Chapter Text
“I heard a witch lives there.”
Robb laughed. “That’s stupid.”
With an outraged gasp, Margaery leaned across the merry-go-round and punched his arm. “Don’t call me stupid, Robb Stark!”
“I didn’t!” He grinned. “I called what you said stupid.” She huffed and stuck her nose up into the air, folding her arms over her chest.
Theon spoke then. “I heard the father is crazy. Like a mad scientist or something.”
Margaery pointed a finger at Theon, leveling Robb with a deadpan look. “Now that’s stupid.”
“You’re all stupid,” Jon interjected quietly. “It’s just a normal house.”
From the playground, they all looked back to the old house across the street, a white, towering Victorian. The curtains were drawn shut, as they always were. Black shutters were pulled closed on some of the second-story windows, and dramatically slated roofs rose into the sky in creepy gothic spires.
“Oh, yeah?” Robb challenged his cousin, raising his eyebrows. “Why don’t you go knock on the door then?”
Jon scowled at him. “No way.”
Theon snorted and lay back on the merry-go-round. Sansa sat between him and Robb, her t-shirt pulled down over her knees. “The girl who lives there is in our grade, isn’t she?”
Robb flicked his sister’s ponytail. “She’s in our grade,” he corrected. “You’re still in grade six.” Sansa slapped his hand away, flushing red.
“I’ve seen her at school. She looks weird,” Sansa huffed petulantly. “White hair, pale skin. She’s like a ghost or something.”
“Probably because she’s hardly allowed outside,” Margaery said, wrinkling her nose. “They moved here, what, three months ago? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her parents outside the house.”
“Because her dad is crazy, I’m telling you,” Theon stressed, sitting back up. His expression turned sinister. “I heard he killed his wife.”
“That’s messed up, Theon,” Jon said harshly. “You shouldn’t spread nasty rumors like that.”
Theon flipped him off. “What, you mean like the rumor that your mom was knocked up by a demon and that’s why you’re such a fucking weirdo?”
Jon went stiff, and his face flushed hot. Everyone else fell silent as they eyed Jon warily, just waiting for him to snap. Like always. The mystery about his father was a touchy subject, one his mother refused to talk about. The scandal of his birth, to a single mother out of wedlock, had always hung over him like a dark cloud in a small town like Winterfell. His cousins tolerated him, of course, but it had always been a wedge that kept him just separate from them. And of course bullies like Theon loved to needle him about it.
“Fuck you,” he said through clenched teeth.
Theon laughed, and Robb shoved his friend to defuse the situation. “Shut up, man.” He kicked off the ground, turning the merry-go-round lazily. “Anyway, that girl is really quiet. Her name’s Dany, I think. Doesn’t talk in class ever.” He shrugged. “Wouldn’t be surprised if her family is crazy.”
“I bet I could get her to talk,” Theon said with a wag of his eyebrows. Jon didn’t like the insinuation in his tone.
“Just leave her alone,” he warned him, and Theon rolled his eyes.
“Why are getting so worked up? You don’t even know her.”
Jon didn’t have an answer, but thankfully Sansa ended the topic, giving a full-body shudder. “Can we stop talking about it? The whole thing creeps me out. Eugh!”
“Everything creeps you out, you big baby,” Robb retorted, making Theon laugh. Sansa shrieked indignantly and shoved her brother, which only made the others laugh harder.
As they slowly spun around, Jon watched the house disappear from his sight then re-enter his periphery once the merry-go-round made a full orbit. Something in an upstairs window caught his eye, and he craned his neck to get a better look: a flash of pale silver, then it was gone, the curtain swaying slightly in its place.
Jon sat on a swing, waiting for the others to show up. He hated being at home, just him and his mother. The house felt too empty, even when she was there, but most of the time she had to work. Growing up, Jon had often gone to his cousins’ house to hang out with them, but his aunt always seemed annoyed when she answered the door to him, like he came around too much for her liking. For some reason, he’d always gotten the feeling that she didn’t much like him or his mother, her husband’s sister. So, most days after school, Jon instead posted up at the neighborhood playground to wait for his cousins. Margaery and Theon also lived close and would join them. Truthfully, Jon hated Theon and wished he’d find someone his own age to hang out with. He was a year older, and should have been a year ahead of them in school, but he’d been made to repeat year five and then had become fast friends with Robb.
