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24
5:33 PM
TRICK OR TREAT
"Looks like Halloween ht be canceled," Don Day said from the other end of the couch
Jessica looked up fro, to read As usual the Weather Channel was on Amass of white out of the Gulf of Mexico and onto the Texas plains
It was headed straight for Oklahoht?"
"It was a hurricane, but by now it&039;s just a tropical depression," her father said in his Weather-Channel-lecture voice He leaned forward to peer out the back"By the tiets here, it&039;ll only be a thunderstorm"
"Only a thunderstore repeated its course across the TV again and again, stopping at the border of Oklahoet here?"
"Soave her a puzzled look "You&039;re not going trick-or-treating, are you?"
"Duh Of course not" She rolled her eyes draht But thunderstorms are kind of scary, you know, especially on Halloween"
Especially atto keep two hundred pounds of fireworks dry because you were fighting off an invasion of ht up the possibility that itnot to sound too interested "Are they saying the stored "It&039;s hard to tell what&039;s going to happen once a hurricane, or even a tropical depression, hits land Could take until to Or it could keep going strong and get here by nine or ten"
"Whatever!" Beth announced fro even if it&039;s raining golf-ball-sized hail Or even golf balls"
Jess looked up at her little sister and had to suppress a snort of laughter Eight coat hangers stuck out froles, covered with black paper and bobbing wildly Her face wasthe whites of her eyes, and she earing plastic vas
"What are you supposed to be?"
"I&039;m a tarantula, stupid" Beth took a step closer to the couch, angling one of the legs so that it menaced her father
"Ow," he said as it struck his head, eyes still trained on the Weather Channel
"You&039;re calling me stupid Look in a et that idea?"
"Fro as tarantulas She has this thing about spiders"
A chill ran down Jessica&039;s spine "She&039;s coht?"
"What? Don&039;t you like Cassie, Jess?" Beth said sweetly
"Yeah, she&039;s wonderful" Jessica lowered her eyes to stare at her book Cassie had been over a few tiht The two of the they were going to show up at exactly eleven-thirty, when she had to slip out of her roo: it would be a lot safer for Cassie here than in Jenks Oncedown the 36th parallel Hopefully it wouldn&039;t groide enough to s houses on the north side of Bixby But even if it did, the darklings ht notherself all week, anyway
"Well, you won&039;t have to put up with us in any case" Beth swiveled her hips so that one of the tarantula legs banged against Jessica&039;s head "I&039; over to her house"
"What, in Jenks?"
Beth looked at Jessica with surprise, and even her father&039;s eyes lurched away from the Weather Channel
"Um, yes, Jess Because that&039;s where Cassie, like, lives"
"When are you getting ho weird Dad, tell Jess she&039;s being weird"
"Jessica?" her father said
"Well, trick-or-treating in a strange part of town and everything"
They both looked at her in puzzle smile broke out slowly across Beth&039;s face
Their father turned back to the TV, which was filled with ihten up, Jessica It&039;s Halloween Cassie&039;s grandmother promised they&039;d be in bed by eleven and that they wouldn&039;t eat too much candy"
That last word see of candy corn on the coffee table, and he leaned forward to grab a handful
"Mom said not to eat that," Beth said
"Moerous!" Jessica cried
"What?" her father said "Candy corn?"
"No Being out there in the country With a possible stor "You don&039;t want nored the words, staring at her book, trying not to chew at her lip Her little sister was headed right into the path of the darkling invasion, but she couldn&039;t think of a single way to stop it Beth had that s look on her face - this ti she knew if Jessica got in her way
And this was not the night to get grounded
"Co," Beth said "The Weather Channel will still be here when you get back Like it ever changes"
"The weather changes all the ti his keys and another handful of candy corn fro to his feet
Jessica found herself wishing that she&039;d becoht now and pull the starter cable out of her father&039;s car But she didn&039;t actually knohat starter cables looked like and wasn&039;t a hundred percent sure she could even get the hood open
What else could she do? Explain that the food chain was about to turn upside down? That Bixby was about to be invaded? They&039;d only think she was kidding or crazy
She would have to deal with this at oing to have to make sure her little sister was okay
"See you later, Jess," Beth taunted from the front door
Jessica didn&039;t answer, and the door sla note of finality She looked at her watch, her sto itself into knots
Only five forty-five, and already Samhain was off to a brilliant start
25
11:21 PM
RAIN
"Can you still taste him?"
"Relax, Flyboy" Melissa shook her head "He&039;s headed off down Division"
Jonathan let the car speed up again but glanced in the rearview one ood idea at theto catch Halloween vandals and impose curfew on any kids who&039;d stayed out late after trick-or-treating And of course, the sheriff&039;s depart to find whoever had stolen all those fireworks before they were put to use
The fact that Jonathan&039;s trunk contained about half of the collection of firecrackers, smoke bombs, Roman candles, sparklers, and rockets of every description certainly didn&039;t fill hihts
"Just let ain"