This is Halloween Part 4

"Looks to me like it's the little rich girl and her two servants."

"How greedy! Paying these two to trick-or-treat with you. Don't you have any REAL friends to hang out with?"

"..."

We turn around, and what do we see? The Vapids, minus Dudley. A quick look around reveals that he's nowhere around. Odd. Usually he sticks with his gang like the bacon grease sticks to his chin.

Though I suppose he knows better than to intentionally antagonize Clarity. If there's one subject that he can be "smart" at, it's avoiding the negative attention of those higher on the totem pole.

Seems like the delegated leader of the night is Piers Polkiss. He's dressed to match his face, that is, like a rat. Though he's also wearing some kind of brown karate uniform over it for some reason. The other three are dressed as turtles with wraps over their eyes. The four of them are glaring at Clarity and smirking, as if they said the funniest thing in the world.

But really, the funniest thing right now is their costumes. Really? A rat and some turtles? Did they decide to base their costumes off of pets or something? I barely hold in my snickers. Curious about where this might go. After all, it doesn't seem like they recognize Harry and I under our sheets. (We could have some fun with this.) I can feel an evil smirk grow on my face. Harry gives me a quick glance, as if he senses that I plan to start some trouble.

Clarity simply gives the quartet of idiots a flat stare, her cold eyes seeming to freeze them for a moment. "What do you want, Idiot One."

I can see Piers' face start to turn red behind the fake fur he glued on. Between gritted teeth, he manages to hiss out, "That's not my name."

Clarity adopts such a look of genuine shock and surprise that even I'm briefly confused. "Really? But that is what everyone calls you!" She points at each of them in turn. "Idiot One, Idiot Two, Idiot Three, and Malcolm."

"""OI WHY'S MALCOLM THE ONLY ONE BEING CALLED BY HIS NAME!!"""

The three idiots shout in unison while Malcolm looks both confused, and a little proud.

Clarity tilts her head and puts a finger to her cheek. "Why, isn't it obvious? He's smarter than you three, and he doesn't go around acting like he's better than everyone else. He does have poor choice in friends though." Malcolm gets an uncomfortable look on his face before sending a glance at his group, unnoticed by the rest in their rage.

Piers takes a threatening step forward, but Clarity stares him down unflinchingly.

"You better watch your mouth, girl. Ain't no one around to tell your daddy on us if something were to happen to you."

I look around, staring at the five burly "kids" that have been following us since we left the Dursleys, and give him a flat look. Honestly though, I'm not sure even Clarity is aware that her dad is having her shadowed.

Clarity removes her candy bag from her broom and hands it to me, then takes a quick step forward, causing Piers to take an instinctive backstep. His faces flushes further as a realizes this.

"I think YOU are the one who should watch their mouth Mr. Polkiss. After all," she gives a smirk- (HEY, that's MY evil smirk)- and waves her broom in front of his face. "I am a powerful witch. And you are a simple rat. You know what witches have that rats fear?" She leans in. "A cat to hunt them down. So run little rat, in fear of the cat." She brings her broom down on the ground, as if making some ground pronouncement, before striding away. Harry and I fall into step behind her.

I give a last glance backwards, and my smile widens.

"Fear the cat~.

Run little rat~.

Before the cat~.

Makes you go splat~."

After we round a street corner, and the Vapids are out of sight behind us, Clarity leans her back against a lightpost, one hand on her chest. "Goodness, that was quite the confrontation. I must say, it was rather... exhilarating. And exhausting."

Wordlessly, I hand her back her candy. She returns it back to her broom before taking a deep breath. Slowly she exhales. She shoots the two of us an apologetic look. "Sorry, but I'm not quite feeling up to trick-or-treating the whole night anymore. Would it be a bother if we cut it short to, say, two hours?"

I shrug. "It's ok with me. While this has been a nice experience, what I've most enjoyed is going out with you and Harry. We should see if we can do it again sometime."

She perks right up, but is interrupted by Harry before she can speak. "By the way sis, what was with that rhyme you did when we left them?"

Another shrug. I'm going to get a cramp if this keeps happening. "Nothing in particular. It just came to me. If you want answers, how about asking Clarity about where she got her intimidation tactics from? Did you see his face? He looked terrified! Like some cat was really going to come after him."

Clarity's embarrassed face makes a reappearance! "Well, it just seemed to fit, what with him being dressed as a giant rat and all." She shakes her head. "Although, he brings disgrace to Master Splinter's name. Not only is he dumb as a bag of bricks, but Master Splinter is a being of honor and you have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" She asks in response to our blank stares.

We simultaneously shake our heads. Afterall, we're orphans! She sighs and begins to explain a show called 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' to us.

Unbeknownst to any in the town that night, one of the cages in the zoo, which wasn't properly locked, slowly swings open. And the beast within takes a cautious step out.