When the Impossi-Jet reached Washington, Coiley, Multi, and Big D went straight to the FBI building, and stormed into Director Neilsson's office.

"Neilsson, I believe you have quite a bit of explaining to do," Big D said.

"What's going on here?" Director Neilsson asked. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?"

"I heard from a reliable source that you actually might have something to do with those missing person cases you've assigned me to. And why else would you have assigned me to them?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Neilsson. I suggest you cooperate, and choose the easy way. Tell me everything you know about Nightshade's Carnivale Fantastique."

"Errrrmmmm . . . . . . ahhh . . . . . nothing. Nothing at all. I, uhhh, I've never heard of it."

"He's lying, chief," Multi said. "I can tell."

"I agree," Big D replied, calmly. Then he grabbed Director Neilsson by the lapels, and pulled the FBI head towards him.

"I'll ask you again, Neilsson," he said. "What do you know about Nightshade's Carnivale Fantastique?"

"What makes you even think I know something?" Director Neilsson asked.

"Why do they always seem to want to do it the hard way?" Big D sighed. He let go of Director Neilsson's shirt, and in one lightning quick move, grabbed the director's arm, wrenched it behind his back, and held him in a headlock.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Director Neilsson shouted. "Hey, let go, will ya?"

"Ready to talk now?" Big D asked.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk!" Director Neilsson shouted. "It was thirty years ago when I first met Mr. Nightshade. My term as director was almost up, and I didn't want to give up the position. As it happened, that carnival of his was in town, and he promised me immortality, and my position as director of the FBI for life if I cooperated with him."

"Which means keeping the law away from the carnival, am I correct? That's why you gave me those missing person cases."

"Right."

"And, all those people who have gone missing in those case files were somehow involved with Nightshade's carnival?"

"Well . . . . uhhhh . . . ."

Big D sighed, and twisted Neilsson's arm a little harder.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Neilsson shouted. "All right, all right! Those missing person cases were all of the people Nightshade lured into his carnival! He tricks them into his Mirror Maze, but I don't know what happens after that, I swear! All I know is that sometimes people go in, and they do come out unscathed, and other times, when people come in, they don't come out!"

"Maybe those who don't come out are the ones who wind up missing, chief," Coiley said.

"I think you're right about that, Coil," Big D said. "What does Nightshade do with his victims?"

"Oh, no, please, please don't make me tell you that!" Neilsson shouted. "He'll murder me if I told you!"

"And what do you think I'm going to do to you if you don't tell me?" Big D shouted. "I'm going to level with you, Neilsson. My grandson and I had a major falling out over the carnival last night. This morning, I found him gone, and he left this note. I know he's with Nightshade. If you don't tell me what he's planning on doing with my grandson, then whatever he'll do to you will seem tame compared to what I'll do to you!"

"Okay, okay!" Neilsson shouted, as Big D tightened his grip. "He's got this demon friend . . . . I don't know what it is, but that thing gave Nightshade powers and immortality if he fed human souls to the demon for life! But it can only be done once a year, and it has to be done before midnight on Halloween."

"That's only three days away, chief!" Multi shouted.

"Tell me where we can find him," Big D said.

"Uhhh . . . . well . . . ." Neilsson stammered.

"Don't you know where he is?" Coiley asked.

"Yeah, sure, I do," Neilsson said. "But you'll never be able to get there. See, he takes his victims to this place . . . . . I don't know exactly where it is, though. It's called Blackwood Forest, but only the supernatural can access it. You know, like demons, and fairies, and warlocks, and witches . . . . stuff like that there."

"How about half witches?" Multi asked. "And half vampires?"

"Yeah, them, too," Neilsson said.

"Where do we find Blackwood Forest?" Big D asked.

"Just find any forest you can," Neilsson said. "Blackwood Forest can only be accessed during the entire month of October. Come sunrise on November first, it goes into limbo for another year."

"I see," Big D said. "Thank you, Neilsson. That's all I needed to know."

"Good," Neilsson said. "Now you'll let me go?"

"Of course," Big D said. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and slapped them on Neilsson's wrists, behind his back. Then he turned to Multi and Coiley.

"One of you find out where Agent Delano Franklin is and bring him here," he said. "I'm turning Neilsson over to him for the time being."

"Right, chief," Coiley said, and he began springing out of the room. Moments later, Agent Franklin arrived and took Neilsson into custody. Then, Big D and the two Impossibles left in order to get to work tracking down Nightshade. They regrouped with Mike and the girls and told them what was up.

"Blackwood Forest?" Danalleah asked. "Oh, boy, that doesn't sound good."

"Do you know how to get there, Danalleah?" Coiley asked. "Neilsson told us it could only be accessed by the supernatural, and you're about as supernatural as they come."

"Well . . . . ." Danalleah started. "I guess I could try, but I can't guarantee we'll make it. I have to brew a potion first. Otherwise, it won't work. And I'm going to have to do this at my mother's old cottage. She has everything I need there, as well as the spell book that has the ingredient list."

