“Recalculating,” the robotic voice of the GPS instructed. “Drive point eight miles, then turn left onto Misty Pine Street.”

  “That’s the third time it’s done that,” Jesse’s mom threw a glance his way at the passenger’s seat. “Are you sure this place even exists? This is pretty out of the way.”

  “That, or it’s because the GPS is older than I am,” Jesse said.

  “It’s served us well all these years,” she defended.

  “Maybe it’s because it’s Halloween,” Siobhan piped up from where she was sitting in the back, adding the finishing touches to her makeup. How she was able to do that in a moving vehicle, Jesse had no idea. “The veil separating our world and the other one gets thin around this time. I heard it messes with electronics.”

  “Sometimes I have no idea if you’re joking or not.”

  “What ‘other world’?” his mom asked.

  She shrugged. “You know, where all the ghosts and goblins and stuff reside. The other one.”

  Jesse was about to ask her where she heard all that from, but was distracted by a light up ahead. “Hey, I think we’re here.”

  “Really?” His mom checked the GPS again, just in time for it to announce that they’ve arrived at their destination. “It sure snuck up on us.”

  She rolled down the window as they approached a security checkpoint, the gate lowered to prevent them from going any further. Sitting inside the booth was a bored looking security guard who, aside from his uniform, wore a pair of plastic devil horns as his Halloween costume. The name tag attached to his shirt over his breast pocket read Doug.

  “Hi, we’re here for the party.” Jesse’s mom held up the flier they brought with them.

  Doug said nothing, but pointed to a sign taped to the window. No cars allowed.

  “Oh. I guess I can drop you off here then.”

  They stepped out of the car. Before them, the road stretched on past a large pumpkin patch, towards the neighborhood of Gravewood. From where they were standing, they could faintly hear music drifting from that direction.

  “We have to walk the rest of the way?” Siobhan said, squinting at the houses in the distance. Now that her makeup was complete, Jesse could fully appreciate her costume; a denim overall dress stuffed with straw in its pockets to make her look like a scarecrow come to life, a stitched smile accentuating her normal mouth. He started to regret not taking her up on her offer to help with his own costume.

  “Here’s some spending money,” Jesse’s mom said, handing him a wad of cash as well as the party flier through the open car window. Unlike them, she had opted not to wear a costume this Halloween. He’d tried to convince her she’d make a good Vixen, appropriate given her job as a vet, but she’d rejected the idea since she had a shift at the clinic that night and whatever she wore had a high likelihood of getting cat vomit or dog drool all over it. “I’ll be back to pick you up at midnight, but if you need me to come sooner, don’t hesitate to call.”

  “We know, Mom. We promise we’ll be safe.”

  “And Siobhan, you have your inhaler?”

  “Yes, Dr. Carmen.” She patted her dress pocket.

  “Okay, have fun, you two!” And with a final wave, she was driving back down the street they came.

  Jesse had never seen a neighborhood go as all out for Halloween as Gravewood. Every single house was decorated to the nines, with plenty of orange-colored lights, plastic tombstones, and posing skeletons. Fake spiderwebs layered almost every available surface, connecting roofs like sticky telephone lines.

  The main road that the party took place on, Moonset Drive, was where all the action was happening. The whole road was crowded with people in costumes enjoying the activities and booths that lined the street. Jesse spotted balloon darts, apple bobbing, and even a dunk tank. Not to mention all the food vendors selling everything from turkey legs to pumpkin pie.

  They made their way to the cul-de-sac at the end of the road. In the middle, surrounded by a half-circle of Victorian style houses, sat a fountain. It was perfectly situated to act as a hub for the party; from there, they could see most of the games and activities.

  “So, want to head straight to the haunted house?” Siobhan asked.

  “We have plenty of time, why don’t we play some other games first?”

  “But you know later on there’s going to be a crazy line for it, and besides it’ll be less scary while the sun’s still out.”

  “It won’t be dark for another hour,” he insisted. “And you promised me snacks, remember?”

  She peered at him and Jesse wondered if she could tell he was trying to put off the haunted house. But then she sighed.

  “Alright, what do you want to do?”

  He cast around for an activity, anything that wasn’t too scary, before his eyes landed on a certain game.

  “Over there.” He led her down the street to a cozy-looking house that had its yard set up with ten wooden pins, an alley marked with masking tape running through the grass. A handmade sign said, “Pumpkin Bowling: win a candied apple!”

  “Hey there, kiddos. Looking to play?” A big man stood next to the sign, and Jesse meant big. Bigger than Noah, even. The man looked like how he expected a lumberjack to look, with red flannel, hiking boots, and suspenders keeping up denim jeans. The look was all pulled together by his unkempt brown hair and beard.

