Scary not Scary (The Holidaze Book 3)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The first Halloween resident on the list was one Spook.D.Vine. Salem had no idea who it was, but he invited them to the castle. Knowing that his childhood rooms were the most secretive, he led them there.

Spook.D.Vine was a witch. He had expected a warty nose and a green complexion with a bony hand holding a wand. Instead, he received a flirty, bouncy fairy who looked nothing like any witch he'd ever heard of. She didn't even wear a pointy hat.

How was this chirpy being any part of Halloween? Sure, he knew human kids dressed up as all different characters, who weren't necessarily spooky, but shouldn't a witch from the realm of Halloween actually look scary?

"I have your memory right here, Salem," Spook.D.Vine said in a cheery manner and her perkiness bothered Salem no end.

There wasn't a single being in all of the Halloween Holidaze this positive. Wasn't it against everything this place represented?

"How did I know you as a child?" Salem asked, wanting to know their history together.

It was impossible to believe that the child Salem had known this woman in anyway. She was just too nice and friendly looking.

"I was one of your many teachers," she replied.

Salem scoffed in disbelief. Someone must be joking with him. There was no way that this overly cheery, so-called witch, taught him anything about how to be at his wicked best.

"That's a joke, isn't it? What did you teach me?" Salem laughed and then wish he hadn't said a word.

In front of him, the creature he thought of as timid and cheery changed. The green skin, pointy hat, wicked expression, and warty nose that he had originally expected now appeared. All Salem managed to do was to gape at her.

"I taught you all about disguise. How do you not remember the hours I showed you how to disguise your dragon?" the witch howled as she waved her wand to strike him down.

"As you have one of his memories, you need to realise that Salem doesn't have all his memories. He doesn't know who he is," Devinah quickly defended him when Salem had no idea how to react.

"Oh, I see," the sweet image of the witch returned, "in that case, let me show you the memory,"

The witch went to produce something, but Salem shook his head, "before we look at the memory, I wanted to apologise for not seeing your truth."

Spook.D.Vine stared at him before prodding him sharply, "who are you? The Salem that I know would never apologise."

"I spent years in the human world as a timid nobody. I apologised a lot during that time," Salem replied.

"Hmmm, I see. This is why we have to re-establish Salem for who he's always been," the witch considered carefully.

"Was he really that different?" Devinah asked.

Spook.D.Vine cackled exactly as Devinah expected a witch would, "he was the most wicked, devious, cheeky, devilish creature you can ever imagine, up until the thing we don't talk about. It happened and irrevocably changed him forever."

"It made me into George," Salem grumbled.

"This was before you went to the human world, Salem. The thing that happened changed you forever more," Spook.D.Vine insisted.

"So, it wasn't George that made Salem different?" Devinah asked.

"No, it was all he did to try to protect the Halloween Holidaze that took away his devilish innocence. You were a dragon babe and yet you decided how we should proceed. Not many know exactly what you did, except for those of us you left your memories to protect," she patted the memory that she held.