Chapter Seven: Halloween
Dusk, All Hollow’s Eve,
A new plan will now lie out.
The road is not smooth.
“Happy Halloween,” Luan chimed back to Chelsea.
To everyone else in the world, today was a day of dressing up in costumes, get as much free candy as they pleased, and see how much trouble they could get into without getting caught. For Luna and Chelsea, this was their favorite day of the year for the same reasons, but also for different reasons. For one thing, the day the two of them had met each other was on Halloween, ten years ago.
Halloween was also a night where their magical abilities were at their absolute peak. All the conditions seemed right. It didn’t require as much energy for the two of them to use spells, which was a real relief for Luan. She remembered one year where the two of them used up the entire morning to practice levitating off the ground. The very next year, they took it one step forward by practicing an old witching cliché by practicing enchanting broomsticks to fly. They used the day to do things that they normally couldn’t do, although they would soon become skilled enough to do it any time that they wished.
Chelsea looked at her clock and slightly gasped. It was a little passed two, meaning that Luna had been here for about an hour in a half. That was more than ninety minutes she was supposed to use for patrolling the city. In an instant, Luna understood what Chelsea was thinking and shook her head.
“Forget about it,” Luna told Chelsea. She didn’t care what her original plans were; she was having a better time with Chelsea. “Even if something happened tonight, there’s no way I could do anything to stop it without putting myself in danger. How about we have some of your famous pancakes for a special Halloween breakfast?”
“With pleasure,” Chelsea said, smiling.
She didn’t get up to have to do anything. At first, she simply closed her eyes, and clasped her hands, as if she were praying. There was a huge smile on her face. It had been a while since she had made pancakes, and even longer since she had them with Luna. She clapped, and then opened her eyes. It felt like a gust of energy escaped her. There was a bustle in the kitchen area, and various things began to move. The skillet moved onto the stove, which was heating itself, and the pancake mix was pouring itself into the bowl. The fridge burst itself open, with the eggs, milk, and butter escaping. Everything seemed to be following a perfect cadence, and it brought amazement to both of the girl’s faces.
“I love it when you make pancakes,” Luna said in a childish voice. “It’s always magical.”
The two girls laughed at the very terrible pun as if they were back in their younger years. The remembered how hard it was for them to be together when they were younger, and how hard it was to do something as simple as make pancakes with their magic. Luna felt bad; she hadn’t seen Chelsea for a few months. Senior year had been catching up on her, and she had just been too busy with everything. Not anymore, Luna said to herself as she saw the batter pour itself onto the frying pan. She’s just as important to me as Luis is; maybe not in the same way, but she deserves the same amount of time.
“So,” Chelsea began, feeling completely energized once again, “are you ready for me to tell you about how to turn your little boyfriend into a werewolf?”
“Yes,” Luna groaned, impatiently.
“Well, do you know that old myth that they always tell in stories that a werewolf transforms under the light of the full moon even though we know that’s not true,” Chelsea began, becoming ready to act all bookish. Luna nodded, signaling for Chelsea to continue. “Well, there is a little bit of truth to that. In fact, there’s a lot of truth in the old legends about witches, vampires, and werewolves because we all once lived in a great co-existence where everyone could be who they were. Our reasons for hiding is because of a few bad vampires, but the legends still lived on to warn everybody about exactly what’s out there.
“Very rarely, back then and even now, did people transform others into werewolves. It just wasn’t done, unless it was something like your case, but there is a way to do it. The way to turn somebody into a werewolf is by biting them, and even at that time, the process isn’t complete.”
“You’re saying that we have to bite them just like the vampires do,” Luna asked.
“More or less,” Chelsea responded, “although, you do have to bit him while you are in your wolf form, so I don’t suggest biting him on the neck. On his leg or arm is okay; just be aware of how hard you are biting him. With vampires, it takes a few days because there is venom running through that person’s blood. With werewolves, there is no venom at all; the bite leave a mark on the human, and doesn’t do any real changes or harm to him. That is, until thirty-three days after they are bit.”
“What happens after thirty-three days?” Luna pondered.
“They die.” Chelsea did not wish to say those words to Luna. “The mark becomes infected and the human will expire, unless they transform into a werewolf. For them to transform, they must be caught under the light of a full moon. That is when their First Transformation takes place. After that, they will have all the powers of any other werewolf out there. You just have to make sure that he’s hit by the full moon’s light when it comes around.”
“And when’s the next full moon,” Luna asked as a plate of pancakes glided over to her spot on the bed.
“Around Thanksgiving, if I remember correctly.”
Luna oddly felt accomplished by what she had learned. She didn’t know exactly how she was going to get around biting Luis, but she felt she had a great starting point. Now all she needed to do was figure out the road of getting straight to her final point.
Luna returned home well before dawn made its way past the mountain-side. She was still very angry with her family, so she refused to speak to any of them, especially the man she would not just refer to as Victor, as she got ready for her day at school. With the time that she had left, she packed another small bag full of clothes and hid it deep into her closet. There was absolutely no way in Hell that she was going to tell any of her family what she was planning, so she was simply being prepared for anything to happen. If she had to leave home that night, if she decided to bite Luis on that day, then so be it.
