Disclaimer: You know I don't own 'em. Check previous chapters.

Author's Note: Hey everyone, I'm back again!! Well, this chapter is here and I have to say that I am proud of it. Sorry it took so long for me to type up, but I've been seriously busy this past week and a half…next week will be pretty hectic too with Christmas coming up and all. Yes, I will still be updating over break, I promise!! Anywho, enough of my ramblings…oh and by the way, thank you for all the generous reviews!! They're really making my day…so thanks a lot!! ^__^

Dee Saylors: Thank you for your continuing devotion to this story. You review for every chapter, and I am more than grateful. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I hope you like this chapter as much as I liked writing it.

Sweet Like Chocolate: Thank you for reviewing…and you're very welcome. Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough who the three figures are! I just like to mess around with people's heads for awhile before I actually tell you who it is. And I totally understand, when you've got work to do--you never have time for anything! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sweet-destiny3: Thank you for your continued writing advice and suggestions. Actually, I can't believe you're liking this story!! Hehe, well, anywho, I hope you like this chapter, after all, I did use one of your suggestions and you know what I'm talking about. Well, enjoy!

Lily Knotwise of Michel D: Hey, thanks for reviewing and you'll find out where some of the people went, trust me…in this chapter there's three!! Thanks and enjoy!

pyro2009: Hey…wow, I can't believe you were scared! I usually try and freak myself out while I'm writing to get in the mood, so I'm glad that some other people are getting scared too! Thanks for reading and enjoy this chapter!

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Fright Fest

By: pinkchick

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Chapter 5

Darkness. Thick and utter darkness. A musty smell raised itself amongst the dust filled room. It suffocated the room as it encased it with it's dirty hands. From far away the thunder continued to shake with fury, although it was fading into a thin whisper. In the pitch dark room three quiet moans could be heard; although they were all not above a soft mumbling sound that eventually became one. A figure moved slightly and the dust particles scattered in fear, moving to create a soft cloud above the room.

When Kitty Pryde came to, she let out another moan and moved her head. Her eyes were still clamped shut, but she felt a fierce pain shoot through the side of her head. She slowly realized that hadn't been the best idea. She moved her hand and placed it behind her head and slowly attempted to sit up, but something or someone was under her. Kitty moved her head back to it's original place and opened her eyes. She couldn't remember what had happened; only that she had been in the kitchen, doing…..she tried to rack her mind, but nothing would come to her. Why did her head hurt and why was it so dark?

"Where am I?" Kitty asked the room. She closed her eyes and opened them once again. She thought she had to be dreaming. This place certainly didn't look like any room in the mansion, especially not the kitchen. She heard two soft moans coming from somewhere near her. Before Kitty could turn around a soft breeze blew past her. She shivered from the cold. She narrowed her eyes in attempt to see better, but to no avail. It was too dark for her eyes to adjust to, so she just had to take in what she saw in a groggy fashion, as though she had just woken up from her sleep. She began thinking about how she ended up here to begin with.

"I was in the kitchen looking for flashlights, when Scott dropped the batteries. Me and Kurt tried to help him……" Kitty trailed off. Her blue eyes widened in the dark and she twisted her body around and felt around her. She remembered that Scott and Kurt had been with her, of course, why they had all been unconscious was still a mystery to her. Now Kitty knew who was somewhat laying under her. She laid down her hand and felt for something. Kitty giggled excitedly when she felt Kurt's fur. At least she wasn't alone in this.

Kitty reached under Kurt and touched a very cold arm. Scott. Kitty's smile widened and she started shaking the both of them violently. "You guys! Get up. Kurt, Scott, like, we have to figure out where we are. C'mon, get up, please." Kitty didn't even know why she had woken up first. Although seeing as to how they had fallen, the boys had broken Kitty's fall. "GET UP!"

Kurt was the first to jolt to the land of the conscious. He slammed one of his hands into the ground next to him and the other, accidentally, into Scott. Scott grasped his stomach in pain as he sat up and pushed Kurt's hand off of him. "Vhat? Vhat's wrong? Vhat happened?" Kurt asked, flailing his arms around in the dark. Scott turned in Kurt's direction. "Kurt, watch where you put your hand, ok. Your hand dug into my stomach."

