Sponge: Welcome back! Please enjoy the epilogue! Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera

Chapter 18: Epilogue

Three days later…

"Do you have everything?" Judy asked.

She was sitting on a couch in the living room of the beach house, Brad on the cushion beside her and their packed suitcases on the floor nearby. Fred and Daphne had just lugged their own bags down the hall from their bedroom. They were the ones she'd directed her question towards.

"Yep," Daphne replied, patting her purple suitcase.

"Chargers?" Judy continued. "Toothbrushes?"

"Yes, Mom," Fred teased, eyes twinkling.

Judy gave him a watery smile, as did Brad. Fred usually called his birth parents by their first names, but occasionally he referred to them as "Mom and Dad." It had been weird at first – he'd called the mayor "Dad" for eighteen years of his life after all, and he'd never called anyone "Mom" before – but over time they'd all gotten used to it. Of course, living in different states, Fred didn't normally have an opportunity to call them "Mom and Dad" in person, so on the occasion that he did, it always made Judy tear up a bit.

Nova came trotting down the hallway after them, with Scooby and Shaggy close behind. Velma brought up the rear, her duffel and messenger bags slung over her shoulders. All the luggage ended up in a pile near the front door.

Today was the last day of their vacation in Crystal Cove. The past three days had been much more relaxing than the rest of the week had been. They'd swum in the ocean, sunned on the beach, visited with their new Crystal Cove friends (Gary, Ethan, and Mai Le had all been released from the hospital two days ago). They'd only had to go back to the police station once for additional questioning, but it had been short and perfunctory. Mayor Nettles, the Crystal Cove PD, and everyone involved in the scheme had all been sanctioned. Best of all, Ben Ravencroft had been arrested and, pending a trial, would be sent to a federal prison on the other side of the country.

No one had mentioned him by name since that day at the police station. It was as if he was Bloody Mary. Or Betelgeuse. Like saying his name made him appear. Gave him power.

Which everyone knew was ridiculous. He was just a man. A crazy man, but a man nonetheless. Despite what he'd told them at the police station..

Brad checked his watch. "Ricky and Cassidy will be here any minute," he informed the gang. Since there were too many of them to all ride to the airport together, Ricky and Cassidy would be helping. They'd had a meeting with the interim mayor that morning about their plans for an occult museum, but were probably on their way now. "We're going to start loading this luggage into the rental van."

"We'll help," Fred offered, shooting Daphne a meaningful glance. When he caught her eye, he darted his gaze quickly to Shaggy and Velma, then back to his girlfriend.

Daphne understood at once. Yesterday, Velma had finally admitted that she had been the one to initiate the breakup with Shaggy. For whatever reason, this had convinced Fred that the relationship was salvageable. He hadn't given up on the idea that Velma and Shaggy could mend fences if they had a few moments alone together and had tried to orchestrate it whenever possible after it hadn't worked at the Ravencroft house. Daphne had tried to help when she could, and now was one of those times. At the very least, to pave the way for them to apologize to each other.

"Yeah," she agreed, grabbing Velma's messenger bag. "You guys stay here." This last to Shaggy and Velma.

The dogs realized what was happening too. "Would you like to spend a little time on the back porch?" Nova asked Scooby.

"Res," he replied immediately, all but darting out onto the enclosed patio.

Before they knew it, Shaggy and Velma were alone in the living room.

She glanced at him. "I wonder what all that was about," she deadpanned.

Shaggy cracked a smile, and at once, the two of them burst into laughter.

Of course, they had realized what their friends had been up to all week. The lengths they went to to try to get them alone in a room together had been laughable.

Truthfully, things had been fine between the two of them since that day at the Ravencroft house. Not great, certainly not how things had been, but fine. They were amicable. Spoke to each other without any hostility. Even shared some laughs, as they had just now.

But Velma knew she owed Shaggy more than that.

"Listen," she said when they'd stopped chuckling. "I really do owe you an apology."

Shaggy sat on the arm of the couch and said nothing.

Velma exhaled. "There's no excuse for my behavior," she told him. "I've been selfish and immature. I've treated you like garbage this week, and you didn't deserve that." She paused. "I'm really sorry, Shaggy."

He didn't answer right away. He just continued to gaze at her.

Velma shook her head. "You don't have to accept my apology, of course," she said, her voice very small. "I just…needed you to know how much I regret hurting you."

"I forgive you, Velma."

For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating. Even though she'd watched his lips move, heard the words come out of his mouth, Velma couldn't quite believe that Shaggy had just said that.

