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"Well that was an adventure," Locke joked with Chase. The kid would eventually look back at the green hand incident and laugh. He would realize that it was Halloween and there were people that wanted to be scary. The next door Locke went right past. There wasn't even muffled noises from it. Either nobody was home or they didn't want anyone to know that someone was there. There was a lot of noise coming out of the next door however.

To Locke it sounded like a party was going on behind the closed door. Chances were that if that was the case there wouldn't be anything for Chase. "Take the lead Kid Death, I'm just here to watch over you,"

A snort. Locke really did try to suppress his laughter. Laughing at a little kid was just wrong, but Locke couldn't help it. Chase was startled by the hand and his hesitation was so perfect. Even Chris and Mai weren't immune from being entertainment to Locke when they were frightened, so long as it wasn't someone outside the family that frightened them.

The door closed slightly and there were shuffling noises behind it. Locke wondered if he had been wrong and the green hand wouldn't give a treat to Chase. They could have very well found an apartment inhabited by those that felt that trick was the better option. Back in San Francisco one house was avoided like the plague after you were in sixth grade. The owner liked to drop eggs on you once you knocked on the door if you were older.

Just when Locke decided that this door was going to be fruitless, the hand came back out holding two Blow Pops. "Thank you," Locke said, taking the candy and dropping it into Chase's bag. He wasn't heartless and figured it would be better if he took from the intimidating thing.

Locke sighed. Chase was going to have to learn at some point that life wasn't always fair. Maybe he had learned it already, but that didn't mean that the kid accepted it. Chances were that Locke was too cynical and was surprised when something was fair. When you are a pessimist any positive moment in your life can be a big surprise and a pleasant moment. Either way Chase was taking the lack of candy waaaay to seriously. "Hm, you're a little late to say things should be fair. Can only work for those born today and later," he joked.

This time Locke knocked on the door frame and stepped aside. The idea was to make it so that Chase would clearly be the one Trick or Treating. By being on the side Locke was also able to pin the pillowcase against the wall. He also was able to feel the approaching footsteps. So there was someone home like he thought, and they probably would give Chase more candy. You don't walk up to a door on Halloween unless you had something to give. "Get ready," Locke said.

The door opened a crack and a green bony hand slipped through. The lights were off in the apartment other than the TV, so it was hard to see the arm the hand was attached to.

One of the best things about kids was that you could make them happy with the smallest gesture. A smile, a piece of candy, going along with whatever fantasy they were dreaming up. Locke watched with almost a sense of pride as Chase's face lit up like the Fourth of July. Chase remembered his manners with a little nudge. It didn't occur to him that Chase would have thought it odd that Locke didn't get any candy.

So it was a little bit of a surprise when Chase questioned it once the door had closed. "For one I didn't say Trick or Treat," he explained. It was important that Chase understand what the process was for Trick or Treating. Once he had explained about that he had to explain why it wasn't that odd for Locke to not get candy that night. "And I'm getting older Chase. When a kid goes Trick or Treating it's cute and acceptable. When a teen asks, it's iffy. If they have on a pig mask and sound like Grandpa's been smoking too much, well... I'm not the most likely candidate for candy. It's cool though. Someone always has a bowl set out and I could snag a piece from there."

He gestured for Chase to start heading down the hallway to the next door. The problem with apartment buildings was that there wasn't always a clear sign as to who was giving out candy. No porch lights, and for the most part no jack-o-lanterns either.

Sometimes it was easy to forget how gullible a kid can be. The younger you are the less you know about things, and the more you depend on those older to teach you. Locke raised his eyebrows as Chase accepted the bit about scissors and wanted to know when it happened. He hadn't thought that the kid would believe him, since it would have had to have been some jumbo scissors to leave the scars, and who really did run with scissors anyways? Art class never has an emergency where you have to rush across the room because someone got tied up in their Jacob's ladder. Telling Chase that it had been a car accident at this point felt wrong. It would be like lying. "Eleven," he mumbled, not believing that Chase was buying this. OK, so he was still lying. At least with the scissors there was a lesson to be learned. What could Chase get from the truth? Don't go to baseball games?

Trick or Treat Locke mouthed when he caught Chase looking towards him. There was a warmth in his chest as he remembered the first Halloween he went out with his brother and sister. They weren't able to go far, since there was a certain level of skill needed with walking, and a house with too many decorations was frightening when you are still learning letters from fuzzy puppets. Chase was certainly older than Chris and Mai had been their first time, but it felt the same to Locke.

The door opened, causing the plastic sheet to lift slightly, and a man in sweatpants with more hair on his arms than on his head opened the door. A bright orange plastic bowl held the object of desire that night. Skittles, M&M's, Milky Ways. "Who's this?" the man asked, trying to sound like he was scared of Chase's costume. A suspicious look was sent Locke's way, and the teen realized that he was still carrying the pillowcase that Chase had meant to use.

The dead eye was a horrible embarrassment to Locke, his biggest insecurity and it's source was the darkest moment in his life. Anyone who had spent five minutes with the Californian would notice how frequently he adjusted his hair to cover his left eye. And yet Locke never hid it from Chris or Mai. Surprisingly when Chase started to stare at the dead eye Locke didn't immediately start brushing the hair into its usual place. "Accident. Don't run with scissors."

Locke picked up the speed. Chase might be fine with this cooler weather, but without the hood up or the pig mask on Locke's costume wasn't nearly as warm as it could be. Not that the cloak wasn't warm. It wasn't a flimsy thing bought from a store. Eaan had gotten his hands on a good one. Anyone else who had any sense would say that the cloak was warm, maybe a little too warm. "A human shifter? Pretty cool business you've got there Chase. You could be your own best friend if you wanted to."

Once inside the first apartment building Locke nodded at a door with a plastic cover on it. It was something you could pick up at a grocery store, a cheap piece of plastic that had a cartoon Frankenstein monster peeking out from an unrealistic purple door. "Ready for your first stop? Knock on the door, and when they open it say Trick or Treat. Oh and hold out the bag. Easiest way of getting candy and a classic. Can't go wrong."

"Is that part of your mutation?"

"Uh, yeah," Locke said and started chewing his lip again, "I can't see things right, so when my mutation kicked in it helped me out. I can see things when they touch the ground. So I haven't learned how you touch the ground." The explanation was as simple as he could get it and was something that he was trying to work out. For the moment Chris and Mai didn't care what exactly he did. Any tales that they told of their big brother the mutant was accomplished with noises that produced a great amount of spit. Until Locke learned how Chase walked, how the kid distributed his weight, he was going to have to keep an actual eye on him.

"And you Kid Death?" he asked, "Care to share what you do?" If nothing else Locke had learned that not everyone wanted to talk about their mutation. There were those like Chris where it was obvious, and he'd met some who it wasn't obvious what they did and they just didn't want to say anything.