The weeks that followed were frustrating for both of us. Only able to sneak a few moments alone at school, we could never just be together. We had to be careful not to be labelled a couple by other students in case word got out to whoever was after Zed’s family. This led to guilt as I had to lie to my closest friends about what was going on. And there was still Zed’s premonition to worry about—he was angry because he couldn’t stick to my side to keep me safe and I was getting jumpy any time I was out after dark. The whole situation added up to major stress for us both. Two threats too many.

‘Something happen between you and Zed, Sky?’ asked Tina one afternoon as we helped decorate the form room for Hallowe’en.

I hung a row of pumpkin lights over the whiteboard. ‘No.’

‘You seemed on the point of something until he gave you that black eye. Was there more to that than you said?’

Yeah, just a bit. ‘Like what?’

She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. ‘He didn’t hit you or anything?’

‘No!’

‘Just that the Benedicts are a little strange. No one really gets to know them. We talk about them, of course, but no one from school’s dated them that I’ve heard about. Who knows what secrets they’re hiding up there?’

I decided to fight fire with fire. ‘You mean like their mad granny locked in the cellar? Or the voodoo dolls hanging by their necks over the corpses of their victims?’

She looked shamefaced now. ‘I wasn’t thinking that.’

‘Zed does not beat up his girlfriends.’

She pounced. ‘So you are his girlfriend?’

Oops. ‘Not really. Just a friend.’

‘Must admit I’m relieved to hear that.’ Tina stretched out some cobweb material over the notice board. ‘Did you know that Nelson went a round with him about what he did to you?’

‘He didn’t!’

‘Yeah, in the guys’ changing room after basketball practice.’

‘I told him it was my fault, not Zed’s!’

‘Nelson has this protective streak a mile wide. You must have noticed. I think it’s his version of his grandmother’s desire to keep tabs on us all.’

‘Did anyone get hurt?’

‘No. Coach broke it up. Put them both in detention. Zed’s on the watch list again for suspension.’

‘I didn’t want this.’

‘What? Boys fighting over you? You should be flattered.’

‘They’re idiots.’

‘Yeah, they’re boys. Goes with the territory.’

I crossed my fingers. ‘Look, Zed and me, we like each other, but it’s not going to go any further.’ At least, not until we’d sorted out the death threat.

‘OK, I hear you. You’re safe.’ But I could tell she wasn’t convinced. ‘So, you want to come Trick-or-Treating with us?’

‘Isn’t that for little kids?’

‘Doesn’t stop us big ones having a party. We get dressed up, enjoy the show on the streets then go hang out back at someone’s house. My mom said we can go to mine this year.’

‘What kind of dressed up?’

‘Any kind of fancy dress. Witch, ghoul, voodoo-doll-hanging-over-the-corpse-of-a-dead-granny-from-the-cellar—that kind of stuff.’

‘Sounds fun.’

To my embarrassment, Simon was really into the idea of making a Hallowe’en costume. He often used materials in his art and got a bit carried away when I made the mistake of telling him about Trick-or-Treating. He constructed a skeleton suit for me out of material that glowed spectre-like in white light and a really convincing skull head mask. He made a costume for himself and Sally too.

‘You’re not thinking of coming with me?’ I asked in horror as he displayed the masks in the kitchen on Hallowe’en morning.

‘Of course.’ His tone was deadpan but I caught the laughter in his eyes. ‘Just what a teenager wants: her parents tagging along to a friend’s party on her first evening out after grounding.’

‘Tell me he’s lying!’ I appealed to Sally.

‘Of course, he is. We were just reading up on the American customs at Hallowe’en and understand that it is our duty as fine upstanding citizens of Wrickenridge to man the door in as scary a fashion as possible and spread tooth decay among the younger part of the population.’

‘You’re going to hand out candy dressed like that?’

‘Yep.’ Simon tapped his skull mask affectionately.

‘I’m glad I won’t be home.’

