“Mom! Do I really have to go to school? I totally stick out!” Dylan Piper groaned as the first day of school dawned in the mortal world. “Yes you have to go and you do not stick out! You’re just like any other kid there,” his mother Gwen answered. But Dylan wasn’t so sure about that. He had a secret that no one except his family knew about. He and his family members were all witches and warlocks, except for his dead father, who was a human. His grandmother (Splendora) Agatha Cromwell was the current head of the family line, his older sister Marnie was next, followed by his younger sister Sophie. The girls at school all called him geek and freak, as well as various other names. What no one knew was that Dylan really was a freak, by being the only nerd in school who was also a warlock. He had powers and could make things happen just by wanting them, but he couldn’t always control his powers. His powers had been revealed once during an incident last Halloween. A warlock named Kal had come from Halloweentown to try to get Marnie on his side and take over the mortal world. However, Marnie had eventually figured out Kal was Kalabar’s son. She had then gotten Dylan and Sophie to help her cast a spell that she created to open the portal between the mortal world and Halloweentown. They eventually vanquished Kal and removed his evil spells. Fortunately, none of the mortals had seen anything because they were all under the Creature Spell and thought it was all a dream. Ever since then, Dylan had been practicing his magic and brushing up on his spells so that he could learn control and be able to defend himself.
Dylan arrived at school on time as usual, but he wasn’t happy about being there. He knew no one liked him and being called a freak, with the knowledge that he really was one wasn’t fun either. Particularly, because Cindy had been one of the main ones to call him names and he’d had to resist trying magic on her. Once, a bully had decided to try beating Dylan up and he had made the bully’s book bag attack its owner. Unfortunately, he hadn’t known how to make it stop and had ended up asking Marnie to stop it. This made him more determined than ever to practice until he could control what he was doing, as well as stop any spell he started. He went to his locker and just as he was about to open it, two boys came up to him and shoved him hard. Dylan was flipping through all the spells he knew in his mind, trying to decide which one to use, when a very pretty teenage girl came up and defended him! “Leave him alone. What did he ever do to you? I’ve beaten up boys twice your size and if I ever see you go after this boy again, there’ll be trouble. Got it?” the girl asked, glaring menacingly at the boys. “Got it,” they both answered and then backed away quickly. The girl helped Dylan up off the floor where he’d fallen and asked if he was all right. Once she was assured that he was, she asked him his name, introducing herself as Callie, telling him it was short for Callisto. “Callisto? Your parents must be big on the Greek Mythology names, huh? My name’s nowhere near as interesting. I’m just plain, boring old Dylan Piper,” Dylan replied. “You’re Dylan Piper? I was hoping to run into you. The whole school says you’re one of the smartest kids here. I’m not all that great with science and stuff like that. Could you maybe help me with it sometime after school or something?” Callie asked. “You actually want to spend time with me? The nerd, freak, geek, or whichever term you prefer?” Dylan asked in disbelief. “Sure. You seem like an interesting guy. So, see you after school sometime?” Callie asked. “Sure,” Dylan replied and headed toward his first class, while Callie headed in the opposite direction.
Callie headed toward her locker at the far end of the hall and checked to make sure no one was looking. She then spun the combination and opened the door, pulling out the vibrating witch’s glass she had secretly stashed there. The caller was a man with black hair with a very sinister look about him—Kalabar, the former mayor of Halloweentown! “How goes your mission, daughter?” Kalabar asked. Callie’s face took on a very sinister look as she replied, “All is going according to plan. I have located one of the young Cromwell siblings who defeated you in Halloweentown years ago. I have found young Dylan Piper and he doesn’t suspect that I’m your daughter and Kal’s sister. I have arranged to have him tutor me in science after school when needed. I will use that time to get close to Dylan and win him over to our side. I know he was initially rather weak with his power, but he has been studying a lot since then, and grows more powerful by the day. Soon he will be as powerful as his sisters and I will be able to use his power to free you and Kal.” “Excellent. Soon we will be free of this wretched place and then we’ll take our revenge on the Cromwells who imprisoned us all those years ago,” Kalabar replied, laughing evilly.
