Halloween dawned cold, clear, and blustery. Troll, Bear, and Mr. Rabbit set up a small bonfire, while the others dressed in costume. The mansion was too far out for most children to play tricks on them, but Maple, Bear, Betty, and Puppy more than made up for that. Maple, dressed as a cowgirl in one of Bear’s flannel shirts with her red curls in braids, hid candy for everyone to find. Puppy wore a blue-checked dress and carried Walter in a basket as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Betty dressed as a princess in an old pink evening gown from the attic, a paper crown with paste jewels on her head. Bear made a rather handsome prince in his own paste crown with gold trim, good white silk shirt, dashing red vest, and black trousers.
Hilary and Troll spent most of the day tending to the bonfire they were holding late that night. She of course had to be Juliet in an elegant blue silk gown pulled out of the same trunk. Troll was the closest thing he could manage to Romeo. To her amusement, he even pulled out Miss Organ and serenaded her with his attempt at “Lover, Come Back to Me” under his balcony…something which Bear nudged him and teased him about for the rest of the night. Even Mr. Rabbit’s nose twitched with laughter under his tall magician’s black silk hat.
The only one who hadn’t been seen was Eagle. He’d been working for most of the day. He hadn’t even come out for dinner, when they all gathered in the warm, fragrant kitchen for Mrs. Fox’s hearty chicken stew and pumpkin pie.
Hilary frowned as she followed Maple, Betty, Troll, and Bear upstairs after the party. “Are you sure he wanted all of us, Maple?”
“Yeah!” She carried a bowl of stew and the last plate of pumpkin pie. “I ran into him outside, when he was gettin’ his fish for lunch. His said - or his wings said - he wanted Bear n’ Troll to see somethin’. He thinks it’ll help ‘em to see this stuff.”
Eagle himself managed to let them all in. He was the only one who hadn’t dressed in costume for the holiday. He wore a normal striped silk shirt and gray trousers. “What goes on?” Bear asked, frowning. “We miss bonfire, and Betty read ghost stories.”
He nudged the paperwork over to Bear and Betty with his wing as they sat down at his desk. “Is this that gibberish we’ve been trying to decipher for months now?” Maple gathered it herself. “Eagle, I know you say there’s more to this than weird lines like ‘buy barley futures’ an’ ‘sell African press,’ but Hilary an’ you an’ me have tried to figure it out for months. It sounds more like somethin’ a banker would talk about than a spy.”
Troll closed his dark eyes, then looked up at Eagle. “They’re codes. The ones we haven’t finished with yet. The ones we got in Europe before…well, before.”
Eagle nodded, showing the most enthusiasm he’d put into almost anything besides his flight with Maple. His mahogany wings swooped and dipped. “Whoa!” Maple gently tugged at a wing. “I know you’re excited, but you gotta slow that down.” He blew at a wayward feather off his head in exasperation, then waved his wings more slowly. “You say some of this was decoded before…well, last year? But you weren’t able to get all of it? Somethin’ about…” The bird’s whiskey-dark eyes narrowed. He gave one angry flutter with his right wing. “Her. That horrible ‘her’ you guys keep whisperin’ about. An’ you gotta get this done by the end of the year.”
“Bear,” Troll leaned over his furry dark friend in the gold painted paper crown. “This is…was…your domain. Do you think you could try to figure this out?”
Bear gulped, sweating heavily under his silky black and silver fur as his wide eyes ran over the papers in front of him. “I could try. I don’t know.” He ran his claws gently over the paper. Betty pulled up a chair next to him and took his other paw. “I see patterns…” He ran his paw over the numbers and phrases. “They…” He closed his eyes again, sweating heavily. “Numbers I know…but…”
Eagle squawked softly, pushing at his shoulder with his wing. “Are you ok, Bear?” Maple frowned. “Eagle’s worried, an’ I am, too. You’re sweatin’ more like a pig than a bear.”
“You can do it.” Troll’s deep voice rumbled over him as he leaned over his shoulder. “I know you’ve done it before. You’re brilliant.”
Betty nodded, putting her hand gently on his. “Think of it like our reading. It’s no different than that. You’re doing so well with writing our story! Imagine you’re that Bear Prince. What would he do?”
