Kristy strode up the walkway to the Grant house as she watched a little boy dressed in a furry red costume waddle down the street, his tiny paw held by an adult. It amazed her how serious adult humans took Halloween—they seemed just as captivated as the children. She'd already witnessed groups of costumed grown-ups running with the youngsters, snagging candy from decorated houses with the porch lights on.

To appease Jason, Kristy agreed to dress in a similar costume. She gazed at her outfit, running her fingers over the smooth spandex of the black jacket and hooded cowl. According to the boy, they were Niners. She shook her head. No, ninjas.

Kristy rang the bell, waiting until Lovedae opened the heavy door. The older woman smiled, but the genie noticed the hallowed look in her brown eyes. "Come in, Kristy. You're early. Nick is always late."

She stepped into the foyer. "Figures. Is Vic ready? I need to talk to him." 

Lovedae raised an eyebrow. "I'll call him. You can have the nook." She led the genie past the vintage living room toward the kitchen. "I was about to help Rosetta stop talking and start dressing."

Victor came sliding down the banister as they passed the staircase. After reaching the bottom, he chuckled at the two women before raising his hands. "Busted!"

Lovedae glared at him. "Victor, you know better." She hooked a finger under his chin, studying his face. "You still have shadows under your eyes. If this insomnia keeps up, we're going to see a doctor."

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Mum, I'm fine."

Lovedae tried to grimace but failed. "Into the kitchen. Kristy wants to talk to you. I'll be upstairs if you need me."

He'd worried Kristy lately with his unaccustomed weariness. She tried not to pry but wondered why he'd told his mother he couldn't sleep when it was nightmares that plagued his rest.

She smiled at the flawless face that seemed chiseled by the gods. But it wasn't his good looks that made him so appealing. Victor was a radiant soul in an otherwise shadowy world. He caught up to her, the playful look gone as he studied her face.

"What's up?" He waited until Kristy sat at the table before taking a seat next to her. His old-fashioned adherence to manners never ceased to amaze her.

"Gentrak's servers produced some interesting results." Kristy slipped a hand under the table, her fingers linking with his. "This is gonna sound unbelievable."

He squeezed her hand. "Let's hear it, love."

"The possibility that two people are genetically identical is 1/(2^6,400,000), or zero. And after ten or so generations, no original AND is left. Genetically, it can take up to four generations to eliminate shared AND. But Professor Craig discovered his AND was an exact match to his father's, grandfather, and great-grandfather, making the impossible possible." Kristy huffed out a breath. "Odds are that pattern is continuous no matter how far you go back." 

Victor stared at the genie. "Uh... do you mean DNA?"

"Oops, yeah. I keep screwing the letters up."

"But that's not possible." He frowned. "It'd mean they were all... the same person?"

"A couple of years before he died, the professor sent several family keepsakes suitable for DNA testing to a Dr. Kenneth Green at GenTrak, an old friend and part-owner of the company. Dr. Green emailed the professor back, saying he must have sent the same person's objects as all the results were identical. The lab used the items to retrieve DNA for a PCR-based diagnostic method. The professor responded, saying he wished he had mixed them up but hadn't."

Victor gasped. "Blimey! And mine?"

"Yours was run through normal channels, which is why it took longer. It proved you were the professor's biological offspring—or of all of them, I guess." The genie gripped his hand tighter. "The professor had set up a standing order to test Jason after he died."

Victor stood, fear etched across his face. "Jason?"

Kristy pulled him back down. "The sample taken from Jason's physical six months after the Professor died didn't match the others." She watched as his tension eased.

"None of this makes sense." He rubbed his eyes before meeting hers. "Is there more, Carys?"

Kristy grimaced. "That's the second time you've called me Carrie. Who is that?"

"Carys. The name stays on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember who the person is—It's bloody mind-boggling." Victor shook his head as if clearing it out. "Sorry, love. I'm a bit knackered. Please continue."

"The next part isn't going to make any of it clearer." Kristy paused before continuing. "The professor sent a baby tooth of his along with an adult tooth he'd saved from a dentist visit. Dr. Green ran DNA testing on both. The DNA from the professor's childhood tooth didn't match the reoccurring DNA pattern from the adult tooth. The email string ended with Dr. Green telling the professor he'd take the findings to the grave, which he did as he died last spring."

Victor frowned. "You've copies, love?"

"I copied everything. Even with magic, I don't understand how this was done. But we know someone mighty powerful wanted the professor to sire you." She gazed at the troubled teen. "Glad the professor suspected something was afoot."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "Afoot? You've read Sherlock Holmes."

