Today Was a Horror Story
October 31
Trixie Belden was bored. Outside the window, she could see the mid-morning sun shining brightly in a brilliant blue sky. It was a perfect autumn day, with temperatures cool enough to need a jacket, but not so cold that misery and frostbite were distinct possibilities. She briefly entertained herself with a mental image of her life before everything had been turned upside-down, inside-out, and all around - when her biggest concerns involved algebra pop-quizzes and plans for a Halloween party.
Unfortunately, her daydream was cruelly shattered by a strident voice demanding her presence in one of the station’s interrogation rooms. She rose from her uncomfortable plastic chair and followed her brother down a short hall, cringing as she heard Sergeant Wendell Molinson ordering Spider to record their “interview.”
Dan was already in the room. A young man in a navy blue suit sat next to him, shuffling through some pages. He looked up as Trixie and Mart entered. “Hello,” he said pleasantly. “I’m Ed Farmer, your PD.”
“PD?” Trixie echoed uncertainly.
Dan huffed out a breath, glancing at Sergeant Molinson with narrowed eyes. “It means ‘public defender,’ Freckles. He’s a lawyer.”
“We – we need a lawyer?” Trixie cast her brother a worried look. “Maybe we should call Moms and Dad back… They thought we were only coming in to give a quick statement.”
“That won’t be necessary,” a new voice broke in. “Kids, don’t say another word.”
The man who stepped through the door was tall and very well-dressed. Although Trixie would never have considered herself an expert in men’s clothing, she knew immediately that his crisp grey suit, pristine white button-down and dark red tie cost more than probably every outfit she had in her closet.
He set a leather briefcase down on the table and nodded to Ed. “Thank you for your assistance, son, but we won’t be needing your services any longer. I believe there’s a vagrant in the drunk tank awaiting your representation.”
As Ed quietly gathered his things, Spider slouched back in his seat. “Did Matthew Wheeler send you, Mr. Thompson?” he guessed, smiling slightly.
“Yes. Now, you will be releasing my clients immediately. You have no case, no evidence, and eye-witness statements that vouch for their innocence.”
“Eye-witnesses related to the suspects,” Wendell Molinson said sharply. “Bill Regan is Dan’s uncle and Alicia Belden is-“
“Stella Macy is of no relation-“
“Stella Macy is a crackpot who makes a living reading palms.”
“And David Lee, a respected professor at Haversham College,” Roger Thompson continued smoothly. “Every one of your witnesses has independently made similar statements, either to you directly or to the fire marshal on site yesterday evening. Three masked figures approached the Lisgard mansion. One of them threw a rock which caused a candle to fall and ignite the stairs and rails of the wooden porch. Although the fire department was contacted immediately, the ensuing blaze destroyed the property. The three vandals got away. It would be best if you concentrated your time and manpower on identifying and locating them, rather than harassing my clients. Now, unless you would like some very unfortunate publicity in which we make it known the Sleepyside Police Department is bullying three innocent minors, then this interview is over.”
“We still haven’t been given any satisfactory explanation for their presence at the Lisgard estate,” Molinson growled.
Roger flipped his case over and opened it. “I have here a faxed, signed document from the owner of the property verifying that he gave Mr. Mangan, as his employee and caretaker, permission to collect any items from the house that he found of interest, before the planned demolition early next year. Mr. Mangan was also authorized to allow others on the property, as he saw fit. As they had the owner’s permission to be present, you will not be able to file any criminal trespass charges against them.”
It was only a few minutes later that Trixie, Dan, and Mart found themselves standing on the cement sidewalk outside the police station. “Well. That… was fun,” Trixie said with a shake of her head. She looked up at the lawyer and smiled crookedly. “Thank you, sir. We appreciate what you did for us.”
“You are very welcome, Ms. Belden. Don’t let this worry you. There’s not a shred of a case against you, and they know it. This whole dog-and-pony show was a poor attempt to scare you into confessing. I don’t know how they’ll handle their continuing investigations, but they won’t be able to prosecute you for anything.”
“Roger Thompson! It’s been a few years.” Alicia Belden strolled up, holding out one hand. “Hello, darling,” she said as she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You’re looking well.”
“But not as fantastic as you, my dear! You are as glorious as ever.”
“Ah, you always were the flatterer,” Alicia said with a laugh. She turned her attention to the others. “I was here to possibly bail you out before your parents showed up to create what no doubt would have been a magnificent scene, but it seems that won’t be necessary?”
“Matt Wheeler sent me,” Roger explained. “I disabused that bumbling sergeant of any notion that he had a case to make.”
“Well, then. I suppose that means I wasted a trip. Still, I’m glad to see you aren’t spending any time locked up in a holding cell. Have you any plans for the day, Beatrix? Martin? Daniel?”
“Technically, we should probably go to school,” Mart replied. “But I think we might just take it easy until tonight. We have a party to attend and help host at a friend’s house.”
“Sounds like a perfectly wise decision to me. Find some place quiet and lacking any… unwanted crowds. I’ll be on my way, then. Don’t be strangers, dears.”
“We won’t, Aunt Alicia,” Trixie promised. “We’ll… uh, drop in when we can and let you know how things are going.”
“Alicia, could I persuade you to join me for lunch at the Glen Road Inn?” Roger asked, holding out one arm. “I’d be delighted to have the chance to catch up with you.”
“Hmmm. I do find myself unexpectedly free at the moment. I accept, darling.” As she allowed the lawyer to lead her away, Alicia turned to glance back over her shoulder and wink at them before flashing a smile full of girlish mischief.
“I think our auntie has a new man in her life,” Trixie said with a small chuckle. “Wonder how long he’ll last.”
“I’m not sure ‘new man’ is accurate,” Mart pointed out. “I certainly got the impression they, uh… knew each other well, once upon a time.”
“True that!” She looked at Dan and her amusement faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah, sorry, Freckles,” he grumbled, jamming his hands into his pockets. “I… just – I still sometimes get looks from the locals. You know… ‘Hold on tight to your handbag. Here comes that juvenile delinquent who belonged to a city gang.’ And now it doesn’t matter that we didn’t torch the Lisgard place or that the cops can’t make a case. Some people are gonna think we did it. There’ll be this cloud of suspicion hanging over us.”
