Chapter 1. Masks and Shadows.

            October wind scraped across the cul-de-sac, stirring up brittle leaves and the smell of burning pumpkins. By the time Trent Keller trudged up the driveway, his bookbag hung off one shoulder like a half-shed skin, and his werewolf mask dangled in shreds from his hand.

            From the porch, ten year old Matty peered over a candy bowl already half-raided. “Jeez, Trent, what happened? Did a truck run over your face?”

            Trent shot him a look sharp enough to cut. “Drop it.”

            Matty grinned. “You cryin’? You look like you’re cryin’.”

            “I said drop it, Matty.”

            Their mom wasn’t home yet, which meant Trent didn’t have to fake being fine. He tossed the ruined mask on the counter where its plastic muzzle curled like something melting. He stared at it at the clawed slashes across the snout and felt his stomach twist again.

            “It was that new kid,” he muttered finally. “The one dressed like a vampire.”

            Matt’s eyes widened. “Vampire kid? You mean the new kid?”

            “Yeah.” Trent slumped into a chair. “I was just messing around, okay? Said his fake teeth looked like he got them from the dollar store. He didn’t say anything just looked at me. Then when I turned around, he—” Trent hesitated. “He scratched the mask. Fast. Like…too fast.”

            Matty laughed. “Maybe he’s actually a vampire.”

            Trent rolled his eyes, but something about the way the kid’s nails had gleamed under the fluorescent light thin and sharp like glass had stayed with him all afternoon. “He’s just a freak. Moved into that wreck of a place on Taramack Drive.”

            Matt perked up. “The Winchester house?”

            “Yeah. Me, Logan, and Chris were gonna get him back tonight though.”

            Matty frowned. “But Mom said you gotta take me trick-or-treating.”

            Trent groaned. “Seriously?”

            “She said you’re responsible this year ” Matt made air quotes, before adding, “Mom and dad have plans tonight and won’t be home. So you gotta take me Trick r treating.

            Trent rubbed his face, torn between annoyance and unease. The old Winchester place had been empty for years boarded windows, no lights, and the kind of silence that made dogs bark at nothing. Now it had a new resident, the new family had moved in fast, faster than Trent had expected to be possible, but he wanted to teach that little pale kid with dark eyes a lesson and to even the score.

            Outside, the sun was already slipping behind the trees, and the streetlights were flickering to life one by one.

            Halloween night had just begun.