Hey there peeps! This fic will be a "post as ready" story, but my goal is to have it complete by Halloween. Let's see if that goal can be met?

The voice laughed around the terrified group as they whipped their heads in every possible direction to find the source. This only seemed to amuse its owner because the laughing grew stronger. Struggling against Luz's iron-clad grip, Amity managed to free a hand and drew a spell to summon a ball of violet-pink fire in her palm.

"Who's there?" She yelled at the darkened ceiling.

The laughter finally stopped, easing into a low chuckle. Something seemed to move in the blackness and a shadow slid down the wall to position itself next to the portrait of the ballerina. Its shape shifted into something humanoid as it crossed its ankles and leaned a shoulder against the portrait, the silhouette rippling like flames.

"I am your host, your Ghost Host."

Luz swallowed. The voice resonated through her body, sending shivers down her spine and gooseflesh along her skin. She could not tell if the voice was male or female, only that it was deep and did little to hide its amused tone. She felt Amity tense in her arms and the witch glared at the shadow.

"What do you want with us?"

The Ghost Host tilted its head, showing a hint of pointed ears. "Why, to welcome you to the Pandor Mansion. Pity you could not make it to your respective homes before the storm, but fear not as there is much to do here. In fact,"

Luz had a sneaking suspicion if the Ghost Host had a face, it would be grinning.

"There are many happy haunts here just dying to see new flesh. But be warned: we do have a few… pesky poltergeists slinking around." A faint shriek filled the air, making everyone jump.

Gus scrambled to his feet. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! We're getting out of here!" He bolted from the desk to the door, and stopped. "Um, guys? Where'd the door go?"

King looked behind the sofa. "Where's the window?!"

"And," Luz shrank back. "Why are the paintings growing?"

Each of the paintings slowly began to creep up along the walls of the room and Luz's eyes widened as she watched the elderly lady holding the rose perch daintily on the bust of an old man, a stone hatchet embedded in his head. The witch in the bowler hat sat on the shoulders of another witch, who was sitting on the shoulders of a third, his face full of terror as he stared at the quicksand rising to his waist. In the portrait of the bearded witch, it revealed him to be sitting in his boxer shorts atop a crate full of explosives, the fuse of one burning away. The Ghost Host laughed again when Skara gasped as the portrait of the ballerina revealed her poised on a fraying tightrope over the waiting jaws of a dragon.

"It is not your imagination, this room is indeed stretching. These paintings feature just some of our happy haunts in their corruptible mortal states. Now, they are free of their earthly chains, but, even the afterlife has its limits. Much like this very room which as you have discovered by now does not have any windows or doors."

"It's true!" Gus scratched at the space where the door had been, nothing now but blank wallpaper. Luz and Amity spun around to see the window that had been behind them had also disappeared. Boacha pushed herself off the ground and glared at the shadow.

"Hey, Psycho Ghost! Cut the theatrics and let us out! I don't want to be stuck in here with these idiots for the night!" Her feet suddenly levitated off the floor and Boscha was lifted into the air, her eyes widening as she was flipped upside down. "Hey! Put me down!"

The Ghost Host stroked the air with clawed fingers, bringing the three-eyed witch level to its "face" to regard her. Luz jumped up from the couch and pulled a light glyph from her pocket, slapping the paper and hurling the orb at the shadow.

"Leave her alone!"

The light orb hit the wall and the Ghost Host dissipated, leaving Boscha to hover for one solid second and then drop. Willow quickly grabbed an armchair and shoved it under the witch as she came crashing down. The cushion instantly gave way and Boscha broke through the seat, her bottom hanging an inch from the floor and her feet sticking up.

"Thanks for the save, Half-A-Witch." There was a flash from a bulb and she whipped around to see Luz tapping at her phone. "That better not end up on Penstagram!"

"Only if you stop calling Willow names."

A chuckle cut off Boacha's words and the Ghost Host reformed in place of Luz's shadow. "I like you, you're a bold one witchling. Or should I say, human?"

Luz yelped and the Ghost Host climbed the wall to sit in the shadow of the chair beside Skara, dangling a leg over an armrest and resting its face on a fist.

"I apologize for my antics. You see, it's been such a long time since a mortal has been in this house. I must remember to not startle you all with my abilities. Centuries of caring for the happy haunts can leave a spirit quite lacking in inspiration. You must understand the arrival of six young mortals and a demon can certainly draw attention..."

Skara backed away from the shadow so the desk sat between them.

Unintimidated, Amity approched the lounging spirit, the fire spell still active in her hand. "You keep saying 'happy haunts'. What are those? And why are you keeping us prisoners?" A high-pitched cackle drifted through the walls, but she did not flinch, her amber eyes fixed on the shadow. "What do you really want with us?"

