Spirit's Eve

AKA "A Nightmare Before Christmas." Only because the dates are perfect and nothing to do with the content.

The sun sank below the western horizon on Pelican Town as Rasmodius stood on the precipice just over the small town below. It was his night to show off the extent of his abilities to the townspeople as he created the maze that would test his neighbors' courage and cunning in search of the prize - the golden pumpkin. Muttering a spell, the wizard witnessed the branches of hedges rise up from nothing, forming an intricate pattern designed to confuse and disorient those who sought the reward.

This year, the wizard had sought counsel from his daughter. Rasmodius wanted to know what scared young people nowadays, as this was becoming a more difficult feat with modern horror and slasher movies. The esteemed wizard discovered that Abigail was afraid of spiders and as her father, it was his duty to challenge his magical heir to overcome such obstacles. So, without his daughter realizing his intentions, Rasmodius decided that arachnids would dwell in the labyrinth.

As for the other obstacles, Rasmodius could rely upon the classics. A graveyard, a litter of humanoid bones, ghostly blue flames, and blood-red eyes staring out at the villagers from the dark. Of course, as part of their divorce agreement, the wizard had no choice but to allow his ex-wife a small section of the maze. She, too, received one night a year to showcase her magical prowess. Rasmodius watched her activities closely to ensure that none of the villagers were harmed.

Her traveling hut - and the disembodied limbs that snatched at the ankles of passers-by - were more like traps than actual challenges. Rasmodius did not approve, but so long as no one was harmed, the wizard could not issue a formal complaint or claim that their agreement had been breached.

The foliage was nearly fully formed when Linus approached, giving Rasmodius a genial nod in greeting. "It always amazes me how quickly you can throw all this together," his companion chuckled as he stroked his snowy white beard.

"Magic is the most versatile tool a man can master," Rasmodius replied with an appropriate air of pride, gesturing out toward the sprawling maze of shrubbery. "Besides, the elementals like a chance to mundane folk up close. It was for them that I created this maze."

"Either way, good show, old friend," Linus nodded, impressed by the scale of the project. "Do you think anyone will get the golden pumpkin this year?"

The magician grinned at his old friend. "I believe my daughter has what it takes," Rasmodius answered with a slight puff in his chest. "Even if she is a bit… difficult at times."

"A daughter?" He then remembered that he had not told Linus of this new development.

Rasmodius tipped his staff in the direction of the general store. "Abigail, Caroline's daughter. She is also mine," the magic-user explained to the wildman. "It turns out she can use magic, but she will require proper training to fully reach her potential."

Linus sniffed in amusement. "And here I thought learning of a new secret nephew was a surprise…"

"Another potential heir?" Rasmodius wondered aloud with interest. Perhaps his friendship with the former monarch may prove useful after all.

But his companion scoffed at the idea. "I needed to know for his protection," Linus stated, clearly exasperated by the state of politics in the capital since his formal resignation and the disintegration of the old order. "You know how those vultures are."

But this information could prove useful all the same, Rasmodius decided. His mind wandered to one being in particular who would pay handsomely for this kind of intel. The wizard himself was not interested in riches, but with that kind of money, he could acquire rare magical objects, texts, or bottles of wine. "Of course…" Rasmodius agreed amiably.

Spirit's Eve had always been Sebastian's favorite festival and this year was no exception. There was an energy in the air that excited him, and he could not wait for night to fall. He had stayed up considerably late last night and slept away most of the morning before heading over to Sam's to catch up.

Unfortunately, the conversation dampened Sebastian's excitement. Too much shit had been going on for Sam and Sebastian had not been there to help his best friend. If he had not already experienced the weirdness with his own magic lately, Sebastian would have found it hard to believe that Jodi was under some sort of memory spell. But Sam was so crestfallen that Sebastian could tell his best friend was having a rough time. They spent the entire rest of the day just chatting.

The programmer wanted to give Sam the space to talk about whatever the hell he wanted, especially now that he was going to move to ZuZu City the very next day. Part of Sebastian worried he was abandoning Sam in his hour of need, but the blond simply smiled and assured him that it would all work out.

"If mom needed to forget dad so she wouldn't be so sad, it's okay," Sam declared, the depression regarding the situation obvious in his tone. "But I've got to make sure she remembers him when he gets back." The spiky-haired blond shrugged. "For now, I guess it's gotta be my job to keep hope alive, no matter how much it sucks."

"What about Vincent?" Sebastian asked hesitantly. Was his best friend going to allow this witch to remove his little brother's memories, too?

