Happy Halloween!

Though Luz was positive the Ghost Host was leading them in the same route they had taken to Emilia's room, none of the turns they took or portraits they passed looked familiar. If anything, it felt like they were walking towards an entirely different part of the mansion. Yet somehow, when they turned the final corner, Luz was relieved to see the wall open to show the interior of the Portrait Room. Her hands gripped the smooth wood of Mezzanotte's staff and she all but jogged into the room where a cozy fire burned beneath the cracked mirror. The four paintings were still elongated, and Luz wondered just who they had been before the curse was enacted. Were they actually witches? Or were they just some of the demons the Pandor family had summoned, but in different forms? Did demons even change form here?

"Please, make yourselves comfortable." The Ghost Host's candelabra hovered just outside of the door. "Your companions will be here shortly."

"Thank you!" Luz did not need any more invitation and plopped down in front of the fireplace, leaning back to rest on the worn rug. King jumped out of her hoodie and scurried up onto the sofa, kneading the cushion with his paws before curling into a ball. Apparently being a cute little fuzz-bucket required endless amounts of snooze time.

At the moment, Luz didn't blame him because she was feeling a little bit tired herself and closed her eyes. Exactly how long had they been in this mansion? Surely by now the storm would have stopped and daylight would be close, and yet, as the clocks in the grand house chimed, it seemed that time had slowed down.

Bong. Bong. Bong.

That was twelve chimes, so if it was midnight -

Bong.

Wait. Luz frowned. Did all those clocks just chime thirteen times? She felt a presence at her side and heard the shuffling of clothing as someone sat beside her.

"Luz?"

She opened her eyes and turned to see Amity looking down at her.

"Are you okay?"

Luz grunted. "Yeah, it's just," she rolled her head to the other side and stared at the painting of the woman sitting on the headstone. "When a ghost asks you to help free some trapped souls in a mansion, you don't expect there to be so much…drama. The ride made it look so much easier."

"Ride?"

"Yeah, though I kinda remember the World version more than the Land one. Mami and I went there way more often." She looked at Amity and waved a hand. "Human thing, never mind." There was a sting in her heart as she dropped her hand to rest on her stomach, her memories of home darting through her mind with just one quick mention of it. How long had it been since she last vlogged for her mom? When was the last time she had even thought of the human world? Like, actually thought of it?

The Ghost Host's story of a human coming to the Boiling Isles before her time picked at the tender scar on her heart from when she burned away her one ticket home. Pulled from the human realm because a summoning ritual meant for a demon had gone wrong? How much magic would be needed to do something like that?

Beside her, Amity watched Luz's face scrunch into a frown as she closed her eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. The cobra palisman lay to her left, a sentient statue of magical potential. An unusual creature to take a shine to, but if anyone could find a way to accept even the creepiest of crawlies, it was her Luz. Amity pulled back a few inches when she registered that particular thought and covered her face. Titan, now she was starting to think of Luz as her own? This was not the place nor the time to get moony-eyed! She had to stay focused!

And yet, she peeked between her fingers at the lounging girl next to her, something told her it would be far easier said than done. Of all the places and histories to become embroiled in, they had to choose the one that mirrored her own. An heiress born into a powerful witch family, trapped between the status and tradition her parents upheld against the chance of actual happiness and love. With, of all the beings in the Isles, a human from another world.

Hugging her knees to her chest, Amity watched Luz's face as her muscles slowly relaxed into a sleepy doze. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as her eyes traced the soft curves of Luz's cheeks, her lips as they parted ever so slightly when she sighed, her eyelids as they flickered from movement beneath. Wait, were her ears moving? A giggle nearly escaped Amity's lips and she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth when she watched Luz's round ears lazily wiggle about.

OhmydearsweetTitan, that's adorable!

Amity felt her own ears flick up and down with her glee as she carefully leaned over the human for a better look. Suddenly, Luz grumbled and rolled on her side, her arm flopping over and, to Amity's horror, catching her in the arm and knocking her on her stomach. Before Amity could move, she felt Luz's weight press into her side with her arm slung across her back, blocking her from escape. Could this get any more embarrassing?

