Outside, the hall was eerily silent, save for the music. Everyone was looking at the entrance where a spot light was set. And in the middle stood a beautiful princess.

She held her hand up in front of her eyes, blinded by the spotlight. Her dress was powder blue with glittering tulle that gave her an ethereal affect. Her face was covered in a frilly mask.

The princess' vision seemed to adjust and she realized to her horror that everyone was looking at her. She quickly moved forward to give way to the person from whom the spotlight was actually meant for, the host of the gala. Dressed as the Red Queen, the host glared at the princess as she backed away.

Everyone was looking at the princess, clearing a path as she walked forward towards Sebastian. Matilda couldn't have planned it better herself. Sometimes fate was too powerful to comprehend.

Sebastian was in awe of Kat and their glow was so powerful that Matilda was almost blinded. She watched him take her over to the gang. Matilda should have felt relief then. Kat had showed up. This mean she and Sebastian were back together. Of course this was what Matilda had wanted.

But then why did she feel so down?

Ursula was giving Kat a welcoming hug when Matilda reached them.

"And Kat this is Matilda." Mal told her.

"Yeah we've met," both women said. Everyone looked at Matilda, Mal and Ursula were shooting daggers of betrayal.

The guys began asking Kat questions, no doubt sizing her up. The girls however, were more interested in Matilda.

"Tilly!" Ursula whispered accusingly, "Why didn't you tell us Bas was seeing someone?"

"Yeah Till. What gives?" Mal had her lawyer voice on.

"He told me to keep it a secret till he was sure," Matilda whispered.

"From everyone else. Not from us!" Ursula said.

"Sorry guys. It just happened."

"My wife here's a lawyer," Phil was saying to Kat. This was Mal's prompt to join in.

"She's pretty," Ursula whispered to Matilda.

"Yeah I know." Matilda hoped her smile seemed as genuine as it was not.

"And that entrance. It was like a movie or something."

"Yeah."

"They look good together don't they?"

"Um-hmm."

"Matilda you're so boring!" Ursula slapped her arm and Matilda smiled sheepishly.

"Oh my god, I know you!" Kat was saying to Ursula, in response to something Eric had said, "I mean I know your bakery. You make the most wonderful caramel crumble."

"Oh really? Why thank you." Ursula blushed.

Pretty soon the entire gang was enamored by Kat. She knew exactly when and how to compliment someone and was very world savvy. They even got into a heated debate about some government budget and by the end Kat had everyone convinced to her point. She knew the stats by hand and could cite researches and publications like an academic.

"I'm in risk assessment. If I don't know everything I'm not doing my job right." That impressed everyone. Matilda felt a little guilty. She wasn't even up to date one everything about the tech industry, and that literally was her job.

The couples converged towards each other, leaving Matilda a little left out, literally and figuratively. Kat and Sebastian became the center, with Eric and Ursula on one side and Mal and Phil on the other. They leaned towards each other, leaving a little space between them and Matilda.

They talked about couple things such as first meetings and romantic dates. Matilda had nothing to offer on this subject. She quietly played with the edges of the table cloth. She felt bored and a little betrayed. Her friends were making plans with Kat to hang out with them while ignoring her. This was not how she wanted to enjoy Halloween.

"Ursula, I think I see my aunt." Eric quietly told his girlfriend.

"Guys, give us a minute, we'll be back." Ursula said, excusing herself and Eric.

"We have to mingle too." Phil stated, "But it was really nice meeting you Kat. You're sitting with us right?" Phil asked Sebastian.

"Of course. See you."

And then it was just the three of them. Sebastian and Kat were busy making googly eyes at each other so Matilda didn't bother striking up a conversation.

From the corner of her eye she spotted Alton's crown. She felt mean and resentful at the sight of him. A small smile curved her lips as she excused herself from the new couple.

Alton was with two other men when Matilda got near him. They appeared to be friends. One was dressed as Michael Jackson and the other was dressed as a tall woman that had long straight hair with a fringe.