"I told Vince the truth," Sam shrugged, still avoiding Sebastian's eye contact as he played his handheld gaming console. Sebastian wondered if his best friend was doing this purposefully so he could speak more freely about his family problems in a more detached way or if he wanted to take his mind off the gravity of the problem. "Mom's memories of dad were stolen by a witch and we shouldn't try to make her remember until dad gets back," Sam revealed flatly. "When I told him he had a choice, Vince said he wanted to remember dad, because his memories were already starting to fade and that kinda scared him."

That last sentence really hit Sebastian hard. For him, who had no memories of his actual father, he wondered how it might be different for a kid who had a good relationship with his dad and felt those memories slipping away from him. Sebastian silently questioned Jodi's choices and their consequences for Sam as well. "I can come back to Pelican Town anytime you need me," the programmer promised. "I'm not gonna ditch you for life in the city."

Sam smirked. "Yeah, I know," his best friend snorted. "You're finally living your dream just when it's not what you want anymore." He button mashed to avoid an enemy on the screen of his Game Boy. "Life's funny that way, isn't it?"

The blond noticed Sebastian's hesitation and bumped shoulders playfully. "Don't worry, Sebby," Sam comforted the dark-haired man. "I've still got people to rely on. Abigail's been great and the swamp witch told me the spell she put on mom doesn't work if the person you're trying to forget is dead, so at least I know for sure now that my dad is alive out there somewhere."

Sebastian wanted to cast doubt on the trustworthiness of a magic user who could alter another person's memory, but he could recognize that Sam needed something good out of this shitty scenario and he was not going to be the one to take that away from him. "That's sort of a consolation prize, in that case." The hoodie-wearer was not sure what else to say.

Sam hopped off his bed, tossing his handheld console onto his pillow. "Anyway, it's about time we hit up the festival, don't you think? I don't know about you, but Abigail and I are gonna finally get to the end of that maze this year!"

Once outside, Sebastian found that the Spirit's Eve festival had already been set up and Sam instantly made a beeline for the hedge maze just north of the square. The dark-haired man had another objective, however.

As expected, the cage containing two ambulatory skeletons, which had become a centerpiece of the festival for Sebastian over the years, stood erect just beyond the buffet tables. The sorcerer stood before the thick iron bars, observing the skeletal beings intently.

Sebastian felt someone tap his shoulder and he turned around to find Violet wearing a black cat costume, her deep blue eyes wide with surprise. "Why is no one else dressed up in costume for a Halloween party?!" she hissed, trying to hide behind him.

Sebastian turned his head to admire his girlfriend. Even if a black cat was a simple idea, it was cute. "I didn't expect you to be the cutesy type for Halloween," he teased Violet.

Violet bared her teeth in a feline manner, though he could tell it was more out of disgust than to be in-character. "Bex and I went to a con together as Yuroichi's shinigami and cat forms! It's the only costume I had last-minute." Her eyes darted back and forth to make sure no one else witnessed her shame of being the only villager in costume, but it was clear that she had already been spotted by several of her neighbors. "I should have just gone as a simple bedsheet ghost, at least then no one would recognize me!"

He blushed when Violet flattened herself against him, as if attempting to hide in his shadow. "I should go back and change!" Violet insisted, ready to make a mad dash back toward the farm. But Sebastian grabbed her wrist.

"It's too late now," he insisted, the tinge on his face obvious at this point. "Besides, you look cute. And it proves how much of a nerd you are that you and your friend went to a con dressed as the two halves of an anime sex symbol."

Violet flushed, glancing down at her skin-tight costume. "I only agreed because I was covered in cat form! Bex was the one who had fun flaunting her stuff in the skimpy outfits the whole time. I just popped out whenever she wanted to ditch an annoying group of fanboys!"

Sebastian cackled, his usual good mood for the Spirit's Eve festival finally restored at his girlfriend's expense. He released her wrist and pulled her into his arms, forgetting for a moment that there were other people around. "Well, it looks good on you," he purred, making Violet's face go an even deeper red. "Could you keep it on just a little longer?"

"I-I guess…" She looked desperately for anything else to talk about when the skeletons behind him finally caught her eye.

"Wait, are those things for real?!" Violet shouted, completely forgetting about her embarrassing costume situation.

Sebastian bobbed his head to confirm her suspicions. "Yeah, I have no idea how these skeletons are walking…" he admitted. "Creepy. It's pretty cool though."

Violet's head tilted to one side, making the fuzzy black triangles on her head appear to flicker like an actual cat's ears. "These look like the skeletons in the mines last time I went with Sam and Abigail. Down in the frozen castle…"

One of the bony figures seemed to take an interest in them standing so close to the enclosure and watched them with the faint glow inside their otherwise empty eye sockets. "... Hi," a voice greeted them. Sebastian balked.

