Project: Cecil Town

Chapter 8

The file folder and the papers in it caught fire. Mr. Binge dropped it as it fell to the ground. "Soon, Cecil Town will no longer be a ghost town. It will be home to the world's powerful leaders." The possessed father floated up into the air and emitted a strong white light. He disappeared after the flash of light dissipated. The file folder was completely destroyed. All that was left was one half of the burnt folder. All of the papers that were inside of it were nothing but blackened pieces of paper. "Oh no, what are we going to do now? My father is gone. We got to find him." Sonny said as he nearly started to cry. "We'll find your dad soon." Reggie's mom assured. "We don't really know what is going on here. And we need to figure out where Sonny's dad is." Mr. Binge declared as he sat down next to the fire circle.

"I really thought this town was not haunted. How could all of this be happening?" Mr. Binge implied while frustrated. Dennis sat down beside him. "Hey, I know you look at abandoned cities and villages and think that none of them are haunted." He spoke. "But how could this be? I really thought that this ghost town was not haunted. That's what the YouTubing group told me." Dennis went into the tent and brought out his dad's laptop and the book from the library. Dennis turned on the laptop. "If you're planning to use my own laptop to make me feel better, then you can show me some funny cat videos." Mr. Binge said still frustrated. Dennis found the video about the group of YouTubers proving that Cecil Town is not really haunted. He showed him the parts in the video where the ghosts were watching the YouTubers in the background. Mr. Binge had his mouth wide open. He stared hard at the spots where the ghosts appeared in the background. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" Dennis' dad queried. "Well, I thought you didn't believe me. I saw the mayor on the google earth picture of Cecil Town. He disappeared when you looked back at the google earth picture." Dennis answered. Mr. Binge covered his face with his hands. "Why didn't I see this before? I didn't remember seeing the ghosts in the background of the YouTube video." He said gently taking the laptop from Dennis' lap. "Dennis, remember that book that held onto from the library?" Zoey asked. Dennis looked at the book on his lap. This book had the title "A guide to strong spells". "Why did you take this book with you?" Bert questioned. "Maybe if the secret society was casting a spell, the book I took off the shelf might have the information that will help us to figure out what spell they used silly." Zoey said as she sat down at the campfire. The twin's mother prepared the group some supper. She was making some chicken noodle soup. Bert's dad helped to gather the last of the wood from the tree into the fire circle. Jill and Zoey's mom took a pot out from her suitcase. She opened three cans of soup using a pocketknife that Bert's dad had. Reggie's mom used some bottled water to help make the soup serve the entire group. The kids took a look at the book and tried to figure out what spell did the town's secret society used. There were many spells described in the book.

Reggie and Sonny took turned carefully flipping through the pages. "Wait a second. I think we found the spell." Bert exclaimed. "Where?" Sonny asked. Bert reached with his arm and flipped a few pages back. He pointed to a single spell on one page. The ultimate ghost spell. Dennis squinted and read through the spell. "That doesn't tell us a lot. All it tells us that it needs four jugs of a single soft drink, some electricity from a car battery, a homemade poster about obtaining great power, and a ghost town." Dennis said listing off the ingredients. "I think that's the spell that they want to cast. But they have to cast it in a cave of some kind." Bert spoke while pointing to the instructions. "I still don't get it Bert." Dennis stated confusingly. "Wait a minute, I think Bert might be on to something." Jill adduced as she read through what the spell does. "It says right here that it could make a powerful ghost that's indestructible." She continued. "That's a joke." Reggie said feeling skeptical. "There's no way you can make an indestructible ghost. Besides these are just ghosts we are talking about. How could they make a powerful ghost?" He asked nearly laughing. "Hold everything. Does that say requiring another spell to be cast in order to work?" Sonny questioned as he looked at the top of the page. Dennis noticed that the other spell that was needed to be cast was a spell called Power gathering. Reggie carefully turned the pages until they found the page about the power gathering spell. "This spell can turns any human into a powerful warlord or wizard. A power that will help you to conquer the world in a matter of days..." Jill read out loud. "Now that's sounds bad." Bert said. "A society is required to cast this spell. You need to have ten members that will agree to make this unique magic work. This spell should not be known to the people of the towns that you are living in. Otherwise the side effect is going to be a horrible result for you." He read out loud. "What's the horrible result?" Dennis queried. Reggie looked at him and the other friends. "You will be turned into a ghost and the town that is closest to where the spell is cast will be cursed to be left abandoned. So, I think this is the spell that the secret society wanted to use." Reggie stated. "So, why didn't it work?" Sonny asked him. "Maybe because the spell somehow required an extra ingredient that the secret society forgot to include in the spell." Bert thought pointing at the ingredient list.

