When the air had been cleared between Drake and Morgana, their relationships with Launchpad and Gosalyn were also made stronger and much happier. Drake sat down with Gosalyn and helped her with her Math homework, making sure she knew where the problems were and helping her to improve her grade. She had been right; Math was her only weak subject. He made sure to compliment her on her strong points in her school work, not just tell her what her weaknesses were.

He improved her home life, too. Instead of punishing her for something immediately, they talked about why she did what she did and Drake made sure the punishment fit the crime. He didn't want to be one of those parents who punished first and asked questions later.

He tried consciously to express himself better with everyone. He picked his words more carefully and tried not to be so quick to judge. Everyone was entitled to their beliefs and he had no right to tell them they were wrong.

He showed his appreciation more for everyone around him. He had thanked Launchpad after Morgana had left that night for talking to her and convincing her to come back to talk to him, as well as for being so patient with him when he'd acted like a crazy person and trying to encourage him when he'd lost all hope of making up with her. He didn't want to take Launchpad or Gosalyn for granted and he knew he did that sometimes. He wanted everyone he loved to know how much he really appreciated them.

Morgana's and Launchpad's relationship grew, too. She understood now that it was his protectiveness of Dark that had made him afraid of her. Once his fear for DW was gone, he was able to talk to her like a true friend, as they had at the Hamburger Hippo that Saturday, and they became real friends. He knew now that she had honestly not been aware of the extent of the influence of her power and the damage it could cause if she abused it. Part of him wondered why her father hadn't warned her, but he never asked that question. He didn't want to cause trouble between Morgana and Moloculo, and he knew Moloculo barely tolerated his daughter's relationship with normals, so he didn't dare ask him. Just because Morgana was being more careful about the use of her powers didn't mean her father would be.

Morgana also knew Drake wasn't all that enthusiastic about Gosalyn's interest in magic. Gosalyn was normal and Morgana was more conscious now that not everyone shared her beliefs. She had learned to respect that Drake didn't share all of her beliefs. They both knew there were times when they would have to agree to disagree, but she was not going to let Gosalyn's interest in her world be one of those times. She showed Gosalyn what she could do, but would not teach her anything unless Drake gave his permission. Drake agreed to let her learn some, but would monitor what she learned. If it was not OK with Drake, Morgana wouldn't teach her. There were some things she would never be able to learn, even if Drake did give his permission, because she was normal.

The pudding spell was definitely out of the question; Gosalyn could learn it, but Drake flatly refused. He'd had enough experience with that one, and Morgana hadn't even been trying to turn him into one the first time; she had been aiming for Quackerjack and Megavolt. He had pictures in his head of him saying or doing something Gosalyn didn't think was fair and being zapped into a little tiny pudding cup. It was gross enough that Quackerjack had literally had a taste of him; he wasn't going to give Gosalyn the opportunity.

Drake decided he would have to think about the barbecuing spell. He thought maybe it would come in handy when she got older and had to fend off pushy boys. Morgana agreed to wait until he made up his mind.

Gosalyn took these restrictions with a grace she hadn't shown before when Drake said "no" to something. She was just glad to have her dad happy again.

Drake accepted willingly and without hesitation when Morgana invited him to the Halloween carnival. Launchpad and Gosalyn were invited, too. Gosalyn couldn't wait. Launchpad was also excited. He loved seeing Drake and Gosalyn so happy, and he wasn't nervous about the magic anymore, so he was looking forward to seeing Morgana's type of carnival. Also, because of Launchpad's sensitivity to other people's moods, Drake's good mood was contagious.

Moloculo was less than thrilled when Morgana told him Drake, Gosalyn and Launchpad were coming to the carnival.

"What?" he asked, and there was something in his tone that made Morgana feel suspicious. "I didn't think you two were together anymore."

"Why would you think that?" she asked, faking casualness. She hadn't told her father she and Dark had had a fight.

"Well, I mean, Friday the thirteenth, of course," he said, trying to sound as if he thought Morgana was being silly. "I know you and Drake had a date on the twelfth. I don't imagine the date would have been over by midnight if you were going to a carnival. It was a normal carnival, right? So don't they last longer than-"

"The carnival ended at eleven. We left when it was over and went back to my house and talked for a while. He was there at midnight."

Morgana's suspicions were growing and her tone was matching them. She was beginning to think her father had somehow had something to do with the fight she had had with Drake.

"Father, why were you so sure a minute ago that I wasn't with Dark anymore? Do you know something you're not supposed to? If so, how did you come across that piece of information?"

