I’ve said for years now that Rosa’s story is done. Fae of Calaveras was always planned as a trilogy, and while there have been a few extra short stories, it’s true that three novels completed the main plot.

But I’m working on something in the same world as Small Town Witch. (And also new covers for the books, which you may have seen because I released them without announcing. I’ll do an official announcement and sale at the end of October!) The Secret Project has got me thinking about the characters and locations again. And since it’s also time for me to start prepping for Halloween, this reminded me that I have an unfinished story about Rosa and her friends that I planned.

This was actually intended to be a little comic book. An artist I met through Nanowrimo volunteered to draw the art. She eventually stopped, saying she was too busy to finish the book, so all I have are her original sketches of the characters in their Halloween costumes. I made them into stickers that I sometimes give away to readers.

But it was a fun story, a little extra scene to show what happened with Rosa and her friends at the Halloween party after she destroyed her mother’s rose garden. It ruined the pacing at the end of the first book so it didn’t get included there. Now you can read a piece of it for the first time!

A Fae Halloween Party

The fairy lights swayed overhead, pulsing with the beat of the music. The electronic dance track didn’t match with the formal ballroom, but wasn’t Halloween made for weirdness?

I gripped Kai’s hand as he moved me across the floor. Everything went out of my mind except for following his lead and feeling his touch.

He spun me away from him, then whipped me back so hard that I slammed into his chest. His hands closed around my waist, keeping me pressed against him.

His face was only inches away from mine. Was he going to kiss me here, in front of everyone from school and the entire Faerie Court?

White fur sprouted from his chin. His lips pulled back in a grin, revealing pointed teeth. White and red fox ears poked out from his hair, ruining the style that matched his James Bond tux.

I pushed away from him in disgust. Stupid kitsune. He knew that I’d only kiss his human features. I wasn’t going to make out with someone who looked like an animal.

Kai laughed and tickled my legs with his tail. “You don’t like my costume, witchling?”

I pressed my hands over the skirt of my pirate outfit, making sure he didn’t try to lift it up. “It’s not a Halloween costume when you look like that every day.”

He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, don’t they say Agent 007 is a fox?”

“That’s not what they mean!”