AN: This story is a novelization of Hotel Transylvania from Jonathan's POV. The name of the village is totally made up and geography, as mentioned, only has a very small basis in reality. Hotel Transylvania and it's characters belong to Sony. I'm just borrowing them for my own (and hopefully your) entertainment.

Chapter 1

Jonathan smiled as he tightened the last strap on his backpack after tying down his tent and bedroll. He swung it up on his back and tightened himself to his constant traveling companion. Another day and another new country to explore.

And he was pretty excited about his current itinerary. Sure, most people who backpack through Europe hit the more 'popular' western countries. And, admittedly, so did he. But now he was on the road less traveled in Eastern Europe. Over the past week or so, he trekked through Hungary and was now in Romania.

Too bad he got separated from those dudes he went mountain climbing with. They were pretty cool.

Luckily as he tumbled down after his rope snapped, he caught a glimpse or three of a village not too far away from where he eventually landed and camped. He figured that was as good a place as any to travel to next. Besides, it would help him get his bearings before heading towards Bucharest.

Unless he got side-tracked.

But that was part of the fun! Seeing what was beyond the next hill with no one keeping you to a schedule. And if you spotted something that peaked your interest, then you just go check it out. Like that Lubov castle he went to a few days ago. That was awesome. A real life Transylvanian castle!

"Let's get going," Jonathan said to his backpack. Hey, there was no one else around! As he started walking in the direction he thought that village was, he popped an earbud in one ear, leaving the other free, and started playing music on his phone.

Shortly after mid-day, Jonathan entered the village he was heading towards.

Well, he entered a village, anyway. That was close enough. He turned the music off his phone and removed the earbud. He preferred to listen to his music when he was rolling solo. When he reached a town, he liked to be able to interact with people. Although most of the people he saw here seemed to be a little skittish and were giving him a wide berth.

Weird.

They must not get a lot of tourists around here. He spotted a tavern just down the street and his stomach reminded him that the trail mix he munched on had been hours ago. He headed that way and waved at some locals as he went.

He opened the tavern's door and paused to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting. Once his eyes adjusted, he took in the décor with a muttered, "Cool." He realized that he was still blocking the doorway, so he moved further into the low-ceilinged building.

"Pot sa te ajut?" a woman asked as he approached one of the many empty tables and stood beside it.

Jonathan smiled sheepishly and, using his hands to emphasize his words he said, "Yeah, uh, my Romanian isn't at, you know, a conversation level if you know what I mean. More like a few words I learned from this guy while we waited in a line in Budapest. I hate to be that guy, but does anyone here speak English? If not, that's cool. I have an app for that. It's just slow, you know?" He waved his phone around for emphasis.

The woman rolled her eyes and muttered, "Turist nebun..." before yelling, "Mihai!"

"Oh, sweet. Those are two of the words I know! Still not sure what they mean, but whatever," Johnny commented with a shrug as a middle-aged man entered the room from the back. The locals had a quick conversation in Romanian that Johnny had no hope of following before the guy crossed the room and approached Johnny.

"Yes? I am Mihai and this is Ana. Can we help you?" he asked in heavily accented English as he got closer.

"Yeah. Sorry about being a pain, Mihai, was it? My name's Jonathan," he introduced himself after apologizing. He knew it was a common complaint that tourists didn't know the local language. "I'll just take a sandwich and some water, please. I've been backpacking all day and I'm starved!"

Mihai nodded and relayed the order to Ana.

"Hey great. Thanks, man," Jonathan said as he glanced around. He focused back on Mihai on asked, "Hey? So I was mountain climbing with these dudes but then got totally turned around. Mind telling me where I am, and if there's anything to see nearby? Or at least on the way to Bucharest?"

Mihai sat down across from the table that Jonathan was standing beside. It was cumbersome to sit while wearing his backpack, and he didn't like to take it off until he was settling in for the night. Everything he owned was literally on his back. So he'd just keep standing.

"You are in Râcalia," Mihai stated. "We don't see many tourists this far from the cities."

Jonathan smiled and replied, "Oh well, you know. I like to roam. Gotta see what's out there, right, Mihai?"

Mihai gave him a quick, tolerant grin before he got serious. "It is good to travel. Perhaps you should travel to city of Sibiu. It is close and they are having a festival soon. There are many things to see there. This is just a small village."

Jonathan replied, "Oh, you'd be surprised at some of the things I've seen in small villages. This one time, I was in a small village in Germany, and they had a working wine cellar that was built in like the 1300's. During the tour, this dude tripped and went straight through a wine cask. Totally ruined my shirt."

Ana came back with Jonathan's sandwich and placed it in front of him. He smiled up at her as he picked it up and tried one of the very few Romanian words he knew, "Multi-mesc, Ana." He looked back at Mihai and asked, "Did I get that right?"

Mihai gave a half-smile and said, "No. But close enough. And there is nothing around here besides pădurea bântuită. You must not go there," he commanded. Ana had gasped when he mentioned the new location.

"Really? Why not?" Jonathan asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"The forest. It is haunted! Many people go in, and very few come out again. My father's brother disappeared in there as a boy," Mihai relayed before almost collapsing in tears. Ana began to comfort him. Perhaps a bit insensitively, Jonathan snapped a quick pic of the two.

He wasn't a big note-taker (particularly while eating!), but visuals always helped. When he pulled up a pic of someone telling him about a new place, the story always came back when he was visually reminded of it. It was a neat trick he'd discovered since he started backpacking. He had to keep traveling light, after all. Not to mention note-taking just stank of planning. He preferred to just roll with things as they came.

And he was totally going to check out that spooky forest. Who wouldn't?

And they said this town didn't have anything to offer.