Today, as a little Halloween treat from me to you, I present this short little one-shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Calvin and Hobbes.
It was a bright, crisp autumn day, leaves danced and drifted throughout the neighborhood, carried on the breeze. All through the streets houses were bedecked with adornments and props of ghoulish design, pumpkins with menacing faces chiseled into their rinds glared out from every porch and folks were all about dressed in strange and unusual attire, for tonight was the eve of All Hallows.
Sitting on one porch, gazing out at the world, was Calvin. He sat, watching the state of affairs of the evening transpire. He watched the dead leaved meander about, twirling magnificently in one last imitation of life before falling dead to the streets. He watched the sun make its slow trek toward the Western horizon. He watched as mothers organized their children, straitened their costumes and prepared them for the annual nightly ritual of trick-or-treating. From a distance, he watched as Moe and his cohorts marauded from house to house taking the carved squashes from their porches and smashing them in the street. And all this he watched with sullen indifference.
Ordinarily, Halloween was one of his favorite days out of the year. But today,... well, it seemed events had conspired against him – it'd been one of those days, y'know. And all of it had put a damper on his mood.
Presently, the door opened and Hobbes (Calvin's best friend, and also a tiger) strode out of the house rubbing his stomach and sighing contently. "Mmmmm...... Man, nobody makes an apple pie like your mom!" he said.
"Yeah, I guess." Calvin responded, somberly.
Hobbes' keen feline senses picked up on Calvin's distress. And, like any good friend, he stooped down to offer his consolations. "What's up?" he asked.
"Nothing." Calvin grunted in return.
Hobbes, of course, didn't buy this for one moment. "Come on, something's eating at you, what is it?"
After a slight pause, Calvin replied "It's just,... it's just not been a good day, all right?"
Hobbes sat for a moment, knowing that sometimes the best thing to do for a friend who's feeling down is nothing at all. So he sat and waited, watching the beautiful scenery all around them. After a while, he realized something. "Say, shouldn't you be getting ready? The school dance'll be starting soon!"
"Yeah, I'm not going." Calvin replied.
"What? Why not?"
"Hobbes, when you're in a bad mood, the last thing you want is to be surrounded by a mass of people in a good mood. Honestly, I don't even like that when I'm in a good mood."
At that moment, a car sped along the street in front of them, stopping in front of a driveway a few houses down. The horn honked and, a couple minutes later, a young lady in dress like something seen in the Renaissance age emerged from the house and into got the car.
"Hey!" Hobbes startled, his green eyes wide. "Isn't that Susie?!"
"Astute observation." Calvin remarked sourly.
"Oh yeah," Hobbes said. "She's going to the dance with that Bjorn kid, isn't she?"
"Brilliant, Holmes!" Calvin replied sarcastically.
Hobbes narrowed his eyes at his friend, a new speculation forming in his mind. "Is that why you're so down today?"
"Huh?" Calvin turned slightly before realizing what was being asked. "What, NO! OF COURSE NOT!!"
Hobbes didn't buy it. He always said Calvin really liked Susie; though it was mostly a tool which he used to tease his friend mercilessly, he suspected that deep down somewhere Calvin actually did hold a soft spot for her. Besides, in all his fifteen years, Calvin had only ever gone out of his way to aggravate Susie. There were plenty of other girls he had to be around, but he never bothered them – it was always Susie who bore the brunt of his antagonizing. No, he knew something was going on there. "So you really don't have a problem with – "
"No Hobbes! Susie is a big girl, she can make her own decisions! And if she decides to date that dweeb, that's entirely her purgative. That's not the cause of my mood!" And it wasn't – at least, not entirely.
After a few more moments of sitting around, Calvin got to his feet saying "C'mon, let's go."
Hobbes looked up surprised. "You changed your mind about the dance?"
"Heck, no. I just need quality not around other people time – I'm headed out back."
And as he started walking around the house, Hobbes called to him "Won't your parents get suspicious if you're gone too long?"
Calvin glanced back saying "Nah, I told 'em I was going to the dance. They won't notice.... So ya comin' or what?"
