A Twisted Halloween: Terror is Trending

Chapter 2: Not Putting the Genie Back

Deuce and Cater act fast and use the wind spell that will float the visitors away and out of the botanical gardens. No one is harmed and the visitors have a blast. One the situation is done, Deuce and Cater meet up with Riddle and the others.

Deuce says, "We actually got the guests out of the door without hurting them."

"Whew. they're finally gone. I was getting pretty worried," Ace says, exhausted.

"What happened here?" Cater asks.

"Well..." Trey begins to explain.

But Riddle interrupts them, "They were PICKING the precious magical plants we grow in the botanical garden flower beds! They said, and I quote: 'The flowers are totes pretty! I wanna put some in my hair and post a selfie to Magicam.' Of all the frivolous reasons!"

Then angrily says, "Can you believe anyone would treat rare and valuable plants for potion - making that way? And by the way, rule 228 states that 'flowers in gardens must never be picked on Wednesdays'. That makes this an even More egregious violation of the rules!"

"Okay, yeah, picking flowers without permission would be pretty unacceptable to most people... But it's not fair to hold them to the dorm's standards, Housewarden. Laypeople aren't gonna know the rules," Ace says.

And Riddle becomes offended, "Not know the rules?! Of such an esteemed house? I don't expect everyone to know all 810 rules by heart, but people should know at least a hundred of them. At LEAST."

"Uhhh..." Cater says.

Deuce softly says, "I haven't even memorized a hundred yet..."

"So anyway, now you guys can see why we were about to be in so deep doo-doo," Ace says. "The visitors got a kick out of it, which made Riddle more angry, which then egged them on... and it just kept going."

"In Riddle's defense, he was exercising a lot of restraint. He knew he was dealing with guests. But they just wouldn't listen. If Riddle was oil, they were water," Trey says.

"Ah, I getcha. That must've been rough," Cater replies.

Then Riddle apologizes, "I'm sorry for putting you all in that position. Thank you for stopping me when you did."

"But seriously, what's wrong with those people?" Deuce questions with a frown.

Then asks, "Cater, do you know anything about this? And what's the deal with the security system?"

"The professors had a little run-in of their own with some visitors. Here's the deet..." Cater says, and explains the details of the situation.

Moments later, Cater has explained the situation and it's understood.

"Ah, now I get it," Deuce says, "Magicam Monsters with complete Magicam tunnel vision."

"A fitting name for them. I have a feeling it'll spread to the other dorms in no time," Riddle says.

"I'm just shocked that anyone would shrug off warnings from our professors. Those guys are intimidating!" Ace says.

"I imagine the professors were still getting a handle on the situation themselves," Riddles says.

"Boy..." Cater says. "I know this is gonna sound like 20/20 hindsight, but I had a feeling this was coming."

"What?" The Heartslabyul students reply in shock.

Cater explains, "There's a lot of Magicammers out there who'll do ANYTHING for more likes. Now that Night Raven College has become a hot spot for Halloween pics... we'd better start expecting more like-chasing folks of all stripes to come running."

"So they don't care how much trouble they cause for others, as long as it gets them clout?!" Deuce asks, stunned.

"They're probably so fixated on their own fun that it doesn't even occur to them that they're making a nuisance of themselves. They've already jumped through all the transportation hoops needed to reach Night Raven College to start with, right? So now they're determined to make the most of the trip. They're invested." Cater says.

"Sheesh..." Deuce replies.

"The kicker is that once something's gone viral, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle," Cater says, and holds out his phone.

Then puts his phone away with a frown, "I think our guests will still mainly be people just here to have a good time over Halloween... But Magicam Monsters are only gonna multiply from here."

"Do you think the other dorms are having similar issues?" Riddle asks.

"Yeah..." Cater answers. "I have a feeling things are getting out of hand all over."