Nocte Yin

Chapter Seven

“What?! Really?” Nocte cried incredulously. “Cause I’m dang cute. That should give me bonus points or something, right?”

Occult narrowed her eyes. “Evil does not do cute.”

Figures.

The psychic turned and caught sight of Nocte’s gift from their parents.

“Why do you have a shrunken head?” Occult asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

“Twelve days,” Nocte murmured ominously.

“Oh, that’s right,” Occult said with a self-satisfied smirk. “Your birthday.”

Nocte waned.

Her birthday.

Joy.

#

Three days later, sitting on Savvy’s bed with her roomie, Nocte’s gaze slid from the two ill-omened crows perched at the head of her bed… to the three Hellhounds lying at the foot of her bed. With her head propped against Savvy’s, they both stared at the animals in half are-animals-allowed-in-the-dorms-? and half what-the-fawk-are-we-to-do-with-them?

Drawing in a hissing breath, Nocte straightened. “I’m really sorry about this, Savvy.”

“I-It’s o-okay,” Savvy stuttered, clearly showing that she was not okay. She still had trouble facing the shrunken head on Nocte’s desk, which had been spelled to resist the trashcan until after Nocte’s birthday.

“Okay, listen,” Nocte convalesced. “I have a feeling that the next few days will get more hectic, so please don’t freak out.”

“Caw,” a crow called for emphasis.

Savvy flinched, but managed a nod.

“Good,” Nocte said, satisfied.

Her parents (namely her mother) had been sending her a birthday present every day since the first of the Tenth Month, and they were getting consecutively larger as the days went by. On the first day, Nocte received an unattractive shrunken head (not that a shrunken head could be attractive). On the second day, two crows. On the third day, three Hellhounds… Nocte was becoming a little apprehensive of what the coming days would bring, and she getting a little jittery at the idea of the thirteenth.

“U-Um… Nocte?” Savvy tested.

“Hm?”

“Sh-Shouldn’t you go and f-find Siyamak?” Savvy asked tentatively.

Nocte faltered.

She’d told Savvy about her conversation with Occult and how she’d have to attend the Halloween Dance. This unhappy declaration was soon followed by an hour of her discussing (ranting) about how she shouldn’t go because she couldn’t dance and that Occult was being both unreasonable and a “big fat meanie pants.” In where Savvy had decided to become unusually bright by suggesting that Nocte could ask her cousin Siyamak for help because, of course, Siyamak knew everything about dancing!

“Can I not?” Nocte whined. “I mean, you wouldn’t want me to leave you alone, would you?”

Savvy’s gaze shifted nervously from the crows to the hounds, but knew she had to stand firm. They both knew she didn’t want Nocte to go to the dance (because she wasn’t going to attend herself), but they also knew that if Nocte didn’t go, Occult was going to make a couple of heads roll… probably Savvy’s.

“I-I’ll be fine,” Savvy said, surprisingly determined. (Her trembling jaw spoke otherwise.)

Nocte exhaled, frustrated. “Fine. I’ll go. I’ll go and find Siyamak and learn how to dance and go to the Halloween Dance and have the worst night of my life.”