Swaying back and forth, Jon dug the toe of his shoe into the dirt and hollowed out a shallow hole beneath the swing. Hearing a sound, he craned his head around and was surprised to see the girl from the old house across the street. She stood at the edge of the playground, watching him. Jon didn’t have any classes with her like Robb did, so he rarely saw her around, maybe in passing between periods. She was rather pale, her hair so light it almost looked white underneath the overcast sky. She wore a red raincoat and boots, like she expected it to rain.
Tentatively, he raised a hand in greeting. After a moment, she lifted her hand, too. She looked like she was about to walk toward him, but then the distant voices reached his ears. Jon looked in the opposite direction and saw his cousins walking with Theon and Margaery toward the playground, laughing and shoving each other. Their voices got louder the closer they got, and when they spotted him at the swings, Sansa waved.
Jon glanced back at the girl, but she had turned away, quickly crossing the street to her house. He watched her with a distracted frown but was startled when someone grabbed the chains of his swing and shook them violently. Jon jerked his head around and glowered at Theon, who laughed and released the chains.
“You make a new friend?” he taunted, squinting in the girl’s direction. “You two freaks would probably have a lot in common, actually.”
“Shut up,” Jon said. “You scared her off. She probably saw your ugly face and took off running.”
Theon snorted. “Good one, bastard.” Thankfully, the others reached the swings then. Sansa sat down in the swing on Jon’s right, and Theon grabbed the one on his left. Margaery and Robb seemed to be in their own little world, hanging off of each other, whispering and snickering. Theon pulled out his vape to smoke, then he leaned forward to pass it to Robb. He hit it and offered it to Margaery next, who pinched her lips together and shook her head.
Sansa looked at her brother disapprovingly. “That stuff is gross.”
Robb handed the vape pen to Jon. “Maybe when you’re older and cooler, like us, you’ll get it.”
Sansa glared at him. “I’m going to tell mom and dad you’re smoking.”
Suddenly, he was angry. “It’s not smoking; it’s just weed. Stop being a brat, or I won’t let you hang out with us anymore.”
“You don’t get to decide that!” she cried.
Margaery looped her arm with Robb’s. “She’s my friend, too,” she told him primly. Sansa looked at him, smug.
“Then tell your friend to not be a snitch.”
“I’m not a snitch!” Sansa whined.
“Good, so you won’t tell mom and dad about this.”
Sticking her tongue out at him, Sansa flipped upside down on the swing, her toes pointed to the sky as her hair dragged across the ground with her back-and-forth motion.
Inhaling from the vape, Jon glanced once more at the old house across the street and saw the girl watching them from the downstairs window. This time, she didn’t immediately disappear when he looked at her, lingering a moment longer before eventually moving out of sight.
A raindrop hit his forehead. Confused, Jon looked up at the sky, the clouds having darkened dramatically in the past few minutes. Another drop landed on his cheek, then another, and another, and soon a light rain was falling on them.
The sky spun in a slow circle above him, revolving like a kaleidoscope of whites and blues. Flat on his back, Jon hung his feet over the edge of the merry-go-round and pushed off the ground with his heel to keep it turning.
As he completed another revolution, a face suddenly appeared in the sky above him. Jon blinked, planting his heel down to brake the merry-go-round. The face smiled, and he quickly sat up. The girl from across the street stepped back to give him space.
“Oh.” Dumbfounded, he wasn’t sure what to say as he looked at her. Her smile returned, a bit shy.
“Hi,” she said. She was very soft-spoken. He’d never heard her voice before.
“Hi.” He stared at her, uncertain. Her hair, which seemed to be silver, not white, was plaited in one long braid down her back, and she wore jeans and a white sweatshirt with a screen-printed picture of three dragons on the front. “Nice sweater,” he said after a moment.
Her cheeks turned pink. “Thanks. I like dragons.”
“They’re cool,” he agreed readily.
She stuck her hand out. “I’m Dany. Daenerys, but everyone calls me Dany.”
Jon shook her hand, then rested his hand on the bar of the merry-go-round. The metal was cool, burning away the soft feeling of her skin on his. “Jon.”
“I know.” Her blush darkened. “I see you out here with your friends a lot.”
“This is our meetup spot.” Realizing how defensive he sounded, he tried again, more lightly, “They should be here soon, if you want to meet them.”
Dany looked nervous, tugging down on the ends of her sleeves until they nearly covered her hands. “I know them. Kinda. I mean, I have some classes with Robb. Is he your brother?”
He shook his head. “Cousin. Sansa, too.” He realized she might not know her. “The redhead. Margaery and Theon are just friends. Well, Theon’s not really my friend. He’s an asshole, actually.”
