Halloween Night/The Golden Locket Collection Series
By
Mathis B. Rogers
Copyright April 2011 Mathis B. Rogers
Smashwords Edition © March 2012
Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The Books
Book 1: Halloween Night - Shane decides to stay at his Great Great Grandparent's old abandon, four-story house that appears to be right out of a scary movie for Halloween night and discovers that a friend of his is already there - in the bathtub.
Book 2: Halloween Night: Uncle Troy’s Magical Touch - After having tea with his family in London, Shane gets upset and tears down the mansion that he loves so well. With tears streaming down his face, he streaks to Jupiter, making the 3 minute flight in 2 minutes flat, and almost plows into his Uncle Troy. With Uncle Troy's help, Shane soon discovers why Gavin's roommate, Chuck, is homophobic.
Book 3: The Golden Locket-Jonathan Rhoades is walking home one evening and finds a golden locket on the sidewalk. What mysterious powers does it hold? While you do not have to have read the "Halloween Night" series, some of the characters do appear in this story. This is a Full Length Gay Adult Novel.
Book 4: Ghost in the Mansion-Cory Hartwell and his lover Trevor Bryant head for Ranch Harbor, Maine to spend a relaxing weekend away. A flat tire brings them to a stop in front of an old abandoned mansion. What's that cat doing there? What else is going on in the old house?
Book 5: Halloween Night: Shane Meets a Ghost-Chuck's girlfriend, Allison's, aunt and uncle move a castle from Ireland to Erie, New Hampshire and Allison asks Shane and Gavin to accompany them for the weekend. Allison doesn't really want to go because her cousin, Danny, says that the castle is haunted.
Book 6: Halloween Night: The Truth Is Out There-Chuck confronts Shane about his powers and the news is all a buzz about a new planet that was just discovered on the other side of Pluto, so Gavin, Shane and Chuck go for a visit to see what it's all about and are surprised to discover they are not alone on the new planet.
Book 7: The Fourth Floor-(This is a spin-off of The Ghost in the Mansion) Andrew Hartwell takes a job in the Mortal Realm and is surprised at the events he uncovers as he checks into the old hotel where he and his co-worker, Fred, will stay while on a job.
Book 8: The Golden Locket: Mercury in Retrograde-(This is a sequel to "The Golden Locket" and takes over right as "The Fourth Floor" ends) Jonathan gets a call from Chip, wanting to know if he and Peter want to go on a cruise from Miami, Florida to the Bahamas the day after Christmas. Still broken hearted from breaking up with Mark, Jonathan takes off to Lincoln, Nebraska to see what it'll take to charter a plane for the flight.
Book 9: The Golden Locket: The Cruise-(Series Finale) Jonathan hires Justin to fly the group to Miami for a cruise to the Bahamas. Jonathan and Justin grow closer as Peter announces his engagement to Victoria. Uncle Dusty gets the flu and Jonathan uses his power to discover how to cure him so he can see his parents, who come in from Denver for Christmas.
Book 1
Halloween Night
By
Mathis B. Rogers
Copyright October 17, 1998 Mathis B. Rogers
Smashwords Edition
Lightening streaked across the sky in bolts that looked like long bony fingers. Thunder rumbled in the distance. A storm was brewing in the west. Standing at the old iron gate, I smiled. The old four-story house stood tall and eerie as the full moon played peak-a-boo with the clouds. The old house had been in the family for almost a century. My great-great grandparents were the last to live there. I had been tempted to move into it, but it was a bit big for just me. The old house looked just like one from an old scary movie. A warm feeling swept over me as I realized the fun I could have being there that night.
My great-great grandparents had wanted to sell the house, but I managed to talk them out of doing so. I had even tried to talk them out of moving, but they had found an absolutely beautiful chateau on the French Riviera and had moved there two years previously. No one had lived in the old house since.
Because it was Halloween evening, all of my family had gone to Jupiter. After that comet hit Jupiter a few years before, the skiing was just marvelous this time of year. However, I didn't care for skiing, I preferred warm weather and no matter what time of year it was, it was always cold on Jupiter. So I told my family that I would stay on Earth this year and look after the old house. The year before some kids had broken one of the windows in the parlor and had climbed in. Luckily they didn't do much damage - nothing that couldn't be fixed with the wave of a hand, anyway.
The old porch creaked under my weight as I stepped up onto it. I made a mental note to repair it in the morning. That creak would add to the atmosphere for the evening.
Turning, I looked back at the yard. It hadn't been kept up since my great-great grandparents had left. I would clean it up in the morning before I returned home.
I stopped at the door and examined it. I scanned the outside of the house. The door was locked and all the other doors and windows were intact, closed and locked. That was good. Without bothering to open it, I stepped through the old door. Standing in the foyer, I looked around; it was difficult to see because the house was dark. I needed to work on my night-vision. I was glad that Gramps, as we called my great-great grandfather, had left the house as it had been originally. No electricity; no plumbing. They really hadn't needed it. Grandmother had talked them into letting her add one bathroom on the lower floor for guests who might stop in who didn't know about us. It was a lovely bathroom. Grandmother had great taste when it came to everything. She had made the bathroom right off the guest room, which was on the main floor. In it she had put an old fashioned claw-footed bathtub. There was also a double sink and a shower stall in the corner for those who didn't care to take baths. She had decorated the room in a soft pink. It was very warm and welcoming. It was also the only room that had an electric light and running hot and cold water, but the utility companies in town didn't know that. Even though Gramps and Grams had moved to France, the room was still intact.