Moloculo sighed. He never could keep anything from Morgana.

"Well, I-"

"Yes?" she prompted when he trailed off.

"Morgana," he began defensively, "you should be with a man who-"

"Forget who you think I should be with, Father," she said sharply, "and tell me what you did!"

"Well, I-"

He trailed off. He knew Morgana was going to be furious, but he also knew he wasn't going to get out of this one. She was very persistent.

"Yes?" she asked with exaggerated patience.

"I cursed your clock. I made it so that if you and Drake were together at midnight on Friday the thirteenth the clock would release my curmudgeon concoction and bring out Drake's perpetually cranky nature and you two would have a fight."

The curmudgeon concoction was odorless and didn't need to be drunk, so no one would know if it was released into the air, unless they were purposely looking for it. Morgana had no reason to look for it and Drake wouldn't know it even existed.

Depending on the strength of the potion, and the nature of the person being affected, it might not even take more than a drop or two to be affective. It would take a lot to work on someone like Launchpad or Stegmutt, but on Drake or Morgana it wouldn't take much. Morgana would never say so to Drake's face, but she thought it would take less to work on him than on her.

"You did what?" Morgana demanded furiously.

"I made sure it would attune itself to him so you wouldn't be anymore affected than Drake's attitude would affect you. You didn't both need to be cursed. I had the clock release twelve drops, one for each time it rang."

She stared at him for a full ten seconds, too angry to speak.

"Morgana, you need a sorcerer, not a-"

"Don't you dare try to justify this, Father! I am the only one who gets to decide who I have a relationship with! I'm not a child anymore and I can pick my own boyfriends, and I choose him!"

She stormed out of her father's house and over to Drake's.

Drake listened with fascination as Morgana furiously told him what her father had done to them. When she'd appeared on his doorstep, he'd been afraid it was him she was angry with and he had no idea why. He didn't have time to wonder. She had started almost immediately after he'd invited her in with "you won't believe what my father did! Our last fight was all his fault!"

Drake had very mixed emotions when Morgana finished. He was angry with Moloculo, but he was also a little bit jealous. There was no way he could pick Gosalyn's boyfriends for her when she got old enough to be interested in boys, and Moloculo had tried it with magic, which Drake would never be able to do.

"Dark, say something."

"What your father did was very-" he paused, looking for the right word. "creative."

"Creative?" she asked, not knowing whether to be amused at his choice of words or angry that he wasn't angrier.

"Yeah. He thinks he's doing what's best for you and he has a unique way to do it. The fact that it didn't work just proves that magic can't solve every problem. In a way, that kind of makes me feel relieved. I-" he broke off, afraid what he was about to say would upset her.

"Go on," she said, curious about what he was thinking.

"Well, it's kind of silly, but-"

"Yes?" Her patience this time was not exaggerated. She knew Drake was being careful so he wouldn't say the wrong thing.

"It's kind of a macho pig thing to say, but I was kind of afraid your being able to solve problems magically might make me feel inadequate."

To Drake's relief, Morgana smiled.

"Well, I could have told you myself that magic wasn't the solution to every problem."

"What your father did sort of proves my other point, too," he said carefully.

"What other point?"

"The point about how Friday the thirteenth is no different from any other day."

"But it was bad luck that we had a fight."

"We had a fight because your dad cursed your clock. If we hadn't been at your house, we might not have fought; it was just a coincidence. Your father's curse, combined with my big beak and both our tempers, was what caused the fight, not the date. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. You believed we would have a fight because Friday the thirteenth means bad luck to you, and your father fixed it so we would have a fight, so we did. We both over reacted because circumstances conspired to make us over react, but they were manmade circumstances, not magic ones, unless you count your father's potion. But even that was manmade, so I guess on his part it was a combination of both."

She looked troubled. Drake wondered if she was going to get angry again.

"I was taught that strong evil magic is present on Friday the thirteenth."

"Maybe it is; you would know more about that than I would. I mean because you know more about magic, not that-"

"I know what you meant," she said, smiling. "Go on."

"Maybe strong evil magic is present then, but that doesn't account for every bad thing that happens on Friday the thirteenth. Your dad cursed the clock. Evil had nothing to do with what happened to us. If it had, I don't think we'd have gotten back together. It was good luck that you and Launchpad happened to run into each other at the Hamburger Hippo."

"Definitely."

"But I still don't understand why I over reacted the way I did. I mean, I know about your dad's curmudgeon concoction, but why did I act the way I did afterwards? Gos and Launchpad didn't deserve to be treated so harshly. Your dad's potion would have had nothing to do with that, would it?"

