by Becket
“It is one of my favorite places,” Mr. Fuddlebee said giddily. “Trick-or-treating starts every sundown. That’s when every family gets their groceries. They stock their pantries and refrigerators full of chocolate bars, candy corn, cotton candy, and whatever else one might get. Candy for breakfast, candy for lunch, candy for dinner.”
Bernard and Beatrice both liked candy very much. But the idea of eating it every meal every day made them sick to their stomachs.
“Do they have dessert?” asked Beatrice.
“Cheese beer,” Mr. Fuddlebee said with a delighted smile. “It’s quite tasty, although the older brews smell like troll feet.”
Gideon trembled. He pointed a shaky finger at a warlock dressed as a computer scientist.
“He’s only dressed as one,” Gates told him. “I doubt he has viruses or bytes.”
Beatrice sighed. She loved Halloween. “I wish I’d brought a costume.”
“Oh, that can be easily arranged,” Mr. Fuddlebee told her.
Then he turned to Gates and asked if she happened to have her crinomatic.
“I do,” she said, taking it out of another pocket.
It was a silver device that looked like a compact mirror, except with lights and wires. It was a little bigger than her Gnostike Timepiece and mechomatic, yet it fit perfectly in the palm of her hand.
“Would you mind terribly providing a new outfit for the young lady?” he inquired.
Gates turned to Beatrice and held it before her.
“How do I use it?” asked Beatrice.
“What have you always wanted to wear?” asked Gates.
Beatrice thought for a moment.
“Cinderella’s gown,” she finally said.
Suddenly the crinomatic opened and out shone a bright blinding light that completely swallowed her.
“Hey, that tickles!” she said through her giggles.
The light disappeared a second later back inside the crinomatic.
Beatrice was now in a lovely blue dress and glass slippers. But it was not quite Cinderella’s gown. Several devices were strapped all over her. Many blinked around her waist. A few over her arms were gushing out steam. And one was zapping with electricity at her neck.
“This is what Cinderella wears today,” Gates told her.
“It is called Steampunk,” Mr. Fuddlebee added.
“I LOVE IT!” shrieked Beatrice, her face beaming with delight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Macabre Manor
Ahead, the street was teeming with Mystical Creatures. Werewolves and gnomes and goblins were riding in carriages. Ghosts and gremlins and skeletons were going in and out of shops. And several groups of phantoms were singing Halloween carols, like at Christmastime. Yet there were countless more, and they were all trick-or-treating!
Mr. Fuddlebee pointed his onbrella down the street. It buzzed and he studied the readouts on the handle.
“The Darkness is indeed heading toward old town.”
“What would he want there?” asked Beatrice.
“I’m not sure,” the elderly ghost answered in a far off tone, lost in thought.
Bernard tightened his grip on his mop handle sword and he fastened his space helmet tighter to his head.
“Let’s get him!”
He ran down the street and everyone followed, first Gideon Gizmo with Berkeley on his shoulders, followed by Gates and Beatrice holding hands, and last of all floated Mr. Fuddlebee, who was stroking his ghostly goatee thoughtfully and muttering to himself, “Does the Darkness desire the Heart of Halloween?”
Trick-or-Treat Street came to an end. There was an old Jack-o-Lantern house alone in the gloom surrounding it. It was much older than the Duchess’s house and as large as an old castle. Its pumpkin skin appeared to have petrified long ago. It was as hard as stone. On top were littler jack-o-lanterns stacked up in tall towers. The whole house was wrapped in dark vines with red flowers. And its face was carved into a skull with fangs.
“What is this place?” asked Bernard.
“It is the oldest house in Halloween Hollow,” answered Gates.
“What’s it called?” asked Beatrice.
“Macabre Manor,” said Mr. Fuddlebee.
“Is this where Halloween comes from?” asked Beatrice. Halloween was her favorite time of year.
