Becoming Robin - Book 4 - Chapter 13 - Samhain (Patreon)

Halloween was fast becoming my favorite holiday for a lot of reasons.  Last year, I thought, was a total blast, getting to meet Heedless Despair and help plan Nikki’s big surprise birthday party, but this year was turning out even better because we practically had half the town  by the time the haunted attraction was finished.

I also had a lot more to think about, but at least it was a good thing.  Unfortunately Friday night was going to be taken up by working said haunted attraction.  I was the main tour guide from 6-7 PM, and from 7-8 we were all busy doing various things around the place, so that even if you went through it more than once, each experience would be different.  Luckily the thing at the Grove would be around 2PM so we had plenty of time.

Our school even got a half day that Friday because the school officials had so many of their own kids that would be either going to our sideshow of horrors, or would be actively volunteering that night, so I had plenty of time to run home and change first.  I was staying at Mom and Ash’s, for the weekend, technically; I say technically because I was going to the Heedless Despair concert Saturday night, which meant probably getting a hotel in New Haven.

Mom wasn't keen on the idea, but Margie talked her into it for me.  It didn’t hurt that Moira and Mom had actually met a couple of times, and she had met Jessica that one time, when Jessica showed up to talk to me about stealing my song for their upcoming album. What mom wasn’t keen on was Nikki and I sharing a hotel room, but we promised to get a big suite with four beds, with Allie and Jenn, so she finally caved.

Not that we could really do anything with long term consequences even if we wanted to, but we just weren’t ready for that step in our relationship yet.

“Meow,” I said to my rapidly-growing-fatter by the day orange tabby, giving him some fresh dry food before I headed upstairs to change.  I had my costumes for the night in a separate duffle bag.  For the thing at the grove, they told me to wear whatever was comfortable, so I had a nice pair of jeans and my sneakers ready, just in case there was any hiking to get there.

“Mom, I’m going to the witches’ coven,” I called out jokingly.

“Have fun dear,” Mom called from the laundry room.

I had been staying at Mom and Ash’s a lot more lately, mostly to help out around the house.  Mom was around seven months pregnant, and as stubborn as ever about insisting she did just fine when carrying me, and that I should stop worrying so much. I still spent some time over at Margie's, mostly when I needed some me time. The school still had me registered there as well, which was fine because even with mom being okay Margie’s place felt way more like home to me.

The meeting place, not surprisingly, was apparently not far from the big national forest area where we liked to camp, except that it was private land owned by the Priestess, like the girls had told me the night before, a bit off the beaten path, but not hard to find.

I honestly expected scantily dressed people dancing around, but what I found was people wearing normal clothes, carrying around robes that seemed to be provided. I also expected far less people here than I saw, including my AP English Lit teacher Miss Jennings.

She was a young woman, like my sophomore AP English teacher, not long out of college  -a couple of years I guessed.  Apparently the school had retired several teachers before I moved to Alpine Springs.

“Hey, sorry,” Nikki said as she came over, dressed in the same purple sweater she had worn to school that day.  “That liter Mountain Dew I had with lunch came back to haunt me with a vengeance so I had to use the Little Witch’s tree,” she teased.

“Where’s Allie?” I asked, glancing around.  I saw her mom’s SUV parked nearby.

“Oh she’s lugging the free refreshments,” Nikki said, taking my hand as a crisp wind picked up.  “Ready?”

“So this is already looking a lot different than I had thought.” I said as Nikki led me closer to where everyone was gathering.  There, awaited another surprise.   Dressed in a red cloak stood Maryanne.  She had a crown of wild flowers around her head, and she was piling lumber for a bonfire with the help of a couple of older kids.

Maryanne spotted us and waved, “Hi Robin.  Welcome to The Grove.  Go ahead and grab a grey cloak from the table.”

“Don’t worry,” Nikki whispered as we walked over to the table, “We won’t be dissecting entrails to divine the future or anything.  We don’t do animal sacrifices.”

“Nope, just human,” Allie spoke up behind me and giggled when I turned around to look at her.  “It was a joke,” she laughed and hugged me.  “The Cloaks are about one of the few traditions from the old Pagan beliefs we carry over.”

