Author's Note: Dang, I'm not gonna get this thing done by Halloween. But at least I'm almost done! I plan to have about three more chapters after this before the story is finished. Then I'll start trying out villains without magical powers.

Update 11/1: Added two extra pages on. The Crusts are at it again!

Chapter Eight: The Witching Hour

Jenny knelt on the bathroom floor stowing one bathtub toy after another into the cabinet under the sink. She had discarded the black robe of her costume in the bathtub along with the mask and scythe. It felt good to finally get out of the scary disguise. There was no need for her to wear it now since it was only her and Sam in the bathroom, and she was just dying to show off her new lavender paint at least a little bit. "I can't believe all this stuff is actually gonna fit." the robot girl remarked as she squeezed a rubber shark into a tight space. "Why do your brothers need so many toys just for bath time?"

Sam put a toy submarine in its place and picked up a spongy pink starfish from her lap. "Because hygiene has to be fun for three year olds, or else they won't do it." She gave a joking roll of her eyes and smirked. "I guess boys never grow out of that."

"Do boys ever grow out of anything?" Jenny snickered. She giggled over her joke, then stopped when she realized Sam wasn't joining her. If anything the human girl looked even gloomier then before over the mention of boys. "What's the matter?" the robot girl asked, her voice tinged with concern. "You're not still upset about Brad, are you?"

The human girl fumbled clumsily with the squishy starfish in her hands. "I don't know." she muttered. "I'm so confused. I feel bad about yelling at him, but I still don't understand why he lashed out like that. It just seemed so unlike him."

Jenny gave her friend a smile and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. It would have been too cruel to tease her now, so instead she decided to offer some sympathy. "Yeah, boys are funny like that." A small giggle escaped her voice chip. "Cog knows I've had my share of problems with them. Sheldon's always been doing things to impress me, like he did tonight with his goofy balloon suit. I think it was the same thing with Brad and his Ohio Jones outfit."

"Huh . . . . I didn't of it like that before." A faint smile formed on Sam's face. "I'm glad he didn't wear the Captain Crush suit, or I would've been the one in the Grim Reaper disguise!" This time both girls giggled together and Jenny felt relieved that Sam was finally cheering up. Suddenly a loud buzzing noise interrupted them. Jenny's belly bolt was flashing.

Sam dodged out of the way just as the robot's chest plate slid open. Jenny rolled her eyes, expecting to receive another unwanted mission as the face of her mother appeared on the monitor screen. She was about to complain but the doctor's anxious voice prevented her from speaking. "XJ-9, you are in serious danger!"

Jenny's annoyance disappeared suddenly. That was a line she didn't hear very often from her mother. "What? Danger? What do you mean, mom?"

The doctor's tone grew even more nervous. "There was a woman here asking for you, but she was no ordinary woman! She had powers beyond those of normal human beings! She forced me to tell you where you are! You must leave Samantha's house before she gets there!"

"Whoa, mom, calm down!" Jenny interrupted, waving her hands at the monitor. "If this woman's really that dangerous, she could hurt someone! What did she look like?"

Wakeman took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "She . . . she was tall . . . very tall and pale. She wore a long cape and a hood. I couldn't see her face very clearly, but her eyes were yellow, and they glowed green!"

A cold shiver ran through Sam's skin and Jenny's wires. "That sounds like . . ." Sam whispered, her eyes growing wider and wider. "No, it couldn't be . . . she's dead . . . "

"Dead?!" Wakeman exclaimed in total disbelief. "What do you mean she's dead?! XJ-9, who and what are you talking about??"

"Mom . . ." Jenny began, her voice faltering slightly. "That woman you described sounds just like a sorceress I fought a few weeks ago. But she died!"

"Yeah, I saw it happen." Sam chimed in. "She melted into a puddle when she was splashed with water. There's no way she could've come back from that! I mean, even witches can't come back from the dead . . . " she paused, a look of uncertainty entering her features. ". . . can they?"

The man screamed in agony, dark fluid oozing all over his face as the giant rubbery monster dug a set of plastic fangs into his neck. Dramatic music played in the background, stifled from poor recording and by the noise in the next room. A group of teenage boys snickered at the monochrome image of the suffering man on the screen.

Sheldon stuffed a handful of candy corn into his mouth and chewed as he spoke. "See, that's not really blood! It's just chocolate syrup, but it's supposed to look like blood in black and white!" The information drew a few chuckles from some of the boys, but it held no interest to Brad. He was the epitome of gloom as he sat slumped over on the couch still clutching an ice pack on his face and holding his fedora in his lap. Even his spiky red bangs drooped instead of sticking up the way they usually did.

On the floor and all around the TV room were various boys in costumes. Brad tried to engross himself in the chocolate syrup gore-fest along with them, but the sinking feeling in his stomach wouldn't leave. He let the ice pack slide off his face and onto the cushion beside him, its soft thump attracting Sheldon's attention. The geeky superhero looked at the other boy and saw the look of utter heartbreak on his face. "Wow, Brad, this is worse then I thought." he said. "I've never seen you looking this miserable before. Are you still sad about that girl?"