  “Yes,” Siobhan said, starting to pull her own money from her pocket. “How much?”

  He waved his hand. “No charge. Everybody should get the chance to experience my world-famous candied apples.”

  “Are they that good?”

  “Of course!” He thumped his chest proudly. “All the folks around here know how great my cooking is. Though, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two before. Is this your first year coming to our little Halloween party?”

  “It is. My name’s Siobhan and that’s Jesse.”

  “I’m Hank Harwood,” the lumberjack said. Jesse wondered if that’s what he was supposed to be dressed up as, but if so, shouldn’t he have an axe or something? “Pleasure to meet you kids, and can I just say, your costume is great. You should think about entering the contest later tonight.”

  It took Jesse a moment to realize he was talking to him and not Siobhan. “Oh, thank you.”

  He walked to where there was a pile of pumpkins and grabbed two, one in each hand. “You’ve been regular bowling, right? Same rules apply. You get two tries to knock down all of the pins.”

  Jesse lowered himself in a mock-bow to Siobhan. “Ladies first.”

  “Darn right, I’m going first.”

  She positioned herself behind a line of masking tape, shifting slightly to the left to find the perfect angle. Once satisfied, she rolled her pumpkin down the lane.

  The pumpkin veered off course, over the lines and just barely grazed the pin at the edge. Her second attempt wasn’t much better, only knocking down three of the ten pins.

  “Oh, come on.”

  Jesse’s turn. He didn’t take as much time as Siobhan did, finding the right position easily. The pumpkin Hank gave him was small and round, and it rolled smoothly down the lane, knocking all ten pins down.

  “How’d you do that?” she demanded.

  “Wii bowling.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Hey, since nobody else is lining up, why don’t you go ahead and take another crack at it,” Hank suggested.

  The desire to one-up Jesse, as well as the incentive of a candied apple, was apparently all Siobhan needed. She readied herself again and let the pumpkin roll, this time knocking down over half the pins. One more roll and she got a spare.

  Hank clapped his hands. “Nicely done. Here’s your prizes.” He handed them each a candied apple; two beautifully red pieces of fruit with shiny hardened shells and sprinkled with crushed nuts.

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  They bade him farewell and took their spoils back to the fountain to eat, sitting on the edge of the black stone pool, a statue of some man in period clothing towering over them.

  One bite of the crunchy apple’s sweetly coated exterior and they understood why Hank was boasting.

  “This is the best apple I’ve ever tasted,” Siobhan declared, and Jesse agreed. He tried to pinpoint the flavor but the candy coating didn’t taste like anything he’d ever had before. It wasn’t chocolate or caramel, but something richer. More complex.

  As they enjoyed their apples, they watched the party around them. A lot of people had shown up for the event, with more coming as the sun started to set. There were kids of all ages, from toddlers holding their parents' hands as they went trick-or-treating, to middle schoolers hanging out and playing the various games. Even a scary-looking group of teenagers Jesse spotted lurked around the shadows in between houses.

  Siobhan nudged him, pointing out a figure in the crowd. “Hey, doesn’t that guy look familiar?”

  Jesse followed her gaze to see a tall party-goer dressed like one of those killers from 80s slasher movies, with blue coveralls and a hockey mask that obscured his face. Despite the mask, Jesse was able to recognize his mess of brown hair. “That’s Noah Talbot.”

  “Really? What’s he doing here?”

  They watched as he rang the doorbell to a house, holding out a pillowcase when its owner opened the door.

  Siobhan tilted her head. “Huh, never would have pegged him for the type to like trick-or-treating.”

  “I guess even he just wants to have fun on Halloween.”

  They spent a few more minutes like that, just taking in the sights of Gravewood, before Siobhan got to her feet, throwing the stick of her candied apple into a nearby trash can. “Okay, It’s haunted house time.”

  Jesse inwardly groaned, but reluctantly followed suit. Why did he ever agree to this?

  The haunted house started in the backyard of a two-story house at the end of the cul-de-sac and ran through the woods surrounding the neighborhood; a long plywood corridor snaking around trees before spitting its victims back out near the front of the house. Despite the party still being in its earlier hours, there was already a long line forming.

  “Come on,” Siobhan said. “We have to hurry.”

  Jesse let her drag him down the street, in no particular rush himself. They claimed their spots in line, joining the throng of people slowly shuffling their way towards the house. As they got closer and closer to the front of the line, he couldn’t help but feel a growing unease in the pit of his stomach. He started drumming his fingers against his thigh to expel some nervous energy.