“But we do a mock sacrifice for the god of tricks,” Nikki grinned.  “It’s kinda fitting, but it’s totally vegan.”

“Speaking of.” MaryAnne said, “Nikki can you help Allie get it from my van?”

“Sure thing,” Nikki said, turned to kiss me, and grinned again.  “Be right back.  Don’t bite anyone while I’m gone,” she teased.

“Hey, you’re the vampire,” I teased back and swatted her shoulder lightly.  I turned back to Maryanne.  “So what are all the different colors for?”

“Grey is for newcomers, and as you take on different roles in the grove you get a different color.” Maryanne answered. “Think of them like martial arts belts.  Except you don’t have to prove yourself to earn another color.  Red is the color of the Priestess, and the others come naturally.”  I noticed Miss Jennings taking a gray cloak as well.

“Hi Miss Jennings.” I waved to her.

“Oh hello Robin.” she said brightly and smiled at me.  “It’s wonderful to see you here.”

“Cara, “ Maryanne said, “This is your third meeting, so you can take the white cloak if you want.”

“Oh, thank you,” Cara said.  “I didn’t want to presume,” she laughed.  “My last group was much stricter, but they were mostly housewives just going through the motions while gossiping about their husbands.”

“We have such a large group here,” Maryanne said, presumably as much for my benefit as Miss Jennings’.  “The rules are much more relaxed.  You know, as a matter of fact, since you’re not new to neo paganism, why not take a brown one?”

“No no.” Cara said, “I’m new to this group; I’ll go with the progression thing you have set up.”

“Well, if you insist,” Maryanne laughed softly.

So the progression was gray, white, and brown.  But Allie was wearing green.  I think Maryanne followed my facial expressions because she continued, “If you were wondering,” she said, “Green robes represent The Feast.”

“The feast?” I had to ask.  “Sorry, I’m like full of questions.”

“Yes.” Allie spoke up as she and Nikki carried a life sized mannequin like thing, carved from some kind of wood, white oak from the look of it, closer.  “Members of the feast bring the food and drinks.  Mom made up some of her taco platters for us,” she said and pointed at the table opposite the one piled with cloaks, “If you’re hungry.”

“What are the yellow ones for?” I asked.

“Members of the order of flowers.” Maryanne said.  “They help me maintain the grove.”

“We also do fundraisers.” A teenage girl spoke up that I had never met.  She offered me her hand.  “I’m Megan, head of the order of Flowers.”

“Robin,” I said, smiling.  “Nice to meet you.”

“Wow, you too,” Megan said.  “Nikki’s told me so much about you.  If I wasn’t busy with the grove I would totally have volunteered to help you with the girl scout thing.  I’m still looking forward to getting the  pants scared off me tonight though.”

“She goes to the private school.” Nikki laughed, “It’s probably why you never met her.”

Suddenly, I heard a young girl calling, “Spirit!  Spirit!”  I turned around to see one of Amanda’s friends, Amber, come running up to hug me.  “Hey!  You’re here!”

I couldn’t help giggling.  “Yeah, Nikki and Allie invited me.”  I was surprised to see kids here.  I mean, it made sense, but I pictured the whole thing just being an adults and moody teenagers thing - no offense to Nikki and Allie of course.

“I’m here with my mom,” Amber said proudly and pointed her mother out, who was watching us with a proud grin.  “Dad says I’m not s’posed to talk about witch stuff around my friends, but it is so cool that you’re here!” she said excitedly and hugged me again, before running off back to her friends that were in attendance.

“Spirit eh?” Megan asked with a sly grin.

“My camp name from last year’s girl scout camp,” I laughed.  “We take counselor-in-training names to avoid confusion with the fifty other girls named Robin or Jenn or whatever.”

“I’m teasing,” Megan laughed.  “I know all about that stuff.  But it is pretty fitting.  Well, pretty and fitting.”

“Should I be jealous?” Nikki teased Megan, who burst out giggling.

“No, brat.  You know I have a partner,” she teased as I approached Maryanne.

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to wrap my mind around this,” I began.  She turned and grinned.

“How can I be both an ordained minister and a Neo Pagan priestess?” she asked.