"D-did you hear that?" the sorcerer queried his girlfriend.

Violet blinked. "No…" she replied, glancing around to see if anyone else might have tried to get their attention or play a prank on them.

Sebastian felt the cold sweat run down the back of his neck. "Hi," he finally dared to greet the skeleton in return. "What's your name?"

The skull's eye lights flared more brilliantly for a moment. Even Violet noticed. "No name," the skeleton replied. "No remember. Only job guard home till priestess does spell. Keep cold-blooded ally busy." There was a pause, then a question. "Commander has new orders?"

There it was again. Krobus mentioned something about being "Commander of the Dead" to the mystical inhabitants in town. But why?

"Why am I the commander?"

Puzzled, the skeleton's jaw clicked as its eyes flickered. "Magic fits," was all the undead could manage.

But what does that mean? Sebastian thought for a moment on what to say. "My only order was to keep Violet safe from harm." He finally stated. With Sebastian moving to the city, he wanted to remind the magical creatures that they were not allowed to go peeking into his girlfriend's house in the middle of the night or attack her in the mines. The last time he encountered a creature that understood him, it was a shadow person like Krobus. And if the "spell" on one species did not apply to all the undead that roamed the tunnels below the mountain, Sebastian had to make sure to cover his bases.

The rookie magician continued to instruct the sentient skeleton. "Violet is important to me and I'll be living in the city for a while…" he wrapped an arm around the farmer to indicate the relationship in a way the skeleton would hopefully understand. "I want you all to make sure no one harms her."

Meanwhile, Violet's attention skimmed back and forth between them. It was clear she was only able to hear one side of the conversation.

The second skeleton, now standing eerily still beside its partner, saluted Sebastian as if in answer. "Protect!" they bellowed in inaudible unison, accepting their new orders. Violet jumped at their sudden movement but restrained herself from crying out in surprise and draw attention to the odd exchange.

Sebastian smiled, pleased that his new minions seemed to understand their mission. "Keep up the good work!" the sorcerer responded, indicating that the skeletons should relax their stances and go about their business.

"Did you just…" Violet's lips twitched with the dozens of questions that tickled her mind and itched to escape her mouth. "Get me a pair of skeleton bodyguards?"

Assuming the skeletons would listen to their "commander," Sebastian was pleased with the idea of something watching out for Violet while he was not around. "I guess I did." He took his girlfriend's hand and ogled the spandex-tight costume in a way that made Violet blush. "Are you sure you wanna change out of that catsuit?"

"You just want to stare at my butt!"

Leah stood at the buffet table covered in desserts, munching on a slice of pie when Elliott solicited her for help. "Leah, Miss Penelope has been missing for quite some time," the poet informed his best friend. "Would you accompany me to search for her?"

"Um, hi, Elliott," the sculptor articulated around the food in her mouth. Leah was somewhat irritated that her best friend did not bother to greet her before leaping in with demands. "Sorry... mouth full of blackberries."

Elliott seemed to realize his mistake immediately, however, and corrected the behavior. "My apologies, Leah. I just cannot help but think that Miss Penelope is in danger."

Leah swallowed the final tart bite of her blackberry pie before setting the plate down. "I'm sure she's fine," the red head assumed, trying to placate her companion's worries. "She might be a little lost, but the maze isn't actually dangerous."

Elliott shook his head, disturbing his perfectly combed tresses. "I could have sworn I saw an unsavory looking fellow lurking about," he disclosed to Leah. "Who knows who he might be?"

Her grey eyes rolled. "I doubt anyone would come all the way to Pelican Town for our Spirit's Eve festival, even if the maze has some great special effects," Leah assured her companion. But she decided to humor Elliott, nonetheless. "C'mon, Elli. We'd hate for Penny to fall prey to a vampire or something."

The author did not find the joke so funny, but he trotted after Leah with his graceful, long-legged gait all the same. Just outside the maze, the duo found Haley. "I'm too scared..." the blonde confessed in a quiet, bashful voice. "I'm not very good with jump-scares," Haley elaborated. "The last time I went into a haunted house with friends, I accidentally smacked one of the actors with my bag and gave them a black eye…"

Leah laughed at the image. "We're just going in to find Penny," the ginger clarified. "You're welcome to tag along if you want."

Haley looked unsure, but eventually nodded her head. "Only if you let me have your arm," the blonde squeaked, latching onto Leah.

