The next morning, they were awoken by the smell of breakfast wafting through the air. The sunlight streaming through the castle windows cast a warm glow over everything. Lana yawned and stretched, feeling more refreshed than she had in days. Lola, already up, was brushing her hair with a determined look on her face.
"Come on, sleepyhead," Lola teased. "Angus said breakfast is ready, and we've got more work to do today."
Lana grinned, throwing off her blankets and joining her sister. They quickly dressed and headed to the dining hall, where Angus had prepared a hearty Scottish breakfast for them—eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, and a stack of pancakes that would make anyone's mouth water.
"Good mornin', lassies," Angus greeted them warmly as they sat down. "Ye'll be needin' your strength today. While ye were sleepin', I noticed something troubling."
Lana, taking a big bite of her pancake, tilted her head. "What's that?"
Angus's expression darkened slightly. "The door to the courtyard opened after I gave it twelve Power Stars, but somethin' strange happened. Ghosts, lassies. Boos, to be exact, have invaded the courtyard."
Lola paused, her fork midway to her mouth. "Boos? As in ghosts?"
"Aye," Angus confirmed. "The courtyard's been swarming with 'em ever since. They seem to have some kind of hold over the area, and I reckon they won't leave until they're dealt with."
Lana and Lola exchanged a glance, both knowing what had to be done. "Looks like we'll be paying those Boos a visit," Lana said, finishing her breakfast quickly. "We'll get rid of them, don't worry."
Angus nodded appreciatively. "I knew I could count on ye both. Just be careful. Boos are tricky, sneaky creatures. They'll disappear if you look directly at them, but turn your back, and they'll come right for ye."
Lola smiled confidently. "We've got this."
After finishing their breakfast, the twins grabbed their equipment and headed out to the courtyard. As soon as they stepped outside, they could feel a chill in the air, one that hadn't been there before. The courtyard was eerily quiet, save for the low, ghostly laughter that seemed to echo from all directions.
"There they are," Lana said, pointing toward the center of the courtyard, where several Boos were floating around aimlessly. One of the Boos, larger than the rest, had a strange cage within its body, and the image of a small mansion could be seen inside the cage.
Lola frowned. "That must be where they're all coming from."
The twins approached cautiously, but as soon as they got close, the Boos turned and floated toward them, their ghostly forms flickering in and out of sight. Remembering what Angus had said, the girls quickly learned that the Boos could only be defeated when their backs were turned. Lana distracted one Boo while Lola approached it from behind, delivering a swift hit to make it disappear in a puff of smoke.
"That wasn't too bad," Lana said, grinning.
"Let's take them all out," Lola replied, her eyes scanning the courtyard for the remaining Boos.
The twins worked together to defeat the rest of the Boos, taking turns distracting and attacking. Once the final Boo was defeated, the large Boo with the cage floated toward them. As the twins approached, the cage began to glow, and before they knew it, they were shrinking down and being sucked inside.
When the world stopped spinning, Lana and Lola found themselves standing in front of a large, three-story mansion. The eerie atmosphere of the courtyard seemed to pale in comparison to the haunted energy radiating from this place. Behind them was a small shack, but their focus remained on the mansion.
"This has to be where the Boos are coming from," Lana said, eyeing the looming structure. "We need to take them out before they can cause any more trouble."
Lola nodded. "Let's split up again. I'll check out that shack after we handle the mansion."
With a plan in place, the twins approached the mansion. As they stepped through the creaky doors, the faint sound of ghostly laughter echoed throughout the halls. They could feel the presence of the Boos watching them.
The first floor of the mansion was filled with twisting corridors and hidden doors. The twins methodically searched each room, defeating the Boos they encountered. One Boo was hiding near the back entrance, while another floated aimlessly in the room to the left. A third Boo was found in a room on the right side of the mansion, lurking near a pile of overturned furniture.
As they continued their search, the twins realized that they had defeated four Boos so far. Just as they began to wonder where the last one was, they found it floating near the falling bridge in the mansion's lobby. After defeating it, the room suddenly grew still.
Unexpectedly, the Big Boo appeared in the center of the lobby, its size dwarfing the other Boos. It cackled menacingly, floating toward the twins with surprising speed.
"This one's bigger, but it's still a Boo," Lola said confidently. "Same strategy as before—distract and attack."
The Big Boo, however, was more cunning than the others. It darted in and out of sight, forcing the twins to stay on their toes. Lana managed to get behind it and land the first hit, but it took three hits to finally bring the Big Boo down. With a final, echoing laugh, the ghost burst into a cloud of smoke, and a Power Star appeared on the second floor.
As the staircase rose from the floor, the twins exchanged a quick smile and ran up to collect the Power Star. "Another one down," Lana said, holding the glowing star in her hand.
"We're on a roll," Lola replied. "I'm going to check out that shack now. Maybe there's another Power Star hidden there."
