A/N: Update time! I hope everyone enjoyed last week's chapter. If so, I hope this one is just as good!

"What about zombies?" Adam suggested, raising his arms up to mimic the creature he spoke of. Akiko shook her head with a frown.

"No, I did them already, just before the werewolf one. I need something new to do," she replied. Adam slowly lowered his arm with a crestfallen expression. Rachel got him a soft smile and patted his arm for his efforts.

"What about shapeshifting aliens?" Graham suggested with a smile. Akiko shot him a glare, wiping the smile off his face.

"What have I said about aliens and horror movies?" she replied. The group of friends all resumed their brainstorming as they tried to think of new ideas for Akiko's horror films. Its been about an hour since school finished and they sat down at one of the empty benches at the town's park, but so far, none of them could think up a single idea of what she could do. Suddenly, Louise sat up straight with a smile.

"What about shapeshifting vampires!" she excitedly asked. Akiko tilted her head in consideration, but before she could decide, Graham jumped in.

"Technically, vampires are already shapeshifter. In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Dracula could change into a bat, a wolf, and even dust or fog," he explained. When Louise opened her mouth to speak and held up his finger, he quickly added, "That includes shapeshifting into other people, Dracula impersonated not only Jonathan Harker, but other people as well." Louise put down her finger and frowned.

"Doesn't that just help further support Louise's idea though?" Gavin asked. Graham shrugged and nodded his head.

"Yeah, but there's just no need to call them shape-shifting vampires, they're just regular vampires," Graham argued back.

"Yeah, but it's more fun that way," Adam defended. The three boys and Louise went back and forward between themselves as they argued the points of whether or not vampires should be called shapeshifting vampires or not. Akiko just rolled her eyes and began to play on her phone as they went on, while Rachel smiled at her friends' antics and laid her head on the table, somewhat sleepy from the school day and the lack of sleep she suffered somewhat the night before. She closed her eyes as just listened to the sound of her friends' voices and began to doze off. Suddenly, the voices stopped, causing Rachel to open her eyes and see what caused them to do so.

Her friends were all frozen with fearful faces, staring together towards where she had just laid her hands in a crossed position. The fear in their eyes caused any drowsiness she had to disappear, and slowly, she began to lift her head and look at what had caused such expressions. Rachel felt her heart stop as she, too, saw the horrifying sight. There, now resting comfortably on her left hand was a single scorpion. Her eyes widened at the sight of the creature, mind wondering where it had come from and how it got to be in that position without her notice.

"Rachel, whatever you do, don't move," Louise urged, never once tearing her gaze from the creature. Rachel shakingly nodded her head at the command.

"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?" Graham began to repeatedly ask, his voice rising with each question. Louise quickly shushed him and put a hand on his arm.

"We don't panic, that's for one thing," Louise replied in a firm voice. They all watched it for a couple of seconds before suddenly, a hand shot out and brushed the scorpion off. Rachel quickly leaped up from her seat, the others quickly followed her lead. They all looked up to see Hideo staring down at the scorpion with a strange look in his eyes.

"Hideo?" Akiko called. At the sound of his little sister's voice, Hideo looked up, the spell that seemed to be placed on him breaking. He seemed to finally notice the group of friends before him, his gaze finally resting on Rachel.

"Are you alright, Rachel? It didn't sting you or anything?" he asked with concern. She silently shook her head. He sighed in relief. "Good. You kids should head home. There have been reports of scorpions roaming around the park lately. It's got everyone at the station confused." The group nodded in agreement.

"We can figure out an idea for your film later, kay Akiko?" Louise said, turning to her friend. Akiko nodded in her head in slight defeat.

"Yeah, see you guys later," she replied, waving her goodbyes as she headed in the direction of her home. One by one the friends said their goodbyes as well and began journeying off in the direction of their houses. Gavin and Rachel walked together in their direction in silence, their moods slightly dampened by the incident that just occurred. Looking up at the multicolored trees as they walked past, Rachel finally broke the silence.

"Do you think it was him?" she asked without looking at her friend. She could feel the confused look he gave her.

"what was who?" he asked. She turned her head to look at him.

"My dad, Mr. Tophat. Do you think that scorpion was him?" she answered. This caused Gavin to frown in confusion even more.

"What makes you think it was? I thought you killed him back in the maze," he replied. Rachel sighed and looked back down at her feet before looking back at him again.

"I don't know. Was it technically killing him if he only turned into a bunch of scorpions?" she asked uncertainly. "I mean, he could have just turned into them and still lived right, just not be able to turn back now that the cane is gone."

"Maybe," Gavin admitted. They walked in silence for a few moments before he spoke again. "Do you want him to be alive?" Rachel sighed once more.

"I don't know! I mean, part of me never wants to see him ever again after all he's done to not only all the children he took but also you guys," Rachel explained, frustrated with the clashing of her emotions.

"And the other part?" Gavin prompted, now wanting to see what she was feeling and hoping to help his friend in any way he can. Rachel came to stop in her walk, Gavin stopping just before her and watching her.

"And the other part of me just wants her father to come back now that I've finally found him," she finished, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She looked down at the ground, unable to look her friend in the eyes due to the confession. Gavin stepped closer and gave her a hug, resting his cheek on her head.

