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Titania adjusted Mist’s puffy sleeves, her hands lingering as if to cup Mist’s face before dropping. “You look beautiful.”
The words would never stop making Mist glow. Titania was the beautiful one in her witch costume, somehow making it look as effortless as the wolf ears and fangs Ike had shoved on last minute. Mist couldn’t give him too much crap for not at least changing his clothes, not when he was only there for moral support.
For the dozenth time, she patted her wig, which she couldn’t stop assuming would fall off. Maybe someday her hair would grow long enough that she could just dye it. Even though it felt odd to have so much weight between her shoulders, the thought made her heart sing.
She twirled on the porch, just because she could, just because she liked how it made her ball gown flutter, like she was being spun into cotton candy. The closest she used to get to a fluttery outfit was a ghost costume made out of a sheet. It had always surprised people when she didn’t wear something more colorful, or more based in the interests she flew through in those days, like her horse phase or when she was convinced she’d be a famous singer…but this was the first year she could really dress up in her dream costume: Princess Elincia, the hero of her favorite fantasy books. Well, her dream costume was Queen Elincia with her sword and armor, but that was too hard to make. Next year, Titania had promised, she’d learn how to use craft foam.
Rolf and Boyd met them at the steps of Titania’s house, where they’d all always started their trick-or-treating. This was the first time, though, that Boyd met them and let out a whistle.
“See, Rolf? That’s what a real costume looks like.”
Rolf hadn’t given up the sheet ghost, insisting he was too grown up for costumes and had just gotten out his old one to support Mist. Ever since learning she was a girl, he’d started to hover nearby on their usual trips around the neighborhood or while getting ice cream, side-eyeing strangers and opening doors for her, and she didn’t yet know how to feel about it.
“What about you? You don’t even have a costume,” Rolf countered.
“Don’t you see the hat and eyepatch? I make an arr-mazing pirate.”
“Neither of you has anything on Mist and you know it,” Ike said.
“Duh,” they both said, and she took it as the best compliment she’d get.
“You know,” Titania cut in, “I’ll give out candy to anyone who’s at least wearing a shirt, but only if they actually say trick-or-treat.”
Most kids wouldn’t call her chocolate-covered pretzels candy, but they were salty enough for Ike to eat—and Rolf and Boyd, no matter how grumpily, could never turn down Titania. Neither could Ike, and Mist relished in saying trick-or-treat in a dress for the first time.
There were a lot of things someone could do for the first time, she was discovering, even when they weren’t a little kid.
As they said goodbye to Titania, Mist fancied that the steps were the winding staircase of a ballroom, and the asphalt was a lush carpet. But as she took her first step, laughter from another group of trick-or-treaters rounded the bend. A dog’s bark made her flinch. The orange and purple lights decorating the neighbors’ yard suddenly seemed both too bright and not bright enough.
She realized she’d stopped with Ike’s hand in a vice grip when the others turned around to look at her.
“Um,” she started, and then couldn’t summon words for how her excitement had just tumbled face-first on the asphalt. It’s okay, everyone’s dressing up, she had told herself, but would the strangers down the street realize what part of it was a fairy tale, and what part of it was her?
“Sorry. You can all go on ahead,” she said.
Rolf and Boyd exchanged a look while Ike’s focus remained trained on her.
“We’re not going anywhere without you,” he said.
“But—”
“You’re a princess, right?” Ike smiled. “That makes us your escorts.”
“Yeah! Princesses are supposed to arrive to stuff last, right?” Rolf said.
“With their knights and butlers and all that,” Boyd said.
Rolf puffed up, failing to look gallant in his sheet, while Boyd gave a goofy salute, his grin showing off his fake gold tooth. Mist’s eyes stung.
“You’re not exactly knights in shining armor,” she said with a sniffle, “but thanks.”
“You ready, then?” Ike said.
“Yeah. Ready.”
“Then let’s go before all the good stuff is taken.” Boyd ruffled what would have been Rolf’s hair if not for the sheet, rumpling it. “Race you, dork.”
He took off, Rolf indignant on his heels. Mist giggled, relieved some things never changed. Ike rolled his eyes toward her in a way that clearly meant some escorts, but he let her cling to him all the way up to the sidewalk, and a little ways down the road.