[A/N] This story diverges from Finding Home Again at Chapter 26: Unexpected Magic, replacing that chapter and going totally off the rails. This was born of an idea I couldn't shake while writing the main fic, and I'm having a lot of fun writing it so strap in kids it's about to get supernatural up in here! Hope you enjoy!

-x-

When they finally reached a turnoff, the blue glow of a torch lighting their path once more, Estelle reluctantly let go of Sebastian's hand.

"Sorry for being such a baby back there," she said, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Now that she was back in the light, she felt like an idiot for being so afraid.

"Don't be. Honestly I was a little creeped out too."

That made her smile. "I won't tell anyone if you don't."

"Deal."

They went through the maze together, keeping an eye out for the illusive golden pumpkin. The rest of the scares were tame in comparison – fake bugs, a TV playing static, tombstones. Standard haunted house shit. It was strange to her that there was such a disparity in the level of horror from one section of the maze to the next. The complete darkness had been utterly terrifying, with corridors that seemed to stretch way longer than one side of the park to the other...and now there were rubber spiders? It just felt off somehow.

They had covered a good portion of the maze and were discussing where to go next when they ran into Alex trying to climb one of the walls – and failing miserably.

"Hey Alex. Uh...what are you doing?" Estelle asked curiously.

He turned, face red and breathless from exertion. "Oh, hey Stelle," he said, pausing to look her up and down. "Wow, you look stupid hot."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not? But thanks I guess," she said with a little laugh.

He grinned. "Definitely a compliment. Anyway, I'm trying to find a way onto that ledge," he said, pointing to an overhang above them. "There's something weird up there but I can't figure out how to get to it."

Estelle glanced at Sebastian. "Maybe it's the pumpkin?"

He shrugged without even looking up, his gaze fixed on the path forward. She glanced over as well, wondering what he was looking at – but there was nothing there. He was just staring into the distance. Weird.

She brushed it off and took a few steps back, scoping out the ledge for herself. Alex stepped back as well to show her what he saw.

"See look, right there!" he said, leaning close and pointing to direct her gaze.

Estelle squinted, tilting her head until...oh!

It was almost completely hidden, but she definitely saw a flash of gold when the torchlight flickered just right. It had to be the pumpkin – what else would be golden up there?

"That's totally it!" she said excitedly. "But how are are going to get up there? That ledge has to be like 15 feet high."

"Don't know," Alex said, tossing his hands up in defeat. "I've checked all around here for a hidden ladder or something but no dice. And these walls don't have any grips to climb up."

She looked to Sebastian for ideas, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention. What the hell was up with him all of a sudden? He's the one who wanted to find the damn thing in the first place.

"I could probably throw you high enough," Alex mused. "Can you pull yourself up with just your arms?"

"Uh, I can, but fuck that," Estelle said, shaking her head decisively. "My leg literally just healed. I'm not risking a two story fall over a pumpkin."

"Aw, you don't think I can do it?" he said, pouting.

"I don't care if you can do it," she corrected. "And even if I got up there, how would I get down? Hard pass."

"Just jump! I'll catch you."

"Alex, I don't know how many ways I can say absolutely fucking not before it sticks," she said, starting to get annoyed with his persistence.

"There has to be a way around," Sebastian said tersely, cutting off Alex's latest protest. About time he decided to join the conversation.

"Right. So I'm going to go look for it," Estelle said, stepping away from Mr. Amateur Shotput to stand next to Sebastian. "Oh, Haley is waiting for you at the entrance by the way."

Alex groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "What else is new?" he muttered irritably.

She grinned, glancing over her shoulder as she walked away. "Better get going! She's scary when she's pissed!"

When they were halfway down the path and safely out of earshot, Estelle rounded on Sebastian.

"So, wanna tell me what that was all about?"

"What what was all about?" he replied flatly.

"I dunno, your drastic mood swing and total lack of interest in finding the thing we're out here trying to find?"

"I still want to find it. I just don't like that guy."

Estelle gave an exaggerated gasp, covering her mouth and staring at him wide-eyed. "What?! You mean the emo kid doesn't get along with the jock? No fuckin' way!"

That got a reaction. Sebastian shot her an unimpressed look, and she couldn't hold back a giggle.

"Well, either way we know where the pumpkin is now. Any ideas on how to get to it?"

"I could toss you up," he deadpanned.

"Oh, you're hilarious."

The corner of his mouth quirked up, much to Estelle's relief. At least the shitty mood seemed to leave as quickly as it came.

