The winter months came and went from Oak Hollow without much fanfare, with late April arriving quickly to signal that the end of the school year was getting closer and closer. Gone were the rich orange and red leaves of the trees surrounding Gravewood, having long since fallen off and replaced with fresh new green ones. The weather was still in a nice transitional state between the mind-numbing cold of winter to the sweltering heat of summer, leaving the neighborhood at a pleasant warm temperature with occasional cooling breezes scattered throughout the days.

  Each day took longer and longer for the sun to set as they made their way further through spring, casting its lingering rays over Gravewood before dropping behind the horizon. At around 8:00 P.M. the sun had fully gone, and was just beginning to take its warmth with it, though there would still be a couple of hours until the cold completely seeped in.

  It was the ideal time for a cookout, at least in Gravewood.

  With the weather warming up, Hank Harwood had decided to host a weekend barbeque at his house, squeezing what felt like to Jesse the entire neighborhood into his backyard.

  Now that he’s spent a couple of months visiting Gravewood, he found that more and more faces were becoming familiar. He spotted Ronnie and Donnie, who he now knew were roommates, chatting over by the flowerbeds with an excited looking Dr. Rotbart and a noticeably less excited looking Adam. It was strange seeing the latter two outside of their laboratory, but he guessed even they wouldn’t miss the chance to attend one of Hank’s famous barbeques. Even Mr. Pennyshire was here, despite the fact that he apparently can’t eat food.

  And of course, Jesse and his friends had been invited.

  “Okay, these are the best hotdogs I have ever had in my life,” Noah declared. “I don’t even care if they have newt eyes or bat tongues or whatever in them, they’re so good.”

  Jesse had to agree. It was hard to imagine how someone could make something as simple as hot dogs and hamburgers into top quality meals, but Hank had managed it.

  “I don’t even think it’s the monster food that makes it good,” Alicia commented. She was halfway through a vegetarian burger. “I think Hank is just like a god at grilling. This seriously beats even my mom’s cooking.”

  That was high praise. Jesse had had the opportunity to try Alicia’s mom’s cooking when she invited them over for her birthday a couple weeks ago. He’d never been the biggest fan of Indian food before, but she had converted him with her chana masala.

  “And we’re absolutely sure this won’t trap us in Gravewood again?” He didn’t want to spoil their good time, but he felt he had to bring it up.

  “It would be worth it,” Noah decided.

  “It won’t trap us,” Siobhan assured him. “Bella told me that the potion we all drank on Halloween made it so that we can cross the barrier whenever we want. No amount of hot dogs will change that now.”

  “In that case, I’m getting seconds.” Noah made a beeline for the food table, and wanting seconds themselves, the rest followed him. They wound their way through the chattering crowd until they stopped in front of where Hank had set himself up near the back fence with his grill.

  “Hey there, kids.” He waved at them. “Hungry for more?”

  He wasn’t in his usual transformed state, instead showing them his rare human form. Jesse figured it was so he wouldn’t accidently get wolf hair all over the food. His usual clothes were covered with a black apron that read, “Paws off my grill!” next to a cartoon wolf paw print.

  “Yes, please.”

  As he served them up second helpings, he said, “You know, I’m real glad y'all could make it tonight. We’ve really enjoyed having you around these past few months.”

  Ever since the whole debacle with the imp queen in November, they kept finding themselves returning to Gravewood. One invitation to a cookout led to another invite to a holiday party, and the next thing they knew, they were visiting the neighborhood every other week. It was just hard to say no to Hank.

  “We’ve enjoyed being here,” Jesse told him truthfully.

  “And thanks for bringing those brownies. They’ve been a big hit. Did you make them yourself?”

  “Someone I know did.”

  When he’d told his mom that he was going to a party with Siobhan, she’d used her superhuman mom speed to bake up a batch of double chocolate brownies, insisting he take them with him as it was improper to show up to a gathering empty-handed.

  “By the way, I don’t think you’ve been properly introduced to the rest of my family yet,” Hank said, setting down his spatula beside the grill. “Want to say hi?”

