Derek left early from CCNC club to take Emma to her first class and Nick waited, vibrating frustration.

Rafael eased his way to Nick’s side. “Hey, man. You okay?”

“Peachy.” Nick had a glare on the entire time he was making his new character for CCNC club, not putting much thought into it. Between the disastrous conversation between him and Alejandra to Derek making out with the enemy, he was fuming. He needed to make sure Derek’s eyes weren’t red and also fought the urge to shake him while demanding to know what he was thinking.

“Yes, we should talk to him,” Rafael said. “And we need to… not be angry. I’m sure he has some reason for this.”

“Those who need to can leave for your first class! Bell should ring soon,” Señora Florez said.

That was all the excuse Nick needed. He plowed through the door, heading for the math hall, which was Emma’s first class. He knew that because Emma loudly proclaimed she needed to go to Mrs. Harris’s class. She had wrapped an arm around Derek, who had his face covered in a sufficient amount of lipstick.

Nick plunged into the sea of students, who were more than happy to step out of his way.

“Nick, wait!” Rafael said, catching up to him.

“This has to be the stupidest thing he’s ever done. And considering his entire portfolio, that’s impressive.”

“Just so we’re on the same page, yelling at him won’t help. In the slightest. He might be controlled,” Rafael said.

“I’m going in there and I’m not coming out until he agrees to break things off. Emma is being charmed by a fae succubus,” Nick said as two students nearly threw themselves out of his way.

“No, we figure out his point of view before giving suggestions. He doesn’t need our judgement.”

Nick grunted as he kept walking. “Who says I’m judging him? I’m making sure the goddamned idiot is safe.”

“You’ve got to work on your bedside manners.” Rafael almost had to run to keep up with Nick.

Derek was walking down the stairs right as Nick and Rafael reached the bottom. Derek saw them and froze. “Oh. Um, hey guys.” Nick took the stairs two at a time. “Nick, hey, yeah, I know this might… it’ll be a little—”

Nick grabbed the front of Derek’s shirt. “I may be friends with an idiot, but he wouldn’t be this stupid. This better be Pippa’s doing.”

Rafael grabbed Nick’s wrist, giving it a tiny shake. “Shit, dude. Tone it down. Let’s hear him out first.”

Derek’s eyes were slightly wide. “I… realize this might not make sense.”

Nick let go of Derek’s shirt. “What the hell, man? This is dangerous.”

Derek sighed. “Look, I can absolutely explain.” Nick waited, watching Derek open and close his mouth, lifting a hand to gesture at something, then dropped it again. Saw him close his mouth, then nod. “Yeah.” The bell rang, and Nick covered his face and fought the desire to scream.

“You can’t blame us for being concerned,” Rafael said.

“This is stupid,” Nick said.

“After all, we don’t know the full extent of the charm Pippa has on Emma,” Rafael said.

“If you die, I’m going to insult you the entire time your casket is being lowered into the ground.”

Rafael grabbed Nick’s arm, shooting him a look before glancing back at Derek. “We want to understand why you’re doing this. That’s all.”

Derek shrugged, keeping his shoulders up. “I overheard Emma talking with Pippa and Akshi. Pippa said she’d use her powers on me if Emma couldn’t get us back together, so I opted to do this instead to have a semblance of control. Besides, if I get Emma to hate me, she’ll break up with me herself. It’ll make it harder for Pippa to control her.” There was silence between the three of them. Rafael stared at Derek, slack jawed. Nick dropped his hands, glaring. Derek, who still had his shoulders up, raised his hands, palm toward the ceiling. “It seems like a good idea!”

Nick pointed toward Mrs. Harris’ room. “Go in there and break it off immediately.”

“It’s not that simple,” Derek said.

“It is that simple.”

“Not for drama kids. I’ve got to get her to hate me.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Nick said.

Rafael shook his head. “This is dangerous. You and Milo have gotten the two extremes. Milo avoids Pippa to the point of being useless, and you dive headfirst into danger.” Rafael held up his two hands, knocking them together. “Between the two of you, you’ve got to find a middle ground.”

Nick dropped his voice. “We are four days away from the full moon. You can’t be doing this. Pippa will find out.”

“Oh, come on, guys. There’s no way I’d do anything stupid like give all our secrets,” Derek said.