He shrugged. "Maybe it's against my better judgment," he went on, a bit wryly. "But like, I forgive you. I mean let's face it, I wasn't my best self this week either. I took a lot of my own pain out of you, and you didn't deserve it either." He grimaced. "Plus I like, kind of poked the bear with that whole Mai Le thing. That was really shitty of me."

A prickle of leftover irritation simmered under Velma's skin at the mention of Mai Le. Nothing romantic had actually happened between her and Shaggy, but Velma didn't like to be reminded of it regardless. "Well, it's no better than me," she admitted. "And all the flirting that I did." She sighed. "Though I kind of got my comeuppance for that, didn't I?"

An uncomfortable silence hung between them. It was the closest either of them had come to mentioning what had happened in Ben Ravencroft's kitchen.

Shaggy held her gaze. "Velm," he said, his voice soft. "Like…I really hope you don't blame yourself for what happened that day. At…his house, I mean." His face flushed, as much with embarrassment as with anger. "He was totally out of line. And the way he'd been behaving all week had been really gross. But I felt like I couldn't say anything to you because you'd think I was like, being a jealous ex." He sighed. "I should have said something. Ignored my pride and told you how I really felt."

"I wouldn't have listened," Velma told him, though she felt gratified to have confirmation about how bothered Shaggy had been. "Daphne tried to have the same conversation with me – like, the first day we got here, mind you – and I brushed her off." She scoffed and looked away. "It's like everyone could see it but me. You, Daphne, the dogs…you could all tell that something was off about him, but I refused to see it, because I didn't want to see it. It's like the opposite problem I had with us. Making problems where…there really weren't any."

Slowly, Velma turned her gaze back to Shaggy.

"You were right," she said quietly. "About what you said at the Ravencroft house. I am a coward. I am afraid of strong emotions, because there's nothing logical about them. They can make you do things you wouldn't normally do, act in ways you wouldn't normally act because they mess with your brain chemistry. I don't…" She closed her eyes. "I don't like that. I feel so out of control when I let my emotions lead. Like I'm not really myself."

She opened her eyes and inhaled slowly, as though to steel herself for what she was about to say.

"Do you remember last summer? When I told you guys I'd been caught cheating and had to retake chem and was considering dropping out?"

Of course Shaggy remembered that. "Yeah, that was…shocking," he said honestly. "In all seriousness, like, that was the most un-like-you thing you'd ever said."

"Because that was an emotional decision," she explained. "All I could focus on was my shame and my guilt and my sadness." She looked at Shaggy a bit ruefully. "You were right then, too. You told me I'd always regret not going back, not trying again. And it took a year and some hindsight, but…you were right on the money."

Yet another example of Shaggy knowing her better than she knew herself.

"Anyway," she sighed. "All this to say, I'm sorry."

Shaggy nodded. "Like, me too."

There was another silence. Shaggy knew this should be where he confessed to her that he still had feelings for her, that he wanted to get back together, distance be damned. But he'd basically already done that, the night they'd had their midnight cereal, and it hadn't changed Velma's mind, so he knew it was pointless to bring it up again. Besides, even if she did feel the same, she would have some logical explanation for what a bad idea it was. She'd just finished describing how much she hated to let her feelings make her decisions. Shaggy knew that was something he had to accept about her. Even if it kind of broke his heart.

Without warning, the front door flew open and Fred and Daphne burst in, wide-eyed and uneasy.

"Where are the dogs?" Daphne asked. She held a large book in her hands, which Shaggy and Velma recognized as the grimoire they'd found at Ben Ravencroft's beach house.

Shaggy jerked a thumb behind him. "Back porch."

"Let's go," Fred said, beelining for the backdoor and gesturing for the others to follow him.

Scooby and Nova had heard them coming and were already sitting up, ears alert. "What is it?" asked Nova, concerned.

The six of them made a small circle as Daphne held the book out in front of her. "This fell out of your messenger bag as I was putting it in the car," she explained to Velma. "When I picked it up, I noticed something written on the very back page." She flipped the book open to the end, where something had been scrawled on the final, blank page before the back cover.

A pentagram. And a phrase: Potestas Quinque.

Shaggy felt his blood go cold and stared at Scooby in alarm. The dog was staring back at him, looking just as panicked.

"Do you think…Ravencroft wrote this?" Velma asked, looking around at the gang.