Lana nodded. "Good idea. I'll keep looking around the mansion, just in case."
Lola left the mansion and approached the shack behind it. The rickety door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit room with an eerie stillness to it. In the center of the room stood a strange creature—a Mr. I. Its single eye swiveled toward her as she stepped inside.
"Well, this is creepy," Lola muttered, but she was undeterred.
There was also an elevator in the room, which Lola took down to a large water-filled hallway. The eerie sound of water dripping echoed in the passage as she made her way down the hall. At the end of the corridor, she found a door that led into another section of the shack, and through this door, she entered a hallway that eventually led to a large, circular room.
This room, to Lola's surprise, housed a merry-go-round, and as soon as she stepped inside, the platform began to spin. Music began playing, eerie and off-key, as Boos began pouring out from the portraits on the walls. Lola readied herself, dodging the flamethrower that was spitting bursts of fire from the center of the room.
One by one, she defeated the Boos as they appeared in pairs, keeping herself light on her feet to avoid both the ghosts and the flames. Once all the Boos were defeated, the music grew louder, and a larger Boo—clearly another Big Boo—emerged from the center of the merry-go-round.
"Alright, big guy," Lola muttered, charging at the Big Boo.
Just like in the mansion, the Big Boo took three hits to defeat. After landing the final blow, the merry-go-round stopped spinning, and a Power Star materialized in the air above her. Lola grabbed it.
"That's two for us," she said to herself with a grin.
With the Power Star in hand, Lola made her way back to the mansion, ready to regroup with her sister and continue collecting the stars.
Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Lana made her way through the eerie second floor, the faint creaks and groans of the old building echoing around her. Her Power Star detector was buzzing lightly in her hand, pointing toward the far-right room of the second floor. She cautiously approached the door, pushing it open to reveal a dimly lit room with a tilting platform suspended over a pit and a few floating Bookends. The Bookends, ghostly books with sharp teeth, flapped menacingly toward her as she stepped into the room.
"Not today," Lana muttered, expertly dodging the flying books by ducking under one and leaping over another as she crossed the tilting platform. Her balance remained steady as the platform shifted beneath her, but she reached the other side of the room with ease.
On the opposite wall was another door. Lana pushed through it, finding herself in a small, isolated room with a single glowing blue block in the center. Her curiosity piqued, she approached the block and gave it a solid punch, shattering it into pieces. From the rubble, a shimmering, transparent cap appeared.
Lana raised an eyebrow, picking up the cap and placing it on her head. Almost instantly, her body began to fade, becoming invisible before her very eyes. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, realizing that she had acquired some kind of invisibility power-up, similar to the wings Lola had found on her cap during one of their earlier adventures.
Testing her new ability, Lana stepped back into the previous room, her now invisible form making her impossible to detect by the enemies within. "I bet there's something hidden up there," she mused, looking up toward a door high above the tilting platform. She hadn't been able to reach it before, but with her newfound invisibility, she felt a surge of confidence.
Using her agility, Lana leapt up onto the ledge and made her way to the door above. She quickly unlocked it and slipped through, entering a small hidden chamber that had been tucked away behind a portrait of a Boo. The room had an air of secrecy to it, and Lana's instincts told her she was on the right track.
In the center of the room stood a large creature—a Big Mr. I, a giant, floating eyeball that tracked her every movement, even while she was invisible. It stared at her unblinking, its single eye following her as she moved cautiously around the room. Lana thinks they could be defeated by confusing them, making them spin until they shrank and die.
"Alright, let's see if this works," Lana said to herself, starting to run in a wide circle around the Big Mr. I. Sure enough, the creature's eye began to spin in its socket, trying desperately to keep up with her. The more she ran, the faster it spun, until finally, with a dizzying whirl, it shrank and vanished in a puff of smoke.
As the smoke cleared, a shimmering Power Star materialized in the middle of the room. "Yes!" Lana cheered, racing forward to collect the star. The warm glow of the Power Star filled her with energy, and she felt a renewed sense of determination.
With the Power Star in hand, Lana headed back through the mansion, retracing her steps to the main floor. As she made her way down the creaky staircase, she spotted Lola waiting for her in the lobby, looking equally triumphant.
"Looks like you found another one," Lola said with a grin as she saw the glowing star in Lana's hand.
"Yep, and I'm guessing you did too?" Lana asked, noticing the star Lola was holding as well.
"Sure did," Lola replied. "Took care of some Boos in a creepy merry-go-round."
Lana chuckled. "Of course you did."
The twins exchanged a look of satisfaction before Lana pulled out her Power Star detector again. The screen buzzed to life, displaying the locations of the remaining Power Stars in the mansion. "Looks like there are still two more stars hidden here," Lana said, tapping the screen.
"Alright," Lola said, stretching her arms. "We're not done yet."