She smiled but still appeared apprehensive. “Do you think they’ll mind? If I hang out with you guys?”
“No, it’s cool—” Just then, Jon heard their approach and peered past Dany. Behind her, Theon and Robb were walking together, Sansa and Margaery behind them.
“Whoa!” Theon’s hands shot out to stop the others, and he gaped, wide-eyed, at Jon and Dany. “Wow, is it Halloween already? Because I think I see a ghost!”
Sansa and Margaery hid their giggles behind their hands, and Robb punched his friend’s shoulder. Jon felt his face flush as he worriedly glanced at Dany, who just looked confused.
“Shut up, dude.” Smiling, Robb came closer, and the others followed.
“This is Dany,” Jon offered. With all the others around, however, she seemed to draw in on herself. Unnecessarily, he added, “She lives in the house across the street.”
Robb jerked his chin in greeting as he climbed onto the merry-go-round. “Sup.”
“Hi,” she said faintly. Sansa and Margaery had hooked their arms together as if to present a united front. Giving Dany a blatant once-over, Sansa scrunched up her nose.
“Dragons?” she said, the disdain evident in her voice. Margaery bit down on her lip to stifle another laugh.
“I like them,” Dany said defensively. Sansa just shrugged and turned away, effectively dismissing her. She unwound her arm from Margaery’s and jumped onto the merry-go-round, squealing when Robb grabbed a bar to shake the ride underneath her feet.
“I think it’s cute. My baby brother likes dragons, too,” Margaery said to Dany. Jon cringed at the patronizing tone in her voice, but he wasn’t sure Dany picked up on it. Margaery’s specialty was in the backhanded compliment; she could make any insult sound sweet and superficial.
“Thanks,” she murmured, self-consciously crossing her arms over the dragons on her chest.
Theon got closer to Dany and looked her up and down. “So, are you like an albino or something?” he asked curiously. Her eyes went wide, blood filling her pale cheeks. Jon was mortified.
“Don’t be a dick,” he snapped at him, but Theon just shrugged.
“Relax. I was just wondering why she looks so different. Her eyes are, like, purple. That’s not normal.”
“It would be OK if you are albino,” Margaery offered diplomatically, her voice saccharine-sweet. Dany shrank even further under their critical gazes.
“My mom had purple eyes,” was all she said.
“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Jon told her, but Dany looked defeated.
“I should get back home,” she said quietly then gave him an awkward wave. “Bye.”
Helpless, Jon watched her turn and walk away. Theon and Margaery climbed onto the merry-go-round with them, Dany already forgotten as they began to moan and complain about their day at school.
Jon had hoped he’d see Dany at the playground again, but she seemed to avoid it entirely after that one disastrous interaction with their group. He debated going to her house to ask for her directly, but Theon’s dumb stories must have gotten to him because he found he was too nervous to knock on her front door.
So he looked for her at school. Tracking her down was harder than he thought it would be; she really did seem to be invisible. Eventually, he found her at the lockers in the hallway between periods, outside of the Westerosi literature class she shared with Robb and Margaery. She was intently focused on the combination lock on her locker when he approached her.
Wiping his damp palms on his jeans, he stopped beside her. “Hey.”
Surprised, she looked at him. Her hand hovered on the lock. “Hi.”
He quirked a nervous smile at her. “I’m sorry about the other day. About my friends.” He huffed out a laugh. “I told you Theon’s an asshole. He’s always had a chip on his shoulder. Probably because he had to repeat year five.”
Dany didn’t laugh. She looked uncomfortable as she forced a thin-lipped smile. “It’s OK.” She finished unlocking her locker and opened the door.
As she switched out a book, Jon licked his lips and blurted out, “Do you want to eat lunch with us?”
She went still, then peeked around her locker door. “Really? I mean, that would be cool with them?”
He shrugged, even though he hadn’t really considered it. “Yeah. It’s fine. I mean, it will be.”
Despite her uncertainty, she smiled at him. “OK. Yeah. I would like that.”
During lunch period, Jon was the last to join his friends at their usual table in the cafeteria. Robb, Theon and Margaery were already seated, alongside a few other of their year-seven friends: Edd, Joffrey and Jeyne.
Sliding in next to Robb, Jon set down his tray and surveyed the cafeteria. When Margaery asked him something, he absently responded with a noncommittal answer though he had no idea what her question was. She huffed in annoyance at his disinterest, but he ignored her. Finally, he spotted Dany exiting the lunch line, hesitating as she looked around, tray in hand. Jon lifted a hand to get her attention, waving wildly when she noticed him.