“It is indeed, my dear,” Mr. Fuddlebee said, studying the house with his onbrella. “This house makes Halloween Magic.”
Dust was caked over the windows. Like all the other jack-o-lantern houses, the manor’s windows were its carved eyes and nose. Yet unlike the others, there was no fire lit within. The windows were black.
Mr. Fuddlebee frowned at his onbrella’s readouts.
“I fear it is full of the Darkness himself.”
They all peered through the windows, and could barely see something strange moving inside, like thick ripples in an ink pot.
“Is that the Darkness?” asked Beatrice in a trembling voice.
“It is,” said Gates.
“What’s he doing?” Bernard asked.
Gideon Gizmo beeped and whistled.
“Indeed my little friend,” Mr. Fuddlebee responded, “the Darkness could be looking for candy corn. However, I fear he might have other plans.”
“We have to stop him,” said Bernard.
Gideon beeped in agreement.
“All right,” said Mr. Fuddlebee, “let us all go inside the house quietly. We still have the element of surprise. Perhaps we can sneak up on the Darkness and stop him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Candy Cloud
Right before they went into the old jack-o-lantern manor, Gideon Gizmo whistled and beeped.
Mr. Fuddlebee gave him a questioning look. “What do you mean you see a cloud of candy?”
His question barely got out when he happened to notice the cloud behind him.
Everyone turned to look at it.
Floating in the air like a low-lying cloud were chocolate bars, bags of licorice, hard candy, and taffy. There were chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered caramel, and chocolate covered nougat. There was toffee, biscuits, cookies, and cookie sandwiches. And there were countless more sweet delights you might get on Halloween night.
“How did this happen?” asked Beatrice.
The question had barely left her mouth when she happened to notice Berkeley, still riding on Gideon Gizmo’s shoulders. The little toddler reached out, took one of the candies, unwrapped it, and ate it. She could tell this was not the first time he had done this. His whole mouth was smeared in chocolate.
A voice suddenly shouted at them. “That was my candy bar!”
At that moment the whole group realized what had happened. As they came down Trick-or-Treat Street, moving in between the thick crowd of trick-or-treaters, Berkeley had used the power of his mind to make all of their candy float out of their bags, through the air, and follow them all the way to Macabre Manor. The entire time Berkeley had been plucking the candy from the air and eating it.
Stealing Halloween candy was the most unlawful thing anyone could ever do in the hollow.
It made the crowd of trick-or-treaters furious. They were glaring and sneering and snarling at the six friends.
Mr. Fuddlebee studied them with his onbrella.
“Oh dear,” he said under his breath. “This does not look good.”
Beatrice swallowed with a dry throat.
“I have worked out the sum in my head. We have a one in a million chance of survival.”
“I would like to concur,” Gates said, “but the threat of being trampled by trick-or-treaters has frozen my thought processors. I must reboot.”
She shut down.
All at once, the mob snatched pieces of candy from the air and threw it at the six friends. Most of it passed right through Mr. Fuddlebee’s ghostly form, except the ecto-mints which tickled as they got stuck inside him like pennies in jello.
“Oh dear me,” he said as he chuckled, pulling the mints ou
t of his tummy, “stop that at once, I say. Just stop—oh dear, that tickles!”
The others were getting pelted pretty hard.
Berkeley made many candies float away, though he could not stop them all.
Several little chocolates splattered all over Gideon.
Bernard stood protectively in front of his sister. The candy hit his helmet, yet also pelted his back and left little welts.
Mr. Fuddlebee opened his onbrella and shielded the three Button children.
But poor Gates was left standing there like a statue while she rebooted. When she finally powered back on, she was not surprised to have caramel in her hair, toffee in her teeth, and she was sticky all over from a vicious barrage of lollipops. It was awful.
“Come on,” Mr. Fuddlebee shouted at them. “Let’s get into Macabre Manor! Quickly now!”
Gates took the Gnostike Timepiece out of her pocket, pressed a button, turned a dial, and unlocked the front door.
