Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

“Remind me again why we’re here?” Nicoli said as he watched Amelia riffle through a rack full of costumes.

Amelia had been harping on him for the past two days to go with her to the costume shop and Nicoli had been able to decline her both times, saying he had something to do – when, in reality, he’d just go home and play video games or speak in length with Zack and Brittany – but that could only last so long. As soon as school had got out that day the red head had declared she was taking Nicoli to the costume shop whether he wanted to go or not then proceeded to drag the boy to their destination. Any complaints Nicoli had fell on deaf ears and he just gave up after awhile.

The costume shop was small and the lighting was rather dim. It looked like the place was hardly ever cleaned because pieces of various costumes littered the floor and the ones that were hung up were bulging from the racks and looked hardly organized.

“Duh, because the Halloween party is next week!” Amelia exclaimed, as though it were obvious. She then stopped what she was doing and turned to glare at the boy. “You’re still going with me, right?” she asked. The tone in her voice told Nicoli that if his response wasn’t “Yes,” he was going to be in for a world of hurt.

Nicoli simply rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Of course I am, Amelia,” he said. He watched as the reply turned Amelia’s glare into a smile and she went back to what she was doing. “I’m just asking why now? Like you said, we still have a week till Halloween. Couldn’t this have waited?” he asked.

Amelia turned to look at him again, only this time her eyes were wide in disbelief.

“Are you insane?” she asked before turning towards him fully. “You’re cutting it close as it is. We’ll be lucky if there’s any good costumes left that you can choose from,” the girl told him, waving a pink feathered boa in the air.

Nicoli sighed. He supposed he should have seen that coming. With a town as obsessed with the occult as Whixton was Halloween must be very popular.

“Wait,” Nicoli said, a dark brow rising. “Why do you just keep saying “you?” Aren’t we looking for costumes for both of us?” he asked.

Both his eyebrows rose when Amelia nearly doubled over in laughter. When she calmed down she tossed the boa around Nicoli’s neck and wrapped it around until the boy had to spit out the pink feathers that tried to invade his mouth.

“Me? Wait till now? You’re funny, Nicoli,” Amelia said as she bopped his nose with the end of the boa. She then turned to continue looking through the costumes. “I got my costume over two months ago, thank you very much.”

Nicoli gave her back an odd look. Two months beforehand seemed a little much to him, but it was Amelia after all.

“Yes, excuse me, whatever was I thinking?” he said sarcastically as he turned to study the opposite side of the aisle. He pulled down a hat that caught his interest and chuckled in amusement when he saw it was a pimp hat. It was covered in short, purple fur and a long black and tan feather was nestled in the side.

He peered over his shoulder to see if Amelia was watching before plopping the hat on his head. As he tilted it forward for effect he spotted a cane with a round end jammed on the bottom of the rack and he grabbed that too.

“You know, you’re jumping the gun again by bringing me to this place,” Nicoli pointed out as he made his way to the full length mirror that was at the end of the aisle, which was also the back of the store.

“Oh, how so?” Amelia said after him, not even bothering to look where he had wondered off.

Nicoli looked in the mirror and had to stop himself from cracking up. He looked rather ridiculous. The pink boa around his neck, the purple pimp hat, and the cane all made for a comical sight to behold. He tilted the hat forward again and struck his best pimp pose.

“How do you know I don’t already have a costume at home?” he asked as he did various other poses. He glanced at Amelia’s reflection when she started laughing again.

“Well, my dear Nicoli, it could be because you told me you hadn’t been trick–or–treating since you were thirteen,” she giggled.

Nicoli frowned at his reflection and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. He had forgotten that he told her that.

“Oh! Here’s something!” Amelia exclaimed and Nicoli turned to her as she pulled out a costume. “You can go as Robin Hood!” she said happily, holding up a very green outfit.

“Nope! No way in hell,” Nicoli said, making a slashing motion in the form of an X with his arms.

