The Pumpkin Princess

Victoria King tapped her foot impatiently and checked her phone for the fiftieth time. The old hag had disappeared nearly five minutes ago and still hadn't returned. Annoyed, Victoria crossed her arms for good measure.

"Found it," the witch lady Claire said, returning from upstairs with a long plastic bag in her hands. Victoria held back a sarcastic remark about being the only customer. "Ready to pay now?"

Victoria had been ready to pay and get out of there twenty minutes ago. Madame Claire, the town of Dewick's infamous witch of the woods nicknamed Mary's Haunting, generally caused quite a stir. The name originated from a common ghost story about "Mary," a rich lady who lost her husband, wandered into the woods, and never returned. Physically, at least. Many rumors went around about her body being hid in the woods with Claire and her ghost haunting the area, seeking help, but no one could prove anything. Claire remained a suspect for several years, but nothing had ever happened. Gaining a bad reputation and quite a few condemning glares, Claire fueled a good Halloween story. The end.

But unfortunately, it wasn't. As the only seamstress in the area, and with Halloween tonight, Victoria didn't have time to find anyone less creepy than Claire. And she wasn't about to dress as pumpkin princess in some dorky orange sphere and tiara.

The pumpkin princess theme developed with the help of Jessica Martin. Jess, Victoria's best friend, acted as her partner in crime. With Jess's dark hair contrasting Victoria's blond, they created the balance. They ruled the school, and they ruled it together. They had to set the bar for everything, including Halloween, and Victoria knew her dress this year couldn't be surpassed.

Victoria snatched the bag away from Claire, trying not to think about the filth on those witchy hands. As Claire worked on the cost, Victoria couldn't help but stare. Hadn't this lady ever heard of a manicure? Or hair products? And who had been drunk enough to tell this lady that nose and eyebrow piercings would look good on her?

Jess hadn't texted back right away, something that annoyed Victoria now more than ever. Without her phone to distract her, she had to interact with the witch. Not waiting for the total, she slapped some money onto the table, avoiding the gnarled fingers there.

She didn't like this place. Even if it wasn't haunted, there was something morbid about the hanging silence. The bunches of herbs looked like heads in the right light, and Claire's oven stretched large enough to make a giant pair of Hansel and Gretel tremble. Definitely not a place she wanted to stay in.

"God, this place is creepy," Victoria bit out. A second later, she frowned. Saying it out loud hadn't been the intention, but she wasn't going to take it back now either.

The hag dared to sneer at her. "Would you like your fortune told?"

She'd rather wash her face in acid. What an odd, stupid question. But Jess wasn't texting back, which meant Victoria didn't have a ride home, and fortunes only brought you good luck, right? "Sure," Victoria conceded. The hag's sneer grew more pronounced, giving Victoria a delightfully horrid view of several rotting teeth. She shuddered at the thought of Claire cutting her dress's thread without scissors.

Following the witch into a back room with low lighting, she had to squint to make out the objects. A giant wooden table sat in the middle with two chairs tucked under it. Victoria took the one closest to the door.

Wicked hands began rifling through things out of sight as Victoria wished for a text. Claire produced several herbs and an intricate jeweled coin, which Victoria had never seen used for fortunes before. The coin was remarkable in its orange hue, with Latin letters encrypted along the sides and a jack-o-lantern grinning from the middle.