✓ 𝐖.𝐈.𝐓.𝐂.𝐇. | ʜᴏᴄᴜꜱ ᴘᴏᴄᴜꜱ

𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁

"HOW ARE WE EVER GONNA FIND MOM AND DAD IN THIS PLACE?"

we went into town hall and was immediately met with a bunch of crazy drunk parents in crazy costumes. thank god my parents were at home, probably watching the halloween movies or something.

the mayor threw this party every year. each party was bigger and better than the last. of course, i could never go because most of it was off limits for kids and besides, i liked spending halloween with theo and allison anyways.

"your dad really outdid himself," i told theo as we looked across the room. "he even got a band this year."

he covered his ears. "not a very good one, i'll say."

max looked flabbergasted when he turned to us. "holy shit, your dads the mayor?"

theo nodded. "got elected.. what, three years ago? he throws the party every year so he gets re-elected."

"it's worked so far," allison said, searching the crowd. "max, where are your people?"

"i don't know, we're gonna have to find them," he said, ignoring the fact that none of us knew what they looked like.

dani punched max on the shoulder to get his attention. "i'm gonna look for mom."

dani went off to go look for her mom, leaving the rest of us older kids to look for mr. dennison. hopefully when i met him, i could tell him that his son was truly a pain in the ass.

that was, until max screamed bloody murder and i grabbed onto theo's arm out of reflex before dealing it was probably nothing and that max was probably overreacting.

"dad!" max sighed.

the man in a count dracula costume shook his head. "not dad. it's dadcula."

yup, this guy was definitely max's dad. and i wasn't even judging by appearance. that joke just seemed like something max would say. he was never the comedic type, even in class.

"oh my goodness," his dad said, turning towards the three of us. "who must these charming blood donors be?"

"dad! somethin' terrible happened!" max scolded before his father could say anything else.

his demeanor changed immediately. "dani? what's wrong? what--h-"

"no, dani's fine!" max shouted over the music.

mr. dennison nodded his head and pulled max aside. "good. come here. excuse me."

i let out a sigh and looked at theo and allison. "that went well, don't you think?"

"what do we do now?" theo asked. "look for dani?"

i shrugged my shoulders. "i think we should just wait. what do you think we should do, allis-" but by then, she was already gone.

"i guess it's just us then," theo said, a thin smile forming on his face.

"be on the lookout," i told him, ignoring what he had said. "it's a matter of time before they find us."

"right, um-can i tell you something?" he grabbed my arm, but i was too preoccupied with trying to not die.

i shook my head, my neck craning over the crowd. "can it wait?"

he nodded, but it didn't seem like he really meant it. "yeah, it can-it can wait."

*

"they're here!" dani yelled, joking binx to make sure he wouldn't get lost.

we all turned to look where dani had pointed, and sure enough the three witches were together in the crowd, looking for us. i didn't know what to do. if they caught us, we would be dead meat.

no one believed us, not even max's parents. it was crazy to think that we were the only ones who had seen them? there's no way that everyone had just ignored them all night.

"max, where are you going?" his mom called out, dressed like madonna.

allison held the spell book that max had thrown into her arms and gripped it so tight her knuckles were turning white. i tried to tell her that she didn't have to hold it so hard, but she said she didn't want to take any chances.

from the stage, the music stopped and max held the microphone, center stage. the lead singer of the band yelled at him for taking the mic in the middle of the song, but max didn't care.

"will everybody listen up, please?" he asked the crowd, followed by murmurs of conversation stopping. "your kids are in danger."

the crowd groaned, asking him what he meant and how he knew. drunk adults were crazy, man.

"three hindered years ago, the sanderson sisters bewitched people. and now they've returned from their grave."

the crowd started to laugh. i looked at theo, asking him what we could do to help. maybe him being the mayors kid could do something to convince these people that max was telling the truth. but i knew we wouldn't be so lucky.

"i know this sounds dumb, but they're here tonight." he pointed to a group of people in the crowd. "they're right over there."

the crowd parted and a spotlight shone on the sisters. i could see them more clearly now than i was able to a few minutes ago. they didn't have their brooms, this time, but they still looked as scary as they did in their house.

"thank you, max," winnifred said, taking advantage of the attention, "for the marvelous introduction."

the crowd laughed, including the dennison's. i'm pretty sure the only people not laughing in the whole room were max, allison, dani, theo, and i.

winnifred began singing i put a spell on you, which had been played by the band a few minutes earlier.

"no!" i shouted, covering my ears. "don't listen to them!"

"we've got to get out!" i read theo's lips, grabbing my arm and rushing us out of the building, not even bothering to grab allison and max's arm.

"binx!" i called out, hoping the cat could hear me over all of the commotion. "thackery binx!"

in just a few seconds, the cat latched onto my shirt. i pulled him closer and patted his head with my hand. theo told me it was time to go, so we rushed out of town hall, not bothering to look for the other three.

"no one believed us!" i groaned, stomping my foot on the ground as binx jumped out of my hands. "someone must have believed us!"

i was outraged. i was feeling so many emotions. how could no one have believed us even in the slightest? you're telling me no one thought it was weird that exact replicas of the sanderson sisters were at that dance?

"there's nothing we could have done." theo tried to make me feel better. "adults never believe kids."

i sat down on the ground and started pulling weeds up from where i sat. it didn't make me feel any better, but it gave my hands something to do while i was freaking out. even thackery couldn't think of anything to say to me.

theo took a seat beside me. "can i tell you now?"

i shook my head. i felt bad for refusing whatever theo was trying to tell me, but we had more important things to deal with right now.

"where are they?" i groaned, standing up. "max! dani! allison!"

i heard footsteps splattering against broken twigs before the group came to a stop before us. they all looked out of breath before thackery began running on his four legs.

"follow me!"