All this hero work reminds me of a story one of my classmates told me. This kid back in Middle Valley managed to face his fears as well, with no need of facing monsters beforehand. It's not far from here, actually.

Speaking of Middle Valley, there's an urban legend about that place, always told as a Halloween story. The Curse of Brandon Plush. In life, Brandon was a cruel prankster and bully who loved tormenting and scaring other kids. After being punished by a strict science teacher, Mr. Benson, who caught him doing a prank, Brandon sought revenge, so he and his friend Cal trashed Benson's house on Halloween night.

But two dogs chained up broke free and chased the kids, and Brandon abandoned Cal as he fled. He tried to escape by jumping over Raven's Ravine, an infamously steep ravine that no one's ever been able to jump across.

Ultimately, he failed. Brandon failed to cross and fell into the ravine, the fall ultimately killing him. Trapped within the spirit world (aka the Shadow Realm), Brandon came across a group of other ghosts, led by a kid called Norband. Wanting another chance at life, Brandon was given his body back in order to save three scared people in one hour.

He managed to save two, but ran out of time and his spirit fell out of his body, which scared away bullies and his sister Maya. But Norband never had the intention of letting Brandon live. Under his monster mask was Brandon's face, and under that, nothing. Becoming the new leader of the ghost kids, Brandon chose to have his group begin scaring the town every Halloween night.

They say that Brandon and Norband still summon their ghostly crew and scare the town to this day. It's a pretty cool story, though. My guess is that Brandon became a Fallen One, as did his crew. Norband made him a Realmwalker when he gave him his body back for that single hour. Question is…why haven't the Reapers done anything to stop them?

The calendar says that this night will be a total eclipse. I've never seen the green moon during an eclipse. I wonder…is it going to be a sign?

HANNAH

That familiar chill of wind creeps against my skin once again. It usually means that another ghost is here. In the Shadow Realm. Only Realmwalkers like myself can sense their presence on the other side.

I get up and fade into my ghost form, disappearing from the living world and entering the Shadow Realm. That's when I see a familiar face waiting for me.

"Andrew?" I ask. "What are you doing here?"

"Your actions against the Violator have not gone unnoticed." He says. "The spirits have begun calling you the Shadow Warrior. But to prove to the Reapers that you are indeed our champion, they have sent me to warn you of a deadly threat. Slappy has friends here too. More than just his hounds."

"Like what?"

"Do you remember that Middle Valley legend? About Brandon Plush and Norband?"

"The Boogeyman…" I remember. That's what Brandon became after scaring so many people and forcefully became a Realmwalker. He's mutated into a Shadow Demon, and one of the most powerful. Now kids everywhere are frightened of him, let alone many MORE Boogeymen in the world. And Norband is his Shadow. His darker self. He and his followers have become Fallen Ones, but thanks to Brandon's Shadow Magic, the Reapers can't reach him. Only ghosts like myself can. Yet thanks to being a Boogeyman, as long the very concept of fear exists, he can never die.

"His army of Nightmares has continued to grow." Andrew says. "Slappy's helped him recruit every evil spirit you've ever faced. Should this continue, Brandon will soon rule the Shadow Realm and throw it into a chaotic world. But that's not all. He seeks to help his master Slappy rule the living world as well. To do that, Brandon seeks to raise an army. An army…of the dead."

"The dead? More ghosts?"

"Worse than ghosts, Hannah. Inside the Dark Tome is a cursed spell. Portas Inferni. Should the incantation be said during a complete eclipse, it will cause all of the world's dead to reawaken, reborn as unholy minions. What we are looking at…is an apocalypse."

"And from it…Slappy can make Horrorworld a reality!" I gasp. "Given how so many people have died, he'll have a massive amount of soldiers!"

I fall silent, trying to think of something. If Slappy and Brandon are after the Dark Tome, then…bingo! I got an idea.

"I think I know how to stop him."

I head downstairs as Andrew follows. It's the middle of the day, so mostly everyone is at school or somewhere else. Mirpo is in the basement where Billy and Sammy would be, and it's taken him a while to convince the Galactic Government that he's with them. I only head into the house's old library, where we keep all the Mystic Manuscripts we have locked away. I float up and take out the glowing green book. The leathery screaming face has its eyes glow green.

Then, I channel my Ecto Magic, basically ghost powers, to seal and bind it tightly in astral ethereal chains. They become invisible and intangible, and sure enough, the book can't be opened. I should tell them about this, too. That way they'll know why I locked this thing up like a dark diary.

"There. Not even Slappy can break these chains."

"Maybe not right now. But later, he may be able to. His power and dark magic always grows."

"Relax, he'll never find this book! There's no way that army of evil dead residents is gonna come to pass!"

I tuck the Dark Tome away behind a wooden board behind the bookshelf. Perfect secret stash space! It's a pretty powerful book. Best not to let this get in the wrong hands…

"So…you couldn't find it?"

How disappointing. At least it wasn't a TOTAL waste of time. After all, that living Boogeyman shadow monster had a whole army of nightmares. And he and his second were meeting with Slappy just outside Horrorland, in a massive cemetery within Zombie Plaza.

"The eclipse is tonight." Norband whispered, translating the ghoul's unspoken statement. "We spent all day looking for the tome, but we had no luck."

"Oh…well, this is why I always have backup plans, Booger Man." The dummy only smiled.

"What kind of backup plans?" Norband asked.

"You see, I house the soul of a powerful sorcerer. When he was still alive, he read the Dark Tome in its entirety. So he knows how the spell works. Thus…Halloween is going to come EARLY this year…"

Slappy only looked up. The moon had begun eclipsing the sun, its cursed magic turning its light a ghastly green. Slappy only closed his eyes, then they shot open as a glowing green. He began floating. Then, recalling Darkwell's memory, he began the incantation…

"KLAATU…BARADA…NIKTO…PAGDRA…AMID MISTROBIN…HAZARTA…TANTIER MANOTA…MANZER ENHA MAZONPA…SAMON DARON…SAS HI DIEN DANDERONZA. KANDAR…SANSHIRANKA…MARHIA KANDULU…AMCA NORE…MGLW'NAFH NG MG N'GHA NAGL FHTAGN…ULN N'GHA ABUN DORE…FHTAGN HOGG SOTH NORE GRAHANDAR, SEYA SUGANGO KLEPAR…LA MORTE SUGANDON LLOIGSHOGG!"

It all went still. The wind went silent. There was a dead calm. The ghosts only stared towards the grounds as the dummy took on a crooked smile.

Nothing seemed to happen. Curly's jaw dropped. His sisters only stood in disapproval as Lefty, Righty, and Slim scratched their heads. Mary-Ellen and Drool, however, could've sworn they heard something.

A HAND!

Suddenly, a hand burst from the ground, a sickly green as it pulled the rest of the body up! More hands! And deathly heads with green glowing eyes!

Slappy's laughter grew louder and louder. Brandon and Norband only smiled wickedly. This was it. This was their army of the dead.

The Graveyard Ghouls climbed out of their graves and let out an undead roar, howling into the night.

"TRICK OR TREAT, DUMMIES! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"