Page 1 of Fog of War
01
Gabbie
"Boo!"
A paper skeleton with bronze rivet joints and green eyes popped up over my receptionist desk, flopping and flailing, threatening to whack the bowl of Reeses I'd put on the counter for students. I jumped with a squeak, dropping my favorite orange pen like it was a venomous snake, smacking the bowl myself. It wobbled, but I managed to save most of my favorite candy from rolling away.
"Damn it!" I swore. I popped up from the rolling chair on its plastic mat and put my hands on my hips in my sternest librarian scowl, glasses askew. It was severely diminished thanks to the beet red heat in my ears and face.
Leopha cackled like only a venandi could, accompanied with the slapping sound of her mandibles on the sides of her face. She emerged from the high cubicle counter, her talons wrapped around the decoration that wassupposedto be on our office door and waved its bony fingers at me.
"WoOoOoOooo~"
I batted it away, still trying to look severe. "I never should have told you about Halloween traditions."
"Oh whatever," she said like a human. "You love it, and you know it."
She stood up straight with a cool pout. Everything about Leopha Satoris was cool. From the golden band on one of her rusty amber spires to her freshly painted black holographic talons, she exuded cool like it was her favorite perfume. She had to, considering she was the only venandi employee on campus. There were several hjarna teaching in the sciences, and three yiwren scattered throughout the School of Fine Arts, but venandi were more likely to take military positions on the newly minted Intersolar Union homeworld of Earth.
The fact that she'd chosen a post in the International Studies office was totally unexpected. The older ladies decided to keep their distance, so they'd assigned me to her training. That first day was terrifying. I'd worn my thickest nighttime pad, just in case I peed myself.
And I was really,reallyglad I did that.
I mean, sure, I organized a study away on an ISU vessel for the xenobiology major, but I didn't actuallygo.I just corresponded via ISU comms and conducted a committee on scholarships once a term. I'd been brought in specifically to do that job, but my only credential had been that I was young enough to have had some ISU subjects in high school. It wasn't exactly my specialty, just luck.
But despite the first day jitters, Leopha turned out to be a great friend. She was the first woman I'd been friends with that was taller than me, and she actually called mesquirt.At five-ten, that wasn't at the top of the nickname list for me.
And her won't-take-no-for-an-answer, spontaneous-as-spit attitude should have grated on my highly organized, introverted soul, but it didn't. Instead, it felt like a cocoon. I'd been adopted by an extrovert. One that happened to scareeveryone else away and was unapologetic about it. One that pushed me to experience new things but didn't rush me, either.
Leopha set down the skeleton and leaned on my cubicle counter. The wall wobbled under the weight of her warm grey plated forearms as she laced her two-taloned fingers together. "So, got plans?"
"Plans?"
"Weren't we talking about Halloween traditions? You're gonna go tricky treating, right? I'm dying to know what your costume will be!"
I picked up one of the Reeses cups from the floor and unwrapped it for her. The peanut butter always got all over her talons where they pierced the tinfoil. She chirped in thanks, her mandibles fluttering as I got started on a second one for me.
"Trick-or-treating is for children," I told her. "But sometimes I wear a witch costume to work. Or a Halloween sweater and some earrings. And my landladies dish out candy, so I help with that."
I smiled, thinking about my stash of t-shirts, scarves, decorative pillows, mugs, sweaters, and socks. I wasn't big on decorating like the purple tinsel at work or the massive spiders and cauldrons my landladies put in the yard. Halloween was my favorite holiday by far, but I wanted my carriage house apartment to transform for a good long while instead of catering to one night. Halloween was aseason,after all. At least for me.
So while everyone else tore down their decor on November 1st to make way for turkeys and twinkle lights, I decked my halls with orange and red and black all the way until December 1st each year. It fit the mood in Portland well, what with the damp winters and black skeletal trees come Christmas. Then I stuffed everything in the coat closet for one month exactly. Because in January and February, it all sprang back out to cover the living room and kitchen. I was back to apple pies, cinnamon tea, and amatching set of black linen throw pillows on my orange damask couch before people were kissing strangers to fireworks at the stroke of Happy New Year.
I thought of those months as limbo rather than winter. Snow simply dusted the streets of Portland, Oregon then turned to mush, making the crescendo of the winter season a little flat for a girl that grew up in Vermont. Rather than watch Halloween movies or listen to spooky podcasts, I switched to true crime, mysteries, and cryptids. I burrowed into my morose little haven with delight while everyone else complained about how the season dragged on. They were always in such a rush. I never understood that.
Leopha perked up. "So you aren't doing anything this Halloween, is what you're saying."
I crumpled up our wrappers and tossed them in the trash with a shrug. "I don't have specific plans, no." The wheels in my mind churned. This would be Leopha's first Halloween, and shealwayshad a list of things she wanted to try. Her bucket list was a mile deep, and she was still digging with enthusiasm. "Why? Is there anything fun going on?"
Leopha's mandibles spread in a sinister grin of excitement. "Have I ever told you about the Festival of Souls?"
I creased my brow. I would havedefinitelyremembered a conversation about that. The name filled my mind with ghostly figures and grim reapers, causing the hair on my arms to stand. I shook my head, glancing at the time on my holotab. We were ten minutes to closing, so I started packing up my things in my brown leather cross bag. "No, don't think so."
"It's a venandi holiday. Kind of a big deal. Like if you crossed your Halloween with footballing and threw in a rave."
I tilted my head, trying to wrap my mind around that. "Well, I guess footballisa fall sport. Okay, I get it, maybe?"
"Satoris was chosen as one of the clans this year. Leonide signed up as a challenger, of course," she huffed her twin brother's name with a very human roll of her eyes. "Guy's such a romantic."