Her school day was much better than she had really expected. On her walk over, she had fun transforming small rocks onto the floor into tiny figurines. In one of them, she created a tiny Luis, holding her tightly in his arms. In another one, she crafted what she imagined Luis would look like in his wolf form. It was a very odd thing for a seventeen year old girl to be fantasizing about. Still, it was all that she wanted.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have much time to spend with Luis today. He had arrived to school much later than usual, with having only five minutes of hanging out before the first bell rang. Luis still did walk Luna to her classroom, which was always an event Luna enjoyed. They held hands tightly, which always caused butterflies to stir deep inside her stomach. That feeling only sated her until it was lunch time. At that point, she had really wanted to talk to Luis. She wasn’t too sure if she was going to tell him about her double life, but she just felt like talking to him. Today, she was going to break all the rules that were set up for her.
It was also unfortunate for Luna during her lunch period. Luis had appeared in front of her only ten minutes before classes resumed because he had to do a make-up test for one of his classes. The look on his face was enough to show that he felt terrible about missing lunch with her, so she let it slide. There was always time after school that they could talk.
Luis seemed to be running everywhere today, and he felt absolutely terrible that he let Luna suffer for his mistakes. He was having some trouble adjusting to his new surroundings, and it didn’t help that it was his final year of high school. He wasn’t where he wanted to be at this time of the year, so he wanted to catch up in every way that he could.
He held tightly onto Luna’s hand as they walked down the hallway, escorting her to her next
class. Moments like these were what Luis looked forward to most of all on his school days. He knew that he had to make all of this up to her, big time, and he was planning on having a special night with her tonight. It was Halloween after all; a number of places were having dozens of specials for tonight. And he could tell that this was a holiday that Luna found the most fun in. She was dressed as a traditional witch, but it had to be the cutest witch that he had ever seen.
“Luis,” Luna said to him in an uneven voice, “there’s somewhere that I want to take you after school. Are you free?”
Luis was confused by what Luna was saying. “Where are you taking me?”
“We’re just going out,” Luna answered, biting her tongue. “Is that okay with you?”
“Luna, I have to stay a little late today. I need to make up that test that we did in Pre-Cal. I know I can do better than what I actually did.”
“I can wait,” Luna informed him.
“Well, if you’re willing,” Luis said as the two of them reached Luna’s next class.
Time passed by quickly, and Luis was hardly able to focus in any of his classes. There were so many stressors that were going on all around him and he wish he could just escape it all for one day. Unfortunately, there was nothing that seemed to be going his way. He was working as hard as he could, but he felt nothing could stop him from completely crashing and burning by the time winter break would come along. He wasn’t even feeling easy about what Luna had to tell him once school got out. It obviously had to be important if she’s really willing to wait after school to talk to him.
Before he knew it, he was in the middle of his Pre-Cal class, learning about the three things he had been dreading all year: sine, cosine, and tangent. Understanding it all in itself was a pain, but it was also the inversions and when to properly use them that really added to his struggle. He cursed whoever came up with these mathematical properties and whoever thought it was necessary to teach high school students this kind of stuff.
Ms. Ramirez seemed to be oddly interested in Luis today, and he clearly noticed her strange attitude. She had been calling on him for almost every other question, expecting him to know everything. It was actually Luna, his partner in crime, who was helping him get all of his questions right. It made him feel a little bit uneasy about everything that was going on, and almost made him rethink staying after school. You need the points, Luis reminded himself over and over again.
The final bell couldn’t have come any faster for him. Ms. Ramirez stayed in the shadiest part of the room as all the students burst out of the small portable. The only two left in there were Luis and Luna. Luis had already said he was staying after school to take the retake, apparently the only one in the class to choose to do so. It didn’t matter to him; points were points, and he knew that’s all that mattered at this point.
“Luna, I need you to step outside while Luis takes this test,” Ms. Ramirez instructed Luna as she handed Luis two sheets of paper.
“That’s fine, ma’am,” Luna answered.
Luis wished that Luna hadn’t left him. The room was oddly chilly, although his entire body was sweating bullets. Part of him figured that he was just sick and should probably rest after his meeting with Luna later. He turned over the papers on his desk, and was shocked. They were absolutely blank; there were no questions for him to retake the test. Before he could react, he heard Ms. Ramirez bolt lock the door.
“What the hell’s going on,” Luis said out loud. He moved out of his chair, scared for his life.
“Now, now,” Ms. Ramirez said in a coy voice, “we can’t have that little pup mess up my plan. I’ve had my eye on you for a long time, Luis. I can tell that you’re just my type.”
Luis couldn’t believe that this kind of thing was actually happening right in front of him. He had heard strange stories on the news about teachers taking advantage of students, but he never would have bet that he would become one of those cases. There was nowhere else for him to run, and he was sure that Luna wasn’t anywhere near the door to hear him call out for help. People were too busy trying to rush out of the school to pay attention to his screams.
“Leave me alone,” Luis’s voice begged although he knew that he was powerless.