Elliott glanced between the two ladies and gave Leah a look but said nothing as he turned his heels to head into the maze. The trio stepped into the hedges and found that the path split left and right. First, they tried taking the left and quickly found themselves at a dead end after taking an immediate right. After retracing their steps, they tried the path that went further into the maze, only to find themselves feet away from the entrance.

"I guess we go right," Leah decided, taking the lead with a reluctant Haley clinging to her right arm. At the end of the corridor, a gristly green hand burst through the loose soil and grabbed at her ankle. The artist kicked it away, but Haley let out a screech of terror as a second hand gripped her leg.

"Get it off, get it off, get it off!" the curly-haired woman cried desperately. Leah, trapped by extension due to Haley's iron grip on her arm, could not quite reach the branches of a nearby shrub to break off a limb and use it as a weapon. But Elliott understood her intentions and leapt into action.

"Unhand Miss Haley, foul creature!" Elliott cried in his most boisterous tone, whacking the sickly extremity away from the blonde. With a solid SMACK, the branch made contact and the hand recoiled back into the ground. Now that they were more aware of the potential dangers, Elliott swept the branch ahead of them to detect any other threats. After making their way past another two sets of disembodied hands, the trio made their way to a small, stately house held up on a pair of chicken feet and flanked by stone braziers, each holding an eerie blue flame.

In front of the house, a cauldron boiled a strange gooey substance over a flameless fire. And near that brew stood Penny, whose gentle swaying suggested she was in a trance-like state.

Elliott rushed toward her. "Miss Penelope, are you alright?" He gently tipped her chin up toward his face with a finger. The eye contact seemed to break the spell somewhat.

The brunette's pupils slowly came into focus on Elliott's face. "The vapor from this cauldron…" Penny answered slowly, "it's making my head spin, but I can't seem to leave…" Her head began to rotate back toward the cauldron, but Elliott instead scooped Penny up in his arms.

"I think it is best to stay far away from these noxious fumes, my dearest Penelope," he insisted. Penny's head bobbed in accord, still only half-aware of her situation. Elliott looked to his companions. "I am taking Miss Penelope out of here. You two are of course welcome to do as you please." He smiled directly at Leah. "You are such a steadfast friend, Leah. Thank you for your assistance."

With that, the man disappeared around the corner from which they came. Leah looked to Haley, who had yet to let go of her arm the entire way through the maze. "Do you want to head back, too?"

The blonde bit her lower lip and her eyebrows furrowed adorably on her forehead. "I don't mind if we keep going," Haley declared, surprisingly Leah. Her blue eyes rested on the ginger's face. "As long as it's okay with you…"

Leah let out a surprised hoot. "I don't mind, just so long as you stop cutting off my circulation," she teased, loosening Haley's grip on her bicep.

Haley blushed, embarrassed to find that the lower half of Leah's arms was going a bit purple. "Sorry!" she apologized, hopping away from Leah for a moment. "I-I'll try to be brave."

For some reason, Leah could not help but think seeing this side of Haley made her more endearing. While the artist herself was not a huge fan of scary attractions like this Halloween maze, Leah also did not mind them nearly as much as Haley. She offered a hand to the frightened woman beside her. "Here, I'll take the lead."

Violet and Sebastian entered the maze, curious to see what horrors Rasmodius had inflicted on the villagers. "I never really bothered to try this thing after the first year the wizard put it up," the farmer's boyfriend stated. "Sam said there's no way to win, but I'll bet there's a trick to it." He shrugged, "Besides, we've got like an hour to kill before Abigail's séance starts, right?"

The floral-haired woman hummed with delight, eager to participate in the festivities. She had not been in a maze in years, and it made her heart flutter with a child-like thrill. Sebastian already knew not to take the first left-hand turn and instead headed right. As they turned the first bend, Violet noticed a few mounds of loose soil. She eyed them curiously, but Sebastian warned her not to get too close. "Watch it, those things will grab you."

"What are you-?" Violet had not finished her question when a zombified hand erupted violently from the earth, causing her to jump. Luckily, she managed to avoid the next obstacle thanks to an assist from Sebastian.

He smirked. "They're kind of handsy," Sebastian chuckled and Violet's expression soured at the awful pun. The wavy-haired woman wiggled free from her boyfriend's grasp and stomped down the path with a ruffled huff. This time she avoided the mounds of soil, knowing fully well that there would be another monstrous hand ready to strike.

However, Violet did not account for her costume. A hard yank on her cat tail felled her to the ground and the hand began burrowing into the earth, dragging her closer. She screamed and slipped her bag off her shoulders to strike at the enemy. Sebastian snaked his arms under her and pulled her to safety, but the sickly green hand ripped the bag from Violet's grasp and began to pull out random items until it found what it wanted.