"I wish I had your balls man." Michael Jackson said to Alton. "Going after Senator Johnson like that? How are you not dead?"

"Oh they tried," the tall man-woman said, flicking his silky hair off his bulky shoulder, "I think they had us followed."

"They were not having us followed," Alton argued in his affected voice, "You were paranoid."

"Maybe you weren't. But I sure as hell was. These two guys tailed me all day, even to the gym."

"Maybe they backed off after seeing you work out." Michael Jackson laughed. The man dressed as a woman—who surely was a celebrity, Matilda just couldn't place who— was indeed bulky. He was an entire foot above Alton and wide as an ox. In fact, his squashed nose did give him an ox like appearance. But his eyes were kind and he spoke like a Lower Kinghaven native.

"Good for us they did not speak with Hayden, otherwise they would have seen how soft he is," Alton gave a small grin as he squeezed Hayden's hard bicep.

"Sure little man," Hayden wrapped his arm around Alton's neck jokingly.

The entire exchange seemed normal and unexpected. Matilda thought he would have been mingling with an elite crowd but these people seemed humble and easy to talk to.

"Oh, there's Tanya," Michael Jackson pointed out.

"You sure you wanna get slapped again Greg?" Hayden said, with his arms around Alton. Next to him, Alton looked even more delicate than he did against Sebastian.

"Come on Hay. That's just foreplay," Greg winked and smiled a brilliant smile with teeth a little too pointed. Matilda had thought his slanted eyebrows were part of his costume but now that she noticed, she saw he was a fae.

"A'ight man. Your call." Hayden turned to Alton, "I'm starving. I'm gonna go grab something to eat. You want something?"

"Hayden, I'm sorry to ditch you. But there's the ambassabor and I need to—"

"Yeah, yeah. You go do your thing. I'm gonna find something to eat."

Matilda followed Alton as he introduced himself to a dignified gentleman who was sans a costume. Instead he wore a formal suit. A woman dressed in glittering gown stood next to him. They both held masks in their hands as a way of participating without actually doing so.

Alton acted gracious and extremely polite. Matilda wanted to gag. He seemed a different man with how much of a gentleman he seemed. Matilda could understand why Mal would defend him.

If he had treated me even half as nicely, I wouldn't have believed me either.

As soon as Alton stepped away she stuck her broom out, tripping him but not entirely. He flayed his hands like an angry swan and found his balance.

"Excuse me!" he said indignantly till he noticed Mailda, leaning against one of the columns with an evil grin.

"Hey, Ry Ry. Whatchya doin?"

Alton made a sour face, his lips pursed in annoyance.

"Miss Merryweather." He stated bitterly.

"Matilda, please." She insisted. She felt elated that her very presence annoyed him. Her hands began to itch with a need to bully him.

"Excuse me I need to—"

"I found it curious that you didn't tell the ambassador that you were a reporter."

"I no longer work as a reporter, I employ reporters. And he already knows who I am."

"But he doesn't know what an asshole you really are." Matilda pushed herself off the column and walked towards him. His fake crown was ornately crafted and gleamed on his head. The dim red lighting made him look positively evil. But the crown was too big so it slanted off a little and made him less threatening.

"Do you want something Miss Merryweather?"

"Nope." She told him.

"Well then go away please. You bother me." he turned to leave and she tripped him again. He found his balance again. She laughed at him.

"Will you stop doing that?"

"You know I saw you more as a Voldemort. That King getup really doesn't suit you. Unless you're going for a Lord Farquad vibe."

"Well the witch appearance seems very natural on you."

"Doesn't it?" Matilda said gleefully. Alton wasn't having it. He walked away and Matilda followed, fully intent on making his entire night a living hell.

She was feeling particularly mean towards him.

"Mr. Spencer," an elegantly dressed old lady stopped him, "How nice to see you. And what a lovely costume."

Alton greeted her with a warm smile. "Mrs. Lyle. How wonderful to meet you. I almost didn't recognize you. I thought you were Jenna."

The woman beamed and cupped her cheek bashfully with her hand, "Oh Mr. Spencer, you are far too charming. My daughter is much more prettier than I am."

