The foyer of Grey House was perhaps not as elaborate as previous years, but something to be marveled at anyway. There was a jovial magic in the air that seemed to infect everyone who entered. A few parents here simply for their children were mingling happily in the entryway and foyer that were lined with yellow and orange, leaves illuminated by the candles Cassie atop the cubbies. There was a twine covered table that had wheat, apples, small pumpkins and red roses surrounding the cauldron centerpiece that held a bounty of candy. It was around that table that there were princesses and pirates and miniature angels and devils wrecking excited havoc in good natured fun.
"Oh, Cassie! You've outdone yourself!" The overjoyed Martha could be heard entering Grey House throughout all the bustle.
"Happy Halloween, Martha," Cassie smiled, "I told you there was nothing to be concerned about."
"That you did and I never doubted you for a second! Now, I hear you have some drinks made up that are to die for!"
"Come this way," Cassie invited heading into the kitchen. There appeared to be a few brave children who had dared each other into the kitchen, but which was clearly a space meant for an older audience. In contrast to the foyer, the kitchen lights were all off; but, it was still well illuminated by the full harvest moon shining in and candles all around. Here, there were nurses and bloodied surgeons and vampires dancing on the moon speckled tile or milling around the counter. The kitchen counter appeared engulfed by an ever changing fog moving around scattered black and red roses that formed a thicket inside which sat a steel crimson cornucopia holding a green concoction.
"I know it looks like another one of Cassie's herbal teas, but trust me that drink is extraordinarily good."
Cassie turned to the source of the compliment. "Glad to hear you like it, Sam. See, you never know until you give something a try."
"Well, I will admit to being a little wary, but everyone is absolutely raving about it." Sam congratulated. "Cassie, this is really something special. You've transformed this place into a Halloween Haven. There's a little something for the kids while being just the right amount of spooky."
Cassie laughed. "Well, thank you, Sam. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
Abigail was lounging across the bottom of the stairwell she'd been guarding. She finally stood up and placed her head on the bottom post adorned with a crow who had had one black eye and one red. She presented an enticing smile as she announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Happy Halloween and welcome to the Haunted Grey House, hosted by the lovely Cassie Nightingale." Cassie waved pleasantly at the introduction, while closely watching Abigail proceed to invite, "For those of you enjoying the social hour or with small children, please continue to enjoy the evening down in the foyer. For those of you seeking something a little darker or merely curious to see if there's any truth to rumors of witches and haunts at Grey House, please, do follow me.
Martha hesitated just a second before finding what she needed for her decision. "Derek! Just the knight in shining armor to protect your mayor in a haunted house."
"Oh, Martha, I don't know."
"Is the chief of police scared of a few ghosts?" Martha challenged.
Derek took a long exhale before smiling and obliging, "Of course not."
They were joined by half the kitchen's occupants and many of the other adults who had not been charged with watching children. As they made their way up the stairwell, the only light came from cobweb covered candles high on the walls. Here, the jovial feel of the foyer dissipated and was replaced with something tangibly more eerie. The light they put off cast glows over walls that looked like they could be laced in some sort of unidentifiable substance. Atop the stairwell, they entered a room with flickering candles bringing to light a blood streaked floor. There were mirrors covered in cobwebs that held small, seemingly mobile, shapes. In the back of the room, an indistinguishable shadow darted past. The candles went out, eliminating all source of light except what the moon provided.
Abigail's voice rang out, "You're perfectly safe, I promise, if you'll follow my voice and the red lights along the floor.
She led them into the next room near where the shape had gone. This room was pitch black and appeared to have no windows. The air was cold and smelled of smoke and decaying leaves. Something was rustling every now again, changing in position every time. Guests moving about started up an uneasy mutter accompanied by the occasional shriek. They were running into either each other, wooden or furry objects hanging from the ceiling or a stringy, coarse, slightly damp material that covered any furniture in their attempt at navigating through the room.
As they found their way out of the room, there was blinding white light with an insistent, whispy voice "Grey House is not open. Go back!" In the distance, someone screamed.
Then, the light softened into a familiar blacklit hallway that had flickering candles to show dark dog like shadows flickering back and forth. Abigail intoned softly, "I assure you, guests are welcome here, but do take care to watch your step."
Someone behind Abigail took her warning to care and stepped only where Abigail stepped. Martha was not one of them. Derek suddenly shoved her down to avoid something that went flying past her head. "What was that? Haunted Houses don't attack guests!" Martha squeaked.
Someone else laughed at the remark and succeeded in lightening the growing tension. Abigail answered quietly, "I'm sorry. I assumed you knew there would be things moving about in the dark of a so alleged witch's haunted house. I assure you, though, you are no danger. Do watch your step, though, and follow me."
Someone else tripped and shrieked as their hand sank into something wet, but hurriedly got back up on the path without further incident.
The next room was well light, but with a crimson light that made the walls appear blood red. Along the room, were old pieces of furniture, small ornate wooden boxes, wands and metals chimes gathered from a long history of the family centuries ago. Two dark, large, hairy, solid forms and one pale, smaller, lithe, flowing form definitively jumped out at different guests making their way through.
