Chapter 5

October 30th, Present Arianna opened her eyes and squinted to check the clock. She still had an hour before she needed to move, but she couldn’t get back to sleep. It was always like this on this particular date, each year. She was like an excited child waiting for Christmas to hurry up and get here. Only for Arianna it was Halloween she couldn’t wait for.

Flipping back the covers, she sat up. Groaning, she reached down and pulled her right leg to untangle it from the covers. One more day, she thought to herself, and people will remember you for twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes! After all the years that had passed, she finally saw this as one day to be someone to remember. To be someone who shared her smile and would hopefully bring a smile to other faces.

After picking up her glasses, she shoved them on her face and brushed her bangs out of the top of them. She looked at the clock again and assumed that her blurred guess of the time was correct. She closed her eyes for a moment and just sat there wishing it was tomorrow already.

Standing, she stretched and looked into her mirror. “Tomorrow I get to see just how much you’ve changed in this last year.” She smiled as the words sang in her mind again. One more day.

She slowly worked her way into the kitchen slowly. She still missed her own home, but she could never have stayed there. When she’d inquired about it, she’d discovered that there was no way she’d ever get it back. At least being back in her town helped ease some of the loneliness, in a small way.

With her fingertips, she shoved the glasses back up on her nose as she moved to the stove and put the kettle on. One more day. She wouldn’t miss the glasses for that one day either. She heaved a sigh. If magic could fix her eyes, she would have done it in a second, but no magic she knew could.

As she waited for the kettle, she busied herself with putting the few dishes away from the night before, without actually touching them. After all, some things were always fun to do, and floating things around never seemed to get old. Would she go to bed tonight and try to sleep until midnight or stay up and then not want to sleep after midnight passed? Probably best to try to get some sleep. It had never turned out well on the years she’d stayed up, then fallen asleep, and missed the whole of Hallow’s Eve.

The kettle whistling brought her back to reality. Making her tea was routine, she took the cup over to the table and sat down. She missed her cat. It was silent and lonely in the mornings without him. He’d left almost five years ago now, and even though she liked to think he’d found some lovely place to live, she still missed him.

Sipping the hot liquid, she looked out the window. It was the quiet that bothered her the most, having no one to talk to. She’d been alone ten years now, having lost her parents when she was sixteen and her sister just two years later.

Her sister, Faith, venomous insect that she had become. She raised one side of her lip in a snarl. Did she miss her? After all, it was her fault she was like this and not at all her true self. She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment and debated whether she really did miss her. It was possible, if the nasty witch hadn’t of cursed her, that she might miss her.

She took another sip while deciding that if Faith were still alive, she would have made her undo her nastiness. Of course, the stupid idiot had gone and gotten herself killed, so there was nothing she could do about any of it now.

Arianna still wished she could have figured out how to reverse the curse, even after all those months of trying. Her strength had never been in casting as Faith’s had been. No, Arianna’s strengths were with herbs and potions and floating things around, skills that took thought and patience. Not spur-of-the-moment, hastily-thought-of spells. A few times she had mixed up something that let her see clearly for a few moments of time, but judging how long the mixtures would last, it was never accurate enough for her to feel comfortable using it outside of the house and most certainly never while she was working at her shop. Nothing she ever tried had made it so others would remember her.

She counted her few blessings, a very small number of people almost remembered her some of the time. Well, three people in ten years, old Mister Wilcox, the five-year-old Best twins, and then Evan. She grinned. Evan spent almost as much time in her shop as she did, well, when he wasn’t off working in the city. He was the only thing that stopped her from falling apart from the suffocating loneliness she felt most days.

One more day. She glanced at the clock to make sure she still had plenty of time before she had to get ready. It was an annual ritual to sit here on October thirtieth, rehash the past, and to relive all of the emotional upheaval she had gone through. It wasn’t hard to recall the scene that lead up to the event that changed Arianna’s whole world, or should she say Gracelyn’s whole world? For it had been her name before that night. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to drift back, one more time.

