Epilogue
The town of Werites Beacon was engulfed in rain and darkness for about half of the night. Eventually, the rain stopped completely and the utilities were restored.
"Finally, the power's back!" Norma exclaimed, as the lights came back on in Musette's house.
Will glanced over at the clock. "It's already very late. I need to head back home."
"I wanna check on Moses and Jay," Senel said.
"Me too," Shirley said.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Thank you all for staying with me," Musette said. "I enjoyed your company."
Will smiled. "We'll see you later, Musette."
The group left the house and began walking down the road.
"It's a relief to see the street lights on again," Chloe said.
"It sure is," Senel agreed.
The group walked down the road without conversation until they arrived at Will's house. Will took the lead, heading towards the front door. However, as soon as he stepped onto the pavement, his feet flew out from under him, and he hit the ground on his back.
"Will!" Senel went to check on him, but he too slipped on the pavement, falling on his face.
"Senel!" Shirley moved in to check on him, but she kept her distance, knowing that she would fall as well.
Will tried to stand, only to slip and fall again. Senel rolled into the grass and stood up from there. He then touched the pavement with his fingers.
"Damn! Somebody greased the pavement!"
"Do you think that Moses and Jay did this?" Shirley asked.
Will rolled into the grass and stood up. "Most likely."
"But why would they do something like that?" Chloe asked.
"Because they're scared, silly," Norma said. "Or because they don't want anyone to catch them being sexy."
"Well, the grass is safe," Senel said. "We can get to the door from there."
They walked through the grass on either side of the pavement. Senel reached for the doorknob and pushed...but it wouldn't budge. Senel stepped onto the slippery doorstep, using the knob for support. He tried to push the door open, but the slippery surface did not allow him to exert any pressure. After a moment, Senel gave up, stepping back into the grass.
"I can't get the door open!" he said. "They must have blocked it from the other side!"
"It looks like we'll have to go in through the window," Chloe said.
The others nodded. Shirley went to the window and slid it upwards. Behind the window, two books dropped from above, hitting a wooden board in the floor. The other end of the board sprang upward, flinging a frying pan directly into Shirley's face. Shirley cried out as she fell backwards into the grass.
"Shirley!" Senel went to help her up.
"Ugh...I'm okay..." Shirley said weakly, covering her face.
Senel stood up and carefully climbed through the window. Looking around, everything seemed normal, except for the books and board at his feet. There was also a chair propped against the front door underneath the knob.
Just as I thought, Senel thought.
He went to the door and removed the chair, then opened the door. "I got it!"
The others entered the house, avoiding the pavement.
"Um...so now that we're inside, we should be safe, right?" Norma asked.
Shirley spotted a pot on the stove. "It looks like they're cooking something."
She went to the stove and pulled off the lid. Inside the pot, a bunch of small red fireworks immediately set off, popping very loudly. Shirley screamed as she staggered backwards. Everyone else jumped in fear as well, until the noise stopped.
"What the hell was that!?" Norma exclaimed.
Senel went over to the stove to see the burnt out fireworks in the pot. "They must have booby trapped the whole house!"
"We'll have to stay on guard," Will said. "I never thought I'd have to say that in regards to my own home..."
"Moses, Jay!" Senel called. "We're back! Can you hear me!?"
Nothing.
"Red! JJ, stop playing around!" Norma called.
"There's no sign of them," Chloe said.
"Where could they be?" Shirley asked.
"They're probably upstairs," Senel said.
"Maybe they're taking a nap," Grune said.
Senel walked into the next room, only to trip over a wire in the doorway. As he looked up from the floor, he saw that the wire was connected to the large monster skeleton hanging from the ceiling.
Uh-oh... Senel thought.
The skeleton's head turned towards Senel, before breaking off and hitting the floor next to him. One by one, the other bones broke off and fell, raining down all over Senel.
"What the!?" Will peeked into the room to see Senel in a heap within the pile of bones. "You idiot! What have you done!?"
Senel stood up quickly. "Will, I can explain!"
Will gave him a hard bonk on the head. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to find all these bones, let alone put them together!?"
"Will, I'm sorry!!"
"Now I have to find another complete specimen to replace it!"
"Will, please calm down," Shirley said. "It's just a skeleton."
Will paused and looked at the bones again, then sighed. "I...I apologize for my outburst. It's just...that skeleton was my pride and joy, my greatest achievement as a natural historian."
"It's okay," Chloe said. "We all know how important your studies are to you."
Will looked up at the bedrooms. "Moses and Jay must be in one of those bedrooms. I'll start picking up this mess."
The group went upstairs, stopping in front of the two rooms. Chloe carefully opened the door to Will's room and peeked inside. As the door open, and blowtorch suddenly blew fire from above at Chloe. Chloe screamed and quickly backed off, closing the door.
"C, your hat is on fire!" Norma cried.
"What!?" Chloe gasped as she threw her flaming beret to the floor. In a complete panic, the group quickly stomped on the beret, extinguishing the flames. Afterwards, they all paused to catch their breath.
"Oh no..." Chloe picked up her burned beret. "My beret is ruined..."