“I…” Bear gulped. “I don’t know. I see it…numbers…letters…” He closed his eyes again, his heart almost audibly pounding. “I...patterns…I see them…write them…for Eagle. For Troll. For friends.” He looked up at them, his eyes wide and frightened. “She made head hurt. Bear…not Bear…someone else…”
“Come on, Big Guy!’ Maple rubbed his back. “You can do it. No one else can figure this out!”
“Bear…not Bear…the patterns…I find them…bad people…she with them…” He closed his eyes, breathing hard. “She hurt Bear. Bear find patterns, and she hurt Bear…hurt so much…OWWW!” When his eyes reopened, they were pitch black. “Bear can’t! Bear just Bear! It hurts! Dark hurts! Dark hurts bad!” He almost knocked over Troll running out the door. Betty followed him, with everyone else on her heels.
“Bear?” Betty put her arms around him as he stood in the hall, sobbing. “Are you all right? You haven’t done that in weeks. What happened?”
Troll growled as he grabbed his arm. “What was that? I knew she…you were hurt badly, but…”
“Leave him alone!’ Betty shoved Troll’s claws off his fur. “What is it that hurt all of you like this? Especially him. It must have been horrifying, the way he just disappears every time he tries to break through it.”
Bear gulped, nodding slowly. “Bad scary. Like ghost. Like Halloween. Bear scared. Bear hurt by her. By dark in head. It hurt so much.”
Maple put a hand on Eagle’s upper wing. “Yeah.” He waved his wing sadly, then put it on Bear’s shuddering shoulder. “He’s sorry he pushed you, Bear. He says the work is important, that he needs you…but he doesn’t want to make things worse, either.”
“What is all of this about?” Hilary didn’t like any of it. “Bear, what is this darkness that makes you yell every time you fight it?”
Troll sighed. “It’s why we can’t talk about any of this. She…” He coughed hard, almost knocking himself to the floor. “She doesn’t allow it. It’s part of…” He coughed again. Hilary rubbed his back. “Well, it hurts when we talk about it or try to fight it. We’re not allowed.”
“I’m likin’ this less an’ less.” Maple’s growls were almost as loud as she put up a fist. “Whomever this ‘she’ is who won’t let you guys talk or think or nothin’, I’m gonna find her an’ give her a pop in the nose!”
“No!” Bear’s eyes widened as he waved his paws. “She hurt you too!”
“We’re not afraid to fight whomever it is that’s doing this to all of you.” Hilary took Troll’s arm. “You have all of us on your side now. We’ll help in any way we can. We’ll make this right.”
“That’s right.” Betty looked up at a clock on the way. “Why don’t we go to the bonfire? We can talk about this later.”
“Yeah.” Bear’s big Adam’s apple bobbed as he shook. “Bonfire pretty. Bear wants to see. Scare ghosts away. Scare dark. Bear not like dark.”
“Don’t worry, Bear.” She leaned on his big, furry shoulder. “I’m here. I won’t let the dark hurt you.”
Hilary nodded. “I won’t let anyone hurt you, either. We will figure this out. I swear it.”
For almost the first time since she knew him, Troll broke out into a wide, toothy smile. It reminded her so much of, well, someone she used to love. “And I don’t need to scare the ghosts away. We can make our own kind of drama.”
She smirked. “Right back at’cha.”
Her flame-haired middle sister grinned. “Don’t wait for us. We ain’t goin’ to the bonfire. We’re goin’ over it.” Maple took Eagle’s wing. “Eagle promised me a Halloween flight. Somethin’ real romantic, before it gets too cold to be flyin’.” He nuzzled her neck, rubbing all around her with his beak. “Hey, that tickles! You’re such a chick!” She leaned over and scratched his wing, making him almost purr.
Troll raised an eyebrow. “Ok, you two. Take it in the air, where we can’t see it.”
“Oh, we’re gonna.” He squawked gently and offered her his wing. “For me? That’s so…gentile…of you.”
Hilary chuckled. “How about we see if we can beat them on the ground?”
“Or something.” He gently rubbed her hand again. “Let’s go drive those ghosts away.”
Her breath hitched at the familiar gesture. “Yes…ghosts. Let’s do that.” She was still breathing hard, even as she walked hand in claw with him downstairs to the garden.
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