Matilda felt herself gagging.

"Well I can only speak the truth Mrs. Lyle." Alton took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Now if you'll excuse me."

He left the woman thoroughly pleased, now smiling more brightly than before.

"Aw, Ry Ry. I didn't know liked older women." Matilda said, too close by his ear.

He jumped and turned to face her, his face contorted into absolute frustration.

"Why are you following me?"

"I like making your life miserable." She said confidently.

"I can make yours quite miserable as well Merryweather. Don't. Push. Your. Luck."

"Aww, you think you can scare me," she crossed her arms and smirked.

Alton snapped.

He backed her up against the wall in seething anger. This effectively shut her up. He raised himself to his full height. Matilda could see he was trying to be threatening but it had no effect on her.

"Who do you think you are? Do you know who I am?"

It was an overused sentiment by the elites. "Do you know who I am?" as if their existence was somehow removed from the people they stepped on to live luxuriously. Matilda had run into many people like Alton. Most of them would have succeeded in making Matilda feel small and insignificant.

"Huh."

"What?"

"Usually this would be intimidating. But on you it's just funny."

His nostrils flared, "I could ruin you."

She cackled. "Oh yeah? How? You gonna run a story about how I pick my nose? That's riveting journalism."

Alton narrowed his eyes, "Everyone has secrets Merryweather. Do not make me find yours."

"Go ahead, Rye-lee." She stretched out his name and saw the muscles of his jaw ripple, "Lemme know when you find something interesting."

His face twisted in disgust, "It baffles me why my brother chooses to associate with you."

"I dunno. Maybe I've cast a spell on him." She gave an empty grin.

Alton exhaled deeply in frustration.

"You should really know your place." His face was merely inches from hers.

"I already do. Are you sure you know yours?"

"Alton!" Hayden materialized out of nowhere and Alton immediately backed away.

"Dude you will not believe who—oh hello." He saw Matilda. "Who's this?" He smiled at her politely.

"Someone unimportant." Alton left coldly.

"Bye," Hayden said politely and left after him. Matilda chuckled to herself. She made her way to her table and passed by Alton and Hayden.

"Who's the witch?" she heard Hayden ask.

"No one." Alton said.

As she twirled her fingers behind her back, a wisp of pink sparkle circled around Alton's head. He looked up suddenly and for a moment she worried he could actually see her magic. But then the Law of Logic kicked in and he went back to normal.

Matilda smiled to herself. Alton Spencer would have a lovely surprise waiting for him tomorrow.

Matilda wondered whether he would make good on his threat, wondered whether she should be worried. But she didn't. She had lived a fairly boring life. Still, she he would get annoying with her from now on. But she was up for the challenge.

Bring it on Farquad. Let's see how inbred I can be.

"Where'd you go Till?" Ursula asked when she sat back down.

"Just around." Matilda smiled.

She attempted to reconnect again with the gang but still found herself a little isolated in their conversations. The talk had turned to family backgrounds. Apparently Kat's father owned IMN Insurance and was a respectable upper class citizen, though Kat's appearance and demeanor showed she hadn't let her status get to her head.

Matilda had nothing to contribute there too. She couldn't exactly share anything from her childhood without discussing magic in one way or another.

During the dinner, she got a look from Sebastian who pointed to his cell phone. She looked down at the message notification.

You were right, the message said, this was a good idea. Thx.

Told you 3:) She replied. He smiled to her.

She looked at Kat, wondering if she had noticed this exchange between her and Sebastian but Kat was looking far off into the distance. Her face was stoic but her eyes were wide. Matilda followed her line of sight.

At first she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, just a crowd of people standing around, walking to or from their seats. But then she saw them.

A red headed woman. Tall with an enviable hourglass body, fiery hair flowing in waves to her narrow waist. Gwendolyn looked like a vision.

She was dressed in green. Some kind of fish themed costume. She was eyeing Sebastian but only peripherally. She had a man on her arms. Simple looking, maybe even passable as handsome. A strong face and an athletic build. But he seemed a little drunk.