"You recommended him." Kristy grinned before returning to the topic. "I think when one passes, the next generation inherits the reoccurring DNA, but I don't understand how. It didn't happen this time. Did you somehow change things? Why were you sent as a caretaker? Who sent you?"

"I remember a voice that instructed and directed me." Victor's eyes widened. "Now that I think about it, not a voice but voices. As a child, the voice was like a cherished teacher. But then the stricter voice popped in more, like when Papa died. The stern voice was with me in the void."

"How did they make you feel?"

Victor gazed upward as he considered the question. "The first, I felt companionship. The second, I was like a bloody grunt or something."

"Your feelings might allude to something important. A caretaker's function is to provide," said Kristy. "In your case, maybe it's to protect the lineage... but from what? And why didn't Jason's DNA change?"

"Maybe I was sent to stop it, and that's why he's still his same annoying self. Arabella said my presence here was due to a wish. Papa could have wished for Jason's safety as part of my caretaking."

"But the professor only discovered the repeating DNA pattern a few years before he died. I'm starting to think the 'wishing for you' is crap, and Arabella was wrong." Kristy exhaled, placing her elbows on the table, fingers together. "Your origins are a big piece of the puzzle. But let's agree, you showed up, and the pattern stopped."

"I've been reading Papa's journals, looking for ones after I came but haven't found them yet. He didn't date them—more's the pity—and there are hundreds of them, many from his ancestors. I wanted to find his reasons for running a DNA test. But now that's not as important as this reoccurring DNA anomaly because it may not be over."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because my task isn't over. I'm still the caretaker. I still feel the need to watch and protect." He sighed, running a hand through his messy curls. "Plus, I didn't disappear like Birgit did when her task ended. I'm still needed."

Kristy placed a gentle hand on Victor's cheek. "You're worn out, and I dumped all this on you."

"I'm glad you did." He took her hand, and Kristy felt tingles from his touch. "Papa has stacks of journals kept in wooden crates, but it's a jumbled mess. He must have known something was going on and recorded it. Papa stressed notetaking and journaling. He made sure we all did it. And he has tons of family keepsakes. I used to think hoarder, but now I see it as necessary to prove something was wrong."

"I think your beginnings are related to something big."

Victor nodded, a sober look on his face. "And let's hope my beginnings don't lead to any endings. I need more information before I bring this up to Mum."

"Vic, I've been reading up on nightmare disorders." Kristy watched him stiffen. "It happens when nightmares occur frequently, cause distress, disrupt sleep, and makes you scared to sleep. If you—"

The doorbell rang, and both could hear Nick belting out the wrong lyrics to the song, 'Monster Mash.'"Excuse me, love. I need to stop the bloke from serenading the neighborhood."  Victor hopped up and rushed to the door.

Kristy listened as he greeted and then scolded the out-of-tune Nick. The Duo came bounding down the stairs like a herd of cattle, making enough noise to wake the dead.

"The professor had his secrets. But what are you hiding, Victor?" she muttered. With the question heavy on her mind, the genie rose and headed out to join the others.

"One more block," pleaded Jason, his voice muffled through the mask of his ninja costume. "That should be enough to fill this baby to the brim." The boy hefted the large candy-filled pillowcase onto his shoulder.

"Yeah, one more," said Rosetta, for once in total agreement with her brother. "It ain't fair Jason got more candy than me." The wings of her costume prohibited the child from slinging her own laden pillowcase onto her shoulder, so she clutched the precious treat bag close to her chest.

"We'll vote," said Victor. He smiled at the Duo, his emerald eyes warm and relaxed. The troubling start to the evening drifted to the back of his mind.

Once filled with ghosts, vampires, and anime characters, the darkened streets emptied at a steady rate. The sky remained murky as a thick cloud cover blotted out the flickering stars in the heavens. The aura seemed befitting for All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, as it was widely known. The neighborhood street lights, sensing no ambient light, activated and cast pools of brightness onto portions of the sidewalk, grass, and street.

The Duo trotted ahead in full arguing mode per their nature. Victor glanced at the genie, knowing her interest in continuing the candy hunt. He figured Kristy, clad in her ninja costume and carrying a staff, would go all night if she could.

The pink-haired genie strolled down the sidewalk in awe. It warmed Victor's heart watching her gaze at the little costumed children and their escorts making their way from house to house, begging for treats or threatening tricks. She appeared to favor her first venture into the human trick-or-treating ritual, enjoying the undertaking from the very beginning.

