Chapter 4
Later on in the day after Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo had rejoined Fred and Daphne, the five members of Mystery Inc. continued walking around the festival grounds, spending the rest of the day looking at the various booths and vendors; Fred's purchase of the peculiar looking golden amulet however was the only interesting thing that happened during the gang's stay at the festival, as the rest of the afternoon went on without much excitement.
Before heading back to the hotel though the bespectacled young woman of the group treated Shaggy and Scooby to ice cream, which they both devoured in the span of about five minutes, which caused Velma to shake her head in disbelief; after the cowardly duo's dessert the five sleuths headed back to the Mystery Machine and they headed back to the Salem Hotel to relax for a few hours.
After some rest and while Fred Jones made sure that his amulet was still in one piece and that it was still in his jeans pocket, the gang headed back into town for dinner at a downtown restaurant; after a fairly sumptuous meal and a few glasses of iced tea and soft drinks, Scooby Doo and his friends paid for their meal and spent a few more hours sightseeing and to burn off the calories accumulated during the day's meals; after the sightseeing was finished each of the members of Mystery Inc. discovered that they were a bit tuckered out so they returned to the hotel and got ready for bed.
Once each of the five sleuths took their respective turns in the bathroom to brush their teeth, wash up and take showers, they returned to their respective bedrooms, well all the sleuths except for one that is.
While Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby had already all went to their bedrooms, Fred stood in front of the bathroom mirror with the amulet that he purchased around his neck, after he had retrieved it from his pocket that is; as the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. as looked in the mirror he could see that as the green jewel with an orange tint and the gold of the amulet sparkled in the overhead lights.
Although as he stood in front of the mirror Fred could feel something a bit strange about the amulet; while the piece of jewelry sparked and shined in the lights, it felt as if when he sported the item around his neck that he had unlimited power and that if he could do anything, which included taking on whatever villains the gang faced and defeating them in a manner of seconds.
There was also something in the blond young adult's eyes as well, it felt as if some kind of power coursed through his veins like water through a river; a few moments later the teenage investigator could see in the mirror that the amulet seemed to glow a strange shade of green and that his eyes seemed to also glow the same mysterious shade of green, which confused Fred to no end.
"That's funny, how on earth did the amulet and my eyes glow like that? Not only that but it looked like they glowed the same color as well, hmm…" Fred remarked to no one in particular as he scratched his chin, attempting to piece together what had been happening to him since he purchased the strange item, that is until he came to an interesting and unusual realization.
"You know maybe this amulet isn't such a bad piece of jewelry, in fact I kind of think this might turn out to be a really cool good luck charm too and it fits really well and looks great to boot" the blond young adult continued.
Once the unofficial leader of the group of sleuths finished looking over his appearance in the mirror and the strange piece of jewelry, which seemed to have a mind of it's own he decided that he didn't want anything to happen to the amulet and that it might get stolen while he was sleeping so he made the decision to wear the amulet while he slept.
Fred then walked out of the bathroom and crept back to the bedroom that he, Shaggy and Scooby were sharing, making sure no one heard him or saw him, especially his fellow detectives; soon the blond young adult had arrived back in the bedroom and climbed into one of the king size beds in the hotel room, and a few moments later the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. was fast asleep.
However Fred Jones sleep wasn't a very pleasant one and soon he began having a series of very short, but very unusual dreams, or possibly nightmares; in one of the dreams Fred stood in a cemetery in the middle of the night while Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were nowhere to be seen, which worried him, as he and the gang were always solving mysteries together.
There was a reason however that they were not with him in the dream, as the blond teenager found that in the dream his friends were locked in a large cage and were being slowly lowered into what seemed to be a vat of a foul smelling liquid, which he soon realized was acid, while a mysterious man wearing a cloak stood only a few feet away aiming his hands at the young adult; the young adult could see that the man in his dream looked to have sparks coming out of his hands, which Fred assumed was electricity, except for the fact that there seemed to be the exact same thing coming out of Fred's amulet which he wore in the dream.