“What can we do? We know Jerry and his friends were behind it, but we don’t have any proof.”
“Yeah,” Mart agreed. “Short of a confession, I don’t think there’s any way he’ll be brought to justice.”
Dan’s expression shifted, his glowering scowl melting into a satisfied smirk. “A confession. That’s exactly what we need. I’ve got an idea.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trixie tilted her cone to lick the trail of poison green ice cream dripping down the side. “You know, it may be called Toxic Sludge, but this really isn’t bad. I wonder if Herman’s is gonna go back to normal flavors next month?”
Mart’s gaze drifted up and down the busy street. “I dunno. It’s gonna be weird once all the Halloween decorations come down, but I’m betting they’ll bring out the Christmas stuff as soon as they can.” He glanced down at his watch and frowned. “We still haven’t heard back from the professor?”
Trixie pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and shook her head. “No texts or missed calls. Maybe he’s got classes? He does have an actual job, you know, beyond playing Giles to our Scooby Gang.”
“You aren’t at least a little worried? I mean, about this whole evil witch thing?”
“I’m extremely worried. I was up most of last night worried about it. Remember how surprised Vernon was when we told him that Sarah had warned us about evil coming? I’m betting that was because he hadn’t expected her to know about the rumors, and it turns out, he was right. She was talking about Luke, but the other spirits have been talking about some unknown witch. I realized this morning that this is like when we had to wait for Luke to make his move. We don’t know anything about this witch or when she’ll arrive or what she wants… so, I’m trying to take a page out of Aunt Alicia’s book and not freak out over something we have no control over. At least, no control right now, anyway. Meanwhile, we can deal with Jerry the Firebug and then if we still haven’t heard back from the professor, maybe we could try to hunt him down?”
Mart sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. I guess. Here comes Dan with the van. Let’s hope he was able to get what we needed.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There he is,” Trixie said quietly. “Does anyone know who that girl is with him?”
“I’ve seen her around campus,” Dan replied. “But I don’t know her name.”
“We should get rid of her first, before we talk to Jerry.”
“Agreed. Any suggestions?”
Mart reached out and popped open his door. “Give me a second. I got this.” He quickly crossed the student parking lot and Dan and Trixie could see him talking with Jerry and his friend. Mart waved one hand broadly and then pointed back at the school. The girl’s expression, even at a distance, revealed a deep concern. She said something briefly to the boys before hurrying off. Trixie and Dan waited only a few moments to watch her leave, then climbed out of the van and joined the others.
“… Angie didn’t dig up the flowers around the statue,” Jerry growled. “That’s stupid talk. No one knows who did it, either, before you get any bright ideas to accuse me, too.”
Mart raised one hand in an innocent gesture. “I didn’t say she did. I just said that some other people have been saying she did it and that she probably wanted to go talk with someone in the office to clear things up.”
Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. “Recognize this, Jerry?” he asked as he held out the stone wolf. “You threw it at us last night and ended up committing an act of arson.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. You stole this the night you and probably a couple of your buddies broke into Lisgard House and trashed the library. You returned last night. I’m thinking your plan was to do some more vandalism or maybe you thought you could scare us or something? As much of an idiot as you are, I doubt you actually meant to burn the place down. You know what I think happened? I think you showed up and were caught off guard to see so many people there, especially all the adults. You abandoned whatever plan you had and just chunked this at us ‘cause you were pissed off that you couldn’t do whatever it was you wanted to do.”
Jerry sneered at them and turned to open his car door. “I don’t have to listen to you losers and your fairy tales.”
“Oh, yes, you do,” Trixie said cheerfully. “Because if you don’t? I’ll sic a ghost on you.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“Do you think I’m kidding? I’m a witch, Jerry.”
“You’re a witch all right,” he drawled nastily.
“She certainly is,” a disembodied voice said. “Quite a good one, actually.” Vernon slowly appeared, grinning down at the stunned boy in front of him. He reached up, grabbed his head by his hair, and lifted it off his shoulders as if tipping a hat in greeting. “Boo!”
Jerry Vanderhoef screamed. Two football players passing by stopped to stare at him with wide eyes. “Dude? You okay?” the shorter one asked.
Trixie waved a hand in their direction. “He’s fine,” she assured them. “He just sees dead people.”
“Oh, yeah! Right! Party tonight!” The boys exchanged high-fives with one another as they ambled off.
“Jerry, you need to calm down,” Mart said evenly. “You’re hyperventilating. You’re gonna make yourself pass out.”
“G-g-ghost.”
“Yep.” Trixie grinned as she watched Jerry collapse weakly back against his car. “He’s a ghost. And unless you want him haunting you and making you miserable for the rest of your sorry life? You’re going to go down to the police station, confess to your crimes, and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. It’s up to you, Jerry, but I warn you… Vernon here is not the only spirit I could send after you. I wouldn’t chance it.”
A dull thump interrupted them. It was followed almost immediately by several more. Trixie stepped back quickly, shaking her head. “Eww!” she exclaimed as the large frog squatting on the roof of Jerry’s car let out a loud croak.
“Oh, my God!” Jerry cried. “Okay! Okay! Make it stop! I’ll turn myself in! I swear!” He clambered into his Corolla and slammed the door shut.
Dan grabbed Trixie’s hand. “C’mon!” They raced back to his van, Mart directly behind them. All around the parking lot, students were running in every direction, shrieks and shouts filling the air.
“Rain of toads. Rain of toads. It’s a freaking rain of toads!” Mart babbled as he strapped himself in to his seat. “This is our lives now! Witches and ghosts and raining toads!”
“I’m not doing this!” Trixie insisted. “I don’t think I’m doing this! Are you guys doing it?”
“No!” Dan shook his head hard. “It’s not us!”
“All right, Mart. You’re right. We need to talk to the professor.”
“Try calling him again.”
Trixie fished her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen. She waited as she heard the distant ringing.
“Hello, Trixie Belden,” a low female voice said, answering the call. “I thought my little show might get your attention. I believe you have something I want.”
“Trixie! Don’t do whatever she says!”