"Yeah, I'm coming." Hobbes answered after a moment. "But first, I'm gonna snag me another slice of pie."
The backyard of Calvin's house had no distinctive boundary – it went on and on until it devolved into a primal, deciduous forest. It was this forest that Calvin often wandered in and out of, contemplating things on his mind and entertaining new thoughts that would appear. It was a place where he could feel close to nature, where he could do some serious soul searching, where he could find solitude, or solitude plus one, as the case often was. And it was these very woods he and Hobbes ventured into.
They meandered about for some time, observing the scenery and taking in their surroundings. Occasionally, Calvin would mention something which Hobbes would remark on, but mostly they walked in silence, each consumed with their own thoughts.
The majestic trees of the forest were truly a beautiful sight to behold during the day – but in the ever deepening gloom of twilight, and due to the circumstances of the season, things quickly donned a more cryptic visage.
Calvin wasn't terribly superstitious – though he liked a good scare as much as the next man, he didn't buy the old belief that the barrier separating the living from the dead became blurred at this time of year, allowing spirits of the deceased to travel the earth and cause mayhem. Still, as the shadows grew ever denser, the mind could easily wander into unfamiliar paths, transforming still and silent trees into twisted, malevolent fiends and other imagined phantoms.
After a spell, Hobbes made the suggestion of returning home. Calvin would have taken him up on the idea had he not noticed something.
Off in the distance, there was a light shining amid the foliage; and Calvin, like most of the human race, was blessed (or cursed, depending on who you asked) with an insatiable curiosity. And upon seeing the light – without so much as thinking about it – started moving toward it.
As the two approached, they reached a barricade of log and bush that concealed a sharp drop off which swept at a steep incline before leveling off into a large clearing. The light, as it turns out, emanated from a large bonfire. The pyre it was built on was enormous, at least half as tall as a man and the flames that issued forth flew high, reaching out to the very heavens.
Presently, two women walked out from around the fire. One was dressed in a simple dress and sandals and wore her auburn hair in a long braid; the other had on a tight fitting black outfit that, even in the fading light enhanced her – er, well, let's just say she was ascetically pleasing.
The woman in the plain dress took out a pocket watch from somewhere and examined it. "He's late." she said. Calvin and Hobbes found they had little trouble hearing them as the slope surrounding the area they were in formed a sort of natural amphitheater.
"Hmm, like that's never happened before." the other woman replied, her voice silky and sultry with a hint of an edge to it. "It's just like that mongrel to blow off a simple assignment."
"Who's a mongrel?!" a new voice called. Into the parameter of the firelight stepped a tall and somewhat lanky boy. At least, he looked like it, but Calvin couldn't get a clear impression of exactly how old he was.
"Here you are." the first woman spoke. (Though, now that he thought about it, Calvin wasn't certain she was fully matured either.) "You were supposed to be here ten minuets ago!"
"So my alarm didn't go off." the newcomer said, dismissively. "it's not like it's a big deal. Sun hasn't even fully set yet."
Hobbes looked over at his companion. "Calvin,... I, I'm getting a real bad vibe about all this." he said, his voice cracking slightly. "We shouldn't be here."
Calvin only nodded mutely. Slowly, he turned to go but the scene below them continued and, like some kind of spell, held his attention fast.
"Well, let's get crackin'!" the curvaceous woman snapped. "The place isn't gonna set itself up!"
"Right," the other woman responded. "I'll start setting up chairs, you bring the tables in." she told the lone male before setting off for her own task.
"Right." he responded. "Just give me a minute." and with that, he bent over and started shaking. With the brilliant light of the fire behind him, Calvin couldn't quite make out what was happening to him. All he could discern was that he was trembling and convulsing and making awful moans. Suddenly, those moans started to sound more like growls. In an instant, the boy rose in a flash – but he wasn't the same. His face had elongated into a muzzle, his ears became long and pointed and a long, bushy tail had grown from out of his pants. As he rose, he threw his head back, sounding out a wild and chilling howl that reverberated throughout the woods.