"Bas is that..." she heard Phil say into Sebastian's ear. He had meant to be subtle but then Phil wasn't known for his subtlety, nor his intellect. Everyone heard and turned. No one but Eric seemed to place her.

"What?" Kat looked at them guiltily. As if she was caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing.

"Nothing. That's just my ex. Winnie."

Kat looked bewildered, "Who?"

"That red head." Sebastian pointed out.

Kat's eyebrows shot up, "That's your ex?" Kat was good looking sure, but Winnie was from another world. It stood to reason she would give some form of reaction. But her face was saying something else, something guilty. Matilda's lips pursed.

"Yeah. She was obsessed with Bas here," Phil shook Sebastian by the shoulder as if it was a proud achievement. Sebastian looked embarrassed.

"It was nothing," Eric, the smarter of the three, picked up on Sebastian's discomfort, "it was a long time ago."

"It was two months ago." Phil pointed out and suddenly flinched as Eric kicked him under the table.

Kat licked her lips, "Well I don't know how to tell you this but, see that guy with her?"

And now Matilda knew why Kat had looked so strange.

"That's my ex."

Sebastian looked at the man properly now, giving him a once over. He wasn't intimidated nor impressed. In fact, he looked relieved.

"Was it serious?" Phil asked then nearly yelped in pain as Eric stomped on his foot.

Kat looked down, "It was. But you know how it is."

"Is it still serious?" Mal asked.

"Of course not. It was months ago."

"Who ended it?"

"Mal," Sebastian warned.

"It's okay," Kat told him, "He did. But, in hindsight I may not have been all that into him. I was just tired of being alone I guess. But then I met Bas," she looked at him lovingly, "and the rest is history."

Mal seemed satisfied with that answer.

Matilda looked at the couple who was moving onward. One thing that fate had taught Matilda was that there was no such thing as a coincidence. So both Kat's and Sebastian's exes together at the same party was highly suspicious to her.

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

It was that part of the night where everyone was sufficiently full of good food and even better booze. The gang was tearing up the dance floor along with most of the attendees. Inside the music throbbed like a sore thumb.

Matilda saw Gwendolyn by the bar, ignoring the advances of a pudgy looking fellow while her date was absent. Matilda decided she rather liked the woman and wanted to talk to her. Plus, she might find out how Sebastian's and Kat's exes ended up together.

Perhaps fate was up to something. Could it be a situation where two soulmates discovered each other as they mended their broken hearts over their exes? Just the possibility of this stereotypical romcom movie situation made Matilda excited.

"Gwendolyn." Matilda announced herself.

The woman turned and eyed Matilda from head to toe. A bright, sharp smile spread across her face.

"Well aren't you positively bee-witching." Her voice was like dark chocolate; bitter but velvety smooth.

"And you look... amazing," Matilda admired her outfit. Winnie was the kind of woman most women envied, but Matilda felt that such women should be respected.

"I know." Winnie's eyes glinted. Matilda smiled at her confidence.

"You know I usually love Halloween. But tonight has been a bummer. I'm actually glad I ran into you."

"As am I. Most people here are so... typical. You on the other hand seem like you know how to have fun."

"I do? Most people say I look like a bore."

"That's because you scowl too much, sweetheart. But I like your scowl. Makes men cower." She winked. Matilda laughed.

"So why aren't you dancing with your date? I noticed earlier you were with someone." If only I could have seen them properly before, I might have caught their glow.

"He's running an errand for me. Besides, I don't need a man to dance. I can dance quite well on my own you know."

As if on que, the music turned slow.

"You can't dance alone if it's a slow dance," Matilda stated.

"True. But slow dances are boring. Where's the fun in that?"

"It's fun with the right partner." Matilda said wistfully.

"Well not everyone gets that." She raised her glass but noticed Matilda didn't have one of her own. She called for the bartender.

"What'll you have?"

"No alcohol. Do you have coke?" The bartender nodded and poured her a coke.