Brad stared silently at the fedora in his lap. He didn't need to say a word to answer Sheldon's question. "I thought so." he said, an understanding smile on his face. "I know exactly how you feel, pal. Rejection is a good friend of mine. No matter how hard I try to win Jenny's affections, she always tells me we're just friends."

"Friends." Brad repeated tonelessly. "Hmph. I don't think Sam even wants to be friends with me anymore."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised. So it was Sam who had dumped Brad, huh? Ah, now it all made sense. She was mad about his Ohio Jones skit and fighting with Don. "Just give her some time to calm down." he said. "Then maybe you can do something nice for her to apologize, like building her a neutron cannon! That's what I do for Jenny whenever she's mad at me!"

Brad gave the geeky superhero an odd look and shook his head. He knew Sheldon was trying to help, but it just wasn't working. The girl whom he'd wanted to impress so much now thought he was a complete loser. Not even a neutron cannon would change that. Maybe he should just go home. Sam wouldn't want to see him anymore tonight. Heck, she might never want to see him again.

A ringing sound brought Brad out of his gloomy trance. Ding dong! The doorbell was ringing. "Trick-or-treaters." He stood up from the couch and flattened his spiked bangs under his fedora once more, face still sagging with depression as he trudged out of the TV room and into the house's entryway. Wanting to get the routine over with quickly he picked up the nearly empty candy bowl and opened the front door.

On the doorstep stood an unexpected sight; a lone adult figure, extremely tall and thin and wearing a dark hooded cloak. A pair of dangling skull earrings matched the brooch at the cloak's neck. The pallid white face was only visible from a pair of stern black lips down to a sharply pointed chin. The lips began to move, and cold and creepy female voice spoke. "Where is XJ-9?"

Brad felt a chill run down his spine; something was definitely not right with this weird woman. Just the sound of her voice, calm, slow, and totally devoid of any emotion, was making him nervous. Not only was she creeping him out, but there was something disturbingly familiar about her. "XJ-9?" he repeated. "You mean Jenny? What do want with her?"

The black lips curved into an evil sneer. "My dear boy, surely you remember what she did." A pair of gaunt white hands slid out of her cloak and lifted the hood from her face. A cascade of raven black hair spilled down her back and almost to the ground. Her skin was deathly pale and her eyelids and lips were painted with some sort of purple make-up. If it weren't for the arrogant smirk that twisted her features she might have been attractive.

Several thoughts went through Brad's head within the following eight seconds. His first thought was that he was hallucinating. His next thought was that he was seeing a ghost, but another thought reminded him that there were no such things as ghosts. Then another thought argued against that, saying there were already such things as witches. Finally all his thoughts simply jumbled together into a chaotic mess, leaving with no action left but to go completely slack-jawed in horror and babble like an idiot. "E-Enchantra??" he stammered, his eyes bulging out like basketballs. "Wh-wh-wha-what're you doing here?? Y-y-y-you melted! You're supposed to be d-d-d-dead!"

The sorceress chuckled dryly, amused by the boy's surprised reaction. "Yes, all of that is true. Except that my name is not Enchantra." Her tone grew darker as she continued. "I am Grimalda, her twin sister. Which brings me back to my question; Where is XJ-9?"

Brad stammered stupidly, his brain still stuck on her introduction. "S-s-sister?? You're her twin sister?! Holy shnikey!! I didn't know witches could even breed!! W-w-what do you want with Jenny??"

Grimalda rolled her yellow eyes in annoyance. Honestly, these modern teenagers had no manners at all. "What I want with her should be obvious, mortal." she snarled. "She killed my sister, and I have come to return the favor."

Brad's mind raced frantically. He couldn't tell her that Jenny was inside somewhere. He had to get rid of her somehow. "Um, well, she's not here right now." he said, forcing a smile and reaching into the candy bowl. "Sorry you had to come all this way for nothing. Here's some bubble gum for your trouble. Happy Halloween!"

Grimalda stared silently at the candy in the boy's hand. There was a long, awkward silence until her eyes began to blaze with jade flames. ZAP!! A brilliant beam of light exploded into the center of Brad's chest and knocked him from the entryway into the living room, where he bounced and rolled to a stop on the carpet floor. Costumed guests gasped and stared at his limp body in surprise, then froze in dread at the sound of a monstrous booming voice."Hear me, wretched mortals!" the sorceress bellowed, now standing in the entryway and surrounded by a nightmarish nimbus of green light. "I am Grimalda the Grim! I have come for XJ-9, and I am not leaving until I find her!"

As the green light around her faded, the shrouded form of Grimalda stepped into the living room. The few concerned people who had gathered around Brad's semiconscious body quickly backed off at the sight of the witch approaching. She scanned every person in the room with her sunken yellow eyes, drawing her penciled black eyebrows together in frustration. "Well? Where is she?" No one was brave enough to answer her. Irritated, she whirled around and snapped at the person standing closest to her. "Where is the robot girl??"