Soon the blond teenager began shifted in his sleep as yet another strange dream started to play out in his mind; this time the rest of the gang were there, albeit chained and locked up in various torture devices, while Fred stood and watched as a man bathed entirely in shadows approached him, and then surrounded himself and the blond young adult in a mysterious green glow; the young sleuth wasn't sure of just why the mysterious man was hounding him and seemed to be appearing in every single dream he had since he drifted off to sleep.
Fred then attempted to mull over the strange dreams in his mind, hoping that somehow, someway he could connect the mysterious man with the merchant that had sold him the peculiar golden amulet the day before, and if he could, maybe he could figure out why the man had told him to be careful in Salem and that there were many dangers in the city; and if he was able to connect the jewelry merchant to the man in his dreams, he could ask why his eyes were glowing and why his amulet was glowing as well.
After attempting to decipher the connection between the amulet and the man in his dreams, he realized that he wasn't going to be able to figure it out without sleep, so he opted to go back to bed once more; however after resting for only about twenty minutes Fred became somewhat restless and decided to get up from the bed, he then retrieved his shoes, put them on and decided to take a walk through the hotel to clear his head.
The blond young adult then walked down the hallway of the hotel the gang was staying at and waited for the elevator; at least he was planning on taking the elevator until he was surrounded by a strange greenish and slightly orange glow which looked to be coming from the very amulet he was wearing, in the span of a few seconds Fred had somehow disappeared from in front of the elevator and reappeared on the ground level of the hotel.
"That's strange, one minute I was upstairs and now I'm near the door; I wonder how in the world that happened?" Fred wondered aloud.
Wisely deciding against trying to delve into it further, the blond young adult walked over to the hotel door and prepared to open it which would enable him begin his walk, although he was about to receive another unusual surprise; for as he reached for the doorknob he found that his hand had gone completely through the door, which surprised and shocked him a little bit; confused, he quickly drew back hand and began breathing heavily while he stood at the hotel door trying to figure out why he was able to make his hand go entirely through the door, without being covered in splinters, being sore or injured, or for that matter broken in any place.
"Creepers, this is getting weirder by the minute; first some merchant tells me by name to be careful in Salem and that it has many dangers, then the amulet and my eyes start glowing the exact weird shade of green, then I disappear from the upstairs hallway and I reappear downstairs and to top it all off now I reached for the door, and some how I'm able to reach my hand through it like I was some kind of spirit? I mean I know I'm not a ghost, or a phantom, and I'm just a mere mortal, with no supernatural powers at all, after all who believes in supernatural powers anyway?" Fred remarked out loud, although in a soft tone of voice as to not wake up anyone in the hotel.
Realizing that he had some kind of supernatural powers, and that he was given them or had acquired them for a reason the blond teenager decided to use them, and reached a hand through the door; after his hand was through he reached his other hand through and then soon after he moved his entire body through the door and as soon as Fred Jones knew it he had walked through the white painted wooden door and found himself outside of the hotel; the blond haired young sleuth then proceeded to walk through the parking lot, still thinking about the events of the gang's trip to Salem, and what could possibly come next for him.
"I'm starting to get a serious headache; I mean I really don't understand all this, why did that merchant tell me there are dangers in Salem? Why did I vanish from the upstairs hallway only to reappear downstairs? Why was I able to reach through the door and walk right through it like a spirit, or some supernatural being? And more importantly what in the world have I gotten myself into?" Fred wondered as he walked through the parking lot, eventually he made his way through the lot and started walking around the block, while he attempted to answer all the questions that were rattling around in his brain.
"I can't be a supernatural being, I mean I just can't be a ghost, or spirit, or phantom can I? I'm not dead, or am I? No, no, I can't be dead, nothing happened to me that would have resulted in my death since we got here, maybe I'll pinch myself to make sure I'm still alive, ow!" Fred remarked to himself before pinching his arm.
"Well, I'm still alive and I'm still walking so that means I'm not dreaming and I'm not crazy; but that still doesn't answer why I was able to do all those things that I've been able to do since I got this am…" the blond teenager though to himself, before he stopped thinking in mid-sentence.