"Sorry, Scott," Kurt apologized. "I didn't mean to." He turned to face Kitty, or at least, attempted to see her facial features in the dark. "Vhat happened?"

"I'm, like, so glad you two are awake!" Kitty exclaimed in her usual happy tone which turned serious afterwards. "Um, does anyone, like, know where we are?"

"You mean, ve're not in ze kitchen?!"

"No."

"The batteries."

"The click."

"The girl," they all said in unison. The three looked at each other. Beneath the darkness, their features turned the pale color that had been when they encountered the eerie looking girl in the kitchen. Kitty's upbeat attitude towards finding her friends had now faded. She hugged herself and they all crowded together. From somewhere very distant, they heard what sounded like two screams fading away.

"What was that?" Scott asked, swallowing the big knot in his throat. He heard Kitty and Kurt shake their heads. Scott closed his eyes and then reopened them. He was obviously trying to keep himself calm. Albeit, he was the leader of the X-men, that didn't mean that he couldn't be scared. In fact, right now, after what he had seen in the kitchen, he was terrified. To keep Kitty and Kurt in check though, he would hide it and make sure they did what needed to be done. "Ok, look. First, we have to find our way out of here and find someone - anyone and…"

"Hey, Kurt can, like, teleport us out of here," Kitty insisted, abruptly cutting Scott off in attempt to quicken the pace and get out this place.

"Ok, hold on." Kurt reached in and grabbed Scott and Kitty's arms. He envisioned the kitchen and waited for them to hear a small bamf, but it never came.

"Kurt, we're still here," Scott said. He hoped that something wasn't seriously wrong. Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than their situation.

"I know. I can't teleport. It's not vorking!" Kurt exclaimed, his voice rising with panic.

Scott widened his eyes behind his glasses and Kitty gasped in the darkness. Okay, it was worse. Much worse. Now they would never get out of here.

"What do you mean you, like, can't teleport?" Kitty asked hysterically. "How are we supposed to GET OUT OF HERE!" she screamed the last part out towards the dark room in anger. Only her echo bounced off of the walls, silence coming again.

"Keety, I mean ve can't teleport. I don't know vhat is wrong, but I just can't," Kurt explained in a hurried panic. Fear inching in every word he spoke.

"Ok, let's try to be calm and rational about this. Kurt can't teleport, we're in a really dark room, that we know for some reason, isn't the kitchen and…." Scott trailed off his sentence when he heard a soft noise. "Scott, like, what is it?" Kitty asked, helplessly clinging to both him and Kurt by their sleeves.

"Shh, listen," Scott said and put a finger to his lips. He knew his friends couldn't see him, but he did it anyway. Another soft noise filled the room in an echo. In an instant, light sparked the room and they all covered their eyes. Torches along every inch on the lining of the wall magically lit as the light swept over the room like a broom quickly dusting up any known particles.

"Zis is really creeping me out!" Kurt slowly whispered. Scott and Kitty immediately stood up, dragging Kurt to his feet also. Kitty exclaimed.

Scott ran over to the far side of the wall. Now that the room was completely lit, he looked around trying to find a way out. There seemed to be absolutely nothing. Not a single exit out of the room. Now that he actually thought about it and took it in; the room was pretty dusty and looked really fancy with rich colored brown walls and old furniture put to the side of the room. Old paintings hung across the elegantly styled walls of the room. Some even dated back to 1703, Scott noticed. The professor had told him once that this mansion had been built in the late 1600's, but he had never mentioned that there were other rooms that he didn't know about.

Kurt sat down, trying to concentrate and help his friends find a way out of here, but he couldn't. His stomach growled in hunger. That was the reason why. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten something. He rubbed his stomach as Kitty bent over and looked him square in the face, fear in her now wide, blue eyes. "Keety, you vouldn't have anyzing to eat, vould you?" he asked, a smile playing on his face.