"Well, isn't that a pretty picture?"

If there was a spell that could let the floor open up and swallow Amity whole, she wished she knew it. Instead, she could only glare hotly at the Ghost Host's leering shadow while her ears flapped like an excited bird's wings.

"If I had a heart, I'm certain it would be melting."

"Shut up!" Hissing, Amity tried to wriggle out of Luz's hold, but the human groaned and pulled her closer, making her squeak. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Not at the present, your companions are still on their way, so it will take some time." The shadow tilted its head. "You seem tense."

Amity's eyes widened and she hissed. "Oh, really? What tipped you off?"

"I must admit I'm at a loss. When you first entered this manor, I was under the impression you and Miss Noceda were together. Yet, she treats you as a compatriot and you seem to be, well," it shrugged. "Confused."

Understatement of the year. Amity felt her right eyebrow ticking up and down with the effort of trying not to explode. "I...don't know what you're talking about. Luz is my friend and, in case you forgot, I am a Blight. We're not exactly known to be the cuddliest of witch families. Just spending the time that I already do with her would be enough to drive my parents over the edge! Blights only associate with the strongest of witches.."

"And yet here you are, in the arms of a human. I may not be of the living, but I am no fool, nor am I blind to what I can see right in front of me. Say what you want to your friends, your family, but do not lie to yourself or to her. I've seen how you look at her, it's not that hard to read the level of care you feel for this human. Don't make the same mistake Emilia made with Chiaro."

Huffing, Amity scooted backwards and pulled her head out from Luz's arm, letting it plop to the floor. "Easy for you to say, you're not the one whose had to spend every second under your parents' thumb. I've spent my whole life being told how to think, feel, and act. So excuse me if I can't get out of my own way when the feelings that I get are overwhelming! Everytime I try to talk to her, I fail to find the right words."

The shadow seemed to grow along the floor, giving Amity the notion it was leaning towards her, a thoughtful growl rumbling from its shape. "You try, you fail, you try, you fail, but the only true failure is when you stop trying."

Amity blanched. "What the Titan is that supposed to mean?"

Voices drifted from the hall and the shadow darted back to the entrance, the candelabra rising off the floor. Growling at her embarrassment, Amity slapped her hands over her traitorous ears and heard Luz murmur. Only Luz could find a way to sleep on a hardwood floor in the middle of a boiling rain storm in a haunted mansion.

" - not my fault we lost it!"

Luz let out a loud snort when Boscha's voice echoed from the hallway and she rolled her head to look at Amity, her cheek pressing into the rug. "Wha'd you lose?"

"Uh," Amity shook her head and jabbed a thumb at the door.

"You're the one carrying that thing around, bragging about it being a silver-bladed weapon like a demon hunter!"

"Silver can't hurt ghosts! It probably just realized how boring you are and went somewhere with cooler spirits."

"Or it got tired of your voice."

"Ladies! I see you had a rewarding endeavor with solving your portion of the riddle. So, how did it go?"

Amity was positive she could hear the glare Boscha was no doubt giving the shadow and something gooey hit the floor. Probably aimed at the Ghost Host.

"Ah. So you met Jack the Pumpkin King."

"Shut up." Boscha tramped into the room, her face furrowing even deeper when she saw someone else had beaten her back. Orange slime covered her shoulders and odd white oval shaped seeds hung from strands in the slime and in her hair. Slung over her shoulder was a large hatchet that Amity instantly recognized as something used for chopping wood, its gleaming silver blade also coated in orange slime. Just behind her came Willow, clutching a small leather-bound book to her chest. Neither appeared interested in looking at her companion.

"How the Titan did you get here before us?" Shrieked Boscha, lowering the hatchet to hang by her leg. "Did you even leave this room? Or did Ghosty back there set you up with a candle-lit dinner and serenade you with songs?"