  Siobhan noticed this. “Relax, this is a family friendly event. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  As if on cue, a scream echoed from somewhere in the woods, blood-curdling and loud. Jesse leveled her with a stare.

  She waved it off. “They’re just being dramatic. Look, there are actual children in the line. As well as…” she pointed to a group in front of them, but trailed off as she saw who else was in the line. “Is that Alicia?”

  “Who?”

  She was staring at a dark-haired girl about their age dressed as a cheerleader holding hands with a small child, maybe four or five, that was wearing a full body space suit. Her brother, maybe. Jesse recognized the blue and yellow color scheme as the cheer uniform of their middle school, and thought that that was her entire costume, until he noticed the bloody wounds covering her arms and legs and realized she was a zombie cheerleader.

  “Alicia Sheth. She hangs out with my sister a lot, even though they're not even in the same grade. We saw her yesterday, remember? Anyway the point is, anyone in Adrienne’s friend group has got to be like an extreme prissy girly-girl. There’s no way this thing is that scary if she’s here.”

  Finally, their turn to go into the haunted house arrived. The attendant out front made them wait for a few minutes, ensuring a gap between groups. The nerves must have been starting to get to Jesse, because as they checked a stopwatch in their hands, his vision blurred and he could have sworn he saw something like horns sprout from the sides of their head.

  Then Jesse blinked and the attendant was back to normal, ushering them through the curtain entrance of the haunted house.

  It’s just your imagination, he told himself. Nothing here can actually hurt you.

  Siobhan took the lead, strolling confidently through the winding hallway, and Jesse fought the urge to grab onto her. He didn’t want to give her yet another thing to tease him about, but it was nearly pitch black in there, what little light there was coming from small LED strips on the forest floor. He was more likely to trip than to run into a real monster.

  A hissing sound caused him to jump, more than he would have admitted, and a thick layer of smoke pooled around their ankles.

  “Wow, so scary,” Siobhan said, trying, and failing, to suppress a grin.

  “Shut up,” he grumbled.

  They pressed on, entering the first major “room” of the haunted house. They rounded a corner to reveal a circular area draped with red and white curtains that pitched in the center roof like a circus tent. Barrels lined the edge of the room alongside a row of benches and a few giant rubber balls for acrobatic performances.

  “Hey kids!”

  Jesse screamed at the sudden voice behind them, and he could see Siobhan flinch out of the corner of his eye.

  Appearing seemingly from nowhere right behind them, stood a creepy clown in a red and black jumpsuit. And he meant “It” levels of creepy, with bulging bloodshot eyes and caked on white makeup. He clutched a bunch of bright red balloons tightly in one hand.

  Siobhan recovered quickly, taking in the clown’s costume. “Cool.”

  “My name’s Marbles the Clown,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “Would you two like some balloons?”

  “No, we’re good.” Jesse started to push Siobhan out of the room, whispering, “Keep moving.”

  “Are you sure? We could have a popping good time!”

  Even though he knew it was coming, he still startled at the loud popping of a balloon, the clown laughing with glee at his reaction. Before she could argue with him, he was ushering Siobhan away, into a hallway that mirrored the first one they entered.

  “Are you going to rush through this whole thing?” she asked.

  “If it means getting out of here quicker, yes.”

  She rolled her eyes but they kept walking. All he agreed to was going through the haunted house, she didn’t say anything about taking their time.

  Another hissing sound and Jesse braced himself. The motion detector filled the narrow hallway with even more smoke, engulfing them in a hazy mist.

  He waved some away with his hand. “Okay, that’s a bit overkill.”

  “Y-yeah,” Siobhan coughed. “A-all this smoke better not, not ruin my makeup-” she struggled to get the words out through her coughing fit, doubling over.

  “Siobhan!”

  “I-I’m fine,” she said, fishing her inhaler out of her pocket and taking a shaky breath from it.

  Jesse had witnessed her having asthma attacks in the past, and thankfully this one didn’t seem to be too serious, but as they stood there in the hallway as she caught her breath, a nagging thought crossed his mind.

  “There’s smoke all throughout this haunted house…” he began.

  “So?”

  “And I bet there are more motion triggers further in.”

  As his words dawned on her, her face fell.

  “Sorry,” he said, and he genuinely was. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep going.”

  She sighed. “You’re right. My mom would kill me if she found out I was doing this. Stupid asthma.”

  “Come on, we’ll ask the next actors we see if they can let us out.”

  They kept going, mindful of any more motion detectors. Fortunately, it looked like they were relegated to one per hallway section. Up ahead, Jesse could hear muffled voices. The actors from the next scare room. As they got closer, the conversation became clearer.

