Author’s note:
Happy Halloween! For your treat on this illustrious holiday, enjoy this excerpt from Chain of Magic (Eversfield Academy: Vampire Origins), during which human Grace goes costume shopping with her secret boyfriend. Will they be discovered? 👀

All potential spoilers for Chain of Magic have been removed.

Happy reading and Happy Halloween!

Betsy

a crush and costumes

a cute, Halloween-y YA contemporary sweet romance short

and an excerpt from Chain of Magic (Eversfield Academy: Vampire Origins), a young adult supernatural suspense and urban fantasy novel

by Betsy Flak

Bwa ha ha a-ha haaaa!

The malevolent laugh buffeted Grace as she stepped through the entrance of the costume shop on the edge of downtown Fruitvale. No one in the crowded store paid her any attention, least of all the cashiers hurrying to check people out during the week-of-Halloween rush. Racks upon racks of outfits covered every inch of available space. A kaleidoscope of masks, weapons, and other accessories crawled up the walls. 

Grace spared none of it a second look. No, the shoppers alone caught her attention. So far, so good. She recognized no one. After grabbing a nondescript woman’s costume, she crept to the back where a row of orange and black curtain-covered fitting rooms awaited. The ends of her raven waves grazed the ground when she stooped to scan for feet peeking beneath the curtains. 

A single pair greeted her, so Grace settled into a nearby chair. She poked at her phone like she waited for someone. In fact, she was, if arriving ten minutes early to case the place could be called “waiting.” 

No more than thirty seconds passed before the room’s owner swept the curtain aside, a smile plastered across his face. Rubber claw fingers stroked a plush costume. Werewolf, if Grace had to guess, based on the mask pushed over his unkempt hair. He brushed by her without a second look, something Grace had long gotten used to, well before Mason became the first boy to notice her over this past summer. Not that she minded the lack of attention today, not in the least. No one either of them knew was here, which meant she could act as natural as spring rain once Mason showed up.

Grace was perusing the women’s superhero rack when a light touch heated the small of her back. Despite that warmth, shivers tumbled up and down her spine. She turned around, and there he was, smiling down at her with cheeks rosy from the cold. Mason wore a plain white T-shirt and jeans, his wet hair dark and shiny in the fluorescent light. 

What had she done to deserve him?

Mason’s fingers skimmed her waist, then intertwined with hers. After squeezing her hand, he jutted his chin toward her clothing stand. “Find anything good?”

With a shake of her head, she tossed her inky mane over a shoulder. “Nope, just the usual Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Supergirl. Nothing interesting. Besides,” Grace glanced up at him through freshly mascaraed lashes, “I was just amusing myself while I waited for you.”

“Waited? Was I late?”

“No,” Grace flashed perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth in a perfect smile meant to reassure, “I was early.”

“Well, now that we’re together, Grace, shall we?” Their fingers still interlaced, Mason took a step forward, then looked back at her. A single eyebrow cocked.

“Yes, Mason, we shall.” Grace’s heart skittered like a creek bubbling and bursting over pebbles. After all these weeks, she still couldn’t believe Mason had chosen her over everyone else. If only they could be this honest at school.

They could and they would, as soon as she eased Paula off her three-year-long crush.

After squeezing her hand, Mason led Grace to a rack of matching outfits for couples. He grabbed the Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson ones, all fake black leather and over-the-top wigs, and held them up.

Of course Mason had chosen the perfect costumes on the first try. Grease was one of her mom’s favorite movies and was secretly one of Grace’s too.

And she would look spectacular in that Sandy costume.

Maybe she’d skip the blond wig, though.

Too bad she couldn’t say yes.

“I don’t think so.” Grace placed her hand on Mason’s. Delightful sparks tingled over her skin at that slight touch, and an addictive warmth that had nothing to do with the store’s heat and everything to do with Mason radiated out from her core, all the way down to her fingertips and toetips. 

Was “toetips” a word?

Focus, Grace, she scolded herself. Mason always muddied her mind and distracted her.

Tonight, she could have no distractions, not with being out and about with her great big secret of a boyfriend. Grace took those perfect costumes from Mason and returned them to the stand.

After a slight frown—so slight that Grace might have missed it if she didn’t know him so well—Mason flipped through the other outfits on the rack. He picked Peter Pan and Tinker Bell costumes next. “Whaddya think ’bout these?”

They used the same pea green material. No one would believe her and Mason dressing up in those outfits was a coincidence. 

All the outfits on this rack shared that problem. As couple costumes, they were on the obvious side of things. “Hmm, I’m not sure. Maybe we should go look at the boys’ stuff and pick a few options there, then see if we can find anything to match in the girls’ area. You know, be a bit more subtle.”

As expected, agreeable Mason agreed. 

As unexpected, he slung a lean arm around her shoulders, gathered her into his side, and brushed his lips against her forehead. Between the fear of being found out and the thrill of him being so very close, Grace was left speechless.

“You sure you don’t wanna take a li’l break from costume shoppin’?” Mason murmured, his voice husky.

It was heady, having him so close. Yet she, they, needed to focus on the task at hand. 

To ease the blow, Grace wrapped both arms around Mason’s waist and buried her head in his chest. “Later, okay?”

His shrug did little to mask his disappointment, but this one time, Grace refused to feel the guilt. After all, the matching costumes had been his idea. Otherwise, they could be over at Corner Coffee right now, in one of their secluded back booths.

“All right, if we have to look for costumes.” Mason rolled his eyes though a smile played upon his lips. His finger wagged. “But I’m gonna hold you to it.”

“I wouldn’t dream of you not.”

His movement was quick, so quick that he surprised even the careful Grace. One second, they were talking, close but not too close. The next second, his arm slipped down to encircle her waist. The fingers of his other hand tangled in her hair. Softer than she would have believed possible before all this happened, his lips found hers.

The world dropped away, and nothing existed but the two of them. Her heart rocketed off into outer space. Delicious goose bumps whisked over her skin. All-consuming fire whirled down her veins.

Her arms around him, she pulled him closer and closer. She wanted to feel every inch of him. His hand slid down her back, and he crushed her to him.

“Ahem.”

Grace’s heart pounded with fear instead of the desire of a moment ago, and her breath stopped in her chest. What if it was someone they knew? What if Grace had failed at ensuring their safety? As one, she and Mason turned toward the unwelcome intruder.

It wasn’t anyone they knew. It was only a mother with two little girls who stared at them with wide eyes.

“Excuuuuse us.” The woman pushed past them to the next rack, her daughters following in her wake.

Grace nestled her forehead against Mason’s neck. Together, they laughed. She could see them, someday telling their friends about this very moment like one of those stereotypical couples on TV, and she was happy. For once, all her worries about how to tell Paula and the others had flown far, far away.

Mason broke the spell by tugging on a lock of Grace’s hair. “C’mon, let’s go figure out our costumes.”