The two unseen observers turned to each other, eyes bugging out of their sockets and jaws falling open in silent exclamations. There was no way they could've seen what they saw, it just wasn't the sort of thing that happened in the real world. Under other circumstances, they might've been able to dismiss the idea or think of some rational explanation, but as it was, they simply could not deny that they had just witnessed the transformation of a real, live werewolf.
The woman in black strode around the fire with both hands planted firmly over her ears. "Do werewolves always have to howl like that whenever you change?!" she demanded.
"Hey, y'ever had your entire anatomy rearranged?!" the werewolf snapped, his voice becoming deeper and more husky. "It's not exactly a pleasant experience!"
"Well, there's a good chance one of my eardrums just ruptured." she countered.
"Ah, toughen up! Anyway, I thought vampires could regenerate from any injury."
Calvin went deathly pale. So that voluptuous woman was a vampire? This just kept getting more and more unreal; and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this could spell disaster if he gave away his position.
"Okay, bad vibe's stronger." Hobbes reported. "We should go – like, right now."
Calvin acknowledged this statement and wanted to comply; but for the life of him, he just couldn't bring himself to move.
Down below, the lycan and vampire were continuing their discussion quite animatedly until a bright flash erupted between the two of them. All eyes turned toward the direction the blast had come from. There stood the woman with the long braid, her hand stretched out toward them. "Whatever you two are arguing about, it can wait 'til later. Right now, there's work to be done."
The other two went off in different directions, grumbling and muttering as they went.
The woman with the braid waved her arm and a number of chairs appeared from out of nowhere. With another thrust of her arm, they all went flying off to land in rows along the perimeter of the clearing.
So she's a witch. Calvin thought, darkly. Yes, this could be real bad if they found him.
After a minute, the werewolf came back with a long table in each hand with a second table stacked on top. Calvin thought this to be an impressive demonstration of physical strength, but then speculated that it probably wasn't that remarkable as far as werewolves go.
The wolf set his load to the floor and proceeded setting them up while the witch continued setting out chairs and the vampire pulled out a large wagon loaded with food which she started placing on the tables.
The witch looked about the clearing, seeing that things were in order and what else needed to be done. "Alright, that looks good." Pulling her watch out again, she commented "They should be here shortly."
"Some are here now." a voice called from out of the darkness. Out of the woods came a band of strange folk. They looked like humans with wild, unruly hair but they had long arms like monkeys, feline-like ears and long tails that ended in tufts of fur.
The trolls (for that is what they were) strode up to the witch who greeted them warmly.
Soon more bodies appeared from out of the forest. Another vampire – this one male, little scampering creatures with rat-like faces and bat-like ears that Calvin assumed must be goblins and the enormous, shaggy form of a sasquatch.
The witch looked all around the at the motley band that surrounded her. "Alright, we've got a good number here." she said, briskly. "I'd say it's about time we got started." As she spoke, her gaze turned to one end of the clearing where a large platform appeared out of the darkness. Calvin wasn't quite sure he had seen what was on top of the platform clearly – but when he checked again, it was still the same. There stood a set of drums, a guitar, bass, keyboard and microphone.
With the stage in place, the witch gave a look to the werewolf. He nodded in response and got up onto the stage, taking up the bass in his paws. Some of the other creatures also went up to the stage; the male vampire took up the guitar, the sasquatch lumbered to the seat behind the drums, one of the goblins took up position behind the keyboard and a she troll positioned herself behind the microphone.
The band began playing. Calvin was thoroughly surprised – he had thought that any sort of music a group of monsters would play would sound eerie, or at the very least, more primal. As it was, the music playing was more upbeat and rhythmic – not unlike the music the kids at school played all the time. The fact that these creatures played music similar to humans was strangely comforting to Calvin – it made the beings below less alien, somehow.
Before he knew it, he was tapping his feet and even swaying in time with the beat. What could he say, it sounded good. In particular, he enjoyed the singing of the she troll; though he had no idea what she was saying, she had a beautiful voice which had an almost soothing quality to it.
