The party was only just getting started when I got there. I stopped to help a tall boy hang one last set of fake cobwebs. Then I glanced around.

I felt more welcome than I had thought I would. The gathering crowd was a rainbow of hues – and one literal rainbow. I wondered at that costume. Was he very gay or was he trying to be Bifrost?

Amusement rippled through me at that thought and I laughed a bit, then looked around for Kanesha. I couldn’t see her, but she might well be one of the group wearing masks and not moving much. If she was, I’d recognize her the second she took a step. On the other hand, she would recognize…

…aha. There she was. She came in the door, dressed as Death and with a scythe over her shoulder that looked to have a pretty solid haft to it. She was thinking the same way I was, and I wandered over in a rather fly casual manner. “Hey, girl.”

“Hey there. Hopefully nobody will decide you need a prince.”

I laughed a bit. “It was cheap.” Hopefully nobody would realize the sword was too good. “So…I had to turn down a plus one.”

“Creeper?”

“Demon who wants to Romeo to my Juliet.” I kept my voice low. “He said he was going to have fun with some trick or treaters.”

“I hope he doesn’t scare any of them too much.”

“I’m more worried about the parents.” I raised my voice a little. “So, I’ll have to see who I can send your way,” I quipped.

She laughed. “I know, I know. Most original costume ever.”

“It’s not a sheet over your head.” I pointed to somebody wearing exactly that. With poorly-cut eyeholes.

“Be nice. I think that’s Joshua. No money and neither he nor his mother can sew to save their lives.” She looked down. “Yeah. I recognize the sneakers.”

I laughed again. “Well, maybe if somebody who actually can sew taught him.”

“Willa tried.”

“Which one is Willa?”

“The ginger wearing the bright purple witch outfit. She knows it looks terrible on her. That’s the point.”

I relaxed. I felt quite comfortable. Maybe, Halloween or no Halloween, I could forget that I was anyone but just another girl and enjoy the party.

Of course, that was probably the worst thing I could have said, or even thought.