"It might have," she said thoughtfully. "Father can brew a strong curmudgeon concoction; it probably didn't ware off for hours."

"And what about my out of control guilt. I was feeling like I'd committed murder."

"That can sometimes be a side effect of the potion. Your feelings can be very intense for a while, especially the feelings about your actions while you were under the influence of the potion. But I do have to thank Father for one thing; we're both so much more careful now. I think he taught us a lesson, even if it wasn't the lesson he wanted me to learn."

"He really doesn't want you associating with normals, does he?" Drake was feeling a bit worried that Moloculo's influence would eventually be too strong for her to resist, until she spoke.

"Well, he's just going to have to get used to it," she said fiercely, then kissed him.

Drake and Morgana didn't dare tell Gosalyn that the Halloween carnival lasted all day, from midnight on Halloween to midnight on November first. They knew Gos would want to be there for the entire twenty-four hours, and Drake was not about to let her skip school for Halloween. Morgana hadn't needed to worry about that when she was a child because Halloween meant no school for magical creatures. She respected that Drake and Gosalyn were normals and Halloween wasn't as big a deal for them, so it didn't offend her that Drake didn't think the holiday was important enough to let Gosalyn skip school.

Morgana told Gosalyn to go behind a bush after school and she would transport her to the carnival, where she, Drake and Launchpad would already be.

"Keen gear!" Gosalyn cried. She was sure this would be the greatest Halloween she'd ever had.

Drake, Launchpad and Morgana arrived at the carnival around 2:30. Morgana would leave to get Gosalyn in about half an hour, but she wanted to have a talk with Moloculo first and she wanted Drake and Launchpad to be there. She was going to try to get it through Moloculo's thick scull that she was going to have normals for friends, and one for a boyfriend, whether she had his approval or not.

"There he is," she said, after searching the crowd for about five minutes. "Let's go."

Drake and Launchpad looked nervously at each other. Morgana had inherited her temper from her father and he had no reason to keep it under control.

"Hello, Daughter," Moloculo said casually. His expression was anything but casual. He was glaring at Drake and Launchpad, especially Drake, as if he wanted to melt them where they stood.

"Wipe that expression off your face right now, Father," Morgana said in a "no nonsense" tone. "The four of us are going to have a talk."

Drake wanted to tell her he and Launchpad would prefer to be spectators in this one, and he could tell by the look on Launchpad's face that he was thinking the same thing, but they both thought better of interrupting.

"Launchpad is my friend; so is Gosalyn. Drake is my boyfriend. I don't care if you have a problem with it; you're just going to have to get over it. As I told you before, I'm all grown up now and I pick my own friends, and my own boyfriends. These are the ones I choose. I want your promise that you will never again interfere with us and our relationships in any way."

"Morgana-"

"You don't know the trouble you caused, Father. Yes, it all worked out, but that was thanks to good advice from an objective party."

"I know all about that; Archie told me."

"He did?" Morgana asked, surprised.

"I was talking more to myself than him, asking how you two had managed to get back together." He turned to Launchpad. "He told me about the talk you had with my daughter at that Happy Hamburger place."

"That's Hamburger Hippo," Morgana said, trying not to show her amusement.

"Whatever. Can we talk privately?" he asked Launchpad.

"Father-" Morgana began with a warning tone.

"I'm not going to hurt him, Morgana. I just want to talk with him."

"It's OK with me," Launchpad said. He was reassured by the fact that Moloculo had stopped glaring at him and Drake.

Morgana didn't look convinced.

"Give me your word as a sorcerer, and as my father, that you will not hurt him in any way, shape or form."

"I give you my word as a sorcerer, and as your father. I'm not a monster, Morgana."

"You couldn't tell that by your actions lately," she said sharply.

"Easy, Morg," Drake said softly. "You don't want to say something you'll regret."

"Well, all right; I'll let it go for now. I have to go pick up Gosalyn anyway. Want to come, Dark?"

Drake looked at Launchpad, who shrugged.

"OK."

They left and Moloculo turned back to Launchpad.

"Why did you get them back together? I'm not angry, just curious. I didn't think you liked my daughter."

Launchpad told him the same things he told Morgana. Moloculo looked thoughtful.

"Mr. McCawber, Drake would never hurt Morgana, not on purpose. He's a good guy. Not having magic doesn't change that."

"But he's different; he's not like us."

"Morgana's not like us either, but that doesn't mean she's not a good person."