The last rooms were ultimately without any modern light, but well illuminated in full moonlight and adorned with candles shining out. Here, there were family crests and photos and identifiable historical documents covered lightly in cobwebs for the guests to enjoy amidst whispered conversations that had replaced the quiet, scared mutterings or occasional yelps of the previous rooms.
As the Haunted Tour came to a close back to the well light foyer, bright with autumn foliage and laughing children, the guests had smiles on their face, finding their doctored stress of the tour foolish and dissipating with every second. "That was freakishly awesome!" someone commented.
"Well, Abigail, I don't know that won't dispel the witch rumors," Nick complimented, "But that's the best haunted house I've ever seen!"
"Abigail!" Cassie marched up, calm to the untrained eye. Yet, her clothes were flustered and she carried a hardly concealed furious tone that was almost unheard of on her. "I need to see you, now."
"Cassie, what's wro-?" Abigail stopped dead. In the otherwise abandoned room Cassie had pulled her into, Grace was sobbing on a blood stained floor and Lori was shaking, covered in fresh blood.
"What happened?" Abigail hurried over, "Grace, Lori, are you okay?"
"What did you do?!" Lori snarled.
"You've got to tell me what happened first," Abigail insisted. "Are you okay?"
"As if you don't know!"
Cassie was still fuming, but held up a hand. "They're okay. Just shocked and upset, as am I. Stacey and Brenda, the new girls from school. They had been badgering Cassie about this seeming exactly the kind of haunted house a witch would put on and then came in here looking around. They said they had only been looking through the displays when Stacey got stabbed in the hand with a stake and Brenda started seizing! Abigail, I told you not to!"
"What are you talking about?!" Grace begged. "I told you I didn't want to do a haunted house this year! Now look what's happened! I'll never hear the end of this!"
Abigail shook her head, meeting her sister's gaze. "Cassie, I swear I didn't. Okay, I might have amped up the haunted house a little, but…" Cassie didn't release her gaze. Abigail begged. "Cassie, you know people. I promise you, I didn't add anything harmful. I didn't do this!"
Cassie nodded then. "Grace, sweetheart, it's Halloween. They'll just think it was a nightmare, trust me. Abigail, ok, I believe you. But, something happened."
"Are Stacey and Brenda okay now?"
"Yes," Cassie said. "Stacey thinks she cut her hand on a poker and Brenda doesn't recall what happened. I've sent them both home."
"Mm. Lori, Grace, I need to talk with your mom." Abigail instructed.
The second the girls were out of the room, Cassie rounded on Abigail. "I knew I shouldn't have listened to you. You came through town all those years ago and convinced me to use a little spellwork just on Halloween for Grey House. Now, it's finally come back to bite us!"
Abigail retorted, "You see, that's the problem. You act like you're so scared of magic whenever it suits you to blame it, but the truth is you love that it's part of you."
"I'm scared of it because I've seen the harm it can do when it goes wrong and this is perfect proof!" Cassie hissed.
"And yet, you love this Haunted House. And you use a little bit of that good magic every day to meddle in everyone's life."
"That's different and you know it!" Cassie replied. "That's merely tapping into intuition to help."
"You keep telling yourself that."
Abigail let her sister fume a few more minutes. "Now, do you want my help with this or not?" Abigail already knew the answer and considered, "..Unless they be foe. It was merely supposed to frighten away anyone that would be ill intended, but back here…" She looked through the second shelf and came to a deep velvet bag with a crest on it. She reached inside and pulled out a crimson ring with the same crest and showed it knowingly to Cassie. "I take it you didn't know this was here."
"No," Cassie answered, confused. "I wouldn't even know what it was."
Abigail said. "Oh, Cassie. I know you prefer to just ignore the dark parts of the family's history, but really. This crest was Lucien's. You know, the one who had been burned for witchcraft after being accused of cursing the royals with cuts that wouldn't heal and early deaths. I'd be willing to bet between the girls bullying Grace, the spell we cast, and the history of this ring, the ring turned the spell into a curse."
"Brenda's seizure and Stacey's hand," Cassie realized in horror. "But, Stacey wasn't bleeding anymore and Brenda was awake and fine. I gave them both a tea with healing herbs that would let them sleep it off and feel it a dream. Do you think that's enough?"
"This ring got it's power from the spell. And you also know better than everyone the power good magic has over dark. Go draw up a charmed batch of incense and we'll release the spell exactly at midnight. I think that should do it."
"And if it doesn't?"
"It will, Cassie, I promise."
Long after all the happy guest of the evening were gone, Abigail met Cassie just before the stroke of midnight. Taking each other's hands, they released the haunting spell over Grey House.
Cassie glanced down before looking at her sister again. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. After all, it was my choice to help out with this spell."
"You were scared. It's only natural," Abigail allowed. "I just wish you would trust me a little more sometimes. I know I don't always do things your way, but I've always got your back."
"I know," Cassie smiled and looked around. "And I also have a good feeling everyone's going to be just fine."
"A feeling?" Abigail smirked.
"Don't push it," Cassie retorted lightly. "But, really, maybe we should stick to normal Haunted Houses in the future."
Abigail shrugged, "Talk to me about it next year."