"Wait, the amulet! That's it! That's how all these things are taking place; this piece of jewelry has given me these powers, abilities, whatever they are; I guess it's more than a mere good luck charm, maybe if I can figure out more about this amulet and more about whatever powers that I now have, I can figure out how to use it during a mystery and maybe I can use it to protect Daphne from danger" Fred declared to himself, albeit softly.
The blond young adult smiled as he continued to walk through the streets of Salem; Fred Jones, of all people had been given an amazing gift, what he had thought was an ordinary souvenir piece of jewelry and good luck charm, was in reality a powerful mystic object that had given him strange powers; he then realized that if he was going to figure out more about the powers he had acquired, he would have to inform the rest of the gang about his purchase and hope that no one was following him or waiting for him to slip up and take his amulet from him.
Fred then realized that he had walked a few blocks from the hotel and realized that he needed to return to where he and the gang were staying, that is before any of them woke up and saw that he was missing or before any of them might be in danger after being kidnapped by a villain or monster; the blond young adult then ran as if he was quarterback of Coolsville High's football team, quickly and swiftly back towards the Salem Hotel.
The blond young adult's heart was racing as he sped through the streets, running several blocks in a manner of ten minutes, when other people might have taken much longer to complete the same distance; of course since he bench pressed regularly and worked out on a regular basis, not to mention he was a football player, he managed to keep in good shape so he had no trouble running the several blocks from where he was back to the hotel, all the while hoping that his friends were sleeping and not in any danger whatsoever, especially Daphne.
Soon Fred Jones found himself back in the parking lot of the Salem Hotel and within a few minutes he walked up to side door and prepared to open it, although as had happened before, he wouldn't have to open it because his hand went right through said door; after remembering he could now go through the door, he decided to walk through it once again and back into the ground floor hallway.
"This mystery just keeps getting weirder and weirder; how was I able to get through the door again?" Fred asked himself, while he scratched his head; he then looked back down at the amulet which still adorned his neck, realizing that it had once again allowed him to do something no mortal man would be able to do; the young sleuth then shook his head in disbelief and walked back upstairs and into the hallway.
After a few minutes Fred had reached the door of the bedroom that he, Shaggy and Scooby were staying in and prepared to enter the room; as he stood in front of the door however a strange green and orange glow began to surround him once again, and once more it looked like it was coming from Fred's amulet, before he knew it he had disappeared from the hallway and reappeared in his bedroom.
"Ok, this is getting ridiculous, not to mention all of this is giving me a headache; I think I better head back to sleep, maybe some rest will help me forget this weird stuff for now, although I probably should let the rest of the gang in on this tomorrow" Fred thought to himself as he climbed back into bed.
Once he returned to sleep he began dreaming once again, only this time they were much happier dreams; this time after realizing what he could do with his amulet, Fred found himself using the piece of jewelry against the mysterious man that had appeared in his dreams earlier in the evening, which made him happy as after he was finished Daphne ran over to him and smothered him with kisses and hugs.
In his dreams, Fred realized that maybe having a good luck magical amulet might help him in his life and while solving mysteries, and possibly with Daphne, so he made the decision, no matter what happened to him that he would keep the amulet for as long as he lived, and would use his new powers on whoever or whatever tried to retrieve the amulet from him, because as Fred slept he thought to himself that if someone were to mess with him and his friends, they would be truly sorry.
October was an interesting time of year in New England, sometimes the weather would be sunny and beautiful and other times it would be rainy, while other times there would be several feet of snow in the region, which would nicely coat the trees and grass in the small town of Salem; however this morning the weather was a bit cloudy, although the sun did peak through the clouds on occasion giving the hotel and its inhabitants a bit of a treat, as some of them slept peacefully while others were planning their day in Salem and the surrounding area.
For the most part some of the hotel's guests were planning on seeing the Witchcraft Museum, or some of the other attractions or buildings in the small New England town, many of which dated back to the days of the infamous Witch Trials, while some dated back to various other eras including the 1700's.
Meanwhile there was one particular young adult, who wasn't planning on seeing any tourist attractions, or at least not as a tourist; in fact he was hoping that there was a building somewhere in town that would provide him with the answer to why an amulet he had purchased had given him strange powers and why he was able to pass through solid objects and disappear from one place and reappear in another place, and do other things that a mortal couldn't do but a magical or mystical being would be able to do.