After a while, Hobbes nudged his shoulder, pointing to the scene below. Calvin followed his finger and saw that more creatures were arriving out of the forest. There were sly looking satyrs, witches, things that looked human but also looked to be part plant, vampires, werewolves, huge and surly minotaurs, sprites, lizard-people, giant brutes that looked like thick, muscular men with tusks sticking out of their lower jaws, little humanoid forms that flew through the air and glowed with ethereal lights and a sphinx.
Lastly to appear were forms that materialized strait out of the air. These beings glowed with a luminous, white light, they seemed to be made vapor and one could look strait through them to see what was on the other side. Calvin didn't have to rack his brains to realized that these were ghosts.
Okay, so maybe those old superstitions had something to 'em after all.
They continued watching the scene below. Down in the clearing, the gathered creatures began getting more active. Some of them danced, others gathered in groups to talk or hang out, others busied themselves at the buffet table. Before long, a full-out orgy was taking place below. Sometimes they had wild, energetic dances with swift, rapid movements; sometimes there were slower, more stately motions. Sometimes they danced singularly, other times they paired off with partners.
At one point, they saw a minotaur dancing in a way that looked strangely familiar. In another instance, the large, brutish man-like creatures got in a line and started moving their feet in a way Calvin recognized as a river dance.
Both their expressions loosened in a look of inconceivability. "You gotta be kidding." Calvin breathed.
"'Have to admit though, they are pretty nimble for such big lugs." Hobbes said.
"Yeah." Calvin agreed, looking down on the ogres again. "Man, I thought I knew what weird was up until just now."
For a time they continued to observe these strange festivities, almost forgetting the danger of the situation – almost. But a rustling in the foliage behind them brought the full weight of it back onto them.
They quickly turned around to see a stooped, silver haired werewolf – a late comer to the festivities – stepping out of the trees. Once he saw Calvin, he called to him. "Hey kid, c'mere, gimme a hand, will ya?" he said, his voice coarse and rasping.
Calvin gulped, standing ridged. He made no reply to the old wolf.
When Calvin made no response to him, the werewolf said "C'mon, what're ya deaf or somthin'? I said gimme a hand!" When Calvin still didn't move, the wolfs expression stiffened. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowed in a tense scrutiny. "Who are you?" he asked.
It was then a gust of wind came blowing through the forest. It had been blowing in their faces all night, which Calvin thought to be the reason they had gone undetected for so long. But this was an abrupt change of luck; as the breeze blew, the werewolf took a deep whiff of the air. And as he did, his face hardened into a look of outrage. "What?! A human?!" he snarled.
The werewolf lunged at Calvin, his arms raised to make a strike. Thinking quickly, Calvin stepped on the wolfs foot, driving his heel into his paw. The werewolf jumped back with a high-pitched yip as Calvin and Hobbes made a run for it. The werewolf turned to give chase, but with a subtle crack, he tipped over. "Ach, my back!" he exclaimed.
Calvin and Hobbes sped through the forest as fast as their legs could carry them. Onward through the winding labyrinth of trees they ran, ignoring their complaining joints and their burning lungs. Their only thought was escape – to put as much distance between themselves and the monstrous hoard as possible.
"You think we're far enough away?" Calvin called.
"I don't see anyone behind us!" Hobbes huffed back. "But we can't afford to make assumptions right now!"
"Well, just a little longer! The house shouldn't be too far away now – "
"Are you nuts?!" Hobbes snapped. "We can't go back to the house!"
"We have to! It's the only sort of haven we have right now!"
"It's also where your parents are! We don't wanna get them dragged into this mess!"
"But we –"
"We can't go home!! We'll just have to stay in the woods until we're certain we're not being followed. Then, maybe we can –"
But Calvin didn't hear what they might have done. Something struck him from behind and sent him rolling and tumbling through the soft, mossy earth to land flat on his face. No sooner had he come to a halt than something cold as death and hard as diamond planted itself on the back of his neck. The thing that held him lifted up and pulled him along in its vice-like grip, lifting him off of the ground.
"Well, looks like the old dog wasn't exaggerating." a sultry voice mused. Calvin looked down into a pair of blood-red eyes that shimmered with some sort of mischief. The lady vampire who he had first seen at the bonfire looked at him with a broad smile that revealed her fangs gleaming mother-of-pearl in the moonlight. "Little boys should not go wandering about after dark – one never knows what sort of mischief may befall them." she said, giving him a look like a shark eying chum.