“Yeah, I thought it would go against one or the other’s beliefs.” I nodded.  “I think it’s even one of the big commandment thingies?”

“It does and it doesn’t.” Maryanne stated. “And as we talked about the other day, there are things in the good book that make no sense.  Besides, during the 1st century AD, the Apostles decreed that no gentile should be forced to follow the Jewish laws.  The Ten Commandments, while great guidelines, aren’t strictly required even in historical terms.”

“Wow,” I said, genuinely impressed.

“I do both because I firmly believe in the Christian God, but I also believe that there are other ways to worship God or even other gods.” Maryanne stated.  “As a Buddhist friend of mine likes to say, there are many paths to the mountain’s peak.”

“Ash says that..” I looked at her.

Maryanne just gave me a knowing grin before turning.  “Gather around, friends, and let us begin.”

~oOo~

“So, wow,” I said as Nikki and I walked to our cars.

“I take it you enjoyed it?” Nikki asked.

“I think some of my questions got answered, but I still have a lot more.” I said honestly. “I especially liked how Maryanne explained the afterlife though. The way she explains things just makes a sort of... logical sense y’know?”

“I know that whole thing with Crystal left you pretty shook,” Nikki said.  “I’m glad you got at least a little bit closer to some closure.  You’re such a smart girl.  It can be a curse,” she teased.

“I really thought that there would be naked dancing around a fire and stuff though.” I giggled.  “But the white oak sacrifice was pretty cool. How did she make it explode with candy without, you know, putting out someone’s eye?” I teased.

“A magician never reveals her secrets,” Nikki laughed, “But I swear to God, I think she knows Jessica or something.  They both use the exact same type of flash paper, and Jessica isn’t known for using stock stage magic.”

“So I counted,” I said as we reached the parking area, “Like, sixty people counting kids, teens, and adults.  That kind of blew my mind a little.”

“You know what’s really going to flog your noggin?” Nikki asked, grinning.  “That’s three times the size of people who go to her normal church.”  Frog your noggin.  Classic Nikki.  I giggled.

“So its more here?” I asked.

Allie spoke up at that, “Well, 20 is less than 60,” she giggled and ducked as I swatted at her.

“This was a small gathering today too.” Megan spoke as she was loading her car up with a young girl. “You’ll find that a lot of Alpine Springs  is into neo paganism.”

“Alpine Springs is sort of New England’s Austin.  Well, us and Portland,” Allie giggled.

“Is that your sister?” I asked Megan.  The family resemblance was pretty strong.

“Oh.  um no, that’s my daughter.” Megan giggled.

“Wait what?” I asked.

“Yeah, I had her kind of young.  Bad me.” Megan laughed. “Cheese say hi to Robin.  Her name is Christina, but everyone calls her Cheese.”

“Hi Wobin,” the little girl said.  My heart melted.

“She is so cute.  I’m sorry if I was rude just now, it just kind of surprised me.”

“No no, it’s cool, I had a stupid moment when I was 13.” Megan said. “And parents that didn’t believe in teaching sexual education.  Technically I’m emancipated, but the school kept me off the streets and they help me take care of the kiddo. They have such a wonderful daycare program there.  I’m not the only teen mother that goes there which makes me feel like less of a dope.”

“You’re not a dope,” Nikki laughed.  “I’m glad you chose to stick it out.”

“Abortion was out the window, my parents wanted me to get one, I was like oh heck no.” Megan laughed.  “And the other alternative...  I couldn’t do that to the people I actually did care about, so, I did what us Irish girls do.  I fucking fought.”  She winked. “Anyway, her dad’s parents pay his child support to us, and my partner works part time too, even though they don’t need to.”

“Her partner is NB,” Nikki explained to me.

“Ohhh,” I nodded.  I wasn’t completely familiar with the concept of being non binary, but I understood enough to know that it was on the transgender spectrum.

“Yeah,” Megan said.  “You can say she or her, doesn’t bother Jaz, but they/them gets you lots of brownie points,” she laughed.  “Anyway, I have to get Cheese back to the school grounds, for her checkup.  I think the haunted house will be too scary for her this year, but I’ll try and swing by after she’s asleep. I bet Cathy will babysit for me or Stephanie.  Later taters,” she said cheerfully as she waved.