"I don't think he did," Daphne replied, flipping to the page where Ben had scribbled his notes on the necromancy spell. "The handwriting doesn't match." She turned back to the page with the pentagram and the Latin phrase.

"Two words: Leon Berger," Fred said, name-dropping a villain they'd bested a few times who was a skilled forger. "Ravencroft could have disguised his handwriting here."

"Still," Daphne went on. "I don't think he did."

"What does that phrase mean?" Nova asked, glancing up at Velma.

Velma shook her head. While gifted in many academic fields, languages were a place where she sometimes struggled. Plus, she'd never taken Latin. "I don't know," she admitted.

"I do."

It was Shaggy who had spoken. Everyone looked up at him, confused.

"You do?" Velma couldn't help her surprised tone.

Shaggy nodded. "I uh…audited a Latin class last fall."

No one physically spoke, but the question was etched on everyone's faces: why?

Shaggy glanced around at his friends. "Like, do you guys remember last summer, when we went to Louisiana and we found that book on my family history?"

Fred nodded. The book in question had been discovered in Shaggy's great uncle Beauregard's library, and had been written entirely in Latin. Why that was the case, no one could say for sure. "Did you take the Latin class so you'd be able to read the book?"

Shaggy shrugged. "Like, sort of. But there was one phrase in the back of that book that stuck with me." He pointed to the grimoire in Daphne's hands. "It was that exact phrase. And there was a pentagram drawn next to it, too."

The blood drained from Daphne's face. "Wait a minute," she murmured. "I can understand a pentagram and a Latin phrase showing up in a spellbook. But why would it be in a family history book?"

"Like I have no idea," Shaggy replied.

"Why didn't you tell us about this last summer?" Velma asked.

Truthfully, Shaggy didn't really know that either. The whole time they'd spent in Louisiana last summer had been hard and strange and confusing. "I guess I like…wanted to forget about what happened there," he admitted.

Velma nodded. That was understandable, considering all the unsavory history Shaggy had discovered about his family.

"So what does the phrase mean?" asked Nova.

Shaggy pointed to the pentagram on the page. "Potestas Quinque translates to 'the power of five,'" he explained. "I think it like, must be talking about the pentagram."

Daphne nodded slowly. "They do have magical symbolism," she said. Then she looked up at Shaggy. "Maybe that's why it was in your family's history book. Maybe someone in your family has magic blood."

Shaggy stiffened. "You mean like Ben Ravencroft claims to have?" He did not want to be compared to that monster.

Velma waved an impatient hand. "That would indicate the true existence of magic blood, which we know doesn't exist."

Daphne held her tongue. Truthfully, she'd been starting to wonder about the existence of magic ever since Ravencroft had told them about places on Earth that possessed certain energies that made magic easier to perform. It reminded her a bit of the ley line that Brad, Judy, Ricky, and Cassidy claimed ran through Coolsville.

Instead, she just said, "If it's alright with you all, I think I'd like to keep this book."

Velma gestured toward her. "Be my guest. God knows I don't want it."

Scooby glanced at the grimoire. It seemed oddly coincidental that two different books they'd found over two different summers had been marked with the same symbol and Latin phrase. He pondered Ben Ravencroft's ominous parting words from the police station. He claimed that they would meet again, that they would need his help with something. Perhaps with this?

The idea made Scooby shiver involuntarily.

Shaggy noticed. "Like you okay, Scoob?"

Scooby nodded. "Just…rorried."

"Worried? Like, what about?"

Scooby just looked at Shaggy, and no further clarification was needed.

The gang were all worried about Ravencroft, and his promise that he would see them again sooner than they expected. None of them were eager to see that promise come to fruition.

Judy poked her head onto the porch from inside. "Ricky and Cassidy are here," she said. "Are you all ready to go?"

Fred nodded. "Yeah, we'll be right there." He waited till she was gone before he turned back to his friends. "Look at it this way, gang," he said. "We've already beaten him once. And that means we know that we can beat him again, if that's what it comes to. We're unstoppable when we work together."

He placed one hand on Velma's shoulder, laced Daphne's fingers through his other. He looked around at Shaggy, Scooby, and Nova, determination and resolve in his tone as he said:

"If anything is magic around here, it's us."

Sponge: And with that, the second installment of Terror Time is complete! Thank you for all your patience through my hectic updating schedule. I'll let you know when updates for Part 3 will begin, but it probably won't be till the winter. In the meantime, I appreciate all your support! Review if the mood strikes you, and have a lovely rest of the summer!