DANI SPRINTED OVER TO HER MAX, WORRIED ABOUT HER BROTHER. He was lying on his back next to Wendy, who was sitting up, staring in shock at the spot where the witch had burst into a cloud of green dust. Freddy reached down to grab her hand which she gladly accepted as he pulled her too her feet.

"Max! Max? Are you okay?" the young blonde girl asked her brother, and the boy groaned as he rolled over to look at her. A smile appeared on his face as soon as his eyes fell to his sister.

He propped himself up on his elbow as Dani did the same so that they were eye level and staring at each other. He patted his chest and stomach as if making sure that he wasn't missing any body parts. "Yeah, I think so."

"You saved my life," she chuckled out happily, like she wasn't so sure that he would have done that before that hell of a night.

"Well, I had to," he shrugged like it was no big deal that he had downed that potion so that the witches could not steal her youth. It was kind of big deal. "I'm your big brother."

She grinned back at him. "I love you, jerkface."

"I love you too," he told the girl before hopping up and picking her up with him. They said goodbye to Billy and stuck him back in his hole before piling a ton of dirt back on top of him so that he could rest in peace.

That was when Dani noticed that Ninx was missing. She looked around frantically in search for him. "Where's Binx? Binx? Binx. Binx!" She finally spotted him lying motionless in the brush and froze as tears came to her eyes.

"He's gone. He's gone, Dani," Wendy sighed, and she placed her hand on the Dennison girl's shoulder, pulling her back into her chest softly in an attempt to comfort her. Dani just shrugged her off and crouched down to look at the cat.

"But he can't die, remember?" she reminded them with a trembling voice, and she reached down and shook the cat gently in an attempt to get him to open his eyes and get up. "Wake up, Binx! Binx, wake up! Like last time!"

A voice coming from behind them caused them all to whip around. There was a boy standing there in clothing that seemed a lot older than modern. "Dani. Come on. Please don't be sad for me."

"Binx? Is that you?" she asked, wiping her eyes to rid them of the tears so that she could see better.

"Yeah. The witches are dead. My soul's finally free. You freed me, Dani. Thank you," the boy informed her before looking up at the boy standing next to her. They were all still in shock from realizing that he wasn't dead. "Hey, Max, thanks for lighting the candle."

Suddenly, a small girl appeared, and she had the same sort of glowing film over her that Binx had. She called out to him, "Thackery! Thackery Binx!"

"It's Emily," he exclaimed happily, and before he moved, he crouched down in front of Dani with a grin as he assured her, "I shall always be with you."

"Thackery Binx, what took thee so long?" Emily questioned her brother accusingly. Her voice was less mad and more playful as her brother joined her side and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry, Emily. I had to wait 3OO years for a virgin to light a candle."

Afterwards, Max was walking Wendy back to her house. Her parents were probably not even home yet since the seance was kind of a twenty-four hour thing, and they had left around noon the day before. As they were walking, she came to a realization. "You wanna hear something crazy? We met yesterday."

"Oh, my God. That feels like so long ago," the Dennison boy breathed out in shock. They had met in class the day before, and yet, it seemed like it was a lifetime ago.

She ran a hand through her hair as she looked down at her torn costume. She thought that she was prepared for anything, but she was wrong. Who could have guessed that they would be running from the Sanderson sisters? "It wasn't even 24 hours ago."

"That's crazy," he chuckled. There was a comfortable silence between them for a moment before he spoke up again, raising his eyebrows at her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," she responded, gesturing for him to start talking.

He seemed nervous about whatever he was going to say, as he was looking down at his hands where he was intertwining his fingers and fidgeting with them. He finally quizzed, "Can I be your boyfriend?"

"Woah, dude. We just met," she joked, but she could not help the small smile that was creeping onto her face. "I mean, yesterday, Allison was the 'girl of your dreams.'"

"That's because I hadn't talked to you yet," he recovered, after stuttering a little bit, not totally sure how to dig himself out of that hole. He remembered when Wendy and Dani were teasing him outside the Sanderson house after he found out that Allison and Freddy had a thing going.

She nodded slowly with a grin, letting him know that he was fine and that she was not actually mad. "I see."

"So?" he asked. Instead of using her words, she just spun around, grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him toward her. Their lips connected in the middle between them, and he smiled against her lips once he realized what was happening. His hands fell to her waist, and he held her tight as if he was scared that she was going to disappear.

They finally pulled away, and she pushed off his chest as she began to back away toward her house. She offered a tiny wave at the boy frozen in happiness. "Bye, Max."

🎃

ONE YEAR LATER

WENDY GIGGLED AS SHE HELD THE CAMERA UP TO HER FACE AND SNAPPED A PICTURE. She lowered it and let it hang loosely in front of her stomach from the lanyard that was around her neck. She could not help but burst out laughing when she saw the sight in front of her again.

Dani was in a light blue dress, looking cute as ever, and Max was in a bright green fabric dress and green tights. He also had pointy shoes that look like something an elf would wear and a hat like Robin Hood's. He looked less than impressed by the costume, but everyone around him seemed to be enjoying it. Dani pointed out to the brunette girl. "Hey, Wendy. I'm Wendy, and your name is Wendy."

"Crazy, right?" Wendy gasped as if she hadn't turned around every time someone pointed out who Dani was, thinking that people were calling her name. She heard familiar voices, and she turned arund to see her best friend and her brother, but she froze when she saw their outfits. "What in the world?"

"Because she's the pumpkin to my spice," Freddy explained. He was dressed as a bottle of hot sauce, and Allison was shoved into a bright orange circle with a green hat on top of her head.

"I am so done with you," the brunette told Freddy before turning to her blonde friend with a very disappointed look. She could not believe that the girl actually let him dress him like one of his idiotic pickup lines. "Allison, how could you let this happen?"

The Watts girl argued, "It's funny."

"No, Max in tights is funny," Wendy pointed out, directing the attention back to the Dennison boy standing next to his sister in his really cool outfit.

Freddy snorted when he saw the guy, and Max jsut glared at him in response. He thought the Addams boy would be the one to stand by him, but he was just another mocker. "I didn't even see the tights dude."

"Haha," Max laughed sarcastically, shaking his head as he took his hat off to readjust his hair, as if the hat wouldn't just mess it up again. "You guys are never going to let me live this down, are you?"

"Wendy, are you Sarah Sanderson?" Allison asked as the brunette girl shook her head in response to her boyfriend's question.

Freddy looked his sister up and down, realizing that she actually was one of the witches that tried to kill them exactly one year ago. He shook his head in disapproval. "Too soon, dude."

"Way too soon," Max agreed.

Dani reminded the girl as they started to walk down the street to go trick-or-treating, "She tried to cook me and a bunch of other kids."

"That's why it's scary," Wendy pointed out, and they all chuckled as they got further and further away from the Dennison house. Who knew that those five people would be best friends after only spending on night together? To be fair, it was a pretty long night, and no one would believe them if they tried to tell the story.

After all, it was just a bunch of hocus pocus.