Later on in the morning, but still fairly early enough so that no one else in Mystery Inc. was awake and would see his amulet and what he was doing, Fred rose from his bed, yawned, stretched and walked to the bathroom; soon after he then made several attempts to remove the strange amulet from around his neck, but after a few attempts he was unsuccessful, which left him to stand dumbfounded in front of the bathroom mirror.
"Huh, this thing must be made of concrete or something; how in the world is it not coming off?" Fred wondered silently as he attempted to somehow, someway pull the piece of jewelry from around his neck, which might have worked except for the fact that no matter how hard he pulled, the amulet seemed to get tighter and tighter around his neck, which would normally cut off a person's ability to breathe, albeit anyone else who was in this same situation, other then Fred of course.
The blond young adult was perplexed as to why, even though the amulet was getting tighter and tighter around his neck, it seemed that the piece of jewelry was allowing him to breathe for some reason, and it wasn't strangling him or hurting him; in fact if Fred didn't know any better it felt as if the amulet had a mind of its own and it was trying to make friends with the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc., but Fred knew that was untrue because after all, even though this amulet had given him unusual powers, there was no way that an inanimate object even an amulet would have human emotions.
Fred continued to ponder over these bizarre occurrences and possibly whether or not an amulet could indeed have human emotions as he left the bathroom and returned to his bedroom and to his bed; however the blond young adult didn't bother to go back to sleep, because he sat up in his bed and looked over the amulet, thinking about why he had purchased the item in the first place and why these strange things were only happening to him.
About five minutes later Fred walked over to a nearby table and chairs, sat down and began thinking once again; the young investigator sat with his eyes locked on the piece of jewelry for a few minutes, not taking his eyes of the strange green emerald with orange tint which was the centerpiece of the amulet; he also spent a few minutes looking at the area that surrounded the emerald, which was made of solid gold and seemed to shine and sparkle in the lights of the bedroom.
The alarm clock in Fred, Shaggy and Scooby's bedroom displayed 8:45 AM as the aforementioned cowardly duo finally from their slumber, which seemed to have been fairly pleasant as the two of them got up from their beds, yawned and stretched while standing on the brown carpet of their hotel room; as the blond young adult looked over at the two of them he realized that if Shaggy and Scooby were awake, Daphne and Velma would soon be awake as well.
Of course Fred had no idea that only a few minute later he would receive a visitor to he, Scooby and Shaggy's room, as while the cowardly duo sat on the bed, and Fred Jones sat at the table, there was a knock at the door; the blond young adult was still a bit embarrassed by his purchase that he didn't want Daphne and Velma to find out about it yet so he motioned for Scooby and Shaggy to open the door, which they did.
The two chicken hearted sleuths then walked over to the door and wondered who was visiting them, although the two of them had a pretty good idea of who it was and received their answer rather quickly.
"Shaggy, Scooby, Freddie, it's us" Daphne explained.
"Like cool, I was wondering you girls would get up; hang on, I'll open the door" Shaggy replied; the cowardly teen then unlocked the door and opened it, which allowed Daphne and Velma to enter the room.
"Hi Fred, we were wondering when you would get up" Daphne remarked as her boyfriend watched the red head walk into the room.
"Hi Daphne" Fred replied with a smile.
"You know I was wondering when you would get up too Shaggy" Velma said as she walked over and kissed Shaggy on the cheek.
"Like thanks Vel, we've been up for a little while actually" Shaggy replied.
"Ah, well it's nice to see you up and about guys, we thought you were going to sleep the day away" Velma remarked.
"Velma, like there's no way I would sleep the day away; besides I'm kind of looking forward to spending the day at the Halloween Festival again" Shaggy said.
"Shaggy, why in the world would you want to go back to the festival?" Velma asked.
"Well, I would be spending time with you for one thing and who knows, maybe I'll find something to buy for you as a present or something" Shaggy said, scratching the back of his head as he spoke.
"Shaggy, that's really sweet of you, would you really buy something just for me?" Velma asked, smiling at the cowardly teenager.