Hands still pressed firmly over her ears, which had started flapping again at the thought of such a scene with Luz, Amity sighed. "For your information, Boscha, we did leave this room and learned quite a lot of the history of this manor, and of the curse."

"Really?" Willow walked over to her and sat down in one of the free chairs, setting the book in her lap. "What did you learn?"

"A lot," Sitting up, Luz looked from Willow to Boscha, taking in their appearances. "What happened to you two? You look like you massacred a pumpkin patch."

"Try the other way around." Growling, Boscha drew a spell circle and her magic began to clear away the pumpkin guts from her clothes and hair, Willow doing the same. "While you guys were prancing about on your little history tour, we had to fight against some freakish fire-breathing plant monster that blew its guts all over us. All for some stupid journal that we can't even read!"

Luz's eyes widened. "A pumpkin monster that breathes fire? That sounds so cool!" She gulped at the pointed look Amity gave her. "I mean, that's awful! But, still cool. At least you guys are okay?"

Snorting, Boscha pulled a strand of pumpkin from her bangs and chucked it into the fire before dropping down onto a chair. "Yeah, sure, whatever. At least I got this super cool ax that destroyed the poomp-kin."

"Interesting fact about that ax, it belonged to Chiaro."

Luz and Amity's heads whipped around to gape at the Ghost Host and to each other, mouths hanging open. Boscha stared at them, but Willow's eyes widened and she flipped open the journal in her lap.

"Chiaro. That's the name in this journal. You two know it?"

"Yeah," Scooting over to Willow, Luz looked at the journal and the writings on the pages. Seeing her friend's attention on the words, Willow tilted it for her to see better.

"I tried to use a translation spell on it, but I don't know what language this was written in. It's not anything I've seen before."

Humming thoughtfully, Luz took the offered book and leaned in to study it. The words were different from what she was used to, but she recognized the similarities and conjugations of most of what was written. "And I don't think this is a language you would have seen before, at least not on the Boiling Isles. This was written in Italian."

"It-al-what?" Boscha repeated.

"Italian. It's a language from the human world."

Willow blinked. "Why would someone write something in a human language?"

"Because," Amity straightened her back, finally regaining control of her ears. "Chiaro was a human."

Boscha looked up from the hatchet blade to Luz. "Your kind really likes to creep into our world, don't you?"

"Hey!"

"It was a summoning ritual for a demon that brought him here." Amity said, cutting off Luz. "Chiaro was found by the family and taken in as a servant. This must have been his personal journal." She then turned to Luz. "Can you read it?"

Luz carefully flipped through a few of the pages, feeling self-conscious of the fact this was now the second time she was going through someone's written private thoughts. Not wanting to meet Amity's eyes now that that particular memory came to mind, she nodded. "I think so. Italian and Spanish have the same basic origin, I should be able to make out some of it." Scooting backwards so she could use the firelight, Luz nudged the cobra palisman and set it out of the way.

"Luz? Where did you get that staff?"

She looked up from the book to Willow and down at the staff. "Oh! This is Rex. He belonged to Emilia's teacher, Mezzanotte." Pausing, Luz turned to look at Amity as a thought clicked in her mind. "Y'know something? I just realized Mezzanotte is an Italian name as well."

"That can't be a coincidence," Amity looked over her shoulder to see the lights of the candelabra flickering just out of the entrance to the room.

"Well, you guys definitely learned a lot about this place, it seems." Sighing, Willow leaned back in her chair. "We actually met a little ghost friend that helped us find the room where the journal was, but it disappeared when we left."

Luz's eyebrows went up. "Really? What did it look like?"

"A small glowing sphere of silver light. Oh, and it made this cute little trilling noise."

While Luz squealed at the idea, Amity tilted her head consideringly. "Interesting, maybe the Ghost Host knows who it was?"

"Actually, about that," tapping her fingers, Willow glanced in the shadow's direction and leaned forward. "It was when we saw the Ghost Host that the spirit ball disappeared."

