Halley Wolffer

Chapter 2

That day, Halley had barely enough time to clean three bathrooms, scoop cat litter, carve two more pumpkins and wash three loads of dishes before Dolly's friends, all wearing Halloween costumes, began arriving for the party.

The famous Steven was among the first batch of friends that walked in, so Dolly, freaking out, was quick to grab and push Halley out of the kitchen and lock her up in the cupboard under the stairs. Halley did not get a chance to try the delicious strawberry cookies that Cecelia was baking, and she could just stay there in the darkness, staring at the flame of her candle.

Soon, the house was full of teenagers chatting, making out and dancing to the music. Dolly was complaining to her mother about the lack of green candles and Tarot cards, and judging from the sound of it, Halley guessed that her cousin's costume featured chains that were trailing after her.

The hours were passing, and as day transformed into a mysterious twilight, Halley had no idea that something very unusual was drawing closer to the house through the shadows of the night...

The candle was close to burning out, the music out there was louder than ever and Halley, realizing that she had just a few more minutes of light, decided to close her The Lonely Bones book and pulled a small cardboard box from under her bed.

"At least, they never search inside my cupboard!" she whispered, opening the box to reveal a small, white and purple cake that she had bought in secret the day before.

Halley grabbed a fork from a space between her books, she sighed and then, lighting a few tiny candles for her only birthday present and trying to forget about the world that existed outside of the cupboard, she whispered the words that were written on the cake:

Sweet Sixteen! Happy Birthday, Halley

The cake was still good despite the lack of refrigeration, because the cupboard was pretty cold anyway and Halley could keep things like that for many days under her bed. The great wolf tail was moving from one side to the other as Halley enjoyed the first bites of the blackberry cake, and it was, after all, as delicious as she had hoped that it would be.

It was true that Halley had spent her entire sixteenth birthday cleaning, working and locked up in a cupboard, but at least, she got to enjoy a few minutes of true happiness and peace...

"Halley!" came the voice of Aunt Cecelia some ten minutes later, screaming all the way from the living room- "We are running out of apple juice, make some more!"

"Mom!" Dolly complained- "I don't want my friends to see her!"

They argued about something that Halley could not catch thanks to the loud music, but she knew that Cecelia would win it anyway... The wolf girl hurried to finish her cake, managing to do it a few seconds before the little door was unlocked and opened from outside.

"And wash the apples first!" Cecelia yelled, already on her way to open the main door of the house.

"Coming, Aunt Cecelia..."

Most of Dolly's friends were already too drunk, distracted in chat or otherwise too busy making out to pay attention to the wolf girl in the kitchen, but Halley indeed attracted a few curious looks when she walked into the living room with a great jar of apple juice between her hands.

"Anything else?" she asked Dolly, leaving the glass jar on a table.

The main door opened at that moment and Vermont stormed into the house, looking furious for some unknown reason as he glared straight at Halley and growled:

"Girl, go to the market, those squirrels are back and we need..."

At that moment, a letter came out of nowhere in the air in a whirl of violet sparks. It was made of elegant white paper and it was sealed with a bit of purple wax, landing right at Halley's feet before anyone else could catch it.