“Who are you waving to?” Robb asked, craning his neck over the tops of everyone’s heads to see. When he saw Dany, he pulled a face. “Really?” Amused, he looked at Jon and snorted. “Do you have a crush on her or something?”
Jon flushed. “No. I just wanted to be nice. Maybe she could use a friend.”
Theon, who sat on the opposite side of the table, laughed. “You should totally go for it. You two freaks might be perfect together.”
Jon glared at him. “Fuck you, why are you such a dick?” Theon shrugged and popped a fry into his mouth. “Just give her a chance. She seems nice enough.”
As Dany approached, Jon smiled and scooted closer to Robb to make room for her on his bench. Theon glanced over his shoulder then whispered something to Margaery, who sat on his right at the very end of the table. Scandalized, she widened her eyes at him, but when Dany passed by her, she quickly stuck her foot out. Dany tripped over it, dropping her tray with a loud clatter as she fell to her hands and knees. Her food went flying across the floor, and everyone in the immediate vicinity gasped. Half the cafeteria fell silent as they turned to look at her. Jon sat paralyzed, watching in muted horror.
Margaery slapped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Dany!” she squealed, though Jon could tell she was trying hard not to laugh. Everyone else at their table didn’t bother with the same courtesy, erupting in laughter.
Red-faced, Dany grabbed her tray and scrambled to her feet. Shaken from his stupor, Jon slid out of his bench to the floor to help pick up her food. “Here—let me help—” he stammered, acutely aware of the dozens of eyes trained on them.
Dany shook her head frantically. “Don’t—don’t worry about it—I’ll just get more—” With that, she took off, running for the exit instead of the lunch line.
Turning to his friends, Jon stared at Margaery, speechless. She held up her hands innocently. “It was an accident, I swear!” Theon coughed into his hand, a word that sounded like bullshit. Snickering, Robb threw a fry at him.
Without another word, Jon turned and marched to a nearby trash can, dumping the food on his way out.
Arya ran ahead of them, stopping at the mailbox to turn around. “Come on!” she demanded impatiently, exasperated by the group’s collective slowness.
Robb rolled his eyes, still taking his time as they all trudged away from the Starks’ house. Mr. and Mrs. Stark waved them off from the porch. “Be home by eight!” Mrs. Stark yelled after them.
Arya looked at her, horrified. “Eight? That’s not enough time!” Determined, she tightened the headband of her karate costume and gestured for them again. “Come on!” Only Bran, dressed as a weird-looking blue guy from some TV show he watched, ran to catch up with her. Together, they hurried to the neighbors’ house, pillowcases open and ready to receive candy.
It was Halloween night, and the eldest Stark siblings, Robb and Sansa, had been delegated the task of taking their younger siblings trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Jon, Theon and Margaery had joined them, all in costume. Robb was a knight, swinging a plastic sword as he held hands with Margaery, who had dressed up as his princess, of course. Theon was a pirate and Sansa a cat, though she’d only put on cat ears and drawn on whiskers with black eyeliner. Jon chose to go as a werewolf, though he kind of regretted it now. The mask was hot and itchy, and it was hard to see through the eye holes. Plus, the furry rubber gloves made grabbing anything difficult.
Theon had complained they were too old to trick-or-treat, but he’d tagged along anyway, on the promise that they would hang out “and do something cool” once they safely returned the younger kids to the Starks’ house at curfew.
“Did you see Arianne today?” Sansa asked Margaery as they all hung back on the sidewalk and waited for Arya and Bran. Other neighborhood children ran past them on the street, dressed as vampires and zombies and superheroes.
Margaery wrinkled her nose. “Yes. I thought her costume was kinda inappropriate for school.”
Sansa scoffed. “If by inappropriate, you mean slutty.”
“I liked it,” Theon interjected, grinning when Sansa made a face at him.
“You would.”
“What’s inappropriate about Tinkerbell?” Robb asked. Margaery rolled her eyes at his cluelessness.
“Nothing, except her dress was way too short. I swear I could see her underwear. I can’t believe the teachers didn’t make her change or send her home.”
Arya and Bran came running back, and they continued on to the next house. Ten houses later, they were nearing the playground. At the corner of the street, outside Dany’s house, Jon saw her standing on the sidewalk, looking around. She was dressed as a dragon, he realized, squinting through the eye holes of his mask. Glued-on green sequins on her shirt and pants for scales, and green towels for wings, tied onto her arms by ribbons. She had a headband with cardboard horns on her head to complete the look, and in one hand she clutched a Halloween bag.