A low hum came from the silouhetted form, almost akin to a growl. "The happy haunts are what I like to call the many souls residing within this mansion, but they are not quite so happy as you might think."

"Why is that?" Luz walked up to them.

"The reason why I have brought you to this room, my dear human. They have been cursed to be trapped here in this mansion, unable to pass on after death."

"Gee, I wonder why?"

The shadow turned to Boscha. "It is not by my doing, witchling. I merely act as the caretaker for these souls, helping them pass the time as they wait for their purgatory to end."

Willow stood up from her seat beside the fire. "Why are they cursed?"

The Ghost Host hummed again, but this time, Luz could have sworn she heard it sigh. "Long ago, when the residents of this mansion were still of the living, a terrible wrongdoing tore apart two souls that were meant to be one. That single moment led to tragedy for the residents and from it, the curse was born. Since then, any life that has met an end in this mansion has been unable to cross over."

Luz stared up at the stretched out paintings, feeling the eyes of the once-living subjects staring down at her. "How many, um, 'happy haunts' are here right now?"

"999,993, exactly. Of course," the Ghost Host chuckled. "There's always room for more."

A nervous laugh escaped from Luz's throat. "Um, no thanks, I think we're good." She glanced at her companions and looked back to the ghost. "Have any of the happy haunts tried to break the curse?" She felt six pairs of eyes lock on her, jumping when Amity grabbed her shoulders.

"Luz, what are you doing?" She hissed in her ear, shooting a nervous look at the silent shadow watching them.

"We can't just sit here all night, in a haunted house when there are 999,990 souls that need to be freed!"

"999,993 souls, actually." King corrected her.

Luz shot him a look. "Think about it, Amity! Maybe there's something we can do to help them! The Ghost Host just said they haven't been able to move on because of a curse, don't tell me you'd just walk away from the chance to help them?"

"Bearing in mind that if we fail, we'll be stuck like the rest of them!" Amity objected. Luz started to turn away from her and she put a hand on her cheek, forcing the human to meet her eyes. Chocolate-brown eyes met her gaze pleadingly, sending a jolt of heat into Amity's stomach, but she kept her hand where it was. "Luz, we don't even know what we're up against! How can we trust this 'Ghost Host' when we don't know anything about who, or even what, he or she really is?"

"She has a point, Luz," Gus walked up to them, leaning in to whisper. "This Ghost Host trapped us in here, how do we know they'll help us?"

A hand rested on Luz's shoulder and she turned to see Willow. "We're just five witches and one human -"

"Hey!" King jumped up. "Don't forget about me, the King of Demons! I could order these ghosts to free us right away if I wanted to!"

Amity raised an eyebrow. "Then, why don't you?"

"Weh?" King stared at her and looked between the group's legs to the reclined Ghost Host. For a brief moment, a pair of glowing gold eyes with red slit-pupils appeared in the shadow's face and it saluted him. Swallowing thickly, King scampered up Luz's leg and into her hoodie. "Nah, I'm too tired from the market run."

"C'mon you guys!" Luz pulled away from Amity and grabbed her friends in a group huddle. "We've been in tricky situations before, what's stopping us now? Yeah, we're currently held prisoners by a freaky shadow-ghost-spirit-thingy, trapped in a haunted mansion, but think about the souls we could help! At least when the boiling rain is over and the sun is up, we can still leave! The souls here can't!" She grinned widely at Amity, whose face went bright pink. "It'd be just like the Cavern of Lost Souls arc in Good Witch Azura #2! And I don't know about you guys, but I would not be able to live with myself if I passed the chance to help a bunch of souls cross over to the other side. That's just not me!"

"Which is adorable," Amity whispered, smiling to herself.

"What was that, Amity?"

The green-haired witch's head snapped up and her eyes widened. "N-nothing! I was just agreeing that's totally you! Looking out for others and not giving up till you fix it! Stubborn and caring, that's you! Not like that's bad or anything! Those are great qualities to have!"

"Someone help that poor girl before she explodes."

Ears burning, Amity whirled around to glare at the Ghost Host. "Be quiet!"

"Begging your pardon," the spirit held up its hands in mock-surrender. "I was simply making an observation. I've watched it happen to witches before and it is not a pretty sight."

Growling now, Amity summoned another fire spell and stalked up to the shadow. "Want to see if ghosts can die twice?"

"Amity, can I talk to you for a minute?" Luz grasped her arm and tugged her back to their group, waving for Skara and Boscha to join them. "Look you guys, either we stay cooped up in this room for the night and do nothing about the trapped spirits,"

"Fine by me," Boscha said, shrugging her shoulders.

Luz shot her a look and continued. "Or, we find out how we can help free the 999,993 souls and do something about it. Back in the human world, I watched a lot of tv shows about ghost hunting and haunted houses, so I've got a pretty good idea what we'll be facing."