"There has to be a hidden path somewhere," he reiterated. "Alex said there wasn't anything near the pumpkin, and there's no obvious walkway connecting to that ledge, so the entrance has to be sectioned off from the rest of the maze somehow."

"So...what? Just keep an eye out for anything out of place that could be a hidden path?"

"Unless you have a better idea, yeah pretty much."

She did not have a better idea, so they walked along the twisting lanes, checking uneven walls and messing with props to find any clue about how to get to the pumpkin. When they came upon a fake graveyard, she was sure that was going to be where it was. What better hidden entrance than a grave, right?

Estelle was checking the tombstone on the far right when she heard something strange and froze. It sounded like hushed voices, except there was no one else here. Holding her breath, she listened intently until she heard them again – two voices, definitely male, and from...above? She looked up but couldn't see anything past the walls.

"The affairs of mundane folk matter little to me, but the elementals like a chance to see them up close. It is for them that I create this silly maze each year."

Create the maze...so that voice must be the Wizard. Estelle's heart picked up in excitement. If he was above them, the hidden entrance had to be close. But what was he talking about, "the elementals"? What did that even mean?

"Good show, old friend," another voice chimed in. It sounded oddly familiar, though she couldn't place it right away. "Though I think your display has been tampered with this time around," it continued, dropping an octave in apparant concern.

"Yes. I sensed her but could not reverse her spells before the villagers began to arrive. All we can do now is wait, and watch."

What the fuck?

"No harm will come to them, surely?"

"One never knows with that woman, but I suspect not. The price of using dark magic on Spirit's Eve is too high, even for her. She's likely just toying with them for amusement."

"Did you find anything?" Sebastian asked, making Estelle jump. She'd been too focused on the voices to notice him approaching.

She turned to him, eyes wide with shock. "Did you fucking hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Voices. Two men, talking about dark magic and elementals, and how some woman is using spells to toy with us in the maze, and..." she trailed off, seeing the look of confused disbelief on Sebastian's face. "And you don't believe me."

He paused, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I mean it is kinda hard to believe. There's no one here but us, and magic?" he said, expression changing to concern. "Maybe we should leave. You seem a little...on edge."

Estelle ran her hand through her hair, balling it up in her fist with frustration. How was she going to get him to believe her? She didn't want him to think she was losing it, but on the other hand she didn't really blame him. She barely believed herself. If she hadn't already had her worldview thrown into disarray from the mines, then…

That's it. The mines.

"The skeletons are real," she blurted out desperately. "In the cage out front. Marlon told me not to say anything. I know you saw that."

Sebastian just stared at her, expression inscrutable, so she barreled on, not stopping to think if she was doing the right thing or not. She just needed him to know. Something was going on, and she couldn't bear all these secrets on her own anymore.

"You told me you know I'm hiding something about what's really in the mines. You know how fucked up I've gotten in there. You saw my back and you know damn well a slime couldn't do that," she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them. Estelle grabbed his hands and held them tightly between their bodies, his warmth a contrast to her clammy, trembling fingers.

"Monsters are real Seb. I didn't believe it either, but I've seen them. I've killed them, and they've almost killed me. And if monsters can be real, then who the fuck am I to say that magic can't be?"

Estelle watched desperately as Sebastian processed everything she had told him, letting the truth of it show in her eyes. He was always good at reading her; he should know she wasn't lying. He had to believe her.

"Estelle, I...think we should go home," he said finally, shaking his head slightly like he couldn't believe he was entertaining such a ridiculous idea. He gently extracted his hands from hers, and she felt her stomach drop into her feet.

She wanted to cry, or punch things, or shout a string of curses that could make Willy's sailor friends blush. She wanted to shake him by the shoulders and tell him to wake the hell up. He knew deep down she was telling the truth. He fucking knew.

Looking down to hide the frustrated tears that pricked the corners of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of the tombstone by her feet, and her heart stopped cold.

It had her mother's name on it.

A bony hand popped out of the dirt, grabbed her by the ankle, and dragged her down into darkness before she had chance to scream.

Sebastian didn't know what to think. It was like his mind just stopped working – shattered into a million pieces that he had to put back together in order to form a coherent thought. Nothing made sense anymore, because he had just watched Estelle disappear before his very eyes.

Disappear. Like, vanish. Cease to exist on this plane of reality.

She'd been rambling about monsters and magic, like this world was some kind of immensely boring RPG, and he'd dismissed her as crazy. He hadn't believed her, and then she fucking disappeared.