The others noticed her a moment later. “Oh my god,” Theon exclaimed as he started to laugh. “Look who it is!”
Margaery shushed him. “Stop! She’ll hear you, and then we’ll have to talk to her.”
Jon ignored them and headed in her direction.
“Dany!” he yelled. She jumped, and her eyes went wide as she looked toward him. Realizing she wouldn’t know who he was, he tugged his mask up to reveal his face, the night air cooling his flushed cheeks. “Hey! It’s just me.”
She visibly relaxed. “Oh. Hi, Jon. Werewolf?” she asked, and he held up his furry gloves with the long rubber claws.
“Yeah. I like your costume.” The others caught up to him then. At their approach, Dany looked apprehensive, and he tried to put her at ease by engaging her in friendly conversation. “Did you make it yourself?”
“Yes. With some stuff I had around the house. My dad didn’t want to take me shopping for a costume.”
He grinned at her and indicated his own costume. “Well, that’s cool. Obviously, I didn’t make mine.”
Unimpressed, Sansa regarded Dany queerly. “You really like dragons, don’t you?” she said. The others laughed, and Dany blushed.
“I do. I think they’re really interesting.”
“Are you trick-or-treating?” Jon asked to change the subject.
She looked embarrassed. “I just started. I don’t have any candy yet.”
“You can join us,” he offered hastily. “We’re taking Robb and Sansa’s younger brother and sister around the neighborhood.”
“We gotta babysit her now, too?” Theon sneered, and Jon glared at him.
“I don’t want to bother you guys,” Dany said nervously.
“You’re not. Come on,” Jon urged.
As de facto leader of their group, Robb shrugged, giving his blessing. “It’s cool with me.” Margaery shot him a displeased look, and Sansa rolled her eyes.
Annoyed, Theon held up his hand. “Fine, but lose the bag, lizard.”
“I’m a dragon,” Dany said softly.
“Whatever it is, you’re too old to be begging for candy.” Suddenly, he smiled at her. “We don’t ask for treats anymore, but you can join us for the trick later.”
“What trick?” she asked warily, looking between them.
“You’ll see,” he said ominously.
“Ignore him. I’m sure we’ll just go to the playground after my cousins are done trick-or-treating, that’s all,” Jon explained. That’s what they’d done last year, anyway.
Dany eyed him then eventually nodded. “OK.”
Arya and Bran came running up to them. “Hey, cool costume!” Arya exclaimed, touching the sequins on her shirt. Dany smiled shyly.
“Thank you. I like yours, too.”
Arya looked proud. “It’s real, you know. I’ve got a red belt in karate. I’ll be a black belt soon!”
With his sword, Robb poked his younger sister in the back. “Let’s go, Karate Kid.”
Bran pointed to Dany’s house. “Can we go here?”
They all looked to Dany, whose eyes went large. Quickly, she shook her head. “Oh, I wouldn’t,” she said, clutching the empty bag to her chest. “My dad...he doesn’t like visitors. Especially at night. He’ll be mad.”
“Weird fucking family,” Theon muttered to Robb, who chuckled. If Dany heard him, she didn’t let on. Jon really didn’t understand why Robb liked the older boy so much.
They continued on their trek to their next destination. Jon left his mask up as Dany walked beside him; the air felt nice on his face. The two of them hung toward the back of the group as they followed Arya and Bran. He moved closer to her and kept his voice low so the others wouldn’t overhear them. “I’m sorry about what happened at the cafeteria. I really wanted you to hang out with us, but they’re just weird about outsiders, I guess,” he said sheepishly.
“It’s OK. The kids were like that at my other school, too.” She spoke softly, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. “You don’t have to keep apologizing for them, you know. I know you’re not like that.”
“Yeah?” he asked, dubious.
She shrugged. The two younger kids ran up to another house, and the rest of them hung back to wait. Jon and Dany stood off away from the others. Her cheeks reddened as she said, “It’s why I wanted to talk to you on the playground when I saw you alone.”
He felt pleased yet confused. “Why me?”
She smiled at him, shrugging again. “I don’t know. I just have a feeling when I look at you, I guess.”
Her words made him feel warm, and he knew he was blushing. He didn’t know what to say for a moment, so he watched Robb as he used his sword to lift up Margaery’s dress. She squealed and slapped his sword away then pushed him playfully, laughing at his antics.
“Well,” Jon finally said to Dany. “Maybe you and I can...hang out without them sometime. If you want.”