Amelia pouted and lowered the costume.

“Awe, why not?” she asked, looking very put out.

“There is no way in hell I’m going to go to a party in tights,” he said, pointing the cane at her.

“Pfft you’re no fun. Fine,” Amelia then said with a shrug of her shoulders and began putting the costume away. “You’ll dress up like a gay pimp, but not a great, legendary hero? At least I know what your standards are now.”

Nicoli blinked at her then looked down at the cane and boa. He hurriedly took the items off and shoved them randomly into the rack. The boy jumped slightly as something was then forced on his head.

“So, speaking of when you told me the last time you went ToTing,” Amelia said as she adjusted a pair of plastic, red devil horns on Nicoli’s head. “You seem to be feeling a lot better this week.”

“What do you mean?” he asked as he went back to the mirror to see exactly what Amelia had put on him.

“Well, you were so moody and uptight last week, but you seem to be back to normal now,” the girl said as she then gave Nicoli a plastic pitch fork. They both studied him in the mirror as he did a quick pose and simultaneously shook their heads.

“Nah, too cliché,” they said in unison and Amelia took the items from Nicoli and put them back.

“Did your personal issue get resolved?” she then asked as she kept looking.

“You can say that,” Nicoli murmured. He then smirked and chuckled evilly when he found something else to entertain him.

“Were you and your family having a tiff or something?” Amelia inquired as she examined a poorly made straightjacket that was already missing a buckle and one of the straps was nearly torn off. She shook her head and sighed. She knew only the low quality costumes would be left.

Amelia’s eyebrows furrowed when Nicoli didn’t respond to her question. Was he ignoring her?

“Nicoli, didn’t you hear me – eek!” Amelia squealed and jumped back when she turned and came face to face with a wolf’s head. Her expression fell and she glared at Nicoli, who was currently wearing a werewolf mask and matching furry gloves.

“What’s in the picnic basket, little girl?” Nicoli asked in his best evil voice and pretended to paw at Amelia with his new clawed hands.

“Nicoli, you jerk!” Amelia yelled and socked him in the arm. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Owww,” Nicoli whined as he rubbed his arm. He then lifted up the mask enough so his real face showed. “Oh, like you wouldn’t have done the same thing? It was funny and you know it,” he said with a pout.

“Not when I’m the one on the receiving end of it,” Amelia huffed.

“Ugh, whatever, so what do you think?” Nicoli asked as he pulled the mask back down and posed for the girl.

“Eh, its okay, but I already know about five or more people going to the party as werewolves,” she told him with a thoughtful look.

Nicoli’s shoulder’s slumped and Amelia guessed he looked disappointed underneath the mask.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, and besides, think how many people have already had their head in that thing before you,” the girl pointed out.

Nicoli paused the frantically pulled the mask off his head and threw it at the racks across from him.

“Ewwww why did you have to say that? Now I feel defiled,” he said as he shuddered and he rubbed his face against his shoulder as he pulled the gloves off and tossed them after the mask.

Amelia giggled as she continued her search.

“So were you feeling down because of your parents?” she asked again.

“No, nothing like that,” Nicoli said as he ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it. “And besides, I said it was personal, personal means it’s one person’s problem. Person, moi, me, so don’t concern yourself with it,” he told her as he went back to the other aisle.

“Fine, just trying to be a friend,” Amelia grumbled. “I’m just glad you’re back to your old self.”

Nicoli smiled as he sorted through the multitudes of crappy costumes. He did feel a whole lot better than last week. He thought he’d be even more stressed since he had conceded and joined up on Ethan’s crazy search, but he didn’t. In fact, it was as if life had gone back to normal, in some odd way. Except for a few conversations he’d had with Ethan through the mind link he hadn’t had any contact with the vampire since Sunday. So far the business hadn’t interfered with his life, just like Ethan had promised it wouldn’t.

