While he didn’t particularly enjoy mind-reading humans, it paid the bills, he respected the folks he worked for and the town of Nocturne Falls was continually intriguing. He never knew what he was going to see as the town celebrated a holiday called Halloween every single day. A rushed Earth history and knowledge course in Alienn touched on the human holiday called Halloween, but Max’s understanding hadn’t fully taken root before his arrival in Nocturne Falls.
His first day in town, he walked past a toy store and glanced in the window, only to do a double take. It was snowing inside. Snowing! He couldn’t resist going in. Little bits of cold, wet fluffs of icy moisture fell around and on him and he found himself actually smiling in wonder. He bought a little stuffed Earth creature because he was so astounded by the display.
There was always a gargoyle at the fountain, essentially also hiding in plain sight, interacting with tourists who thought it was nothing more than a sophisticated animatronic model. Plus, vampires mingled with human pedestrians in town. He loved every single thing he saw. While his career goals had been sidelined—awesome host wasn’t really a job, was it?—he felt he’d made a very good decision to move to Nocturne Falls for his do-over life.
Plus, Bubba Thorne and his wife Astrid were the best. Without them and the full-time position with Bubba’s Psychic Readings, he’d be facing a return trip to Alpha-Prime. He couldn’t bear the thought of once again enduring damning looks and whispers he didn’t deserve. The best he could do in Alienn was part-time employment, filling in for summer vacations, and that wasn’t enough to let him stay on Earth.
He had worked at something called a car wash. Messy, bubbly, wet work, but sort of amusing once he got the hang of it. He took tickets at a movie theater for a short time. He drove a large passenger van around, dropping off and picking up old folks when they needed to go to the store in town or doctors’ appointments.
He’d even spent a day with a woman named Dixie Lou Grey trying to learn how to clear dishes off tables in the Cosmos Cafe. His only experience was directing that task, not performing it. After dropping—and shattering—a small dish, a water glass and then a whole tray of dirty dishes, cracking every single thing that could possibly break, Dixie told him perhaps being a busboy wasn’t for him. He’d been sent to the kitchen to wash dishes. It was fine while it lasted, but the regular dishwasher came back from vacation and Max was left looking for work again.
The psychic opportunity in Georgia was a fateful boon. The other staff at Bubba’s place were awesomely friendly and accepting, even once they discovered his identity and the truth about his past.
The female-to-male psychics was a ratio of about five to one, so he quickly became a favorite with the women clients who visited Nocturne Falls. It was fine, even though he found the job a bit tedious. It was still a very good life and certainly better than being back home on Alpha-Prime, dodging the disgusted looks directed his way when he was recognized by 90 percent of the people he passed on the streets each and every day.
Max spotted his employers and their costumes made him laugh. Astrid was dressed in lots of sparkly silver with a space-age looking gun on her hip. Bubba was costumed similarly in his own space alien costume.
No one was supposed to know they reallywerealiens from another planet, but this was the perfect place to hide in plain sight. Dressing up for the Black and Orange Ball was mandatory.
Max glanced down at his huntsman costume. Black boots came to his knees, where dark green breeches tucked into the tops. Over that, he wore a simple, hip-level brown pullover tunic. The axe was real, but had a blade guard so he didn’t accidentally chop the limbs off any unsuspecting partygoers who got too close to his weapon.
Safety firsthis new friend had said, whatever that meant.
Bubba lifted a hand to him and Max headed in that direction. Before he got too far, two older ladies ran right into him. It looked like they’d done it on purpose, but he wasn’t about to get huffy about it.
They were giggling and likely had been drinking something potent. Maybe he should look for a strong drink, as well.
“Hello there, handsome young man,” the taller of the two said. She had black hair—perhaps a wig—cut very straight and short just below her ears, with bangs almost in her eyes. She wore a white headband sporting a plumy gray feather, and a dress that looked like it was made of lots of beaded strings. Unusual. He didn’t know what her costume represented, but it looked fun.
“Oh, he’s a big one,” the shorter woman said. She wore a similar dress with a different color of beaded strings, plus a ring on nearly every finger. She carried a lacy black fan in one hand.
“Yes, he is,” the other replied and grinned wildly. “He’s perfect.”
Max didn’t know what he was perfect for and suspected he didn’t want to know.
He flashed them his best dashing smile and tipped his head in a courteous nod. “Nice to meet you, ladies. Hope you have a wonderful night.” He started to walk away, but was stopped when they each grabbed an arm and held on.
“Wait! We need to talk to you,” they both said at the same time and then laughed when they realized it.
Max kept his smile in place. “What can I help you two ladies with?” He tried to read their minds in an attempt to anticipate what they could want, without any luck whatsoever. He saw nothing. Unusual. Perhaps they were witches. He’d been told witches had some kind of natural shield that made them impossible for Alphas to read. Whatever they wanted, he guessed they’d have to tell him.
They looked at each other and their grins widened. The taller woman explained, “We are having a private contest between just the two of us to determine which of us is the better witch.”
Max frowned and glanced furtively around to ensure no one was listening to their conversation. Despite the ball’s tongue-in-cheek theme, they weren’t really supposed to talk about that sort of thing out loud, were they? He mentally shrugged. Perhaps the normal rules were suspended for the ball. After all, it was much more likely that the few humans in attendance would think open talk of witches and werewolves and vampires was all part of the wink-wink fun.
“How are you going to determine that?” he asked.
The shorter witch patted his arm. “By each of us putting a spell on you, of course.”
Max had his doubts that anyone would be able to cast an actual spell on him. Still, he played along.
“Okay. What sort of spell are you talking about? I’m not about to be turned into a toad, am I?” He’d watched a lot of movies and human television while in Alienn, Arkansas. Very amusing.
“Oh no, nothing like that.” They giggled again.
The dark-haired witch with the feathered headband straightened up, closed her eyes and theatrically chanted several words he didn’t understand. She ended with, “Poof!” Her eyes opened and she smiled dreamily up into his face.
The woman with the fan pointedly stared deeply into Max’s eyes and whispered several more words he didn’t understand, finishing with, “Shazam!”
