Night Of The Masks

Chapter 2
Part 2

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Chapter Description: Filled with a sense of deja vu, Freshman Tia Spitz takes her brother to go get his Halloween costume before escorting him out on the town.

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When Tia crawled out of bed the next morning, she was kicking herself for sleeping so late. It was made worse when she stepped into the kitchen to see every other member of her family up and eating breakfast without her. Now pouting to show her further discomfort, the girl sat down between her father and Sam, still wearing her constellation pajamas.

"Oh, look who’s up!" cried the children’s mother from the stove. Turning to glance at Tia over her shoulder, the adult asked, "You sure got back late last night."

"Yeah, blame him for that..." Tia bemoaned. With a yawn and a quick note to eat then get dressed as quickly as she possibly could, the girl changed the subject to comment, "Then there was all night cramming to make up the difference."

"Well, not to discourage studying," her dad responded teasingly, "but you’d probably still get A’s even without doing it 24/7."

"Wait, you were studying after that?" It was a bit difficult to understand Sam when he had his mouth half-full of cereal, but after he swallowed he spoke more clearly, "Did you just forget there’s no school today?"

"I have a test on Monday, genius." Tia took a moment to roll her eyes while she sipped her orange juice. "I spent all night practicing Calculus problems. Wait... Ugh..."

No, that wasn’t right. Grumbling, the girl rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to shake out the cobwebs of her sleepy brain, "I mean, Pre-Algebra problems."

"Odd slip of the tongue. Guess you’re still tired, huh?"

Her mom’s questioning was quickly followed by a further tease from her dad of, "Or she’s run out of things to study now so she’s jumped ahead a bit."

"Yeah, yeah." Groaning as she stretched her arms over her head, Tia looked about the table for a minute before she noticed something amiss. With a raise of her eyebrow in confusion, Tia questioned, "Sammy - have you gotten taller?"

"Mm?" Once he’d washed down his toast, the boy gave the ever-so-helpful reply of "I dunno, have I?"

"Well, you did get a lot of exercise last night," stated the matriarch of the house, giving her youngest a hug from behind. "Why don’t you stand up, let us get a good look..."

"Umm... Alright."

This seemed a little silly to the grade-schooler, but he figured if he did get taller it could be something to tease his sister about. And he was done with breakfast anyway, so he was happy to hop out of his seat and stand up straight for his mom. Curious on the subject, Tia did the same.

"Hm..." After she had studied Tia and Sam for a moment, the two’s mother responded to this point by commenting, "No, I don’t think so. Heh, maybe you’re still just tired."

"Yeah, maybe. Weird, though."

Just before she set to eating herself, Tia threw out a quick comment of, "I really shouldn’t stay up too late. I’m having a hard time even remembering anything from last night."

"Be sure you get lots of breakfast, you’ll need to keep your strength up..." Tia’s mother put an extra plate of toast by the girl, accompanying it with a slightly-embarrassing kiss on the cheek, "Don’t be afraid to take a nap either. Your father and I were hoping you could take Sammy out tonight."

"Hm?" Putting down her spoon, the girl asked, "Out where?"

"Trick-or-treating. Duh." Sammy had frozen from his position in the doorway, having just about turned back to his room. "Me and Mom were about to go pick up my costume."

"What?"

This was confusing. With a shake of her head, as if trying to shake loose something, Tia was quick to question, "Wasn’t that last night? Or... a couple of days ago, I think?"

"Tia, are you sure you’re feeling okay?" Her father rose from his seat to lean nearer toward the girl, who only felt more unsure of things at the action. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Um... Well, it wasn’t that little sleep," mumbled out the bookworm nervously. "I mean, I could at least five hours. It’s just..." This was embarrassing.... Tia hated it when people acted like she was sick or needed coddling. "It isn’t even the thirty-first until tomorrow.."

"Well, they never have it on the day," the girl’s father pointed out in response to that. Afterward, though, he thought he should ask, "You sure you shouldn’t lie down a little longer?"

"Maybe I should..." Witha quick shake of her head, though, the girl added on, "Though that would just mess up my sleep pattern."

"Hmm..." Patting his daughter on the shoulder, the man of the house stood up completely and stuck his paper under his arm, "Sam, maybe we should ask Mrs. Coraze next door to take you. It might be better if Tia stayed home."

"Awww...." After letting out the perfect disappointed groan, Sam complained, "But Mrs. Coraze smells like old people."

