Lisa and I continue investigating Dead House. Ever since we told him about our search for the incantation that can stop Slappy for good, Rocky's left his post to help us find answers. Besides, he did all he needed to to prep this place as a secondary base.

The final room we check is the attic. This is where Lisa said she came across the cursed mirror. The one that turns you invisible. The one where reflections come to life and try to swap places with you.

Must be haunting for her. But I do find something here. A note on a dresser. I take it and read it.

"Beware. Bring This Into Your House - And You Bring Death."

"Was this here when I first saw it?" Lisa asks. "Argh, how did I not see that?!"

"Ah, I'm afraid that it might be a bit late for that."

We freeze at that third voice. And then, we see something emerge from a nearby drawer. It's a…snake? Looks like a hairy and wormy one.

"I do apologize for the late note, but then again, that cursed object is now gone."

"A…talking snake?"

"I am a Basilisk, thank you very much. I come from somewhere you humans aren't allowed." He says, slithering out. "I am Hissra. And I have lived for centuries, so believe me when I say that I know what terrible force of evil forged that Dark Mirror."

The Dark Mirror?! That's what Lisa said her reflection said it was! And Lucy saw it in one of the Mystic Manuscripts!

"So…since it's not here, that's a good sign, right?" Lisa asks.

"Far from it. It now lies within the place called Horrorland, and is the main reason why that dreaded funhouse is closed down. For it is a gateway. A gateway into a realm…that must NEVER be entered. For once you do, there is no escape. Especially since you cannot use the mirror Darkwell made to return."

"Darkwell made the Dark Mirror?!" I gasp.

"Indeed. From it lies a deadly vampire queen and her army of shapeshifters. Seeking to drag victims in and send their own out into this world. But now, in the evil place that is Horrorland…it now acts as a doorway somewhere far worse…than the Mirror World."

"Well, what could be worse than Bloody Mary and her Reflections?"

"The shadows. Shadows that abduct young souls and take them to a place from whence they never return. A place of fire, torment, death, and complete utter terror! A place where madness shall be born. The name of it, I dare not say. But what I can say is that her minions are more than Reflections. They are Mimics. Beings from the Mirror World that can take any form, any shape, any thing! This is how they come to be what you call Reflections."

"I guess that note was to warn us."

"Yes, for I have seen what it can do. But you are not the only ones it was meant for. Twins like yourself, Jason and Claudia Sloves, ignored it at first. But when they realized the danger, it was almost too late. They destroyed the Dark Mirror…but it can never be destroyed for too long."

"Such as when a friend of ours said she had seen the mirror repair itself!"

"Precisely. But there is one form the Mimics cannot take. That being the form of a Vampire. The dark magic that the nightcrawlers emit ward off the Mimics, making them fear these bloodsuckers. That is why you see no vampires casting reflections. However…only in more recent generations has that magic faded. Yet the Mimics are still unable to take the form of the God of Monsters…"

"Bloody Mary is a vampire…yet she can shapeshift too, like a Reflection!"

"That is why they call her their queen. She grows stronger and stronger. Soon she too will become a Mimic. As of now, her dark magic is connected to the Dark Mirror, which she used to first enter the Mirror World. Not even saying her name can send her back there. Your only hope is to shatter that mirror once again, as limited as it may be."

"So…I take it she loses her power every time the mirror shatters, but slowly regains it as it repairs itself."

"Not all of it. Already she was a deadly assassin before her ascension to the Mirror Queen. And I have heard the legends about her master. Although even I am unsure if they are indeed true. But given how another like him has become the Golden King, and how Mr. Hyde has come back to be, I do believe I have every right to believe they are…"

"Sounds like you're more of the protector kind of monster." I say. "The Midnight Society might have a place for you."

"Yes…but especially for the boy." Hissra states. "The one who knows nothing. He…is far more important than you could ever realize. He is the most crucial key you have to finding R.L. Stine. He once knew him. Where he ended up. And what allies he has. In order to find where the man has vanished…you must help him remember. Help him remember everything. Only he can bring this scary story to an end."

"The 8 year old kid from Stine's journal…" Lisa gasps. "No way!"

"So…where do we start?" I ask Hissra.

"At the start of 2022, the year you moved to Hollowville, I saw him enter a place just like Horrorland. He went into…the Carnival of Horrors."

