Halloween 2019: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 7
Mid-run, you realize there’s really nothing you especially need to do. You know Jim, and trust him to come through when it’s important. Sure enough, just as Jim is nearing the Phantom Phone, he skids to a halt, tumbling over on top of himself yet somehow emerging right-side up, torso stuffed down into his bag.
“Come on… come on… I know I have the perfect homeshine to pour in that thing.”
Just as you trusted, Jim does the go-to signature move: his own damn thing. In this case, it allows you to easily jog past, scooping up the phone from the pedestal. There’s a tingle along your hand when you touch it, so brief you could convince yourself it was imaginary under different circumstances. Reaching your other hand down, you offer Jim help getting back to his feet.
“Look at that folks, down to the wire and a surprise at the end. Let’s have a big round for Frankie’s test subjects, and my triumphant scientists.” Styne quickly blocks Jim from general view, her large lab-coat flaring out before anyone can see his next set of antics. The crowd applauds politely as a helper hands you a Pristine Point bill with a 10 in the corners. Counting Thad’s split, and your prior winnings, that takes your total up to 26. A big spike after this event, but not the sort of number that guarantees claiming that trophy.
Slowly, the crowd filters off the stage, leaving you, Thad, and Jim, who finally rises out of the bag with some sort of blue gel smeared across his lips and nose. “What were we doing? Oh, hell yes, costumes, we up to some Halloween fun tonight?”
Thad looks at you with concern, but you wave him off. “Happens occasionally, he usually catches up to his memories after a few minutes.” Jim finally accepts your hand and you haul your roomate up, steadying him before he can go sailing over the edge. By the time you and Thad have walked him to the bottom of the stairs, Victoria is there waiting.
She seems visibly off, even leaning against the side of the stage as she rests. You hurriedly shove the Phantom Phone into her hands. As with the spider, that touch of dangerous magic invigorates Victoria, perking her up the instant she makes contact. Shaking off the fatigue, Victoria assesses the influx of Pristine Points from you and Thad, adding them to your considerable haul and tucking it all away into one of those evidently endless pockets. If she’s using magic, she can’t be entirely drained yet, you hope.
“Well done. This puts our chances of winning the trophy in reach.” Victoria walks away from the stage, and the remaining people milling about, over to a lone dark patch under a burned-out bulb, a shady oasis amidst the well-lit surroundings. This places really gone all out to strip the spooky from Halloween, there weren’t even proper shadowy spots for lurking built in.
As Victoria leads the way, Thad hangs back with you slightly. “I know I’m the new guy and everything, not trying to talk out of turn, but is there something we should be doing for her? It’s like she’s got some kind of intermittent heat stroke, a type that’s getting worse.”
The question isn’t entirely off-base, the longer you’re in this festival the more it’s effecting Victoria. But you already know what she’d say at even the proposal of leaving. This was magic on her family’s turf, on Halloween of all nights. No way she’s leaving without that trophy in hand.
“Our best bet is to get this won and done,” you reply. “Once it’s finished and we’re back in a proper scary setting, she’ll bounce right back.” Since you don’t actually know that, the statement makes you either a liar or an optimist, depending on how things actually turn out.
Thad doesn’t question it, merely takes the order with a nod and speeds back up, arriving in the patch of darkness just as Victoria stops. Not far off is a winding path, leading to an unexplored section of the festival. You don’t know for sure what’s happening, but you can definitely catch the sound of music when the wind blows just right.
A few feet over, where the light still shines, you all can make out another event schedule, they did an exceptional job of getting these posted all over. Really, whoever put the whole event together deserves commendation, if the environment weren’t actively weakening one of your friends, you might be enjoying yourself. Although after this long, the cutesiness is starting to wear on you as well.
“Given the youthful audience of this event, it appears they’ll be wrapping things up soon,” Victoria reads from the posting. “We have time for perhaps one more serious endeavor if we want to maximize our Pristine Point total. While that last event was lucrative, it also took quite a fair chunk of evening. I spy a costume contest not far in the future. Considering the overall level of competition here, that should be winnable.”
You almost wince at the mention of a costume contest, memories from your first year together bubbling up. Chances seem pretty slim this will also involve everyone turning into what they dressed as, but at least you planned for the occasion if it does head that route.
“I could try to rack up more midway points,” Thad offers. “We were on a good pace there, plus it gives everyone else a chance to rest.” He catches your eyes, unfortunately Victoria notices the exchange as well.
“If that’s our most productive path, then so be it, but do not dare undermine our task out of some misplaced concern for my well-being.” Victoria pulls herself up to full height, a touch of the usual terror rearing in her eyes. “I am a descendant of the Willowbrook family, it will take far more than this to slay me.”
While they were talking, Jim has tilted his head to the side and started looking down the winding path. “Either those pickled mushrooms are coming around again, or I hear music. Sounds rising from a mysterious source, that seems like a hidden event to me. Let’s go see what’s going on.” You have no idea is memory is back or not, but at least he’s making suggestion germane to the topic. Assuming that wasn’t coincidence, anyway.
No truly bad options in the bunch, guess you’ll have to decide what strikes your fancy.