"Yeah, and it's in the woods," Multi pointed out.

"I take it Cronella used to visit this Blackwood Forest?" Big D asked.

"All the time," Danalleah said. "Matter of fact, that's where I was born."

"Then let's not waste any time," Big D said.

And with that, the group went back toward Megatropolis as fast as they possibly could in order to get to Cronella Critch's Haunted Gingerbread Cottage. Danalleah grabbed her mother's spell book, opened it up, and then turned a couple of pages. She quickly glanced over one of the pages, and turned some more, keeping her finger on her previous page so she wouldn't lose her place. She stopped at another page, and read through it. Then she turned back to the page she was holding, cracked her knuckles, and waved her hand, reciting something in a language the others couldn't figure out.

"Magic words, I betcha," Mike said, under his breath. As soon as Danalleah recited the incantation, various bottles and jars began flying off the shelves one by one, opening by themselves, and emptying themselves into a cauldron, which had started by itself when Danalleah started. Soon thereafter, everything returned to their proper place, and Danalleah spooned some of the potion from the cauldron into a glass bottle.

"Okay," she said, corking the bottle, and scribbling something on a sheet of paper. "Now we can head to Blackwood Forest. We need to find an old, twisted tree, surrounded by toadstools. I know exactly where it is. Follow me."

"I just have on inquiry, Miss Critch," Big D said. "Once we get in Blackwood Forest, how to we get out?"

"I'll have to gather up some herbs that only grow in Blackwood Forest for the return trip," Danalleah said. "But don't worry, Mother has a big manor house there, and I made some notes from her book here so we wouldn't have to lug that thing around."

Big D just nodded. He wasn't quite sure if he understood, but he didn't say anything about it. He just followed Danalleah and the others to an old, twisted, and very creepy looking tree, which was surrounded by the weirdest looking toadstools you ever did see. Some were red with green spots, some were yellow with violet spots, some were orange with blue spots, and several more were just the opposite (yellow with violet spots, green with red spots, and blue with orange spots).

"This is it," Danalleah said. "Now stand back, everybody. I'm gonna need some room."

Danalleah took the potion bottle, opened it, and emptied it as she spun around in a circle, causing the potion to soak the toadstools. As soon as the potion hit the toadstools, the spots on them started glowing. Then, Danalleah closed her eyes, tilted her head upward, and held up her hands, with her middle and ring fingers against her thumbs, and her index and pinky fingers in the air. Then she began chanting something again, something the others couldn't even begin to understand. Slowly, a portion of the tree began to open.

"Hey, what do you know?" Danalleah said. "I did it!"

"Come on," Big D said. "We don't have any time to lose!"

The others agreed, and followed the teen witch into the door in the tree. The group found themselves in a dark, creepy forest, complete with a fog rolling in. Skittles began whimpering.

"Easy, girl," Multi said. "We can handle this. The sooner we find Fluey, the sooner we can get out of this creep zone."

"And if we want to find him, we'll need your nose," Coiley pointed out.

Skittles barked, saluted, and began sniffing around. She managed to pick up a scent, and began barking. Since Multi had her on her leash, she didn't go into her super speed. The others followed her down the path until they reached a clearing with several circus cages sitting around. They noticed strange laughter coming from them as well.

"Yikes," Mike commented. "This has got to be the most disturbin' collection of circus freaks I ever did see!"

"Wow, are they ever creepy," Coiley said. "I hope we're not too late."

"Unless time moves faster in Blackwood Forest, I doubt it," Big D said, glancing at Danalleah for a confirmation. "We only have until midnight on Halloween before Nightshade feeds Fluid's soul to this demon."

"No, time runs about the same in both zones," Danalleah said. "We've still got three days until Halloween."

Skittles then began barking like crazy, and she went into her pointer routine (POING!) The others looked toward where she was pointing, and saw another circus cage. They ran toward it, and found Fluey inside, sort of propped up against the wall of the cage, sleeping.

"Phyllis, got a bobby pin on you?" Multi asked.

"Never leave home without one," Phyllis said, pulling a bobby pin from her hair and handing it to Multi. Multi duplicated upward slightly to reach the lock on the cage. He managed to pick the lock in record time. Coiley slowly opened the cage door. It creaked, and the others hope it wouldn't attract too much attention. Fluey began to stir as he heard the creaking door open, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked, drowsily.

"We're getting you out of here," Big D said, holding up Fluey's wrists so Multi could pick the locks on them.

"Chief, you . . . . you actually came for me?" Fluey asked, like he couldn't believe it.

"Of course I came for you," Big D said, reaching up to stroke Fluey's hair. "What made you think I wouldn't?"

"Well . . . . after the fight we had . . . . and Nightshade said something about planting a note . . . ."

"Yes, he made us think you ran away from home to keep us off the track. However, it failed to work."

"That's the last of 'em," Multi said, as he unlocked the chains around Fluey's ankles.