All six friends turned, opened the front door, and leaped in right when they were getting painfully peppered in a hailstorm of hard candy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Home of the Heart Box
Mr. Fuddlebee, Gates the zombie cyber girl, Gideon Gizmo the mechmage, and the three Button children stood up together.
The mob outside was shouting and banging on the door. They were about to burst in.
Gates once more pressed a button and turned a dial on the Gnostike Timepiece.
The front door locked with a click.
The mob shook the door and banged on it, but they were locked outside for now.
The elderly ghost held up his onbrella. “DIOS, please give us a little more light.”
A bright light came from the onbrella’s tip and shone throughout the house.
The floor and the walls were smooth and as hard as wood. The doors and tables were made of pumpkin seeds hammered together like metal plates. And the whole house smelled of pumpkin and spices, like a pumpkin pie. It was warm too, as if it had come fresh from the oven. But it was getting colder quickly.
Mr. Fuddlebee held his onbrella before him. Its light shone over everything like a torch. Gates accessed databanks to find the Darkness. Bernard held his broom handle tighter. Beatrice was remembering all the books she had read about survival. Gideon was weaving spells to protect and heal everyone. Berkeley saw a bowl of Halloween candy on a nearby table and made the sweets float into his mouth.
Slowly they walked through the manor, down a long curvy corridor. They passed many strange and wonderful rooms. Each room had a different door, and all the doors had different names. One door shaped like a coffin led to a room called Candice Mump’s Market of Coffins & Cough Syrup. Another door shaped like a cauldron led to a room called Kim Candelabra’s Candles, Cauldrons, & Cakes. And another door shaped like a lamp led to a room called Lidia Loonette’s Magic Lanterns. Another door led to the Steam Room and another led to the Wax Works Room. One door led to the Clocks Room and another led to the Box Room. Another door led to the Fun Room; another to the Pun Room; another to the Ice Cream Room; and another to the I Scream Room.
Gideon whistled, wondering which room they should look into first.
Gates could not locate the Darkness with her sensors.
“We could split up and each explore a room,” she suggested. “It would save time.”
“I agree,” said Bernard. “We need to catch him before he destroys the hollow and our home.”
“No, let us not separate,” Mr. Fuddlebee said decisively. “It might take us longer to find what we are looking for, but it is better to take our time together rather than be hasty and divided.”
“I agree,” said Beatrice. “We should stay together. We will be stronger in case the Darkness catches us by surprise.”
Gideon trembled at the thought of being caught alone by the Darkness. He looked at Gates and beeped at her.
“Yes,” she said coldly. “He will probably devour your bones, ball bearings, black magic, and everything else in between.”
Hearing this made Gideon Gizmo shake all over with fright. His parts rattled together like an old radiator.
“Let’s decide which room we’ll look into first,” Beatrice said. “Beginning is the best way to end fear.”
“Quite right,” said Mr. Fuddlebee with a cheerful smile. “And I suggest we look into that room there.”
He was pointing his onbrella toward a door shaped like a heart. It was called Home of the Heart Box.
They slowly opened the door.
The room was white. Each wall had shelves going up to the ceiling. And on each shelf were rows of red boxes in the shape of hearts. In almost every box were little heart-shaped chocolates. But in one was the Heart of Halloween.
Yet there was something else inside the room too. It was an inky swirl of black.
“The Darkness!” gasped the Button children.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Heart of Halloween
The Darkness was like a hurricane of ink. His black color swirled around and around. Things like octopus tentacles slithered out toward the heart shaped boxes. They snatched them off the shelves and searched inside.
Little chocolates went flying everywhere.
“What’s he looking for?” asked Bernard.
“I do not know,” said Gates.
“I fear I do,” said Mr. Fuddlebee.
Everyone stared at him.
“I regret that it has only come to me just now,” the elderly ghost went on. “I should have seen it sooner. Why did I not? The ghostliness of my mind must be getting a little too transparent.”