“Shut up, David,” the woman ordered coldly. “As you can hear, Trixie, I have my useless son with me. I propose an exchange. You give me what I want, and I’ll release him.”
Trixie swallowed hard and drew in a noticeably shaky breath. “I don’t know what you think I have that-“
“The amulet, girl. What else could I possibly want from some amateur such as yourself? You have thirty minutes to meet me. I’ll text you the address.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan pulled his van into the litter-strewn parking lot of an abandoned gas station. “This is the place, according to the GPS,” he said slowly. “Anyone see anything?”
“Not yet,” Mart answered. “But I’m sure she’s here somewhere. I say we wait and let her show herself.”
It didn’t take long. Less than two minutes after Dan cut his engine, two figures appeared, walking out from behind the decrepit building.
“I guess it’s show time,” Dan murmured. “Ready?”
Professor Lee regarded them unhappily as they met in the middle of the lot. “I am so sorry. I didn’t tell her a thing. Somehow she already knew all about-“
“The amulet. Where is it?” the glaring woman broke in impatiently.
“So this is your mom, huh?” Trixie asked. “I hate to tell you this, but I’m liking her even less than your dad. I guess you completely take after Grams, Professor. You aren’t anything like your folks.”
“Cut the chit-chat,” Monica Lee snapped. “Give me the amulet.”
“Why?” Dan demanded. “It won’t do you any good.”
“One of the most magical artifacts known throughout history won’t do me any good?” Monica echoed with a sharp laugh. “Do you know how long the world has waited for this to surface? Countless witches have tried to find and claim it, but it remained hidden to us all, protected by a charm that rendered it invisible. Until you three came along! Centuries of the most extraordinary men and women cannot find it and somehow it reveals itself to three ridiculous teenagers? The moment you activated it, witches everywhere sensed the power that had awoken. And now, you are going to give it to me.”
“You’re telling us how powerful it is and then thinking we’re gonna just hand it over?” Dan regarded the woman with a hard expression. “Seriously?”
“Oh, I know you will,” she retorted. “A few hours on the internet and I learned enough about you, Trixie Belden, to know you fancy yourself some kind of little champion for the good. All your little charitable projects. All those times you’ve helped others. There’s quite the collection of glowing newspaper articles chronicling your noble deeds. Give me the amulet, and I will let you and David go. Refuse, and you will be very sorry.” As if to punctuate her words, a lightning bolt streaked across the sky. “I will call on forces beyond your worst nightmares! I will boil your blood. I will freeze your hearts. I will flay your flesh.”
“Wow. Poetic. But a little gruesome for my taste,” Trixie said with a small grimace. “Also? How does that work exactly? I mean how does one boil blood but freeze a heart? Are you sure you aren’t mixing up all your crazy talk?”
“Give me the amulet or I will burn you to ash!”
“Geeze. You know, this is already getting old. Some big bad evil comes to town and threatens to destroy us. Why can’t we get a good witch who wants to destroy Algebra 2 or make it so there’s no such thing as Suck Days?”
Monica tossed her hands high in the air. “Dark of night! I call upon you! Bring down-“
“Oh, stow it before I throw a bucket of water on you, lady,” Trixie cut in. “Dan, give her the amulet.”
“No!” Professor Lee cried. “Don’t! We can’t trust her!”
With a brief shrug, Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out the tarnished metal medallion. “Here. You want it? Take it.”
Monica snatched the amulet from his open palm, a broad grin of triumph on her face. “Yes! This power is mine!”
Mart closed his eyes, taking Trixie’s hand and linking their fingers together. “Quidquid agis veniat super vos ter triplici.”
Trixie grabbed Dan’s hand with her free one. “The amulet,” she said. “A powerful spell. And a genuine witch.”
“Quidquid agis veniat super vos ter triplici. Quidquid agis veniat super vos ter triplici,” Mart chanted, his voice steady and strong.
“Whatever you do, may it come back on you, thrice-fold,” Trixie stated calmly. “We are The Three, and we bind you to this spell. If you try to hurt someone, that pain will reflect back to you three times over. Any harm you do, you will suffer for it.”
Monica gasped as the amulet vanished from her grasp. “You can’t!”
Grinning, Dan pulled it from his pocket. “I told you it wouldn’t do you any good. What can I say? It really likes me. It even follows me into the bathroom, if you can believe that.”
“This? Would be the only chance we’re gonna give you,” Trixie told her. “Leave now and never return.”
The witch’s face contorted into a mask of rage. “Ut cutis ardebit!”
“Ow!” Trixie exclaimed, shaking her arm as an angry red patch appeared.
Monica stumbled back with a keening cry. The skin on her hands was blistered as if she’d dipped them in acid. With another agonized shriek, she turn and fled into the growing gloom of sundown.
“Freckles!”
Trixie bit her lip and winced. “No… it’s okay. I mean, it hurts, but it’s like a bad sunburn or something. I’ll live.” She turned to face the professor. “Are you okay?”
Slowly, he nodded. He frowned slightly, then shook his head. “I – I don’t know how I can ever possibly make up to you for all that my family has done.”
Trixie snorted inelegantly. “Eh. We don’t pick our parents. You don’t owe us any apologies, Professor. All you’ve ever done since we met you is everything you could to help. We can’t ask for a better friend than that. And I think it’s safe to say we don’t have to worry about your mother returning any time soon, so we’re good, at least for now.”
“Y-yes. That was some spell you put on her.”
“It was Dan’s idea,” Trixie said with a smile. “Lately? He’s been coming up with some real winners.”
The professor started as his cell phone buzzed. He yanked it from his coat pocket. “Grams! Hello!”
“David, dear, is everything all right? I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon.”
“Yes,” he said, cringing. “I had a… someone… borrowed my phone for a few hours, but I got it back from her about twenty minutes ago.”
“Oh! Are you busy tonight then? I know this is so last minute, but I’m swamped! I can’t remember the last time we had this many trick-or-treaters. I was wondering if you couldn’t go to the store for some more candy?”
He blinked, fighting the urge to give in to hysterical laughter. “Grams? Of course I can do that. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Oh, lovely! Have you eaten dinner yet? I could make us a nice pot of chicken soup.”