"I don't have any sons. I want someone to carry on the McCawber line. If Morgana has a son, he'll do that, but not if she marries a normal. He may not have the magic."

"What if she doesn't have a boy?"

Moloculo looked startled. It had apparently never crossed his mind that Morgana might have all girls, or might not have any children at all.

"I know you don't want your daughter to be unhappy; she wasn't happy when she wasn't with Drake. When I found her she was on her sixth Koo-Koo Cola. She cried when we talked about the fight you caused her and Drake to have. Drake wasn't happy either, and it had a lot more to do with the fact that he wasn't with Morgana than with the side effects of your potion."

Moloculo began to look remorseful for the first time.

"She cried?"

"Yeah."

"She loves him, doesn't she?" Moloculo looked as if he'd swallowed a lemon.

"I think so."

"Does he love her?"

"Yeah, I think he does."

"I'm not going to win this one, am I?"

"No, not if you want your daughter to be happy."

"All right; I promise you, as a sorcerer and as Morgana's father, not to interfere with their relationship anymore."

"That's all I ask, Father," Morgana said from behind them. She had gotten back with Drake and Gosalyn just in time to hear Moloculo ask Launchpad if he wasn't going to win this time. She walked up to him and kissed his cheek. "Now let's go introduce my friends to our type of Halloween."

Drake was glad he had not refused Morgana's invitation. He loved watching Gosalyn's reaction to all the creatures Morgana introduced them to, and he liked a lot of them himself. He was sorry he'd been so judgmental, even before their fight. These were all nice people.

Launchpad and Gosalyn went through the fun house together while Drake and Morgana went through the tunnel of love, which was haunted. Morgana knew every ghost and ghoul in there and introduced Drake to all of them. Drake didn't have the heart to tell her that it kind of took the mystery out of the place for him to know the ghosts and to know they weren't really scary. They were friendly and Drake thought he could get to like them.

There was no normal food, but Morgana gave them the foods that would be no harm to them, and the ones she knew would not gross them out. Even Drake enjoyed the different foods, and for once, he didn't ask what was in them.

On the way to the haunted house, Drake saw a sign that said "blood bank" and asked Morgana about it. "Are there many donors?"

"Well," she began hesitantly, "this isn't a normal blood bank. It's for the vampires. They've been collecting all day and giving to the vampires who can't get out, for whatever reason."

"But I thought vampires only came out at night," Gosalyn said."

"Halloween is the one exception," Moloculo explained. "We protect them with a spell, but we can't maintain it all year because it's very draining."

Gosalyn giggled.

"What did I say?" Moloculo asked, confused.

"You said draining," Morgana said, grinning. "You know; vampires drain your blood."

"Oh." He didn't look as if he got it. "Anyway, the sorcerer or sorceress who performs the spell is exhausted for days after Halloween and has to sacrifice his or her entire day to maintain the spell. It's not a Halloween task any sorcerer likes, but we all take turns. Next year is mine; the year after that will be Morgana's.

"Why wouldn't a vampire be able to get out to get its own blood?" Launchpad asked.

"They may be old, sick or injured," Morgana said. "Some of them can't get back to their coffins in time and have sunlight exposure. I would definitely not want to be a vampire."

They were all having so much fun that Drake let Gosalyn stay until the carnival was over. She would be tired in school the next morning, but it was only one day of the year. They dropped Morgana off at McCawber manor at 12:30 and Launchpad waited in the car with Gosalyn, who had fallen asleep almost as soon as she'd gotten in, and Drake walked Morg to the door. After they kissed, Drake walked back to the car, feeling confident that their relationship could be made stronger by their differences instead of being destroyed by them. If they stuck to their promises, and if Moloculo kept his promise, he could see them married someday. Maybe Moloculo would even come to like. Him. Drake thought about that for a second, then decided not to push it. It didn't really matter, he decided, as long as he and Morgana communicated like they had been for the last couple of weeks.

Drake carried Gosalyn to bed when they got home, kissed her forehead and headed for his room. As he fell asleep, Drake had a mental picture of a child born from him and Morgana. His deductive skills and her magic would make their son or daughter a force to be reckoned with.

Launchpad was the last to go to bed that night. He'd gotten hungry and made himself a quick sandwich. Drake's door was half open, and as Launchpad passed it on the way to his room, he smiled when he got a view of Drake's face. He was asleep on his back with an ear to ear grin. Launchpad's last thought before he fell asleep himself was that Drake would probably never be quite the same after Moloculo's curse. This Friday the thirteenth, and then seeing Morgana's Halloween, seemed to have changed him for the better.