Chapter 3 Skeletons

As Lemmy opened the door to the common room, he breathed a sigh of relief. All of his siblings turned toward him. Wendy even stopped what she was doing and ran over to her little big brother.

"How did it go?" she asked. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Lemmy beamed. "Why, yes! Yes I did!" He reached into his hammerspace, pulling out a fuzzy cat costume. It was blue in color, a baby blue that one would typically see at a baby shower. Lemmy strapped it on in front of everyone, grinning all the while. "Mew!"

Morton gasped and put his hand to his heart. "Oh! You look adorable!"

"Thanks!" Lemmy exclaimed. He got down on all fours and made his way across the common room. Ludwig followed close behind. "It was all Luddy's idea! There weren't any bat koopa costumes in my size, so he suggested I get this!"

Ludwig chuckled. "It seemed like a good idea."

"It was a great idea!" Lemmy exclaimed as he licked his paw. "An even trade-off, in my humble and correct opinion."

Iggy laughed. "Ha ha ha!" He shook his head. "Correct." This got him a glare from the koopa in the cat costume. Right before he could scratch up his face, however, Larry pulled a map out of his hammerspace.

"Okay! Now that Lemmy's costume is taken care of, I wanted to devise our plan for Halloween!" He furled the paper down on the table in the middle of the common room. "I think that the best thing we could possibly do is to go to up to the houses that are already closed."

Iggy raised an eyebrow. "What purpose would that serve to retrieving loot?"

Larry beamed, a wickedness ignited in every corner of his mouth. "I don't know, Iggster. How does breaking and entering sound?"

Lemmy stood up, his heart pumping up a storm. "What? Are you crazy? Are you cuckoo for Koopa puffs?"

Larry shrugged. "What? We're koopas! We're supposed to do morally grey things."

"I wouldn't describe this as 'morally grey' so much as 'morally wrong,'" said Wendy.

Larry pursed his lips. "We'll get even more candy than we thought we would get! We'll be loaded"

Iggy rolled his eyes. "You do realize that people close their doors on Halloween because they have no more candy to offer, right?"

Silence. Larry blinked, as if such a blatantly obvious fact hadn't occurred to him. He looked down at the paper he had unfurled on the table, staring at it as if it had betrayed him. He chuckled and put it back in his hammerspace.

"Okay. I guess we don't have to do that."

"No. We do not," said Iggy, his tone ladened with skepticism. He cleared his throat and took a step forward, putting on the air of authority that he was famous for. "I suggest that we maintain a consistent, quick route, particularly in Stonebrim. Over the course of the past few months, I have taken time out of my day to memorize its layout." He grinned. "I have a hunch that, if we do it my way, we'll be golden, as they say."

Lemmy jumped up and down, clapping his hands all the while. "Yes yes yes! With you on our side, Iggy, we'll be able to get more candy than ever!"

"Yeah, and more nausea than ever," said Ludwig as he leaned against one of the lab tables. "They might as well rename Halloween to National Diabetes Day."

Iggy adjusted his glasses. "Actually, there is such a thing already; on November 14th, to be exact." He smiled. "It's actually a fascinating story of how it came to be. You see…"

Larry let out an overly loud groan. "Topic Iggy, you're straying from the topic."

Iggy glared at him before sighing. "Very well. I shall stop talking about the fascinating establishment of Diabetes Day and resume with talking about the mundane."

Lemmy rolled his eyes. "It's not mundane; it's fun!" He bounced up and down, his excitement present in every one of his kitty covered features. "We're going to have a blast!"

"Yeah we will," said Larry.

"I think this Halloween will be the best one in a while!" said Roy.

"I can't wait!" said Wendy.

"Excellent," said Iggy. He clapped his hands together. "So...I suppose it is settled then?"

"Not quite," said Roy. He stepped forward with a grin. "You see, it's been almost eight years since Celia has managed to celebrate Halloween. I was hoping I could make it up to her tonight."

Iggy blinked. "You wish to bring along your girlfriend?"

Roy nodded, an enthusiasm leaking out of his face and into the air. "Yeah! It could be a date of sorts!"

Iggy stroked his chin. "Well, Halloween is usually a family thing…"

"So?" Larry asked with a shrug. "Isn't the whole point of dating someone trying to find who you can marry so you can start your own family?"

"Yeah!" said Roy. "That's exactly the case! Please, Iggy?"

"Hmm…" Iggy said as he scrunched up his brow. "I...suppose we could do that…"

Lemmy beamed. This was going to be fantastic. All of his siblings were on board. Despite the Shellock Holmes costume coming in the mail, he had the greatest feeling ever about this next Halloween.

"Well," said Ludwig. He turned toward the door. "I'm glad that you all got that sorted out. I would suggest that you tell Bowser about your plans of route and guest so he can plan accordingly."

With that, he left. Iggy nodded as he turned toward the rest of his siblings.

"I wholeheartedly agree. Let us go inform our father figure."

The others filtered out one at a time, leaving only Lemmy left in the lab. He giggled to himself, stamping his little feet in a swift rhythm. He was just about to leave when he spotted something in the corner of his eye.

It was the Shellock costume, peaking out of its box. Lemmy's stomach tightened as he looked at it. It made him sweat. It made him clammy. It made him sick.

"It's looking at me," he whispered. He backed away slowly, as if the costume was going to spring out of the box and try to devour him. It wasn't until he had closed the door to the lab that he finally felt safe.