Oh, wait, Nicoli thought, his mulling having reminded him of something. I still have to ask her about that stone. In one of their brief discussions Ethan had asked the boy to talk to Amelia about the witches to see if she had any other useful information.

With that thought in mind he turned towards the girl.

“Hey, Amelia, I wanted to –”

“Oh! Nicoli, speaking of –”

The teenagers blinked at each other then started laughing.

“I’m sorry, what were you going to say?” Amelia asked.

“No, you go first,” Nicoli prodded.

“I was just going to ask if you were able to get your parent’s to go to the Halloween party. It’s confirmed that some of mine is going so I thought it’d be perfect for everyone to finally meet each other,” the girl told him.

“Well, my dad is going because his boss invited him, but my mom is volunteering at the Children’s Center to help pass out candy, so she can’t make it,” he explained.

“Awe, that’s too bad,” Amelia said with a pout, but then smiled. “At least I’ll get to meet your dad.”

“Yeah, but I think it’s better this way,” Nicoli said before he sighed and crossed his arms. “I’m not ready for you to meet my mom just yet.”

“Does she still think we’re dating or something?” Amelia asked and giggled when Nicoli grimaced and ran his fingers through his hair again.

“You’re underestimating the woman.”

“She can’t be that bad,” the girl said, thinking he was over exaggerating.

“Oh, really?” Nicoli said, placing his hands on his hips. It was about time he gave her a reality check. “She’s already planned out our wedding and keeps saying how gorgeous are babies are going to look, even though she hasn’t even seen you yet.”

Amelia’s mouth fell open and she stared at Nicoli with wide eyes. If possible her pale skin paled a few more shades.

“Are you serious?” she asked. “Wow, that’s…a little creepy.”

“Told you,” Nicoli said with a victorious smirk before turning to go through more of the costumes. “But don’t let it freak you out too bad. She’s done that with all the female friends I’ve ever made.”

Nicoli looked over his shoulder when the girl chuckled.

“Ooooh, do you not bring many girlfriends home? Is she getting a little worried she spawned a dud?” Amelia teased him.

Nicoli glared at her and rolled his eyes as he went back to the rack. He then got up on tiptoes to look on the shelf above the rack.

“I’ve had my fair share of girlfriend’s, thank you very much,” he snapped as he reached out and grabbed what looked like a pair of sunglasses and a plastic gun.

“Uh huh, sure, whatever you say, stud,” Amelia continued to taunt as Nicoli made his way back to the mirror.

“Look, I’m not gonna stand here and argue about my love life with you,” he said as he slipped on the sunglasses. “I know who I’ve gone out with and that’s all that matters.” Nicoli then lifted the fake gun and pointed it at his reflection and pretended to fire.

“And who are you? James Bond or something?” Amelia asked, subtly taking another jab at the boy, but it seemed to go over Nicoli’s head as he turned and smiled at her.

“Nope, I was thinking more along the lines of a sharp shooting assassin,” he told her as he pointed the gun at her and took a few fake shots. He laughed when Amelia clutched her chest and fell back into the rack she had been looking through and then proceeded to having a very dramatic death.

“So, what were you going to ask me?” she then said as she righted herself and straightened her clothes like nothing happened.

“Huh?” Nicoli lowered the sunglasses enough to look at her questioningly over the rims.

“You were going to ask me something, right?” she asked again. “You know, when we both said something at the same time?”

“Oh! Right!” Nicoli agreed, his memory kick starting. “I was going to ask you something about the Witch’s Burning Site.”

Amelia raised an eyebrow and stared at him in bewilderment.

“Really? I would think after your report was done you wouldn’t want to talk about any of the “hocus pocus” stuff again,” she said.

Nicoli winced inwardly. He should have known Amelia would question his sudden interest in the subject. He kept forgetting to put up his hardcore disbeliever front now that he was waist deep in the supernatural. Lucky for him he was able to think of an excuse in nothing flat.