  “Sure,” Alicia answered for them, not like any one of them would have said no. They were long past the point of trying to keep their distance from the residents of Gravewood.

  He placed two fingers in his mouth and let out a single, sharp whistle, something he must have done quite often, judging from how no one else at the party batted an eye. They watched as four kids and a young woman broke away from the rest of the crowd, coming to line up in front of the grill. The young woman Jesse recognized from the costume contest, and he vaguely recalled seeing two of the kids on Halloween night as well.

  “Kids, meet Jesse, Siobhan, Noah, and Alicia,” Hank started. “Ya’ll, these are my kids; Leah, Rory, Kyle, Samantha, and Tyra.”

  He pointed to each of them as he said their names, and Jesse realized that must have been their age order as well. Leah and Rory looked to be the two youngest, maybe around seven, and both were in a fully transformed werewolf state, with light brown and grey fur completely covering their respective bodies. Kyle and Samantha, on the other hand, looked closer to his own age, just a few years younger, and unlike their siblings, they were only half-transformed, with distinctive ears and tails, but most of their skin was still visible aside from a few patches of fur. Only Tyra didn’t have any wolf features, instead looking like a regular human in her early twenties.

  “Nice to see you again,” She flashed a dazzling smile, and it took Jesse a second to realize she was speaking directly to him.

  “Oh, yeah. You too.”

  “Are you all new to the neighborhood?” Samantha asked. “Where are you from?”

  Before they had a chance to respond, Leah jumped in and answered for them. “They’re not new, we’ve seen them before! Right, Rory?”

  “Yeah,” her brother pointed at Jesse. “He’s the one with the costume everyone said was moronic. I didn’t think it was, though. I thought it was cool.”

  Kyle rolled his eyes. “It was ironic, not moronic. Dad, maybe you should think about giving Rory English lessons over the summer instead of letting him goof off.”

  “And you should take some jerk lessons, to learn how to not be a jerk!” he shot back indignantly.

  “No fighting in front of company,” Hank told the boys firmly. “Rory, don’t call your brother a jerk. And Kyle, he’s seven. I reckon I didn’t know anything about that irony stuff ‘til I was in middle school.”

  Samatha’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean you’re in middle school? What’s it like?”

  “Uh, just like elementary school, I guess?” Jesse said. “But with more classes.”

  “Do you play on any teams? What’s your school’s mascot? Do you have a favorite sport?”

  “Stop overwhelming the boy.” Hank looked apologetically at him. “Sorry about that. We have a rule in the house that they aren’t allowed to attend public school until they’re able to get their werewolf transformation under control.”

  “I’ve almost got it!” Samantha said, punching her fist into her palm. “Next year, I’ll enroll for sure.”

  “I keep trying to tell you, it’s not all it's cracked up to be,” Tyra said. “Especially middle school.”

  Noah nodded in agreement. “She’s right. In fact, it’s probably the worst out of all the schools.”

  As the family bantered, Jesse couldn’t help but notice that despite their easiness with each other, none of the kids looked similar. Tyra’s skin was quite a few shades darker than both Kyle and Samantha’s, and while it was difficult to tell with Leah and Rory both transformed, their brown and grey fur were much different to Kyle’s black and Samantha’s dirty blonde. What’s more is that none of them resembled Hank either.

  “By the way, do you have a wife, Hank?” It was the most tactful way he could think to get his question answered, but he still inwardly cringed at the awkwardness of it.

  Hank didn’t seem bothered, though, and laughed good-naturedly. “Aw, nah. No husband or partner, neither. Never really been interested in that sort of thing. All of these ones here aren’t mine by blood, but mine by choice.”

  Tyra threw her arm around him. “Aww, Dad.”

  Siobhan blinked. “And you’re all... werewolves?”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “That’s Hank’s specialty,” she explained. “He takes in kids who contracted lycanthropy really young. The younger you are, the harder it is to control your werewolf nature, and a lot of kids from human households end up kicked out or running away.”

  “Or worse,” Kyle muttered into the solo cup he was holding, where he thought no one could hear him.