Calvin was, understandably, put into a state of panic. "No! Quick Hobbes, bite her! Maul her, scratch her! DO something!!!"
"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen." Calvin turned his head as far as his current position would allow and saw Hobbes slung over the shoulder of another vampire – the one who had been playing guitar on stage.
Calvin looked back at his captor, trying his best to smile. "Look, I'm really, really sorry about crashing your party. Perhaps, since it is my first offense, you could, y'know, let me off with a warning?" the vamp raised her eyebrow ominously. "I promise I won't tell anyone!" Calvin pleaded, feeling the full effect of panic "It's not like they'd believe me anyway!!"
"I'm afraid your situation is a bit more dire than that, boy." she replied in her eerily silky voice. "Do you know what we do to humans who trespass on our fête?"
Calvin felt himself sweating profusely, despite the chill in the air. Killed by vampires: man, he always knew it would end like this.
"Nothing." a voice from behind said. The she vamps face fell to an expression of frustrated exasperation. She turned her head glaring at her companion with her free hand resting in a fist on her hip.
"We've... never had a human show up before." he said, defensively.
"Well, you don't have to tell him that!" she snarled back. She turned back to Calvin with a sour expression. "Meh, whatever. Let's just go." And with that, she hoisted Calvin under her arm and dashed away.
Vampiric speed was definitely not Calvin's preferred means of transportation. The high velocity caused the chilling air to hit him full in the face, freezing him to the bone and pushing his mouth back uncomfortably far. But even worse than that was what he saw: with the insane speed, everything was reduced to a dark blur; and as they passed the objects of the forest, they would come into focus just long enough for Calvin to identify what they were before being blurred into obscurity once again.
Then all at once, they stopped.
When Calvin's head finally stopped swimming, he realized (to his slight embarrassment) that he was staring at a bodice. Quickly looking upward, he saw the auburn haired witch looking at him with a scrutinizing expression. She moved her head as if tsking him.
"So, boy, you've ventured onto our grounds and witnessed our revelry without cause or invitation." she said. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Duck." Calvin grumbled in response.
"That's it?" the witch said, eyes narrowed. "That's all you have to say about – "
"Duck!" Calvin anxiously repeated, his eyes bulging.
Getting the message, she jumped out of the way just as Calvin gave a huge lurch that hurled the entire contents of his stomach out into a smoldering, sickly pool on the forest floor.
As this happened, the arm holding Calvin clamped harder on him. The vampire who carried him spoke with her voice strained and creaking "I – just – bought – this – dress!"
"Oh, calm down." the witch reprimanded. With a snap of her fingers, the mess vanished off of her clothes. "There, all clean." she said "You can put them down, now."
And she did – dropped him unceremoniously strait to the ground. Calvin suspected she might have intended for him to land face-first in his own vomit, though he never would find out.
When he pulled himself to his feet, he found that every face in the clearing was directed at him. Some were clearly angry at his presence, others mildly curious, some looked at him as if he were some repulsive insect and others looked at him in true wonder – like they had never seen a real human before. Then there were those who looked like they couldn't care less that human had wandered in and would much rather the party get back under way.
To the right of Calvin, Hobbes landed on the floor with a grunt of discomfort. The witch, on hearing this, turned her attention to the disgruntled tiger. "Ah, and what do we have here?" she purred, gliding over to him.
"Not really sure." the vampire who carried him replied. "There seems to be some sort of magic emanating from him, but I have no idea as to what, exactly, he is."
"Hmmm, interesting." she replied, gazing down at Hobbes. "So, tiger..." she said, resting her hand under Hobbes' chin. "Do you have a name?"
"Yes." Hobbes growled. "But in lieu of the circumstances, I don't feel inclined to give it out."
"I see." she hummed. "Well no matter, we'll deal with you shortly – after we sort your companion out."
"Hey if it means anything, I told him we shouldn't have stuck around. I kept telling him we should leave!"
