Disclaimer: I don't own them! They belong to Marvel and Kid's WB. I am making no money off of this, just purely entertainment.

Author's Note: Hey hey again!! Well, first off, thanks for those great reviews, they made my day, really! I'm sorry this took longer for me to post, but I was really busy and I wanted to make this chapter perfect…so I hope you like it! I hope I don't disappoint you guys with this one! Don't worry, some characters that haven't been getting a lot of action will probably show up in the next chapter. And more freaky stuff will happen, but this chapter is mainly explanatory…there will be more action (my kind!) in the next chapter. As always, I want you to review and tell me what you think. Like I said before, your opinions mean a lot to me. You can even review and tell me what you think is going on and that kind of stuff…but, enough talk for now. On with the show and as always, Read, Review, and *ENJOY!* ^__^

Dee Saylors: I really appreciate your reviews…and you are a dedicated reviewer, I thank you very much for your time! Oh yeah, and thanks for adding my story to your favorites list, I'm so excited about that, and again thanks a bunches!

Rageful Jewel: Wow, that was definitely one of the longest reviews I've ever read! Thank you so much for actually giving this story the time of day! I can't believe you had tears of fear in your eyes--never thought I could actually scare someone like that! Anyways, I'm glad you like the story and dubbing me the "author of fright", that meant a lot! ^__^

Sweet-destiny3: That was a great review! Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad this story makes you wonder. I thank you for your words about this story. I like your stories too, they always have a meaning and thanks for reading mine, I appreciate it!

**************************

Fright Fest

By: pink chick

*************************

Chapter 4

The black shadow veered closer and closer until it was so close that the three mutants in front of it could taste their own end. It closed the gap between them and continued to pull itself open to engulf them into a sea full of darkness, when a noise interrupted it. Tabitha, Amara, and Jamie looked beyond the shadow and saw a glimpse of what they thought was a girl, who seemed deathly pale in the dim glow of the candle Tabitha was still holding. The black shadow turned back to the trio in front of it, but then let out a spluttering noise, as if in pain.

Tabitha, Amara, and Jamie screamed at the top of their lungs as the black shadow warped and surrounded them in a deep black pool. At that moment, Tabitha stepped out in front of her two friends in protection; the shadow was gonna have to get her first. They all closed their eyes and waited for their lives to end - but nothing ever happened. When the three of them opened their eyes they saw the black shadow thing grow even larger and then disperse into nothingness; a faint sound of a cry of pain escaping it's form.

"What the--" Tabitha started, but was abruptly cut off by two screams coming from somewhere nearby and getting closer by the minute. Tabitha held the candle tightly in her hand and didn't dare lose her grip on it as though it would go out any second. Amara and Jamie stood next to her in absolute fear as the thunder outside rumbled like the earth during an earthquake. Tabitha opened and closed her eyes again - this couldn't be happening, the black shadow had been there a second ago and then it just vanished when the screams pierced the air.

Tabitha, Amara, and Jamie jumped out of their skin when two figures bumped into them from behind. They all let out screams of terror and turned around, the candle pointed at the strangers. The dark still illuminated the two faces standing in front of them. Tabitha, Amara, and Jamie backed up against the door and gulped down the fear that was escalating in the darkness with just the flame of the candle to light the way. It was already melting anyways, soon it would die out and they wouldn't have anything anymore.

"Tabitha is that you?" a semi deep voice called from the shadows.

"Wh-who w-wants to know?" Tabitha asked shakily, trying to keep the braveness in her voice. There was something in that voice, she knew who it was.

"Tabitha! Don't talk to it, let's get outta here, NOW!" Amara pleaded and yanked at Tabitha.

"NO!" Another voice called out from the shadows of the dampening foyer. This voice was softer, a hint of fear encased within it. "Don't go!"

Before Tabitha got the chance to respond, Amara and Jamie removed her from her frozen spot and ran to the hallway to the left of them. They ran and the two figures followed suit. It was a never ending game of tag to them, in a way. The trio reached the end of the hallway and found themselves trapped again.

"Will you three stop it," the voice called out. "It's us."

"Us who? And why should we believe you?" Jamie asked, moving his eyes through the dark foglike denseness.

The two figures moved closer: it was Lance and Amanda. "How about now?" Lance asked. The three smiled and walked over to Lance and Amanda. They looked extremely pale, as though something they had seen had scared them to death. Perspiration ran down the side of their faces and they were breathing hard. The five of them took a deep breath and sat down, using the walls as a backrest. They were all tired from running and sat down to rest their legs and to stop their hearts from beating so fast.

Amara stopped breathing so heavily and let her breath ease up to it's normal speed. She had never run so hard in her life. What was that thing? She'd never seen anything like it before. Realization finally dawned on her and she shuddered with the thought that she and her friends could've been killed. All she knew was the black shadow looked like it generated pure evil and hate. She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. The night was going by too slowly for her liking.

"Hey! Where are Rogue and Jean? Didn't you guys leave with them?" Tabitha asked Lance and Amanda. The two just looked at each other and goosebumps ran down their spine.