"More like it hightailed it when it saw the Ghost Host." Boscha interjected, her legs dangling over the armrest. "I didn't know ghosts could still get scared."

Amity frowned and shared a look with Luz. A spirit afraid of the Ghost Host?

"Welcome back, you two!"

Everyone turned to see Gus and Skara enter the room and the Ghost Host trailed in after them, setting the candelabra down and closing the door. Skara's hair looked like she had been running through a windstorm and there was a large red mark on Gus's forehead. The instant they took everyone else in, Skara's eyes widened.

"Why does Luz get a magic staff and Boscha gets an ax while we were sent flying around the room with a marching band chasing us?"

"I take it your chat with Madame Leota was eventful?" The Ghost Host settled down on the same chair shadow from before and leaned its face on a fist.

"You could say that," Gus moaned, rubbing his tender head. "But next time, warn us? That marching band was intense."

Luz winced sympathetically. She remembered watching the human version at school and had seen some classmates take instruments to the face. It was not pretty.

"Yes, apologies for that. Madame Leota is a brilliant oracle and medium, but she can be a little...temperamental."

"So then, why didn't you talk to her yourself?" Skara grumbled.

"Simple. She doesn't like me."

Boscha snorted. "Why isn't that a surprise?"

The Ghost Host sighed and a log in the fireplace popped, startling Luz enough to jump onto Amity.

"Um, sorry bout that." Luz chuckled nervously, shifting out of Amity's lap.

The witch was almost positive the Ghost Host had been responsible for that.

"Now that we are all back together," the shadow's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Perhaps we can regale each other with our findings to break the curse? From what I can see, the parties that were not with me gathered quite a lot."

Willow sighed and stood up. "I'll go first." She told the group everything that happened to her and Boscha, from the moment they realized they had been separated to the fight against the pumpkin monster. Luz did not miss the fact she had purposefully omitted the spirit ball from her story, which confused her, but she decided to keep quiet. If Willow had a reason for nor bringing it up, then it had to be a good one.

She and Amity took turns telling their side of what they had learned from the Ghost Host's recounting of the mansion's history and the doomed affair of Emilia and Chiaro. At one point, Luz tried to show off Rex and, in an attempt to wake him, performed a spell. Unfortunately, all it did was shoot a literal fart of smoke in her face that knocked her onto her butt and sent everyone in the room, living and dead, into a full-blown laugh attack. After she managed to clear her vision, she saw Rex was still sentient.

When everyone was able to calm down enough to focus, Gus and Skara took their turn at describing their discovery. Amity did her best to listen, but she was still struggling against the fit of giggles she got every time she looked at Luz's smudged face. The ash from the smoke had hit her at just the right angle to paint an almost bandit-like mask over her eyes and ears. Amity's fingers itched with the temptation to wipe the ash away, especially since Luz did not seem to be aware of what was on her face.

"Um, Luz?" She whispered.

Luz looked at her.

"You've got something on your..." she tapped her temple, but Luz just blinked at her quizzically. Sighing, Amity drew a spell circle and summoned a handkerchief. "Hold still and close your eyes." Cupping Luz's chin in her palm, Amity began to wipe the ash from the human's face, not feeling Luz tense at the sudden contact or the subtle heat creeping along her cheeks. Mostly because she was hyper aware of her own burning face and the Ghost Host's attention on them while Gus continued on with his story.

You try, you fail, but the only true failure is when you stop trying. Well, this was not the right moment totey anything, not when they had an audience. Sighing, Amity swiped the last bit of ash from Luz's face and leaned back, smiling satisfactorily.

"All done,"

Luz opened her eyes and ran a thumb over her cheek. "Wow, I didn't know I was that dirty. Thanks Amity!" She gave her a quick hug and turned back to listen to Gus as he finished, hoping the witch didn't see the blush covering her cheeks.

"So," Willow leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "We still need to figure out Luz and Amity's part of the riddle, but now we have to go to the family's crypt to find this...missing familiar? How can we do that when it's still raining?"

