And so we enter the part of the story where I REALLY hit my stride!

Chapter 10…

Ben and Alice, meanwhile, had made their way to the forest. But there was no sign of Miguel, Tulio, or the monsters. And Ben was holding up a flier and looking around.

"Okay, so this is the nearest entrance to the circus…" Ben murmured.

"But Ben, it says 'haunted house'." Alice said.

"Maybe they're trying a change of pace?" Ben said, "We'll ask the ringmaster when we get there."

Ben led Alice further into the forest, the girl clutched onto him as they heard various…unsettling noises in the trees, "It's…rather frightening out here, isn't it?"

"Yeah…I mean, yep." Ben said, trying to sound more brave than he really was, "It's kinda spooky, but nothing I can't handle! Hey, what's this?" Ben looked over to another poster, "Joker's House of Hilarious Horrors…this way! We're on the right track!"

"Um…Ben, I hate to say this…" Alice said.

"If you hate to say it, then don't." Ben said.

"But it's getting dark. Nothing's familiar…and I'm frightened." Alice continued, "It doesn't look like the others are here, either. Maybe we should go back?"

"I…I dunno. Maybe you're right." Ben said, starting to have second thoughts about this. He looked beyond a cluster of trees and found a large, dark building with a large, white clown face in front of the doorway. Across its eyebrows read 'Joker's House of Hilarious Horrors', "Wait! There it is!"

The two quickly made their way to the entrance.

"I…I'm not so sure about this." Alice said.

"Hey, you can't back down now. We've gotten this far. What's a little spookiness when you've got freedom ahead of you?" Ben asked.

"Oh, Ben…you're so brave." Alice commented.

Ben blushed and grinned, but shook his head and said, offhandedly, "Eh, don't worry about it. C'mon."

Ben opened the door and let Alice enter first as some bats fluttered past them. Alice yelled and grabbed onto Ben's arm. Ben put a hand on her hand and only nodded as he led her down the hallway. Aside from the squeaking and flapping noises, the house was oddly quiet.

"Where is everyone?" Alice asked.

"I dunno, maybe taking a break?" Ben said as they came to the hallway. After spotting two people, they ducked behind the doorway.

There were already two people there—a man and a woman. The woman had white skin, a domino mask, and wore a red and black checkered jester uniform. The man, though, had pale skin as well. But also green hair, bright red lips, and a purple suit. He was watching her, looking bored while the woman worked with some props.

"Okay, okay, how 'bout THIS, puddin'?" the woman asked with a heavy, Jersey accent.

She walked over to a heavy-looking weight and tried heaving it up. That did nothing, so she took out a bicycle pump and attached it to the back of her outfit. After taking a moment to rapidly pump it, she seemed to bulk up considerably. In direct contrast to the laws of physics, this time she lifted the weight with ease…only for all the air to blow out the two horns of her cowl. Leaving her quite thin again.

"Oh no." She squeaked before the weight crashed down on her.

"You call THAT a distraction?! The bat would've flown right by you by now!" the man shouted. The woman yelped as she recoiled, but whatever was about to happen next was interrupted by Alice laughing. That distracted the man long enough to look over, "Who was laughing?!"

"I did." Ben said. Something about this man gave him a bad feeling.

"No, it was me, sir." Alice said.

"Well, I'm glad you found something about this entertaining." The man said with a wide smile…which disappeared immediately as he got to the door, "But you're too early for the show, kids. Come back tomorrow."

WHAM!

He slammed the door right into their faces. Alice looked at Ben, who only opened the door and began following. The man was looking over a piece of paper with some writing on it.

"No, no, don't have NEARLY enough piranhas…" he murmured.

The woman, though, began pawing at him with a playful expression, "C'mon, puddin'. Don't you wanna—"

"Are you kidding?! This is G-rated!" The man snapped.

"Goin' for a different look?" Ben asked as he and Alice walked closer.

"Circuses don't pay well this time of year." The man said, trying to wave them off, "Get your peanuts at the front desk. Now get outta my hair!"

"Actually, we ran away from home, sir." Ben said.

"And lemme guess—you wanted to run away and join the circus?" the man asked, shoving the paper into his assistant's mouth, making her gag.

"That's right." Ben said.

The woman took the paper out and tucked it away before she suddenly squealed, running over to them, "Awww, they're so cute and innocent! Just like ME when I was dere age, only with less dead squirrels! Mistah J, let's adopt 'em!"

"NO. The last thing I need is having to deal with the foster system." The man snapped, "Kids, buzz off. Harley, go drug the elephants or something! I've got things to do."

"Don't worry, he's just anxious about the show." The woman, apparently named Harley, said before prancing off while her boss stormed off.

"Did he say, 'drug the elephants'?" Alice asked. Ben only began following the man, "Ben? I think we should go…"

Ben didn't listen, but kept following the man. He came too far to just give up now. Not even the creepy bats around them could deter him.

"Should listen to the girl's advice, kiddo, and get lost." He said.

