To Anonymous Person Lucky 13- Pick a time, tree man!

To An-Unnamed-Goose- She is high quality :P

Harvey always had sweets ready for trick-or-treaters, every Halloween. He always brought too much though, every year, guaranteed, but that left him plenty to take into school for his kids. He was sure that was their favourite part of the year.

A knock on the door, Bobo barking to let him know.

"I'm coming!" He assured the dog, straightening his fake beard. The knock turned into a pounding. "I'm coming!" He called again, louder. The letterbox started getting smacked too, driving Bobo crazy and causing her to bark more, spinning in circles and shaking her head. "Happy- Lizzie? What's wrong?" She was out of breath, red-faced and leaning on the doorframe, wheezing, nursing a stitch.

"Shadows… Lou… man… Popadom…"

"What?" He puzzled. She coughed. "Alright, I'm coming. Bobo, stay." He ordered, throwing his hat and beard off. The dog sat dutifully and he smiled. "Good girl."

Lizzie waved him on. She had hardly regained a proper level of breathing, but that didn't stop her from running again. He kept pace easily enough, following her, about three blocks away. He could hear the screaming of rushing wind, the temperature dropping the closer they got. They rounded a corner, a blast of green light searing their vision.

Harvey blinked away spots, having thrown his arms up to protect his eyes a second too late. Squinting, he wasn't sure if he was seeing what he was seeing.

Louisa had lost her hat, but the rest of the frog costume remained. The street was empty of pedestrians, there was no sign of the boys, Barry and Liam, Jessica had her bat, hunkered down behind a car. Its windows were smashed, glass glittering on the ground and flashing with each explosion of green.

Lizzie pointed and he saw the man. Shadows gathered around him, darker than the night sky, writhing and building, swirling into a wailing mass. He couldn't see much of the man's features, just his outlines, saw his silhouette throw out a hand. A torrent of shadows shrieked, rocketing at Louisa. She dived to the side, somersaulting away with a second to spare. The shadows burrowed into the ground where she had been, cascading across the tarmac with disappointment and hunger. Tendrils rose and fell at random, arching and sinking, dozens of them of all strengths and heights, Louisa weaving and diving and vaulting around them, bouncing around much like the creature she resembled tonight.

"What-?" Lizzie gasped, hands on her knees. "What is-?"

"I have no idea. Go to your mother." He threw off his robes as well, drawing a circle with his finger. Blue sparkles extended into a pole. He grabbed the creation and the blue dashed away. He now held a pilum. "Go!" He ordered. Lizzie startled and raced off to crouch next to Jessica.

Louisa screamed, defiant. A hurricane exploded into life around her and it rushed towards the shadow man. He threw his hands out either side of him and the shadows clawed the hurricane apart. Harvey took aim while he was distracted and launched his weapon.

The man noticed, leaning back at the last second. The pilum missed him by inches, embedding itself in the ground beside him.

"This does not concern you!" He called. "Begone!" Behind him, a fire hydrant exploded and he whirled around, flinging his hand up. The shadows couldn't stop the water in time, the force of which yanked him off his feet. Louisa swept her right hand out and the water circled back on itself, carting the man into the side of a building.

Harvey sprinted forward, drawing another circle and summoning a sword and shield.

"Lou, who is this?"

Her water fell away, dropping the man into a heap on the floor.

"Popadom." She grumbled, holding her sword at the ready. At his baffled look, she sighed. "Evil tree man. Uses shadows. Elvis hair. Dad told me to keep him in his tree."

"Where is his tree?"

"Bottom of the ocean somewhere."

"So… how's he here?"

"Me. Dad tied us together."

Harvey didn't get to ask any more questions. The man- Popadom - was on his feet now, swiping water from his face, pushing his hair back.

"Where's your little friend, Louisa?" He taunted. "Where's Arnie?" Fury and hurt whisked into an inferno in her eyes.