"What? You the designated driver?"

"Alcohol intolerance."

"Really? Me too." She raised her dark drink which Matilda realized was cranberry juice.

Damn. Matilda hoped Winnie wouldn't ask her about any of the symptoms of alcohol intolerance. She didn't actually know how that worked. She had only done a google search on reasons why someone wouldn't drink alcohol and this had been the top response.

"Well cheers to that," the women clinked their glasses.

Matilda eyed her, from head to toe. She was just a couple of inches taller than Matilda but her calm and confident demeanor was intimidating as hell.

Sebastian had gotten into only a few long term relationships. The first had been the secret one back in college. After that it had been one problematic woman after another. There was Camilla, who took him on vacation to some island, stole all of his cash and credit cards and ran away with the guy she was cheating with. Then there had been Jennifer, who had used him for his money and made him buy obscenely expensive things for her. His last problematic girlfriend had been Sarah, who had lied about being pregnant.

Gwendolyn by far seemed the sanest of his past girlfriends. Matilda felt it was a pity they weren't fated. She could have been friends with her.

Clang! Something had fallen. And a gasp. A plethora pf gasps. The music stopped abruptly. A crowd was gathering on the dance floor and it didn't seem to be in admiration of someone's dancing.

Matilda ran towards the dance area where Sebastian and Jeff were fighting each other while Kat was trying to get them to stop.

"Do something!" Ursula yelled to Eric on the other side. Eric stepped between the men but was easily thrown aside by Jeff. Phil emerged from the crowd, hulking and strong and grabbed Jeff as he struggled against Sebastian. Matilda went over to where Ursula and Mal were clutching each other.

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. Kat and Bas were dancing and then this guy shows up and tries to drag her away. The next thing I know it's Fight Club but there's no Brad Pitt to make it look cool." Mal explained.

"He's the ex-boyfriend right? I knew there was something unresolved between them. I could just tell by the way she tensed up." Mal crossed her arms.

"Let's not start assuming things." Ursula said.

Jeff tried to punch Phil but Phil grabbed his fist in his hand, mid punch. From afar, Matilda saw Alton emerge, his crown in his hand. As soon as he saw Sebastian with his bloody mouth, struggling to stay up, he pushed his way through the crowd.

Jeff got away from Phil and went for Kat, grabbing her wrist.

"You're coming with me," he told her. Before anyone could do anything, Matilda was on him. She grabbed his wrist on the hand that held Kat's.

"No she isn't."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Kat you wanna go with this guy?" Matilda asked, because even women should ask for consent before speaking on behalf of another woman.

"No." She said to Matilda, then to Jeff, "Jeff what are you doing? You were never like this."

"I don't know Kat," Jeff said desperately, "I just know I need to get you back." His face contorted in pain.

And then there was a glimmer in his eyes. It passed in a second but Matilda saw it. She kept her eyes from blinking lest she miss it.

"Jeff you mind looking here please?" She said calmly. He looked at her and there it was again. A red glimmer.

A glimmer of magic.

Matilda blinked rapidly. So much was happening all at once.

Of course Jeff wasn't drunk. Of course his weird attitude was because of a controlling spell. How did she miss that? Controlling spells were some of the most powerful forms of magic possible. Even Matilda couldn't do them.

"Get away from my girlfriend, you asshole!" Sebastian was coming over, Alton failing in his attempt to hold him back.

Matilda pulled at Jeff's hand but he wouldn't let go.

"Jeff you're hurting me!" She said.

"What is going on here?" Came the booming voice of the host, behind whom four guards were standing. They came over and apprehended Sebastian, Phil and Jeff.

Jeff struggled against the men and eventually had to be restrained by two of them. He kept yelling for Kat like a madman but only Matilda could see he was under a spell.

Her mind was churning.

Alcohol intolerance.

From beyond the crowd, she could spot a head of luscious red hair, paired with a gleaming smile. The woman winked then disappeared into the crowd.

Ursula and Mal followed after Sebastian and Jeff. Alton went with them.

Matilda went after the witch.