“Not willingly. But Pippa’s part fae and part succubus. Fae are tricksters, and succubuses—succubus—” Nick’s tongue tripped over the word.

“Succubi?” Derek offered.

Nick ignored the word and pushed through. “They’re a subclass of demons. Are you a goddamn idiot!”

“Despite Nick’s anger, I’m sure it comes from concern,” Rafael said.

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Derek sighed. “I know this is dangerous. And I totally admit I jumped before giving it much thought.”

Nick waited for Derek to say anything else, but that was it.

“So, what are you going to do about it now?” Nick asked.

“Either Emma seduces me, or Pippa.” Derek sighed, rubbing his head.

“And if Emma never ends up hating you?” Nick asked.

“Then… we work on killing Pippa. She’s at level four. Once Pippa is out of the picture, I can break it off with Emma,” Derek said.

“Promise?” Rafael asked.

Derek nodded. “Promise.”

Nick shook his head. “No. No, I still hate this. Get out of the situation. That’s what you can do.”

“Derek, you know I’ve never understood your train of thought in anything,” Rafael said.

Derek glanced at Rafael, raising an eyebrow. “Thanks?”

“But if you’re serious about this, don’t cut us off, okay? Especially if she asks you to. If you’re going to survive this, you need us, too. Please promise you’ll keep a level head, and… I trust you to leave the situation if the feeling in your gut tells you to,” Rafael said.

Nick swerved his head over to Rafael. “Are. You. Serious!”

“Hey thanks, man,” Derek said.

Nick kept glaring at Rafael. “Derek doesn’t have a reasonable feeling in his gut. Ever.”

Rafael shrugged. “We’ve established a deadline. Keep Emma thinking she’s got things under control until we kill Pippa. Soon. Pippa’s the real threat, here.”

“Oh, we’ve hit rock bottom.” Nick leaned over and gripped his knees. “This is bad. This is so, so bad. Nothing can get worse than this.”

“Look on the bright side.” Derek placed a hand on Nick's and Rafael’s shoulders. “You two are talking to each other! And Nick’s glaring at me for once!” Derek clicked his tongue. “Look at how much growth we’ve gained in the past two months!”

Nick shoved Derek’s hand off his shoulder. “So help me, Derek, if Pippa and Emma don’t kill you, I’m the next one in line.”

“Awe, from the creator of Grizzizzik to the creator of Milo, I understand the deep concern that went into that sentence,” Derek said.

There was too much stuff to handle. Nick rubbed his fingers over his closed eyes, giving a final groan of pure annoyance as the warning bell rang. “Rafael’s right. Don’t let her cut you off from us. Also, don’t let her kidnap you. Or… anything else she might do. I hate this. All of this. But I’d also be the first to get you back if that fae succubus steals you.”

“Thanks Nick,” Derek said.

Nick headed toward the stairs, raising his voice, not caring who heard. “And then I get a pass on slapping your face as hard as I want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Rafael, can you please take Derek to his class? He shouldn’t be alone right now because he painted a neon target on his back. If I do it, I might punch him on the way to Mr. Anderson’s.”

“Got it,” Rafael said, shaking his head.

Nick showed Derek their favorite obscene gesture as he disappeared down the stairs. Akshi’s threat on Thursday. Alejandra’s conversation this morning. Derek hooking back up with Emma. The full moon on Friday. Grizzizzik still not leveling up. Even something as mundane as his parents getting Evelyn a car for her birthday in two days. He really wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

***

“I don’t understand this holiday,” Clarissa said, rubbing the small of Ezekiel’s back. “So, you dress up in costumes and get candy?”

“That’s for the kids,” Evelyn said. She watched Grizzizzik flick through the movie suggestions with her hands on her hips. “Adults usually party. Or stay in and have their own party. Scary movies included. And no, Grizzizzik, we’re not watching The Exorcist.”

“Why not?” Grizzizzik squinted as he read the summary on the tv. “Sounds fascinating.”

Nick stood up and grabbed the remote. “Read the room, Grizzizzik. You have a highly devoted cleric here who is days away from performing his cleansing ritual to rid himself of lycanthropy. He doesn’t need these images in his head while he’s doing that.”

Grizzizzik grumbled. “Ezekiel can handle himself.”

Ezekiel ran his fingers through his off-white fur on his cheeks. “How scary is it?”