  Jesse could just imagine it; elementary school-aged children were already wild and full of energy. Give one of them the power to transform into an actual animal and who knows what kind of havoc they could wreak. It also explained why Leah and Rory, the youngest of the Harwoods, were always fully transformed whenever he saw them.

  “They can be a handful sometimes,” Hank continued. “Especially with five of them, but it’s well worth it. Anyway, I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time, I’d better let all of ya’ll get back to the party. Especially since Leah’s so bored she’s already wandered off.”

  “What?” Kyle looked around frantically. “Samantha, you were supposed to be watching her.”

  “I thought you were watching her and I was watching Rory?”

  “No, we agreed you were keeping an eye on both of them for the party!”

  “Uh, y'all can get back to doing what you were,” Hank told Jesse and his friends. “Just, you probably shouldn’t leave your food unattended, unless you want a hungry wandering werewolf to get it.”

  “Noted, thank you.”

  As they rejoined the party, yet another familiar face waved them down.

  “How are you enjoying the food?” Bella Cardenas asked them, holding a paper plate filled with her own helpings.

  “Amazing,” Jesse said.

  “Best thing I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Ten out of ten.”

  “If I could marry food, I would.”

  Bella nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I think everyone has that reaction to Hank’s cooking.”

  Jesse dropped his voice lower before asking, “Has there been any progress on you know what?”

  She shook her head, also whispering, “No. I just can’t figure out what would make the scarecrows go crazy like they did.”

  For the past several months, she’d been looking into the incident on Halloween night, when they had been attacked by a scarecrow in the corn maze. When it first happened, they had initially chalked it up to monster weirdness, but when they told Bella about it, she’d been surprised. Apparently, rogue scarecrows were too weird, even for Gravewood. So far, she hadn’t found any explanation for the event.

  “But I did realize something while I was researching,” she told them. “For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out how you all had gotten past the barrier around Gravewood in the first place, as it’s supposed to keep regular humans out of the neighborhood, but then I remembered, it was Halloween.”

  Alicia raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean something?”

  “During certain days of the year, the veil that separates the magical and nonmagical worlds gets naturally thinner.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard of that!” Siobhan jumped in eagerly. “They say it’s supposed to be easier for evil spirits to cross over to our world- er, the human side, during Halloween.”

  “That’s basically right, except it’s for all monsters and not just evil spirits. But it works both ways, as well; humans can just as easily slip to the supernatural side, seeing things they wouldn’t normally see if the veil were stronger. And I bet the weakened veil also had an effect on the barrier, letting in people it wouldn’t normally let in. There’s still just one problem.”

  Jesse was way ahead of her. “Where did the fliers come from?”

  She nodded. “That’s the other thing I haven’t been able to figure out. When Hank and I sent out those invitations, I made doubly sure to check where I was sending them; the safety of the neighborhood depended on it. There was no way any of you should have gotten your hands on a flyer. And I would ask around to see if anyone else had any ideas, but...”

  But we don’t want anyone else figuring out that we’re not supposed to be here.

  “Yeah, don’t do that,” Noah said.

  “I’ll keep looking into it,” she promised. “If there’s some sort of security breach in Gravewood, I need to find it. But that’s enough heavy stuff. Even if there are some strange happenings going on, I’m glad it brought you all here. You look like you’re starting to settle into the community. Though I’m surprised your parents just let you come over here by yourselves so much.”

  “My mom trusts me,” Alicia said. “She knows I can take care of myself, especially since I can also take care of Ashton.”

  Siobhan shrugged. “Whenever I want to come here, I just tell my parents I’m hanging out with Jesse.”

  “And I tell my mom I’m hanging out with Siobhan.”

  Which wasn’t technically a lie; he usually visited Gravewood with his friends. And due to his mom’s frequent late shifts at the clinic, she rarely questioned his absences from home.

  “And I just leave,” Noah said flatly.

  A concerned look crossed Bella’s face. “Oh. Thats-”

  “Come on, let’s ask Bella what she thinks. She’s smart.”

  “You’re just trying to find more people to agree with you.”