Since I was going to be alone for the night, I figured I'd better light some candles so the trick-or-treaters would know that someone was there. I stepped into the parlor. Raising my hand, light flooded the parlor from the chandelier hanging from the center of the room. Some of the candles needed to be replaced, so I replaced all of them with another wave of my hand. At the same time a fresh log burst into flames in the fireplace. It was a bit chilly in the room. I also figured I should light up the front porch. Moving the heavy drapes aside, I looked out at the porch. Since it was Halloween, I thought that lining the sidewalk with jack-o-lanterns would be a nice touch. I pointed my finger at the sidewalk and it was lined nicely with twelve jack-o-lanterns, six on each side, all facing the front gate. Anyone walking up the sidewalk would have a well-lit path to trod.
On the front porch itself, I placed two jack-o-lanterns on the rail, one on either side of the steps, and, as an added touch, I sprawled a headless scarecrow across the front porch swing. There were torches outside on either side of the door, so I made sure to light them, also.
The old house set on the hill over-looking the small town of Hayden. Even though I had only lit up the parlor and the front yard, I knew that the townspeople would see it and the kids would make their way up the hill for the treats that I had in store for them.
"Now, what to wear?" I asked myself. I looked in the mirror on the wall. I was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a dress shirt under a pull-over maroon sweater and a pair of white tennis-shoes. My short blond hair had survived the flight from Paris without a hitch. Since it had been a beautiful evening, I had opted to fly instead of using molecular transfer - the art of snapping one's fingers and being where you wanted to be, instantly. Although I loved to fly, most of the time I used molecular transfer because it was usually more convenient, especially if I was in a hurry. Flying always took a few seconds longer. It was normally a five-second flight from Paris, France to Hayden, Vermont, however, tonight I had made the trip take a full half hour just so I could enjoy the scenery. I had even swung by the Grand Canyon in Arizona for a few minutes at sunset just to watch the sun go down. It had been absolutely beautiful.
Still looking in the mirror, I leaned my head to the right and I was wearing a tuxedo with a long cape with red lining. I didn't care for the white pancake make-up I wore though and the fangs didn't do anything to make me feel better. I liked the tux, but I was definitely no vampire. Tilting my head to the left, I almost cringed at the image in the mirror that looked back at me. I was an old-hag witch. The kind with a long crooked nose with warts on the end. The loose-fitting dress was comfortable and I thought the pointed hat was cool, but, alas, I knew that there were enough stories about the occupants of the old house that I didn't need to let the townspeople think there really were witches living there. I also knew that if the women in my family found out that I had dressed as an old-hag witch, they would have killed me. That's why they all went to Jupiter this time of year; they didn't like the mortal's portrayal of the female witches. Of course there were no old-hag witches that I knew of. However, Lady Canton, the eldest witch on the Witch's Council was a close match. She didn't have any warts, but she did have a long crooked nose. It really surprised me that she allowed herself to look that way. With witchcraft we could change our looks to anything we wanted.
I tried out Lurch from "The Adam's Family", Little Bo Peep, and even Dorothy with Toto from "The Wizard of Oz", but didn't care for any of the costumes. I got rid of Toto right before he started to bark. Just what I needed, a dumb dog to wake the dead and scare off the brats. I wanted to do that, myself.
I had just returned to the jeans and shirt when I heard water splash in the bathroom. Quietly, I walked out of the parlor and started down the hall. A board creaked beneath my weight, so I levitated myself. I didn't know who was there. No one should have been there but me. I chided myself for not scanning the house for intruders before I entered. I had only checked the doors and windows and they had been locked and when I had entered, I had heard nothing.
Gramps was always getting onto me for forgetting to do important things. I was only twenty-five; I had a lot to learn. I wasn't totally sure, but I thought that Mom had mentioned that Gramps had just turned two-hundred on his last birthday. Why did he always think that I should know as much as he did? Of course, he thought everyone should know as much as he did.
I listened closely for a second. Water splashed again. I knew someone was taking a bath. Probably my brother.
I floated into the guest bedroom. The light was on in the bathroom but the door was open. I knew then that it would have to be my brother, no one else in the family would leave the bathroom door open to take a bath, especially knowing I was in the house and I had made sure that everyone knew that I was going to be there so they wouldn't worry that I had gotten lost on my way to Jupiter. Yes, Brandon would pop in and take a bath, just to try to scare me. I started to go invisible and float in then surprise him by materializing in front of him, but, as I neared the bathroom door, I heard a cough. While that wasn't Brandon's cough, I did recognize the voice. Unfortunately, I couldn't place it, but I knew it wasn't family. It wasn't a fellow warlock either, so I had to be careful. My family had made sure that no one in town ever found out that we weren't normal people - other than being a little eccentric. Thus the reason that I couldn't be the old-hag witch for the night.