The poor, unlucky boy was none other then Sheldon Lee. At the sorceress's outburst he backed up against the wall and shivered in his oversized cocoon of primary colors. He sputtered and stammered incoherently, completely terrified and having disturbing flashbacks of his encounter with her twin sister. Finally his eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the floor in a dead faint.

Grimalda sneered at the collapsed superhero and spun around in a flurry of ragged black hair and purple fabric. The other kids backed up even more, prepared to run from the wraithlike sorceress if necessary. However, one mismatched pair of girls in harmonizing devil costumes stood smugly undaunted. Brit stepped forward, holding her pitchfork like a scepter and looking down on the sorceress as if she were an ant. "Madam, I think you're at the wrong house. There are no robot girls around here. Furthermore, this party is invitation only and has a strict rule against witch costumes."

Grimalda fixed the costumed girl with a similarly scornful gaze. "How ignorant." she said, her voice eerily calm. "I am a sorceress, not a witch. There is a difference, you know."

The two girls felt threatened by the woman's icy attitude, but refused to back down. To them what she had just said was a challenge. Tiff decided to take a shot at her and twirled her pointed tail nonchalantly. "Yeah, whatever, Brunhilda. You still wasn't invited, so why don't you get on yer broomstick and take off?"

The other kids felt a sinister chill coming off Grimalda's lanky form. No one spoke as she stared the cousins down, her eyes piercing through them with the iciness of frozen knives. When she spoke it was like a gust of wind carrying sleet and rain into the room. "That is one of the many differences between witches and sorceresses. I do not fly on a broomstick. And I will not be . . . 'taking off' any time soon." One of her thin, pallid hands emerged from inside her violet cloak and an orb of flame crackled within her hooked fingers. "Do you boorish whelps have any objections to that?"

At last the Crusts realized they were outmatched. Frightened by the sorceress's obvious threat they took a few nervous steps back, forcing smiles to placate her. By now everyone in the house was gathered in the living room, wondering what the spooky intruder would do next. The sorceress raised her hands in the air and began to chant in a calm monotone. "Windows and doors, secure us within! Keep the world outside and all of us in!" No sooner had she finished then a series of slams and clicks were heard from overhead and all around. Translucent green panels appeared over the front door and the windows, vibrating with energy.

With her spell complete Grimalda turned to her audience like a queen addressing the very lowest of serfs in her kingdom. "Now hear this, mortals. I have sealed this house off. No one can get in or out. If XJ-9 is here, I will find her. If not, I will continue my search elsewhere. Nevertheless, you are now all my prisoners."

She left them to contemplate her words and marched off to begin her search in the kitchen. As the guests began muttering and whispering to each other worriedly, Tiff and Brit began to panic. "Prisoners?!" the taller girl wailed. "I don't want to be a prisoner! I'm much too young and beautiful for a life of captivity!"

Tiff grabbed her cousin by her shoulders and shook her back and forth roughly. "Pull yo'self together, girl! This broad means business! We need Jenny right freakin' now!"

"Oh, forget about that rusty tin can!!" Brit snapped. "It's her fault that witch is here! We're better off calling the police!"

"Are you crazy, cuz??" Tiff exclaimed. "The police can't do nothin' to her! She could just zap 'em with her laser eyes! The only way to stop a super-freak like that is with another super-freak!!"

Just then a tall masked figure in a black hooded robe spoke up. "Girls, please! We can handle this! Just calm down!"

Brit spun around to face the person. "Calm down?! Calm down?? You expect us to be calm at a time like this?!"

The Grim Reaper waved a pair of white metal hands in the air. "Yes! Freaking out isn't gonna help us get rid of Grimalda!"

Both of the Crusts' eyes popped open wide. Instead of the deep, spooky voice they had expected, the Grim Reaper sounded young and feminine. Tiff's jaw fell open in shock as realization sank in. "J-Jenny?! Is that really you?!"

Jenny gasped and slapped her hands over her mouth. She'd forgotten to change her voice! Her cover was blown! "Um . . . look, there's no time to explain!" she said quickly. "I've got a plan to get us out of this mess, but please don't tell anybody who I am!"

Tiff opened her mouth to say something, but Brit cut in before her. Already the wheels in her scheming little head were turning. "Of course, dear!" she said sweetly. "We'll keep your secret for you! You don't need to worry about Sheldon finding out, though. Grimalda gave him such a scare that he simply passed out." She gestured with her pitchfork at the geeky superhero lying on the floor, then at the red-haired boy nearby, his limbs twitching with returning consciousness. "She gave Brad more then a fright, though, so you might want to check on him."

With a gasp Jenny rushed to her friend's side and dropped to her knees. As the robot girl fussed over the boy, Brit pulled her cousin aside and began whispering excitedly. "Tiff, this is much better then anything we could have planned! With some help from Grimalda, we can be rid of Jenny forever!"

To be continued . . .