"You do?" Skara looked at her and she nodded.

"Yup! As long as we stick together as a group, we'll be fine! We just have to make sure we don't act like any horror movie character tropes, and be ready for the montage where a monster chases us through a bunch of doors in the same hallway."

Gus raised his hand. "Question: what is a trope?"

"Oh, right," Luz scratched her head. "It's an idea movies use where a bunch of characters meet certain stereotypes."

"Question: what's a horror movie?"

"Can we focus, please?" Sighing, Amity rubbed her eyes. "You really want to help free these souls, don't you?" Seeing Luz's puppy-dog eyes, the witchling felt her resolve cave and she slowly nodded. "Alright, alright, I'm in."

"Yay!" Luz bounced on her feet as Willow and Gus nodded their agreements, looking to Boscha and Skara. "Ladies?"

Skara shifted her feet. "I don't know Luz...What if we don't free the souls and get ourselves trapped with them?"

"Trust me, we won't!" Walking up to the Bard girl, Luz grabbed her hand. "I promise Skara, I'll make sure none of us are trapped in this mansion. We'll go home, all of us."

Snorting, Boscha crossed her arms. "Cute words, Round Ears, but it's going to take more than a dumb promise to get me to help you and some winney ghosts stuck in a haunted house."

"Why? You got anything better to do?" Luz bit back a grin when her words rang true and Boscha clenched her already tight grip on her arms, a growl rumbling in her throat.

"...Fine...but don't expect me to do anything to help you. I'll just watch you make even bigger losers out of yourselves anyway, might as well do it when we're not all stuck in one room."

"How absolutely moving, I'm touched." The Ghost Host drawled, turning to Luz when she cleared her throat.

"Um, Ms. Ghost Host, or, is it Mr. Ghost Host?"

"Just Ghost Host,"

Luz tapped her fingers together shyly. "O-okay, Ghost Host, we'd like to help." The shadow cocked its head, but remained quiet. Taking a deep breath, Luz took a step closer and continued. "We-we'd like to help free the spirits trapped here, in the mansion. We want to know how to break the curse and help them cross over."

"Is that so?"

The spirit was silent for a long moment, perfectly still against the wall, making Luz squirm under its "gaze" as it mulled over her words. Worried she may have said something wrong, Luz opened her mouth to say more, but a low chuckle from the shadow cut her off. The chuckle grew into full-on laughter as the Ghost Host floated up from the shadow of the chair and perched like a gargoyle over the cracked mirror and looked down at her. The fireplace burst back to life, the flames roaring up the chimney as the shadow slowly stood, holding out its arms.

"Alright my dear human and witchlings, let's see if you do have what it takes to break the curse. Kindly fill all of the dead space in the center of the room, if you please?"

Everyone crammed together in front of the fireplace.

It's going to be fine! Luz assured her racing mind. We're going to be fine! We just need to stay together!

Wood creaked beneath their feet and the fire continued to blaze up, heating the room to the point Luz could see the air beginning to ripple. From her hoodie, King whimpered and nuzzled against her neck.

"Let's set the scene for our little adventure." The Ghost's Host's form began to waver, tendrils of shadow spreading out from its back with the suggestion of wings, crawling along the walls until the fire was all the group could see. "I will put you all on the paths you must take to find what is needed to break the curse, but be warned: the happy haunts have not seen a living soul for many years, they will be excitable. They are quite harmless, at least, most of them are."

Next to Luz, Gus squeaked.

"And do not worry for your safety witchlings, I will not leave you without assistance, though I am one Ghost Host, some curious haunts may lend their help, if asked correctly. Now, to send you off properly,"

Wind whipped up around the group, giving Luz the nauseating sensation her feet were no longer on solid ground. What in the heck did she get them into? A low hiss whispered up her arms and over her skin as the Ghost Host began to speak.

"Tortured souls gathered tonight

Frozen in time by a curse from Hell

Unable to cross over to find the light

Here the path to freedom I spell

The smiling Jack

Under a moonlit sheen

Look for the felled

In somewhere that's green

A token of love

So strong it cuts stone

A heart crushed by sorrow

Now wandering alone

The music it plays

For the dead ones delight

The tunes do entrance

In the Oracle's sight

Seek out these clues

Or in this manor you stay

And how do you get out?

Well, there's alway MY way"

The wind blasted Luz from every possible angle, surrounding her with the Ghost Host's echoing laughter, and she tumbled down in the blinding darkness. She screamed out for her friends, hopelessly groping for someone, anyone, to know she was not along. When she felt fingers against hers, she closed her hand and felt them do the same as they continued to fall, until finally, Luz slammed into the hardwood floor and she sprawled out. Screaming came from above, growing louder by the second, and King cannonballed onto her stomach and Luz felt the hand holding hers release. The blow knocked every ounce of air from her lungs, her chest stinging from the pain of the sudden landing. When she finally remembered how to breathe, Luz gasped and sat up, wincing when her spine popped.

