one halloweentown

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         EVANORA WAS NOT IMPRESSED WITH HILLTOWN. But, well, coming from a city to a small town that had a community college and the most exciting thing to see there were the football games...well, there wasn't much to be impressed with so you have to forgive her.

The Elders, out of the kindness of their hearts, provided Evanora and Colleen with a house already set up for them when they arrived, planting there after one of them suggested the town. Evanora was sure it was Elder Vera, seeing as she lived in the tiny town. Really, she didn't know how anyone stayed here once they had the chance to leave – she would be crawling up the wall if this was her hometown.

"You should be grateful," Colleen reprimanded her when she complained about her own life, "The Elders could've left us to fend for ourselves."

Evanora snorted. Because she was a whitelighter, she couldn't imagine the Elders as unemotional beings who cared nothing for her or the death of her mother. She saw the good in them, but Evanora wasn't blinded by the same loyalty; she saw right through them since she was young and her mother kept getting called away on business. She saw right through them when her mother was gathering blades to kill a demented witch – for the greater good, she had said. Evanora didn't believe it.

"If they did, I'd still be with my friends," Evanora snapped back then, turning around and going to her room even if it didn't feel like such.

Her old room had a dark purple accent wall, with stars in the ceiling from when she fell in love with astronomy as a child. The vanity was her grandmother's with polaroids lining the edges, capturing all the people she left. It held memories and felt like home while this room, with grey walls and no stars on the ceiling, felt like a hotel. Not hers. Not home.

Nothing felt like home anymore.

She didn't have her mom (even if they were at odds most of the time), she didn't have Jane, she didn't have the markings on the doorway of her height over the years. All she had was a woman who didn't know her but was supposed to look after her and care for her, protect her from all harm, and a shitty small town with a house that the Elders so graciously gave them.

Ugh. Evanora hated this Halloweentown.

Because that's exactly how this town felt. There was something dark; cloudy weather all the time, a chillness up her spine prickling the back of her neck as if someone was staring at her, the air feeling just a bit off. Colleen brought it up to be light and airy but it felt like the complete opposite.

There were witches there – she was living testament to it – and whitelighters and probably some creepy-crawly demons roaming around waiting to strike. Evanora wouldn't be surprised if there was. It was a Halloweentown and she wasn't a fan; she just wanted to go home but apparently that wasn't say anymore. The place where her mother's grave rested wasn't safe anymore and she couldn't even go see the woman who raised her.

(If she was being honest, Evanora wasn't sure if she would even visit it if she could. The woman was dead and she barely shed any tears – she's sure she cried more when Rupert died. Still, it's the fact that she can't even if she wanted to was what bugged her so much.)

Colleen appeared at her doorway, seemingly ignorant to her radiating sadness as she looked around the barren room she was supposed to call hers. "It's so empty," Evanora commented, melancholy present in her tone.

"Then fill it up," Colleen replied, "You can paint the walls if you want. Put up some posters or paintings. We have everything that was in your room in some of the boxes."

Evanora looked down. "That's not what I meant," she sighed, knowing that if she tried to explain her emotions to Colleen it would be futile. Colleen remembered nothing of her childhood, of growing up, her life or even her death. All she knew was that something in her life had proven to the Elders that she could become a whitelighter. She wouldn't remember this feeling, this moment in her own life, so trying to explain it would mean nothing to her.

Colleen turned her head up at the accusation. "Well, anyway, Elder Vera wishes to speak with you," she said, carrying on as if the small moment never even occurred, "Wants to help you settle in properly."

Evanora scoffed. The Elders never wanted to help and this one wouldn't be any different. But even with her bitter feelings towards them, she knew that Colleen would force her to meet with whoever wanted to see her. There was simply no other choice for her.

"Fine, whatever," the Hathaway witch agreed begrudgingly, "Let's just get this over with."

Colleen looked to her, assessing her movements and her words, before nodding. "Alright. Get ready. We're not going over there when you're in sweatpants. It's not the right impression we want to make."