“Tater tots.” Cheese giggled, waving.

Allie turned to us and said in an almost uncanny Gollum from The Lord of the Rings voice, “Taters?  What’s taters precious?”

Nikki burst out laughing.  “Girl you have officially been hanging around me too long.”

“Eh,” Allie giggled.  “Everybody waits till their senior year to cut loose.  I’m just bucking the trend.”

“I’ll follow you home.” I told Nikki as Allie finished loading the leftovers in her mom’s SUV.  Our next project would have to be getting her a nice car.  I had my convertible, Nikki had her Mustang, even Jenn had a sweet Jeep she called “Puddle Jumper”.  Poor Allie needed wheels, badly.

“I’m gonna meet Jenn at her place and then we’ll drive over to the asylum, unless you two want to get together at her place first?”

“Either way,” I laughed.  “Nikki’s going to do my makeup which apparently will take awhile.”

“Oh I’m sure we can think of lots of ways to pass the time just the two of us,” Nikki teased, giggling.  “Nah, whatever y’all want to do is fine.  We’ll probably just head straight over anyway so we can get ready for the early birds.”

~oOo~

For my ‘tour’ costume I had decided to steal Nikki’s thunder for a change, going all out on a sexy vampire costume complete with realistic fangs.  Margie made it for me, so it wasn’t one of those cheap off the rack numbers.  It had sheer sleeves with bat wings that wrapped around off the shoulders, a plunging neckline, and a long skirt with an equally long slit up one side.

Imagine my surprise when I walked out into the lobby to greet our first set of victims, and found Heedless Despair in full costume waiting for me.  Or, if they weren’t Heedless Despair, they were a very, very convincing faximile.

“We’re the hex girls, and were here to put a spell on you.” Jessica as Scarlette grinned as she sang the lyrics.  I think Moira clued her in to my secret shame: I loved Scooby Doo.

“Yeah,” Demona Rose hissed in a sexy, sultry voice, “We heard this place was supposed to be scary.”

“Not some white washed room with cheap mannequins.” Moira as Shadowfang, The Lady in White, grinned.

Lucia as Solace, the Broken Haunted Dolly, giggled.  “Ooooh Miss Scarlet, I fink you bwoke her...”

“Oh, no,” I laughed.  “I just wasn’t expecting the Mistresses of the Dark to be our first victims,” I said, giving them a fangy grin.

“Oh Carmila my old friend,” Scarlet grinned at me. “Why ever not?”  By now we were gathering quite the crowd, not just visitors, but a few curious actors were peeking around corners too.  Jessica knew she wasn’t putting me on the spot, though.  I lived for this kind of improv, especially more and more lately.  I loved joking around with my friends, and this felt like just an extension of it.

“Oh my dear Scarlet, because I heard you girls were haunting other places these days.” I grinned.  “But if you think you can withstand the horrors that lie within the asylum, by all means, come.”  I turned to some of the early guests and grinned.  “And you as well, who among you will brave the depths of the darkness that lies here, with those Heedless of Despair?”

A girl dressed as a Orc from World of Warcraft grinned, “Luktar, I will.  I fear no monster, living or dead. I fought and lived against the scourge.”

Another girl, dressed as Jaina Proudmoore, stepped forward and giggled.  “I will as well.  I survived the bombing of Theramore.  I can survive Karazhan.”

~oOo~

After an hour, someone came to give me a break.  I had been on my feet for an hour straight, sometimes running, and in heels.  I was ready for it.  “Go get something to drink,” she ssaid.  I didn’t recognize her under all that witchy green makeup, and the cackle certainly didn’t help.

“Why thank you,” I said.  “I am feeling a pint low,” I turned and showed my fangs to the next group, causing one teenage girl to squeal before giggling.  I laughed as I disappeared into the asylum.  I had already been through it several times tonight alone, but it still creeped me out seeing it in its proper form, with the special lights and the springloaded walls.

Those walls were a nightmare, but in the best possible way.  They were set to pressure plates that would randomly pop open a wall forcing me to take the current group through a detour where actors, or animatronics, were waiting to scare us.  I couldn’t wait to see what the professional actors did with this place once Halloween was over.

