Prism Halloween special

Amber leaves scuttled across the pavement, riding the dusk breeze. They were crunched underfoot by laughing children, swinging back and forth their candy bags as they roamed among the closed streets. It was the Mapleglade in the city of Montralis, a large festival held in celebration of the woodland spirits which inhabited the surrounding forests. 

Among the bustling crowds and street stalls stood all six members of Team Prism: Monty, Elizabeth, Clara, Paige, Dalton, and Amy. They had been invited by Monty’s older sister Monica to come to experience the holiday for themselves. Frankly, after a tiring recruitment process for his uncle’s prestige agency, Monty (along with his friends) was looking forward to a break.

“I’m glad you could all make it!” Monica’s amber eyes sparkled as she met with the group of young mages. “This place is always lively during Mapleglade. You guys should go look around and then we can meet up later.” 

“If that’s the case, I think I’ll go look at the cathedral we passed by. The architecture was quite fascinating,” Elizabeth said, already starting to walk in that direction. 

“Oh, if you’re into history, I can tag along and give you some insight,” Monica offered as they walked away.

“It looked like there was a fun thrift store close by,” Clara said, brushing her brown hair over her ear. “I think I’ll browse for a bit.” 

“Ooo! I’ll come with,” Amy beamed. 

This left just the boys. 

“Well, I’m going to go learn more about the history of this place and the surrounding forest. It seems quite interesting,” Paige said.

“Nerd,” Dalton scoffed.

Paige rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you guys in a bit. Just please don’t do anything stupid.” 

“You don’t have to worry,” Monty assured. “I’m just as ready for a vacation as everyone else. I’m not going to be investigating here.”

“Yeah, Paige. It’s not like Penumbra is going to jump out of the woods and attack us.”

Paige stopped to consider that for a moment. “Does Penumbra have any involvement in Montralis actually?”

“I’m not going to be the one to find out,” Monty said. “I’m going to go to the food stalls and look for some syrups and spices that we can’t find in Cysko. Maybe I can bake us something when we go back to my sister’s place tonight.”

“Lame. I guess I’ll keep walking around until something catches my eye,” Dalton sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and melding into the crowd.

****

Amy held up a runestone the size of a USB drive. Engraved into it were purple butterfly wings. “So what does this do?”

“It’s a protective charm! You will see similar runestones on students’ backpacks and engraved on doors. It’s one of our more popular items!” the shopkeeper explained.

“It’s cute! I’ll take it,” Amy smiled. 

“How do I look?” Clara asked behind her.

Amy turned around and Clara was in front of a mirror, inspecting the plaid flannel she’d chosen out of the hanger. 

“I think it looks good! It matches your long sleeve and pants.” 

“I think so too. I don’t have many flannels anyway, so what better time to get one?” Clara shrugged.

****

Dalton meandered through the plaza when he came across a juggling act. The actor lost his balance and the large acorns went flying above him. Dalton slid in and caught them as they fell, juggling them with ease and continuing the act. A wave of euphoria hit as the crowd awed and applauded. He took a bow and returned to his aimless walking.

He was beginning to regret his decision to wander alone, boredom collapsing around him on all sides. Luckily, he spotted the girls at a carnival stall nearby. It was the perfect invitation to not be alone anymore. 

“What’re you guys doing?” he asked as he came up behind them.

“I’m going to win that waffle!” Amy pointed at an enormous plush waffle with a cartoon smiley face and a square of butter on it. 

The booth was a shooting gallery with four different bells lined up in a row. Several meters back was the stand they were situated at as Amy was handed a pellet rifle. Firearms were never Amy’s strong suit. After an unsuccessful attempt and hitting the bells, she stepped away with a disappointed look on her face.

Dalton stepped in to try and win it for her, but Elizabeth’s Omnicard tapped on the kiosk first. 

“Looks like we have another contender!” the man who owned the stall exclaimed.

Elizabeth gripped the pellet rifle with a determined look. Four quick shots and four quick dings. Onlookers’ jaws dropped and there was a moment of silence before a swell of applause. She handed the waffle to Amy who squeezed it tight. 

“Thanks, Elizabeth!” 

Elizabeth smiled and patted Amy on the head. Dalton’s chest melted a little bit and it wasn’t long before he was smiling too. Elizabeth’s hair glistened gold in the dying twilight. Her smile—

Dalton’s daydream ended abruptly thanks to Clara’s elbow finding his ribs. His aura shield softened the blow enough to make sure there was no bruise, but not enough to make it painless. He shot her a look.

“Easy there, lover boy,” Clara said almost like a warning. 

“Yeah, I know.”

A crack of thunder echoed behind them and they collectively turned around. A storm brewed in the distance and plumes of grey clouds broke off from the swirling maelstrom and landed on the ground in the plaza. The puddles of vapor formed into monstrous creatures. One morphed into a horse with a headless rider with a scythe, another transformed into a large werewolf, and the last transformed into a cackling young woman on a flying broom. They went into a rampage, going after the closest people to them. 

Dalton flinched as bolts of fire whizzed past him. Elizabeth had wasted no time and already fired away with her pistol. The witch weaved between the bolts and spun on her broom, unleashing a powerful wind that sent Elizabeth and Amy off their feet. 

“Monica, get someplace safe!” Dalton shouted and faced the horseman.

The horseman rushed at him and Dalton stepped to the side and jumped, hoping to land on the back of the horse. However, he simply phased through and his butt slammed against the pavement.

“Ouch!” he cried, rubbing the pain out as he got up. “Are these guys seriously made of clouds?”

****

Meanwhile, Clara saw a terrified woman scooting away on the ground from the werewolf. With a burst of speed, Clara put herself between the werewolf and the woman and put an arm up to block the werewolf’s claws. She focused her aura into her arm to protect herself and the beasts’ claws barely penetrated. She pulled back her other arm and punched the werewolf in the gut with an aura-filled fist. 