Her smile was shy and sweet. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
As promised, they dropped Arya and Bran off at home by eight, their bags stock-full of candy. Once Robb and Sansa got approval from their parents to hang out a little bit longer, they left their house behind. Annoyingly, Theon was still being cryptic about his plans for them.
“You’ll see,” he said vaguely when asked. Following Theon, they left the safety of their neighborhood, past Dany’s house, past the playground, and deep into the bordering woods. They walked along a well-maintained trail, so Jon wasn’t too freaked out about where Theon was taking them, though the girls huddled close together.
Sansa clung to Margaery’s arm, who in turn held onto Robb as they followed close on Theon’s heels. He lit the way ahead of them with a small flashlight, though it did little to illuminate the dark woods that surrounded them on all sides. Luckily, it was almost a full moon that night, providing some more light overhead through the tree leaves.
“This is so creepy,” Sansa complained.
“Don’t be a baby,” Robb told her.
“She’s not wrong!” Margaery hissed, and he poked her side with his sword.
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” The two girls giggled nervously then shrieked suddenly when a branch grazed their faces. An owl hooted in response.
Jon looked at Dany, whose face was pale in the faint moonlight. Instinctively, he reached out for her hand. Surprised by the gesture, Dany glanced at him and clasped her fingers around his gloves, gratefully squeezing his fingers through the rubber. Too late, he wished he’d removed his gloves first. Still, he smiled at her.
After what seemed like a neverending hike, Theon came to a dead stop and crowed in triumph. “Ah ha! Here we are!” He directed his flashlight off to the side to show everyone what he was talking about. An old, abandoned house stood off a ways from the trail, dark and empty, the glass of the windows long broken. Dead leaves littered the porch and roof, where it sagged in some parts.
Eyes wide, Sansa pulled back. “No way, I’m not going in there.”
Theon laughed at her, turning to shine the light on them. “Relax. I’ve been here before, it’s cool. Lots of the older kids come here to hang out and drink, whatever.”
Stubbornly, she folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not going in there,” she said.
He just shrugged and turned back to the house. “Suit yourself then. You can stay out here by yourself. Everyone else coming?” Without looking back, he walked toward the house, taking the only source of light with him. Robb and Margaery looked at each other then quickly followed suit.
Jon turned to Dany, who hesitated, staring at the house. “Come on, I’m sure it’s fine,” he reassured her. As much as he hated Theon, he didn’t want the older boy to think he was a coward or something.
Slowly, Dany nodded, and she followed him off the trail toward the house. As they passed Sansa, she squealed and ran ahead of them. “Fine! I’m not staying out here by myself!”
The rotting wood of the front porch creaked beneath their feet but held, thankfully. Theon opened the front door, and everyone fell quiet as they edged inside, a weird hush enveloping them the moment he shut the door behind them. It was as if they were afraid to breathe, lest they disturb something.
They stood in a large entryway, the living room opening up before them to a staircase that led to a second floor. To the left there was a doorway to another room, a kitchen maybe, and beyond the staircase a hallway that led to a back room. As Theon had claimed, there was evidence of other people having been there scattered about: overturned furniture and empty, discarded beer bottles. Indecipherable graffiti had been spray-painted all over the walls.
“What is this place?” Margaery asked, slightly awed as they crept farther into the house.
“It was abandoned a long time ago,” Theon said with a shrug. He kicked a bottle aside, and they all jumped as it clattered across the wood floor, sending some unseen animal scurrying for cover. Sansa whimpered, holding on to Margaery.
“Ugh, I swear, if I see a rat, I will lose it.”
Theon circled close to Sansa. “Oh? You mean like...this rat right here?” He grabbed her from behind, and she screamed, making Theon and Robb laugh uproariously. Even Margaery giggled at her friend. Jon just looked at Dany and rolled his eyes. She managed a quiet laugh, like they were sharing some private secret.
“This place is pretty freaky,” Robb mused as they walked down the hallway that led to the back room. “I wonder if it’s haunted.”
“Don’t say that!” Margaery chastised him.
Once they were in the back room, Theon cast his light around. It was empty save for some trash piled up in the corners. It looked like it had been a bedroom at some point. “People say it is. I bet someone was murdered here and that’s why it was abandoned,” Theon said.
“That’s your story for everything,” Jon muttered. Theon shone the light in his face, and Jon squinted, holding up his hand to block it. “Knock it off.”
“I’m not making shit up,” Theon insisted. “Lots of people who hang out here say it’s haunted and shit.”