The two mortals looked on in odd fascination as several of the other hands abandoned their holes to join in looting all the fresh sorn in Violet's bag. "What the?" The agraian was puzzled by the bizarre nature of her attackers. The couple watched as the disembodied hands wrung out the corn cobs like laundry that needed drying. Two of the three sets of hands took turns squeezing the bright yellow corn and draining the contents into jars - where they came from Violet could not say - while the third set took the full jars back into the burrow.

"Should I… try to stop them?" Sebastian inquired, finally prying his eyes away from the green extremities.

Violet shook her head slowly. "That was just the extra corn I was going to sell today," the agrarian explained. "Pierre only accepted the high-quality vegetables from his special order before Caroline made him close up shop."

The unnaturally ambulatory body parts then all disappeared for a moment, causing Violet to scan the area, wondering why they all disappeared underground. She sensed the little jabs of fingertips crawling up the side of her left arm. "Ha ha, very funny, 'Bastian," Violet reacted sarcastically. He was just trying to get a rise out of her, and she was not amused by the timing.

"That's not me, Violet."

Her dark blue eyes confirmed that Sebastian had gone to retrieve her bag for her. Violet turned her head to find gaze inches away from a skull whose eye sockets burned like red-hot coals. Scrambling to get away, Violet's heels dug into the soft earth and the hand - or rather all the hands working together to hold up the strange lantern - hopped off her shoulder and onto the ground.

In their grasp was a skull with an iron ring pierced through the bone as a handhold. The mandible was sealed at the bottom to create a vessel of sorts, allowing the empty cranium to serve as a lantern with hot coals burning inside the space within. The hands wobbled in Violet's general direction.

"What do you want?" Violet demanded, trying to kick away from the nightmare fuel. She did not want to think where these things got that skull and to whom it may have belonged.

Sebastian approached cautiously, taking her by the hand and helped Violet to her feet. The hands shifted so that the lantern was closer to Violet's standing height and wiggled toward her slowly. "I… think they want you to have that thing," Sebastian suggested, not taking his eyes off the abomination of limbs.

Violet hesitated. "I don't think I can just carry that thing around town," the farmer told the hands, trying to decline the gift politely. "Do you make home deliveries?" The last part was in jest, but the hands made several indiscernible gestures, as if communicating among themselves before one finally gave a thumbs up and all six hands disappeared back into their dark tunnels along with their bone-crafted lantern.

"I just sent those things to my farm, didn't I?" Violet lamented aloud with an uneasy frown.

Sebastian attempted to lighten the mood. "Hey, at least they didn't want to eat your flesh or drag you down to hell." He squeezed Violet's hand to comfort her. "And at least they offered payment for the corn they wrung dry…" The trail was now littered with dried husks that were once ripe corn cobs, ready to eat right off the stalk.

A nervous laugh escaped Violet's mouth. "Yeah, I guess so." Her eyes flickered toward her boyfriend. "But my new undead bodyguards were useless," Violet grumbled, ribbing Sebastian with her elbow.

The hoodie-clad man shrugged. "Well, they are caged for the night, so it's not exactly fair." Sebastian pulled Violet's hand into the pocket of his hoodie to warm it. "And don't forget you have me, too."

Violet sniffed in amusement. "Oh yeah, 'cause you did so well getting those hands to stop attacking me."

Sebastian sulked at the truth in her statement. "I tried but talking to them didn't help like it did with the shadows in the mines or the skeletons in town." His brows creased in contemplative confusion. "I wonder why?"

The farmer shrugged. "Beats me," Violet replied. She glanced down the pathway before them and cocked her head questioningly. "So, are we going to finish this maze or not?"

Alex knew in his gut that there was something on the other side of this stupid wall of bushes, but he could not find the way to get around it. The jock even tried climbing the stupid plant without success. If only he could get a better look from above or something. "There's gotta be a secret passage somewhere around here..." he muttered to himself.

"Sirius, I'm glad I finally found you!"

It was Maru, wearing a hard hat with a flashlight mounted on the top. She looked like a total nerd, but it was kind of cute. Maru flipped a switch and killed the light so it would not shine in Alex's eyes. "I thought I'd already been this way, but if you made it this far, I must be doing something right this time!"

"Granny always asks me to find stuff when it goes missing," Alex declared with a proudly. "I've got really good eyes." He tilted his head toward the living wall beside them. "I've got a feeling whatever we're looking for is just on the other side, but I can't find the way to get there."