"No, I can still go..." Tia felt glad she could cut her mother off before her brother was scolded for that remark, but she mostly didn’t want to be fussed over like this. "It’ll be nice, it’ll be like when I used to go."

Before anything more could be said on this subject, the conversation was interrupted by the familiar chime of the doorbell. Somewhat welcome to interrupt where this conversation was heading, but it was rather early for it.

"Oh, that’s probably your uncle," Tia’s dad commented at once, standing up to head to get the door. "He called a bit ago to say she was coming by."

Which cousin? Tia frowned as she considered that question; her extended family was wide in both directions, and her dad had plenty of relatives nearby. Only her mother’s kin would call ahead that they were coming.

That hunched proved correct when the door opened and Tia’s Uncle Smith stepped inside, her mom’s older brother. "Hi, everybody..."

"Oh, hey."

"Hi!"

After her two kids had greeted their uncle, his sister was quick to greet, "Great to see you. I thought AJ was coming, though?"

"Oh, he’s down in the car getting his overnight bag...." The adult stepped fully into the house, setting his own armful of bags by the door. "I told him I could get it, but he insists on carrying it."

"Well, go ahead an’ blame me for carrying my own weight!" Behind the grown-up, the kid’s cousin AJ stepped in his few remaining freckles nearly invisible against his tan skin, a mat of straw-colored hair being brushed continuously out of his eyes. "Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Heh. Odd time to drop in, isn’t it?" Not that Tia was complaining. Though after a moment she did realize and note aloud, "And here I am still in my pajamas. Great."

"Well, if anything ya could stand to mix it up a little now and then." With a quick smirk, AJ further teased, "Supposin’ of course you’re not plannin’ to wear that for Halloween, since that’s just uncreative."

Sighing and attempting to straighten her hair haphazardly at the very least, Tia added, "Yeah, we’re a little too old for that, don’tcha think?"

"Too bad... I betcha those star jammies would get you a ton of candy." Sammy snickered before pulling at the girl’s pajamas, which got his hand swatted in retaliation.

"You two ain’t changed..." Slinging his overnight bag more firmly over his shoulder as he came nearer, AJ asked, "I wasn’t sure on that myself. Is Sammy still going? Think that netsya a good ’nuff excuse for it."

"Yeah, I’m taking him out tonight. Won’t see me in a costume, though." After saying this, Tia went quiet for a moment - just before a sudden, "Ah!" that came with a quickly onset splitting headache.

"Tia?" It was the girl’s uncle speaking now, but all eyes in the room had turned to her. Somewhat embarrassing, but the girl wasn’t too concerned about that as he questioned, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine. Head just hurt for a second - probably didn’t get enough sleep."

"Hm." The bookworm felt her mother place a hand to her forehead now before sternly warming, "Sweetie, get back to bed now.... If you’re still feeling sick tonight, we’ll just have AJ take Sammy out."

"Mom, I’m not sick...." grumbled out the girl bitterly. Still, Tia poutingly made her way toward her bedroom, turning over her shoulder to remark, "AJ, I’ll see ya later, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Ya just get to bed, got it?"

"Right." Staying stopped in place for a moment, however, Tia was hit with an odd idea for something to request. She couldn’t quite recall why, but she asked, "Hey, Mom? Can you get me up when you go to get Sammy’s costume? I wanted to go along."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The Renardo household was very posh and expensive-looking, but Tia didn’t think she felt as out-of-place in it as AJ did. The boy grumbled a little to himself about gaudiness when he walked inside with the siblings and their mother.

"Sweetheart?" The visitors were led by Mrs. Renardo to a small room filled with boxes. A mannequin sat in the corner beside a computer, but standing in the center was Miles Rendaro, a girl of about four or five standing atop a stool before him. "Aw, are you still working on Sylvia’s costume?"

"Right, the first measurements must’ve been wrong since it was too big..." Glancing up from his work, the boy remarked, "Oh, the..... Spitzes, is it?"

"Right, that’s us," answered the oldest of the four on hand - even if AJ’s own last name wasn’t Spitz - as they approached where the two Renardos were located.

This room really was too big, Tia noted. Maybe that was one of the reasons she felt a little awkward in stepping forward and greeting, "Hi. Uh, name was Miles, right?"