Estelle was gone.

The moment that cold truth hit, he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Her impossible disappearance was shocking to the point where he couldn't wrap his mind around it yet, but regardless of how it happened – she was gone. She was gone and he didn't know what had happened to her, or where she was, or if she was okay. She was just...gone.

Sebastian gripped his head roughly, trying to hard reset his brain into firing again. He had to do something. What if she was hurt, or in trouble, or…

Breathe.

Forcing himself to calm down, he recalled what she had told him before all of this. Monsters are real, and they're in the mines. She'd been killing them, and Marlon knew about it. They kept it quiet because...well, because it was fucking crazy. Still, none of that was relevant at all to what had just happened.

Magic. She'd mentioned magic, and a woman? And voices…

"Hello?" he called into the night.

There was no response, of course. He would have felt like an idiot doing this under any other circumstances, but, well…

"Hey! I know you're out there!" he yelled, the panic he was fighting to control seeping out. "Look, I don't know who the hell you are but Estelle heard you talking about magic, and now she's gone, so you'd better fucking answer me!"

"Calm down, boy," a deep, unhurried voice rang out.

Despite demanding an answer, Sebastian still jumped when he got one. He hadn't actually expected anyone to respond. In fact, he mostly expected to wake up in his bed and all of this to be a particularly disconcerting nightmare.

"Calm down? How the fuck am I supposed to calm down? I just watched her disappear!"

"As did I. However, screaming into the void won't bring her back, so I suggest you control yourself."

"Then what will bring her back?" Sebastian asked, determination settling in over the panic. She was out there somewhere, and he was going to find her. Somehow.

"Patience, most likely. But I suspect that answer is not sufficient for you."

"You suspect right."

The voice hummed in amusement. "Ah, young passion. Very well. Come to my tower in the forest – if we are to forcibly retrieve the one you love, we will need to make preparations immediately."

The wizard's tower. Holy shit, that dude was actually a wizard.

But he didn't have time to dwell on minor things like his entire experience of reality being systematically dismantled. The forest tower was a long walk from town, and every second he wasted was another chance for something bad to happen to Estelle. With that thought at the forefront of his mind, Sebastian took off running through the maze.

Cutting a bend too close, he smacked directly into someone and they both went crashing to the ground.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Sam complained, rubbing his ass as he glared at his best friend.

Sebastian had never in his life been so happy to see Sam. He needed help, and they were the only people he could rely on right now.

"I need you both to come with me," he said, scrambling to his feet and giving Sam a hand up.

Natalie furrowed her brows in confusion. "Uh, why? And where's Estelle?"

"I'll tell you on the way, but she might be in trouble and we need to go now."

Sebastian started back through the maze, not looking back to see if they were following. He needed their help, but he also didn't have time to waste. Sam and Natalie exchanged a bewildered glance, but jogged to catch up regardless.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked as they exited the maze, slowing to a brisk walk to avoid suspicion as they cut through town.

"The wizard's tower. Look, I'm going to tell you something that sounds absolutely fucking insane and I need you to just believe me, okay?"

"Uh...yeah, okay."

Sebastian exhaled, searching for a way to make this sound less psychotic, but failing. Just blurt it out then.

"Magic is real. Like actual magic. And somehow Estelle got mixed up in it, and I literally saw her disappear right in front of my eyes, like poof into thin air fucking gone. And I don't know where she is or if she's okay and the wizard said he'd help get her back."

Natalie and Sam were both quiet for a long moment, digesting his disturbed rambling, before Natalie eventually spoke up.

"And you expect us to believe this how?"

"I don't," he sighed. "I really don't. You're just going to have to trust me."

"Alright dude," Sam said, shrugging. "I trust you."

Natalie looked at Sam like he was crazier than Sebastian. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Seb doesn't bullshit when it's important, and Estelle's more important to him than anything, so… yeah. I believe him."

Sebastian didn't bother denying it. There was no point - they both knew how deeply his feeling for her ran. Besides, all his prior reservations seemed so fucking stupid now, in the face of all this chaos.

He should have told her.

"Then...okay, I guess," Natalie said reluctantly. "I still have no idea what's going on, but if Estelle's really in trouble then let's tear shit up."

"I don't know either," Sebastian admitted, relieved that his friends had his back. "But we're going to find out."