Dylan went home that afternoon and practiced levitation and various other spells. He tried to turn his dinner into dessert and ended up with something that tasted like ice cream, but looked like roast beef, and had the consistency of play dough. He had to ask his grandmother to turn it back, since he couldn’t eat it like that. Then, he tried to change the wallpaper in his room and ended up blowing a hole in the wall. “Okay! Who blew up the house?” Gwen asked. “It was me, and technically it was a hole in the wall. Sorry Mom!” Dylan called down the stairs. Gwen finally managed to get the hole in the wall fixed, but told Dylan to be more careful practicing on his own. He was only allowed to do simple things by himself, and for the other things, he had to have Marnie, Aggie, or Gwen there to do. This was to prevent him from blowing holes in anything else. Dylan had to hide his powers at school, though, or risk everyone finding out he was a freaky warlock. In middle school it wasn’t neat to be different and have strange abilities. He knew if people found out what he was, it would be the Salem Witch Trials all over again. So, he kept the whole thing under wraps until he got home, then let loose with all his magical impulses.
School went as normal for about four weeks with Dylan going to school as usual, helping Callie with science, then practicing his powers. Contrary to what Callie thought, Dylan did suspect who she really was and was on his guard around her. Callie kept subtly trying to win Dylan over to the evil side during their study sessions, but after the third week she quit trying because she was shocked to discover that she was falling in love with him! She kept up the pretense of trying to win him over so that she could spend more time with him without her father finding out. In the meantime, Dylan had told his family what he suspected and Aggie set up a spell that would track dark magic to find Callie if she was a dark witch. Dylan had one of Callie’s barrettes that she had left behind and they used it in Aggie’s spell. It was just as Dylan had feared—Callie was indeed a dark witch. Then one day two months before summer vacation, Kalabar contacted Callie and told her about a spell that was written in the old Welsh exhibit in the town museum. She was to go there immediately after school the next day so she could read the spell and set her father and brother free, bringing with her certain items she needed to open the portal. Callie reluctantly went, even though she knew that she’d most likely end up fighting Dylan and his family. She knew she had to go, though, or her father would suspect her betrayal. Since Callie had not showed up at school today and sent in an obviously fake excuse why not, Dylan suspected she was up to something, so he asked his grandma if they could try a scrying spell to find her because Marnie didn’t believe him about Callie. The spell showed her at the museum, which confirmed Dylan’s suspicions that her excuse was fake. Aggie narrowed the focus and found out she was in the old Welsh exhibit looking at a spell. Fortunately, Dylan’s class was going on a field trip to the museum tomorrow, so Aggie asked Dylan to take a look at that spell and report back to her what he found out.
So Dylan went to the museum with his classmates the following day and slipped away during the trip to find Callie, who hadn’t showed up to school again that day. What he didn’t know was that he’d been followed by Cindy who always made fun of him. She saw what he was doing and told the teacher that Dylan had slipped away from the group. So unbeknownst to Dylan, the whole class ended up in the same room with him right as he was confronting Callie. “Well, well. If it isn’t Kalabar’s daughter, Callisto,” Dylan said. “Please, Dylan. It’s not what you think,” Callie pleaded. “I’m not as naïve as you think I am Callie, and I’m not weak either. I never fully trusted you. Once I learned your name was Callie, I figured you must be Kalabar’s daughter because of the dark energy I felt around you. How stupid do you really think I am? I know you’re trying to bring your father and brother back and I’m here to stop you,” Dylan told her. “Listen, Dylan. It may have started out that way, but it’s different now. During those study sessions where I tried to lure you to the evil side, I fell in love with you instead. Please, you have to believe me,” Callie begged him. “Why should I? You lied to me from the beginning. You tried to turn me evil and you were going to use me to release your father and Kal. I just don’t think I can believe anything you say anymore,” Dylan told her sadly. The look on his face was more than Callie could bear, so she decided to somehow prove to Dylan that she loved him. She couldn’t stop the spell now—it was far too late for that—but she could assist Dylan in defeating her father and Kal. That would surely make Dylan realize that she’d told him the truth.