"But you didn't, did you?" she replied, icily as she approached Calvin again. "And as the laws of nature dictate, you are now at our mercy."
"With mercy being the operative word, I hope." Calvin added.
"We'll see." the witch replied, smiling at him – a rather predatory grin not unlike the one the vampire had shown him.
The witch then turned around, facing the vast hoard. "So then, what are we to do with him?"
There was a pause, and then everyone present started calling out at once – barking and shouting, raising their voices to outrageous octaves to be heard over their fellows and waving their hands and arms about to make themselves seem more prominent. Every now and then, Calvin could make out a stray word or two out of all the blaring jargon – it was a tad disturbing that the word he could discern most often was kill. He thought this would be an excellent time to make a run for it, but his feet stuck firmly to the forest floor as if held by some spell (which, he reasoned, they probably were.)
After a good minute of this, a loud, beastly, guttural howl thundered through the clearing, silencing all others. All eyes turned to the enormous sasquatch who had his mouth opened wide revealing his grizzly fangs.
"A little decorum, if you please!" he bellowed, his voice deep and gravely.
"Thank you." the witch said softly, rubbing her temples. "Now then, I saw you move first." Calvin realized with horror that she was addressing the old werewolf who first discovered them. "What do you have to say?"
"I say we kill 'im!" the old wolf barked. There was a round of agreement emanating from some of the crowd, mostly the minotaurs and several ogres.
The sasquatch grunted "Even in your old age, always so violent." he said, somberly. "This is the twenty first century, not the Stone Age."
"He has no business being here!!!" one of the minotaurs yelled angrily. "The penalty for intruding in our meeting places is death! That's the way it's always been!"
"Maybe, but times are always changing – the solutions of the past are not always adequate for the present."
"And just what're you suggesting?!" the old werewolf snapped back.
"I am only saying that there are always options."
"Yeah, turn 'im into a frog!" someone shouted.
"Or, we could make the whole problem go away." somebody else added.
"Elaborate." the witch ordered.
"It would only take a simple spell – one wave of the hand and he'll forget everything he'
s seen tonight."
"... That sounds reasonable." the witch remarked after a moment.
"Or, there's something else we could do." Calvin paled. He knew that voice all too well.
The witch turned around to face the vampire standing behind Calvin. "What are you suggesting?"
The vampire smirked "I'm just saying, that since he seems to have such an interest in us," she glanced down at him, still grinning. "maybe we should consider letting him join us!"
The witch's eyes went wide. "You don't mean – "
The vampire raised her eyebrows in response.
"But, who would even – "
"I'll do it." the vampire replied, clutching Calvin by the arm and pulling him closer to her. Turning to him, she added "I owe you for what you did to my dress, anyway."
"C-c-couldn't you just send me the dry cleaning bill?" Calvin asked nervously.
The witch thought for a bit, then asked "Does anyone object to this?"
"Do I count?" Hobbes asked.
"NO!"
"Very well, then." the witch said. "Proceed."
"WAIT!!" Calvin yelled as the vampire began opening her jaws. All eyes turned to him, waiting for what he would come up with now. "Does, does it have to be you?" he said. She narrowed her eyes at him angrily. "Uh, I mean,... what about Rover there?" he said, pointing to the werewolf who had helped set things up. "Couldn't he do it?!"
The wolf shrugged. "You wanna be a lycan?" he said, stepping forward.
"Not really." he said. "But it sounds better than being some blood-sucking freak!" he looked up at the irate vampire just as he realized what he'd said. "Uh, n-n-n-no offense!" he quickly amended.
"Just for that," she said, squeezing his arm. "I'd say I deserve a bit of your blood, regardless!"
"Hold up." the witch said, with an unworldly calmness. Stepping forward, she leaned close to Calvin, giving him another scrutinizing look. "Now boy, your options stand thus: I can cast a spell on you that will cause you to forget the events you've witnessed. You will be returned to your home and be no worse for wear. Or, one of my associates here can alter your lifestyle permanently.
"Now, keep in mind that this choice can greatly affect your standing among the human population. On one hand, werewolves can keep a relatively normal lifestyle – needing to only conceal themselves at night. Vampires, on the other hand, are usually forced to separate themselves from normal humans as most of their characteristics are hard to cover up." she stepped back from him and crossed her arms. "So? What's it to be?"