Gracelyn came in the door. She danced across the wide foyer in her ballerina costume and dropped her purse on the table. It was well past midnight, but she felt vibrant and wonderful. Humming to herself, she wandered toward the sitting room, only to sense she was being watched. Stopping, she turned to the long staircase. Near the top stood her sister, Faith, her face scrunched up and eyes accusing. Gracelyn smiled. “I just had the dreamiest time . . .”

“With Grady! You were with Grady! How could you?”

Puzzled, Gracelyn leaned against the railing and looked up the stairs toward her. “Yes. How could I what?” She watched her sister stomp down several stairs and then saw the tears on her cheeks. “Faith, what is it?”

“You know how much I’ve wanted to be with him. I spend days at a time trying to find ways . . .”

She raised her eyebrows and held a hand to her throat. “I had no idea. I swear.”

“You liar!” She smacked a hand on the railing. “I am so tired of perfect little you! Every man falls over his feet to impress you while I have to work to get one to speak to me!”

Gracelyn put her hands on her hips, seriously not happy that her sister dramatics were once again at the forefront and ploughing all over her happy thoughts. “I’m sure you’re exaggerating. Just last week I sat and watched you talk to . . .”

“Tom? Of course he talked to me. He’s more hideous than I am . . .”

“You are not hideous, Faith. You’re sweet and . . .”

“Invisible whenever you are around!”

She watched her sister stomp down a few more stairs and lean forward, her face hovering over hers. “Faith . . .”

“I’m putting a stop to it now. No more beautiful and precious Gracie.”

Frowning, Gracelyn backed up a few feet and scowled at her. “You’ll behave! We do not use magic on whims or out of spite.” She pointed to the kitchen. “Now drag your butt in there, we’ll have some tea and discuss . . .” She paused and looked at her sister mouth moving, her eyes were suddenly looking untamed. “Faith? What are you doing?”

Faith threw her head back and laughed. “From now on, the only time you’ll see beautiful Gracie is on Samhain from midnight start to midnight finish. The rest of the year, you’ll be a blur!” She trotted down the rest of the stairs and stopped a foot from her. “And from now on, no one is going to be at your beck and call. No one will remember you.” She laughed in an eerie way. “To break it, you’ll need to find the one that can truly see you and kiss him on sacred Hallows Eve, just before midnight.” Laughing loudly and venomously, she strode to the door, slamming it behind her.

Gracelyn stood there, for how long she had no idea. Finally shaking her head, she turned to go to the kitchen and fell to the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

Opening her eyes, Arianna exhaled noisily. She no longer cried when she remembered. The tears had dried up years before. Since she had been eighteen, she’d lived through it, ten long years of painful memories and too many questions. She never again saw her sister alive after she’d gone out the door. The next time she set eyes on her was in her casket before they had buried her. High on her own dark magic Faith lost control of her car and died on the very same night she’d cursed her own sister.

Taking a deep breath, she shook away the melancholy. She had never been able to figure out why her sister had made her vision blurry. Wasn’t it enough that no one really saw her or remembered her? Sighing, she got up from the table to go get ready to open her shop.

~

Arianna moved around her shop adding the finishing touches to the Halloween displays. Her shop was filled with figurines and statues, fantasy and mythical groupings were placed high out of little hands’ reach. Witches and cats held the center positions today. She smirked at the typical Halloween witch statue flying on her broom. People were comfortable with their own preconceived notions, who was she to enlighten them.

She checked to make sure all of the new candleholders held the most appropriate candles. It was an assault on the eyes if a purple holder held a yellow candle. She made a quick mental note that the votives were starting to run low as she pulled the remaining ones forward on the shelf. Arianna made most of the candles herself, right here in the back of the store. It was the only way she could get the perfect scents and blends. On the odd occasion, she’d order some from elsewhere, if the shape or style interested her enough.

Standing back, she perused the incense rack. What scent did she want drifting throughout the shop today? She smiled and reached for the amber-scented cones to light. She smiled to herself as they started to smoulder without use of a match or flame. Amber seemed to be her choice more days than not. Just something about the scent let her mind drift to serene places. Tranquil was always a good feeling to have.

She made sure the treat baskets were within little hands’ reach and then took one more look around the store. She glanced down to make sure she had her name tag on before unlocking the door. One more day.