"And that concludes our tour of the Halloweentown Council building," the young Asian witch said with the wide grin which she was known for around the office.

"Thank you so much for the tour, Cassie," Marnie said with a smile as she shook her hand, "It's so cool that we get to work together."

"Well, not so much 'work together' as it is 'me working for you'," Cassie admitted, "I'm just your secretary after all."

"Nonsense!" Marnie said with a smile. "You've already proven that you know more about how things work around here than I do. I can tell you're going to be my most important co-worker."

Cassie giggled lightly. "Thanks, Ms. Piper."

"Oh don't bother with that 'Ms. Piper' crap," she said, "We went to high school together, after all. Please, just call me Marnie."

"Alright, Marnie," she replied with a nod before walking out, leaving Marnie alone in her office.

Marnie sat at her desk and took in the sensation of sitting in an official government office as an official Halloweentown Ambassador to the Mortal World. She felt proud and prestigious... however, that feeling soon morphed into boredom when she realized she had literally nothing of value to do today. She let out a sigh and played around with a pencil on her desk. Suddenly she heard a ruckus coming from the hall. She rushed out the door, hoping to find out what it was. Out in the hall, Councilman Cucurbita, the pumpkin-headed chairman of the Department of Internal Defense, was shouting orders at several creatures who quickly scrabbled off.

"Is everything okay?" Marnie asked.

"I'm afraid not," Cucurbita said, "There was just a double murder up at Witch University. One of them was our own Agent Periwinkle. Both were killed by a lightning spell, but Periwinkle's body appeared to be cursed. I'm heading over to the university to have a look at the crime scene myself."

"Do you mind if I tag along?" Marnie asked, "I mean, I'm not doing anything here, and I might be able to help identify the curse."

"If you'd like, you may," Cucurbita nodded.

He waved his hand like vine in an arch pattern and the two were instantly transported to the crime scene. Marnie grimaced a bit at the sight of Goodwin's body. However, it was when her eyes drifted to Periwinkle that she let out a shriek.

"Oh my God!" she said, covering her mouth.

"What is it?" Cucurbita asked.

Marnie swallowed hard as it dawned upon her exactly who was responsible for these murders. "A Gray Spell... Kal."

Kal proudly re-entered the old movie theater where Cora sat waiting.

"I did it," he said. "I killed Goodwin, and now I'm an Acolyte."

"Indeed so," Cora smiled.

"First things first," he said, "I need your help hiding my magic from the Halloweentown authorities."

Cora simply nodded and waved her hand. A green aura surrounded Kal.

"That spell will not only hide you from other witches and warlocks," she explained, "But it will also double your strength ten fold."

Kal smiled wickedly at the notion. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"Secure this world for the Overlords," Cora stated.

"Hmph, you can have this dump," Kal began, "I have to complete my father's dream of leading the people of Halloweentown back to the mortal world."

"Do you truly want that?" she asked.

"No," he admitted, "I want the people of Halloweentown to suffer for what they did to my father, like they did under the Gray Spell. It was perfect! If only the Cromwells hadn't discovered the counter spell."

A sinister smile crept onto Cora's face. "My dear boy, what if I told you that you could have both?"

Kal turned to her with interest. "How."

Cora reached into a satchel attached at her hip and produced a small roll of parchment.

"This curse is from my land. It was created by my teacher long ago. It'll rip everyone from this world and transport them to the mortal world, but no one will remember their lives here and they'll all be human and miserable, at your own digression of course."

"It sounds perfect," Kal said with a grin, "What's it called?"

Cora smiled wickedly. "The Dark Curse."

With the ship nearly repaired, Cid decided that it was time for him to take a cigarette break. Jim elected to go back inside to see if Aggie was ready to continue with lessons. As he entered the foyer, he could hear Jack and Aggie talking intently about something. He only really caught the tail end of what Aggie was saying, "...I don't think there's anything we can do about it."

"Anything we can do about what?" Jim asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Oh, Jim, uh, hi," Jack said, startled, "We were just talking, uh, about, well, umm, uh... An embarrassing rash I have!"