I touched down softly on the carpeted floor in the guest room and stepped just outside of the beam of light and looked into the room. Gavin Sanders sat in the claw-footed tub. We had meet in college and were pretty good friends. We had graduated from the two-year community college, but he had gone on to the university after graduation. Although I had really wanted to, and I had fallen head over heels in love with him the day we met, I had never seen him nude. It was against the law in the world we lived in for us to use any love spells or to even make a mortal want to have sex with us. Therefore, since I felt that Gavin was a straight arrow, I had never been able to tell him the way I felt about him. I had considered turning myself into a woman and trying to land him that way, but I didn't want to deceive him any more than I had to and it would have only caused problems with my family if I had. After all, I was the youngest in the family. My brother and I were the only two warlocks in this generation on my mother's side and they were proud of us. Of course, if they had known I was gay, they might not have been so proud of me. Luckily, since my brother and I were still under thirty, they weren't in a hurry for us to get married. In our world, family members didn't start pushing for their offspring to get married until they reached a hundred. I had seventy-five years before I had to start worrying.
I could tell from where I stood that Gavin hadn't used any bubble bath. If I were to walk into the room, I would be able to see him clearly through the water. Wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans, I stepped forward. Gavin had laid back and was resting his head on the back of the tub. I couldn't blame him; I liked to lie that way, too. He didn't hear me step into the room, nor did he see me because he had his eyes closed. I walked over to the tub and surveyed the room. He was alone. His muscular chest was matted with wet black hair. His cock, though limp, must have been about six inches long. I knew that it would grow to at least eight inches when erect. My own organ began to stir in my tight jeans and I took a deep breath. I knew I should go invisible and not let him know that I was there, but I couldn't. I was expecting trick- or-treaters any minute. When they knocked on the door, he would get worried and come rushing out to see what was going on.
I sat down on the edge of the tub. "Gavin?" I asked softly.
He jumped and sat up. "Shane," he said, looking around, "what are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. This is my grandparent's house." I had to be careful not to say, great great grandparents. Normal people's great great grandparents didn't live long enough for the youngest family members to actually know them. "I came up to house-sit for the night. Last year some kids broke in and did some damage. I want to make sure that doesn't happen this year."
To my delight, Gavin made no attempt to cover himself as he spoke. "I'm up here on a dare from some of the frat boys. They said I had to spend the night alone here. They didn't think I would."
"What do you get if you do?" I wanted to know.
He shrugged. "I get to join the frat house."
"Doesn't sound like that would be worth much, but you don't have to worry about spending the night here. There are no ghosts or goblins running around here. Of course, the frat boys might happen by and try something."
"That's what I'm worried about," he said.
"So, how did you get in here? All the doors and windows are locked."
"One of the guys is pretty good at jimmying locks. Since the lock on the back door is so old, it didn't take him much to get in. He said if they had been dead-bolts, he wouldn't have been able to get us in. I've made the rounds and made sure all the doors and windows are locked so unless James jimmies the lock again, they can't pull anything."
"I'll be sure to put new locks on the doors," I said, tilting my head to the left. A couple of dead bolts instantly appeared on the front and back doors and were locked securely. James wouldn't be getting in again tonight.
"So I guess you'll be disqualified if they find out that I stay here tonight, then, huh?" I asked as thunder shook the house. I could hear rain on the window above the tub. The kids wouldn't be showing up tonight.
Gavin pushed himself up and I moved out of the way so he could get out. He had left a towel on the toilet so I handed it to him.
"Thanks, Shane," he said, softly. "I guess so. But I don't really know how they'll find out. I won't tell them and I'm sure that this house is big enough that if they do sneak in, you can sleep upstairs somewhere and they won't find you."
My heart sank. I had hoped to sleep with him. Leaning against the sink, I watched him dry off. He didn't try to cover himself up as he dried off and continued to talk to me. "This house is pretty strange," he said. "This is the only bathroom that I found and there wasn't any running water in the kitchen. This is also the only room that had electricity in it, which I found odd since your grandparents moved out of here a couple of years ago."
"This is an old house, Gavin," I said. "Originally there was an out-house by the fence in the back yard, but it fell down when I was little." I didn't mention that I had been practicing levitation and had actually dropped it. I had tried to put it back together, but couldn't get the spell right. Dad was going to do it for me but Gramps told him to wait until I figured out how to do it myself, then it was forgotten and I never did. I made a mental note to do that in the morning when I cleaned up the yard. "My grandmother decided to put in this bathroom," I continued. I decided it would be a good idea to add electricity if he was going to spend the night there. It wouldn't hurt to modernize the kitchen a little either. I knew we'd be hungry by morning and a zapped up breakfast would be hard to explain. "There's a generator in the basement. I can't really imagine that all the lights in the other rooms were burned out, but I'll go check on them."
"I just didn't see any light switches," he said as I followed him into the guest room.
"Oh? It's right here," I said, flipping on the light in the room. Of course it hadn't been there until a few seconds before.
He frowned. "I guess the thought of spending the night here had me on edge worse than I thought it was going to," he said. "I could have sworn that switch wasn't there when I got here."
"It was dark in here, wasn't it?" I asked; he nodded. "I guess you just missed it."
"I guess so," he agreed.
I watched him put on his tight jeans, he didn't bother putting any underwear on and his tight jeans didn't leave much to the imagination. He pulled a sweater on over his head and then sat down on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and shoes.
"It's only eight o'clock," he said, glancing at his watch as he tied his shoe laces. "What do you want to do before bedtime?"
"I had planned on serving the trick-or-treaters," I admitted, "but now that it's raining, they won't come up here."
"Since everyone knows this place is vacant, would they have anyway?"
I shrugged. "As long as there's a light on up here, they'll come up. At least they did when my grandparents lived here."
"Why did they move, anyway?" he asked, leading me toward the hallway. "Did they die?"