The werewolf skidded back and growled, baring its fangs. Clara looked at her sleeve and saw that it had ripped. She took a deep breath and began bouncing up and down, loosening her neck and rolling her shoulders. She felt anger well up in her chest and that rage took the form of a humming electricity as she put her hands up, ready to destroy the beast in front of her. 

****

Paige and Monty arrived at the same time. “What’s going on?” Paige asked as they ran side by side.

“I don’t know.  I just got here. Do you know what’s going on?” 

“I don’t know. I just got here. That’s why I asked you.”

“Paige!” Paige heard Amy cry out. “Shoot her down!” She pointed at the witch circling above.

Paige quickly took out a fire talisman from the pouch on his belt and flicked it at the witch, visualizing a line of his aura for it to follow. The slip of paper with magic symbols engraved on it darted through the air and slapped onto the head of her broom before igniting. The witch lost control of her broom and she crash-landed in the distance, dematerializing. 

The horseman rushed toward Monty. Amy extended the shadows between the inside of her sleeve and her arm into a ribbon that she used to lasso the steed. The legs buckled and the horse whinnied; the rider tumbled to the ground in front of Monty’s feet.

Monty squatted and pulled on the anger he felt toward Penumbra. He felt his left eye sting a bit as it activated, his iris melting into a midnight blue and his pupil shining like a brilliant moon. The skeleton that the clouds clung to was completely made of aura. Monty got up and focused his aura into his foot before stomping on the rider’s back, dematerializing him. 

He deactivated his Eye as he looked over at Clara, who was casually walking towards a whimpering werewolf, zapping it over and over again with a twitch of her fingers until it finally vanished in a puff of smoke. 

“Is everyone okay?” Monica asked as the rest of the team gathered up.

“Yeah,” they all reported.

“What was that?” Amy asked.

“A pain in the ass is what it was,” Dalton grumbled. “Why can’t we ever just have a normal week?” 

“I read something about this just earlier,” Paige said. “Do you guys think it was the woodland spirits? The books mentioned that the Protector Trees that make up the natural walls which protect the city from signum are maintained by these spirits.”

“Do you really think they were spirits though?” Elizabeth asked. 

“I mean, I couldn’t touch them physically,” Dalton said.

“Yeah, I actually only made contact when I concentrated my aura into my fist,” Clara commented. 

“True, and they were kind of weak. Spirits usually don’t have a lot of energy because they use all their aura just to travel from the Spirit World to our plane,” Paige thought aloud. 

The hiss of a Slipstream hovercraft’s gale isotope thrusters interrupted their discussion. After circling around, it eased itself to the ground and a man stepped out. 

He had long, skinny limbs with a tall frame. His suit was brown like the leaves scattered by the Slipstream. He had a red tie and a yellow vest underneath his jacket. His skin was pale, contrasting with his piercing orange eyes and jet-black hair.

“Count Wahl?” Monica asked. 

“Glad to see no one was seriously harmed,” Wahl sighed. 

“I’m Count Wahl. I’m the dean of Montralis. Dean Mozaveen and I used to chat over the Oceanus Fountain. You six must be Team Prism.”

“That’s us!” Dalton exclaimed with a cocky smile.

“I need you six to come with me.” 

The six looked at each other as Wahl strode back into the Slipstream, beckoning them to follow. 

“Are… are we in trouble?” Clara asked. 

“And here I thought I’d never be called to the principal’s office,” Paige groaned. 

“Welcome to the club,” Monty scoffed. 

“It’s practically a rite of passage,” Dalton snickered, patting Paige on the back as they walked toward the Slipstream.

“You think they’re rewarding us?” Amy asked, hugging the waffle Elizabeth won her. 

“Maybe they’ll throw us into a dungeon,” Elizabeth pondered. 

“I certainly doubt that Lizzy…” Clara chuckled. 

****

The Slipstream took them above the city. The Protector Trees surrounded them on all sides with their white, twisted trunks and golden, red, and brown canopies. In the center of the city was an enormous oak tree with branches nearly as wide as roads. A castle nestled between the grove of branches and the top of the trunk like a treehouse. The Slipstream landed on one of the large branches and they were taken into a large room with stained glass inside the castle. 

The six took a seat on a bench while Count Wahl sat in a chair specifically for the dean. 

“The Garden Coven will be arriving shortly,” he said, sitting back and resting his leg over his knee. 

“The Garden Coven?” Paige asked.

“They’re a group of botanists, biologists, and mages who tend to the Protector Trees that guard the city against signum,” Monica explained.

“So they’re basically the gardening club?” Monty asked. 

Monica rolled her eyes. 

Through the corridor came a procession of green-cloaked students. Underneath their pine green hoods with a deer pin on their collar was the school’s uniform. They filled the other seats except for one, who walked to the center of the room and pulled back their hood. 

“Count Wahl,” the girl in the center spoke. The sunbeams glinted off her red hair and freckles. 

“Magnus Ronan,” Count Wahl greeted. “You’ve requested our presence?”

“Indeed. We heard about the attack today and needed to inform you of something we discovered. The Protector Trees are filled with massive amounts of aura with arc isotope properties that drive away signum. Those levels of aura are rapidly dropping.”

“Now that is astonishing.” 

“It is. If we don’t figure out what’s going on, the levels of aura will drop low enough to where signum would be undeterred and could enter the city as they please.” 

“Well, was it you, Mr. Paige, that suggested that the attack today could have been the woodland spirits?” the Count asked. 

“Uh, yeah,” Paige said. 

The Garden Coven shifted their gaze toward him. Overwhelmed by the sudden burst of attention, Paige slowly stood up with a nervous smile. 

“Uh, hi,” he waved. He cleared his throat. “At the very least, the things that attacked the plaza today were beings of pure aura. We couldn’t hit them with anything physical; only aura-imbued attacks worked.” 

