Our Town of Halloween | Halloweentown ❥ Ethan

𝟎𝟔: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝

"What?" asked Marnie. She looked around, "There are no windows, either." It sounded like Luke was trying the door again.

Maisie tried not to panic because there had to be a way out. Something they hadn't thought of. The door was probably locked by magic – Kal, no doubt, knew that they were in Gort's and trapped them in with magic.

"Grandma, you gotta do something," Marnie told Aggie.

Aggie looked terrified, "Oh, dear. Oh, I can't. The gray spell must be draining our powers." Her face turned gray.

"Right again, Agatha," Kal's voice said from somewhere. Maisie looked around and spotted the fireplace, where Kal's face appeared in the fire. Kal laughed, "You see, at this point, I could keep you people in here with a toothpick."

"Grandma was right," Marnie said, stepping up to the fireplace. "You've been spying on us this whole time."

"Oh, I didn't need too," Kal said. "You see, I already knew about Aggie's little spell book. That's why I knew you'd end up at Gort's."

"How could you?" asked Aggie. "I lost that book before you were born."

"So, Marnie," Kal said, focusing on Marnie, "Have you thought any more about going to the party? I mean, everyone's gonna be there. Even your mom."

Maisie scoffed, "You're lying because my mom hates Halloween."

"Oh, I think my dad got her into the spirit," Kal said.

"Your dad?" asked Maisie. "Oh, you mean your fake dad?"

"Yeah, he's more of a science experiment," Kal explained. "But he got her into a really ugly mask. It's a scream."

"You know, this is not the way to talk me into a date," Marnie said.

"This is more than a date. This is our future together," Kal replied.

"I'm in control of my own future," Marnie said. "And it doesn't include you."

That must've angered Kal because the flames on the fireplace got hire and his face disappeared.

Maisie was positive that wherever Kal was, he probably let out a scream of rage and threw some things around with his magic, because his little ego got hurt by Marnie.

"Creature spell," Aggie stated. 

Maisie was confused, "Creature spell?" She noticed that Aggie was now holding socks and was even more confused on where Aggie got the socks at.

"That's a spell in my book," Aggie explained. "It's a spell that was banned after the dark times. It was used on humans who mocked us by dressing up like creatures. It was used on them to turn them into the very creatures they were mocking."

"He turned the creatures into humans," Luke pointed out.

"And he's going to turn the humans into creatures," Maisie finished the line of thought. "Oh, man, we better hurry."

"That's why Kal put your mother in a mask," Aggie pointed out. "I think he plans to use the creature spell on the mortal world at midnight."

"Starting with the school," Maisie said. "That's why he needs a date to the dance. He locked us in with magic."

"So, maybe we can come up with a stronger one," Marnie stated.

"Oh, our powers are draining, dear," Aggie said, still holding onto the socks. "I'm afraid we're trapped."

"But Grandma, saying a spell backwards can't be the only way to undo it," Marnie said.

"Oh, rules are rules," Aggie pointed out.

"Yes, but rules are broken or bent a little," Maisie said.

"Rules have exceptions, right?" agreed Marnie. "I mean...like how hackers get into computer programs. They just look for the back door."

Luke seemed confused, "Computers have back doors?"

"Well, back doors are ways of getting into a program if there's a problem," Marnie explained. 

"It's like a fire exit," Maisie agreed. "There can't be only one exit, because if something blocks that door off, you look for another.

"So, you mean a way to weasel out of the spell without actually breaking it?" asked Luke. 

"Right," Marnie agreed. "Like this spell. It's supposed to keep us from getting outside, right?" 

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "So?"

Marnie said, "So, what if we want to go somewhere else other than outside?" 

"There is nowhere else," Luke explained. "There's only outside and inside and right now, we're inside."

"Time travel," Marnie said. She went to Aggie, who was with the socks, "Oh, Grandma, you have a spell for that, right?"

Maisie grabbed Aggie's shoulder, "You have a time travel spell, right?"

"Time-travel spell," Aggie said. She looked to the side, "Oh, I believe I do. A lovely little poem." She looked at Gort, "Gort. Gort. That sock doesn't match the other one."

"None of these socks match," Maisie said, frustrated. "Can we please focus? We're running out of time."

"Here, here," Marnie took out a pen and a paper from her small shoulder bag, "You write it down, write, write."

"What is it? What...? Just a minute," Aggie said, holding onto the socks.

Maisie struggled to pull the socks away from Aggie's hand, "Give me the stupid socks. We need the spell." Maisie finally pulled the socks away from Aggie and Marnie handed her the pen and paper.

"Write it down before you forget it," Marnie said. 

"Spell, spell," Aggie said, writing down the spell. "Oh." 

"Hurry, Grandma," Marnie urged.

Aggie wrote on the paper, "There." She paused, "It's a little fuzzy...fuzzy, there, but..." She handed the paper to Marnie. "There, that's it. That's it, that's it." Luke took the pen from Aggie, who toppled over. 

Maisie went to pull Aggie into a sitting position.

Luke asked, "Can you read that?" 

"I don't know," Marnie replied, "But here, let's help her up."

Luke and Maisie pulled Aggie into a sitting position.

The worst part was when they got her up, Aggie's clothes changed into what looked like a plain gray dress.

"Gort, there are no matching socks here," Aggie said.

"Yes, well, uh, I have some more in the cupboard," Gort replied.

"Well, go get them," Aggie said.

"No," Marnie whispered. Loudly, she said, "No, Grandma, read the spell with me."

"No, go away, I'm busy," Aggie said, pushing Marnie back.

"She's gone," Luke said.

"But Grandma – it's me, Marnie," Marnie said, clearly upset.

Maisie took the paper from Marnie, "Forget it, Marnie. If I can make out Sophie's handwriting from when she was five, I can make out what this says."

"Here we go," Gort said, holding a large pile of socks in his arms.

"Grandma," Marnie tried as Gort dropped the pile of socks on the floor while Aggie made excited sounds, before going to the socks.

"Oh, finally, we can get something accomplished," Aggie said, picking up socks and tossing them to Gort. "Matching, matching." She held up a sock, "You want the long one."

"Look, we really need to get out of here, before we turn gray and Kal turns the humans into creatures," Maisie told Marnie.

"And we can come back for her later," Luke agreed and walking off.

Maisie grabbed Marnie's arm and followed after Luke.

They went to a different area of the house and Maisie looked at the spell and said the spell, feeling wind pick up and a blink later, they were still in a different spot.