  Ronnie and Donnie approached, effectively cutting off their conversation.

  “Well, if more people agree with me, then that means I’m right,” Ronnie said stubbornly. “Bella, we need your opinion on something, and- oh, hey, you kids! Great, we can ask you as well.”

  They were both wearing matching Hawaiian shirts and held red solo cups full of soda. Jesse wanted to remind them that it still wasn’t summer yet, but they actually looked pretty good, so he figured they get a pass.

  “Ronnie, what is this about?” Bella asked, amused. Anything involving the roommates was sure to be entertaining.

  “Me and Donnie have gotten into a little bit of an argument-”

  “One that he can’t let go of.”

  “And we’re trying to get other people’s takes on it.”

  She held up her hands. “I don’t want to get in the middle of anything personal-”

  “It’s not that,” he assured her. “It’s not like politics or anything, either.”

  “It’s much stupider,” Donnie said flatly.

  “Lay it on us,” Noah said.

  “Okay,” Ronnie started, spreading his hands out. “Chuck E. Cheese... Is it a restaurant?”

  Jesse blinked. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  Donnie pointed at him. “See?”

  “No, listen, it’s not a restaurant,” he insisted. “It’s an entertainment center.”

  “Oh, that kind of makes sense,” Bella said.

  “No, don’t fall for his bull... crap.” Donnie hastily changed course at the end of his sentence, throwing a quick glance at the kids. “It’s a restaurant, end of story.”

  “It’s an entertainment center!”

  “Restaurant!”

  “It can’t be both?”

  “NO!” they yelled in unison.

  “Okay, if it’s not a restaurant, then it wouldn’t be allowed to serve food, right?” Alicia reasoned. “So, it’s got to be a restaurant.”

  “It serves food, but that’s not its central focus, so it’s not a restaurant. It’s like Dave and Buster’s.”

  “But Dave and Buster’s is a restaurant,” Jesse pointed out.

  “No, it’s a barcade.”

  “A barcade is a restaurant!” Donnie said, exasperated.

  “I’m with Ronnie on this one,” Siobhan said. “I don’t go to Chuck E. Cheese for the pizza, I go for the games.”

  “Ha!”

  “You’re crazy,” Alicia told her. “Chuck E. Cheese serves food and employes waitstaff; therefore, it is a restaurant.”

  “I wouldn’t qualify what Chuck E. Cheese serves as food,” Noah muttered, subtly throwing his hat in with team not-a-restaurant.

  “Yeah. Also, by your logic, is the cafeteria at school a restaurant?”

  “Yes,” Jesse decided. He hadn’t thought about Chuck E. Cheese in years, but he was suddenly forming strong opinions about the restaurant chain, and food service in general. “If you have to pay for the food and there’s people who serve it to you, then it counts as a restaurant.”

  “But you don’t have to buy food to play the games,” Siobhan argued. “The food is optional.”

  “I also don’t have to buy a pizza to play the pinball machine at Little Caesar's, does that mean it’s not a restaurant?”

  Noah scowled. “That is not the same thing.”

  “Do you count a bowling alley as a restaurant?” Ronnie asked.

  “We’ve already been over this; a bowling alley is not a restaurant!” Donnie said.

  “Oh, but Chuck E. Cheese is?”

  “Yes!”

  “You’re just a hypocrite!”

  “And you’re-!”

  They never got to find out just what Ronnie was, because as the argument got more and more heated, with the two roommates getting up in each other's faces, Donnie threw his hands up, the sudden movement accidently knocking the cup Ronnie was holding out of his hand and spilling its contents all over Siobhan.

  “Oh my god, I am so sorry!”

  “It’s okay,” she assured him, wiping the soda out of her eyes. “I’m fine.”

  “Look what you did.”

  “Me? You were a part of that!”

  As they continued to bicker, Jesse checked Siobhan over to make sure she was really okay. It was just soda, and aside from being annoying to wash off her clothes later, there didn’t seem to be any harm done. Until he noticed her makeup starting to run down her face. Oh, crap.