"Sure would Velma, believe me, you're worth it" Shaggy replied as he leaned over and kissed Velma on the cheek.
"Thank you Shaggy, and I think I'm worth it too," Velma said as she leaned over and kissed the cowardly young adult on the cheek.
"You're welcome Velma and I love you" Shaggy replied with a smile.
"Thanks Shaggy, and I love you too" Velma responded with a smile of her own.
Having exchanged kisses and hugs, Velma and Shaggy then walked over to the table to join Fred; meanwhile Daphne and Scooby were curious as to why the blond young adult hadn't left the table, so they decided to each sit down at the table and join the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc.
Fred Jones sat in complete silence palming his amulet with one hand, while his other hand was on his right knee, as he sat back in the chair with his eyes closed, Daphne Blake could clearly see that something was the matter with him and that Fred usually wasn't himself; usually he was a leader and ready to figure out any mystery that would come down the pike, or he would be figuring out a new trap for a villain, but this time he just sat, quiet and still, it was then that the red head decided to break the silence and asked Fred about what was happening with him and more importantly what he was hiding.
"Freddie you look like you've got something on your mind, what's up?" Daphne asked curiously.
"Well Daph, it's kind of weird to be totally honest with you" Fred replied, hiding the amulet inside his shirt at the moment, so the rest of the gang couldn't see it; after all, he wanted to wait until the time was right to tell him about his rather unusual new powers and abilities.
"Come on Fred, tell us what's going on?" Velma remarked.
"OK, I'll tell you guys; but you have to promise not to say anything" Fred relented.
"We won't, just tell us" Velma replied.
"Alright, you remember when we looked around all those booths and vendors at the festival yesterday" Fred remarked.
"Sure, I remember" Daphne replied.
"OK, well when we were looking at one of the jewelry merchants, you had browsed through the selection of gems available for purchase, but you decided to not purchase anything and left" Fred explained.
"Right" Daphne responded.
"Well, after you got done browsing and left I decided to look around the booth and I found a really cool amulet, it reminded me of my ascot and I decided to buy it" Fred continued.
"That's new, Fred I've never known you to be interested in jewelry" Daphne replied while trying not to laugh at his statement, even though she was laughing under her breath.
"Anyway, after I bought it the man said something to the effect of be careful Fred Jones, and that Salem had many dangers and things were not what they seem, things like that; then all of a sudden he and his booth vanished, poof!" Fred replied.
"Hmm, that's strange; how could a merchant at a bazaar in Salem, Massachusetts of all places know your name and more importantly how could he and an entire booth suddenly vanish" Velma wondered.
"I don't know but it's very weird, not to mention the fact that I tried to get it off and it won't come off; I think this thing might be made of stone or something" Fred replied.
"That is pretty weird Fred" Velma said.
"Yeah, and that's not the half of it, there's more" Fred remarked.
"Jeepers, what else Freddie?" Daphne asked.
"Well after I got the amulet and after we got back to the hotel, I couldn't sleep so I took a walk around the parking lot and around the block, that's when some very peculiar things started happening" Fred explained.
"Like what Freddie?" Daphne inquired.
"Well for starters, I was going to take the elevator down to the ground floor, but as soon I got ready to press the down button I felt myself disappearing from our floor and reappearing a few moments later on the bottom floor, and intact too" Fred replied.
"Zoinks! Like that's pretty weird, what else?" Shaggy asked with a somewhat surprised tone in his voice.
"After that I tried to open the door to the hotel so I could go outside and for some reason my hand went right through it; I thought it was kind of weird myself but then I reached my other hand through it and then before I knew it I was walking through the door" Fred remarked.
"Fred, that's unbelievable; you must have hit a secret switch or something because there's no scientific way that a person can pass through a solid object like a door" Velma explained.
"I know Velma, I know, but it happened, not once but twice, on the way back to the bedroom" Fred replied.
"Hmm… this does sound weird Freddie, what else?" Daphne asked.
"Well as I said this amulet seemed to be made of stone, and then it seemed to get tighter and tighter around my neck, which would make anybody unable to breathe, but for some reason when the amulet became tighter and tighter around my neck, I could still breathe; it was almost like that my amulet liked me, or had human emotions" Fred explained.