"Oh, no. They're fine," I replied as we walked into the parlor. When I had put the generator in the basement, I had replaced the candles in the chandelier with real light bulbs. "They found a real nice chateau on the French Riviera."
"I don't blame them, actually," he said, "I couldn't imagine living here anyway."
"Oh, it's not too bad," I admitted. "I have thought about moving in here myself, but I really don't need more than just the parlor and the bedroom down here for just myself. I guess I could rent out the upper floors."
He chuckled. "I don't think you'd get any renters, Shane. I mean this place is really spooky."
I smiled as I remembered how the house looked when I had arrived that evening. He was right. "True, but if the price was right, they might take me up on it."
"Yeah, if it was cheap enough, you might get away with it," he agreed.
"I didn't realize that you were from a rich family, Shane," he added, stepping over to the window. "I knew your parents own a boutique downtown, but didn't think it made much money."
Mother and Dad had bought a boutique that sold knick-knacks and things. Mostly they zapped up the stuff and claimed they made it themselves, which they did, just not the way people thought they had.
"It's mostly just to give them something to do," I admitted as he pulled the drapes open. "I wouldn't say that we were rich, Gavin, but money has never been a problem with my family."
He frowned and looked at his watch again. "How long have you been here, Shane?"
"I was here about five minutes before I found you. Why?"
"Did you put those pumpkins out on the sidewalk?"
"Yeah. Have they gone out from the rain?" I asked, joining him at the window. I realized too late that was a mistake. If his frat friends were watching, they could see us both in the window since the lights were on.
"No, I just thought they looked neat, that's all," he said, stepping away from the window. Apparently he hadn't thought about us being seen so I didn't mention it to him.
"I guess you brought this, too, huh?" he asked, gesturing to the plastic jack-o-lantern full of assorted candies that I had left setting on the floor beside the hall door.
"Yes, I did. Help yourself. It's not poisoned."
He grinned and pulled out a miniature Snickers bar. "Thanks. I brought some beer, you want one?" he asked.
"Thank you. No," I replied, shaking my head. "I don't care for the taste of it. I brought some soda, though, so you go ahead and help yourself."
He went back into the guest room and I headed for the kitchen. I figured I'd better get it out of the ice box instead of making it materialize in my hand. I had just opened the ice box door when I heard something at the back door. I looked through the closed door - there wasn't a window on it, so no one could see in. Using my night-vision, I could see that there were two guys dressed in hooded slickers. One was trying to jimmy the door. "I don't know," he said, "that dead bolt wasn't there earlier."
"Shit. How could Sanders have put it on there so fast?" the other wanted to know. "He would have had to drill a hole and everything."
"I don't know. I'm also wanting to know where those jack-o- lanterns on the front sidewalk came from. I get the feeling he's not alone here."
"So do I," the second agreed.
"Come on, let's go around front and knock on the door."
I grinned. I didn't want to miss my chance of scaring these two guys shitless, but I couldn't let Gavin catch me doing it, either. Forgetting the soda, I dashed back through the hallway to the front door. The outside torches I had changed to electric lights, so they were still burning.
I noticed that Gavin was back in the parlor as I dashed by. He didn't notice me. He had moved a throw sheet from the couch and was sitting on the couch while staring at the fire in the hearth, eating the candy and sipping his beer. The drapes were still open. That was good. They hadn't seen me, but when they went by the front window, they could see that he was alone and I could get some fun in without him losing his membership.
I quickly got rid of the outside decorations and waited for the guys to get to the front door.
"Look, there's Gavin in the living room," one whispered as he stepped up on the porch. "He looks like he's alone."
"Yeah, but where did the jack-o-lanterns go?" the other asked.
"I don't know. The scarecrow is gone, too."
Using a freeze-spell on Gavin so he would stay put and not know what was happening, I turned myself almost invisible. I changed so that I had no legs or feet, but was just a bubble - like Casper and his uncles in the cartoons. If the guys saw me in town anytime in the future, they wouldn't recognize me. That I was sure of.
As the guys reached the door, I got the plastic jack-o-lantern that I had filled with sorted candies for the kids and flew through the door. "Hi, guys!" I yelled as they jumped back, startled. One toppled down the stairs and landed on his back. I was worried that he had hit his head, but he scrambled to his feet and dashed down the sidewalk, so I figured he was okay.
"Wait!" I called. "Don't you want your candy?"
The other was right behind him. They shoved the gate open and kept running.
I went back through the door and returned to my natural state, then unfroze Gavin. He had no idea what had happened.
I set the candy back on the floor and went over to the window and looked out into the darkness. I made sure that I stayed to the right of the window so they couldn't see me. Using my night-vision, I could see they were huddled on the other side of their car, which was parked down the road a little way. I listened to hear what they were saying.
"Shit, that was a fucking ghost, James. We can't let Gavin stay there with a ghost all by himself all night."
"Calm down, Carl," James said. "I'm trying to think of a way to get him outta there. I'm damn sure not going back up to the house."
"We have to," Carl replied.
"Wait a minute," James said, thoughtfully. "That ghost wanted to give us candy. He wasn't wanting to hurt us. He thought we were trick-or-treaters."
"Yeah. So?"
"Come on. We've got to get Gavin outta there," James said, heading for the gate again.
"What's out there?" Gavin asked. I jumped. I hadn't seen him come back to the window.
