Young Writers Society

Manny looked up from his book. "Well, uh... I'm gonna go home now and—"

"No!" Minerva and Andy said at the same time. Manny flinched.

"We need to figure out what's going on," Kitty said. "All of us. Together."

Manny scratched the back of his neck. "I... I really should be heading home, though. Got a lot of homework to do."

"Me too," Rhea said. "I don't feel very good either."

Manny nodded vigorously. "Yeah, see? Good reasons."

Kara ignored him and jumped up from the stairs. "I say we check out the mansion ourselves." She pointed down the street. "It's only a couple blocks away."

Manny wasn't really worried about homework. He didn't want to sound like a wimp, but dang: he was scared. Not only was Halloween night unsettling and creepy, but all of today he had acted skittish and jumpy for seemingly no reason at all. Everything was louder and brighter, the fluorescent classroom lights piercing his eyes, the clamor of class discussions making him crazy. He tried to drown in his book, but he couldn't focus and the pages were too bright. He wanted to go home and hide in a dark, quiet corner. The last thing he wanted to do was return to the mansion, where it all began.

Waking up in a foggy haze, head heavy, cheek crushed against the splintered floorboards, Lupin tie taught around his neck like a noose, the painted scars on his face smeared away by actual blood...

"Y-you guys go on ahead," he said. "Rhea and I will walk home."

"Listen, amigo," Andy said, placing a hand on Manny's shoulder. "This is a lot more important than homework. This is about being together as friends, and figuring out as a team what happened to us last night."

Manny backed away, and maybe this time Andy saw something of the true fear in Manny's eyes. His face softened.

"Hey. Manny. We're all scared. You know that, right?"

Manny swallowed.



The mansion was in sight, but he didn't dare look at it. He stared at the page of his book, eyes scanning words but not really reading. He would be about to turn the page, but then he would realize he had no idea what he had just read. It was a phenomenon he remembered hearing many students face; to him it was foreign.

He closed his book when they started climbing the front porch stairs because he figured he ought to have his wits about him. Alex gently pushed the door open and they filed inside, one at a time. The air smelled old and musty, tattered cobwebs blanketing nearly every surface. Shards of light seeped through cracks in the broken windows, revealing shafts of still, dusty air that were awakened as his friends walked through them, dust particles swirling like water around their bodies.

It was to these things Manny paid attention. He was afraid of what he'd notice otherwise. Blood. Knives. Monsters.

Amber was the first to find the scales, and Minerva the tufts of fur.

Kara nudged a scale with her foot. "Well. Now we know."

"We're not crazy," Rhea said. "Something really did happen last night."