"Fred, you know that's impossible; the amulet isn't alive, which means it can't have human emotions and it certainly can't like a person" Velma replied.
"Well whatever it's doing and whatever's happening, it almost feels like the amulet is trying to make friends with me, and I don't mind it at all really" Fred commented.
"Hmm… this still sounds a bit weird; so what do you think's going on Fred?" Velma asked.
"Yeah since like you're the one who comes up with plans and stuff, maybe you can figure out what's going on," Shaggy remarked.
"Well gang, I don't know what to tell you this time, other than the fact that I'm pretty sure the amulet has given me some kind of supernatural powers" Fred stated.
"L-like supernatural powers?" Shaggy asked nervously.
"Roh no!" Scooby added also nervously.
"Don't worry guys, I'm sure there's noting to worry about, I hope" Fred remarked.
"Well whatever's going on, there has to be a logical explanation for it" Velma noted.
"Yeah, I just hope the logical explanation is one that makes sense" Fred replied.
"Don't worry Fred, it will; now are you still wearing the amulet Fred?" Velma asked.
"Sure am, maybe you can get it off Velma or at least take a look at it and see what's going" Fred replied, taking the amulet from its hiding place underneath the young adult's shirt.
"Well I can sure take a crack at it" the bespectacled teen remarked.
Velma moved her chair over to where Fred was sitting and examined the strange golden amulet that he was wearing around his neck, the piece of jewelry had a sparkling green emerald with an orange tint right in the middle; altogether it looked like something that a medieval prince or princess would wear, all in all it looked like something out of the middle ages, or a bad horror movie.
"Hmm… this is an interesting amulet Fred, although I don't know if it has any special powers or not, it just looks like some souvenir to me" Velma said.
"Well then why isn't it coming off from my neck and why have I been able to walk through doors and stuff?" Fred asked.
"Beats me, Daphne why don't you take a look at it, I mean you're great with jewelry" Velma suggested.
"Good idea Velma, maybe I can figure out what's wrong with it" Daphne remarked as she and Velma switched seats.
"So Daphne, what do you think?" Fred asked as the red head examined the strange piece of jewelry.
"Actually this is kind of a pretty amulet, and it goes very nicely with your eyes Freddie and your ascot" Daphne replied.
"I figured as much" Fred quipped.
"Huh? What do you mean Freddie?" Daphne asked.
"Well when I bought the amulet I figured you would say something like that, that's why I got it, I figured you would also like it, because I certainly like it" Fred replied.
"Well you're right Freddie, I do like it" Daphne said as she reached in towards the blond young adult and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thanks Daph, I knew you would" Fred replied.
"Now, let's get back to this amulet and see if we can get off Freddie" Daphne commented.
"Yeah, I mean I like the amulet but I wouldn't mind getting it off" Fred replied.
With that the two girls along with Shaggy and Scooby tried pulling on the amulet with all their might; however, no matter what they tried it seemed like it just would not budge.
"Jinkies, that amulet must be made of the hardest substance known to man because it just won't come off," Velma explained.
"I know, I know; I just can't figure it out, why won't this come off!" Fred replied, while trying to pull the piece of jewelry off his neck once again, although as you might expect he was having about as much luck with it as Daphne, Velma, Scooby and Shaggy had with it, which is to say none at all.
"Hmm, Fred here's a crazy thought; why don't we talk to the Hex Girls, after all they're experts in all that Wiccan and Eco-Goth stuff so maybe they'll know something about this" Daphne explained.
"Good idea Daphne, plus they're staying in the same hotel as us" Fred replied.
"Hey that's right, they're supposed to be in the room right next to us" Velma remarked.
"Well what are we waiting for let's go talk to them" Daphne commented.
With that the five adolescent investigators left Fred, Shaggy and Scooby Doo's bedroom and walked over to the room belonging to their musical friends hoping that they could help Mystery Inc. unravel the mystery of the strange amulet that Fred Jones had purchased during the gang's stay in Salem, Massachusetts and that was giving him major grief since he bought it.