We go wide-eyed. That must've been before Farraday sealed it away!

"Ok." I say, allowing Hissra to quickly slither up to my shoulder. "This sounds incredibly important. So tomorrow night, we will start there. Where is it?"

"In these woods. It will help you expect what Horrorland has to offer."

"Alright. Let's head back to Shadow House. We've found everything we could in the present. Now…we must look into his past…"

"So, uh…WHY are we here again?"

"Is it not obvious, sister?" Boo asked Nightshade as they entered. "Slappy has every right to be afraid of this place. Inside lies a gateway to a forbidden world. Yet he refuses to do anything about it. So we will."

"Our hermano must be worried for us." Skelly said. "He knows no one is allowed here!"

"We told no one. To prevent more of those THINGS from escaping, and to stop him from keeping an eye on Slappy…we will DESTROY that cursed Dark Mirror."

"I heard it was made with super dark magic! It'll keep reforming itself!"

"Then we will return, Nightshade. To shatter that mirror over and over and over again."

"That reminds me…the Great Gargantua has yet to be found. But the barrier Slappy put on this place prevents her from escaping. Maybe she hides here, in this creepy casa?"

"She may hide, but she is not why we're here." Boo said as the sisters readied their powers and weapons. "Now…let us relieve him of this burden."

It was time to show them how REAL monsters scared humans.

The trio ventured deeper and deeper into the House of Mirrors. The further they got, the more it felt like something was watching them.

Finally, they reached it. On the other side of that menacing mirror lay unimaginable nightmares, hideous frights, and sights that would drive even demons to madness.

"Do it."

Nightshade readied her guitar ax and approached. Suddenly, the reflections of the sisters changed. They all formed an albino woman in black. And more reflections of the trio appeared in all the other mirrors…

"Ah ah ah…I'm afraid that won't be easy." She chuckled. "I may not be from the other side of this gateway…but I assure you, I am just as deadly as those on it. My master seeks to end all who could possibly stand in his way. For nearly a century he has slumbered. And soon…he will awaken."

And then, Bloody Mary stepped through, as the Reflections followed suit. Some shed their disguises and revealed their true forms, all while others took the triplets' forms as their own.

"I have always wondered…what the blood of GHOULS tasted like…"

With a deadly scream, she and her Mirror Monsters struck! Boo readied her Ethereal Blade and blocked the twin daggers before the vampire shattered like glass, reforming as multiple versions of herself. Channeling her blackened blood, she fired black blades at the sisters. Nightshade managed to block and deflect some before striking her guitar, sending out a shockwave of sound that shattered the Reflections, revealing the monsters underneath. One for each of the hundreds of mirrors in this house.

Although the Mirror Monsters were standard fodder, the vampire queen was far different. Her black sword with Boo's blade, Nightshade's ax, and Skelly's magic alike. An impalement was nothing to Nightshade. For she truly was heartless.

Skelly's backup dancers rushed and exploded when close to Mary. She only hissed from the pain and conjured a black scythe of blood to behead the rest of them. And when facing her Blood Summons, Boo only unleashed her Banshee form and let out a massive scream, making all the Mirror Monsters vibrate, stunning the Blood Summons…

And making a crack in the Dark Mirror.

All lesser mirrors shattered instantly. But the Dark Mirror was no such mirror. Far more sturdier. And far more powerful.

The crack reformed instantly as Bloody Mary managed to blast Boo with her dark magic, able to make contact with her spiritual form with a single punch that followed after the projectile before a hard knee and an ax kick downwards sent her crashing.

Skelly was no different. Bloody Mary's vampirism and Mirror magic was far more than she could handle. Mimics took the form of her own summoned skeletons and downed her with a few rushing bombs of bone.

Nightshade was the one that put up more of a fight. Mary noted how she bled more than her sisters, given how she still had flesh. Any wound Mary made was one used to her advantage. She hissed from the loud noise of the guitar when the symphony of pain was played (one that attacked your very sense of hearing), but she had suffered worse before. The sun's light never once covered this place. A fatal mistake, or an intentional act. The barrier seemed to shield the place from it.