"Mazes often exhibit meandering routes to make the puzzle more challenging," Maru shared with him. She flashed her teeth at Alex as her lips pulls back in a wide grin. "But with your intuition, I'm sure we'll get through this maze in no-time!"

Alex was glad that Maru wanted to team up with him. Since he was not making any progress solo, she was the first person he wanted as a teammate. It beat just pacing back and forth here and making zero progress. "So where to, Glasses?"

"The conventional wisdom is to keep going left," Maru rationalized, continuing her path, which led them to the fountain and a really freaked out Abigail.

"I can't go on!" the purple-haired girl shrieked, covering her eyes with one hand, and pointing toward the only available path forward. "Sp-Spiders!"

Alex scoffed. "Are you really that scared of a bunch of little bugs?" he teased the arachnophobe.

But Abigail stood her ground. "They're not your average spiders, I swear! They're HUGE!"

Alex noticed a gleam of excitement in Maru's eyes and the woman immediately charged forward, completely forgetting Abigail's distress. The jock trotted after Maru since he figured that his neighbor was not in any real danger if she was just hanging around the fountain with only some weird blue fire and a few silly jack o' lanterns around.

But what Alex and Maru found was not at all what he had expected. Yeah, there were three huge spiders, one way bigger than the other two, but they were sitting there completely still, their little eyes following every movement of the people that passed, as if waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. In the corner opposite them, beyond what Alex could only assume was supposed to be a pile of yellow spider eggs, was a giant web with a blonde girl trapped on the sticky strands.

"Haley!" Alex shouted as he recognized his best friend, sprinting to help her as fast as he could. Leah backed away, allowing Alex the space to reach for Haley without getting trapped on the web himself. The jock took Haley's hand and tried to free her, but the blonde was really stuck.

"Alex, stop, that hurts!" Haley complained, urging him to stop.

He was struck with guilt. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, Haley," Alex apologized, but the former cheerleader beckoned him closer with a hand gesture and the athlete did what he could to lean in closer without getting caught in the web.

"Just go, Alex," Haley ordered him. "You and Maru go on ahead, I'm fine here with just Leah, okay?"

Alex did not understand. "But you're stuck…"

Haley sighed. "Yes, and?"

Alex had a feeling he was missing some detail that was important to his best friend's chill attitude. "Don't you want out?"

Haley's big eyes peered over his shoulder to make sure Maru and Leah were not close enough to hear her. From what Alex could hear, Maru was geeking out about the giant spiders and trying to determine if they were just a large, already discovered spider or a new species altogether. He signaled to Haley that they were safe to talk freely.

"No, I want to be alone with Leah!" she hissed under her breath. The blonde demonstrated that while the threads did resist, Haley could free herself and she was in no real danger. She blushed and her eyes darted back over his shoulder again. "I don't know, maybe I'll have to, like, take off my shirt to get free or something? Who in their right mind could resist these C-cups in my cutest bra?" she muttered under her breath so only Alex could make sense of it.

Alex blinked and Haley continued to avoid his gaze. After seeing Haley so pink-faced, something in his brain finally clicked. "Wait, are you trying to bang Leah?" he whispered in reply. "Since when are you into girls?"

"I'm not trying to bang her. I'm just trying to get her attention!" the blonde huffed in annoyance. Alex had a feeling there was an unspoken "yet" at the end of that first sentence, but Haley continued to berate him as quietly as possible. "Since when did you stop paying attention to anyone other than Maru, you dummy? I've been trying to talk to you about this for ages but you're always ditching me to hang out with her!"

Now the shame felt deserved. "I'm sorry, Hay," Alex groaned softly, trying to make sure to keep his voice down. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just go, I've got this!" Haley insisted, wriggling around to make a show of trying to escape her sticky prison. "We'll talk tomorrow if you're really sorry and want to catch up."

Alex nodded his agreement and backed away from the web. "I uh, can't get her out," he informed the others awkwardly. He hoped his words came off as more embarrassed by the fact his strength failed to free Haley rather than a lack of effort. "Haley wants us to leave since she thinks she'll have to strip to get out."

Haley's jaw fell open. "Alex!" she yelled, angry that he revealed her plan. "Why don't you just announce it to the whole town, you dickwad?!"

Maru did her best to suppress a laugh. "I suppose I didn't bring any tools with me that might help," she conceded sheepishly. Her warm eyes fell onto Alex. "Could you let her borrow your jacket, Alex? That way Haley won't be running around half-naked in this chill."