Estelle was falling. She recognized the sensation, the tug of gravity in her stomach, but it felt strange, unnatural - like skydiving without any air resistance. Her initial scream of terror subsided when the impact she'd been bracing for never came, and after a confused few seconds she opened her eyes.

Despite being pulled into the ground, there was no dirt. Confusingly enough, her surroundings reminded her more of space than earth - swirling blacks and blues, with specks of silver rushing past like a bad CG wormhole. There was no perspective, no beginning or end, no way to gauge her position at all. Infinity stretched out on all sides of her, dizzying in its vastness.

The effect made her queasy, but before she could squeeze her eyes shut against the wave of nausea overtaking her - it was over. Estelle landed on her ass with a soft plop, like she'd slid off the couch onto the floor rather than plummeting for the last Yoba knows how long. She reflexively patted her torso, checking for physical evidence that she was unharmed and sighing with relief when she found nothing wrong.

That relief was comically short lived, as Estelle raised her head - and screamed. Green glowing eyes stared back at her, and her heart sputtered into double time as she spotted the monster they were attached to. Teeth bared, claws outstretched, ready to attack. Scrambling backwards, her peripheral vision caught sight of two more sets of eyes in the dim light - yellow and purple, surrounding her from both sides. Estelle turned and pushed herself to her feet, ready to run, when...

Laughter. A woman's unbridled laughter, wild and melodious, sending shivers down her spine. Estelle's head whipped towards the sound, catching sight of a slim, graceful figure seated at a table nearby, raven hair swaying as she doubled over in amusement.

"They're machines, girl!" the woman exclaimed breathlessly, wiping tears from her eyes. "I heard you mundane folk were skittish but clearly I didn't know the half of it!"

Estelle faltered, turning to look more closely at the monsters she was trying to escape. A towering metal monolith. Buttons for teeth. LED lighting.

Oh.

Well shit, they had arms - what else was she supposed to think?

"You certainly have an eye for interior design..." Estelle deadpanned, trying to hide her trepidation. She might not know who this woman was, but she had the distinct impression that she wasn't exactly friendly. Estelle needed to keep her guard up until she figured out what the hell was going on.

"Ooh, I like you," the woman laughed again, a mere chuckle compared to her whooping a moment ago. "You've got spunk."

"Great. Thanks. Mind telling me where the hell we are?"

Now that her eyes had adjusted to the dim torchlight, Estelle surveyed the area. A workshop of some sort, by the looks of it. The bare wooden hut was sparsely populated aside from the disturbing machines that took up the majority of the round space. The table where the woman sat had a variety of colorful glass vials spread out across it like a mad scientist's wet dream, and a massive cast iron pot sat nearby. The only relatively normal thing in the room was a variety of plants lining the walls, except one of them was...moving...

Yoba, this place was creepy.

"I've invited you to my home," the woman said as she stood, brushing her hair back and stepping forward. "Welcome, Estelle."

Estelle took an involuntary half-step backwards in response. "How do you know my name...?" she asked, eyeing the woman warily.

She was beautiful, without a doubt, but in an eerie way that set Estelle's nerves on edge. Tall and lithe, with waist-length hair that billowed around her like a cape as she moved. Her kohl-lined eyes were impossibly dark, a stark contrast against creamy skin that was even paler than Sebastian's, somehow.

Sebastian.

Estelle's pulse picked up with worry. Sebastian was in the graveyard with her too, but he didn't end up here. What happened to him? Was he okay?

"I know many things about you, Estelle," the woman said with a smile that could only be described as predatory.

"Estelle Hayes, 22. Grew up in the Zuzu slums with big dreams and big ambition - that is, until mommy died." She paused, pouting her cherry red lips out in fake sympathy. "Sorry sugar."

Estelle's eyes narrowed, but the woman continued, holding up her fingers to tick off facts as she slowly circled Estelle.

"You made a lot of mistakes, didn't you sweetie? Regret after regret after regret. Burned out and hopeless, our little heroine moved to her family's farm in a last ditch attempt to start over. And there she met a boy."

Estelle's hands involuntarily curled into fists, a motion that was not lost on the woman as she chuckled with delight. "Oh don't worry, love. Your prince charming is safe. For now."

"Cut the bullshit," Estelle growled, the not-so-subtle threat towards Sebastian pushing her past the limits of her patience. "Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

"Oh, of course! How rude of me to not even introduce myself to a guest. My name is Victoria," she said with an exaggerated sweeping bow. Her smile grew as she raised her head, stretching her face into something nearly feral. "And I want to offer you a deal."