Amelia Hallard, or Mia as her friends called her, was very annoyed. She flipped her long reddish blonde hair out of her eyes as she glared down at the page of math problems her teacher had assigned. There was only one problem left that she hadn't done, but that was beside then point. Who ever heard of getting homework on Halloween, anyway? She hadn't gotten homework in any other class. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes and glanced longingly at the copy of Woman Who Rides like a Man that was sitting on her bed. Mia shook her head. No, she HAD to get this done, NOW. So, though it pained her to do so, Mia sighed and went back to her work. About five minutes later, she snapped the book closed with a triumphant smile. After she had put the cursed book and the problems into her backpack and zipped it shut, Mia looked down at her wristwatch.

"I have fifteen minutes." She muttered to herself and stood up.

Mia stepped over a pile of dirty clothes, avoided an unstable pile of half read books, and dodged an open can of pop and went into her closet and brought out her Halloween costume, which consisted of a pair of tan pants, a white blouse and a green vest. She changed into the costume and then moved the pile of earlier mentioned dirty clothes so she could gain access to her bed. She rooted around underneath it and came up with a large plastic bag. She brushed the dust bunnies off of her sleeves and opened the bag. Mia pulled out a pair of calf high boots and a sword attached to a brown belt. She crumpled the plastic bag and threw it in her garbage can before sitting on her bed and pulling on the boots. Then she went to a full-length mirror, which hung on the back of her bedroom door. As she examined her reflection, which was surrounded by her sticker collection, Mia tied the belt around her waist so that the sword hung against her right hip. She figured that, being left handed, her sword should be on that side so she could pull it out faster at the first sign of danger. Smiling at the thought that mutant rabbits would be the worse thing she could encounter in her hometown, Mia grabbed a green ribbon from the side of the mirror and tied her hair in a pony tail to keep it out of her face.

"Tonight, I am not Amelia. Tonight, I am Alanna." She said to herself.

Mia patted the unruly frizz on top of her head down and then grinned at her reflection. She grabbed a spare pillowcase out of the hall closet and hurried down stairs. When she made it to the bottom of the staircase, the doorbell rang. Mia ran over to the door and opened it to see the two grinning faces of her best friends standing on her doorstep. One, a boy whose name was Rick, wore fake armor made out of crushed cans and carried a shield fashioned to look like Sir Raoul of Greenlake's shield. It was made out of a trash can lid with the underside serving as the front. The other, a girl named Molly, or Molls, wore a long black robe and carried a staff with a gaudy fake crystal gouged into the top end. Mia grinned at the pair. Their theme this year, 'Tortall', had been her idea. Mia was about to join her friends for their annual trick or treating session when suddenly she frowned and looked down at her own costume. She grinned sheepishly as she waved her friends inside.

"I forgot something. Give me a minute, okay?"

When her friends agreed to wait, Mia ran to the hall closet and opened the door. She pulled a cardboard shield similar to that of Rick's, except she had painstakingly painted a rearing lioness on it. Mia slipped her arm through the handle on the back and returned to her friends.

"All right, I'm ready. Let's go." She said with a grin.

"You always take so long to get ready, Mia. GOSH!" Rick said.

Mia grinned and smacked his arm. Then, the three friends walked out into the night. The first house on their list was the one directly across from Amelia's. Mia led the way as they ran across the street and walked up to door. Rick knocked on the door and then they all yelled together

"TRICK-OR-TREAT!"

A kind looking elderly woman opened the door slowly. She smiled at the three friends.

"Well, hello Amelia, Rick, and Molly! I've been expecting you. I made yours extra special, just the way you like them." The woman said.

She handed them three candied apples. The three companions thanked her profusely and then left.

"I just adore Mrs. White, don't you?" Mia said."

"Yes. She's a wonderful woman." Rick agreed.

Molly nodded.

"I have got ot get her recipe for these things some day." She said looking lovingly at her candied apple.

"She rocks my socks." Rick said.

"By the way, what did you make your mail shirt out of?" Mia asked, poking her friend's chest.

"Pull taps from soda." Rick answered.

"The fact that you had enough of them in such a short time is very sad." Amelia said and grinned.