My friends met up outside the grocery store at seven, forming a gaggle of witches, ghosts, and zombies. The atmosphere was perfect: dark, moonless, and there was even a mist to add to the ghoulish theme. Zoe had dressed in a fantastic vampire outfit with red-lined cape and white fangs. Tina chose the warlock look, pointy hat and long cape, face painted with silver stars. Nelson came as a zombie—a no-brainer (ha ha) for him. I felt a bit self-conscious in my figure-hugging skeleton suit.

Nelson rapped on the top of my plaster skull. ‘Knock, knock, who’s there?’

‘It’s me—Sky.’

‘It’s me, Sky who?’

‘Shut up, Nelson.’

He laughed. ‘You look great. Where did you get the suit? Did you hire it?’

I took off the mask. ‘No, Simon made it.’

‘Awesome.’

‘He and Sally are sitting at home in similar outfits.’

He playfully began dragging me in the direction of my house. ‘No way? We’ll have to go up there.’

I jabbed him in the ribs. ‘If you suggest that to the others, I will personally pull your dead brain out of your ears and feed it to your fellow zombies.’

‘Ouch! Good visual threat—I like it.’

I was feeling a bit cold in my costume. ‘Can we get moving, Tina?’

‘Yeah, let’s.’

Tina handed round pumpkin-shaped lanterns on the end of poles and we processed through the streets enjoying the show. Little children paraded past with their parents, dressed in a bizarre selection of costumes. The spooky theme seemed to have got diluted somewhere along the way because it was perfectly acceptable to wear your favourite princess costume if you were a kindergarten girl, or come dressed as Spider-Man if you were a boy. The emphasis was definitely on ‘treat’ rather than ‘trick’. I saw a couple of older kids fighting each other with water pistols, but most were too busy racking up a sugar high to cause any damage to houses where they got no answer.

As we neared Tina’s house, a werewolf emerged from the mist to join our group, complete with full face mask sprouting hair from ears, and a pair of shaggy paws. On any other night, this would be a cause for alarm; on Hallowe’en no one batted an eyelid.

The werewolf slipped through the crowd and sidled up to me. Bending down, he growled in my ear.

‘Zed?’ I yelped.

‘Ssh. I don’t want people to know I’m here. And don’t, you know, think to me, in case someone’s listening.’

I started to giggle, absurdly glad that he had sneaked out to see me. ‘Ah, Wolfman, you are a master of disguise, fooling the bad guys with your cunning.’

‘I blend, don’t I? I knew you’d be out after dark, so here I am.’

I really didn’t need a reminder of the real horror haunting us on this night of pretend terrors, but I did feel happier now he was beside me.

A shaggy paw insinuated itself around my waist. ‘I’m not sure I approve of this costume of yours. Couldn’t you put a cloak on or something?’

‘I feel really cold. Simon didn’t think of this when he made it for me.’

He shrugged out of his coat and slipped it over my shoulders. ‘Your dad made this? Are we talking about the same guy who wants to lock you away until you’re thirty? Has he had a personality change since I last saw him?’

‘It’s artistic. He wasn’t thinking about how his daughter looks—just getting the right shape. He and Sally are at home in identical outfits.’

He chuckled softly.

‘So, did you tell your parents you were going out?’ I asked.

‘No, they still think we need to circle the wagons back home. I’m tinkering with the bike in the garage. Xav’s covering for me.’

‘How are they going to react?’

He frowned. ‘I can’t see—it’s hard with family. There are so many possibilities in a house of savants that I think the future gets fuzzy, like interference on a cellphone. And it’s weird: I’ve noticed that the closer I get to you, the less I see about you.’

‘Does that mean I could beat you at cards now?’

‘Probably. But I might not be able to help you out with your goal-keeping either, so there’s a drawback.’

‘That’s fine by me. It’s not nice knowing you see so much all the time. Makes me feel, I dunno, caged by the future.’

‘Yeah, I prefer it this way. It feels more normal.’

We reached Tina’s house. She’d really gone to town: carved pumpkins grinned in every window and the porch was festooned with spiders, bats, and snakes. Her mum opened the door dressed as a witch, with massive false eyelashes and crimson nails. I could see Tina’s older brothers out the back, forking garden trimmings on to a bonfire.

