But right then a gust of wind swept in through the hole in the roof, and the clove and honey scent of Halloween magic rode in on the breeze’s coattails.
He knew what he ought to do.
“Will you go to the party with me?” Ash blurted out, before he had a chance to rethink his audacity.
“The midnight gala?” Cassidy said. “Um, I was supposed to go with the cross-country girls, remember?” She picked up the leopard-print mask, which had a little chip in it from her fall.
It wasn’t a yes, but it also wasn’t a no.
Ash dared to push onward. “You can still meet them there,” he said. “Oh, and I could make you a new mask since that one’s damaged!” He flung his hands out of his hoodie at the idea. “I have a few unfinished ones. There’s still time for me to paint and decorate them with something that’ll dry quickly.”
But Cassidy didn’t seem to be listening to him. Instead, she was staring at something lying on the moss a few feet away. “Where did that come from?” she asked.
Ash followed her eyes and landed on an origami crane. Oh, for god’s sake! The paper bird that he’d put in his hoodie earlier… It must have flown out when his hands came out of his pocket. “It-it’s nothing. A secret admirer made it for me. I, uh, was going to throw that away. It’s not a big deal.” He snatched the crane off the ground and made a show of slinging it into the puddle-pond.
But internally, Ash groaned. Why did he say it was from a secret admirer when he had no clue whether that was true?What am I trying to prove? That Cassidy has to compete for me?
She was frowning at the puddle, where the crane had sunk from view. A moment later she said, “You know what, I should probably go see if Mom needs help setting up the spaghetti stuff. The cross-country team’ll be here soon. Thanks for helping me find my mask. And for building the rest of the fence.” Then Cassidy gave Ash a smile, which seemed too bright, even for her. It was… artificial.
He hadn’t been brave enough to kiss her. Then he’d acted like an asinine alpha male by bragging about the cranes. Now Cassidy was walking away and probably out of his life again.
Ash stood paralyzed in the Skeleton Shack courtyard.
Igor glowered balefully at him.
And the air didn’t smell like Halloween magic anymore.
Ash:Cassidy’s gone.…
Onny:Oh no! What happened?
Ash:I dunno. Was all going fine, I thought. Then she just left.
True:What did you do?
Ash:Why do you assume it was my fault?
True:I love ya, Ash, but honestly, you have a v off-putting vibe with the females of the species.
Ash:Gee thanks.
True:Not your fault tho. Love isn’t in our blood. Or something.
Ash:We’re not even blood-related, T.
True:Don’t start with that again.
Onny:Maybe it’ll still work out with Cassidy?
Ash:Fence is going back up. All the runners are coming over tonight. That’s it. That’s who she belongs with, not a weird art guy like me.
Onny:But your zodiac tho!
Ash:I don’t know if I believe in your stars anymore.…
True:Word.
Ash sighed and set his phone down on the bed beside him. He stared at the ceiling in his bedroom, which was painted midnight blue with a glow-in-the-dark constellation in the center, a project that Onny had spearheaded when they were in third grade. She’d mapped out different parts of the night sky for herself, True, and Ash, and then enlisted their parents to help make her dream-scapes a reality. On True’s ceiling was Virgo in the northern celestial hemisphere. In Onny’s room, they’d painted Aquarius, one of the oldest of the zodiac constellations. And on Ash’s ceiling, Cancer, which was supposed to be a crab but really just looked like an upside-down Y.