"I think your frat-friends are," I replied. "I'll go upstairs; you stay here. If they think you're not alone, let them tour the house. I played in this house a lot when I was growing up and I know all the places to hide; they won't find me, nor will they know I'm here."
"Okay. Thanks, Shane," Gavin replied.
I slipped out into the hallway and went invisible. I wasn't going to miss this for anything. Luckily, I had left nothing but the candy and he would need that for any trick-or-treaters who came along.
A moment later, I heard the board creak on the front porch. I looked through the door and noticed the guys were cautiously making their way toward the door. How I wished I could scare them again, but I figured I'd better not, for Gavin's sake.
"He hasn't come out yet," James whispered.
"I guess we'd better knock, then," Carl replied.
"Yeah. Probably."
I glanced back into the parlor and noticed that Gavin had sat back down on the couch and was waiting for them to do whatever they were going to do.
Finally James lifted the heavy knocker and let it fall. The resounding thud echoed through the old house. Gavin got up and walked nonchalantly to the front door and unlocked it. He glanced back at the staircase in the hallway before he opened the door. It cried out as if in pain. I had to remember to oil the hinges; since that door hadn't been opened in several years.
James jumped back a little but relaxed when he noticed that Gavin stood there. "What are you doing here?" Gavin asked.
"Come on," Carl said, quickly in a hushed tone, grabbing him by the arm. "We've got to get the fuck outta here."
Gavin grinned and pulled away. "Have you been drinking?" he asked. "What's wrong with you two? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"We have," James said, nervously. "Come on. You passed your test. Get your shit and let's get outta here."
"What do you mean you've seen a ghost?" Gavin wanted to know. "I've been here for almost an hour now and haven't seen anything."
"Look, Gavin," Carl said, "we went back to the dorm and got some sheets so we could play a trick on you. When we got back there were jack-o-lanterns lined up on the sidewalk out here and there was a headless scarecrow on the swing. We went to the back door and it was dead-bolted. We came around here to knock on the door because we thought you weren't alone and a ghost flew out and offered us candy. Now the jack-o-lanterns are gone and so is the scarecrow. So if this place ain't haunted, where'd they go and where did the dead-bolts come from?"
I noticed a quizzical look on Gavin's handsome face as he looked out at the yard. He had seen the decorations himself. How was I going to explain them missing, now? Quickly, I got rid of the dead-bolts, just to add to the confusion. However, I knew that Gavin had unlocked the ones on the front door before he opened it.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he finally said. "I never saw any jack-o-lanterns or scarecrows. And, as you can plainly see, there are no dead-bolts on this door. There are no live-bolts either, for that matter. We can go check the back door if you like."
"No, thanks. I'm not setting foot in that house," Carl spoke up. "Just get your stuff and let's go. Okay?"
Gavin sighed. I could tell he wanted to stay so he could ask me about the decorations and dead-bolts. "Okay, fine," he resigned. "Would you at least come in and help me get the ice chest?"
"Well," Carl said, reluctantly, "I guess so."
James followed Carl in and Gavin left the door open as he lead them into the guest room. He shoved his clothes back into his bag while they picked up the ice chest and carried it out to the front porch.
I followed him into the parlor and he closed the drapes and shut out the light. "I guess I'll not spend the night here after all," he said, looking up the stairs. Since the house was so big, his deep voice echoed through the hallway and he knew that if I were on the second floor I would be able to hear him. "So all you ghosts can have it to yourselves tonight."
"Would you hurry up?" Carl called from the door.
"I was just saying good night to the ghosts," Gavin replied, stepping out the door and closing it behind him. I floated to the door and looked through it and watched them walk down the sidewalk to the front gate. Now I knew how Casper felt. It would have been really nice if Gavin had spent the night, but, alas, just by having a little fun with his friends, I had scared him off.
****
It was a little past ten when I finally decided that no one was going to come trick-or-treating. I cleaned up the house, the front yard and rebuilt the out-house - I'd tell Gramps when he got back from Jupiter the next day - and repaired all the squeaky boards and oiled the hinges on the doors. I also put the dead-bolts back on the doors and locked them.
I had enjoyed the storm, but it had passed shortly after the guys had left. I took a shower and decided I'd sleep in the guest room. It was the closest bedroom to the front door and I'd be able to hear if anyone tried to get in the back door, too.
After placing a couple of logs in the fireplace in the guest room and lighting the fire, I crawled into bed and yawned. It would have been nice if Gavin had come back, at least. I had really expected him to, but I figured that the guys wouldn't let him. However, I guess I was really glad he hadn't. I had no idea what I was going to tell him when he asked how I had made the jack-o-lanterns and the scarecrow disappear and the dead-bolts.
I had just sunk back against the pillow and started to close my eyes when I noticed a movement beside the fireplace.
"What are you doing here, Brandon?" I asked, sleepily.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he replied, "I didn't feel like spending the night on Jupiter, so I was heading home and thought I'd stop by to see how your evening went. The place looks nice. I see you finally fixed the out-house."
I chuckled. I wished that I could scan as well as he did. Of course, I had never been real good at studying when we were growing up so there were a lot of things that Brandon did better than me. "Thanks," I said and explained what had happened with Gavin and his frat-friends.
"Oh, you shouldn't have done that," he said when I finished.
"That's what I'm thinking, too. What am I going to tell him?"
"Before tonight, you haven't seen him since graduation, have you?"
"No," I replied.
"Good. If you do happen to see him again and he says anything, just tell him that you have no idea what he's talking about and that you haven't seen him since graduation. That would be your best bet."