Gideon beeped a question.
“If the Darkness was bent on destroying Halloween,” Mr. Fuddlebee answered him, “he would have already begun devouring Macabre Manor and the hollow. Yet since he has done neither, and appears to be searching for something, the only logical conclusion is that he desires the hollow and the house whole and unharmed. He wants something inside it. And there is only one thing he could want.”
No one moved; none breathed. They all watched him expectantly.
“Well,” said Bernard at last, “what is it?”
“The Darkness is searching for the Heart of Halloween.”
A hush fell over the group while they thought about this.
Beatrice was the first to break the silence. “What is the Heart of Halloween?”
“It is the joy of dressing up in costume and going from house to house in search of sweet treats,” the elderly ghost said. “It is a very old custom because it is a very old heart. It has been beating for many centuries.”
“What will happen if he finds the Heart of Halloween?” asked Bernard.
“He will control the season,” answered Gates, who was starting to understand too.
“Halloween is a day on the calendar,” Bernard argued. “How could it be controlled?”
“If the Darkness were to destroy the Heart of Halloween,” Mr. Fuddlebee continued explaining, “he would also destroy the heart of trick-or-treating out of every boy and girl. And if that were destroyed too, then no one would want to celebrate Halloween anymore. And if no one wanted to celebrate it, everyone would soon forget about it. And as it was forgotten, the day of Halloween would slowly disappear from calendars.”
“But,” Gates added, “if the Darkness were to control the Heart of Halloween, then he would also control the spirit of trick-or-treating.”
A deep, horrible laughter came from the swirling mass of the Darkness. It sounded like thunder rumbling.
A black tentacle was clutching a box. Another tore the lid off, reached in, and pulled out a golden key.
The key looked very old with a beautiful gem at one end in the shape of a heart.
The Darkness’s laughter boomed with cruelty, shaking the house. His voice gurgled like boiling tar.
“I have found it. At long last. It is mine again.”
A third tentacle slithered out of the black mass. At the end of
it a hand took shape, and in the palm of the hand was a rectangular device, as small as a matchbox.
“My mechomatic!” cried Gates.
“The Armor of Darkness,” the Darkness said into it.
The mechomatic opened. Bright white light shone out. For a second it seemed as if the light had scattered the Darkness, but the light wrapped around him instead and clothed him in a mechanical suit of armor.
The light went back inside the mechomatic.
Now, standing before them was an enormous robotic warrior. Pipes and wires and gauges wrapped all around him. The rest was covered in weaponry. Down one arm was Iago’s Ink Rifle, another was Killjoy’s Steam Cannon, another was Edward’s Electricity Revolver. Down the other arm was Maniac Mandy’s Missile Launcher, Gary’s Ghastly Gook Gun, and Benjamin Bentback’s Badly Bewitched Bow & Arrow.
Atop all this was a helmet of glass. Inside it was a writhing mass of darkness. Through it all two eyes glowed and glared at the others.
Beatrice stepped forward, acting braver than she felt, and demanded, “Why do you want to control Halloween?”
The Darkness laughed at her, crueler than before.
“Who do you think made Halloween, little girl? I did. It’s mine. It was I, the Darkness, who first filled children’s heart with fear. My fear inspired them to fight fear with fear. They dressed in frightening costumes to scare me away. But nothing frightens me. They wound up scaring their neighbors instead. So their neighbors gave them sweets to keep them away from their houses. You see, Halloween began with me and it will end with me. It was my child. And now I want it back.”
The Darkness held up one arm of his mechanized armor. Bolts shot out from the electricity revolver.
One bolt struck Bernard and knocked him out of that room and into a room across the corridor called The Pumpkin Armory.
Beatrice turned to run after him, but another bolt struck her just as she was heading through the door. It knocked her down the hall into a small bookroom called The Lunatic Library.