"Ay, I'm going to feel that tomorrow," she groaned, rubbing a sore spot at the back of her head. "Is everyone okay?"

Moaning, King rolled off Luz's legs onto the floor. "I think I broke something…"

"Yeah, my spleen,"

"You'll grow another one."

Too sore to argue against that fact, Luz carefully turned to check on the rest of the group, blinking to clear away the blurriness in her eyes. Amity was next to her, slowly getting to her feet and testing her recently mended leg. Luz hoped it had healed from the grugby incident enough so that it would be able to withstand the fall.

"Amity? You alright?"

Lightly hissing as she struggled to stand up, Amity nodded and looked around the room. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

Luz watched her brush some stray bangs from her face, the orange glow of the fire haloing the mint-green in her hair. When her amber eyes fell on Luz, they smoldered in the soft blaze, and Luz felt her heart skip.

"Luz?" The unnerved tone in the young Blight's voice yanked Luz from her thoughts.

"What? What's wrong?" That was when she looked around the room. They were still in the Portrait Room, the four paintings in their stretched shapes, but there was only herself, King, and Amity. "Where did everybody go?"

There was a rush of air and the familiar shape of the Ghost Host shifted in place of Amity's shadow, making the witchling spring back.

"As I said, there's always MY way." A ball of violet-flames smashed the floor where the Ghost Host's chest was, but the shadows simply parted around the burnt wood.

"Shut up! What did you do with our friends?" Amity yelled, lifting her hand to conjure another spell.

Panicking, Luz grabbed her wrist, forcing her to lower her arm. "Amity! Stop! That's not going to help us!" She swallowed as those burning amber eyes snapped to her.

"Oh, but this thing will? Luz, it tricked us! It tricked you into agreeing to some impossible task to trap us in this mansion! No one knows where we are and we have no way of letting anyone know what's happened! We're stuck here because -"

"Because of me?"

Amity's felt her anger fizzle out as she watched Luz drop her head, the human's eyes morosely staring at the floor. "I-that's-that's not what I was going to say."

"But you were thinking it, and you're right. Our whole group is split up and there's now way to know where they are."

"Actually," the Ghost Host appeared in her shadow. "The silver-haired Bard and the young Illusionist are currently on their way towards our residential Oracle as we speak."

Amity, Luz, and King all gaped down at the shadow.

"You know where everyone is?"

The Ghost Host huffed at King. "I'd be a poor caretaker if I could not keep an eye on my guests. Your companions are all safe, or rather, as safe as they can be at the present. I truly am sorry for separating you all as I did, but in order to break the curse properly, I had to pair you off. Speaking of which," the Ghost Host cocked its head as if listening to something and chuckled. "Your three-eyed witch and the spectacled girl are close to uncovering the first detail of the curse. We mustn't stall our own search now,"

There was the creaking of hinges and a section of the wall opened behind Luz and Amity, releasing the smell of stale air and dust.

"Shall we?"

"Weh!" King ducked his nose behind Luz's shoulder.

"Um, how do we know what part of the curse to look for?" Luz tapped her fingers together, feeling weird her shadow was no longer following her movements. "You kinda chucked us into this without really telling us what to do."

"Did I now?" Holding up a hand, the shadow leaned over to the desk and, to the trio's amazement, lifted the candelabra so it hovered before them, tiny flames popping to life on the wicks. "Each pair of your friends I sent off to uncover a portion of the curse that I knew would play to their strengths. I cannot reveal to you what the others are to find just yet, but for the three of you, I will tell you the true history of this mansion and what led to the birth of its curse. A story of a love, so pure and innocent, torn apart by fear, anger, and betrayal . And the best place to start would be at the beginning."

The candelabra floated between the girls and towards the open door, pausing to rotate as if to look back at them.

Luz glanced at Amity, trying to swallow with a very dry throat. "Where is that?"

"Patience, dear human. Now, please follow me and stay close. The happy haunts have detected life in these halls, and they're dying to meet you." The Ghost Host's laughter spurned Luz and Amity to rush out of the room after the floating candles. Behind them, the door to the Portrait Room slammed shut, leaving only the glow of the candelabra as their source of light as they slowly walked down a hallway that seemed to stretch on forever, too afraid to look over their shoulders at the curious spirits behind.

The Ghost Host I've written is a bit on the OC side, my own personal spin with a little Boiling Isles flair. Hope you all enjoyed it, and I'll see you in the next chapter.

And yes, I've got a thing for rhyming poetics.