"We don't know what happened to them." Lance shrugged. "Last we saw, they were stuck in a corner and a ghost was huddled over them." Lance looked away at the end of his sentence. The ghost - he couldn't help but recalling the sadness in the ghost's eyes, even though Lance was scared to death. He hadn't meant to run out like that, but fear had taken over his body and his brain had stopped working. His body had just told him to run.

"A g-gh-ghost?" Jamie asked. He was getting majorly freaked. After what he had just seen, a ghost wouldn't have been surprising to him - but both of them in the same house. What was going on around here? The night wasn't getting any better.

Amanda nodded her head and moved her hair behind her ears. "That's why we ran outta there. I think we should go back to get them, though."

"No way!" Lance stated defensively. "There is no way in hell I'm going back there. Didn't you see that thing. By now they're probably long gone and I don't wanna be next on the menu."

"But what about Kitty? Don't you think she might be in the same predicament?" Amanda asked him. She knew he cared about Kitty a lot, like she cared about Kurt; she wasn't going to give up and leave him alone with ghosts haunting the mansion like guards blocking the white house.

"I wanna help Kitty, but she's with Kurt and Scott, right? She's in safe hands," Lance implied, shaking off the fear of what he had seen in the kitchen. It had to have been a ghost. But, did he really believe in ghosts, or Halloween even. He believed in them, but only really in the movies. This was getting beyond his control and he was beginning to regret staying here, even if it was for Kitty. "If you're gonna go back there, be my guest. But, you're gonna have to kill me first."

Tabitha rolled her eyes and balled her hands into fists. She had had it with Lance Alvers. He was being so insensitive. She was scared at first, but just imagine how everyone else who had disappeared must be feeling. She gave Lance a death glare and narrowed her eyes. She knew it was really dim, but knew he saw her and turned away at her menacing glare. "That can be arranged, you know."

"Let's just think, ok," Jamie spoke, with renowned bravery in his voice. He was sick of all of this hocus pocus and wanted to do something about. What he had just seen a second ago frightened him out of his skin. He didn't want to let some ghost, or whatever that thing was, to just haunt this mansion and get away with kidnapping their friends. "We have two other people missing, right?"

"What's you're point, kid?" Lance asked seriously. He placed his hand on his knee and gave a rebellious half smirk. "Wait," he said, coming to a realization, "are you blaming me and Amanda for just ditching the two damsels?"

"No, I'm just trying to--"

"Look, kid. I'm freaked out alright! Just because you still have everyone present in your group doesn't mean that--" Lance was cut off by Tabitha.

"Hey! We lost two members," Tabitha confirmed. She gave a half smile and shrugged. "Well, sorta. They kinda ran out on us! And their Blob and Toad so they don't really count, now do they?"

"Hold that thought, guys," Amara stated in a shaky voice. The remaining people turned to look at her. She stood up and looked around the room in panic. This was wrong, this night was going all wrong. She counted everyone through the dimness of the light and widened her eyes. Thunder grumbled in the background. "Wh-where's Roberto?"

________________________________________________________________________

The stream of lightning made itself known as it sent another shard of electricity sprawling downwards towards the dark recesses of the earth. The thunder pounded and shook the dark, void night sky. The wind blew so hard, the trees bent over but held their ground. The clouds became thinner and let the moon shine it's light, but then gradually and just as quickly disappeared. Three figures stood outside with rope in their hands. They were perfectly executing their plan.

"Did you see their faces?" one of them asked.

"Oh yeah, they were all freaked!" the other replied.

"If only they knew what we're doing to them," the last one added and snickered slightly.

"You're telling me?" the first one asked. He placed the rope down onto the ground and smiled triumphantly. He then pointed to something deep in the darkness of the corner. It was covered in pitch darkness, only two white shapes could be seen through the dampness. The figure's smile broadened at the sight and turned to the other two figures. "It'll be even better when we freak them out with our secret weapon."

They all laughed evilly as all three of their laughs turned into one. Their laughs turned into a high pitched tone that could be heard echoing throughout the mansion grounds. The moon hid it's face behind the clouds as the figures continued on with their snickering, while the thunder growled even louder.

________________________________________________________________________

Jean and Rogue fell through a deep black hole. It seemed like a thin and narrow tunnel that never ended. They just kept falling, falling and falling. They screamed at the top of their lungs out of fear or the slightest hope of anyone finding them and helping them out of their predicament. They grabbed each other's hands in panic as they continued falling to their doom.

Jean, thinking quickly, attempted to use her telekinesis to stop them from falling so fast; but, it wouldn't work. She figured it was the same reason her telepathy wasn't working, but she didn't know that reason. The tunnel was dark and it seemed to run under the sublevels…or at least her and Rogue thought so. On the other hand, she and Rogue didn't really get the chance to think as they slid faster and faster down the long, dark tunnel like slide.