Alex could see Haley die a little inside at the suggestion, but he had no reason to decline the offer. "Sure." He slid his favorite letter jacket off his shoulders and handed it to Leah, trying to salvage what he could for Haley's sake. "Here, you help Haley by keeping watch and give her this once she frees herself. I'm not gonna stick around, 'cause I'm a guy and Haley doesn't consent to my 'man eyes' or whatever."

Leah accepted the coat and shooed the duo onward. "I'll take it from here," she pledged with a smile. "I hope you find the end of the maze!"

Alex noticed that the maze was getting weirdly easy, with only one path to take since Maru caught up with him. The next clearing was the old swing set, which was taken down for the festival, but now the enormous sandbox was decorated to look like a graveyard. Sam stood near the back of the playground, "That's odd…" the skater guy said. "It's just a dead-end up ahead."

The jock wondered if the secret passage he originally suspected would be in the maze was just ahead, then. Sam scratched his head. "I could've sworn there was someone ahead of me when I went through the maze, though. Where'd they go?"

Alex and Maru exchanged a knowing look and the two shared a silent conversation. We better check it out, huh?

For science!

Once they turned the bend, the pair found a small, enclosure. The only gap in the hedges was where they just came through. Alex's dark eyes scanned around for any clues and noticed a sign with a red question mark posted beside the bushes. "There's gotta be a way through somewhere…" It was then Alex noticed the worn path on the ground that went right into the western-most wall of shrubbery.

Maru, who caught what he was looking at, reached out a hand to touch leafy branches. "It's an illusion!" Her hand caught onto nothing but air and returned to her side. She glanced at Alex. "Shall we?"

Just in case there was something on the other side, Alex volunteered to go first, but once again, there was hardly anything there, just a few trees. But the path did continue northward and now that they had figured out the tricky part, the jock was confident that things would go more smoothly from here on out.

"I think there's a cave up ahead!" Maru called to him, peaking past the end of the hedge maze. The scientist flipped the switch on her helmet to provide a bit of light and the two stumbled through the rocky tunnel.

Maru started a bit of conversation, "So, how are things going with Haley lately?" the overall wearer probed casually. "You haven't mentioned her in a long time. Is everything okay?"

Alex grimaced, but Maru was not able to see his expression in the dark. "I've been a bad friend, so I don't know a lot about what's up with Haley anymore."

"I guess we've kinda distanced ourselves since that fight we had on my birthday," Alex admitted with a sigh. "We're still friends, but I think we've both put our friendship on the backburner since we want to ask out other people…" Should I go for it? the athlete thought.

Maru stopped in her tracks, causing Alex to bump into her, and knock the air out of his lungs for a moment.

She turned on him. "Didn't you promise Haley that you weren't going to date until after you made it pro?" The question – and Maru's disapproval – caught Alex off-guard. "No wonder she's been upset with you!" the scientist reasoned. "You always said a girlfriend would distract you from your goal of going pro and now you say you want to date someone else?"

Alex felt a catch in his throat. "I…" How did this get so messed up? This isn't how I wanted things to go… "I guess that would make Haley feel kinda bad, wouldn't it?" This was a bad idea, he realized with disappointment.

Maru placed her hands on his shoulders, and although Alex could not see her face, he could tell from her voice she was scolding him a bit. "I'm glad you've been such a great friend to me lately, but you shouldn't ignore Haley. I swear I'm a big kid who can take care of myself." Maru beamed at him, but the light on her helmet was blinding. "Oops, sorry!"

There were colorful dots in Alex's vision and his eyes watered, but he did not let that stop him from talking. "You're right," he sighed, giving up on the idea of confessing to her for now. "Thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow."

"We all need someone to keep cheering us on, you know?" Maru agreed, patting his shoulder before resuming the walk through the dark passageway.

At one point, the duo heard some weird moaning and whispered voices, but Alex decided it was probably just a recording or something meant to scare them. Once they got closer to the source of the sounds, everything went quiet, so that only proved to Alex that he was right. There was a tight part of the tunnel they had to squeeze through, but once they got out on the other side, Alex experienced a rush as he recognized they reached the end of the maze. The floor was painted to look like a dark pit and there were a dozen flickering red lights set up to look like eyes, but Alex was not afraid of some cheap Halloween decorations.

Maru stepped out of the cave and the two opened the chest to reveal their prize for completing the maze: a big gold pumpkin. Alex was about to complain that this was a lame trophy, but Maru held it above her head and grinned in a way that made him completely forget all that. "We did it, Alex!" She threw an arm around him and squeezed him in a firm hug. "We make an incredible team."