“Actually, um, can we not do a scary movie tonight?” Hraktar said. “I don’t do well with scary.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Evelyn said.

Hraktar shrugged, chagrined. “These movies are incredibly lifelike.”

“Psycho?” Nick asked.

Evelyn gave her brother a look. “Psycho? Really? That’s the least scary movie you could think of?”

Nick shrugged. “I mean, it was made in the sixties. It’s not that scary.”

“That’s because you’re not a girl.” Evelyn snatched the remote and flipped through their scary movie collections.

Nick stared at her. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“All I’m saying is I understand why a ton of people stopped showering for a while after seeing that movie.” Evelyn absently scrolled through their movies.

“Uh, is this why you always insist the shower curtains are open every time you use the bathroom?” Nick asked.

Evelyn shot him a glare. “Anyone could hide behind those things!” Nick lifted a hand, admitting defeat. Evelyn stopped flipping through the movies. “Ah! Arsenic and Old Lace. Not too scary at all.” The smile on her face flickered. “As long as you understand it’s dark humor.”

Nick shrugged. “Yeah, alright. I’ll be downstairs on door duty.”

“I thought Mom and Dad were on door duty,” Evelyn said.

Nick shook his head. “Nope, they went to a work party, remember? That’s what this holiday is about.”

Evelyn shook her head, smiling as she hit play. “Alright.” She turned toward the characters. “Arsenic and Old Lace is supposed to be funny. I watched this a lot when I was a kid at Halloween.” She settled on the couch next to Clarissa.

Nick walked down the stairs as they started the movie. She wasn’t sure who would watch this, and she wasn’t sure if the humor would land, but it gave them something to do.

The movie was punctuated by doorbells. There weren’t many, but there were enough. The movie intrigued Milo, and Ezekiel was asleep in Clarissa’s arms at the twenty-minute mark. He always got up early to read.

Halfway through, Evelyn went to get more popcorn. Nick was at the table, reading.

“Are they enjoying it?” Nick asked.

“Yeah. You can come upstairs and watch it. We can hear the doorbell fine up there.”

“Nah, it’s easier to be down here. Don’t have to walk as far,” Nick said.

Evelyn smiled as she opened the plastic wrap around the microwave popcorn. “It’s a good book, isn’t it?”

“Ridiculously good. No idea why I haven’t heard of this author before.”

“She’s a girl.” Evelyn placed the package in the microwave.

“Huh?”

“The author. She’s a girl. Thought you should know, so you’re not surprised,” Evelyn said.

“Oh. Cool.”

The microwave beeped, and Evelyn got the bag out. She filled up the bowl again. Nick glanced up from his book. The look on her brother’s face confused Evelyn. She couldn’t read it, and she wasn’t sure if she liked that.

“Happy birthday tomorrow,” he said.

Her brows furrowed. “Um, thanks.”

“I’m not jealous. You deserve it. I’m glad it’s happening to you.” Nick’s eyes returned to his book.

A frown appeared on her face. “What are you talking about?”

The doorbell rang, and Nick got up. “You’ll find out tomorrow.”

Evelyn popped some popcorn in her mouth, watching as her brother went to the front door. She wasn’t sure how to take that. It didn’t seem ominous. Though it was Halloween. A lot of things seemed ominous on Halloween.

“Trick or treat!” she heard the young kids say as Nick opened the door. She walked up the stairs as her brother handed out candy, complimenting the kids’ costumes before listening to a five-year-old girl explaining all the details on her princess dress. Evelyn glanced at her brother, seeing the slight smile on his face as the girl kept talking. Evelyn placed the bowl of popcorn on the table. Those still awake reached for it.

Evelyn sat on the couch, focusing on the movie. Feeling something happening. She couldn’t quite explain it. Maybe it was Nick’s ominous-yet-not warning. To be honest, if she wasn’t sitting in a room surrounded by characters pulled out of a TTRPG, she wouldn’t have given his words another thought. Something about her birthday tomorrow. It was so weird.

Was it warm in here? Yes, this was Arizona, but it was getting in the cooler months. This felt different. There was a weight in front of her head, almost lulling her to sleep. Something in her wanted to panic, but the push to sleep was there. She was tired. It couldn’t be that late. But she wanted to sleep. Everyone else was asleep, after all.

She’d close her eyes for a minute. Only a minute. She’d open her eyes soon.