"SHUT UP!" Thunder shook windows, shook the ground. Green light erupted around her, dancing down her blade. She swung it round, screaming. The energy raced across the street, slamming into a wall of shadows. It flashed and ricocheted, clawing for purchase on the enemy. The shadows writhed, congregating into denser masses, building against her power.

Harvey drew a circle with his sword this time, bigger than usual. The pattern he needed filled itself in, following the image in his mind. It blazed with blue fire and then joined her green, a river of sapphire flames.

Popadom snarled in frustration, the heat stabbing through his shadows, eating them up, dissolving them into wispy nothingness. He dropped, the remnants of his shadow wall falling away too. Harvey took two steps forward, the shadows squirming out across the street. Blue flames licked at the building, the pavement. Her green had faded.

"Where'd he go?" He asked, staring at the empty space where the man had dropped.

"Wait." Louisa instructed. She had turned away from where Popadom had been, scanning the pool of shadows all around them. Harvey's heart sunk.

"How does he know this magic? He's a dryad." Louisa shook her head, eyes narrowing. She spun her sword in her hand, slamming the blade down. It sunk into the road, launching out a shockwave that shattered the street, rumbling the road and tossing shadows about, tearing holes in the dark layer.

"Stop that!" His voice came from behind them. Harvey turned in time, shield at the ready. A shadow ball struck the defence, rattling the bones in his arm, jarring his shoulder. Popadom bared his teeth, a growl at first, then forcing it into a smile. "A son of Hecate." He mused. "I have learned your mother's tricks too, demigod. You do not bother me."

"What do you want with Louisa?" Harvey demanded.

"Not much." He waved it off. "I just need her out of the way."

"Heard that one before." Louisa muttered. "Go back to your tree!"

"Mm, I don't think I will." Popadom clapped, shoving his hands out towards them. A tidal wave rose behind him, shadows blotting out all light around them- streetlights, lights in windows, the moon, the stars. It all disappeared as the mass came down on them, almost cackling and burbling, so excited it was to crush them.

Louisa left her sword in the ground, darting in front of her teacher. She stomped her foot, throwing her hands up. A blindingly bright wall of green light shot up, folding over them into a dome. The shadows struck her shield with the force and sound of a bomb. Harvey sheathed his sword, splaying his hand flat on the green surface. Blue lines zigzagged from his fingers, racing out and forming a mesh netting on the inside of the dome.

"How do we get him back to his tree?"

"I don't know. The tree was there last time, we split up."

"We?" He pressed. Louisa hesitated.

"A-Arnie was with me last time. He attacked the tree. I kept Popadom busy."

"Do you know where his tree is? Like, exactly?" She shook her head again. Harvey thought for a moment, taking his hand away to draw another shield spell with his finger. A purple layer of spiralling circles joined the green and blue variations. "Your father tied him to you?" She nodded. He looked down at her face, pale and tiring, seeing her hands shake. "I might be able to use that tie to connect to him, find his tree."

"Can you send him back?"

"I can try. We're going to need to weaken him though." She grit her teeth.

"Fun."

Harvey began questioning her definition of fun, when the shadows spluttered and tumbled to the floor in globs. They saw beyond the darkness and he couldn't help but laugh.

Jessica had emerged. She had somehow got Popadom on the floor and was now swinging her bat over and over, again and again, down onto any part of his body she could- his head, his face, his ribs, his arm, everything. Lizzie was a few feet away, yanking on the pilum still sticking out of the road. It came free unexpectedly and she yelped, staggering back a couple of paces before regaining her balance. Then she charged right in, stabbing him through the leg. Popadom screamed.

"They're mad." He grinned.

"Yep." Louisa agreed, pushing down with her hands. Her green shield dropped. Harvey clenched his fist and his magic fell away too. They raced forward to help. As they got closer, they could hear Jessica insulting the tree man with every swing, much of which she told Louisa never to repeat. Never.

Seeing the demigods approach, Popadom scowled. He melted into the shadows, Jessica's bat striking the floor where his nose had been.