"So, you don't want the extra help?" Ben asked, "We don't even need to be in the act. We could sweep up, run maintenance, or…"

"Ben, please." Alice said.

"Well, if you put it like THAT…" the man said, turning around, his smile returning to his face.

"I'm not so sure." Alice said.

"But it's a standard contract." The man said, holding out a blank piece of paper, "If you can't read anything, don't worry. Kids never get the finer points of legalese."

"But there's nothing on there." Alice said.

"That's the joke, kiddo." The man said, annoyed, as he pulled out a pen, "Now, care to sign?"

Ben hesitantly reached out for the pen…but the man quickly jabbed the tip of his finger. Ben yelped as he withdrew his hand, a bead of red blood already oozing out of it.

"Present to the contract." The man grinned. Ben reached out his hand, having serious second thoughts about this.

"Ben, I'm scared." Alice whimpered.

"Good! 'Tis the season, after all!" The man laughed before he grabbed Ben by the wrist and pressed it against the blank paper. Immediately, lettering began to appear.

TERMS

The below signed shall hereby be under employment of one Mr…

(the rest illegible due to being so small)

For the next two decades

Signed,

Ben Tennyson

"All that from just blood?" Ben asked, surprised.

"It's thicker than water, after all." The man shrugged.

Alice looked hesitant as well. But she remembered what Ben said—they came this far. She couldn't turn back now. Slowly, she took a pin from her hair and gave her index a sharp poke. With a short gasp, she felt a small bead of blood come out of it. Without looking at her finger, she applied it to the contract. Immediately, the smear shifted and formed into a name.

Signed,

Ben Tennyson

Alice Kingsley

"Well, kiddos, welcome to Joker's House of Hilarious Horrors! Among other such things!" The man grinned before rolling up the contract, "Welcome aboard! There'll be orientation, a party, motorcycle tricks, potentially some bats or birds showing up, and—"

"Yoo hoo? Ben?" called a voice. Ben and Alice perked up. That was Ariel!

"Hey, Ben!" called Alf's voice from the distance.

"Alice!" came Fran's voice.

"Where are you?" and that was Legoshi's voice.

"NOW what?" the man asked, annoyed.

"Don't worry, they're friends of ours." Ben said, excitedly, "C'mon, I'll show ya! I think you'd really like 'em!"

Ben led Alice away, but the man remained behind, wondering what sort of friends these kids would think he'd like. He followed after, not really expecting much…but his eyes widened with his smile as he saw who they were talking about—a werewolf, a mermaid, an alien, and a lady whose horn and fins indicated her as something not-quite human herself. He spent enough time in the Dark World to know what these were—monsters! REAL monsters!

Legoshi had been following the familiar scent all the while. Miguel and Tulio were nowhere near here, but he clearly picked up Ben and Alice's smell. This helped him find the two. He expected to find the two waiting, maybe a bit annoyed at what took them so long, but no worse for wear. What he DIDN'T expect was that they would be with the man that Jack had pointed out. He felt his fur stand on end.

"It's him…the Joker…" Legoshi choked out.

"Alice, get away from that man!" Ariel shouted.

"Don't worry, guys. He's fine. We just joined his haunted house." Ben said, nonchalantly.

"Hey, you know who that is? That's the Joker!" Alf said.

"We were warned about him." Fran growled.

"Warned? By who?" Joker asked.

"Your old partner, Jack Skellington." Legoshi said.

"Well, that explains how you got here and why you can talk." Joker said.

"He used to work for the guy who got us like this, but turns out he's a few apples short of a full barrel." Alf said.

"That's why he's taking this so well…" Ben said with sudden realization.

"And he gave you his cola and warned you about me, eh?" Joker asked, turning his back. Cogs in his head were turning. He had an idea…an awful idea, "Did he show you that hokey magic of his?"

"Yes, we know what people are wishing for." Ariel said.

Joker began to laugh at that point. He had a sudden, wonderful, awful idea.

"Somehow, laughing makes him CREEPIER." Alf said.

"Well…I've got a little of the hocus pocus, too. Want me to show you?" Joker asked, looking around.

"No, no. We're not interested. We really don't wanna see anything. Come on, kids, come with us." Legoshi asked, "We're off to the Mystery Shack."

"The kids aren't going ANYWHERE!" Joker said, taking out the contract, "They're under contract to ME for a VERY long time!"

Legoshi heard that. He still didn't know much about the human world, but gathered that much—contract. That meant they had a binding agreement. If Joker said they weren't leaving…

The same thought apparently occurred to Alice. She began weeping. Ariel slid out of Fran's arms and put a comforting hand on her as Legoshi looked at the two kids, sadly.

"But…these are the first children we've met. And gotten to know." Ariel said.

"We like them." Legoshi nodded.

Ben looked at Alice, who was still crying as Alf and Fran looked at them with sorrowful eyes, too. He put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, it's fine. We're gonna be okay."

"Oh, I don't think so…unless we can work something out with your friends here." Joker said before laughing, insanely.