It took me a good five minutes, partly because I stopped to jump out at the group and scare that teenage girl again.  Unfortunately that caused the poor girl to get separated from the group by a pop out wall.

“Oh no!” she said, turning to me.  It was the first time I’d heard her say anything, and I instantly realized she wasn’t from around here.  In fact, if I had to guess, I’d say she was from the greater London area.

“Don’t worry,” I said with a broad, evil grin.  “I’ll keep you safe.”

“Oh I feel so much better,” she said sarcastically, but then giggled.  “Seriously this place was so worth coming up from New Haven, but I do hope you know where you’re going.”

“Of course,” I said impishly.  “We’ll have to pass through the Dentist’s office, where they used to pull patients’ teeth without anaesthetic though.”

“Ouch.” The girl flinched, I got her back to her group and went back to the lobby.

“Hey Robin.” Megan called as we made our way out.  She had Christina with her. “I couldn’t get anyone to watch Cheese, but this area looks friendly enough.  Do you think I could talk you into watching Cheese for me while I go through?”

“Sure.” I said.  “I love kids.”  Even under all the makeup, Christina latched right onto my hand happily.   Megan handed me a plastic bag with cheese squares in them.

“In case she wants a snack,” she said and bent down, “Okay sweetie, stay with Robin, she’ll protect you okay?”

“Okay.” Christina said and smiled up at me.

I was a little surprised either of them recognized me honestly.  Christina didn’t seem to mind that I had suddenly grown fangs.

“Awww,” I heard someone from the next group say as they pointed me out. “That Vampire got a cute butterfly girl with her.”

“Carmilla and the Fairy Princess,” another girl giggled, snapping a photo with her phone.  I laughed and waved.

“It’s hard to be scary when she’s this cute,” I said. “Melts my undead heart.”

“Boo!” Zombie Jenn sprang out at the group, causing them to squeal.  Christina just giggled.

“You are definitely a brave one,” I laughed.

“It’s cuz Wobin is here to protect me,” Christina grinned bravely. “And I have my wand.”  She showed me her bubble wand, and pressing the button, it lit up and blew bubbles out of it.

“Eeee,” Jenn groaned.  “Fairy magic... Burrrrrns...”  she shuffled back into the darkness and everyone cheered.

“That’s my Cheesy-wheezy,” Stephanie said as she came over to us.  She was working ‘behind the scenes’, so no scary makeup for her, although to hear her screams in the middle of a pitch black hallway was scary enough.

“Awntie  Stephie!” Cheese ran over to her and hugged her tightly.

“Hi sweetie pie,” Stephanie giggled.  “Robin I am so sorry.  I just checked my messages.”

“Don’t worry about it Steph, I love kids.” I giggled.  “I babysit for Coach Greer all the time.”

“Well,” she said, “You’ve been on your feet for longer than you were going to,” she laughed.  “Go on and take a break.  I’ll watch Miss Cheesy.”

“I just had one.” I laughed. “Granted I didn’t get to sit down, but I’m alright.  I actually get why you guys call her cheese now by the way,” I said, and handed Stephanie the bag of cheese.

“The kid loves cheese like a fish loves water,” Stephanie laughed, giving her a piece.  Christina devoured it quickly.

“I figured.” I nodded. “Cheese is also better than mouse for a nickname anyway.”

“That’s her uncles nickname anyway.” Stephanie laughed.

“Unkie Mouse.” Christina nodded as the teenage girl brought her friends over.

“That’s the nice vampire lady who rescued me, after she scared the bejeezus out of me,” she laughed.  “Could I bug you for a selfie?”

“Sure.” I said.

“You did such an awesome job with that costume, and this place is uber scary, I’m going to have nightmares about it for days.  I swear there were real ghosts in the furnace room.”

“Oh my God yes,” a black haired girl with her said, “Like I kid you not those moaning sounds inside the cremation kiln thingie were top freaking notch.”

I looked at them, puzzled.  “What moaning noises?”  I waited for their faces to turn white, and then giggled.  “Just kidding.  I’ll have to tell Kris and Mary when I see them.”

“Tell us what?” Kris asked.

“That you did a top notch job with the sound effects coming from the cremation kiln.” I grinned.