“Shut up, Theon,” Sansa said. He grinned at her.
“Why? Does that spook you?”
She huffed, her arms wrapped around her. “No. I’m just tired of listening to you talk.”
Ignoring her, Theon turned to Jon and Dany. “What about you, new girl? Are you scared?”
She was caught off guard by his question. “What? No.”
He tilted his head, stepping closer. “No? You sure about that?”
“Theon,” Jon said in warning. Smiling, Theon kept his focus on Dany.
“Prove it then,” he taunted her. He shined his light at the closet door. “I dare you to stand in that closet, alone, for two minutes.”
“Leave off, Theon,” Jon threatened, stepping between them.
Theon shrugged. “Hey, if she wants to hang out with us, she’s got to pass the test.”
“What test?” Jon demanded, annoyed, but Theon only smiled as he looked to Dany again. Jon turned to face her. “Don’t listen to him, you don’t have to do anything—”
“I’ll do it,” she said quietly, though her voice was thin and thready. Jon was surprised.
“Dany—”
“She said she’ll do it,” Theon interrupted, reaching around Jon to grab Dany’s arm. As he pulled her toward the closet, she resisted, slightly.
“Wait,” she hedged, suddenly nervous. “Only two minutes, right? Because I’m, I’m kind of scared of small spaces—”
“Yeah, I’ll count,” Theon said, opening the door. It was shallow and empty aside from a bundle of dingy blankets on the floor. Hesitating, Dany peered inside, and Theon gave her a shove. “Timer starts now.”
She stumbled inside, turning around just as Theon slammed the door in her face. Dany let out a startled cry, and Sansa and Margaery giggled nervously. With a smirk, Theon pressed his hand against the door.
“Are you—are you guys counting?” Dany called through the door. Jon could hear the current of panic in her voice. Anxious, he crossed his arms over his chest to hold himself back.
“Yep!” Theon yelled, and he looked at Robb, who shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s only been a few seconds.”
“This is fucking stupid,” Jon said suddenly. “What’s the point?”
“It’s funny, that’s the point,” Theon replied with a snort.
“Guys?” Dany said after a moment. “I think—I think there’s something in here—”
“Probably just a rat,” Robb yelled, and Sansa shrieked before erupting into laughter with Margaery.
“I don’t know—oh god.” Her voice jumped. “Something, something touched me—how much longer?”
Jon moved closer to the door, glaring at Theon. “Just let her out, man.”
Curling his lip, Theon shook his head. “It hasn’t been two minutes yet.”
“Guys,” Dany pleaded. “Please, I can’t—I’m, I’m claustrophobic, I don’t think I can do this—”
“You said you could,” Theon yelled through the door.
“She said she wanted out,” Jon snapped at him, but when he moved for the door, Theon shoved him back.
“She’s fine.”
The doorknob twisted, but Theon leaned his weight on the door so she couldn’t open it. “Please, let me out!” she begged.
“Let her out!” Jon shouted. He started forward again but was stopped. Realizing Robb had grabbed him, he looked at Robb. “What the hell?”
“It’s just a prank, dude, don’t make it worse. She’ll be fine,” Robb said. Jon tried to shake him off, but Robb held tight.
“Let me go.”
“You guys, please!” Dany yelled. “Something’s in here! Please! Please let me out!”
“Did you say something?” Theon called.
“Oh my god, Theon, you’re such an asshole,” Margaery said, but she was laughing along. Sansa, too.
“She sounds so freaked out,” she snickered.
Hysterical, Dany began pounding on the door. “Somebody, please! Let me out! Let me out!”
She sounded terrified out of her mind. “What the fuck is wrong with you guys?” Jon yelled, turning to shove Robb off of him. He let go, holding his hands up. Angrily, Jon whirled on Theon, who wrapped his arms around him when he reached for the door. “Let her out, you fucking asshole!”
“Chill out!” Theon struggled with him even as he pushed back on the closet door, keeping it jammed shut. Dany banged on it even harder, and the doorknob rattled violently, her sobs muffled.
“Please, you guys, please! Let me out!”
“Get off me, asshole!” Jon yelled, trying to shoulder his way out of Theon’s hold, but he held tighter.
Dany was screaming now. “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!”
Abruptly, she let out a loud, wordless shriek. The flashlight in Theon’s hand flickered and popped, pitching them into complete darkness as it went out. Sansa and Margaery screamed, and Theon cursed out loud. “What the fuck?”