"Kurt!!" Kitty threw up her hands and paced around him. She began to make Kurt dizzy. "How can you, like, think of your stomach in a time like this?"

"Sorry, ja?!" Kurt replied in his defense. He stood up and laid his three fingered hands on Kitty's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. He turned her around and looked at her. "Keety, it's going to be ok."

Kitty opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, a soft clicking noise was heard. She turned to find Scott fiddling with one of the torches. "Scott, what are you, like, doing?"

Scott didn't reply, he just continued to mess with the torch. He moved the torch again and it went back to it's original place while they heard a clicking sound from somewhere else in the room.

Kitty and Kurt looked at him oddly. Scott just stared back at them and gave his usual half smile. He laughed, which caused Kurt and Kitty to look at him even more strangely. "Vhat is so funny about ze torch?"

"Oh, nothing. Except for the fact that I think I found us a way outta here." Scott pointed to the corner of the room. Kitty and Kurt followed his gaze and their eyes rested on a rectangular shape in the top corner of the room. They heard Scott move the torch again and the rectangular like door opened by itself. They all smiled at each other, happy for the first time since they came to. The door was their gate to freedom.

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The three high school boys opened the gate to the mansion and smiled to each other when they saw that the lights in the entire mansion were out. They had left the mansion grounds with the smell of revenge looming in the air. They weren't about to be beaten at their own game. The mutants would pay. Slowly, they opened the tall, metal gates. They would have their revenge yet. The mutants would pay for what they did. No freak shows were going to outsmart them and get away with it. Soon. Soon…

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Tabitha gulped back the huge amount of saliva now making it's way into her throat. She couldn't panic. Not now; not when three pale beings were coming towards them in the absolute darkness. Not when the candle's flame had just burnt out; not when she couldn't find the box of matches and the spare candle that she had taken with her in case of an emergency; not when they were the only group of people left here. No, she couldn't panic at all.

Another gust of wind blew past them and Tabitha whirled around towards the noise that was becoming louder and louder, getting closer and closer until she could hear it along with the fast beating rhythm of her terrified heart. She heard Amara, Jamie, Amanda, and even Lance scream at the top of their lungs. At those sounds, she dove her hand into her pocket once again and tried to find the box of matches. She closed her eyes and reopened them, trying her hardest to keep herself in check. The others needed her and she couldn't give up on them now. Tabitha's head shot up when she heard three heavy breaths and three loud moans. It was the ghosts. Or, at least she thought that they were ghosts. She didn't get the chance to get a good glimpse at them.

Amara stood a couple of feet away from Tabitha. She also heard her fishing through her pockets, desperately trying to find the candle and spare box of matches. Amara bit her lip. She felt guilty for not being able to use her mutant abilities and help light the way for all of her friends while trying to fight away these, these…creatures. Amara widened her eyes as an idea sprung into her head. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner. The ghosts had seemed solid enough for the group to touch, or at least she hoped so. They would fight them off. They were perfectly trained by the best, maybe excluding Amanda, but she could also help out. It was the perfect plan: they would fight, and also buy Tabitha some time while she kept searching.

Immediately switching into combat mode, Amara looked towards Tabitha through the dark. "Tabitha, keep looking. I have the perfect idea."

Tabitha shook her head. Had she heard that correctly. Amara was taking charge. She thought that Amara had been scared out of her wits. Apparently, she was willing to overcome that fear and help out. Tabitha didn't know what that 'perfect idea' was, that is, until she heard the first punch. Tabitha finally found the box of matches and pulled them out. "That's my girl." She fished around some more and found the candle. So happy that she finally found it that she turned around too fast and a soft wind blew it out of her hand. Tabitha cursed under her breath and bent down to find the candle.

Lance slapped his fists together and jumped the figure that was closest to him. He really didn't know what he was aiming at, but he figured the worst thing that could happen was that he'd punch a group member, or slam his fist into a wall. Without even thinking, he did what he unconsciously always did. He rolled his eyes towards the back of his head and pulled his fists forward. Nothing happened. "What the hell?" He tried again. Still the same result. Lance couldn't even feel the headache that usually came when he used his power. Before he could realize what was happening, something hard grasped the sides of his neck and began to press harder. It was getting harder to breathe. The figure laughed and Lance thought that he recognized it, but didn't want to think about it before he aimed his fist straight ahead and into his attacker.