“That wouldn’t make sense though,” Magnus argued. “Why would the woodland spirits attack the townspeople? They’ve always protected us.” 

“It seems we have quite the conundrum on our hands. How long would you say we have before the signum could enter the city?” 

“Most likely by the time the sun rises tomorrow morning,” Magnus sighed. 

An uneasy silence struck the room. 

“Well,” the Count said, gripping the armrests of his chair. “That is terrifying news. We shall see to this at once. Magnus, you and your comrades investigate to see if a biological phenomenon is occurring. Meanwhile, our esteemed guests from Constellation Academy, how about you investigate the spirits?” 

Dalton leaned back in his chair. “Well, what’re you going to do? Sounds like this city needs us.” 

“Sounds like we have a mystery on our hands, gang,” Paige said excitedly. “We’ll start right away!” 

“Great. I will start preparing contingency plans. I need to make some calls and get Chasm reinforcements here as fast as possible. Godspeed to you all.” 

****

“Remind us again why we’re going to an empty house?” Clara asked. 

The six hiked up the hill to where an abandoned mansion sat. The orange glow of the twilight sun was snuffed out and replaced with the dark shades of night. 

“Dalton said that the storm first started brewing above this manor,” Paige said. “So I thought this was a good starting point. Besides, something fishy is going on here.” 

“Yeah, Magnus really doubted that those spirits earlier were the woodland spirits,” Amy said. 

“We could be dealing with a mage,” Monty said. 

“Maybe, but wouldn’t fighting a ghoul or a ghost or a monster be cooler?” Elizabeth asked. 

“No!” all five snapped in unison. 

“We aren’t the Ghostbusters, Liz,” Dalton said. “We’re not equipped, we don’t even have proton packs.” 

They all tilted their heads in confusion.

“Have you guys seriously not watched Ghostbusters?” 

They finally reached the perimeter of the manor. Its walls were weathered and old. The large stained-glass windows were plastered in dust and dirt. A flash of lightning streaked across the sky behind it, covering it in darkness. 

“Well, that wasn’t ominous at all,” Amy chuckled. 

“Okay gang,” Paige said and turned to his team. “We should split up and look for clues.” 

“No!” Dalton shouted. “Seriously, Paige, we’ve watched horror movies together! That is absolutely the worst possible course of action!” 

“Okay Dalton, but unlike horror movies, we have magic,” Clara said. 

“You have to realize Dalton, we don’t have much time to figure out what’s going on. You heard Magnus, we only got until sunrise,” Paige said. 

Dalton whimpered. “But we can find clues fast, together!” 

“Fine, we can wait a little before splitting up,” Paige said. 

They walked up to the giant door.

Amy took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes…” she stuck out her tongue and slowly opened the door. 

It creaked and moaned as she opened it more and more, centimeters at a time, cringing at how loud the sounds were. Clara stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“I got it,” Clara smiled. 

Clara kicked the door down and it landed with a crash. A wake of dust pulsed across the floor. 

“It’s supposed to be abandoned guys,” she said. 

“Yeah, supposed!” Dalton cried, hugging Amy. Amy nodded in agreement frantically. 

The main entrance to the house was spacious and vacant. Paintings along the walls up the staircase were covered in dust and spiderwebs. The carpet was moldy and grey. A chandelier rocked back and forth, the chain barely staying together. 

“I’m less afraid of ghosts and more afraid of asbestos,” Monty muttered, covering his mouth with his sleeve.

Suddenly, the door that was on the floor swung upwards and crashed back into place. Amy ran back and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Um, guys, is that not a sign of ghosts?” Amy chuckled. 

The chain the chandelier hung from began to rattle. Little dolls with baby clothes and white wooden masks crawled down like spiders and spilled to the floor in front of them.

“Yeah, nah, we’re good,” Paige chuckled. “Clara! Blast ‘em with lightning!” 

Clara put out her hand and channeled her aura… to no effect. She looked at it as if it were broken and tried again, but nothing happened. 

“Clara?”

“Yeah, it’s not coming out. Monty!”

Monty punched Dalton in the shoulder. 

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!” Dalton roared. 

“He didn’t have an aura shield!” Monty said. 

“Great,” Clara chuckled. 

“Well, that’s just wonderful,” Paige groaned. 

The dolls pulled out kitchen knives and other sharp objects, giggling and cackling as they did so. 

“Well, that’s just wonderful!” Paige repeated. 

“Run!” Dalton wailed. 

The six booked it down a hallway to their left, the horde of dolls hot on their heels. They ran up a flight of stairs and reached another hallway with doors spaced throughout. They came to an abrupt halt and opened a nearby one. The dolls followed. They ran through door after door, running back and forth across the same hallway. Sometimes they were being chased by the dolls, sometimes they chased the dolls. Sometimes they separated and passed each other. Elizabeth peeked her head out of a door, looking for her friends. When there was no sight of them, she went back inside. Immediately after, Clara was giving Monty a piggyback ride as they sprinted away from the dolls. Amy rode on Elizabeth’s back like she was a tiger, chasing after their own batch of dolls. Dalton and Paige came out of their doors and bumped into each other. 

“Wait a minute!” Dalton shouted, putting his arms out and entering a squat. 

The two siblings looked around and saw that nothing was coming out of the doors. 

“Just what the hell was that?” Paige got out between breaths. 

“Horror movie 101 is what that was,” Dalton said. “Be grateful you got stuck with me, brother. I’m our best bet at surviving the night..” 

Paige heaved a sigh. “Let’s just look for clues.”

****

The three girls rested in a third-story room, finally escaping the horde of dolls.

“I think we’re in the clear,” Clara said. 

“No more spooky stuff!” Amy groaned. “I wanna go home and snuggle!” 

“A warm glass of milk would be nice,” Elizabeth sighed. 

“And cookies!” Clara added. 

