Chapter 3

Red and gold covered the trees and the ground as Norman and Neil walked home from school. They were on holiday for the next two weeks. Blithe Hallow was one out of a few towns in America that gave an extended time off for Halloween, but that was how they made their money. Halloween was Blithe Hallow's summer and Christmas wrapped into one special month. October was always a busy month for the resident of Blithe Hallow. It was one of the busiest times in the year, in where tourists came to get spoked for fun of it. Many tourists stayed in the many inns in the town and the most famous Inn was the Judges House Inn that was built three hundred years ago as the Judges home before his untimely death by the witches curse. But many tourists camped in the forest close to the old graveyard in hopes of seeing a ghost or even a zombie.

But another reason why tourists came to Blithe Hallow during the Halloween time was to speak to the hero of the town. He was not as powerful like the Avengers, but to the small town he was their hero. He had put Blithe Hallow back on the map. He had put them on the radar of UNIT. He was a young boy who was soon to turn 13 close to Halloween, and he had already fought ghosts, witches and zombies.

It was hard for the residents of Blithe Hallow to wrap their minds around the whole event. One moment they were enjoying a quite night and the next there was riots raging all over town as madness and fear took their little minds.

There was also their little outcast. Norman Babcock. He had been a quite boy who preferred to spend time with the dead than the living, but who could blame him for that. For all his life he could see ghosts as if they were walking around the living but others could not see them. This had resulted in them calling him a freak and basically making him an outsider from the whole town. He was no longer the freak of Blithe Hallow, no he was their hero. He may not have powers like the Avengers but he was Blithe Hallow's hero and he made for a good focus point for the town.

"Say Norman what are you doing tonight?" Neil asked as he swung his lunchbox in time to his walk.

"I don't know, Neil! I was planning on seeing Aggie!" Norman replied looking at the pavement. He did not want to see a bunch of girls their age giggling at him and batting their eyelashes at him. The way that they went on people would think that he was one of the Avengers.

Neil grinned stupidly at his friend. "You like her?" he asked with that smile still plastered on his face.

Norman's face went bright red. He did like Aggie. She was just like him. They had both been out casted from the town by the towns people because they were different. It did not matter that the town was treating him way better than before, it still did not cover up the fact that they had treated him no better than how Aggie was treated. They could lie and tell white tales on how they were his best friend to tourists looking for a good story to digest before they go home. People loved to here stories in where the hero was helped by friends. Friends who were once hated his existance until he had made Blithe Hallow famous.

But the Zombie incident that had happened to the town a few months ago had been covered up by a government group called UNIT that demanded that they kept the paranormal underwraps with the cover story that they provided. It was not easy for them but they had managed to wrap story for money around what UNIT had told them. That worked well and people are up the story much to Aggie's amusement. Norman kept Aggie up to date with what was happening in the town and Aggie loved how stupid the people of the town was.

"She's my friend!" he replied when he finally could speak without embarrassing himself in front of Neil. Seeing Neil's puppy dog eyes he said, "Not my best friend, Neil! After all your my first friend!"

Neil smiled the biggest goofy smile he could muster as the pair walked down the main street. Shop owners smiled as the pair walked past and Norman couldn't help but feel mixed emotions. He felt happy that he was finally being accepted into the town but he also felt used. He had saved their lives from a similar event in the towns history and now he was helping them to sell keyrings. But who was he? He was just a simple 12 coming to 13 year old boy who had just happened to stop a witch from destroying the town to seek out her own form of justice against those who prosecuted her. He was not an Avenger, but it would be cool if he was one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes for a day.

"Good afternoon, Norman!" a cheerful voice sang from the door of the bookstore. Standing at the door was a elderly women with her greying hair tied up an out of her face. She wore a dress much like his gran wore. "How are you this fine October afternoon?" she asked smiling down at him.

If there was one person in town who had not changed it was the bookkeeper Mrs Harkin. She was a nice old woman who enjoyed hearing tells that Norman told her from the ghosts around the town. She had even started to write down things that she heard from Norman as a sort of record of things. After all the Dead advised the living as so she said.

"I'm good Mrs Harkin!" he said smiling. "We're just going home for the Halloween Break!" he replied as something bounded in the corner of his sight. Whatever it was it was gone before he got a good look at it.

Mrs Harkin smiled at him. "Don't get into trouble the pair of you!" she said before walking back into the bookshop that that connected with her house.

Norman and Neil looked at each other before looking back at the pavement in front of them. "What was that all about?" Neil asked as they walked past more of the shops in Blithe Hallow.

"I don't know!" Norman replied as they took the street that would take them to their homes. "But Mrs Harkin seemed off today! It was as if there was something on her mind!" Norman mumbled as something once again leapt in and then out of his line of sight. They were being followed.

Neil looked back round at him as they squeezed past a group of tourists listening to a tour guide explain the history of Blithe Hallow. "What do you mean Norman? Mrs Harkin has had something on her mind for the last 5 years after Mr Harkin died!" he spoke.

"I don't know Neil! But I know Mrs Harkin. She's never smiled at me before!" Norman mumbled as he and Neil crossed the road. They past many ghosts who waved at Norman and Norman returned the gesture to them. It was only polite.

"Maybe she's just in a good mood!" Neil suggested as something burst out of the bushes of a neighbours garden. The two boys stopped dead as they looked up at the creature that towered above them like the Judge Zombie that had begged Norman to stop the curse. "Norman?" Neil asked leaning in close to Norman.

"Yes Neil?" Norman asked staring at the creature that towered over him.

Neil brought his lunchbox closer to him as he got ready to use it to fend the thing off. "Can see a huge dog-man thing?" he asked. The two boys didn't take their eyes of the creature incase it attacked them while they were not looking.

"I can see it!" Norman replied as the dog-man took a step towards them.

The creature snarled and lunged for them but a white Werewolf slammed out of nowhere and pinned the other creature to the ground. Claws and teeth rained down on either side until the grey Werewolf ran away with its tail between its legs. The white furred Werewolf stood back up. Any wounds it sustained from its fight was already healing.

"Norman Babcock?" the Wolf spoke in a strong English accent. It's clawed hand reaching into the pocket of the trousers that remained intact and brought out a key for the Judges House Inn. He waited for Norman to nod his head before giving him the key. "Great, meet me in the Inn in the outskirts of the town in an hour and a half! It will give me time to chase the Anubid out of the area and get back to in time for a shower!" the Werewolf spoke in a well educated voice.

Before Norman could ask any questions the Werewolf turned into a shadowy ghost that ran in the direction of the Anubid as it had called it.

"What just happened?" Neil asked looking at the key in Norman's hand.

"I don't know Neil!" Norman replied looking at the key that had a peice of paper attached to it. The paper said a name on it: Julian Wolfgang UNIT agent.

"Are we going to see him?" Neil asked jumping up and down with excitement of having another adventure.

Norman kept staring at the letter that had orders over this Julian. Julian was order to protect him until someone else came to the town and the name he knew from watching the news and reading about the Second World War: Captain America.

The Werewolf was an Avenger! He had just meet an Avenger!