the names I'd recognized from what I knew about the trials. For me to have heard about his grandpa not only made him cool, but I now understood why Jack had warned me about calling him a witch. I was very happy about the warning now that I was on my way to being friends with Sam. Just another thing for me to secretly thank him for. But I was also intrigued by how he'd said he was raised to believe magic was nonexistent. He was an immortal now, so I wondered how he took that into consideration. Especially considering my personal feelings towards his holiday.

I wasn't sure if knowing the spirit of Halloween made it cooler or if it had sucked a little of the magic out of it for me. Like learning how a magic trick is done, takes away the magic of the trick. I really hoped it was the former, because if Halloween wasn't magical any more I'd pound both of them.

In no time I was flying over the old part of the city. After searching for the telltale shimmer of the ward, I spotted Sam's house and I dropped down onto the street. With my bag over my shoulder I walked up to the front door and knocked. After a few moments, the door opened and Sam's face was smiling out at me. "Hey, welcome back."

I smiled up at him. "I'm victorious." I tugged on the strap of my bag to emphasize it before I walked inside. I heard music drifting out of a room down the hall and turned to Sam with a raised eyebrow. "Back in Black?"

He shrugged as he closed the door. "I like rock."

"Noted." I nodded appreciating his taste in music. "I should have known that from you playing 'Come on Eileen' when I first met you at Legends."

He laughed heartily again before shoving his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, that song's always pissed off Shady. She hears the violin in the beginning and she thinks it's Celtic music, but then it cuts out and it's 'Come on Eileen' instead." He walked into the room a little bit. "Now I play it to annoy her and to signal my presence simultaneously." He smirked.

"Well, I definitely saw the annoying her part." I glanced around, knowing that Jack could be in the shower for a while longer if the orange was as hard to get out as Sam had alluded it to be. "Um, do you have somewhere I can go to change?"

"Oh, yeah." He pointed towards the stairs. "The spare room upstairs. It's the room on the left."

"Great, thanks" I went up the stairs and into said room, which was as old fashioned as the living room. But the bed looked newer. I emphasize newer, because it still looked pretty old. I more or less quickly changed back into my normal attire, neatly folding my costume before tucking it into the bottom of my bag, underneath all the candy I'd gotten. I'd like to say it was enough to last me until next year, but I'd be lucky if it lasted me until next week. I'm definitely a candy muncher, that's for sure. I pulled out Jack's clothes while I had my bag open before heading down the stairs.

Sam had dissapeared. I glanced around the living room to make sure I hadn't somehow overlooked him, but no, he was gone. "Sam?"

From down the hallway I heard him call out. "I'm in the back room on the left."

I shrugged, heading down the hall. Through the first door on my left I could hear the sound of the shower, so I assumed it was the bathroom. Across the hall from the bathroom, the music was flowing through the open door. I peeked in and saw a similar setup to my studio. There were a few tables that lined the walls, a sewing machine on one of them. Scattered across the tables was every color of thread imaginable as well as bolts of fabric lining one wall. I figured this was where he made his costumes.

I continued down the hall until I found the last door on the left ajar. I pushed it open more and peeked in. My eyes immediately bugged out of my head as my law dropped. It was a closet. Though it was more appropriate to call it a museum of cosplay. The room was filled with what I assumed were old costumes. And I do mean filled. Sam was standing by the far wall, trying to shove his Optimus Prime costume into a sort of empty space. "Give me a hand, will ya?"

I set my armload down by the door and moved to help him shove the costume into the too-small space. "You can't put this somewhere else?"

"Do you see another space somewhere, because I don't." We finally managed to fit it in so that it was lined up with all of the rest of them.

As Sam stood back to check our handiwork I glanced around at the costumes again. "Dude, how many of these do you have?"

He looked around before shrugging. "A few hundred. Why?"

"A few hundred? I thought you said you didn't start wearing costumes right away."

"I didn't. But I go to cons a lot. Even if no one there can see me, I still use it as an excuse to dress up most of the time." He shrugged again. "I also use them to get ideas for new costumes."

"Ooh, have you tried Shingeki no Kyojin yet?"

"Attack on Titan? No, I haven't, but I really want to. My only problem is, I really want to cosplay Eren's Titan form, but, as you know, there's no clothes for that and I'm not that brave."

I shook my head. "Neither am I, which is why I haven't gone as the Female Titan. Though for hers I could get away with a painted bodysuit."

"True." He laughed a little until he noticed my bag. "So, why do you carry that around with you?"

"Because I'm a pack mule." I said it with complete sincerity. "By which I mean, I've always carried a lot of stuff with me. And when I go on my travel stints I like to have my things with me. I prefer to have a few basic things with me every time I leave my house, just so if I need them while I'm out, I don't have to go flying back there."

"Speaking of flying, I noticed your wings as you took off. If I may say so, they're pretty cool."