They finally took the time to view their surroundings. They stumbled across what appeared to be a study. A desk with books sat in the corner beside a window. Elizabeth walked over and pulled the curtain to the side, revealing the beautiful view of the orange lantern lights of Montralis below. Dust covered the bookshelves, but the work area and the paintings on the wall were clean.

“This room doesn’t look very abandoned,” Elizabeth remarked. 

She noticed a picture frame on the desk that displayed a photo of a smiling woman with curly black hair and brown skin. Elizabeth tapped the edge of the frame and scrolled through the small slideshow of images stored in the frame. She stopped at a photo of her and a man hugging… A very familiar man.

“Count Wahl?” Elizabeth murmured. 

The sound of something clattering made her turn around.

“Eek! Oops, sorry!” Amy peeped as she dropped a box onto the floor.

A little melancholic tune played from the box and a hologram displayed twinkling stars and a moon that flickered to the melody. After a minute, the song ended and the hologram flickered off. Dead silence. The girls glanced at each other, waiting for something to happen. Nothing. Finally, they let out a sigh of relief. 

“Well, I for sure thought that was going to end poorly,” Clara chuckled. 

“I guess I dodged a bullet there,” Amy smiled.

Elizabeth’s ear flicked at a scratching noise in the distance and put a finger to her mouth, quieting the room. 

“La, la-la, la. Hmmm-hmm-hm-hmmm…” a girl’s voice hummed in the distance. 

Soon, the other girls heard the singing as well. The melody was the same as the music box, and it grew closer and closer. 

“La, la-la, la. Hmmm-hmm-hm-hmmm…” 

Amy searched for a place to hide in the room. Elizabeth frantically thought of an escape plan. Clara stood next to the door with a raised fist. 

“La, la-la, la. Hmmm-hmm-hm-hmmm…” Now they heard the shrilling scrape of a blade against a wall. 

They were without aura–without magic. Clara stilled her breathing, calming her mind. Amy clutched her chest, hoping to slow the heartbeat that pulsed in her ears. Elizabeth strained her hearing for footsteps, but the hallway outside was silent. She put herself between Amy and the door, a hand shepherding Amy behind her and another with her pistol aimed at the door. 

Silence… Sweat beaded on Clara’s forehead. A hand suddenly burst through the door. The nails were long like black claws and the skin was translucent and blue with bandages loosely wrapped around her wrist. Clara didn’t hesitate to bury her shoulder into the door, pushing it off its hinges and slamming the creature against the hallway. 

Elizabeth grabbed Amy by the wrist and ran out of the room and down the hall. Clara sprinted after them and was catching up with them quickly until something wrapped around her ankle and tripped her. 

“Clara!” Amy cried. 

Clara looked behind and saw a bandage wrapped around her foot. The creature was a woman with hollowed-out eyes and thin black hair in a torn-up nurse uniform. She screeched as she reeled Clara back to her. Elizabeth ran back and took aim at the bandage. With a single shot, the bond was severed and Amy helped Clara up to her feet. 

The nurse hurled the door at them. 

“Watch out!” Elizabeth warned.

Elizabeth was able to dodge, but Amy and Clara were struck in the back and knocked down again. Elizabeth opened fire, landing headshot after headshot, but the nurse was only temporarily stunned. It got close and swung with its giant, bloody cleaver. Elizabeth stopped time and took a step back. She reloaded her pistol with an arctic runestone and fired two bolts at her feet while running away. Time resumed and the bolts hit the nurse’s feet and glued her to the floor.

The girls ran away and turned the corner, not daring to look back.

“La, la-la, la. Hmmm-hmm-hm-hmmm…” the nurse hummed with a smile as she broke free from the ice. She strolled along, humming, running her cleaver along the manor walls.

****

Monty was sad.

“Why did I get stuck with being alone?” he sighed as he trudged onward with his shoulders and head drooped. He tried calling the others on his Omnicard, but couldn’t get a signal. “Great.”

He shuffled along the floor and opened another door. He expected a bedroom or something of the like since he was on the second floor. However, he instead found himself in a large greenhouse on what appeared to be the first floor. The glass walls and ceiling had holes in them that let a cold flood of air in every time a breeze blew past. Monty scanned the large plants and flowers that had outgrown their pots and constraints and spilled over the countertops. 

He came across a chemist station of several bottles, tubes, and glass cylinders, all of which were empty. He looked past the array of tubes and cylinders and saw that there was a jack-o-lantern behind it. Attached to it was a farmer’s hat, a gray and blue flannel stuffed with straw, and denim jeans. 

“Odd,” Monty thought aloud. “I guess a scarecrow would be needed in case one flew in from the holes in the ceiling?” 

He turned around to the other table and saw a worn-out book with page markers in it. He flipped through it, not noticing the scarecrow starting to move. It flailed its arms above its head with an axe in hand, as it silently zigzagged toward Monty. 

“The Celestial Moonrise,” Monty murmured, reading the notes aloud. “An endangered species of flower that blooms when enough moonlight shines upon it.”

The scarecrow inched closer and closer…

“Said to be Princess Celestia’s favorite flower, legend has it that its nectar has healing properties…”

The scarecrow raised its axe and swung. Monty turned and stepped toward it, pressing himself against it, the bridge of his nose pressed against its face. The axe swung over him and lodged itself into the desk instead. Papers from the book fluttered around them. 

“Hey, watch it punk!” Monty roared. 

Monty stepped to the side while it tried to pry the axe out of the desk. 

“I wonder why it’s attacking me…” Monty muttered. “Ah!” A lightbulb went off inside his head. “Are you somehow confusing me for a crow?”

With ferocity, the scarecrow swung at Monty, but he dipped out of the way. He reactively punched the scarecrow in the stomach, expecting to hit straw but he made contact with something more solid. His arm rang with pain as his cheeks puffed out with a suppressed scream. 