Maybe you don't want to make it, but I don't care, Evanora thought. Whether or not the Elder liked her, or her plain opinion in general, meant nothing to Evanora. She already made her mind up about the Elders so what does she care if they've made their mind up about her? But there was no point in arguing with Colleen so she nodded and went searching for her clothes.

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ELDER VERA HAD A NICE HOME, EVEN EVANORA COULD ADMIT THAT. There was an instant feeling of hominess and she knew that the woman didn't live alone but had children, a smell of a great crockpot cooking that reminded her of her mother, and a warmth that spread through the house and made her more welcoming to talk to the woman.

All the coldness she felt seemed to melt away as she spent more time in the house and it made her hate being there more. She knew that she would be more opening to speak to the woman and she didn't want that.

The woman came back into the room with a tray containing mugs filled with tea and sugar. "I hope you like tea," she smiled as she set it down, sitting adjacent to Evanora and Colleen.

"Tea's great," Colleen assured her, taking one of the cups and sipping at it. "Thank you."

She waved off the gratitude. "It's really no problem. You're my guests and should be accommodated to."

"Elder Vera –"

"Marisol, please," she corrected Colleen, "I really only liked to be called that during Council meetings. Any other time I prefer to be called Marisol."

Colleen nodded and Evanora stored that information for later. She was sure that this wasn't be the last time that they met together. "Marisol, then," Colleen smiled, "Why exactly did you call us here? I don't mean to be rude, but we've only just moved in and we met with the Council only three days ago."

"I know, but I wanted a private conversation with Evanora," she said before turning to the teenage witch, "I personally apologize that we can't do anything more, but I hope that even if I can't tell you what happened to your mother, I can help you adjust to your new life. I've already taken the liberty of enrolling Evanora into high school – senior, correct?"

Evanora nodded, feeling something dark twist inside that the Council was trying to control her further. She knew that wasn't Marisol's intention – probably, anyway – but she couldn't help but see it as another way to control and look over her.

"Great. My youngest daughter, Maggie, is also a senior there. I'm sure she'll be happy to show you the way around," Marisol smiled at her.

"I think I'll be fine on my own," Evanora snapped at her, causing Colleen to send a glare to her.

"Evanora!" the woman seethed but Marisol just chuckled at her.

She shook her head. "It's fine, Colleen, I get it. She's a teenager, she has a temper. Mel was the same way, always fighting against me whenever I did something for her. I get it, Evanora, I do, and I'm not trying to suggest that you can't do this on your own, but Maggie will be there to help you if you need it. She's always looking for new friends."

Evanora huffed and leaned against the couch, crossing her arms. Marisol looked over this action and continued to speak. "I know that Hilltown seems small, but there's a lot to do. I promise that you won't be bored. We have football games, I'm sure Maggie will tell you whenever there's a party around, and there's always some festival happening at the college. And I'm always here if you need to talk to anyone. I'm here to help."

"I don't need your help. I never needed it. I just needed to stay home, not be forced her," Evanora ranted, glaring at Marisol.

"Evanora, please," Colleen snapped at her again before snapping her head up to apologize, "Marisol, I'm truly sorry. She's been angry all the time. We should've waited another week or two."

Marisol waved it off again. "I know that it seems like we're trying to control you, but even if you weren't brought here, you wouldn't have been able to stay there. We don't know what demon killed your mother or why, and that's dangerous for you. They could come after you next and staying there would've been too dangerous. I only suggested Hilltown because I'm the closest Elder to your hometown and I've already ensured that it's safe here. No demon's going to come around here and hurt you."

"You can't promise that," Evanora looked at her.

"No," Marisol agreed, "But I can do everything in my power to make my statement true. I'm just here to help."

Evanora opened her mouth to argue with her more when the front door opened. "Mom, I'm going over to – oh, we have guests."

The three women looked to see a beautiful young girl, someone around Evanora's age, looking back at them in surprise. Evanora's heart couldn't help but skip a beat and feel her throat go dry. God, she always had a weakness for cute girls.