In a split second, it seemed like Ms. Ramirez transported herself from one spot to another, from one end of the room to the other. Many of the desks were thrown over in her path, and she was holding Luis very tightly. He could smell her breath on him; it was a terrible rancid smell that made Luis wish to vomit. He wanted to break free, but she was too strong. He would have never guessed that this frail woman had the strength of a body builder. Nothing in this situation seemed to be making any sense to him.
“Calm yourself, Luis,” Ramirez ordered him as she tried to cease his squirming. “I’m not doing this just as a whim. Out of all my students, you are the most brilliant and most hard working. With blood like yours, I’m sure that it must be delicious, and would probably be smooth going down this throat. I can just tell everyone that you got involved in some accident after you passed my test with flying colors.”
He was completely convinced that his math teacher was a complete psychopath! She’s really going to kill me after she’s done with me, he thought as warm tears flowed down his cheeks. But there was nothing else that he could possibly do. Ramirez through Luis straight to the floor and pinned him down. There was no way that he could get of there.
BANG!
The locks of the door had completely blown off of the door and the door burst open like a gunshot. Luis was shocked to believe that someone had actually heard what was going on; the portables were practically sound-proof from the outside and they were in the middle of the portable lot where no one would willfully pass by. The two of them turned their necks to the door, to see who had the power to break down the door.
It was Luna, looking completely enraged. Luis now believed that he was the one who had gone completely crazy. The situation was just too insane for it to possible be reality. I’m dreaming, I have to be dreaming. I’m going to wake up any minute. I’m not going to be raped by my teacher, and these two girls aren’t super powered maniacs. Softly, Luis was laughing at the entire situation, but neither of the females seemed to be having the same kind of reaction.
Luna slowly walked to the middle of the room, and as she passed each window, the shade that was covering the sunlight completely ripped from its placing. Ms. Ramirez let out a loud hiss as she jumped away from Luis’s body and back to a place under her desk. Luna stopped herself once she reached Luis, but each of the shades seemed to rip open by themselves She knelt down next to him, inspecting every exposed part of his body. His laughing seemed to stop as he looked at how serious Luna’s face was. This isn’t a dream, is it?
She placed him up back on his feet and embraced him. For some reason, she seemed completely relieved, like the worst had passed for the both of them. In fact, Luna had felt like laughing at the whole situation as well.
“Are you okay,” Luna asked him in a low voice.
“Never better,” He answered, not sure if he was really telling the truth. Of course, he had to ask what anyone else would ask in this kind of situation. “Luan, what the hell is going on here?”
“I’ll explain later,” She said in a hurried voice as she held his hand, trying to run out. Luis seemed to refuse to move.
“No, not later; now!” He answered. Luis’s face was as hard as hers. In the moment, she laid a passionate kiss on Luis’s lips. She wanted to show him that he could trust her completely.
“I promise I’ll tell you everything,” Luna answered him, holding onto him tightly. “We have to get out of here though. Once we’re safe, I’ll be able to tell you everything. You have my word, Luis.” Luna knew it would only be two hours until sunset, and Ms. Ramirez would be free from her bright prison. She then turned to her teacher, who was hiding inside of her desk, the only place where she could find refuge. “My father will be hearing about what you were trying
to do with Luis.”
Without anything more to say there, the two teenagers ran out of the portable, hand in hand.
Luna didn’t wish to introduce Luis to her life style this way, and definitely not to something like this so soon. She had no idea what she was going to do now. Going to her family didn’t seem like a good idea, especially when she was ordered to dump Luis less than twenty-four hours ago. She also wasn’t too sure whether she wanted to bug Chelsea at the moment either. Luna felt like she had bugged her enough for one day, especially after what they were talking about earlier that morning.
She even contemplated running away with Luis; having him go home, grab his car, and drive as far away from Montwood high school, far away from El Paso, Texas, far away from everything that she knew. Of course, that didn’t seem to be the smartest to do either, but there seemed to be no other choices. None of these ideas seemed fair for Luis in the very least, but it also wasn’t fair to drag him completely nowhere.
Then suddenly, Luna probably did the most embarrassing thing she had probably ever done in her life. She was three blocks away from the school and stopped her running, causing Luis to almost trip over himself. In the middle of the sidewalk, in a traditional witches outfit, she let out a very loud scream, something she hadn’t done since she was a very young girl. Luna didn’t care if anyone was staring at her; she just wanted let it all out.
Luis didn’t leave Luna’s side and wasn’t tempted to. It wasn’t because the entire situation had rendered him completely speechless, but he felt safe with Luna. She came to his rescue; her main purpose was making sure that he was alright. Luis believed that she came to help him not because it was the right thing to do, but because she deeply cared about him the same way he cared about her.
Strangely, that scream was exactly what Luna had needed. It was like she expelled every single stressor that was going on in her life, and reverted back, the only difference being that it was now she felt she had some sort of plan in her head. What she had to do was probably the worst to pick out of all of her ideas, but it was also the best idea. She just didn’t want to admit it to herself yet. She couldn’t have herself face her family, not yet anyway. So, she decided to go for the next best decision, for now anyway.
“Luis,” Luna said as she turned to face him, although not in the eye, “do you mind if we borrowed your car for a while?”