The scarecrow went back to its axe and freed it from the table. Monty took his lanyard out of his pocket and whirled his sword to life. The scarecrow stomped over and swung. Monty met it halfway with his blade, but the force of the attack pushed him back. The scarecrow continued its onslaught, pushing Monty further and further back until he was pressed against the wall of the manor. It swung its axe around one more time and Monty ducked underneath. It plowed through the wall behind him and got stuck.

Monty went underneath and ran back inside the manor. “Just what the hell is that thing made of?!”

He nearly jumped when the scarecrow, instead of pulling its axe out, ran straight through the wall, blowing it to pieces. It sprinted after Monty with booming footsteps as it barreled toward him.

Monty quickened the pace and turned a corner. He noticed an elevator chute for food in the wall and quickly crammed himself inside. The thunderous footsteps outside quickly passed. He let out a sigh of relief. He crawled out of his hiding spot after checking to see if the coast was clear. That was when he noticed black vines across the walls. At first, he thought it was just normal weather and overgrowth, but it seemed there was something more to it. He followed it toward the perimeter of the house.

****

Dalton and Paige’s search for clues led them to the large basement beneath the manor. With nothing but the flashlights on their Omnicards to guide them, they navigated their way through the barrels of wine. Water dripped from the stalactites and bats chirped above. Finally, they reached a tunnel. A tunnel with lasers. A door waited for them at the end of the tunnel.  

“So… you think those are lasers that raise an alarm or lasers that slice you apart?” Dalton asked.

“Either way, it looks like that button over there is the switch,” Paige pointed at the switch on the wall at the other end of the tunnel. “Someone doesn’t want people to go into that room.” 

“I’ve eluded way more deadly traps in the banks and mansions of Yankee,” Dalton chuckled. “I can crack this no sweat.” 

Dalton took a step back and tilted his head. He paced back and forth, eyeing the pattern of the lasers. A minute passed. Two minutes. Three minutes. Four…

“Well, you think you can crack it?” Paige finally asked.

Dalton scoffed. “Pfft! Can I crack it?” 

Dalton nervously smiled at the lasers. Paige noticed.

“C-Can you?” he asked again. 

“Yes!” Dalton exclaimed. “Of course, I can. Just… gimme a minute.” 

“Sure.” 

He stretched his limbs and neck. “Hey, can you hold my Omnicard for a second?” Dalton asked. 

“Yeah, sure,” Paige said.

Dalton took one last deep breath before the song began playing from his Omnicard. A synth italo-disco song started to play. 

Dalton ran up to the lasers and dove, landing with a somersault in perfect timing with the lasers and the song. He got up and did a handstand, once again dodging the lasers as they came back around. He did a cartwheel and then laid down and rolled beneath another pair of lasers. Another laser swept at his level. He rolled onto his stomach and did a pushup, lifting off the ground and clapping over the laser before landing again. He weaved through the remaining lasers with acrobatic maneuvers in perfect sync with the song before doing a kip-up and finally getting to the other side. 

He played it off coolly, dusting his shoulders and fixing his sleeves. He flipped the switch, turning the lasers off and allowing Paige to walk through. 

“See? Still got it,” Dalton smiled.

Paige lovingly punched him with a smile as he walked passed and they got to the door. He opened it slowly at first but then busted it open and put his hands up, ready to fight. 

There was no one there. 

“What is this place?” Dalton asked.

Hanging from a rack on the wall was different wooden masks like the ones on the dolls. Metal rigging, gears, oil, and tools were scattered over the workbench. 

“This guy used to work at one of those arcade pizza parlors?” Paige asked, hoisting up a wolf head. 

“You sayin’ those dolls were animatronics and not demons?” Dalton asked, examining a metal skeleton. 

“I knew something wasn’t right. But then what about those spirits in the town square?” Paige thought aloud. 

“Beats me,” Dalton shrugged. 

“Regardless, this guy doesn’t want anybody coming into this manor. You find anything that can tell us why we can’t use our magic here and why we can’t leave?” Paige asked.

He turned around to Dalton, who was twirling a wrench on his finger. 

“Huh? Oh, uh, no. I haven’t.” 

Paige shot him a tired look just in time to see a doll holding a knife over Dalton’s head.

“Heads up!” Paige shouted.

Dalton followed Paige’s gaze above him to the doll as it dropped the knife. Dalton caught it and immediately sent it back, destroying the doll.

“Really didn’t think that one through, did you?” Dalton scoffed. 

“C’mon. We should get going. Who knows what the others have found?”

Dalton and Paige stepped out of the room and began their walk back through the basement. That was until they heard the door open behind them. They turned around and saw the horde of dolls spill out of the door and start running after them.

“Okay, the doors in this house make no sense!” Paige yelled.

****

Monty followed the vines to a door that led to another floor. When he opened it, however, he walked into a room that appeared to be an attic. 

“Argh!” three war cries rang out and the girls tackled him to the ground.

“Woah, it’s me! It’s Monty!” he cried. 

“Oh, sorry,” Amy giggled. 

The three girls helped him up and he dusted his clothes off. 

“What’re you guys doing here?”

“We were running away from this weird nurse monster when we opened a hallway door and ended up here,” Clara explained. 

“I was following these black vines when I opened a door and now I’m here. And there’s no vines here…” Monty said.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Dalton and Paige tumbled through, screaming. They quickly got up and slammed the door shut, sliding their backs down it until they hit the floor. 

“Oh, what’s up guys?” Paige asked between breaths. “Glad to see no one has been killed off.” 

“Hey, where are we by the way?” Dalton asked. 

“I think the attic,” Elizabeth replied. 

Dalton whined. “These stupid doors man…” 

The six reconvened and shared the information they found while they were split up. 

“The monsters are animatronics?” Monty asked. “No wonder it hurt so much to punch that scarecrow.” 

“Couple photos with Count Wahl and experimentation with an endangered plant said to have healing properties…” Paige grumbled. “Clearly there is a chance Wahl is involved with the manor. But I don’t know how that would tie into the spirits at the plaza and the door.”