In a matter of moments, Kalabar emerged from the portal with Kal right behind him. Fortunately Dylan had backup now because Marnie had tagged along, seen what happened and had called Gwen, Aggie and Sophie to come to the museum to help them. Callie stood over between the Cromwells and her family, looking like she wanted to run as Kalabar sent a spell at the Cromwells and Aggie blocked it. Then Kal sent a spell and Aggie moved to block it again, but Dylan stopped her. “No. This is my fight. When Kalabar decided to play with my heart, it became personal,” Dylan said. “But Dylan, you’re not strong enough to fight them on your own,” Gwen pleaded, trying to protect her son. “Yes I am, Mom. I’ve been practicing, and I’m a lot stronger now,” Dylan said, and proceeded to blast Kal with a spell of his own—a very strong one too. “Callisto, come and help us!” Kalabar commanded his daughter. Callie went over to her father and stood beside him. “Sure, Daddy. I’ll help,” she said. She then pretended to blast Dylan, but at the last minute turned around and blasted her father instead. “Why you little wretch!” Kalabar shouted. “Sorry Dad, but I’m not playing by your rules anymore. I said I’d help, but I never said which side. I love Dylan and I’m going to help him and his family. I want to be good,” Callie declared. She then helped the Cromwells to banish her father and brother.
Once Kalabar and Kal were gone, Callie went over to Dylan. “So, do you believe me now?” she asked. “Yeah, I do. I love you too. Want to go out Friday night?” Dylan asked. “Sure! I’d love to!” Callie told him, then kissed him for the first time. Unfortunately, now the whole class had seen that Dylan was a warlock and that he came from a family of witches, so high school would never be the same again for any of them because word travels fast in high school. The next two years were a pain for Dylan as he struggled to graduate from high school and all his old friends avoided him. His teachers were more tolerant, but Dylan could see they were more than a little afraid of him, and everyone got out of his way when he passed them in the hall, whispering about him as if they thought he couldn’t hear them. Things weren’t much better for his sisters as they faced the same situation. Finally he used his magic to speed read through his course work so that he could graduate earlier and get out of the school as fast as possible. He took a test that measured his intelligence to determine if he was ready to graduate or not, and passed with flying colors. So he managed to graduate two months before everyone else and headed home for the summer. Sophie was finally taught at home because all the kids at her school thought that she would hex them if they got in her way, so she was absolutely miserable. Then Marnie got a scholarship to Witch University that changed everything. Gwen was against her going at first, but she finally agreed to let Marnie go to Witch U on the condition that Dylan went with her. Dylan of course, was more than happy to go since he felt he wouldn’t fit in at a normal college, plus Callie had gotten in too and Dylan really wanted to see her. So they packed their bags and went off to Witch U the following day.
Once there, Scarlet Sinister immediately tried to get Dylan to fall for her so she and her sisters Sapphire and Sage could use him to do their work for them. Unfortunately for them, Dylan had Callie and the two had a great time together. They went on dates, studied together, and generally had a great time. So it was that Dylan never fell under the Sinister sisters’ spell and eventually foiled the evil plan that their father Silas and the Dominion had for Halloweentown with the help of Aggie, Gwen and Marnie. Gwen saw that her children could indeed take care of themselves and agreed to let them remain at Witch U, where they stayed until they graduated. Once they left Witch U, Dylan decided to marry Callie and live in Halloweentown, but he still came to visit his mother in the mortal world. Marnie eventually took over as head of the Cromwell line when Aggie died and she did a fine job leading the Cromwell family into the future.
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