"That’s right... Sylvia, hold still for a moment..." As his sister pouted atop her stool, Miles rose to his full height, which admittedly wasn’t that much, to properly introduce himself, "I’m Miles Renaldo. You’re uh... Tia, yes?" The boy’s face grew thoughtful as he looked her over, "I suppose we must’ve met at school?"

"Uh-huh, whatever..." As his cousin’s family drew nearer to the stranger, and he with them, AJ asked, "So this your first year doing this costume thing? Look sorta young for that."

With a smirk, Miles offered out his hand to the unfamiliar boy for a handshake. It was taken, seemingly somewhat reluctantly, as he explained, "Oh, no, I’ve done it plenty. Just gotten more elaborate over the years. See --"

"Seems like a weird thing ta fancy doin’ to me. Still, not my place to judge ya." AJ broke off the handshake then, smiling a bit as he explained, "Name’s AJ - they’re ma cousins."

"Charmed," replied the boy, putting his hand out in a slightly regal fashion. From there he turned to Tia, remarking, "I believe we have.." he gave pause, searching his memory for where exactly they’d met, "Perhaps it was last year. What class did we share?"

"English? Maybe?" Putting the question out of mind herself, Tia shook her head before asking, "So uh.... Sammy’s costume."

"Oh, yes..." The boy turned gracefully and took in hand a large package waiting by the nearest desk. "Would you like to try it on before you leave?"

"It’s probably better to wait for later, so --"

Before Tia could continue, her mother interrupted to point out, "But we need to be sure it’ll fit. Go ahead, Sammy - do you have somewhere to change?"

"Not quite gotten a dressing room or anything lined up, but I usually just let people use the restroom." Miles gave a chuckle, then assured, "It’s very spacious."

"Uh-huh," remarked AJ in a bored voice. "Well, thanks, sure that’ll do fine." As Sammy scampered off to the next room gestured to by Miles, the visitor asked, "How longya been doin’ this again?"

"You mean sewing in general, or costumes specifically?" Smiling coyly, the taller teen shrugged and remarked, "If it’s the former, afraid it’s most of my life."

"He’s does my costume every year!" Squeaked out Sylvia from the school, "Inn’it neat? I’m a princess!"

AJ’s response was to grin and answer with, "And a very cute one."

While her cousin tossled the little girl’s hair, Tia was a bit more interested in what the girl’s brother had to say. Stepping forward a bit closer to the boy, Tia questioned, "Hey, weird question to ask - do you remember seeing each other last night? I’m kind of having trouble thinking of it but I seem to recall..."

"Hmm.... Yes, I seem recall that." Putting a hand to his chin again, Miles looked the girl over and collected his thoughts. "Are you sure it was last night? I don’t think I left the house so maybe it was the night before."

"M-Maybe it wasn’t at night, maybe it was at school," rationalized the girl. "That sound about right."

".... Perhaps." That didn’t come out as smoothly as the boy had hoped so he stepped back, he added in a more reassured voice, "Yes, that’s right. I had mentioned coming to one of my masquerades, come new years."

"Oh, right." That part Tia definitely remembered. All the same, though, she couldn’t help but wonder what had led to that conversation in the first place.

Then there was the vague memory of the night before that. With a quick shake of her head, as if trying to get something unjammed, Tia questioned, "Wait. Didn’t we go to the other side of town?"

"I... Perhaps we’d taken a walk after-"

"Okay, I’m done!"

All heads turned to the younger boy as he re-entered the room now, a red and black cape draping to just above the floor and a high collar surrounding his face. Pulling the cloak before him to hide his features, the boy gave a low, sinister laugh before jumping into the light to show off his vampire costume.

"Oh, very nice!" This was Sylvia piping up, but AJ and the boy’s mom were moving in to take a closer look. As she approached the somewhat older boy to admire his costume, the girl turned her head back toward her brother to compliment, "You did a really nice job on this one!"

"Yeah..."

Not the usual enthusiasm there. With a turn to the boy in confusion, Tia questioned, "Not happy with it? It looks very nice."

"Oh, thank you. I just can’t seem to recall having designed it."

"Wait... Really?"

Miles only seemed to realize how strange that was once he’d said it aloud, but he soon smoothed it over with a cover of, "But I’ve been doing so much in the last few days, It’s not surprising. There were two other vampire costume orders I know of. Granted, those were diamond-skin vampires but..."

"Still... Designing that whole thing and not knowing about it?" Looking over Sammy again, Tia asked the boy, "How many costumes have you done this year?"

