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“Wow!” Kel cheered “What a haul!”
The group of six had just returned from trick-or-treating. Kel, Aubrey, Basil and Sunny sat on the floor of Basil’s house, divvying up candy.
“Ew!” Aubrey stuck out her tongue as she held up a packet of neon orange plastic.
“Wow” Hero whistled “I didn’t know they made Orange Joe candies.”
“Orange Joe?!” Kel yelled “GIMME!”
“Only if you make it worth my while” Aubrey smiled.
“Um… I’ll trade you this strawberry taffy for it…”
“Give me both of your strawberry taffies, and the orange stuff is yours” the young witch girl grinned.
“This is egg-torture!” the pumpkin boy grumbled.
“I think you mean extortion” Basil said.
“Yeah, that!”
“Oops, candy tax!” Mari laughed as she grabbed a handful of treats from the pile.
“Hey” Sunny protested.
“Sorry little brother, rules are rules. We babysit you, we get some of your candy” the cat girl grinned. Kel looked to his brother in questioningly.
“It’s only fair, Kel” the superhero shrugged and chuckled.
“This was the most fun Halloween I’ve ever had!” Aubrey said “Look, Mari! Isn’t my costume so cute?” she spun around.
“The cutest witch ever!” Mari clapped “and the cutest mummy, and the cutest angel, and the cutest pumpkin… and the cutest hero…” she sidled up to Hero.
“A-and the cutest cat” Hero stammered, blushing.
“Thanks so much for helping out with my costume!” Aubrey grabbed Basil’s hands.
“Of course!” Basil smiled “I’m really glad that antique worked out as a wand!”
“Where did you find that, anyway?” Hero asked.
“It was in a trunk in the attic. I think it’s from before grandma’s parents came here from Europe!”
“Wow. You sure it’s okay for Aubrey to be carrying that around?” Mari asked.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” Aubrey pouted.
“No, it’s just…” Mari shook her head, then rubbed her eyes. “Wait… was… was it always glowing?”
Then a blinding light filled everyone’s vision.
“Ugh” Aubrey rubbed her eyes. “What was that?”
“I don’t know, but it sure was bright… wait… where are my hands?” Kel asked. The light cleared away, and everyone gasped. Kel was no longer an energetic twelve year old, instead a living jack-o-lantern stood in his place, staring at vine-like tendrils where his hands had been.
“K-Kel? What happened?” Aubrey asked. Then the young girl looked around. “Sunny? Basil? Hero? Mari?”
“BE NOT AFRAID” came a booming voice behind her. Aubrey’s hair stood on end. She slowly turned around to see Basil floating in the air, surrounded by golden, luminescent rings. Each ring was covered in unblinking eyeballs. Then another figure lurched out from behind the couch. A rotting corpse covered in bandages. It opened its mouth and spoke something in an unintelligible language.
“A-are those Sunny and Basil?” Kel wrapped his vines around Aubrey. The mummy sat down at the candy pile.
“I… I guess he just wants candy?” Aubrey said. Sunny grabbed a caramel bar and held it out to Kel. He spoke again, but the words meant nothing.
“What are you saying?” Aubrey asked “We don’t understand you, Sunny!”
“HE SPEAKETH THE TONGUE OF PHAROAHS” Basil said.
“That doesn’t make any more sense than what Sunny was saying!” Kel said.
“He means Sunny’s speaking ancient Egyptian” Hero’s voice came from behind – and above -them. The children turned around to see Hero hovering a good five feet above the floor, his cape fluttering dramatically despite the lack of wind in the house.
“Hero!” Kel cried in joy “What happened?”
“Where’s Mari?” Aubrey asked. Hero sighed and gestured to the ground, where a black cat crawled out of Mari’s empty clothes.
“Meow”
“WE HATH BECOME ONE WITH OUR MUMMERIES” Basil said.
“…What?”
“He means we’ve been turned into whatever our costumes are… I think” Hero said.
“This is awful!” Kel whined “I’ll never be a professional basketball player like this!”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Aubrey asked incredulously.
The cat that had been Mari nuzzled up to Sunny. The mummy started petting his cat sister. Mari reached her paw out for a piece of chocolate.
“Mari!” Hero said “chocolate is bad for cats!”
Mari turned and hissed at Hero.
“Great… my girlfriend is a cat, my brother is a pumpkin, and his friends are a mummy, an angel, and…”
“Wait, what did I change into?” Aubrey asked “I don’t feel any different.”
“You don’t look different… but if we’re all what we dressed as, you must be…”
“A witch!” Aubrey’s eyes widened “Oh no! Do you think I did this?!” the young girl began tearing up.
“Hey, it’s okay” Hero patted Aubrey on the back, trying to be reassuring.
“N-no it’s not! What if this is forever! You can’t marry Mari if she’s a cat!”
“Well, that… er… I mean… that’s a long way off anyway…” Hero stammered.
“And now Kel is always going to be a gross color!” Aubrey sniffed “And Sunny can’t speak English anymore, and Basil…”
“I HATH TRANSCENDED THE MORTAL FORM”
“Not helping, Basil” Hero sighed. “Look, it’s not your fault, but if you’re a witch now, maybe you can fix it!”