"Oh yes!" Aggie nodded. "It's in a very personal space. Jack was just asking if I had any spells that could fight the rash, but it looks like he's just going to have to ride it out."

"Uh-huh," Jim said, not buying a word they were saying.

However, before Jim had the chance to question further, a flash of light appeared in the kitchen and a young woman appeared when it faded away.

"Marnie!" Aggie exclaimed. "What brings you here? You look troubled."

"Grandma, I need to talk to you in private, now!" Marnie said urgently.

"Of course," Aggie nodded. "Um, Jim, Jack, would you-"

"Say no more," Jack said, "We'll get out of your hair."

Jack and Jim exited out of the back door and began to walk down to the orchard.

"So you told Aggie about the 'X'?" Jim asked.

"Yes," Jack admitted.

"But I told you not to!" the brunette said.

"Actually, you didn't," the white-haired boy replied, "You said not to tell Cid, which I thought was stupid, but I respected your wishes. But, Jim, this is dangerous. I had to tell someone about it."

"It's nothing," Jim insisted, "Just a few scratches, and you're gonna jeopardize my entire mission to help Silver over that."

"Dammit, Jim, listen to me!" Jack snapped in frustration, "It's a Recusant's Sigil, a tracking spell, which is how Loki found North's workshop despite the spells in place to hide it!"

"A tracking spell?" the brunette muttered to himself, "That explains everything."

"Exactly!" the white-haired boy exclaimed. "Aggie can undo the spell, but she needs both you and Loki to be in her presence at the same time."

"So basically, we can't undo it," Jim said, "I'm stuck with this Recusant's Sigil."

"A Recusant's Sigil?" a voice said, "Well isn't that interesting."

Jim and Jack turned to see Hook standing there with a devious grin on his face.

"I actually found you because of the spell Amora put on my hook," the pirate said as he gestured to his metallic apendage, "But, I suppose great minds think alike."

"Who's the guy in leather?" Jack asked.

"Captain Hook," Jim answered. "He's a pirate working with the Overlords. Except he's not the one you need to worry about; it's his boss, Cora, that's the real threat."

"Your words cut right through me, mate," Hook said, "I'm not someone you should underestimate."

"Fighting another villain behind my back? I thought we had forged special bond," Loki said as he appeared on the scene. "It appears that I have arrived just in time."

"Loki!" Jack exclaimed.

"I see you brought the winter flit along on your travels," Loki said with a poisonous twang in his voice, not even turning to face Jack.

"Bugger off, mate, I was his first," Hook interjected.

"And since then, Hawkins has had a real adversary," Loki said with a smirk, "So he knows better than the crawl back to you."

"Are they still talking about being your enemy?" Jack whispered to Jim.

"Hook has a thing for innuendos," Jim said, "And apparently Loki's willing to play along."

"To a certain extent," Loki said, "However..."

Before anyone had time to blink, Loki swung his weapon and knocked Hook up side the head with the blunt end of his spear. Hook fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Now then," Loki said. "Flit. Behind you."

"Huh?" Jack said as he turned around.

He took a few steps back when he saw the figure behind him.

"The fear in your eyes right now is glorious, Jack," Pitch Black hissed.

"Pitch?! But how?! You're dead!" Jack said.

"So are you," Pitch said, "Yet here we both are. I suppose that's one more thing to add to our list of commonalities."

"Shut up!" Jack shouted.

He darted forward and slashed at Pitch with a blast of ice energy. However, Pitch made no effort to block the spell. When it made contact with him, the boogeyman vanished in a blur of green light. It was just one of Loki's illusions.

"No!" Jack shouted as he realized that he had been deceived.

He turned around just in time to see a grinning Loki vanish with an unconscious Jim slumped over his shoulders. Jack quickly raced over to the spot where Jim and Loki had been, as if hoping that they'd reappear if he did. Jack tugged at his hair in panic.

"Jim! JIM!"