“Well, I got my paper back and Mr. Turnic made comments that he wanted me to elaborate more on a few things,” Nicoli explained as he placed the sunglasses up on his head, in Ethan fashion.

“Oh, okay. So what did you need to know?” Amelia asked, not questioning Nicoli’s reason.

It made the boy feel bad for lying to her.

“You know about the items you told me the witches had? The flute, the stone, those things?” he asked.

“Of course, what about them?”

“Well, he wanted me to go further into those, like what happened to them after the witches were burned,” Nicoli told her as he went to put the sunglasses and gun back. “So, do you have any idea where they are now?”

Nicoli froze and his heart nearly stopped when he turned back around and saw the look on Amelia’s face. It was somewhere between utter confusion and suspicion and the boy wondered just what he had said wrong.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, trying to get his voice not to waver.

“Why would Mr. Turnic ask you something like that?” Amelia questioned slowly, each word punctuated with suspicion. “Anyone who’s lived here for a long period of time, especially Mr. Turnic who’s a History teacher, knows that after the burning the items were never seen again. Just poof, right off the face of the Earth,” she explained. She then pursed her lips and curled her fingers around her chin as she gave a thoughtful look. “So why would he ask you to put that in your paper if no one knows?”

Nicoli had to resist the urge to swallow the lump in his throat. He’d really messed it up now. How was he supposed to know everyone in Whixton knew, or didn’t know in this case, what happened to the items? He gave a start when Amelia clapped her hands together and started laughing.

“Oh, I get it!” she exclaimed and continued to laugh.

“Uh…get what?”

“He was playing a joke on you.”

Nicoli stared at her in disbelief. Is that how she deduced his odd question? It was the teacher’s idea of a joke? Well, if that’s how she wanted it, it was fine by him.

“A joke?” he asked, pretending to sound stunned.

“Yeah, Mr. Turnic has always had an odd sense of humor and what with Halloween coming up he probably just wanted to send you on a wild goose chase,” she told him and snickered behind her hand.

I’m already on one of those, I don’t need another, Nicoli thought, but was relieved nonetheless. But now he had to tell Ethan that he had no leads on the Heart and that was very disappointing to say the least.

“You’re kidding, is a teacher allowed to do that?” Nicoli asked, putting his acting skills to the test

“Oh, come on, it’s just a harmless little prank,” Amelia assured him.

Nicoli frowned and creased his brow before looking away.

“Not if I had actually tried to do research on it like I was going to. That’s freakin’ messed up,” Nicoli huffed and was impressed when he got himself to blush in embarrassment. He amazed himself sometimes. Then, to finish it off, he turned his back on the girl to busy himself by going through the racks once more.

He grunted and almost fell forward when Amelia tackled him and threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

“Awe, poor wittle Nicy is upset,” the girl told him in her best baby voice. “But that’s why I’m here so you don’t embarrass yourself.”

Nicoli actually did blush and turned his head to glare at her.

“Oh my knight in shiny plaid skirt,” he said sarcastically and he was nearly strangled when Amelia giggled and tightened her hug.

The girl then loosened her grip when something in the rack Nicoli was looking through caught her eye.

“Huh? What’s this?” she murmured as she unfastened one arm from Nicoli and reached for it.

“What’s what?” the boy asked curiously and watched as Amelia pulled out a fistful of black material. His eyebrows rose when the girl then gasped.

“Nicoli! This is perfect!”

************************************

“Nicoli! Are you ready!?” Lance’s voice carried from downstairs.

“Almost! I’ll be down in a second, Dad!” Nicoli yelled back before closing his door. With his other hand he lifted up his video camera that he had been playing with. He’d missed the dear thing.

