Alice into Darkness

Twilight Sky

That day turned out to be far greater than Alice had imagined it would be.

At least for some time, the lethal predator forgot about her instincts and she was free of the dark fantasies of murdering that little girl beside her... The wolf was happy to escort and protect those mischievous skaellyns, and together they journeyed from house to house and from street to street enjoying the magical atmosphere of Hallewayn.

Sometimes they would get handfuls of candy, but other times the people would provide them with even more plums so they could continue to bombard the few houses that would not open the door in that day...

Alice was sometimes forced to scare away teenagers that tried to steal candy from the girls, since the celebrations were not always innocent just like Grace had said. She also got more incense sticks from a vending stall when they took some rest at Eileen's favorite park, and that was when they encountered Logan and his friends.

Logan looked rather threatening with his very realistic fox costume, Alistair and Anna were something that looked like wolverines to Alice and perhaps the best moment of the day was when all of them joined forces to collect more plums and then attack together certain house that had rejected both parties.

Alistair and Anna had changed completely since the first time that Alice met them inside of the snow fort, and even though Miss Layttel quite enjoyed their company at this point, she realized that there was something strange in the way that Alistair would look at her sometimes...

The hours passed, it was already getting dark and it was finally time to take Catherine back home.

Alice lowered her wolf mask like it was a hood, she was happy to feel the cold wind in her face and then she looked up at the splendorous fireworks that were exploding very high above the town...

"It's so beautiful" Alice said, admiring those orange and violet sparks that made such a good combination with the soft twilight sky- "Just look at those colors! We do not have fireworks so good where I am from..."

"There's a reason that we are called Sparks Hollow, Alice" Eileen replied, also looking up at the magnificent display of colors and sparks- "We have the best Sparksters in all of Ayngland! Many people come here even from Northaverland and Adynbergh, just to become apprentices in our famous clubs and prestigious academies."

"Yeah, it's the oldest tradition in town" Cathy said, looking at Alice for a moment- "This has been a perfect Hallewayn! Thanks Alice, it would not have been the same without you..."

"It was great!"

The wolf and her skaellyns had already arrived back at Silverthorn Street, they could hear Grace singing when they passed right in front of the Snowflake house and within two minutes they came to a halt in front of Catherine's place. There was light coming from every window, a fantastic smell of rabbit and apple sauce came from inside and then Alice knocked the door seven times.

They could hear steps drawing closer at the other side, Alice placed her wolf mask back in its place and just a few seconds later the door was opened in a rather slow and mysterious style...

"W-what is this?" Amelia Ayllawel said, acting like she was all surprised to see Alice and the girls- "A big bad w-wolf has showed up at my d-doorstep, and it brings my ska-skaellyn daughter home!"

Alice realized immediately that Amelia was drunk, which was confirmed by the almost empty cider bottle that she was carrying in her hand. Catherine tried to ignore the silly laughter coming from her mother when the three of them walked into the house, but at least everything was clean and the dining hall looked perfect with the dishes and food already waiting at place.

"Hello, my little Skaellyn and her friends!" Stephan exclaimed, suddenly emerging from the library with a book in his hand- "How was your Hallewayn adventure, my sweetie?"

"It was perfect, dad!"

"Thanks for everything, Alice" Stephan said, patting the wolf on the shoulder with sincere affection- "We knew that you were the right person to trust with the safety of our daughter..."

"It was no problem, we had a lot of fun together!"

Alice was acting all innocent and happy, and yet she lost no time looking all around her and analyzing every detail and every piece of information that her eyes could catch: They were very careful with the locks and chains on that door, but she would be able to float into the house through the window without any problem...

Stephan looked like a bookworm that would spend a lot of time at the library, Amelia seemed to get drunk every night judging from how used to it Catherine was and the personal rooms were upstairs for sure... The wooden staircase released a lot of creaking noises when Cathy went upstairs to change clothing, but that also would not represent a challenge for Alice and her powers.

The sounds of steps above told Alice that Cathy's room would be at about the same place as Logan's Lair at the Snowflake house, there was a little studio up there as well and Alice already had a pretty good mental map of the Ayllawel house by the time that Catherine returned wearing a green cloak on top of an elegant blue dress.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Cathy asked, looking at Eileen and Alice at the same time.

"Yeah, stay!" Amelia screamed, and at that precise moment she emerged from the kitchen carrying a huge pumpkin lantern and yet another cider bottle- "We have enough food for everyone..."

"We are sorry Ms. Ayllawel, but our own family is waiting for us..."

Cathy hugged Eileen for a long time after those words, so happy to have spent what had been a perfect day with her best friend. Stephan wished them a wonderful night, Catherine hugged Alice as well and after that Alice and Eileen returned to the freezing wind and now nocturnal darkness outside.

"Eileen" Alice asked, looking down at her adopted sister for a moment- "Do wolves catch and eat skaellyns?"

"Yeah, sometimes Alice..."

Alice laughed a little as she continued to admire the beautiful sparks up in the sky, Eileen thought that the question had been rather awkward, they continued to walk between the snow and the wind and finally they arrived back at Snowflake house ready to enjoy Hallewayn Dinner with the rest of the family...