Astrophyllite fastened the ribbon around her chin and adjusted her witch’s hat until it sat at a jaunty angle on top of her head. Strictly speaking, she shouldn’t be going trick-or-treating. Halloween was the devil’s night, and if you went out looking for candy, then you were consigning your soul to hell! But her mama had never told her that, and her mama had always taken her out, so she wasn’t sure how much credence she wanted to give that. The Negaverse had encouraged her to question orders when something about them didn’t make sense, and this, especially, did not make sense.

She had come up with what she thought of as a rather ingenious plan. Her energy quota was due to Natron soon, and, well, her Negaverse uniform looked like a totally cute costume! She just needed to top it off, and then no one would even look twice at her when she accidentally brushed their hands to get candy!

(She might have told Melanite about her plan in her excitement, and he definitely told her that it was a good one, but one that he was going to sit out.)

(Astrophyllite wasn’t sure how Melanite met his quotas, because when he was out with her, all he ever did was watch.)

She picked her target neighborhood carefully. It was rich, with lots of big houses and gated driveways, exactly the sort of neighborhood that Melanite would have wanted her to go after. Losing energy isn’t so bad when you have money to make up for it! she thought, swinging her pumpkin-shaped bucket. Besides, they were sure to give out all the best candy!

The lieutenant hopped down from her treetop perch, crossed the lawn, and inserted herself into a group of noisy teenagers. Hopefully, they wouldn’t look too hard at her and realize she wasn’t one of theirs - after all, in a group that already numbered eight, what difference did number nine make? If she kept quiet and stuck to the back, maybe they wouldn’t notice her!

That worked for about two minutes. After the first house, a girl dressed as a vampire turned to her and said, “Great costume! What’s your name?”

“Gabby,” said Astrophyllite, panicking and giving her sister’s name instead of her own. No one could ever find out that Astrophyllite and Gemma Kit Hudson were the same person! It would put her at risk of an alien attack!

“I’m Macy,” said the vampire girl, smiling to show off her plastic fangs. “Who are you with?”

Astrophyllite looked around the group - she didn’t know any of their names, and if Macy brought attention to her, they’d all realize that none of them knew her. So, like, she could steal away from the group with Macy and yank her starseed and abandon her plan? But Macy hadn’t done anything to deserve that.... “No one, actually,” she lied nervously. “I - I live around here, and I didn’t have a group to go with. Can I stick with you guys?”

Macy didn’t take more than a moment to consider it. “Yeah, sure! I love your coat, by the way.”

Astrophyllite smiled, pleased to be included with a bunch of kids who seemed totally cool. She bet they went to Meadowview, or maybe Crystal Academy and Azure Valley, where all the rich kids parents sent them. These were kids who would never give a delinquent like her the time of day if they knew who she really was! “Thanks,” she said bashfully. Needless to say, she felt totally cool.

Her plan seemed to be working without a hitch, too, which was really exciting - Astrophyllite had never been good at practically anything before she joined the negaverse, and now here she was, having some real success at draining energy in a new and innovative way! Even if she curled her fingers against the temptation to accidentally-on-purpose brush Macy’s hand and drain from her and that was bringing down her numbers, Natron was going to be so proud of her!

Except, then, she felt it. At first, it was just a hint of sugar on the breeze, which she chalked up to all the candy people were eating around her, but after another two houses, there was no mistaking the signature. It was a senshi, buttercream-sweet and candle bright, tinged with floral notes and… it made her stomach turn, just a little bit. She smiled sweetly at the woman in front of her, and brushed her hand as she pulled away with her candy bar. “Thank you,” she said.

A lieutenant always needed to remember her manners, even when there was an alien invader closing in. She needed to get away from the group, she thought urgently, or else risk a fight right here and right now.

“Um,” she said to Macy.

“Yeah?” the other girl asked brightly.

“I have a curfew and I need to get home,” Astrophyllite lied, hoping she was convincing.

“It’s only eight-thirty,” said Macy. Astrophyllite shrugged and made a bit of a strangled face, floundering, and Macy nodded. “It was good to meet you. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, maybe,” said Astrophyllite. The senshi was getting closer. Maybe she was even on this block. She needed to go. “Well, see you.”

She waved and hurried off, her heart pounding in her ears, and by the time she turned the corner and loosed her dark glamour from her shoulders, she was so spooked that she kept on running.