Jamie was running for his life. When Amara had told him that they were going into hand to hand combat, he thought she was crazy. But, then he realized that she wasn't joking. Not at all. Jamie ran straight towards the end of the hall. He really didn't know if he was still in the hall, but that didn't matter when he felt something reach for him. Jamie screamed for dear life. He tripped and fell, the figure still holding tightly to his leg. The strange figure made an eerie, creepy noise, like that of a ghost in a movie. Jamie had seen too many of those to know good and well what was going to happen next. "LET GO OF ME!" The ghostly figure didn't seem to be listening as it tightened it's grip on Jamie's leg. Without thinking Jamie kicked forward and the figure detached itself from him and hit the wall with a loud thump behind it. Jamie grinned in the still darkness at his success and moved in to fend off the figure until, of course, he heard a shrill bloodthirsty sound behind him. He gulped down his fear and before he knew, he was struggling to try and get out of a bundle of rope while the attacker stood back and laughed in a high pitched tone.

Amara was one step away from completely getting angry. She was beyond fear, more in the playing field of being extremely terrified. Her emotions were encased with suspicion and anger all mixed in together. Together, that mix would cause her to go over the edge. More than once tonight she had just wanted to scream at the top of her lungs and find out what was going on. Amara shook her head as she pounded the figure with her fists of fury. Amara jerked her head when she suddenly heard an abrupt scream, but she decided to ignore it and continue fighting. She automatically felt odd about fighting beings that looked like ghosts, but felt like any other ordinary person. Solid. Solid to the core. Amara closed her eyes and reached out in front of her. Suddenly there was a large flash and a flash of light behind her closed eyelids. Amara immediately opened her eyes and saw a candle burning near the far end of the hall. Tabitha. An arm lunged at her and all Amara knew was that in a second she was on the floor. She kept kicking and screaming. "AHHH!!" The figure wouldn't leave her alone. Amara widened her eyes as the figure moved in and her screams were nothing but a muffled sound.

Tabitha couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her group was fighting off the figures whom she had definitely started calling ghosts. They were fighting them. And all along she had thought that ghosts were transparent. Tabitha turned around as she heard someone give out an evil laugh. It was one of the figures. He was bending down and laughing cynically in Amara's face. Tabitha was scared, but her anger towards what was going on got the best of her and she stormed over to it, the long candle brightly lit in her hand. When she stalked over and stopped, she realized that the figure hadn't noticed that she was standing there. Amara had a look of extreme fear on her features; Tabitha's mouth formed slowly into a smile. Amara looked at her with wide eyes. The figure had cornered her and held a firm grip on her arm. Amara looked at Tabitha like she was crazy. Why was she laughing? This wasn't supposed to be funny, was it? But to Amara's unnoticed eye, Tabitha saw something she didn't.

Tabitha smiled coyly again and reached for the figure. She noticed the figure had something hooked to it's neck and that it separated the head from the shoulders. Rope, she assumed. Luckily for her, the figure hadn't noticed the sudden brightness of the hallway. Just when she was close enough to it, the figure turned on her. It roared in her face and Tabitha almost dropped the candle out of fear. It held her wrist tightly and Tabitha motioned her eyes in fear towards the figure's neck to Amara. Amara looked at the figure's neck and also noticed it. She smiled and moved her hands towards the neck of the figure. Amara snapped the rope like thing and pulled off what looked like a mask in the dimness. Wait a minute? Mask? Were ghosts supposed to have masks?

A couple of feet away, Lance and Jamie saw what Amara and Tabitha were doing and imitated their actions. They all gaped at what they saw. No, it couldn't be, could it? Tabitha opened and closed her mouth. This was so unreal; they all couldn't believe who was standing in front of them as the three figures smiled wickedly; all too familiar smiles.

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