He had to work hard to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. “I’d love some chicken soup,” he told her, hearing the catch in his voice. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather have more. I’ll be there soon.” He disconnected the call and looked at the others. “Could I trouble you for a lift? I believe my mother may have just stolen my car keys. I’ll need to go home for the spare set.”
“Of course, Professor. Not a problem,” Dan assured him. “We’ll take you home for your keys, then drop you back here. And hey, at least she didn’t take off with your phone, too, right?”
He smiled faintly at that. “She left it sitting on the car seat when we got here. I grabbed it before I got out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We have one more stop to make, before we can go to the party,” Dan reminded them as they watched the professor climb into his sedan. They waited until he gave them a friendly wave as he shifted into drive and pulled out onto the empty road, then Dan turned his van in the opposite direction.
“Yeah. One more loose end,” Trixie said with a heavy sigh. “Are we sure we’re even gonna find him?”
“No idea, but we need to try.”
The winding road that eventually led to Vernon’s cottage seemed even more deserted and desolate than it had on the other nights they’d driven it. Though Dan kept his speed down to barely over twenty-miles-per-hour, they saw no sign of the spirit they were seeking. It was only just as they’d agreed to give up that the slight figure of Bart Macy stepped out on to the road.
“So… we don’t actually know if he was evil himself or only a pawn,” Mart muttered. “Don’t let your guard down.”
“Do you know what happened to me?” the teenage ghost asked as they approached him. “Did you find out?”
“Yeah,” Trixie said. “It wasn’t good. Are you sure you wanna know? You could just move on…”
“So somebody did kill me? I was right!”
“An evil spirit killed you.”
Bart frowned uncertainly, regarding them with a doubtful look. “How’s that?”
“Short answer? He possessed you and when the people fighting him tried to stop him, you got killed in the process.”
“Well, dang.”
“And you really don’t remember any of this?”
Bart slowly shook his head. “I swear it. I don’t.”
Trixie traded a look with her brother. “I’m thinking pawn, yeah?” she said softly. “Bart… we’re sorry about what happened to you, but now that you know, aren't you ready to let go? You’ve been stuck here an awful long time.”
“Maybe. Yeah. I’ll think about it.” He turned away from them and took a few steps toward the dark forest, vanishing before he even reached the trees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Holy fish sticks!” Trixie exclaimed with a disbelieving laugh as she read the message on her phone. “Lester won’t be at the party tonight.”
“How come?” Mart asked curiously. “He deserves a night of fun as much as anyone.”
“Yeah. But his mom really did ground him!”
“Huh?”
“He warned me that might happen if he tried to talk to her and get any information. Apparently she’s told him that she suspects he’s getting involved in magic and she won’t allow it, so tonight he has to stay home and hand out candy to the little kiddies in his neighborhood.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. But in her defense, can you imagine what Moms would’ve done to us if she had any idea what we’ve been up to this month? Grounding is nothing! We’d probably be chained to a wall in the basement by now.”
Dan angled his van up behind a row of parked cars on the wide drive that curved around to the palatial Lynch mansion. “Looks like half the town turned up,” he remarked as they climbed out and shut their doors. “Di should be thrilled.”
Honey met them in the front hallway, dressed in an outfit Trixie thought might have been something from a Dr. Seuss book. “You aren’t in costume!” she said loudly, almost shouting to be heard over the thumping beat of music coming from the large den.
“We didn’t exactly have time to worry-“ Trixie began.
“I know! I know! We figured this would happen! Come upstairs with me! We took care of it for you!”
Honey led them to Di’s bedroom. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, giving her friends an apologetic smile. “Um, okay… Don’t get mad. We really did think this was a good idea. At least at the time…” She swung the door open to reveal three costumes carefully laid out upon Di’s queen bed.
“Awesome,” Trixie said with a wide grin as she took in the tan and orange jumpsuits. “I call Venkman!”
“Just as long as I get to wear the backpack,” Mart agreed. He crossed to the bed and smiled. “I ain’t afraid of no ghost!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trixie sat on a sofa between her brother and Jim, nodding solemnly as she listened to them talk.
“This has been a tough month,” Brian complained, blowing out a breath. “Some of my mid-terms were killers! And my research project on the advancements in heart disease detection and treatment has been slow going. I’ve got pages left to write and it’s due next week. There’ve been plenty of days recently where I was wishing I was back here and going to high school again… things were so much simpler and easier then.”
Jim took a sip of his soda and bobbed his head in agreement. “I had four different essays due in the past two weeks alone! I think my poli-sci professor is secretly a sadist or something. And one of my roommates can’t seem to manage even the most basic of chores like picking his dirty clothes up off the floor. It’s great to have the freedoms we have now as college men, but sometimes I do miss being home.”
“Mmm, hmmm. Home and high school,” Trixie murmured, “where life is all easy-peasy. And it’s not like, you know, anything ever happens here… I’m surprised we haven’t all just died of boredom or something. There’s never anything at all to do.”
“Yeah. Just wait, Trix,” Brian said wisely. “You only have another couple of years and you’ll be off to college, too. Then you’ll really appreciate and understand what we’re talking about.”
Dan appeared in front of them, holding two drinks. “Hey, Freckles, can you come with me for a sec? There’s something I want to show you.”
She levered herself off the couch and followed him across the crowded room. They passed through an open set of French doors and out onto the back verandah. Several party guests were milling about on the lawn below, a few of them playing catch with a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee.
“You wanted to show me something?” Trixie asked, looking around curiously.
Dan set the cups down on a small iron table next to two potted plants. “Nah. I just wanted to rescue you. Or maybe rescue them. Judging by the look on your face, I thought it was possible you were planning to do something drastic, like turn ‘em into jack-o’-lanterns or rats or something.”
“Hey! I was being good. Promise. No bad thoughts!”
He grinned down at her and stepped closer. “If you say so.” He bent his head and captured her lips in a soft kiss. “Happy Halloween, Babe,” he whispered.
Sliding her arms up around his neck, she offered him a half-smile. “That’s Venkman to you, Spengler.”
“Babe…” Whatever else he thought to say was lost as she lifted up slightly on her toes and returned his kiss with one of her own.