‘Let’s go in and stay for a while, then slip away,’ suggested Zed. ‘I really want to be alone with you for an hour or so. It’s killing me having to steal all these moments at school, always worrying someone’s going to walk in on us.’

‘OK, but I can’t bail out too early.’

‘I’ll keep away from you in there. If anyone recognizes me beneath the costume, they won’t think anything of it. Tina did invite me.’

The party gathered in the kitchen. Tina’s mum had a huge cauldron full of popcorn for us to eat and green jelly which we had to feed each other blindfold. Not possible when wearing a skull mask so I took this off and joined in. Zed hung back, keeping his werewolf gear on.

I drew Nelson as my jelly feeder with Tina shouting instructions. Inevitably he got more on me than in my mouth.

‘Yuck. I’m going to need a shower now!’ I squawked as the spoon hit my neck and jelly fell on my chest.

‘Apple bobbing!’ suggested Tina. ‘That should help.’

I proved useless at getting my apple. Zoe was the best.

‘It’s her big mouth,’ explained Tina, ducking as Zoe flicked water at her.

I had to be home at midnight, so if I wanted to spend some time with Zed, I needed to make my excuses at ten thirty.

‘You OK getting back?’ Tina asked, shuffling the songs on the iPod to start the dancing.

‘Yes, I’ve got a lift arranged.’

‘OK. See you tomorrow.’

‘Thanks for the party. It was brilliant.’

She laughed. ‘I love it when you speak Brit, Sky. It was brilliant,’ she mimicked. Cackling with laughter, she swooped on Nelson and hauled him into the middle of the kitchen to dance.

I emerged on to the porch to find Zed waiting for me.

‘Ready?’ he asked.

‘Uh-huh. Where are we going?’

‘Let’s head up to your place. There’s a coffee bar on Main Street that should be open.’

‘Is that safe?’

‘Should be. We’ll go to one of the booths at the back. As much as I appreciate the value of blending, I don’t want to sit with this mask on all night.’

I held out the skull. ‘Should I put this back on? I feel really stupid wearing it.’

‘You might want to think that people can see who’s wearing the skeleton suit if you don’t.’

‘Good point.’ I put it back on then couldn’t help laughing at us. ‘This is our second date, right?’

‘See, I told you I’d come up with something better.’ He laced his fingers in mine: hairy claws to skele-bones.

The coffee bar was busy with parents taking a warming break after traipsing round after their hyper kids all evening. We had to wait for the back booth to come free.

‘What’ll you have?’ Zed asked.

‘Hot chocolate with all the trimmings.’

He carried over a tall glass brimming with cream and marshmallows, a chocolate stirring stick on the side. He’d chosen black coffee for himself.

‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’ I sighed with ecstasy as I took a hit of gooey marshmallow mixed with chocolate syrup.

‘I think I’m probably getting as much pleasure watching you.’ He sipped his coffee. ‘I know it’s a cheap date—sorry about that.’

‘Yeah, you know me: I’m sitting here calculating how much you spent. Next time I’m expecting caviar at a five star restaurant.’

‘I can stretch to a burger at the diner if you’re hungry.’

I tugged a paw off. ‘Don’t be daft. My treat next time. Let’s keep this equal.’

He stroked the back of my hand, sending a host of tingles dancing down my spine. ‘I don’t mind splitting the bill, but I kinda prefer buying for my date. I don’t think I’d like it if you paid for me.’

I laughed. ‘You grew up with cavemen, right?’

‘You’ve met my dad and my brothers. I rest my case.’

We walked back through the now much quieter streets. The snow-capped mountains gleamed in the moonlight, the stars flecks of white in the black sky, so distant but acutely bright.

‘Makes me feel very small,’ I said, imagining all the miles between us and the nearest of them.

‘I hate to break it to you, Sky, but you are small.’

I batted him in the stomach and he obligingly let out an ‘oof’ of air, though I doubted I’d done any injury to him. ‘Look, I was having a moment here—one of those “isn’t the universe mind-blowing?” things. Have some respect.’