  Fortunately, the two arguing monsters hadn’t noticed yet like Bella and his friends did.

  “Go get something to clean her up with,” Donnie ordered.

  “Fine,” Ronnie said. “But you’re getting me a replacement drink.”

  “Uh, no,” Siobhan stammered, using her hands to hide her ruined makeup. “I’m fine really.”

  “Yeah, it’s about time we get going anyway,” Jesse said, trying to draw their attention while Noah threw his jacket over her shoulders, hood up to conceal her face.

  Donnie shook his head. “Nonsense, we gotta fix our mistake. It’s our fault, what with dragging you kids into our argument.”

  “Yeah, just let us-”

  “Oh my god, is that a fire?” Bella said suddenly.

  She pointed over to the side of the yard where the grill had spontaneously caught fire, Hank trying desperately to put out the rising flames. All around the party, people stopped what they were doing to watch in horror as the fire grew larger.

  “Holy cow!”

  “Donnie, activate fire extinguishing protocol alpha!”

  The two monsters immediately sprinted towards the grill, giving the group ample opportunity to escape.

  “That was lucky,” Alicia remarked.

  “Not really,” Bella said, seemingly unfazed by the fire. She held up her hand, where they could see a tiny flame dance across her palm. “I just happened to remember a handy fire-starting spell. It’s a good thing those two are always prepared in case of a disaster. You should probably get out of here, though. I can only start so many fires to cover for you before people get suspicious.”

  “Agreed,” Jesse said, and he began to herd his friends to the fence gate to get them out of there, moving in a group so Siobhan was hidden in the middle of them.

  Before they could reach it, however, a familiar vampire stepped in front of them to block their path.

  “Hey, fledgling!” Damien greeted. He was holding a solo cup full of a red liquid that Jesse decided he didn’t want to take a closer look at. “Got a second?”

  Why now? “Uh, not really-”

  “Don’t worry, this’ll be quick, I promise.”

  There’s no way he’s going to take no for an answer. Jesse gestured for the others to go on without him. They each shot him a concerned look, but still left out the gate, the threat of Siobhan’s disguise falling apart much greater than whatever the vampire wanted from him. Hopefully.

  “I heard you were the one who brought the brownies,” Damien said, completely oblivious to the anxious state Jesse was in. “Those were amazing, you gotta bring some more some time.”

  “I didn’t make them, Dr. Carmen did.”

  “Is there anything that woman can’t do? She runs a veterinary clinic and she’s an expert baker? Maybe you can convince her to make some to bring over for the rest of the gang.”

  And there it was. For the past several months, whenever he volunteered at the clinic, Damien had been dropping more and more hints that he wanted Jesse to come and visit the Den, the place where all the vampire youths in Gravewood hung out. And for the past several months, Jesse had been evading the invite.

  “Are they here right now?” Jesse asked, looking around, but Damien waved him off.

  “Nah, we don’t usually come to this sort of thing. I only came ‘cause Hank told me you’d be here.” He flashed him a fanged grin and Jesse made a mental note to ask Siobhan to lay a curse on Hank for him later.

  “Anyway, how does next week sound?” he continued. “The Den is on Bloodhill Boulevard, we’re right down the street from Bella Cardenas’ place. And I know you still go to school or whatever, so we’ll get up early to meet you in the afternoon.”

  “I don’t know,” Jesse said reluctantly. “I’ve got a lot of homework to do after school now that we’re coming up on finals.”

  “That’s fine, we can help you with it. Don’t give me that look, there’s a lot you can learn from us. We have over a century of experience between all of us; we’ll be the best tutors you could ask for.”

  “The thing is-”

  “It’s decided,” Damien said firmly. “You’re coming over Monday at four. The rest of the gang will be so excited to meet you.”

  He searched for every possible excuse, any way out of this he could think of, but came up empty. “Awesome. Can’t wait.”

  The vampire, apparently sensing his trepidation but incorrectly diagnosing the cause, patted his shoulder sympathetically. “The others will love you, I’m sure. You’ll fit in no problem. You are one of us, after all.”

  Except there was a big problem: no, he wasn’t.