"Oh, let’s see... Usually I average around ten or fifteen - I usually start in early September so I have a lot of time. This year, it feels like..." It was hard to put in a number offhand, but after a moment of mulling it over the boy confessed, "Perhaps triple that? I’m not sure what caused the uptake in business, but I’ve been working like mad."

Well, that was certainly strange. Concerned, though she wasn’t sure why, Tia was quick to question one other lingering thought, "Do you remember a.... dragon, I think? Like a really good one?"

".... Yes, I think so. Realistic scales and everything." Stoking his chin all the more as he thought it over. "Recall having to blunt the horns after they came out too sharp. I... I don’t recall the person who ordered it- do you know him?"

"Uh..." Unsure herself, Tia replied, "I think it might’ve b-"

"EEEK!" That was all the pair got out before Sylvia rushed to duck behind her brother, followed by Sammy, "Stop him! He’s gonna suck my blood!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Tia hadn’t had much of a chance to continue her conversation with Miles after it was interrupted, but she found herself hoping that she would run into the boy as she was dragged outside by a very eager vampire.

"I don’t recall inviting you into the house earlier," Tia commented dryly in response. After that, though, she turned her head over her shoulder - to where AJ was exiting as well, to question, "Why were you coming, anyway? Not that I object."

The visitor to the household shrugged, explaining, "Beats sittin’ ’round giving out candy all night. This makes me feel a lil’ nostalgic really; like when we ussa go trick or treatin’ in Gran’ma’s ol’ neighborhood." Snickering, the blond boy added, "’Member that year you dressed up in that really bad plastic unicorn costume?"

It was hard not to remember when her mother put that picture out every Halloween. Pouting, the girl grumbled out something about how when she was six it was cool before looking to Sammy, "Don’t chase anyone with those fangs the way you did Sylvia, okay?"

"Then what’s the point of even having fangs?"

"For appearances." As the three set out, Tia was quick to comment, "He really did do a good job on that costume. Speaking of, don’t do any of that, ’Smell my feet,’ stuff like last year."

"I reckon he’s a little old for doin’ ’at," AJ mused in response. Afterward, he was quick to tease, "Speaking of, you got any other new friends ya haven’t told me ’bout?"

"She’s too much of a dork to do that, actually," explained Sammy with a grin before receiving a light smack in the back of the head.

"Yeah, nice thing to say to someone taking you out...." Pouting heavliy, Tia rationalized, "Erm... But... Yeah, school has been taking up a lot of my time, that’s all."

After a laugh, AJ was quick to tease, "Over-studyin’, huh? No surprise there. Ya never did know whenta put the books down."

"And yet I get A’s and you get C’s. See a correlation?" After that comment, Tia was quick to further confirm, "And Miles isn’t even really a friend. We’ve just talked a couple of times that we can barely remember."

"Well, grades aren’t everything," remarked AJ. "I got lotsa friends back home and still gettin’ by jus’ fine at school."

"The "Grades aren’t everything" line might sound different when we go to high school next year." Wait, thought Tia. Was that right? Yeah, next year. "I wanna actually get into a good college."

"I wanna actually have a good time goin’ to college," replied the cousin, inching toward the younger boy. "You think Tia’s gotta loosen up, don’tcha, lil’ guy?"

"Yeah, maybe we should’ve made her wear a costume."

Tia’s response was a quick, "I haven’t done that since sixth grade, and I don’t plan to start now. If only because most costumes are so cheap and tacky there’s no point."

"Uh huh."

Smirking, AJ was quick to pounce on that as an excuse to further tease, "Thatcher way’a sayin’ people who make really good costumes do somethin’ fer ya?"

"Hey, shut up!" Now Tia was blushing so much it could be seen from the low light. "If you guys are just gonna pick on me all night, I’ll just go home. I don’t need this."

"Oh, sure ya do." Putting his arm around his cousin, AJ teased, "If you’ve been shut up in your room with books, goin’ out and having fun’s exactly whatcha need."

"I haven’t been stuck inside all the time," protested Tia weakly. "I went out just last night."

"Oh, yeah? Doin’ what?"

"Um..."

That probably did not do much to help the girl’s claim, but it especially didn’t work when after a moment’s hesitation she explained, "I... Don’t remember?"

"Uh huh."

Following her brother’s dry reaction, the girl was quick to add on, "Hey, I do know I went to the other side of town with... somebody."

"Sure it wasn’t a dream or nothin’?"

 

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