Trixie Belden was bored. Outside the window, she could see the mid-morning sun shining brightly in a brilliant blue sky. It was a perfect autumn day, with temperatures cool enough to need a jacket, but not so cold that misery and frostbite were distinct possibilities. She briefly entertained herself with a mental image of her life before everything had been turned upside-down, inside-out, and all around - when her biggest concerns involved algebra pop-quizzes and plans for a Halloween party.
Unfortunately, her daydream was cruelly shattered by a strident voice demanding her presence in one of the station’s interrogation rooms. She rose from her uncomfortable plastic chair and followed her brother down a short hall, cringing as she heard Sergeant Wendell Molinson ordering Spider to record their “interview.”
Dan was already in the room. A young man in a navy blue suit sat next to him, shuffling through some pages. He looked up as Trixie and Mart entered. “Hello,” he said pleasantly. “I’m Ed Farmer, your PD.”
“PD?” Trixie echoed uncertainly.
Dan huffed out a breath, glancing at Sergeant Molinson with narrowed eyes. “It means ‘public defender,’ Freckles. He’s a lawyer.”
“We – we need a lawyer?” Trixie cast her brother a worried look. “Maybe we should call Moms and Dad back… They thought we were only coming in to give a quick statement.”
“That won’t be necessary,” a new voice broke in. “Kids, don’t say another word.”
The man who stepped through the door was tall and very well-dressed. Although Trixie would never have considered herself an expert in men’s clothing, she knew immediately that his crisp grey suit, pristine white button-down and dark red tie cost more than probably every outfit she had in her closet.
He set a leather briefcase down on the table and nodded to Ed. “Thank you for your assistance, son, but we won’t be needing your services any longer. I believe there’s a vagrant in the drunk tank awaiting your representation.”
As Ed quietly gathered his things, Spider slouched back in his seat. “Did Matthew Wheeler send you, Mr. Thompson?” he guessed, smiling slightly.
“Yes. Now, you will be releasing my clients immediately. You have no case, no evidence, and eye-witness statements that vouch for their innocence.”
“Eye-witnesses related to the suspects,” Wendell Molinson said sharply. “Bill Regan is Dan’s uncle and Alicia Belden is-“
“Stella Macy is of no relation-“
“Stella Macy is a crackpot who makes a living reading palms.”
“And David Lee, a respected professor at Haversham College,” Roger Thompson continued smoothly. “Every one of your witnesses has independently made similar statements, either to you directly or to the fire marshal on site yesterday evening. Three masked figures approached the Lisgard mansion. One of them threw a rock which caused a candle to fall and ignite the stairs and rails of the wooden porch. Although the fire department was contacted immediately, the ensuing blaze destroyed the property. The three vandals got away. It would be best if you concentrated your time and manpower on identifying and locating them, rather than harassing my clients. Now, unless you would like some very unfortunate publicity in which we make it known the Sleepyside Police Department is bullying three innocent minors, then this interview is over.”
“We still haven’t been given any satisfactory explanation for their presence at the Lisgard estate,” Molinson growled.
Roger flipped his case over and opened it. “I have here a faxed, signed document from the owner of the property verifying that he gave Mr. Mangan, as his employee and caretaker, permission to collect any items from the house that he found of interest, before the planned demolition early next year. Mr. Mangan was also authorized to allow others on the property, as he saw fit. As they had the owner’s permission to be present, you will not be able to file any criminal trespass charges against them.”
It was only a few minutes later that Trixie, Dan, and Mart found themselves standing on the cement sidewalk outside the police station. “Well. That… was fun,” Trixie said with a shake of her head. She looked up at the lawyer and smiled crookedly. “Thank you, sir. We appreciate what you did for us.”
“You are very welcome, Ms. Belden. Don’t let this worry you. There’s not a shred of a case against you, and they know it. This whole dog-and-pony show was a poor attempt to scare you into confessing. I don’t know how they’ll handle their continuing investigations, but they won’t be able to prosecute you for anything.”
“Roger Thompson! It’s been a few years.” Alicia Belden strolled up, holding out one hand. “Hello, darling,” she said as she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You’re looking well.”
“But not as fantastic as you, my dear! You are as glorious as ever.”
“Ah, you always were the flatterer,” Alicia said with a laugh. She turned her attention to the others. “I was here to possibly bail you out before your parents showed up to create what no doubt would have been a magnificent scene, but it seems that won’t be necessary?”
“Matt Wheeler sent me,” Roger explained. “I disabused that bumbling sergeant of any notion that he had a case to make.”
“Well, then. I suppose that means I wasted a trip. Still, I’m glad to see you aren’t spending any time locked up in a holding cell. Have you any plans for the day, Beatrix? Martin? Daniel?”
“Technically, we should probably go to school,” Mart replied. “But I think we might just take it easy until tonight. We have a party to attend and help host at a friend’s house.”
“Sounds like a perfectly wise decision to me. Find some place quiet and lacking any… unwanted crowds. I’ll be on my way, then. Don’t be strangers, dears.”
“We won’t, Aunt Alicia,” Trixie promised. “We’ll… uh, drop in when we can and let you know how things are going.”
“Alicia, could I persuade you to join me for lunch at the Glen Road Inn?” Roger asked, holding out one arm. “I’d be delighted to have the chance to catch up with you.”
“Hmmm. I do find myself unexpectedly free at the moment. I accept, darling.” As she allowed the lawyer to lead her away, Alicia turned to glance back over her shoulder and wink at them before flashing a smile full of girlish mischief.
“I think our auntie has a new man in her life,” Trixie said with a small chuckle. “Wonder how long he’ll last.”
“I’m not sure ‘new man’ is accurate,” Mart pointed out. “I certainly got the impression they, uh… knew each other well, once upon a time.”
“True that!” She looked at Dan and her amusement faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah, sorry, Freckles,” he grumbled, jamming his hands into his pockets. “I… just – I still sometimes get looks from the locals. You know… ‘Hold on tight to your handbag. Here comes that juvenile delinquent who belonged to a city gang.’ And now it doesn’t matter that we didn’t torch the Lisgard place or that the cops can’t make a case. Some people are gonna think we did it. There’ll be this cloud of suspicion hanging over us.”