"I think I'd rather turn time back and re-do this evening," I said.
"Well, you know that's not against the rules, Shane," Brandon said, "but the Council frowns upon it."
"Yeah, I know," I replied. "I don't really know what I'd do different if I did turn time back, except not to scare them as a ghost. But that was fun."
"I bet."
He took his shoes off and lay down beside me. "So what's the deal with this Gavin guy?" he asked.
"He's just a friend, Brandon."
"But you want him, don't you?"
"Yeah," I admitted. I sat up and adjusted the pillow behind my back. "Brandon?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever turned time back?"
"No. I haven't needed to."
"I haven't either. I'm reluctant to do it because I might screw something up."
"The spell is in the book," he said, pulling the large spell book out of thin air and handing it to me.
"Thanks." I held the book in my hands for a moment. It must have weighed a ton. It was about twelve inches thick and fourteen inches long. I didn't see why they hadn't broken it up like they did the encyclopedia. I glanced over at Brandon. He was almost asleep.
"Brandon?"
"Mm?"
"Would you go with me to ask Dad if it's okay if I do this?"
He yawned and stretched. "Alright. They're at The Moonbeam Lounge on Jupiter." He grinned at me as he sat up. "I'll race you."
"Deal," I replied, snapping my fingers.
The Moonbeam Lounge was packed. Most of the witches and warlocks who didn't want to deal with the mortal images of them at Halloween were already there.
"Darling, what are you doing here?" Mom asked, kissing me on the cheek. "Is everything okay at the house?"
"Not really, Mom," I admitted, looking around for Brandon. Where was he?
"What happened?" she asked, handing me a root beer that she materialized for me.
"Thanks, Mom. I made a mistake and wanted to talk to Dad about it. Where is he?" I asked.
"He was dancing with your Aunt Christine the last time I saw him," she admitted. "What kind of mistake?"
"Can I wait to tell you both together?"
"Certainly," she replied. She snapped her fingers and Dad was standing next to us. "Don't do that, Cathy," he scolded. "I was just about to dip your sister and I would have dropped her."
"Sorry, dear," Mom said, "but Shane needs to talk to us."
Dad materialized himself a glass of champagne and took a sip. "Let's go sit over here," he said, motioning to a table in the corner.
We had just sat down at the table when Brandon popped in.
"What took you so long?" I asked, glancing at my watch. "It took you a full three minutes to get here."
He blushed and looked at Mom and Dad. "You were supposed to fly, not use molecular transfer," he replied, sitting down in a chair next to me.
"No one said anything about flying," I replied. "I won."
Brandon materialized himself a bottle of beer and took a swig.
"Okay, what's going on, kids?" Dad asked.
Reluctantly, I explained what had happened with Gavin and his frat-friends. I even told them that I found him in the bathtub. Dad had a way of knowing when I was lying, so I figured I'd tell him everything.
"And what I'd like to do," I concluded, "is turn time back to when I got there so I won't put the dead-bolts in or scare the frat-boys.
"I have the spell here in the book," I said, making the book appear on the table in front of me, open to the spell I needed. "But I have never done this before and I wanted to make sure it's okay before I do."
Mom and Dad exchanged glances. I figured they were using telepathy to discuss what they thought I should do. They did that a lot.
Dad finished off his champagne and made the glass disappear before speaking. "First of all," he said, "I want to thank you, Shane, for coming to your mother and me about this before going ahead with it. Secondly, normally I do not approve of any messing with time. However, your mother and I have discussed this," - I knew they had used telepathy - "and we agree that because it could make all of our lives difficult, not just yours, we're going to let you do this."
"Thanks, Dad," I said. "Would you mind doing the spell for me?" I asked, hopefully.
He grinned at me and shook his head. "No, son. You're a big boy now, you can do it yourself. Just read it and concentrate. You'll do fine."
"Okay," I said.
I hugged the three of them and thanked Brandon for being there with me while I told them. "I'll see you all tomorrow," I promised. I placed my hand on the book, read the spell and snapped my fingers and I was standing on the front porch of the house.
I glanced at my watch. It was about seven-forty-five. It was too late for trick-or-treaters anyway. Oh, well, I wouldn't go back in time any further. This was far enough. This time I scanned the house and was just in time to see Gavin sink into the tub.
Remembering what had happened when Gavin had opened the front door, I made sure to oil the hinges. I had felt he would have asked about that when he called me the next day. Just to be on the safe side, I materialized a key to the front door and opened it and went in. The door gave me no trouble. Continuing into the parlor, I went ahead and placed a fresh set of candles in the chandelier and lit them and put a fire in the hearth. Since I knew that Gavin had already investigated the house and hadn't found any light switches, I'd be better off not adding electricity to the house.
Making my way into the kitchen, I cleaned the dust and cobwebs out of the ice box and stocked it with a fresh block of ice and some groceries so Gavin and I could have something to eat later and for breakfast. Since there was a gas stove in the corner that had only been used a couple of times, I figured I'd zap up a butane camping cook-stove that I'd seen on TV just recently. It would allow me to cook breakfast anyway.
I had just started for the guest room when I remembered that he was supposed to be alone for the entire night. The guys would be back in about half an hour and they'd see the stuff I had brought in, first. Quickly, with one snap of my fingers, I returned the kitchen to the way it had been and popped into the guest room, just outside of the beam of light from the bathroom.