Rick attempted to smack Mia, but she dodged out of his way. So he pulled his sword out of its sheath and swung it at Mia. While it didn't hit very hard, it did manage to tap her shield. Rick looked at her and grinned. Mia returned his grin with one of her own. She drew her sword and they began to 'fight'. It made its way down the street, causing Molly to laugh loudly from her seat on the side lines. She took turns cheering for each of her friends. But suddenly, as the friends were chuckling over their antics, the fun was quickly sucked out of the night by an all too familiar voice coming their way.

"So, I was like 'Lady, just give me the damn apple.'" The voice said snottily.

Several snickers were heard. Mia started towards the voices, her fists clenched. Rick quickly grabbed her arm to hold her back. The fight quickly went out of Mia and as they turned to go the other way, she said

"There goes the evening."

Unfortunately, before the three friends were able to get very far, the same voice said

"Well, well, well. Look who it is, girls."

Wincing, they turned to see three girls walking up the street towards them from the direction they had just come. All three were scantly dressed as animals. One girl was a rabbit; another was dressed as a black cat, and the last, a leopard. They all stopped in front of Mia, who was standing closest to them. These were Mia's arch enemies, and the queen bees at her high school; The Three A's. Amy, Amie, and Ami. Or the 'rejected Barbie dolls designs' as Mia called them.

"Check out the nerd patrol." Amy, the voice from before and the girl dressed as a rabbit remarked snidely. She was the ringleader.

"Where?" Amelia asked sarcastically and looked all around her.

All three friends pretended to search the area around them for 'the nerd patrol'. When none was discovered, they all shrugged at each other and turned back to the three A's who were glaring at them.

"Wow. Are you like, as stupid as you look or what?" Amie, the girl dressed as a cat said. She was the one who Molly was convinced had been dropped on her head as a baby. 'A few watts short of a bulb, that one.' Molly had said emphatically. This idea had thoroughly amused both Rick and Mia.

"Oh, darn, you know what? Unfortunately for us, you actually have us beat in that contest by half." Amelia said.

The three girls rolled their eyes at the same time.

"Let's go girls, before their uncoolness rubs off." Ami, the one dressed as a leopard said. Ami was 'the mystery meat girl' as Rick called her. Her first name was really Elizabeth. But she had everyone call her by her 'middle name' which was Ami. The three friends had yet to figure out why or how she had become the third 'A'. It was therefore, a mystery the three friends had sought to figure out. Sadly, it had later been classified as an 'unsolvable' along with the contents of the school's goulash and whether or not Amy's hair really was blonde.

As the three A's walked away, Mia sighed and turned back to her friends. They continued down the street. Mia looked dejectedly at her shoes, and no one spoke for a while. Her friends looked over head at each other, and unspokenly agreed to attempt to cheer her up when she hadn't uttered a word by the time they had gotten past the fifth house on their list.

"Aw, cheer up, Mia. Alanna would have smacked the girl so hard she wouldn't be able to see straight." Molly pointed out.

"Yes, but back then, it was allowed." Amelia said with a wistful sigh.

Her friends chuckled at that comment. After that, Mia perked up a little bit and they continued to trick-or-treat until, according to Rick's watch, it was a little past eight. Then, they all trouped back to Amelia's for hot cider and the traditional round of watching Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas. At the end of the second movie, Rick and Molly left for their houses further down the road. When she had closed the door behind them, Mia went up to her room with her candy. She set the bag down on her bed and picked Woman Who Rides Like A Man up and began to read it where she had left off. With her nose buried in the book, Mia opened her closet door and walked in it to change. She headed to the back of the closet, where she had left her pajama pants that morning. She pushed aside her coats, blouses and the occasional too-small riding pants in annoyance. It wasn't until she heard the sound of the ocean that she looked up from her book. The book slipped from her fingers and onto the ground as she stared out over the grassy plain.

"Now I know my closet needs to be cleaned out." Mai said, looking around.

The wind ruffled her hair and brought with it the smell of the ocean. Mia was looking around when a large shadow passed over her, momentarily blocking out the sun.

"What now?" She asked, looking up.