“Meet your father?” Mena stammered and nearly fell backwards. “Why would you want me to do that…unless…?”

Mena’s cheeks grew rosy, she rubbed her hands together with a hint of drool on her mouth, causing Janus to roll her eyes. “You want to start dating.”

Nick held his hand to his mouth and gave a chortle. “You read my mind. But I was thinking more of us being a ‘Celebrity Item.’”

“Huh? Celebrity item?” Mena asked, tilting her head sideways. “What’s that?”

“A Celebrity Item is a relationship based on nothing other than the couple being famous. You don’t even need to have real chemistry.”

“Oh…” Mena said, her arms dropping with the feather duster falling out of her arms. But suddenly, another thought crossed her mind, “Oh,” she said, dancing happily in place, “but that means I’ll get to be a celebrity, right?”

“Correction:” Nick said, straightening his tie and giving another laugh. “You’ll be the girl dating a celebrity.”

Mena’s cheeks flushed, but this time in rage. She picked up her feather duster and stomped her feet. “Then what’s the point, huh?”

Janus put her bony arm around her flustered friend. “Precisely, Mena,” she said, eyeing Nick up suspiciously. “An old couple buried in a cemetery have a more organic relationship than most celebrity relationships. You don’t need this sap.”

“Oh, but she does,” Nick said, and he pulled out a piece of parchment. It was signed with a stylized signature with a heart-shaped witch hat on it. It read, ‘Taylor Witch.’”

Mena’s jaw nearly hit the ground. “I-I-Is that for real?”

“Hey this is West Wormwood,” Nick smiled and tossed the parchment at Mena who snatched it like it was a check for one million jems. “‘Where the magic of Prismacolor Minds makes all dreams and wishes come true. And that’s not all…”

“What’s not all?” Mena asked, smiling with hunger in her eyes.

Nick polished his ring on his shirt and grinned. “You can meet Taylor Witch too. Or as her friends call her: T-Wizzle. I know that’s one of your dreams.”

“Shut all those doors I mentioned previously,” Mena said dramatically and narrowed her eyes. “How did you know I wanted to see her, and that she’s my newfound teenage obsession?”

Nick pointed his hand to his head and smirked. “Hellooo, mind police remember?”

Mena chuckled. “Ok this time I’m happy someone invaded my innermost thoughts. You betcha we can become an item.”

“Excellent,” Nick said, and grasped Mena’s hand, holding it towards the night sky. “Even if you won’t be one of us, you’ll still feature weekly in Tween Witch Magazine as one of Nick’s Picks.”

Janus muttered beneath her breath. “Nick couldn’t pick my cold rotting cadaver if he wanted.”

“Suit yourself,” Mena said with a loud snort. “I’ve never gotten picked for anything except my nose.” She pumped her arms backwards and started prancing around as a starry light cast in her eyes. She was now closer to meeting her new idol. Perhaps after they solved the mystery of Penwell, she could make West Wormwood her new home and live the highlight.

“Right this way,” Nick said gesturing towards the door into the night. “And onward to the road of stardom.”

Mena didn’t even ask Janus to cover for her. After she became an item with Nick, she would never have to work at a snooty hotel again.

***

The Septober winds were howling that night, buffeting Mena with a brisk autumn chill. Admittedly, a maid outfit was not something ideal to wear in sweater weather, or meeting someone’s father, but the way Nick power walked, Mena knew he didn’t care.

He navigated over the pagoda where he had first told Mena about his upbringing. It was the first time she had seen his sensitive side, but now, he seemed to pay that spot no mind, and she could barely keep up with him and his stride. A loud gust of wind smacked Mena in the face, making her ears and nose tingle from the blustery weather. She heard the sound of feet pitter pattering on the ground behind her, but when she turned around, no one was there.

Mena crossed her arms and shivered as she walked. “W-where does your father live?” Mena asked, trying to make small talk with her soon-to-be-boyfriend.

He responded ominously, “On the darker side of town.”

“The d-d-darker side of town?” Mena stammered; her eyes fraught with worry.

“Don’t worry,” Nick said without even turning his head back. “They only call it that because the municipal city government hasn’t installed proper lighting in that area yet.”

“Good,” Mena said with relief as she chased after him. “I thought you were taking me to a place where shady, sleazy stuff happens.”

“Only a dirty mind tells lies,” insisted Nick, as they crossed over to a district without any lamplight. “So, you can trust me, or my name isn’t Nick Clearmind.”

The street Nick had taken her lacked the neon magic lights of most of West Wormwood. Most of the rectangular buildings had heavy shades drawn over the windows, and the doors had no knobs. “Almost there,” Nick said as they turned into a muddy alleyway.

Mena heard the skittering noise behind her again. She turned her head. A pair of yellow eyes gazed as her, but they vanished into the darkness.

“You okay?” Nick asked as Mena screamed and clutched her chest.

“I could have sworn I saw eyes in the darkness,” Mena responded, catching her breath.

“Never mind that,” Nick said, his hands behind her back. “Because we’re here.”

“We’re here?” Mena asked, skeptically raising her eyebrow. “But this is only an alleyway.”

Nick chortled and his eyes glinted. “Stupid girl. You really think I’m going to show you the secret entrance? It’s time you took a bit of a cat nap.”

Nick pulled out a purple mushroom with white swirls moving along it. Mena gasped and took a step back. She recognized the species from her time in the Pembroke Woods. Her auntie told her never to sniff a Stunshroom or you’d spend the rest of the day out like a light.

Nick chuckled and threw it on the ground. It exploded, enveloping everything in a purple haze. Mena covered her mouth, but it was too late. She had already breathed in the stunning spores. She felt her head getting lighter as she dropped to her knees on the muddy ground. She tried to fight back against Nick by grabbing clumps of mud and slinging it at Nick, but it splattered harmless on him.

“My dapper tux, you runt,” Nick exclaimed, dripping with mud. “And to think I had gotten all dressed up for this occasion.”

Mena’s eyelids struggled to remain open. “Oh well,” Nick snickered as he wiped the mud off his face. “Hope you have pleasant dreams of me, Mena.”

“Never on your life…muck boy,” Mena said as she slipped into the unconsciousness.