Gavin was lying back in the claw-footed tub with his eyes closed. I walked in and sat down on the edge of the tub.
"Gavin?" I asked, softly.
He jumped and sat up. "Shane," he said, looking around, "what are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. This is my grandparent's house. I came up to house-sit for the night. Last year some kids broke in and did some damage. I want to make sure that doesn't happen this year."
"I'm up here on a dare from some of the frat boys. They said I had to spend the night alone here. They didn't think I would."
"What do you get if you do?" I wanted to know.
He shrugged. "I get to join the frat house."
"Doesn't sound like that would be worth much, but you don't have to worry about spending the night here. There are no ghosts or goblins running around here. Of course, the frat boys might happen by and try something."
"That's what I'm worried about," he said.
"So, how did you get in here? All the doors and windows are locked."
"One of the guys is pretty good at jimmying locks. Since the lock on the back door is so old, it didn't take him much to get in. He said if they had been dead-bolts, he wouldn't have been able to get us in. I've made the rounds and made sure all the doors and windows are locked so unless James jimmies the lock again, they can't pull anything."
"I'll be sure to put new locks on the doors," I said. This time I didn't go ahead and put them on.
"So I guess you'll be disqualified if they find out that I stay here tonight, then, huh?" I asked as thunder shook the house. I could hear rain on the window above the tub.
Gavin pushed himself up and I moved out of the way so he could get out. He had left a towel on the toilet so I handed it to him.
"Thanks, Shane," he said, softly. "I guess so. But I don't really know how they'll find out. I won't tell them and I'm sure that this house is big enough that if they do sneak in, you can sleep upstairs somewhere and they won't find you."
Leaning against the sink, I watched him dry off. Again, he didn't try to cover himself up as he dried off and continued to talk to me. "This house is pretty strange," he said. "This is the only bathroom that I found and there wasn't any running water in the kitchen. This is also the only room that had electricity in it, which I found odd since your grandparents moved out of here a couple of years ago."
"This is an old house, Gavin," I said. "Originally there was an out-house by the fence in the back yard, but it fell down when I was little, so my grandmother decided to put in this bathroom."
I followed him into the guest room and pulled a candle lighter out of thin air and lit a couple of candles that were on the mantel.
"Thanks," he said. "It's kind of hard to see in here."
"Yeah. I'm thinking about putting a generator in the basement."
"Good idea," he agreed.
I watched him put on his tight jeans, he didn't bother putting any underwear on and his jeans didn't leave much to the imagination. He pulled a sweater on over his head before sitting down on the edge of the bed to put on his socks and shoes.
"It's only eight o'clock," he said, glancing at his watch as he tied his shoe laces. "What do you want to do before bedtime?"
"I had planned on serving the trick-or-treaters," I admitted, "but now that it's raining, they won't come up here. I really think that I should have been here around five to get ready for them, but I just got back from visiting my grandparents."
"Since everyone knows this place is vacant, would they have come anyway?"
I shrugged. "As long as there's a light on up here, they'll come up. At least they did when my grandparents lived here."
"Why did they move, anyway?" he asked, leading me toward the hallway. "Did they die?"
"Oh, no. They're fine," I replied as we walked into the parlor. "They found a real nice chateau on the French Riviera."
"I don't blame them, actually," he said, "I couldn't imagine living here anyway."
"Oh, it's not too bad," I admitted. "I have thought about moving in here myself, but I really don't need more than just the parlor and the bedroom down here for just myself. I guess I could rent out the upper floors."
He chuckled. "I don't think you'd get any renters, Shane. I mean this place is really spooky."
I smiled as I remembered how the house looked when I had arrived that evening. He was right. "True, but if the price was right, they might take me up on it."
"Yeah, if it was cheap enough, you might get away with it," he agreed.
"I didn't realize that you were from a rich family, Shane," he added, stepping over to the window. I made sure to stay back in the shadows so the guys wouldn't be able to see me when he opened the drapes. Although they hadn't the first time around, I had just changed something and couldn't take any chances. "I know your parents own a boutique downtown, but didn't think it made much money."
"It's mostly just to give them something to do," I admitted as he pulled the drapes open. "I wouldn't say that we were rich, Gavin, but money has never been a problem with my family."
"It looks like it's going to be a long night, Shane," he said. "I brought some beer, you want one?"
"No, thank you," I replied, shaking my head. "I don't care for the taste of it. I brought some soda, though, so you go ahead and help yourself."
"Okay," he said, heading for the guest room.
"Oh, Gavin," I said, "I'm going to run up to my old room and check on something. I'll be back in a little bit."
"Okay," he said, pausing at the door. "Where's your old room?"
"Fourth floor. Last one on the right. It's got a great view of the west. I want to see what the storm's doing."
"Good idea," he agreed. "I'll come up with you."
"No, your frat-friends might come back. You might ought to stay down here. You don't want them to see me."
He nodded. "Good idea."
I dashed up the stairs as he went to the guest room where he had left his ice chest. Going invisible, I popped into the kitchen just as the door opened and James and Carl snuck in. Perfect timing.
Carl closed and locked the door. "Now remember," James whispered, "we don't want him to find us. We'll sneak down to the basement until midnight, then we'll come up and scare the shit out of him. He should be asleep by then."
"Okay," Carl replied, softly.
So that was the plan that I had screwed up. I had thought that eight-fifteen was a little early for them to try to scare him off. I followed them down the stairs to the basement. They had closed the door and James had a flashlight, so it was easy for them to see where they were going.