He grinned. ‘It’s a challenge when you’re wearing a bone suit. Do you realize you’re shining in the moonlight? I’ve never had a date do that before.’

‘And just who have you dated, Mr Benedict? Tina says your family don’t go out with girls from Wrickenridge.’

‘That’s true. You’re the exception. I dated a few—from Aspen mostly.’ He squeezed my waist. ‘How about you?’

I blushed, wishing I hadn’t started this conversation. ‘My friends back home did set me up with a boy once. It was a disaster. He was so in love with himself, it wasn’t true.’

‘So he wanted you for arm candy?’

‘What?’

‘For image.’

‘I suppose. Only went out twice before I got fed up. So you see my experience is pretty limited.’

‘Can’t say I’m sorry to hear that. Did you enjoy the party?’

‘The games were silly but fun.’

‘I hoped you’d mention them. I was particularly intrigued by what happened to that jelly.’ He started nuzzling my neck. ‘Hmm. Yep, you definitely didn’t get it all off.’

‘Zed!’ My protest was only half-hearted—I was enjoying his attentions far too much.

‘Ssh! I’m busy here.’

When ‘clean up’ as he called it was over, we turned into my road. As we did so, two boys dressed as axe murderers ran out of the mist, yelling at the tops of their voices. Their hands were bloody and they had fake knives through their heads. One carried a blade in his hands.

‘Here’s some more to massacre! Kill the wolf! Kill the skeleton!’ he screamed. ‘Charge!’ He ran straight for me; his bag of candy burst, scattering sweets all over the sidewalk. He didn’t slow, his blood lust very convincing. The knife came plunging towards me even as I tried to duck out of the way. I screamed, half afraid of him.

Zed went crazy. He grabbed the boy’s wrist and twisted so the knife clattered to the ground. He then jumped on top of him, pinning him down, wrenching his arms behind his back.

‘Stop it, Zed!’ I shouted, tugging my mask off. ‘He didn’t mean any harm—it’s a fake.’

The other boy leapt on Zed and fists began to fly, the three of them rolling around in a mix of pretend blood and squashed sweets. I couldn’t get anywhere near to pull the boys off Zed. My screams and the swearing from the fighters brought the neighbours running.

Mrs Hoffman bustled out of her door. ‘Police! I’ll call the police!’ She disappeared back inside.

‘No, don’t! Stop it, Zed—stop it!’

Worse, my parents came out, recognizing my voice above the rest.

‘Sky, what the hell’s happening?’ Simon shouted, sprinting towards me.

‘Stop them, Simon, stop them!’

Simon weighed in and caught the smallest of the three by the back of his jeans. The little guy came up swinging just as a cop car turned into our lane. There was a short burst of siren, then revolving lights illuminated the scene. Two other neighbours reached the scuffle before the policeman could get out of his vehicle; they separated Zed from the remaining axeman.

The cop took one look at the mayhem and sighed. ‘Who’s gonna tell me what this is all about?’ He took out his notebook. ‘I know you, Zed Benedict, and these are the Gordano twins, yes? And this little … er … lady skeleton?’

‘Her name’s Sky, Sky Bright, my daughter,’ Simon said stiffly. ‘She wasn’t fighting.’

‘You’re the English family, right?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘I know these boys—they’re good boys,’ he said, looking at the twins. ‘Never had no trouble from them. Who started this?’

The policeman’s gaze turned to Zed and me. He thought he knew who was to blame.

‘He attacked Sky.’ Zed wiped blood from a split lip.

‘Well, duh! I was just playing, man: it’s Hal-oh-een, remember? Zed went ballistic, Officer Hussein.’ The axeman hugged his ribs.

‘Let’s take this down to the station, boys. I’ll get the duty doctor to take a look at you and phone your parents.’

‘Aw, officer!’ groaned the twins.

‘In the car.’

Zed shot me a desperate look. Our secret date was about to get exposed big time.

‘And you, young lady, I think we’ll need your side of this too. Perhaps your parents can bring you down. I seem to have my hands full of psycho killers and werewolves.’

‘I’ll bring her,’ said Simon in clipped tones.

Great. Date number two ends in the police station.