Just when the girls finally thought they were reaching the end, their bodies jerked towards the right and they just continued falling. Apparently, the main pathway down the tunnel seemed to be blocked by something. The tunnel was getting steeper and darker as it narrowed even more. Rogue and Jean screamed even louder as some type of door opened for them and they fell down to meet the dusty ground below.

________________________________________________________________________

"What do you mean 'where's Roberto?'" Tabitha asked, placing the candle on the small table standing at the back of the hall. Tabitha looked at before turning to the others. She checked her pocket and made sure that the matches that she had placed in there were still there. She smiled when she felt the small box and turned to Amara. "He was with us, wasn't he?"

"I thought he was, but then I didn't even notice him leave, or, or disappear! Ohmigod! We're gonna die!" Jamie choked back in a cracked voice.

"Jamie… we… are… not… gonna… die!" Tabitha snapped back at him. He flinched and backed away.

"So you guys lost a member too, huh?" Lance asked, smirking and crossing his arms across his chest. "Now I don't feel so guilty," he added in a joking matter, obviously trying to hide his look of fear that passed through his now wide eyes.

"Lance, this isn't funny!" Amanda practically shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "This is really serious. We've gotta go out and find them, now. What if something really bad has happened to them?"

Through the dimness they all nodded in agreement. Amara was the only one pacing around the medium sized corridor. She was glancing at them each one by one, slowly, as though taking in what was still going on that none of them could obviously fathom. "Ok, the candle went out, right?" she asked no one in particular.

"Yeah, so?"

"And then I heard a weird laugh, or maybe I was too scared to really listen for anything."

"No, you weren't, I heard it too," Jamie said. He shivered in fear as another gust of light wind rushed past them in a hurry. Jamie clenched his hands together in anger and annoyance. "Who keeps on doing that?" he shouted to the hall, his jaw clenched tightly and his teeth gritted. He almost looked like a grown man whom someone had pushed over the edge.

"I know, there's not even a window around here," Amara stated.

"Will you just get back to your stupid point so I can leave?" Lance questioned, his arms still in the same position. He was beginning to get aggravated. Standing around here and doing nothing wasn't doing Kitty or anyone else any good. He just wanted to get out of this mansion as soon as he possibly could, before he ended up disappearing like the rivals in which he usually hated with a passion.

Amara rolled her eyes at Lance and was about to retort back an answer, but decided to continue, for the sake of her friends. "Like I was saying, there was a laugh. Then, the candle came back to life and a huge black thing appeared--"

"You mean, l-like a g-ghost?" Amanda asked her, making a frightened face and hugging herself, in a sense to keep her safe. She had already seen one ghost and it was scaring her out of her wits. It was too much for her to handle.

"Well, sorta. It was more like a shadow, with a really huge looking mouth that formed outta nowhere," Amara continued, trying to describe the figure as best as she could, forgetting for a moment that they needed to get back to the situation at hand.

"Amara!" Tabitha chastised. "We're kinda in a hurry, so please, just get back to your explanation."

Amara glanced down in embarrassment, though no one really saw her, and continued, "Sorry! Anyways, when it started running after us, I just realized that Roberto had already disappeared."

"Just our luck, huh? We have another person missing on our hands. Just great!" Tabitha inquired.

"If you're done with your explanations now, I'm leaving." Lance got up from his place against the wall and started walking towards the front of the hall. Tabitha held him back by his collar and stopped him. Lance turned and looked at her; she had a determined look on her face. It was a face mixed in with both fear, concern, and a slight bit of hope. "Hold it, Lance. No one's going anywhere."

"You can't stop me, Tabitha. I've already made up my mind," Lance said, eyeing her and not moving his gaze. Tabitha didn't flinch at all; she gave him an even more determined look and narrowed her eyes in the growing dimness. She formed her free hand into the form in which she used to make her time bombs and Lance gulped. "I can stop you alright! We have to stick together and no one's going anywhere until we figure out where everyone went and find them, alright?"

They all gulped and nodded their heads in quick agreement. Even Lance started shaking visibly. He usually looked to be the hero in most situations dealing with the Brotherhood, but right now was the only time anyone had ever really seen him show true fear. Ever.

"So, where do you think Roberto disappeared to anyways? We would've heard him, right?" Tabitha asked, a sound of bravery back in her voice. No one responded and she turned to all of them. "Right? Guys? Hello?!!" The silence still hung in the air on a string. The string finally broke when Amanda shrieked and jumped back towards the wall. The candle was fading away slowly towards the end. It was shedding it's last pieces of wax. Tabitha looked at Amanda through the growing darkness and glanced towards where she had been standing. "What is it now, you g…." Tabitha trailed off as her eyes widened.

She couldn't believe her eyes. She closed them and opened her eyes again, but there it was. Not again, she thought. But, this time, to her surprise, it wasn't the black shadow. Instead, at the end of the hall, there stood three figures of complete white color. A deathly, pale white color. They started advancing towards the group of teens as they backed away, too afraid to do anything. The thunder growled as another, slower, gust of wind swept past them. The final drops of wax hit the bottom of the candle as the flame went out slowly and they were left in complete and utter darkness. ________________________________________________________________________