"Chill out, C," Norma told her. "You can always buy another one at the shop."
Will came upstairs. "Is everything all right?"
"There's a blowtorch in your room that sets off when you open the door," Chloe said.
"They're going all-out with this booby trap thing," Senel said.
"There's only one more room to check out," Shirley said.
"Ah ha, so they're in Hattie's room," Norma said. "Look out, Red and JJ, we're coming for you."
"By the way, where is Harriet?" Senel asked.
"She's spending the night with Elsa," Will said. "They were having a slumber party at the hospital to celebrate Madame Musette's birthday."
Senel turned to face Harriet's room.
"Be careful, there could be another trap," Chloe warned.
"We're not going to fall for any more traps."
With that, Senel kicked the door open. Surprisingly, nothing happened. Looking into the room, the group saw that it was mostly intact.
They carefully stepped into the room, keeping an eye out for any more traps. As they moved in front of the bed, they found Moses and Jay sleeping peacefully side by side. Jay held a wooden cross on his chest while Moses held a large slab of meat wrapped in wax paper.
"Oh my, they're taking a nap together," Grune said. "How sweet."
"They're sleeping like logs," Chloe said.
"Even after all the traps we set off?" Senel asked. "I don't see how that's possible."
The group paused as they watched Jay and Moses snooze for another moment.
"Wake up!!" they yelled in unison.
"Ahh!" Moses sat up with a scream.
Jay sat up slowly. "Oh...I must have nodded off."
"So, Red and JJ," Norma said, "what are you guys up to?"
"Uh..." Jay and Moses glanced at each other.
"Jay, what were we doin'?" Moses asked.
Jay paused. "Um...I'm not sure myself. Were we dreaming again?"
"Yeah...we were dreaming that we were in the shower, and Solon was here!"
"We managed to throw him out, and then we set traps throughout the house to prevent Solon from re-entering."
"Guys!" Norma said. "The traps were real!"
"What?" Moses and Jay asked in unison.
"They were real?" Moses asked.
"The grease on the pavement?" Jay asked.
Will nodded. "Yes."
"The frying pan at the window?" Jay asked.
Shirley nodded. "Yeah..."
"The chair propped at the front door?"
"Yeah," Senel said flatly.
"The firecrackers on the stove?"
"Oh yeah," Norma said.
"The tripwire connected to the skeleton display?" Jay asked.
"Hell yeah!" Senel yelled.
"The blowtorch in Will's room?"
Chloe held out her burnt beret. "Indeed!"
"And the spring trap in this room?"
The group glanced at each other.
"No, we didn't see that one," Senel said. "It's good that we didn't set off all the traps."
"For real?" Moses asked. "Then what's that thing that Bubbles is standin' on?"
"Huh?" Norma looked down to see that she was standing on a pink square. "Uh-oh..."
The others took a step away from her. Just then, the spring trap set off, hurling Norma to the side, crashing through the window.
"Whoa..." Moses muttered. "Bubbles must be light as a feather."
Jay said nothing as he came to a realization. "So, if the traps were real, then that means..."
Moses faced him as he realized the same thing. "That Solon was really in here? And he saw us naked in the shower??"
"Solon was here??" Senel asked.
"Yes...probably trying to take advantage of the power outage and our fear," Jay told him.
"Your fear..." Will said. "How do you feel now?"
Moses and Jay glanced at each other again.
"I...I feel real good!" Moses said. "I don't feel scared anymore!"
"Me neither," Jay said. "I feel secure...and confident."
"I guess the only way to be sure is to go see Giet."
The pair finally got out of bed. They headed downstairs into the living room, with the rest of the group following. When they stepped outside, Moses and Jay began walking down the road, while the others ran around the house to check on Norma. She was on the ground below Harriet's window, sleeping peacefully.
"Norma..." Will said.
"Hmm?" Norma picked herself up.
"Are you okay?" Shirley asked.
Norma rubbed her head. "What happened? My head hurts..."
"The spring trap flung you right through the window," Senel said.
"What!?" Norma stood up and stomped her feet. "You're gonna pay for this, JJ!"
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Moses and Jay went back to the bandits' camp. Giet was sleeping outside of Moses' tent, but immediately jumped up upon seeing his best friend.
"Hey, Giet!" Moses called.
"Woof!" Giet ran over to Moses, who embraced him.
"Giet, my buddy!" Moses cooed. "I missed ya! I'm glad I'm not afraid of you no more!"
Jay began thinking to himself. Hmm...I wonder if this means I won't be afraid of the Oresoren anymore?
"Well, I need to get home to the Oresoren village," he said.
Moses looked back at him. "Oh, right. Go back to your family, Jay."
Jay nodded, then left the bandits' camp.
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In the Oresoren village, the three Scallop Brothers were snoozing in their home. When Jay arrived, he couldn't bring himself to disturb them. He watched them for a moment with a slight smile, then began to walk upstairs. He stopped after only two steps and glanced at the little otters again.
"Well, what the heck?" he shrugged.
He stepped back into the room, reclining on the floor next to the Oresoren, and then went to sleep.