It went eerily quiet. His grip on Jon eased, and Jon gave him one hard shove away from the door. Theon stumbled aside, tripping over himself as he fell to the floor. Jon lunged for the door and struggled with the door knob, then yanked his useless gloves off to give the knob a hard twist and fling the door open. “Dany!”
The screaming had stopped, but he couldn’t see anything without the light. Frantically, Jon dropped to the ground and felt for the flashlight Theon had dropped. When he found it, he clambered to his feet and flipped the switch on and off until the light finally shuttered back to life. He shined it into the closet, his shoulders sagging in relief when he saw Dany crouched on the floor, huddled over her knees.
“Dany?” he said again, gentler this time, reaching for her. She looked up then, her head snapping toward him with unnatural haste, and he nearly dropped the flashlight again.
Her eyes were completely black, her face mottled with streaks of black like her veins were pulsing with it. Her hair snaked outward in fiery tendrils. Her mouth opened wide; the sound she let out was inhuman, a piercing screech that made his blood run cold.
“What the fuck—” he gasped and wheeled backward, falling on his ass. His mask slipped backward off his head to the floor, but he managed to hold onto the flashlight. Quickly, he cast the light back on her; she looked completely normal now, her face red and wet with tears. “Dany—”
She scrambled to her feet and ran past him, out of the room, out of the house. He sat frozen on the floor, the image of what he’d seen burned into his brain.
In the silence that followed, Theon forced out a strained laugh. “Holy shit. That was fucking wild.”
“What the fuck just happened?” Robb asked, bewildered.
Sansa and Margaery were still clinging to each other. “Oh my god. She’s possessed,” Sansa cried. “You were right, this place is haunted, there was a ghost in the closet—”
“Don’t be stupid,” Theon snapped. “I made that up. Nobody was murdered here. There’s no fucking ghost.”
“You made it up?” she asked tremulously.
He scoffed. “No shit. She just...freaked out and lost her shit.”
That seemed to ease Sansa’s and Margaery’s fears. “God, talk about an overreaction,” Margaery said with a thready laugh.
“You’re one to talk,” Robb pointed out, and she let go of Sansa to shove him.
“You and Theon are a couple of assholes, you know that?”
Robb shrugged. “It was just a joke. Guess she couldn’t hang.”
Theon snickered, and Jon finally shook himself of his stupor, shakily climbing to his feet.
“Did you guys not see that?” he demanded, shining the light on them one at a time.
“See what?” Sansa asked stupidly.
Shaking his head, Jon took off after Dany without another word. The others yelled after him, as he’d taken the only light with him. “Wait up, dickhead!” Theon shouted.
“Dany!” Jon yelled as he hurried through the house, swinging the flashlight left and right through the empty rooms. The front door was wide open, and he bounded out onto the porch, but she was nowhere to be found. “Dany!” he yelled again, desperate, shining the light in the direction of the trail. There wasn’t a trace of her. How had she gotten so far in the dark?
“Dude, don’t worry about her,” Robb said as they finally joined him outside.
Margaery agreed, hugging his side. “She probably just went home.”
“Without any light?” Jon asked, upset. He started toward the trail, but Theon grabbed him by the shoulder, jerking him back.
“You’re not taking my fucking flashlight.” He pried it out of Jon’s hand.
“She could be lost,” Jon said angrily.
Theon rolled his eyes. “If she’s not an idiot, then she followed the trail back the way we came. We’ll probably come across her on our way out. Come on.”
Without a better alternative, Jon followed Theon to the trail out of the woods. Near the entrance, they found one of Dany’s towel wings on the trail. Jon picked it up. “See? She found her way back on her own,” Theon said, suddenly unconcerned.
Jon was relieved, at least. If she’d made it this far, then she probably made it home. As they passed by the playground then her house, he saw a light on inside. He stopped and debated going to check on her but remembered what she’d said about her dad. Tomorrow, he’d go to her house and apologize, he decided. Early. Maybe by then he could make sense of what he’d seen. If he’d seen it at all.
The next morning, with her dragon wing in hand, Jon walked to her house, mentally rehearsing the apology he’d spent all night working on. Except, when he knocked, nobody answered. He knocked again, and again, then rang the doorbell a few times. Still, no one answered. Confused, Jon jumped down from the front stoop and walked up to one of the windows facing the front yard. The curtains were gone, he realized belatedly with a start. Cupping his hands around his eyes, he pressed his face against the window to peer inside.
Nothing. The house was completely empty. No furniture, not a single sign that anyone was there or had ever been there.
She was just gone.