The kids all looked at the ingredient list. There were three things required. Ten members that are a part of a secret society, a pouch filled with rare gemstone dust, and even a requirement for the spell to be cast in a cave. "That's where the society messed up." Bert said as he pointed to the requirement of the cave. "So, you're thinking that the secret society wanted to use the spell and it somehow backfired because they were not in a cave. What makes you think that?" Sonny questioned. "Is there a place in town that would look like a cave?" Bert asked. "Nowhere." Reggie answered. "I think Bert is thinking about the old mine not far from Cecil Town. I remembered that there was a mine on the map. The only way to get to the mine is to go and find a road called "Lonely mine road". Then we would have to follow it until we reach the mine." Dennis said. "Why would they want my dad?" Sonny asked. "Something doesn't add up. They wouldn't take him away for nothing would they?" "Sonny's right. I think there something we are missing here. Why would Sonny's dad would be taken away? There must be a different spell they might be using. I think we just found the wrong spell." Jill said. Reggie turned the pages back to the first spell. "Wait a minute. What's this?" Sonny said pointing at the other page next to the first spell. It was called "The super ultimate ghost spell". "This spell can turn all ghostly members of a secret society into powerful ghosts." Reggie read out loud. This spell had the exact same requirements as the ultimate ghost spell except the only other requirement is that all of the members of the secret society be present when the spell is going to be cast.

"That's it! The mayor wants to turn himself and the members of the secret society into "Ultimate ghosts"." Dennis said. "Yeah, then he could try and take over the land." Zoey added. "Wait a minute. I still do not understand how my dad is going to help these creeps into completing the spell. My great grandfather is dead. And he is the only one who is one of the members of this secret society. My grandfather lived in a different town with my great grandpa and my great grandma, after Cecil Town was abandoned. There's no way that the evil Mayor would cast this spell and make everybody into ultimate ghosts." Sonny pointed out. "Well, he must have left the secret society and moved out of Cecil Town for a reason." Bert spoke. "If only my great grandfather were here, he would tell us what's going on here. And I just want my dad back." Sonny said feeling sad. "Calm down Sonny. We at least know what is going on in town. It was abandoned as a result of the spell." Zoey reasoned with him. "But what about the ghosts of all these townspeople from the video. Are they illusions that Mayor Harold created?" Mr. Binge asked joining the conversation. Zoey read through what the curse of the ghost town is from the power gatherer spell. It not only forces the town to be abandoned, but some of the people who lived there might become ghosts. "Here the answer Mr. Binge." Zoey declared as she showed the page to him and the curse of the ghost town. He read through the consequence of what happened when the spell is not done properly. "Very nice find. I think we nearly got all of the pieces together." He spoke. Bert's dad fell to the ground. He was shaking and was pointing to something in the air. "Run kids! There is a ghost right there. And she doesn't look to happy." Bert's dad said as he moved away. Dennis saw the ghost. She stared at the group. Within a flash, she swooped down and grabbed the book about spells from the ground. "Hey, give that back." Reggie said angrily. The ghost looked back at Reggie and scowled at him. Then a skeletal face appeared on her face. Then her face was back to her ghostly human face. "I'm here to take back what you stole. Cecil Town is not welcome to the outside world. Go away, and never return." She told the group while disappearing in a flash of white light. Dennis and Sonny helped Bert's dad back on his feet. "Now we lost the only piece of information that will help us figure out what these ghosts are up to." Mr. Binge said as he sat on the ground hopelessly.