“What can we do? We know Jerry and his friends were behind it, but we don’t have any proof.”
“Yeah,” Mart agreed. “Short of a confession, I don’t think there’s any way he’ll be brought to justice.”
Dan’s expression shifted, his glowering scowl melting into a satisfied smirk. “A confession. That’s exactly what we need. I’ve got an idea.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trixie tilted her cone to lick the trail of poison green ice cream dripping down the side. “You know, it may be called Toxic Sludge, but this really isn’t bad. I wonder if Herman’s is gonna go back to normal flavors next month?”
Mart’s gaze drifted up and down the busy street. “I dunno. It’s gonna be weird once all the Halloween decorations come down, but I’m betting they’ll bring out the Christmas stuff as soon as they can.” He glanced down at his watch and frowned. “We still haven’t heard back from the professor?”
Trixie pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and shook her head. “No texts or missed calls. Maybe he’s got classes? He does have an actual job, you know, beyond playing Giles to our Scooby Gang.”
“You aren’t at least a little worried? I mean, about this whole evil witch thing?”
“I’m extremely worried. I was up most of last night worried about it. Remember how surprised Vernon was when we told him that Sarah had warned us about evil coming? I’m betting that was because he hadn’t expected her to know about the rumors, and it turns out, he was right. She was talking about Luke, but the other spirits have been talking about some unknown witch. I realized this morning that this is like when we had to wait for Luke to make his move. We don’t know anything about this witch or when she’ll arrive or what she wants… so, I’m trying to take a page out of Aunt Alicia’s book and not freak out over something we have no control over. At least, no control right now, anyway. Meanwhile, we can deal with Jerry the Firebug and then if we still haven’t heard back from the professor, maybe we could try to hunt him down?”
Mart sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah. I guess. Here comes Dan with the van. Let’s hope he was able to get what we needed.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There he is,” Trixie said quietly. “Does anyone know who that girl is with him?”
“I’ve seen her around campus,” Dan replied. “But I don’t know her name.”
“We should get rid of her first, before we talk to Jerry.”
“Agreed. Any suggestions?”
Mart reached out and popped open his door. “Give me a second. I got this.” He quickly crossed the student parking lot and Dan and Trixie could see him talking with Jerry and his friend. Mart waved one hand broadly and then pointed back at the school. The girl’s expression, even at a distance, revealed a deep concern. She said something briefly to the boys before hurrying off. Trixie and Dan waited only a few moments to watch her leave, then climbed out of the van and joined the others.
“… Angie didn’t dig up the flowers around the statue,” Jerry growled. “That’s stupid talk. No one knows who did it, either, before you get any bright ideas to accuse me, too.”
Mart raised one hand in an innocent gesture. “I didn’t say she did. I just said that some other people have been saying she did it and that she probably wanted to go talk with someone in the office to clear things up.”
Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object. “Recognize this, Jerry?” he asked as he held out the stone wolf. “You threw it at us last night and ended up committing an act of arson.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. You stole this the night you and probably a couple of your buddies broke into Lisgard House and trashed the library. You returned last night. I’m thinking your plan was to do some more vandalism or maybe you thought you could scare us or something? As much of an idiot as you are, I doubt you actually meant to burn the place down. You know what I think happened? I think you showed up and were caught off guard to see so many people there, especially all the adults. You abandoned whatever plan you had and just chunked this at us ‘cause you were pissed off that you couldn’t do whatever it was you wanted to do.”
Jerry sneered at them and turned to open his car door. “I don’t have to listen to you losers and your fairy tales.”
“Oh, yes, you do,” Trixie said cheerfully. “Because if you don’t? I’ll sic a ghost on you.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“Do you think I’m kidding? I’m a witch, Jerry.”
“You’re a witch all right,” he drawled nastily.
“She certainly is,” a disembodied voice said. “Quite a good one, actually.” Vernon slowly appeared, grinning down at the stunned boy in front of him. He reached up, grabbed his head by his hair, and lifted it off his shoulders as if tipping a hat in greeting. “Boo!”
Jerry Vanderhoef screamed. Two football players passing by stopped to stare at him with wide eyes. “Dude? You okay?” the shorter one asked.
Trixie waved a hand in their direction. “He’s fine,” she assured them. “He just sees dead people.”
“Oh, yeah! Right! Party tonight!” The boys exchanged high-fives with one another as they ambled off.
“Jerry, you need to calm down,” Mart said evenly. “You’re hyperventilating. You’re gonna make yourself pass out.”
“G-g-ghost.”
“Yep.” Trixie grinned as she watched Jerry collapse weakly back against his car. “He’s a ghost. And unless you want him haunting you and making you miserable for the rest of your sorry life? You’re going to go down to the police station, confess to your crimes, and throw yourself on the mercy of the court. It’s up to you, Jerry, but I warn you… Vernon here is not the only spirit I could send after you. I wouldn’t chance it.”
A dull thump interrupted them. It was followed almost immediately by several more. Trixie stepped back quickly, shaking her head. “Eww!” she exclaimed as the large frog squatting on the roof of Jerry’s car let out a loud croak.
“Oh, my God!” Jerry cried. “Okay! Okay! Make it stop! I’ll turn myself in! I swear!” He clambered into his Corolla and slammed the door shut.
Dan grabbed Trixie’s hand. “C’mon!” They raced back to his van, Mart directly behind them. All around the parking lot, students were running in every direction, shrieks and shouts filling the air.
“Rain of toads. Rain of toads. It’s a freaking rain of toads!” Mart babbled as he strapped himself in to his seat. “This is our lives now! Witches and ghosts and raining toads!”
“I’m not doing this!” Trixie insisted. “I don’t think I’m doing this! Are you guys doing it?”
“No!” Dan shook his head hard. “It’s not us!”
“All right, Mart. You’re right. We need to talk to the professor.”
“Try calling him again.”
Trixie fished her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen. She waited as she heard the distant ringing.
“Hello, Trixie Belden,” a low female voice said, answering the call. “I thought my little show might get your attention. I believe you have something I want.”
“Trixie! Don’t do whatever she says!”