Carl carried a bundle that I soon discovered was two sleeping bags and James had a sack with two large white sheets and a blanket in it. They were going to play ghosts at midnight, it appeared.
The basement was musty. It had been a long time since I'd been down there, myself.
James spread out the blanket on the floor and Carl placed their sleeping bags on top of it, then, after removing their slickers and coats, they lay down on top of the bags and James said, softly, "Luckily he can't hear us down here as long as we're real quiet. But there's a vent right here and we can hear him in the living room if he has any guests."
That was new to me, I had no idea that vent was there. "Thanks for letting me know about that, James," I said, aloud. Of course, he couldn't hear me because I was invisible.
At first I thought I would let Gavin know the guys were in the basement, but then I thought better of it. If he knew he might spoil his chances at getting to be a frat-boy and I got the feeling he really wanted to be in the fraternity.
Snapping my fingers, I popped back up into the parlor. Gavin had moved the throw sheet from the couch and was looking into the fire as he sipped his beer. I glanced around and found the vent, then popped back downstairs to see what the boys could hear. I heard nothing. Not even the popping of the embers in the hearth. This was good. This meant that they would only be able to hear talking or any other loud noises. Returning to the parlor, I pointed at the vent and made sure they couldn't hear anything, period.
Figuring he might ask me what I saw out the window, I popped up to my old room and looked out the window. Miles of darkness stretched out before me. Occasionally lightening would illuminate the area, but basically there was nothing I could see. Of course, that's what I would tell him. However, using my night-vision the view was absolutely magnificent. I could see for miles from this window. Hayden was on the other side of the house, so I couldn't see it, but on my side there was nothing but trees as far as the human eye could see, but I could see a stream in the distance that ran through the woods. I had loved to sit up there when I was little and just stare out the window. Occasionally, I had popped up onto the roof to get a better view and sometimes Brandon and I would fly over the area.
Deciding I'd better re-join Gavin, I materialized in the hallway downstairs with a glass of soda and walked in and sat down beside him on the sofa.
"How'd it look?" he asked.
"Too dark to see," I replied. "But when it lightened, the clouds looked pretty dark."
"Hope it's not too bad of a storm, then," he said. "I wish I had thought to bring my transistor radio."
"Do the guys know you didn't bring it?" I asked.
"No. They don't know what I have in my bag," he admitted.
"Good," I replied. "I brought my portable TV. We can watch it if you want. It also has an AM/FM radio."
"Wow, that sounds nice," he agreed. "Does it happen to have a VCR and you just happened to bring some good movies to watch?"
I could see the twinkle in his eye as he grinned at me. I bit my lower lip to keep from saying, "It can if you want it to." We could have been having such a good time if he had known I was a warlock.
"No," I replied, getting to my feet. "But it is color, at least. I'll go get it."
"Where'd you put your stuff?" he asked as I headed for the parlor door.
"In the hall closet," I replied. I was thankful that he didn't follow me to see what all I had brought, since there was nothing in the hall closet at the moment.
Opening the closet door, I scanned the basement. The guys had turned off their flashlight and had actually gone to sleep. It would be so much fun to have a ghost wake them up, but I knew that I couldn't do that. I had to let their plan fall into place or they or Gavin might find out that we weren't normal. Dad might not let me turn time back again if that happened.
I decided I should put a bag in the closet so that if I needed anything else, which I would when we went to bed, I wouldn't get caught zapping it up if he was with me when I got it. I picked up the large boom-box looking TV. It had dual speakers, an AM/FM radio, twin cassettes, a CD player on top, and a nine-inch color TV right above the cassettes. The digital readout for the CD and radio bands doubled as a clock. It was pretty heavy, but I managed to carry into the parlor without any supernatural help.
"Holy shit, Shane, where'd you get that?" he asked, stunned at the size of it as I placed it on a table next to the fireplace.
"Out of the hall closet," I replied with a grin.
He had gotten up and came over to look at it closer; he glanced up at me and smiled. "It's really neat. I wouldn't mind having one of these myself. It must have cost a fortune. Who makes it? It doesn't have a name on it."
"I don't know," I replied. I didn't know if anyone made anything like it. "It was a gift."
"Wow. I wish someone would give me something like this. It'd be great to have, living in the dorm."
Well, I had blown that. If I hadn't told him it was a gift, I could have just let him have it. I could zap them up all day. "I'll see if he'll tell me where he got it and will get you one," I promised.
"Thanks, I appreciate it," he said, looking at the back. He noticed that it was cable ready and the remote was hooked to the back of it.
"Too bad we don't have cable," I said. "But it will get the local channels pretty good with just the antenna, especially since we're up on this hill."
I unhooked the remote and we sat back down on the couch as I turned it on. "Here, you do the honors," I said, offering him the remote.
"Thanks. This is so cool." He was like a kid with a new toy as he flipped through the channels. I fought the urge to make the TV pick up everything our local cable had to offer.
He finally found a station that was playing Halloween cartoons and asked if I wanted to watch them. "As long as you're sure you won't get scared, being in this house," I replied.
"I promise," he said.
"Okay." I grinned at him then looked at the screen and scanned the basement again. Our two "ghosts" were still sound asleep.
After a few minutes of watching the cartoons, Gavin kicked off his shoes and laid down on the couch, placing his feet in my lap.