Of course, neither friend nor foe could suffer from such weaknesses here…

And yet, Mary never knew a more worthy adversary. Every time she ripped Nightshade to pieces, she would just piece herself together again. She never tired, as did her sisters. But Mary had trained for decades, centuries even, under the King of Darkness himself. She had even sparred with his own son, Alucard.

She had killed monsters before. These were no different.

Before long, their own strengths were used against them. Mary trapped Boo within a crimson magical energy cage, Skelly's magic was nullified and she fell to pieces, and a dagger to the brain greatly weakened Nightshade.

In a matter of seconds of Mary fighting in a serious manner, all three ghouls had fallen.

"How sad. To think you actually stood a chance." Mary chuckled. "Too bad you actually gave me quite the fight. I really enjoyed it. But alas, all good things must come to an end. But I'm done wasting my breath on such ghouls. Once you are trapped in the Mirror World, you will realize that blood is thicker than water…"

She turned around, carrying the ghouls with her magic…and saw a sight that froze her heart.

"Yes. It sure is."

In a twist, the skeleton raised the sledgehammer and, with a single swing, shattered the Dark Mirror to pieces!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

She screamed like a banshee as she cracked and became flat and fractured like solid glass and was pulled back into it as if an astronaut entering a black hole. The rift closed…and Bloody Mary was no more.

The damage she did was undone. The cage faded around Boo, magic returned to Skelly as she was pieced back together, and the wound on Nightshade's forehead healed.

"Sorry I had to SHATTER the mood, but you know what they say." Curly smiled. "No matter how often we fight, family is still family."

Boo saw this in awe. Whenever he smiled, it was normally a menacing one for intimidation. This one was…genuine…

"That was…really incredible, hermanito…" Skelly said. "Despite our rivalry…you still aided us…saved us…"

"Building up the courage to face an all-powerful being like that…and doing what you were too afraid to do…" Boo noted. "I…really did not think that you of all people would EVER have it in you, Curly. Truly, we have underestimated you as a mastermind."

"Gotta say, hats off to the chef." Nightshade chuckled. "Does this mean we have to say sorry for overshadowing you?"

"Oh, you never did! After all, you were just the diversion for that coot!" Curly said. "He won't be able to bother us again for quite some time!"

She had rarely felt this warmth in her soul…perhaps sometime before, Slappy was like this towards his own siblings…

THUNK!

Suddenly, a shadowy handprint slammed against the remains of the Dark Mirror! The four of them quickly readied themselves.

"This…is not…over…" The eerie voice of a fragmented Bloody Mary said through the many pieces of the mirror. "My former Grandmaster, the former master of my master Dracula, will make his other herald far more stronger than the one you serve. Once the Dark Mirror is complete, try as you might, more souls will flee from this dangerous place! All with help from one of your own. And when enough nightmares have been gathered…It will come. It will destroy the reality from whence it was summoned into, and use the rift it leaves in its wake to enter into this one…you cannot stop it…none of you can stop it…not even I or the God of Monsters can. It is inevitable…the dead one waits dreaming. It will be revived. It will be awakened. And when this world is consumed by the nightmares to end all nightmares…it will be the end of us all. And that's just the beginning. Others, so many others, will suffer this fate as well. You…you wanted a fright? Soon…you will see the most terrifying one of all. One that not only fills you with pure fear…but…also…MADNESS…"

She shattered like glass, retreating back into the Mirror World from whence she came. As the Mimics did beforehand.

"Uh…isn't It supposed to be…just a story?" Curly asked.

"If you have taught me one thing, dear little brother…" Boo said. "It is that even stories can come true…"

"I…heard Slappy mention something the night I heard him scream." Nightshade added. "It was after his encounter with the Boogeyman. He was talking about something called…Fear."

"The God of Monsters…and the God of Shadows…both serve a higher being?" Skelly asked. "And where monsters fled…only shadows remain? Dios mío…la sombra…"

This made Curly fall silent. This Fear, Shadow God, and Monster God clearly had something entirely DIFFERENT from what Slappy planned. No, they wanted to do MORE than just scare and rule. MUCH more…

So, they ran off. To warn him. It wouldn't be long until Fear noticed his eye had lost sight of Slappy. It knew he had gone against it.

But what if…it used their rebellious acts to its advantage?

It would be a nightmare from which no one could EVER wake up from…