Calvin thought hard to come up with an answer for this. On one hand, he absolutely did not want to stop being human – there was simply no way! On the other hand, he had seen so much during this night that he didn't want to forget either. Then again, as a werewolf he would have some incredible power – of course, he had heard that transforming was an unpleasant experience. He flat out rejected the idea of becoming vampiric; though he thought vampires must be used to that brake neck speed of theirs, the memory of what it did to him didn't fade so easily. And, he wasn't exactly sure how much real vampires differed from the way popular culture depicted them, but he didn't think he could get by on a diet of blood – he really, really liked real food.
Now, most people in Calvin's situation would easily choose the first offer the witch had made – to simply forget what had happened. But for Calvin, the decision was not so simple. All his life, Calvin had dreamed of worlds of his own invention inhabited by strange and bizarre creations; wondrous beings and characters of the most extraordinary design living in worlds uninhibited by the laws and physics of reality. And to discover that there were fantastic creatures of legend living along side humans who's science defied their existence in the very world he used his fantasies to escape from – he simply couldn't let himself forget.
"Is, is there no way I can keep my memories and not be changed?"
"I'm afraid not." the witch answered, unsympathetically. "Unless, by some miracle, there's someone present who will vouch for you. But hurry and decide, or I will decide for you!"
Again Calvin contemplated his options. As he contemplated, he heard voices from the gathered creatures yelling out suggestions – telling him which option to choose. This continued for a time and Calvin came very close to making his decision. But, as he opened his mouth to say it, a voice he hadn't heard before said "I will vouch for him."
Calvin looked up to see one of the ghosts had descended to the head of the crowd.
"And what position are you in to vouch for him?" the witch asked.
Calvin looked at the spirit floating in front of the witch. The specter turned his head and Calvin looked in awe and surprise at the smiling and very familiar face before him.
"He's my grandson." The ghost replied.
The witch and ghost exchanged a few more words, but Calvin didn't quite catch what they were saying – he was still so flabbergasted at the fact that his grandfather – who had been dead for three years – was here at this very gathering.
At length, the witch and his grandpa had finished speaking and he and Hobbes both found that they could move their feet again.
There were several creatures present who were clearly unhappy with this outcome, but they said nothing. The ghosts were arguably the most powerful beings present. Even though they no longer existed in the physical world, their power and influence was great and they could reek terrible havoc when they were crossed. Aside from that, Calvin's grandpa was well respected among the cryptic community – so most were willing to put up with the decision.
Once again, the party was under way; and Calvin and Hobbes – though certainly not welcomed with open arms – did go throughout the rest of the night unmolested.
Calvin was ever wary of the creatures that surrounded him, uncertain of what they might do. For the most part, several of them simply ignored him, but there were still others who looked like they might kill him if he got too close to them.
However, not all of the creatures present treated him with such hostility. A few of the more humanoid creatures approached him to engage in polite conversation. Some besieged him with questions about himself and the human race as a whole, they being creatures with little knowledge of humans. There were also several satyrs that came up to him asking if he had a sister – they seemed disappointed to find out he didn't.
At one point, as he was sitting, he found a she-troll seated in the chair next to him looking at him intently. "Hi." she said when he turned around.
"Uh... hello." he answered, uncertainly.
"Would you like to dance?" she asked, quite suddenly.
"Er, um..." Not realizing this was a trollish term of acceptance, Calvin found himself swept out of his chair and onto the dance floor.
Hobbes also had his share of interest; in fact, one might say he was excepted more fully than Calvin as he was a bit more akin to the legendary creatures. He was quite a puzzle to them, never before had any of them encountered a normally quadruped animal that could walk upright and speak.
Some of the little, glowing humanoids (which he found out were fairies) thought he was a pooka. Some of the lycans felt certain that he was more akin to them – a weretiger, as it were. And there were others who speculated that he might be the result of a witch's spell gone awry.
He answered in the negative to all of these, but that still didn't deter them from making their wild hypotheses.