"That's not a bad thing, you know. If I found my long-lost father, evil or not, I would want to have him by my side, too," he reassured, rubbing her back as he felt tears began to fall onto the front of his shirt. "You know, it's kind of weird how normal you seemed to have made it out to be, seeing as your dad's a cursed evil ringleader and your mom's, well, like that, too." he jokingly added, smiling in delight as Rachel began to giggle through her tears. Rachel leaned out of his hug and wiped away her tears.

"Yeah, that is weird, isn't it? But, stranger things have happened. We especially should know that right?" she replied with a smile. Gavin gave a laugh of his own nodded in reply.

"That's true," he agreed. Certain that his friend was no longer in a sullen mood, Gavin joined his arm with hers and together the two began their trek home once more. Soon, they arrived in front of their houses. Both turned to each other to say goodbye. "I'll see you later, right?" Gavin asked.

"Right. Have a nice night, Gavin," Rachel replied with a wave as she started for her front door.

"You, too!" he called back as he did the same with his. Soon, the two friends disappeared from each other's sights as they entered their houses.

Rachel stepped inside the entryway of her house and could hear her mother working in the kitchen.

"Hi mom!" she called. The shuffling in the kitchen paused and soon her mother appeared through the entrance. As soon as she saw her, her mother smiled brightly at her and walked over to give her a hug.

"Hi, sweetie. How was school today? Anything interesting happen?" she asked as they parted.

"Good. Nothing interesting really happened. We're trying to help Akiko think of a new idea for her films, though," Rachel replied, deciding to not tell her mother about the scorpion at the park.

"Well, I'm sure you kids will think of something good. I just love her little movies," her mother answered back, turning back to head for the kitchen once more. Rachel smiled at her mother before letting out a yawn.

"I'm a little tired, so I think I'm gonna take a quick nap before dinner and working on my homework," Rachel explained, heading for the stairs as she did.

"Alright, I'll call you when dinners ready," her mother called back. Rachel gave a nod even though she knew her mother couldn't see her. She quickly made her way to her room and dropped her book-bag next to her desk before collapsing onto her bed. After making herself comfortable, she soon drifted off to sleep.

Rachel ran as fast as she could as she tried to navigate her way through the confusing path before her. All around her, wax figures stared emotionlessly down at her, uncaring of her terrified state. In the background, the shadows of fires burned bright, though she couldn't tell where the flames even were or why they burned. The heat of the fire caused the faces of some of the figures to began to melt and only made Rachel even more uncomfortable and unsettled than she already was. Coming to a fork in the clear path before her, she quickly made the decision to go left. She looked over her shoulder, hoping she lost the one chasing her. The loud crackling of the flames in the distance drowned out any footsteps her assailant could be making as they followed her. Running further and further, she soon found herself at a dead end. Frantic to escape, Rachel ran to the wall, trying to find some hidden passage that would be the key to her escape. Her efforts were fruitless, there was no way except going back the way she came. Turning to go back, she froze in place as she saw with dread, the man chasing her standing only a few feet away, blocking the only way out of the area.

A smile sat on the man's twist and distorted face. He took a step closer to her. Rachel took a step back in reaction.

"Hello, my little tadpole. I've been looking for you," he greeted.

"What do you want from me?" Rachel replied, causing the smile to vanish from his face as she refused to greet him back. The smile quickly returned though, just as unsettling as it was before.

"I've come to take you away, little tadpole," he answered, moving closer a step move. Rachel moved back a step.

"To where?" she asked, even more scared as she realized there was no escaping this.

"Somewhere where we can all be friends together. Forever and ever," he answered once more, spreading his arms out to wave at their wax audience.

"What if I don't want to go with you?" she threw back defiantly. The smile vanished once more, this time it didn't return.

"You don't have a choice, tadpole," he snapped back. He then began to make his way towards her. In one last effort to escape, Rachel tried to dodge by him and run away. The man's hand shot out and grabbed at her arm, the contact causing her scream in fear and pain as his unnaturally hot hand latched onto her wrist.

Rachel shot up in her bed, screaming with tears in her eyes. Her bedroom door flew open as her mother ran into her room as her scream.

"Rachel?" she yelled in worry as the sight of her terrified daughter. She quickly took her into her arms as the girl began to sob. "It's alright, you're alright. It's just a nightmare sweetie, just a nightmare." she soothed, petting her head. They sat there like that for a few moments more before her mother finally pulled away. "Are you alright?" she asked. Rachel gave her a hesitant nod. "You sure?"

"Yeah, it was just a bad dream. Must have been watching too many scary stuff likely, I guess," Rachel replied with another nod. Her mother seemed hesitant to accept the answer, but finally nodded to herself and stood up.

"Alright then. Dinner's ready downstairs. I made spaghetti and meatballs," she said with a smile, hoping to cheer up her daughter.

"Sounds delicious, I'll be down in a minute," Rachel replied with a matching smile. Her mother gave another nod and left the room. She watched the door for a moment, listening to the sound of her mother descending the stair before finally moving. She tried to make her way towards the door, but as she moved her arm to push herself off of the bed, she let out a hiss as pain shot through her entire body. Snatching her arm up and towards herself, she pushed up her sleeve to reveal what could have made the pain. Rachel froze and her eyes widened in horror as she saw the source of her pain. There, in the same exact spot as where the man in her dream had grabbed her, was a burn mark in the shape of a hand right around her wrist.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter. If so, why not leave a review? I'll have the next part uploaded next week on Sunday. Until then, have a wonderful week!