Alex's expression softened as he gazed down at Maru. "Yeah, we do…"

Abigail set the Ouija board on the small table she set up for the evening's seance and carefully lit the candles on the points of the magical symbol Rasmodius taught her painted on the wood's surface. It was nearing midnight and her friends should be here any moment. Abigail was jittery with anticipation.

She heard the footsteps approaching from the hallway and finished pulling out the chairs for her guests. With a quick knock at the door, Sam, Sebastian, and Violet all poured into the room and took their seats. "So, what do we do to call the spirits of the dead, babe?" her boyfriend solicited with a smile.

Abigail took her seat at the head of the table. "Rasmodius said the best chances are close to midnight when the souls of the departed can pass through the veil between the living and the dead," the witch-in-training announced. "I'm going to do a chant to summon near-by spirits, everyone should join hands to complete the magic circle."

The other three closed their eyes, rather than stare at each other awkwardly while Abigail performed the verbal portion of the ritual. When her voice fell silent, everyone opened their eyes to notice that the small flames of the candles were now flickering a ghostly pale green. "Wow, is this actually working?" Violet gasped.

"Don't break the circle!" Abigail ordered, her eyes scanning the room for a sign of a summoned soul.

Sam's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. "Abigail, you did it!" he exclaimed, tilting his head to point behind her so that he did not break the circle of their joined hands.

Abigail turned her head to see an opaque, amorphous figure standing at the height of a child about Vincent or Jas' age. "What do you want?" the child's voice demanded as it crossed its noodle-like arms over its body. "It's rude to stare!"

Abigail's head swam with a million questions. She had expected to need the Ouija board to communicate with the ghost, not actually talking to it! Part of her always hoped this would work, but the fact that there was a real ghost in her room made her head spin. "Wh-what's your name?"

"Amelia," the figure answered, floating over the table to inspect the others. "And that's the boy who you wrestle with, and those two were grabbing each other's butts in the cave earlier."

Both Violet and Sebastian went pink, but Sam cackled at the introduction. "So, Amelia, it sounds like you live around town," the blond stated casually, trying to keep the conversation going with their ghostly guest.

"Of course, I used to live in this house," the apparition's eyes rolled. Amelia hovered toward David's cage, inspecting the rodent with interest as he spun on his exercise wheel. "At least, that was before all the kids got turned into birds."

"You don't look like a bird," Sebastian noted, watching the ghostly girl closely.

Amelia then materialized right in Sebastian's face. Despite the lack of distinguishable features, the child looked angry. "I didn't get turned," the apparition explained in a snarky tone. "I was staying with my auntie to learn potions, since that was going to be my specialty," the blob told her summoners. "By the time I got back, the other kids were all gone."

"Where did they go?" Violet queried the undead child.

"They stuck around, I guess. It's just not the same when your siblings are all birds and can't talk anymore," Amelia sighed and sat on the window ledge, looking out at the full moon. "Mom thought that turning them to birds would spare them from the plague, but it didn't work. It only made things worse."

"What happened next?"

The small ghost looked confused, her vague features studying Abigail's face. "You mean you don't know?" she seemed offended that the locals did not even know their own town's history. "There are still some people in town who were alive back then. Our Mom, and Evie, and George…"

This information intrigued Abigail. "Who's your mom? Evelyn and George are Alex's grandparents, but there aren't any other women in town who would have been alive back then…"

Once again, the ghostly girl glared at Abigail. "How could you not know?! We're –!"

Suddenly the door of Abigail's room burst open, startling the participants of the séance, and extinguishing the flames of the candles in the magic circle. "Abby, it's late and we need you young people to help tear down the festival," Caroline ordered. She scanned the room and noticed the occult symbols on the table. "What were you all doing in here?"

"Just playing a game!" Abigail replied, trying to cover the table with her body. "We'll be out in just a minute."

Once her mother was gone, Abigail cursed at their bad luck. "Ugh, mom completely ruined the séance!" the amethyst-haired woman groaned. "This sucks!"

Sam frowned as he rose from his seat to head toward the exit per Caroline's request. "I wonder what was Amelia gonna say?"

Author Notes: I *SO* wanted to get to this chapter by Halloween, but it just wasn't going to happen. But, if I had written this chapter back in October, I would have gone with my "first draft" ideas for this point in the plot and I'm really pleased that things have gone in a different direction since then.

Fun fact: I actually found out from the Stardew Wiki that parts of the maze reference the Slavic tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful," from which I drew additional elements for this fic. Shout out to my partner Hemerodromus for hashing out ideas with me. 3

I would have liked to get this all wrapped up before tomorrow, but illness struck the whole family, so I was down for the count for a few days. Either way, I hope to have the "season finale" up by New Year's.