When Hobbes finally got back to Calvin, he was standing at the buffet tables next to a minotaur who stood with his arms crossed looking grumpy.
"So, I saw you dancing earlier." Calvin was saying. "And I noticed that the way you were moving looked an awful lot like the way Taurens in World of Warcraft dance. Y'have any comment on that?"
The burly brute made no response, simply staring out into the darkness.
"Well?" Calvin probed.
"I said you may ask, I did not say I would answer." the minotaur replied, sounding annoyed. Calvin dropped his head in an irritated sigh.
"I think I can answer that." A witch who had been filling her plate said.
"Really?" Calvin replied.
"Yes, I have a cousin who's a designer at Blizzard." she said, striding away.
Calvin looked off into the distance with this new piece of information to chew on.
"Boy, some night." Hobbes said, striding up to his friend.
"You got that right!" Calvin replied as he and Hobbes set off again meandering through this strange and unearthly collection of beings gathered to celebrate their magical festivities.
At last, the revelry began to die down. The spirits departed for the netherworld and the creatures began to head of into the foliage.
Calvin and Hobbes watched as they took their leave, occasionally bidding a few of them farewell and receiving farewells of their own.
One she-troll waved heartily at Calvin when she left, giving him a broad smile and a wink as she went past.
"Oh, ho, hoooo. You sly dog!" Hobbes playfully jabbed his elbow at Calvin when he saw this.
"Shut up!!!" Calvin snapped, feeling his face redden.
He turned around then to discover his grandfather floating patiently in the air behind them. Smiling softly, Calvin approached the specter.
"Quite an unexpected family reunion, eh?" the ghost said, smiling.
"Yeah." Calvin replied. "Uh, thanks for your intervening tonight, Grandpa."
"Of course. What's family for, after all?"
"Yeah, I guess so." he paused for a bit, considering the best way to continue. "So um, it's great to see you again. Uh,... perhaps we'll see you again next year?"
The ghost thought for a bit and said "I suppose I could stop by for a short visit."
"Yeah! And who knows, maybe some of these other guys too."
"Ah, I doubt it." the ghost replied, shaking his head sadly. "Our fêtes are like lightning – never strike the same place twice."
"Oh." Calvin sighed, a bit morosely.
"And even if that weren't the case, it'd be in your best interest to avoid anything like this in the future – these people,... well, they don't approve of humans being among them. It was only by sheer happenstance that I was here to speak on your behalf.
"Also, you were fortunate to be given an option of your fate – most wouldn't be so generous."
"I see." Calvin said, bowing his head.
"One more thing, son." the ghost said. "You really should listen to Hobbes more often – he's got a better sense of danger than you."
Calvin looked over at Hobbes who was smiling smugly. He narrowed his eyes at him.
The ghost gave a soft chuckle. "Well, see ya 'round!" and he vanished.
Calvin slept through most of the following day.
His parents weren't terribly surprised – considering how late he had come home the previous night. And, as it was Sunday, they didn't feel any real need stir him.
On Monday, Calvin returned to school as usual. He sat in his classroom watching his classmates file into the room and take their seats.
He watched as Susie came into the room and seated herself at the desk beside him. "Hey Susie." he said.
"Hi Calvin." she responded, smiling brightly.
"So,... how was the dance on Saturday?" Calvin asked.
"Oh, it was okay." she said.
"That didn't sound like an 'okay' kinda voice." Calvin observed. "Something happen?"
"No – well yes, er,... well Bjorn kept telling everyone that I was his girlfriend. And, on top of that, he kept trying to get me to – um,... well, I don't think I'll be seeing him again."
"Ah." Calvin mused; feeling for Susie's displeasure, but also slightly satisfied with Bjorn's ungentlemanly conduct for reasons he couldn't explain.
"But what about you?" Susie said, snapping him back to reality. "I didn't see you at the dance, where were you?"
"Oh, uh, I... attended another party."
"Really? What was it like?"
"Uh," Calvin stuttered, realizing full well that he couldn't reveal the true nature of what happened, and knowing what was likely to happen if he did. "erm, let's just say it was outta this world!"