Amity shifted. "I guess we could all use our shields again,"

"Actually, I may have something that could help without draining you of your magic. If it's the family crypt you need to go to, Titan knows you'll need your strength."

As if to illustrate the point, Luz's stomach chose that moment to let out an undignified snarl and she flinched.

"Do not worry, Miss Noceda," the Ghost Host rose from its chair and drifted to a blank section of the wall where the window had previously been. "There will be plenty of food for you and your friends shortly. See, in order to escort you all to the family crypt, I will need to find us a mode of transportation. And right now we have the perfect window of opportunity to do that."

"And," Amity narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What window is that?" Her eyebrows rose in surprise as the Ghost Host knocked on the wall and it clicked open, filling the room with the sound of many voices laughing and talking, as if enjoying a party.

"The clocks in this manor work on a slightly different time than what you are used to. They have an extra hour set for very special occasions, and tonight is one of those occasions."

"The Thirteenth Hour," breathed Gus.

"Correct, my friend. Also known as the Bewitching Hour, where for just a short period, the barriers between and living and the dead are blurred. Allowing for certain magics that normally would not be available for those of the dead to utilize. Like this," The Ghost Host's form tensed for a moment as if to brace itself and then it stepped out onto the floor, peeling its frame from the wall like it was walking through a door. Boscha yelped, toppling out of her chair and grabbing her hatchet, while Luz grasped Rex and instantly swung an arm behind her to block Amity, who quickly summoned a spell circle. Willow yanked King off the sofa, earning a startled "Weh?" and Skara and Gus jumped back, drawing their spell circles as well. Now that they could finally see the Ghost Host's shape, the group stared slack-jawed.

Its body was still composed of the shadows that rippled along the surface like flames, only now it held a distinctly humanoid, and corporeal, shape. Long arms ended in clawed fingers, its legs giving it enough height to stand at least two feet above the witchlings. A wiry tail grew out from its spine to the curl on the floor and ended in a single tipped point with what looked like wings unfurling from its back. Atop its head sprouted two sharp horns and its pointed ears grew from the sides of its face. Golden eyes slid open and its crimson irises lazily took in the shock of the group. Crossing its arms over its chest, the Ghost Host chuckled.

"Come now, witchlings, we have a party to attend. This way, if you please?" It pushed against the wall and it opened like a door, revealing a massive ballroom filled entirely with spectral figures. Without hesitation, the Ghost Host strolled into the crowded space, forcing the group to snap out of their surprise and hurry after their guide.

Somehow, Luz found herself in the front of the single line her friends had joined. Amity was behind her, then Gus, Willow, Skara, and Boscha. King had managed to climb along everyone's shoulders to sit on Luz's, but his tail kept swatting Amity in the nose and she held back a step.

It was hard for her, or for anyone for that matter, to not stare at the spectral party attendees. At a glance, they all looked like normal witches and demons enjoying yet another nameless celebration for the privileged and powerful. That was, until the realization kicked in that their bodies were see-through, composed of a strange rippling light that varied from dark green to light blue to even pale silver. The clothes they wore looked like something from a period piece, elegant evening gowns of silk and lace and fine tuxedos and suits of different cuts. Amity briefly wondered if this was what she would like to her friends if they were to see her at one of the parties her mother hosted for their coworkers. The thought made her squirm and she scooted closer to Luz, ignoring King's tail.

If the Ghost Host had expected them to go about unseen, it was mistaken. The moment they entered the ballroom, all of the spirits turned to look at them. Granted, a shadow standing nearly seven feet tall with wings and a tail was hardly discrete to begin with, but at least the sight of it seemed to deter the party goers from getting too close. The Ghost Host eventually brought the group to an open section of the floor where, to everyone's relief, stood a long buffet table laden with rich food.

"Please wait here for a few minutes. I will see to it our transportation to the crypt is prepared." The Ghost Host took a step, paused, and turned back to the group, its wings hugging its back. "Oh, and don't mind the happy haunts. They are a curious lot, but completely harmless." With that, the Ghost Host walked back into the crowd and, literally, disappeared from sight.