"We'd better split before Nightshade shows up," Fluey said, climbing out of the cage. The others agreed, but before they could go anywhere, a gust of wind blew, and suddenly, Nightshade was standing before them all.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked. "Well, well, isn't this delightful? I was expecting to give my demon friend only one human soul to dine on, and now I get to throw him a feast."

"That's what you think," Fluey said. "Hiyah!"

Fluey jumped up, and kicked Nightshade in the stomach with one of his karate moves. Once he was hunched over, Fluey gave him a karate chop to the back of the neck. That gave our heroes some time to escape. By the time Nightshade got his wits back, our heroes were already too far ahead of him.

"You won't get away that easy," he said, standing up. "That I promise you."

Meanwhile, our heroes were trying to put as much distance between themselves and Nightshade as possible, and that wasn't easy.

"Maybe we should try heading back to Megatropolis," Shawn suggested.

"No," Big D said. "As much as I hate to say this, we're going to have to stay here until after midnight on Halloween."

"Why?" Fluey asked. "I want to get out of this creep zone as fast as humanly possible!"

"I realize that," Big D said. "But Megatropolis is the first place this character will look for us. And while he's hunting us down, he may try to entice others to fall into his trap."

"That's a good point, chief," Coiley said. "But where do we hide out?"

"Mother's manor house," Danalleah said. "We can hide out there, and I can get the ingredients we'll need to get back."

"Is it far from here?" Multi asked.

"Well, we have a little ways ahead of us to go," Danalleah said. "We'd better keep moving."

The others agreed. It was about all they could do. They also hoped nothing was lurking around that dark, creepy forest. The atmosphere of the place was making everyone nervous. The trees looked like they were ready to reach out and grab something, or even someone. It was also eerily quiet. Fluey kept looking over his shoulder, trying to see if Nightshade had managed to catch up with the group, but every time he looked, he didn't see anything. After one quick glance, he took a deep breath, and continued walking, but he ended up tripping, and falling flat on his stomach. A vine had sprouted from out of the ground and wrapped itself around Fluey's ankle. The minute he was down on the ground, more vines began sprouting up, and wound themselves around him, pinning him down. One vine wound itself over his mouth to keep him from getting the others' attention. Fluey struggled to break loose, but stopped when he heard a sinister laugh close by. He dared to look, and there was Nightshade, standing there, smiling evilly.

"Spirited, aren't you?" he said. "Perhaps, I'll need to sedate you before taking you back to my circus."

Nightshade kneeled down, put his hand against the back of Fluey's neck, and pressed. Fluey screamed as a strange glow surrounded him.

"Just calm down, my boy," Nightshade said. "I'm merely draining you of your strength so you'll be easier to handle."

Even though the vine prevented Fluey from calling the others, Skittles could tell something was up. She turned around and looked, and then began barking frantically.

"What's with her?" Mike asked.

"Something must be wrong," Multi said, and he looked in the direction Skittles was indicating. "Hollerin' hi-fi's! It's Nightshade!"

"And it looks like he's got Fluey!" Danalleah gasped.

"I'll take care of this," Big D said. "The rest of you head for shelter. Fluid and I will meet you there."

"You sure you can handle this yourself?" Phyllis asked.

"Positive," Big D said. Phyllis nodded, and she and the others ran off.

Big D took a couple of steps backward, got up a running start, grabbed a vine hanging from a tree branch, and swung over. Once he was close enough, he let go of the vine, and tackled Nightshade. The sudden attack surprised him, and he removed his hand from Fluey's neck and the glow subsided. Then he groaned and stood up.

"I didn't think you had the nerve, old man," he said. "I honestly didn't think you had it in you, considering men your age generally lack the strength, skill, and speed needed to challenge me."

"You'd be surprised, Nightshade," Big D said. "Most people know never to get on my bad side. And those who don't take that into consideration learn the hard way."

"Don't make me laugh, old man. You can't do anything to me."

Big D didn't answer. He just punched Nightshade right in the face, knocking him off his feet. Nightshade got up, but Big D punched him again, knocking him over. As a final blow, Big D gave him a karate chop to the back of the neck. Nightshade didn't know what hit him, and it was obvious he couldn't use his powers on Big D. He needed to recharge.

"You may have won this round, old man," he said. "But don't think you've bested me yet!"

And with that, Nightshade waved his cape over himself, and disappeared. Big D glared at the spot where Nightshade had been standing, and then went over to Fluey. He took a pocket knife out of his jacket and began cutting the vines.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He . . . . he was draining my strength," Fluey said, weakly. "To make me easier . . . . . to handle."

"I see," Big D said, helping Fluey to his feet. However, Fluey nearly fell over the minute he got up. Big D caught him before he hit the ground.

"There is no way you'll manage like this," he said. "You're far too weak to walk."

"I'm okay, chief," Fluey said. "Just . . . . just give me a minute to . . . ."

"No," Big D said, pushing some buttons on his wrist communicator. "We don't have time to spare. We have to get to this house your girlfriend was talking about."

And with that, Big D lifted his grandson into his arms, and carried him through the forest, using his wrist communicator to track down the others.