Turning

Ethan felt his head phone vibrate on his hip. He jumped off the couch, making Marnie jump as well.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Uh, n-nothing. Could you excuse me for a minute, I need to answer this call." And he walked towards the bathroom. Marnie stared at his back, confusion etched on her face, but decided not to ask when he returned. In the bathroom, Ethan answered the phone.

"Aggie? Is that you?" he asked.

"Yes, it's me. Well, at least I know you can hear me."

"I would've answered sooner, but Marnie was sitting on the couch with me."

"I see. So, what's Kal been planning. My dear? Has he told you anything lately?"

"Nothing different from what's already happened here, and what he plans to do to the humans. He just told me to keep watch over Marnie while he was gone. That's it."

"So, we both know about the Creature Spell, but what has happened in Halloween Town?"

"Everything's grey. And the creatures have turned into boring humans."

"Hmm, sounds like the Grey Spell, but I'm not sure. Oh! If I only had my books."

"He keeps those with him all the time. I've seen him with 'em."

"Are you sure, Ethan?"

"Unless there's another set of huge, leather books, I'm curtain."

"Well, I've got to go. Be sure to watch out for Marnie and yourself, dearie. Bye." And the line went silent. Ethan put the head phone away, and shook his head. This is gonna be a long trip.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Ethan emerged. Marnie was standing in the kitchen cooking, and Kal sat at the table. When he heard the door closed, he looked up and smiled at the blonde.

"Hey, Ethan. Enjoy your day?" he asked in a pleasant tone.

"Yes, it was decent." he replied. Marnie turned to him.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" she asked.

"No, thank you. I'll be heading home. Good night." And he left, leaving Marnie and Kal alone. They ate dinner, and talked a little bit. Finally, retiring to the bedroom. Kal kissed Marnie gently on the lips, before saying good night.

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"Ethan! Good to see you," Aggie said, when Ethan walked into the Cromwell kitchen.

"Same here," Ethan said, a smile forming on his face. "Here's your book. I could only take one of them. Kal would be suspicious if both turned out missing. Sorry."

"Oh, don't worry dear. One will do fine enough," she replied, taking the book from Ethan's clutches. Carefully, she ran her fingers over the cover, then opened it and began flipping through it.

"Mother, what're you looking for?" Gwen asked, standing over Agatha's shoulder's to look down. At last, the pages stopped, revealing a page with a spell on it. "The Creature Spell?"

"Yes. The spell Kal used, correct Ethan?" Ethan nodded. "Then we must find the spell that counters it." The pages started turning once again. "Ah. Here it is..." Aggie started chanting a spell in Latin. Outside, the wind began to pick up and howl fiercely. There was a flash of light, that lasted barely a second, and Aggie looked up from her book.

"Well, now. That was a piece of cake," she said. Gwen looked at her mother.

"What happened? What did you do?"

"I turned the humans back to how they should be. Now all that's left, is Halloween Town. Ethan, didn't you mention something about it awhile back?" Agatha turned to face Ethan.

"Yes. It's all grey. And the creatures have been turned into humans." He got off the kitchen stool and walked over to the window and looked out to the outside world. "It's horrible. There's a huge cement block were the Pumpkin once was."

"Is that so?" Aggie flipped some pages back, and landed on the one she was looking for. "The Grey Spell..." she muttered. Her eyes clouded, and a stern look crossed her features.

"Mom?" Gwen asked. "What's the Grey Spell?"