“Maybe they really were spirits,” Clara shrugged. “They were pretty weak after all.”

“I’m still confused…” Amy said, scratching her head.

“Regardless,” Elizabeth said. “It’s going to be difficult to piece this mystery together without our magic with those animatronics going around.” 

“We’re running out of time,” Monty sighed. “It’s already 4 o’clock. These stupid machines have had us running around for hours.” 

“Hey guys, take a look at this!” Amy said. 

She pulled out a broom from cluttered boxes of junk. However, the broom had a compartment at the end of it for gale runestones and a thruster that was hidden amongst the straw.

“That’s the broom the witch spirit rode on!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

Dalton walked over and picked up a scythe. “Yep, I got a close enough look at this the last time. It’s the same one the headless horseman used. No way that wolf’s head from earlier was the one for the werewolf, right?”

“That seals it. I don’t think the supernatural is happening here,” Paige said. “I think there’s a mage with a special kind of magic that allows them to control where the doors go. The doors seemed to only change when we were being chased by the animatronics. Which means they can only see us when the animatronics do.” 

Paige tested his theory by opening the attic door and it led to a regular stairwell. “I think that proves that theory.”

“What about that door?” Dalton asked, pointing at the other remaining door in the attic across the room.

Amy walked over and tried it, but it was locked. “I guess we’ll never know.” 

“I think something is up with the vines,” Monty said. “I tried following them outside, but I ended up here.”

“Hmm… that’s true,” Paige muttered. 

“Well, if you think about it, the animatronics have only chased us toward the inside of the manor, right?” Clara said. “And when we tried to leave earlier, we couldn’t. If they didn’t want us to find them, why would they keep us here?”

“You’re right! I’ve been thinking about this wrong. The animatronics aren’t trying to chase us out, they’re trying to keep us in! And the only place we haven’t checked in this manor is…” Paige began. 

“The backyard!” Dalton finished. 

“Right. I think this calls for a good ‘ol fashion trap!” Paige exclaimed. 

“Looks like someone’s having fun,” Clara scoffed. 

“Okay, here’s the plan: Clara’s the fastest so she’ll lure them away. Meanwhile, we’ll sneak around to the back and—”

“We can just leave right now,” Elizabeth said blankly. 

They all turned to her. She stood beside a circular window that was now open.

“Or we could try a window instead of a door…” Paige whimpered. 

They all climbed out of the window and up to the roof of the manor. A thick fog had surrounded the grounds of the manor, but it wasn’t thick enough to hide a glowing green light in the distance. 

“I don’t need my Eye to know where we need to go,” Monty said.

“Even though we’re outside, I don’t feel my aura coming back to me,” Clara said.

“Right. Grab whatever gear we can and let’s stealthily make our way over there,” Paige said. 

****

On a nearby hill, a rock formation rested within a grove of oak trees. Team Prism crept forward, sticking low to the ground. Monty had his sword ready, Amy was given the scythe, Clara found two hollow metal hands she used as bracers, and Paige was given Elizabeth’s pistol. 

In the rocky ruins, a green magic circle glowed on the ground. At the center of it was a coffin wrapped in black vines, and a hooded man standing before it. 

“Boo!” Dalton greeted.

He stood nonchalantly outside the circle, facing the man.

That idiot! Paige screamed internally. 

“You must be the owner of that manor back there,” Dalton said, pointing behind him with his thumb. “Also, nice laser trap.” 

“Well, not much point in hiding now,” Clara sighed and came out of the bushes. 

“Clara?!” Paige shrieked. 

She rolled her arm to warm it up. “Let’s just beat this guy up already.” 

“Give it up, you’re surrounded!” Dalton snickered. 

The man finally spoke. “Now, why should I be afraid of some toddlers playing detective?” 

He removed his hood and revealed himself to be Count Wahl. 

“Hmph,” Clara scoffed. “So much for calling reinforcements.” 

“It was a quick fountain call,” he replied coldly. “Rest assured, I don’t want anyone injured because of my actions.”

“Actions?”

“You may have noticed that your aura is nowhere to be found,” he said. “That’s because I’m absorbing it all with this magic circle.” 

“Why do you need all that power? You’re sapping all of the aura from the Protector Trees! You know that!” 

“It has something to do with that girl in the photos, doesn’t it?” Monty asked. 

“Indeed,” he said. With a flick of his wrist, the coffin opened, revealing the girl from the photo.

Oh, I see where this is going… Monty thought.

“In my research, I’ve found a way to resurrect the dead. I have the nectar from the Celestial Moonrise; all I need is the aura to supply it and the love of my life will come back to me.”

Dalton took a step forward, but his leg refused to budge. Suddenly, all five of them were hoisted into the air in a green aura. 

Start thinking, Paige! Paige thought. What’s this magic? How can we beat him? 

“That’s not how it works!” Monty cried. “She’s already dead, Wahl! As painful as it is, all we can do is accept it and move on.”

“You’d say that even with all the tools to refute that claim right in front of you?”

“You can’t sacrifice other people who are still alive! Think of the signum that will storm the city!” Clara retorted. 

“I have no desire to harm you further,” Count Wahl said. He pushed the five away and let go of his psychic hold on them. 

“La, la-la, la. Hmmm-hmm-hm-hmmm…” a voice echoed through the fog.

“Oh, no,” Amy said.

“You’ve met my nightmares,” Wahl said as the dolls, the scarecrow, and the nurse entered the rocky ruins. “Celine’s favorite toys that comforted her as she lay bedridden, the nurse who cared for her while I was away, the gardener who tended to her flowers when she couldn’t move… All nothing but tainted memories seared into the back of my mind. Tonight, I will bring her back!”

“I’ve got it!” Paige exclaimed. “He’s a psychic. He controlled the clouds earlier to keep people away from the manor and he used his powers to somehow manipulate the doors inside! His weakness is intense concentration. If he’s focusing on that spell, he can only stop one of us.”