“Shut up, David,” the woman ordered coldly. “As you can hear, Trixie, I have my useless son with me. I propose an exchange. You give me what I want, and I’ll release him.”
Trixie swallowed hard and drew in a noticeably shaky breath. “I don’t know what you think I have that-“
“The amulet, girl. What else could I possibly want from some amateur such as yourself? You have thirty minutes to meet me. I’ll text you the address.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan pulled his van into the litter-strewn parking lot of an abandoned gas station. “This is the place, according to the GPS,” he said slowly. “Anyone see anything?”
“Not yet,” Mart answered. “But I’m sure she’s here somewhere. I say we wait and let her show herself.”
It didn’t take long. Less than two minutes after Dan cut his engine, two figures appeared, walking out from behind the decrepit building.
“I guess it’s show time,” Dan murmured. “Ready?”
Professor Lee regarded them unhappily as they met in the middle of the lot. “I am so sorry. I didn’t tell her a thing. Somehow she already knew all about-“
“The amulet. Where is it?” the glaring woman broke in impatiently.
“So this is your mom, huh?” Trixie asked. “I hate to tell you this, but I’m liking her even less than your dad. I guess you completely take after Grams, Professor. You aren’t anything like your folks.”
“Cut the chit-chat,” Monica Lee snapped. “Give me the amulet.”
“Why?” Dan demanded. “It won’t do you any good.”
“One of the most magical artifacts known throughout history won’t do me any good?” Monica echoed with a sharp laugh. “Do you know how long the world has waited for this to surface? Countless witches have tried to find and claim it, but it remained hidden to us all, protected by a charm that rendered it invisible. Until you three came along! Centuries of the most extraordinary men and women cannot find it and somehow it reveals itself to three ridiculous teenagers? The moment you activated it, witches everywhere sensed the power that had awoken. And now, you are going to give it to me.”
“You’re telling us how powerful it is and then thinking we’re gonna just hand it over?” Dan regarded the woman with a hard expression. “Seriously?”
“Oh, I know you will,” she retorted. “A few hours on the internet and I learned enough about you, Trixie Belden, to know you fancy yourself some kind of little champion for the good. All your little charitable projects. All those times you’ve helped others. There’s quite the collection of glowing newspaper articles chronicling your noble deeds. Give me the amulet, and I will let you and David go. Refuse, and you will be very sorry.” As if to punctuate her words, a lightning bolt streaked across the sky. “I will call on forces beyond your worst nightmares! I will boil your blood. I will freeze your hearts. I will flay your flesh.”
“Wow. Poetic. But a little gruesome for my taste,” Trixie said with a small grimace. “Also? How does that work exactly? I mean how does one boil blood but freeze a heart? Are you sure you aren’t mixing up all your crazy talk?”
“Give me the amulet or I will burn you to ash!”
“Geeze. You know, this is already getting old. Some big bad evil comes to town and threatens to destroy us. Why can’t we get a good witch who wants to destroy Algebra 2 or make it so there’s no such thing as Suck Days?”
Monica tossed her hands high in the air. “Dark of night! I call upon you! Bring down-“
“Oh, stow it before I throw a bucket of water on you, lady,” Trixie cut in. “Dan, give her the amulet.”
“No!” Professor Lee cried. “Don’t! We can’t trust her!”
With a brief shrug, Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out the tarnished metal medallion. “Here. You want it? Take it.”
Monica snatched the amulet from his open palm, a broad grin of triumph on her face. “Yes! This power is mine!”
Mart closed his eyes, taking Trixie’s hand and linking their fingers together. “Quidquid agis veniat super vos ter triplici.”
Trixie grabbed Dan’s hand with her free one. “The amulet,” she said. “A powerful spell. And a genuine witch.”
“Quidquid agis veniat super vos ter triplici. Quidquid agis veniat super vos ter triplici,” Mart chanted, his voice steady and strong.
“Whatever you do, may it come back on you, thrice-fold,” Trixie stated calmly. “We are The Three, and we bind you to this spell. If you try to hurt someone, that pain will reflect back to you three times over. Any harm you do, you will suffer for it.”
Monica gasped as the amulet vanished from her grasp. “You can’t!”
Grinning, Dan pulled it from his pocket. “I told you it wouldn’t do you any good. What can I say? It really likes me. It even follows me into the bathroom, if you can believe that.”
“This? Would be the only chance we’re gonna give you,” Trixie told her. “Leave now and never return.”
The witch’s face contorted into a mask of rage. “Ut cutis ardebit!”
“Ow!” Trixie exclaimed, shaking her arm as an angry red patch appeared.
Monica stumbled back with a keening cry. The skin on her hands was blistered as if she’d dipped them in acid. With another agonized shriek, she turn and fled into the growing gloom of sundown.
“Freckles!”
Trixie bit her lip and winced. “No… it’s okay. I mean, it hurts, but it’s like a bad sunburn or something. I’ll live.” She turned to face the professor. “Are you okay?”
Slowly, he nodded. He frowned slightly, then shook his head. “I – I don’t know how I can ever possibly make up to you for all that my family has done.”
Trixie snorted inelegantly. “Eh. We don’t pick our parents. You don’t owe us any apologies, Professor. All you’ve ever done since we met you is everything you could to help. We can’t ask for a better friend than that. And I think it’s safe to say we don’t have to worry about your mother returning any time soon, so we’re good, at least for now.”
“Y-yes. That was some spell you put on her.”
“It was Dan’s idea,” Trixie said with a smile. “Lately? He’s been coming up with some real winners.”
The professor started as his cell phone buzzed. He yanked it from his coat pocket. “Grams! Hello!”
“David, dear, is everything all right? I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon.”
“Yes,” he said, cringing. “I had a… someone… borrowed my phone for a few hours, but I got it back from her about twenty minutes ago.”
“Oh! Are you busy tonight then? I know this is so last minute, but I’m swamped! I can’t remember the last time we had this many trick-or-treaters. I was wondering if you couldn’t go to the store for some more candy?”
He blinked, fighting the urge to give in to hysterical laughter. “Grams? Of course I can do that. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Oh, lovely! Have you eaten dinner yet? I could make us a nice pot of chicken soup.”