"BASTARD!" She raged. "GET BACK HERE!" Lizzie wriggled her pilum free.

"I have no idea what's going on." She admitted. "But can I keep this?"

"You're holding it wrong." Harvey commented.

"I'm a surfer, not a legionnaire." She wrinkled her nose at him. He corrected her grip nonetheless, which she thanked him for by tapping the shaft sharply on his arm.

Shadows still blanketed the ground, rippling and swarming around their ankles like ice cold water. Louisa was poking at mounds with her sword, muttering to herself, walking in circles around them. Harvey adjusted the straps of his shield. Jessica retied her hair back from her face, glowering. He tried not to stare at her, but she was far more beautiful and far more terrifying than any goddess he could name.

"What?" She demanded, picking her bat back up. His heart did a happy little skip, quickly looking away on the pretence of keeping an eye out for this Popadom.

"Nothing." He insisted. Lizzie snorted.

"Honestly, get a room. It's disgusting."

"HA!" Louisa declared. Popadom had risen from the shadows behind her, trying to grab her from behind. She was quicker, whirling around and stabbing at him. He jumped to the side, snarling at her. Harvey darted forward, slashing at his back. The dryad melted into shadows once more, popping up between Lizzie and Jessica. Before they could react, Louisa blasted him with green light. He slammed into a wall, the masonry crumbling around him, fitting like a mould.

"Three years." He growled. "Three years it took me to recover from our last encounter. Oh, that's not all I did though." He grinned lopsidedly. "I revised your father's magic. I wanted to know what spell joined us together. You wanted to trap me on the seabed? Think again! I can go where you go! I can achieve-" Louisa began snoring, loudly and pointedly, head lolling on her chest. Popadom's white face turned rosy with fury. "You are as much a brat as ever!"

"Oy!" Jessica marched forward. "Only I can call her a brat!" She swung her bat, aiming for his jaw. He vanished, materialising a couple of metres away from Louisa. He lunged for her, but Harvey was quicker, tossing him aside with another stream of blue fire. As he struck the ground, the shadows engulfed him. "Lou, what is this guy's deal?" Louisa 'woke' up, stretching her arms over her head.

"I dunno. Wanted ta spill my blood or somethin'." The women stared at her. Harvey frowned.

"Demigod blood does have many magical properties. And your blood-"

"Yeah, super cool, super magic. Don't care."

"Ground!" Lizzie yelped, but it was a second too late. The shadows convulsed, recreating Louisa's shockwave in reverse. It happened too quickly, sweeping them off their feet. The blanket of shadows wriggled gleefully, gaining more purchase on them, bundling around their arms, trapping their feet. Jessica's bat was wrenched away from her, shadows layering over her mouth as she began swearing again.

Shadows rose up next to Louisa, taking the form of Popadom kneeling beside her. She struggled and screamed and swore at him, Jessica trying to protest and scold her behind the dark gag. Louisa didn't notice. Her sword arm was trapped. She couldn't move her legs, her head, anything. She had her right hand free, but the second she moved it to attack him, shadows lurched out and yanked it back down.

"That's better." The dryad mused. He put a hand on her forehead, tut-tut-tutting as she yelled at him. "Oh, it's been so hard for you since we last saw each other." He said, his voice filled with venom-laced sympathy. "Poor Arnie. He was a good boy, he did not deserve that. Neither did the others." He sighed, smoothing her hair back from her forehead. She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up, to fuck off, to whatever she was going to say, but shadows laced over the lower half of her face, clamping her jaw shut. She couldn't breathe through the coldness, each inhale like sharp ice down her windpipe, frosting her lungs.

Popadom smiled at her, wiping a tear away with his thumb. "I told you. I told you to give in. Your suffering was and is inevitable, why don't you just give in?" Darkness was prickling the edges of her vision, her body begging her to breathe. "Nothing you do will ever matter. You will just hurt everyone you love, time and time again. Listen to me now, Louisa. You don't want to kill anyone else, do you?"