King leapt from Luz's shoulder to scramble up the buffet table and immediately began inhaling anything that resembled a sugary treat. Luz, Boscha, and Gus shared a look and hurried over as well, grabbing plates and heaping foodstuffs onto them while also shoving food into their mouths. Willow and Skara carefully picked at some of the dishes, trying to be more far discrete than the rest of their group. Amity however, hung back, her attention instead on the surrounding party and its attendants.

The ballroom was huge, probably at least the size of the gym at Hexside, if not bigger. The ceiling was domed and numerous chandeliers hung from its rafters. An interesting feature to the room was the long spiral walkway that lazily wrapped around the entirety of the room up to almost the ceiling itself, spanning out to make a sort of viewing platform for guests to look down on the dancefloor. The spiral itself continued on where the walkway ended on the dancefloor, curling in on itself to end in the center of the ballroom. A band played on a dais from a corner of the room, their tune surprisingly upbeat considering its undead audience. The entire room was bathed in a soft magenta glow from the diffused lights glinting in the hanging chandeliers.

Raising an eyebrow as she took it all in, Amity had to admit to herself that the Pandor family, though no better than the Blights, clearly had a flair for showing off.

"Hey, Amity!"

She turned around to see Luz holding a plate full of finger sandwiches and three slices of dragonberry pie.

"You have to check out this buffet! You wouldn't believe the food they've got here! And it's all ghost food that we can eat! Isn't that nuts?"

Amity couldn't help but smile at the human's excitement and shook her head. "You can't seriously expect to eat all of that before the Ghost Host returns, can you?" There were at least two meals worth of food on the plate, but that didn't seem to phase Luz when she glanced questioningly at the small pile.

"Well, maybe...but some of it is for you! Can't have a fellow Azura fan starve on our adventure!"

"Thank you Luz," Amity blushed and turned back to watch the party. "But, I'm honestly not that hungry."

"What? Why? Are you okay?" Luz leaned forward to get Amity to look at her, but the witchling glanced away. "Is it because this place reminds you of your home?" She saw Amity's fingers tighten on her arms and knew she hit the mark. From the little Amity had been willing to tell her, plus the flashback in Willow's memories and bits of information told by Willow herself, Luz knew Amity's homelife was not the easiest nor the warmest, and her parents were none the better. If the Pandor family was anything like the Blights, Luz had a feeling it was rubbing her friend in the worst of ways. Though she was still curious as ever to find out just who Amity had been afraid of being rejected by to ask out to Grom, Luz figured the least she could do now was make her feel better. Looking back at the table, Luz caught sight of what looked like a veggie tray and grinned.

A few moments later, Amity felt Luz tap her on the shoulder and she sighed. "Luz, I really don't -" she turned around and stopped mid-sentence.

Luz had shoved an entire mess of what she had guessed to be the Boiling Isles version of asparagus, long red stalks with white tips, under her upper lip and held two big rounds of bright purple and yellow striped zucchini-looking slices over her eyes. "Do I have something in my teeth?"

Amity just stared at her, wide-eyed, and burst out laughing, holding her sides as she fought to breathe. Luz grinned through her asparagus-teeth, ignoring the admonished stares the surrounding spirits were giving her. Boscha slowly snuck around the side and pulled out her scroll, snapping a picture.

"Payback," she whispered, grinning wickedly.

A throat cleared behind Luz and she turned around, then spat the asparagus onto her plate when she saw the Ghost Host staring at her.

"Pardon the interruption, but our ride is here." The shadow inclined its head to the rest of the group. "Time to visit the Pandor family crypt. I hope you all are ready because it's going to be a real scream."

Now, before anyone says anything, I know the Ghost Host is meant to be a voice and not a physical manifestation, but this character has grown so much since this all began that I just took it and ran. Hope you all enjoyed meeting the Ghost Host "in person", and them saying to Amity one of my favorite lines from the movie. See you all in the next chapter, stay safe, and have a happy Halloween!