He had to work hard to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. “I’d love some chicken soup,” he told her, hearing the catch in his voice. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather have more. I’ll be there soon.” He disconnected the call and looked at the others. “Could I trouble you for a lift? I believe my mother may have just stolen my car keys. I’ll need to go home for the spare set.”
“Of course, Professor. Not a problem,” Dan assured him. “We’ll take you home for your keys, then drop you back here. And hey, at least she didn’t take off with your phone, too, right?”
He smiled faintly at that. “She left it sitting on the car seat when we got here. I grabbed it before I got out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We have one more stop to make, before we can go to the party,” Dan reminded them as they watched the professor climb into his sedan. They waited until he gave them a friendly wave as he shifted into drive and pulled out onto the empty road, then Dan turned his van in the opposite direction.
“Yeah. One more loose end,” Trixie said with a heavy sigh. “Are we sure we’re even gonna find him?”
“No idea, but we need to try.”
The winding road that eventually led to Vernon’s cottage seemed even more deserted and desolate than it had on the other nights they’d driven it. Though Dan kept his speed down to barely over twenty-miles-per-hour, they saw no sign of the spirit they were seeking. It was only just as they’d agreed to give up that the slight figure of Bart Macy stepped out on to the road.
“So… we don’t actually know if he was evil himself or only a pawn,” Mart muttered. “Don’t let your guard down.”
“Do you know what happened to me?” the teenage ghost asked as they approached him. “Did you find out?”
“Yeah,” Trixie said. “It wasn’t good. Are you sure you wanna know? You could just move on…”
“So somebody did kill me? I was right!”
“An evil spirit killed you.”
Bart frowned uncertainly, regarding them with a doubtful look. “How’s that?”
“Short answer? He possessed you and when the people fighting him tried to stop him, you got killed in the process.”
“Well, dang.”
“And you really don’t remember any of this?”
Bart slowly shook his head. “I swear it. I don’t.”
Trixie traded a look with her brother. “I’m thinking pawn, yeah?” she said softly. “Bart… we’re sorry about what happened to you, but now that you know, aren't you ready to let go? You’ve been stuck here an awful long time.”
“Maybe. Yeah. I’ll think about it.” He turned away from them and took a few steps toward the dark forest, vanishing before he even reached the trees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Holy fish sticks!” Trixie exclaimed with a disbelieving laugh as she read the message on her phone. “Lester won’t be at the party tonight.”
“How come?” Mart asked curiously. “He deserves a night of fun as much as anyone.”
“Yeah. But his mom really did ground him!”
“Huh?”
“He warned me that might happen if he tried to talk to her and get any information. Apparently she’s told him that she suspects he’s getting involved in magic and she won’t allow it, so tonight he has to stay home and hand out candy to the little kiddies in his neighborhood.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. But in her defense, can you imagine what Moms would’ve done to us if she had any idea what we’ve been up to this month? Grounding is nothing! We’d probably be chained to a wall in the basement by now.”
Dan angled his van up behind a row of parked cars on the wide drive that curved around to the palatial Lynch mansion. “Looks like half the town turned up,” he remarked as they climbed out and shut their doors. “Di should be thrilled.”
Honey met them in the front hallway, dressed in an outfit Trixie thought might have been something from a Dr. Seuss book. “You aren’t in costume!” she said loudly, almost shouting to be heard over the thumping beat of music coming from the large den.
“We didn’t exactly have time to worry-“ Trixie began.
“I know! I know! We figured this would happen! Come upstairs with me! We took care of it for you!”
Honey led them to Di’s bedroom. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, giving her friends an apologetic smile. “Um, okay… Don’t get mad. We really did think this was a good idea. At least at the time…” She swung the door open to reveal three costumes carefully laid out upon Di’s queen bed.
“Awesome,” Trixie said with a wide grin as she took in the tan and orange jumpsuits. “I call Venkman!”
“Just as long as I get to wear the backpack,” Mart agreed. He crossed to the bed and smiled. “I ain’t afraid of no ghost!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trixie sat on a sofa between her brother and Jim, nodding solemnly as she listened to them talk.
“This has been a tough month,” Brian complained, blowing out a breath. “Some of my mid-terms were killers! And my research project on the advancements in heart disease detection and treatment has been slow going. I’ve got pages left to write and it’s due next week. There’ve been plenty of days recently where I was wishing I was back here and going to high school again… things were so much simpler and easier then.”
Jim took a sip of his soda and bobbed his head in agreement. “I had four different essays due in the past two weeks alone! I think my poli-sci professor is secretly a sadist or something. And one of my roommates can’t seem to manage even the most basic of chores like picking his dirty clothes up off the floor. It’s great to have the freedoms we have now as college men, but sometimes I do miss being home.”
“Mmm, hmmm. Home and high school,” Trixie murmured, “where life is all easy-peasy. And it’s not like, you know, anything ever happens here… I’m surprised we haven’t all just died of boredom or something. There’s never anything at all to do.”
“Yeah. Just wait, Trix,” Brian said wisely. “You only have another couple of years and you’ll be off to college, too. Then you’ll really appreciate and understand what we’re talking about.”
Dan appeared in front of them, holding two drinks. “Hey, Freckles, can you come with me for a sec? There’s something I want to show you.”
She levered herself off the couch and followed him across the crowded room. They passed through an open set of French doors and out onto the back verandah. Several party guests were milling about on the lawn below, a few of them playing catch with a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee.
“You wanted to show me something?” Trixie asked, looking around curiously.
Dan set the cups down on a small iron table next to two potted plants. “Nah. I just wanted to rescue you. Or maybe rescue them. Judging by the look on your face, I thought it was possible you were planning to do something drastic, like turn ‘em into jack-o’-lanterns or rats or something.”
“Hey! I was being good. Promise. No bad thoughts!”
He grinned down at her and stepped closer. “If you say so.” He bent his head and captured her lips in a soft kiss. “Happy Halloween, Babe,” he whispered.
Sliding her arms up around his neck, she offered him a half-smile. “That’s Venkman to you, Spengler.”
“Babe…” Whatever else he thought to say was lost as she lifted up slightly on her toes and returned his kiss with one of her own.