  “…Still don’t understand why we have to play Frankenstein and his monster when we have an actual mad scientist in the neighborhood.”

  “Dr. Rotbart and Adam are out of town this week, remember? Besides, I think you pull it off better than him.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Yeah, man. You’re way scarier than those two combined.”

  “Excuse me?” Jesse said as they rounded the corner.

  The room was themed like a laboratory, with gnarly looking machinery and an operating table smeared with fake blood. Off to the side, chatting away, were two actors; one tall and gangly, wearing a torn blazer and a green Frankenstein mask, the other shorter and squatter, wearing a lab coat and black rubber gloves. When they noticed Jesse and Siobhan enter, they immediately stopped talking.

  “Donnie, look, kids!”

  They scrambled back to their positions; the tall one laying on the operating table, long limbs draping over the side, while the “doctor” moved to stand next to him.

  “Welcome, poor souls to my secret lab, where I perform all my most dangerous experiments,” he said, punctuating his sentence with a dramatic evil laugh.

  “We were just- “ Jesse tried to start, but Siobhan elbowed him.

  “Hold on, let them finish their bit.”

  He rolled his eyes but decided to indulge her. They would be leaving right after, anyways. What’s the harm in staying a few extra minutes?

  The doctor, Donnie, cleared his throat, readying another monologue. “You are about to witness history in the making. Tonight is the night I bring my beautiful creation to life.”

  He crossed to the wall where there was a giant switch labeled “Life” on the bottom and “Death” on top. As he wrapped his gloved hand around the switch, Jesse thought he saw something shiny peek out from under the black rubber, but before he could register what it was, he was yelling again.

  “Feast your eyes on this!”

  He yanked down the switch and all of the lights started flashing as the sound of thunder and lightning blared on hidden speakers. Jesse could faintly hear the actor laughing maniacally again, only this time it sounded... strange. Almost... gurgly?

  A familiar hissing sound signaled an oncoming blanket of fog that enveloped the room.

  “Oh, come on,” Siobhan said.

  Between the strobing lights, Jesse could see her try to cover her mouth and nose in an attempt to protect herself.

  Alright, that’s enough, he thought.

  The room went dark and he counted three seconds before all the lights came on at once.

  “Listen, we really need to-”

  “Argh!” The actor that had been lying lifeless on the table now sat bolt upright, arms outstretched in an attempt to grab at Jesse and Siobhan.

  Jesse gasped, but not because of the jumpscare. During the lightshow, the actor had completely changed appearance; brown fur now replaced where bare skin had once been, covering his entire body from his head to his abnormally large feet. The strangest part though, is that he still wore the green monster mask, even with the fur poking out from under its neck. The whole sight made for one confusing monster.

  “Psst, Ronnie, your fur is showing,” Donnie whispered. He had also changed, now looking like something that had crawled out of the Black Lagoon, with shiny blue scales and finned gills attached to his neck.

  “Oh, shoot.”

  A quick glance at the expression on Siobhan’s face told him she noticed too and he wasn’t just seeing things, but before she could comment, she was doubled over coughing again.

  “Hey, is she okay?” the furry monster, Ronnie, asked.

  Something was definitely wrong here. Being friends with Siobhan, he was no stranger to practical effects makeup, but their fur and scales looked more real than even she could create. Besides, wasn’t it impossible to put on makeup that quickly? The lights were flashing for ten seconds at most.

  He could worry about all that later, though. Right now, his friend needed him.

  “E-Exit,” he stammered out. “We’re looking for the exit-”

  At once, both actors immediately dropped their performances.

  “Oh, yeah, sure. Right over here.” Donnie stomped over to the other end of the room where the outline of a door blended in with the plywood walls.

  “Don’t worry, we get it,” Ronnie assured them. “This haunted house is really scary. You saw the clown, right? No shame in ducking out.”

  Donnie opened the door, revealing the forest that surrounded Gravewood. “Go out this way and to your left and you’ll be back on Moonset.”

  Jesse tried to thank them, but when he passed by Donnie on their way out, the words died in his throat.

  Because when the actor gave the two of them what would have been a friendly smile, they saw both his eyelids blink sideways.

  Jesse grabbed Siobhan’s hand as she let out a squeak. They had to get out of there, now.

  “You kids be safe, alright?” one called as they left.

  As soon as they were out the door, they were running, putting as much distance between themselves and the strange creatures as they could, not even bothering to look behind them.

  They ran so fast that they didn’t hear when Donnie leaned in to whisper to Ronnie. “See? I told you you were scary.”