“What sound effects, I didn’t think we got to the kiln yet..” Kris stated with a straight face.  I looked at the girls and then at Mary.

“We didn’t.” Mary confirmed. “We painted the door, I thought you locked it Kris.”

“Well,” I said, “I think I’ll be having some of those nightmares now, too.”

“Okay guys I’ll be back, Robin can you hold the next group till I get back?” Kris spoke up.

“Yeah, no problem,” I said, turning to the girls.  “He’s probably just going to see who’s been pranking us,” I laughed.  “See we’re all girl scouts or friends of girl scouts here, so we’re a tight group, always messing with each other.  Mary scared the crap out of me when she fired up the “Crazy Kristen” - the girl in the straight jacket, while I was adjusting her hair.”

“Oh wow, that wasn’t a person?” the blonde I had been giving a hard time before asked.  “Because that looked totally real.”

“Sorry,” I said, “Your accent sounds really familiar.  You’re not from north London are you?”

“How’d you guess?” the girl laughed.  “Yeah, me and Candi are in town with my aunt temporarily.  We fly back Monday.”

Kris came back a few minutes later, “Okay I locked the door again, this time I had one of the Zombies watch me lock it.  I didn’t see any sound effects devices but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t snag it before I got there. It looked like the lid was opened.”

Nikki, all the while, was slowly creeping up behind Kris, a giant rubber spider in her hand.  She raised her hand up high and dangled it over his head, letting it just slowly enter his field of view. Kris grinned and grabbed it, giving it a big old kiss. “Nice try Nikki, but I love spiders.”

“Dang it!” Nikki laughed.  “I didn’t scare you with the spider, I didn’t scare you with the ‘haunted’ crematorium.  What does it take to make you jump?”

“Kris and I are immune to being scared.” Mary grinned.

“A cute kitten might make me jump, and that cute little Fairy over there is starting to scare me.” Kris winked. He walked over hand pulled a bag of candy out of a box and handed it to Christina.  “Happy Halloween kiddo.”

“OMG,” the blonde haired girl swooned.  “I think I’m in love.”

“Careful.” Mary laughed. “We might have to fight for him.”

“Nah,” the black haired girl, Candi laughed.  “Nessa usually prefers the fairer sex.”

“Candi!” Vanessa blushed, giggling.

“That’s okay, Kris can wear a dress and let his hair down sometimes.” Mary teased the poor girl. “Kris is short for Kristina.”

“That... would be incredibly hot, actually...” Vanessa giggled.

“You telling them my dirty secrets?” Kris asked.

“That you’re a hot girl under all that dirty clothing?” Mary teased.

“Oh, that too.” Kris shrugged. “I thought you were telling them about all the bodies I’ve buried out back after they found out.”

Mary grinned at the pair.  “Not as many as I have.”  She winked.  They both giggled.

“So um...” Candi said, “We’re totally not supposed to do this, but you guys are so awesome.”

Vanessa fished around in her purse until she had produced three laminated passes.  “I only have four to give away, but if you’re into Heedless Despair...”

“Got lifetime backstage passes.” I grinned.

“Oh holy shit,” Vanessa whispered.  “Dee, this is her, I mean one of them.  You know one of Auntie’s friends.”  She turned back to me.  “Let me guess...  Nikki?”

“Nope.” I grinned again as Nikki burst out laughing.

“No, you don’t have bass player calluses.  Hmm.  Robin?” Vanessa laughed.

I curtseyed as best I could in that dress and in those platform heels.  “The one and only,” I giggled.

“Thank God.” Nikki giggled, “I’d die if I had to keep up with more than one of you.”

“The zombie Cheese scared off earlier is Jenn, and Allie...  Actually I haven’t seen Allie all night.”

“Allie’s in the lobotomy room.” Nikki said.  “She’s the nurse that almost made Shadowfang pee.”

Candi and Vanessa looked at each other and then burst out laughing.  “Ohhh,” Candi said, “We are so going to torture her with that.  Hey, we’ve got some time before our driver comes to pick us up.  Let’s go through again!”

“Okay, but only if Robin or Kristina comes with us,” Vanessa grinned.

“Damn you Mary,” Kris groaned, laughing loudly.