"Considering the Duo offered me a fourth of their takings, I'm in," said Kristy, stepping away. She twirled the stick in her slender hands around her back and neck before catching and holding it to her side.

Victor's eyes widened. "How'd you learn to do that?"

"All male warriors are taught to fight with staff, swords, and magic in the genie realm," she whispered. "It's similar to Botujus training in your world, stick fighting using a bō."

"But you aren't male."

Her lips quivered. "Ah, you noticed."

Grinning, he nudged Nick, who made a habit of trick-or-treating with the Grant family. This year his friend hadn't decked himself out in an outlandish costume, and Victor wondered why.

Nick tossed a wayward dread out of his eyes and pointed at Rosetta's costume. She wore a black onesie with a utility belt and a woolen cape along with a glittering crown. "I give up, Rosetta. I've been trying to figure out your costume all night."

Rosetta snorted, her eyes rolling. "Duh. I'm a superhero fairy princess."

Kristy beamed as she spun her pole again. "I came up with it, neat idea, right?" Her sapphire eyes sparkled with undisguised humor. The genie and Rosetta had spent hours planning her wardrobe for the eerie night.

"Rosetta wanted to combine costumes. She loved Kristy's idea. Mine drove her barmy."

Kristy slid her arm into Victor's. "I thought your flamingo in a onesie idea was—"

"Criminal," replied Victor and placed a light kiss on Kristy's forehead. Bold on his part, but he figured she'd seen him do the same to Rosetta and Jason countless times. He hadn't realized he'd held his breath until the tiniest of giggles burst from her lips. Even in the dark, her blushes enchanted him.

Laughing, the group made their way to the end of the block near the neighborhood park.

"Why no costume, Nick?" asked Kristy. "I thought you would've worn the Hiro costume you talked about."

Victor watched the Duo rush to accost another household for treats. "It's too cold for that costume."

"Ha! You're wrong, Kris. I am dressed up." Nick dusted invisible lint off his flannel jacket. He pointed to a ketchup stain near the breast pocket. "I'm the black guy in a scary movie. See the blood?"

A pained look crossed Victor's face as he watched the children attack the next house. "Nick, we've been over this...."

"And you know the deal. Every time we watch a scary movie, who's the first to die?" demanded Nick.

"There are two schools of thought on that—"

"Yep, it's always me, the lone black guy that ends up on the end of a meat hook."

"Sadly, in fright films, there is a disproportionate number of black actors to white—" said Victor.

Kristy's eyes went back and forth between the two as if watching a tennis match.

"You know I'm right, English." The familiar nickname slipped comfortably from Nick's lips. "If they give us a speaking role in a modern horror flick, bet we end up like the popular breakfast food. Toast!"

Kristy interrupted the debate. "You didn't wear a costume, did you?"

"Correct-o-mundo. Too cheap to buy and too lazy to create anything but an excuse." Nick gave her a pleasant smile. 

Her tinkling laughter warmed Victor's heart like the heat on a summer day. It seemed like forever since he'd heard the girl laugh with such innocence.

As Nick shepherded the Duo to the next house while wheedling candy from them, Victor remained on the chalk-covered sidewalk with Kristy. The light from the lamp post gave the area a pleasing glow. He stepped in front of the willowy genie, gazing down at a face he swore the gods had gifted with perfection.

"Let's get the Duo home by nine, then watch a movie. I'll even order that disgusting pizza combination you favor to sweeten the deal."

"Anchovies and pineapple? You tempt me, Vic." Her fingers played with the zipper on his light jacket. "What about Nick?"

"He can bloody well get his own pizza... somewhere else."

"Deal." Kristy's eyes shone with undisguised pleasure. "We can divide my share of the candy. Let's see how lucky you get."

"I've been lucky since the day I met you."

A look of tenderness crossed Kristy's face. "Oh-h-h."

Mentally, Victor cheered himself on, lowering his head to continue the flirty conversation. He heard the returning footsteps of the trick-or-treaters followed by three voices that began shouting at once.

The light from the lamp post disappeared.

"English! Kristy!"

"What the heck?"

"Holy baloney!"

Wide-eyed, Victor looked up, ready to question the outburst, but the words died on his lips. Next to him, Kristy gasped.

No longer were they in Westerville, Maryland, at the end of a block, trick-or-treating on a Halloween night. The houses were gone. 

The streetlights were gone. 

The other revelers were gone.

They stood in a shrouded woodland—one he'd never seen before.

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