“Leave it to me!” Dalton and Clara roared at the same time before speeding off toward the Count. 

“Don’t slow me down,” Clara said.

“That’s my line,” Dalton snickered. 

The army of dolls got in their way. Dalton tossed the knives he was hiding in his jacket pockets in the air. “Guess I gotta do this the old-fashioned way.” He caught them as they fell, spinning and throwing them as he raced past. 

Clara batted one away with her gauntlet and, out of the corner of her eye, caught a glimpse of the scarecrow charging her. She stepped to dodge, but Amy was there, slashing with her scythe. It ripped through the scarecrows’ flannel and scraped its metal skin.

“I got this! Go!” she said. 

Paige supported Dalton and fired into the crowd of teddy bears and dolls. Dalton gave a nod before continuing forward. A sharp pain filled Paige’s back and, with a grimace, he hurled a stuffed animal off his back, the knife still lodged into his flesh.

“Not having aura is annoying,” he seethed. 

Monty clashed blades with the nurse who giggled as she swung her cleaver sporadically. She sliced Monty’s cheek as he barely got out of the way of an attack before blocking another slash. The force from her attacks nearly made Monty stagger. “I’ve fought criminals and signum. I can definitely handle a bag of bolts!” 

A wall of swirling rocks and logs stopped Dalton and Clara’s approach. A lavender stream of light flowed through the trees, through the wall, and into the coffin. 

“He’s building aura!” Clara said.

Elizabeth arrived on the scene. She flew in from above, riding on the broom from the attic. Strong winds from the thruster urged her forward and she swooped down and picked up Clara. 

“Hey!” Dalton shouted, tossing his arms up.

“Sorry! Only room for two!” Elizabeth shouted back.

“Thanks for the ride Lizzy, but how come it took you so long to get here?”

“I didn’t know how to fly this thing and got lost,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Oh… well glad you made it.”

Dalton watched them fly off before bringing his attention back to the wall of swirling rubble. “I guess I gotta catch my own ride.”

He waited for a passing rock and jumped, wrapping his limbs around it. It slammed into his ribs and he gasped for air. No aura shield! Right! He pushed himself on top of it and balanced. He waited for a passing log above and grabbed on. Dust and dirt scraped his skin as he scaled the wall of debris with several quick moves. 

Elizabeth circled above and nosedived into the eye of the debris. Count Wahl noticed their approach and hurled rocks from the wall to stop them. Elizabeth weaved and twisted around the projectiles. A small stone at high speed whistled past, nearly grazing Elizabeth’s face. She felt Clara’s weight shift on the broomstick. She turned around and saw blood seeping down Clara’s face as she slumped over and fell off the broom.

“Clara!” Elizabeth cried and raced after her.

Shit, Clara thought. The world spun around her and pain seared her head. She crashed on the ground inside the circle and her body shook from the impact. She struggled to breathe. Come on, come on! Move! 

Count Wahl kept one hand focused on the coffin, channeling all the aura into it, and used his other to levitate Clara. She started moving toward the spinning wall of debris, but Dalton leaped over the edge in the nick of time. 

As he jumped from a log, he threw a batch of knives at the Count. He was forced to let Clara go and caught the knives mid-flight instead. Dalton landed and caught Clara before she fell. The knives were flipped and sent back at Dalton. He shielded Clara and turned away, taking the blades in the arm. Blood splashed from his wounds and dripped onto Clara. 

****

Outside, the other three still struggled with the animatronics.

Paige ran around in circles, firing at each doll as they lunged at his heels. “Why are they so fast?!” 

Monty ducked underneath a slash, the nurse’s cleaver cutting a strand of his hair off. He ran his blade along her legs, but it glanced off and just left shallow cuts in the metal. 

Tsk, I need to keep chipping away at one spot! Keep attacking her left leg until you carve through! He thought as he repositioned himself.

Amy danced between the trees, avoiding the scarecrow's attacks. I just need him to swing and miss! He’ll get his axe stuck in a tree and that’ll be my time to strike.

Amy lured the scarecrow to a nearby tree and ducked as it swung. Just like she planned, it got lodged in the trunk. She brought back her scythe and—

“Agh!” Paige’s terrified scream tore through Amy’s focus. 

Paige? She looked over and saw a doll latched onto his back.

It stabbed into him before he threw it off, but it was enough time for the horde to catch up and tackle him to the ground. He crawled back, kicking them off him as they slashed at his legs. 

Monty rushed over to help, slicing a doll in half with his blade. 

Metal crashed against Amy’s face and sent her on her back. Blood gushed from her nose and her teary vision swayed. While she was distracted, the scarecrow had forsaken its weapon and struck her with its elbow. It towered over her with its freshly plucked axe from the tree. 

Monty kicked another one off Paige’s legs, but the others chucked their weapons at him, causing him to flinch and look away in time to see Amy on the ground. 

“Amy!” Monty cried. 

“Monty, watch out!” Paige yelled.

Paige got a shot off at the nurse who rushed Monty from behind, but it didn’t stop her from running her cleaver across Monty’s back. Monty grunted with pain and fell to his knees. 

Amy fiercely struggled to reorient herself, but the scarecrow had already brought its axe down… 

****

Elizabeth descended like an eagle. She got off her broom and gripped it in her hands. With the thruster at full speed, she spun and flipped in the air, generating force before bringing it down on the Count. The strength of his psychic abilities could only slow down the attack. The broom head slammed into him, and he was knocked off his feet. 

Elizabeth bounced across the ground and skidded to a halt. Scratches covered her face and skin. The Count got up and wiped the blood from his mouth, a green shimmer glossing over his body. He flicked his neck.

The walls surrounding them became weaponized once again. Debris shot at them from all directions and they desperately scrambled to dodge them. Elizabeth was pelted with sticks and stones until she felt a sensation. A nostalgic one that welcomed her home: aura. Her shield regenerated and she reached out and stopped time. She ran over to Dalton and touched him.