"Maggie," Marisol stood up to greet her daughter, "These are Colleen Fellows and Evanora Hathaway, some friends of mine. They just moved to Hilltown and Evanora's going to be joining your high school."

"Oh, cool," Maggie smiled, stepping into the living room, "When do you start?"

"Um, Monday?" Evanora guessed, not really knowing since Marisol had forgotten to inform her about that.

But she seemed to have been correct as the woman nodded. "Maybe you can show your around?" Marisol suggested, though the underlying message told everyone that it wasn't a suggestion but a command. Evanora felt the need to roll her eyes – she didn't need a babysitter – but refrained. She had better self-control than that.

Maggie understood, but the spark in her eyes also told Evanora that she would have genuinely done this even without being asked. "Yeah! I mean, the school's not really big so it's not like you'll get too confused about where everything is, but totally," the girl smiled at her and Evanora felt weak again but managed to nod. Then, Maggie turned her attention back to her mom, "I'm staying with Diana tonight."

Marisol hummed. "Sure you are," she said coyly, sitting back down.

Maggie's cheeks went aflame as she knew that her mother had caught her, reminding Evanora of her last conversation with her mom. Hurt spread through her, knowing that she used her last words with her mom to say that she wasn't going to a party (which she definitely was) and feeling confused by how Juliana worried about her. Evanora had to look away from the interaction.

"Mom," Maggie whined.

"I'm not gonna stop you," Marisol laughed, "I'm just gonna ask that you use protection."

"Well, obviously, but still," Maggie continued to whine, "There are guests around."

Marisol sighed, "Oh, alright. I'm done. Go on, pack your bag and go."

Maggie nodded and ran up the stairs as Marisol leaned back in her chair, a fond smile on her face from the sight of her daughter as she turned back to look at them. "Teenagers," she said before snapping out of it, "Anyway, that was Maggie. She'll help you around if you need it and will probably bug you even if you don't want to be around her."

Evanora wanted to agree with the statement, snap back again about how she didn't need a babysitter, but now that she had met Maggie and saw her face...well, she couldn't find the words to say that she didn't want to be around the girl because she really did. Even if she had a boyfriend or something.

"Well, that was all I really wanted to say," Marisol smiled kindly at them, "Just wanted to welcome you here and tell you that if you needed anything, I'm here. I'm sure you want to get back and start unpacking and you have some lesson plans, I'm sure."

Colleen nodded. "We'll begin next weekend. I think that's enough time to adjust."

Evanora frowned and looked at them confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Your training, of course," Colleen said as if it were obvious, "I realize that introducing myself through a simulation meant to further your progress as a witch was rude and inconsiderate so I have no elected to give you more time. But we do begin next week so be warned. I think that there has been a long enough grieving period."

"No period is long enough," Evanora grumbled but stood up anyway.

Colleen made a noise of disagreement before smiling back at the Elder. "Thank you for inviting us over. I'm sure I'll come back to talk with you and get some advice."

"I'm here anytime you need me," Marisol told her, showing them the door.

Evanora didn't spare Marisol a look as she walked out, waiting only for Colleen to join her. "You should be kinder to the Elders," Colleen reprimanded her once they were on the sidewalk going back to their house.

"The Elders shouldn't be meddling in my business," Evanora snapped back, "I don't need her to enroll me into high school or suggest that I move her. I don't need them to help me adjust – I need them to solve my mom's murder. If they can't do that, what are they good for?"

"You shouldn't speak such things so openly. You never know who's listening," Colleen gravely warned her, not saying anything else as they walked along.

Evanora furrowed her eyebrows as the warning, she looked around and was sure that no one was in earshot. And even if anyone was, why would they listen in on the conversation? All she saw was a girl around her age in purple, looking around the area leading their eyes to connect for a moment but nothing else. She hardly spared the girl a thought. Not like she heard any of the conversation.

So Evanora huffed and looked onward, hands in her pockets as she formed a plan on how to decorate her room. If she was stuck in this silly Halloweentown, she wouldn't live in a blank room; she would live in the witchiest room she could create out of spite.