"Thanks, I think so too." I paused, remembering my awe the first time they'd formed. "Back when I first realized I could make wings from stories... it was... well a dream come true. Everything about becoming immortal was." I leaned against the doorframe, folding my arms. "In one moment, I'd gone from being a less than normal girl who was trapped in normalcy... to everything I'd ever dreamed of. I not only could fly, but the existence of magic was proven just by me being alive. Not to mention I got magical powers and... eternity to do everything I'd ever wanted but thought I'd had a time limit on." I smiled over at him. "Also I had the best friend I could have ever asked for helping me out the entire way."

"You're luckier than Jack and I were. Both of us were on our own when we started out. That's why I'm glad we found each other, regardless of the circumstances." He leaned against the opposite side of the doorframe, glancing over his shoulder towards the door to the bathroom. "He might be a jerk from time to time, but we needed each other, even if neither of us will admit it when the other's in earshot."

While he'd been looking towards where Jack was, I'd been studying his face. "I'm glad Jack's had a friend like you all this time."

He turned back to me, shrugging again. "No problem. I'm glad I've got a friend like him too. We're almost like brothers after all this time. Which is fine by me, as I'd only ever had sisters." He glanced back towards the bathroom. "But he's been really distant the past decade since he's become a Guardian."

I felt a pang of guilt, knowing that I might be part of the reason Jack had been so distant. "Hey, when I went back for my bag, one of our believers gave me a bunch of candy for all of us." I reached down for my bag, rummaging around in it for said candy.

"For me too?" I nodded. "That's why I felt another believer when you were gone."

"Yeah, Sophie wanted to know where we went, so I told her about you. She offered candy for us three to share, from their leftovers. You want some?"

"Sure, what you got?" He craned his neck to see into my bag.

I shrugged. "The usual. Crunch bars, M&M's, Reese's, a few caramels and candy corn. Sour stuff too, I took a lot of that."

"If you don't want the candy corn, I'll take it."

"Be my guest. I hate candy corn." I held out my bag while he picked out all of the offensive pieces of candy. "Want anything else?"

"No, I'm good with this." He held up his hand for emphasis. "Let me go put this with my stash."

I raised an eyebrow. Stash? Oh, I definitely needed to see this. I watched his cross the hall and open the door opposite the one I was standing in. After he stepped inside I followed him over and saw the most amazing sight I could have ever asked for. "Sweet mother of monkey milk..." It was as if Candyland and the Wonka factory had a baby and had named Krispy Crème and Little Debbie as the godparents. I'd never seen so much candy in my life! I swear, with each new room I discovered in Sam's house, I became more and more awed.

He chuckled at my reference to Wreck-it-Ralph. "Good one. Yeah, that's usually the reaction to this room." He went over to where I saw a good amount of candy corn already and deposited the handful that had been in my bag. He turned to me and gestured at the room. "Go ahead and take anything you want."

I stared bug-eyed at him. "Are you serious?!" It came out as a squeak, but I was too stunned by the magical sight before my eyes to care. I swear, I could hear the angelic choir singing.

Sam laughed at the squeak before turning to lean against the wall, his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I'm sure."

I scanned the walls, looking for a treat I hadn't seen in a long time. My eyes finally landed on something I'd only found once before in my life. "Sour Gummy Bears!" I all but dove at them, shoving a handful into a baggie that he handed to me. I also found those caramel apple suckers that are amazing a guaranteed to rot your teeth.

In my excitement over the candy, I hadn't noticed the shower turn off. I didn't even know Jack was out of the shower until I heard his voice from the doorway. "Okay, I give, how do I get this stuff off?"

"I told you, it'll wear off on it's own." Sam told him. I was still busy stuffing candy into my bag and into m mouth.

"Gee, thanks a ton. I figured you'd act like that when you saw Sam's candy room, Story."

I turned to him, my mouth stuffed with sour gummy bears. Rolling my eyes, I was about to shoot him a snarky comment but when I saw him all the ones I'd had ready flew out the window. He'd managed to wash most of the dye out of his hair so that it was a peach color now, his skin was still unmistakable orange. But that's not what had captured my attention. What had caught my attention was the fact that he was wearing a towel around his waist. In fact, the towel was the only thing he was wearing. While part of my mind noted that many fangirl would kill to be in my place at that moment, the rest of my brain was trying to comprehend just what it was I was seeing. Once I did I threw up my hand to shield my eyes. "God, Jack! Put some clothes on!"

"Well, did you bring mine? I see that you changed."

"Yes, yes I did." I pointed towards my bag with one hand while still shielding my eyes with the other. "They're on top of my bag." I heard him bend down and grab up his pants and hoodie. I waited until I heard the bathroom door close again to put down my hand. I have no doubt that, had I been an easy blusher, my face would have been bright red at that moment. From behind me I heard Sam chuckling. I spun around. "What's so funny?"

He shrugged once more. "I'm just glad to see I'm not the only one Jack gets worked up." I responded with an eye-roll. I couldn't argue, however, because he was right. If there was one thing Jack could do, it was mess with people.