“Sorry for the interruption,” he said into the lens. “I’d like to apologize, once more, about not having any new episodes lately. Life has taken a…peculiar turn, to say the least, and has simply left me no time for all of my lovely viewers out there, though, you’re all constantly on my mind, trust me. So, for now, I’d like to tell you all, and with a heavy heart mind you, that “Nicoli’s Life” will be taking a short break, a hiatus, if you will. Yes, I know, don’t cry for me, but in the state things are in now I simply can’t give you the full attention you all need, that you deserve. So, with that, I beg for you all to wait for me until my return, and, yes, be assured that I will return to you one day.”

With that Nicoli switched off the video camera and set it down on his desk. In dealing with the whole Ethan situation he hardly had any time to work on his “television show,” and Nicoli was sure that since he was involved with the Hearts now that he’d have even less time, so he did the only reasonable thing and put it on hold. At least until he knew for sure he’d have no time for it.

Nicoli then hurried to put the rest of his costume on. It was the big night. Halloween. It had come a lot faster than Nicoli had expected and he hadn’t realized just how seriously Whixton took the holiday. Halloween had fallen on a Friday and, to make sure everyone had time to go get ready for it, the school made it a minimum day.

It was fine with Nicoli. If he got out of school early, got to go to what promised to be a fun party and had the weekend to look forward to afterwards, he was as happy as a clam.

A hum rose from Nicoli’s throat as he pulled his hair back in a tight, low ponytail. When he was sure it was secure he picked up a long, black piece of material from his bed. He placed it across his eyes where there were two holes that allowed him to see and tied it tightly in the back. He then grabbed a black hat with a wide brim all the way around from the bed before going to his full length mirror.

Nicoli secured the hat on his head and studied himself in the mirror. He was dressed in black from top to bottom. Black hat, black mask, black billowy shirt, black gloves, black cape, black pants, and, of course, black boots. Black, black, black. He was lucky the party wasn’t during the day or else he’d be sweating like a pig.

In one smooth motion Nicoli pulled his faked sword from its sheath and got into a fencers stance as he pointed the sword at his reflection.

“My name is Zorro, you killed my father, prepare to die…wait, that’s the wrong movie,” Nicoli muttered and scratched his head as he laughed at himself.

“Nicoli! You wanna go or not!? Let’s move it!” His father’s voice called again.

“All right, all right, I’m coming!” Nicoli took a moment to look himself over one more time before sheathing his sword and turning off the bedroom light and heading down stairs.

Nicoli bounded down the stairs two at a time. He dashed into the living room, but stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of his father.

“Whoa, Dad, nice costume,” Nicoli said, looking the man up and down. It looked like Lance was ready for a safari. He was dressed in a heavy kaki clothes up and down and even had the odd helmet type hat.

“You think so?” Lance asked with a sheepish grin as he fiddled with the buttons. “I wasn’t able to find anything in time so a friend at work said I could borrow this.”

“Well, I think it looks good. You should have gotten a machete to go with it,” Nicoli suggested with a smirk.

“Funny, but I don’t think I’d get through the front door with something like that.” Lance then laughed and pushed Nicoli’s hat down so it covered his face. “But maybe since my son is the cunning fox Zorro they’d make an exception.”

Nicoli huffed as he righted his hat, but smiled at his father.

“If not I’d make them look silly by cutting Z’s into their clothes.”

“And then watch us get thrown right out,” Lance chuckled with a shake of his head. “Well, your mother has already gone to the Children’s Center with Beethoven, so we just need to ship out and head to Town Hall.”

“Mom didn’t dress Beethoven up in that stupid angel outfit like she did last year, did she?” Nicoli asked, picturing his poor dog with ridiculous puffy angel wings and a halo headband shoved on his head. He remembered how sad and pathetic Beethoven had looked last year. He didn’t wish that kind of torture on anyone.

Lance averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck. He then briskly walked past his son and headed for the door.

“I plead the fifth,” the man said.

“Dad. Dad!” Nicoli yelled then sprinted after the man. “Hey! When Zorro asks you a question you answer!”


=======================================Ch. 13 End