Aubrey’s eyes lit up. “You’re right! Don’t worry everyone! I’ll have you all back to normal in no time!”
Aubrey grabbed the wand off the table and waved it. Nothing happened.
“Maybe there’s a magic word?” Kel said.
“Right! Uh… abracadabra!”
Nothing.
“Hocus Pocus!”
Nothing.
“Bibity Bobity Boo!”
Nothing.
After a half hour of brainstorming, they were no closer to undoing whatever magic had turned them into their costumes. A crumbled sheet of paper lay on the floor with two dozen magic words, each crossed out.
“It’s hopeless!” Aubrey sighed.
“ABANDON NOT THINE HOPE”
“No, it is! Y-you’re all going to be like this forever, and it’s all my fault!” Aubrey started crying again. Mari rubbed herself against Aubrey’s leg and purred, as if trying to comfort the girl.
“Oh, Mari… I’m so sorry… now you’ll never be a famous pianist… or marry Hero… or go to college… or adopt me…”
“Wait, what was that last one?” Hero asked.
“HARK! METHUSELAH APPROACHETH”
“What does that even mean?!” Kel whined.
Then, the front door opened.
“Basil, honey? Are you home? Did you have fun with your… friends…” Basil’s grandmother stared at the chaos in front of her.
“Basil… did you go into your great-grandma’s trunk in the attic?”
“LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE”
“Granny!” Aubrey ran to the older woman in tears “I don’t know what to do! I waved the wand Basil found and then… then everything got real bright, and then all my friends were… were like this!”
“There, there, dearie” Basil’s grandmother cooed. “It’s not too hard of a spell to remove.”
“What?” everyone looked at the old woman.
“Oh, our family has its secrets” she put a finger up to her lips. “Where’s the wand now, child?”
Aubrey handed the wand to Basil’s grandmother. The old woman held it up and analyzed it in the light. “Well, good news for you all” she said “looks like there’s enough magic in here to undo this whole mess.”
“Really?!” Aubrey cheered. The old woman nodded. She waved the wand, then a bright flash filled the room.
“Hey! I have arms again!” Kel said. A loud crash came from near the young boy as his older brother fell out of the air, crashing onto the floor.
“Ow…” Hero rubbed his hindquarters.
“What… what was that?” Basil asked, rubbing his forehead “Why do I feel so weird?”
“Dunno” Sunny shrugged before reaching for the candy pile again.
“Sunny! Basil! You’re okay!” Aubrey and Kel rushed to embrace their friends.
“That was so scary!” Kel cried.
“I knew it was all going to be fine” Aubrey said.
“You liar! You were the scarediest of us all!”
“Scarediest isn’t a word, Kel!”
“Maybe we can use the wand to make Kel a little smarter?” Basil said.
“Ooh, or taller! Mrs Wedgewood! Can you make me taller?!”
“Hmm…” the old woman smiled “I think it’s best if we put this away for a long, long time. And Basil… no more snooping on that box, okay?”
“Okay, grandma” Basil sighed.
“Wait, where’s Mari?” Hero asked.
A coughing sound from behind the couch answered his question. “Mari!” Hero cried.
“Stay back” Mari hissed. “Everyone needs to stay waaaaay back from this couch, alright? Especially Hero!”
Everyone’s eyes went to Mari’s discarded clothing, still laying on the floor from when the spell had been cast. Basil’s grandmother threw a blanket over to the girl. Mari thanked her, and a moment later stood before them, the blanket wrapped around her body. Hero’s face was a shade of red he hadn’t known it could achieve. Mari grabbed her clothes and ran for the bathroom to change.
“Whew” she said as she returned to her blushing boyfriend “that was… intense…”
“When you were the cat, were you still… you?” Sunny asked.
“I think so? It was… weird. You know, I’ve always wanted to be a cat. Not so sure it lived up to my expectations.”
“Thank you so much for fixing all of this!” Aubrey turned to Mrs Wedgewood.
“Oh, it’s not a problem dearies. But… there is one thing… this spell has a price…”
“A price?” Mari’s face went pale “What do you mean?”
“A dreadful, terrible price” the old woman continued.
“What is it?!” Basil cried.
“I need… half of your remaining Halloween candy… to replenish my energy…” she laughed.
“Whaaaat! That… that’s-“
“Or I could make you a pumpkin again.”
Kel grumbled as he handed his treat bag to Basil’s grandmother.
“Wow. What a night” Hero sighed as they left Basil’s house. “I… I think I’ll leave that last part out when I report to my parents.”
“Me too” Mari said. “Though I was kind of hoping a kiss might have fixed everything back there.”
“Uh… I mean… Um…”
“This is where you say ‘we can see if it works now’, Hero” Mari rolled her eyes “god, you need to work on your flirting skills.”
“I- are we in the kissing part of our relationship now?” Hero blushed “We only just started dating-“
“-Over the summer” Mari said “I think it’s been long enough.”
“Uh, well, I guess…”
“HERO! MARI! Stop being gross and walk us home!” Kel yelled. The two teenagers laughed.
“Looks like we’ll have to wait on that kiss” said Hero.
“Hopefully not too long” Mari purred.