🎃 🎃 🎃
THE snap apple competitors had been finalized.
Dum, Dee, and I were representing Lion Dorm. Jack, Dark, and another fast student were competing for Unicorn Dorm. Dark hesitated to participate until the end but folded when the twins invited him directly.
Finally, Halloween was upon us.
The students left their dorms dressed in their costumes. They headed to the dining hall for treats, enjoyed cricket on the field, and went to spectate the snap apple contest.
“Everyone’s so excited.”
Standing on the grassy plaza, I wore a red cape and had my hair in braids that night.
I’d had one of the dresses I brought modified for tonight. Then, I put on my cape to complete my Little Red Riding Hood costume.
At my side was Jack, dressed as a werewolf. His large wolf ears and tail hardly looked made of yarn. Jack wore one of his usual shirts, a brown vest, and gloves that had felt glued to them to look like claws.
“I was wondering what a snap apple contest was. We’re really supposed to bite those things with our teeth?” He was looking at the handmade wooden stand with apples suspended from strings. They were at different lengths to accommodate the heights of the players. The apples were slightly yellow, as if underripe.
“Huh? These bastards are staring at you again, my lady!” Jack gave a wolf-like scowl to scare off the other students.
A tent was set up for us to wait in. Leeds emerged when we approached. He was dressed as a mummy with bandages wrapped loosely around his head and neck. But he was still wearing his white coat, too, so the costume was a bit mismatched.
“Did you two get a look at the playing field?”
“We did. I’ve been practicing in my imagination, too.”
Charles explained a surefire way to win was to make sure our first bite was nice and firm. The apple would sway unless you got a good grip on it, so it was hard to get your teeth around it again.
“It’s Little Red Riding Hood.”
“It’s a werewolf.”
The twins emerged from the tent dressed in Chinese-style outfits.
They were dressed as jiangshi. They’d made dark circles under their eyes with makeup and had long, dragging sleeves that caught the eye. They wore bowl-shaped Chinese hats on their heads, and best of all, the loincloths around their waists had their weapons fastened to them like costume props.
“Dum, Dee, you’re so adorable…!” I couldn’t help but fangirl. Leeds applauded them, too.
“Handsome men are just on a different level. It’s hard to believe these costumes were made with tapestries and cushion covers from the dorms.”
“Damn right. I worked hard on those.” Jack scratched his chin proudly. He’d been the one to tailor most of our costumes.
The Liddell family butler had to be skilled with his hands, of course.
Looking pleased, the twins came and clung to me.
“You look cute too, Alice.”
“You look cute too, Alice.”
“Thanks, you two. Dum, your cord is about to come undone. Let me tie it for you.”
The twins stared closely at my hands as I tied the knot. I couldn’t help but chuckle at their intense gaze.
“You always like to watch my fingers, don’t you?”
Their bodies had changed, but their persistent habits remained ingrained in them. The proof of the lives they lived until now would never disappear. While I smiled, the twins pouted at my attitude.
“Don’t treat us like kids.”
“We’ll show you who’s boss.”
“Kyah!”
They tickled me, and I burst into laughter. A voice from behind called out to them, unable to sit back and watch anymore.
“My dear twins, could I ask you to stop teasing Alice?” Dark, dressed in his costume, appeared with the sound of his bell-like voice. He was using my clothes to dress up as a vampire.
Dark wore my black Spencer jacket, a white frilly blouse, and an eye-catching red scarf tie. His trousers were tucked into a pair of long boots for optimal mobility. He’d cinched the adult-sized jacket in the back to turn it into the perfect fit. Although the sleeves were still too long, he had to tie bands around his upper arms to create makeshift mutton sleeves.
But the costume was perfected by the pair of horns sticking out of Dark’s head. The milky-white horns, like bones, were intimidating in a way that a fake pair could never compare to.
“Are you sure you’re fine to be out here like that, Dark?” I asked. “It’s not too much for you?”
No one suspected a true demon to be blending in with the crowd of costumed students. Still, it took a lot of courage to reveal his real horns in front of everyone like that.
Dark’s impossibly large sapphire eyes sparkled at me.
“There’s no need to worry. Gryphon should find a way to interact with me if I expose my horns like this. If it always swoops in to save students in peril, that must mean it has the school under surveillance. I’m willing to call it out and even hurt it if I have to. After all…” Dark smiled provocatively at the twins. “I have to go all out if I want to keep you to myself.”
His bold declaration startled me. Dum and Dee pulled me closer.
“We won’t lose to you!”
“We won’t lose to you!”
Sparks were flying between the three of them.
After that, we left Leeds and headed to the starting line.
Robins was standing next to the white line. He hadn’t had time to prepare a costume, so he was wearing a white sheet over his body, making the other students laugh with his cries of “I can’t see!”
He finally received a pair of scissors and began to cut holes in the sheet.
“Whoa! I cut too much out!”
Everyone burst into laughter at the ridiculously large mouth of the ghost.
“Oh well, that’ll have to do the trick. I know it’s sudden, but I’m gonna be subbing in for a Unicorn Dorm student who twisted his ankle. Let’s have a good match, everyone!”
Robins stuck his head out of the hole in the sheet and explained the rules to us.
“The six of us will stand in a line and start at the signal. You have to get to the apple in your lane, hold it in your mouth, then run through the golden tape at the end of the lane with it. Whoever gets there first is the winner. Be careful. You’ll be disqualified if you touch the apple with your hands or drop it.”
The finish line was a hundred feet away. It would take speed and jaw strength to get there with the apple in your mouth.
From right to left, the lanes went in order of Dum, Robins, Dee, Dark, me, and then Jack. Dark and Jack’s apples were hanging down lower than the rest.
Mine was higher. I would probably need to jump to reach it. But we had the tall Dum and Dee on our team, so I was glad we still had a chance to win even if I struggled.
“All right, we’re about to begin.”
Charles looked up at the darkened sky and gave the order.
Students crowded around the field to cheer on their dorms.
I calmed my heart and prayed that their cheers would reach Gryphon.
Then, I put one foot forward and waited for the signal.
Charles, our referee, raised his arm.
“On your marks, get set…”
The air was full of tension until Charles finally swung his hand down. As soon as he gave the signal, I was pulled backward.
“Huh?!” I whirled around. Jack was grabbing hold of my skirt.