“Dalton! We can use aura again!” she shouted.

Dalton wasted no time. He calmed himself and thrust away all thoughts from his mind. He visualized a peaceful cave as a drop of water fell from a stalactite and splashed into a pool of calm water. “Tranquil Snow.”

Time resumed. A snowstorm expanded and the ground was buried in a soft white blanket. The sky around them turned into an aquamarine twilight and the walls of debris transformed into a blizzard. Dalton stood up and yanked the knives out of his arm as his image broke away like snowflakes catching the breeze. Within the boundary of his Tranquil Snow spell, he was completely invisible. 

A yellow spark ran across Clara’s body as she slowly stood up. “I guess while we’re in this circle we have our aura back? Looks like we just won.”

Clara and Elizabeth rushed forward. Count Wahl held them back with psychic force, but Dalton blindsided him with a kick and sent him to the ground. Clara and Elizabeth were freed and chased after him.

Clara punted the Count in the chin, Elizabeth followed up with a punch, and Dalton picked him up by the collar and socked him in the face. Punch, kick, elbow, knee, punch–the Count was caught in an onslaught of attacks that gave him no time to breathe.

“Enough!” he roared and pushed them away with a psychic pulse.

Clara didn’t let it distract her and reached out a hand, channeling lightning from her fingertips to Wahl, showering him with electricity. Dalton created a wall of ice that he used to stop himself. He loaded his legs and created a ball of ice that trapped a swirling aurora in icy white winds. He launched off and thrust the ball into Wahl’s back.

“Aurora Ball!” he shouted.

Count Wahl fell to his knees with an agonizing cry, his aura shield shattered to pieces. “Celine…” he moaned as he lost consciousness and planted face-first into the snow.

****

Amy was knocked awake and gasped for air. The axe slammed against her chest, but she wasn’t dead. She used the newfound adrenaline to reach for her scythe and hooked the scarecrow’s legs, bringing it to the ground.

She got up and brought her scythe down overhead, plunging it into its skull. It spazzed out with sparks flying from its eyes and neck before powering off. Amy touched her chest with her hand and noticed the protection charm she purchased at the plaza had split in half. 

“I guess this was a worthwhile purchase,” she mumbled. 

Monty spun on his knees and slashed at the nurse’s left leg once more, finally tearing it apart. The nurse fell on her back, and Monty flicked his blade and sent her cleaver cluttering across the ground. He stabbed repeatedly while the nurse desperately clawed at him until he was able to pierce its skull and power off the machine. 

He breathed heavily, resting on his sword which was firmly inside the animatronic’s head. Monty looked over at the previously spinning walls of debris and saw that Dalton’s Tranquil Snow had replaced it. 

Dalton exhaled, and Tranquil Snow ended. His eyes immediately went to his brother, who was limping away from the dolls. 

“Get inside the circle!” he shouted. “You can use magic in here!” 

Paige changed his course, and Monty went to assist. They made it within the circle, and the dolls followed. Paige’s aura returned with a rush, and he flicked three talismans at the horde, blowing them apart with lightning and fire. 

He heaved a sigh and put his hands on his knees. Dalton patted him on the back. 

“This thing should be off, right?” Elizabeth asked.

They all turned and saw that the coffin was still absorbing aura.

“Looks like the ritual is still going,” Paige said. “The coffin is being used as a receptacle for the aura. If we break it with a combined attack, as shitty as that sounds, we can stop it.”

“Shitty?” Amy asked.

“We’d be blowing up his dead wife’s corpse,” Clara said.

“Screw them,” Monty said. “Not our fault his spell is going to kill a bunch of people.” 

“I’m with the Monty on this one,” Dalton said.

“Let’s get this over with,” Clara said. 

They all stood apart at the edge of the ring. Paige laid all of his talismans on the coffin.

“Once you guys have reached full power with your attacks Got it?” Paige said.

The others nodded and got ready. 

“Go!” Paige shouted.

Fire, lightning, shadow, and ice bombarded the coffin in a brilliant display of light and destruction. Paige reached out with his focus to his talisman and surged his aura through them, unleashing one last explosion that sent them all flying backward. 

Lavender wisps of light broke free from the coffin and poured out into the night sky.

The six stood up and walked to the edge of the hilltop, where they watched as the lavender ghosts sailed through the night, returning back to the trees. The last one arrived back in its home, just barely missing the sun’s morning rays. 

****

After working with Magnus Ronan to put Count Wahl behind bars, the six returned to Monica’s apartment where she and Monty teamed up to cook an extravagant breakfast. Waffles and french toast were served with Montralis’ special syrup. Eggs, sausage, and bacon provided a heartiness to the sweet aroma of the syrup. Clara hopped on the espresso machine and made pumpkin spice lattes for everyone.

When food didn’t occupy their mouths, banter and lively conversation did. 

“See Dalton? No real ghosts!” Paige said. 

“Yeah, yeah, sure. We got lucky this time is all I’m saying.”

Ding dong. 

“Someone’s at the door!” Elizabeth said.

“Can someone else get it, me and Monty are tired from cooking,” Monica asked.

“I got it, Sis,” Amy said and walked over to the door. 

She opened it, and standing at the bottom of the stairs of the front porch was Celine, who was nearly transparent in the sun’s glistening light.

“Thank you,” she mouthed before she dissipated into thin air. 

Amy stood stunned for a second. Too petrified with fear that she saw a real ghost to accept the gratitude. “Just going to go ahead and delete that from my memory…” 

She closed the door behind her and returned to the table.

“Who was it?” Monica asked. 

“It was a spooky ghost~” Amy mocked.

Everyone got a laugh.

“No wait, seriously, was it?” Dalton asked. 

The sign on the door that swung after being closed read:

Happy Halloween!