Phantom Town

Part 5

The next few hours passed slowly and awkwardly. Harrison eventually went wandering until he found Moira sitting silently in the lobby, her blue eyes fixed on the sketchbook in her lap. In that moment, she seemed older, and somehow it seemed she wasn't the same girl who had cowered in the storm the night before. "Hey, Moira." He greeted. She looked up and gave him a gentle smile. "Hi, Harrison."

"Are you doing alright? I mean... after this morning..." He started. "Oh... I'm fine, thank you." She answered. "Have you seen Charlotte anywhere?" "No," Harrison replied. "I was about to ask you the same question." Moira went back to her drawing with a shrug. "Well, if you see her, let me know." She said. "I might have an idea." Harrison said to himself. Sure enough, Harrison found Charlotte in her hideout at the end of the dark hallway. She sat cross-legged, her dark hair fluttering in the breeze and her eyes closed. "Charlotte? Are you alright?" He whispered. Charlotte opened her eyes and turned to him. "Something's going to happen tonight. We're all going to have to leave." She said.

At the entrance to the hallway Harrison, Charlotte, and Moira sat on the floor whispering. "Should we avoid the council meeting?" Harrison asked softly. "No, we have no choice but to go. We just have to stay alert. Don't eat or drink anything, and look out for anything suspicious." Charlotte instructed. "My dad and I already have our stuff together. We were planning on leaving tomorrow." Harrison said. "If we can get to the house, we can escape through here." Charlotte added. "Moira, don't you still have that wagon-type thing?" "Yeah, I just have to find it." Moira answered. "It'd be great if we could get my dad's car." Harrison said. "Yeah, especially when we reach the highway... maybe we can figure something out." Charlotte said. "I'll talk to my dad about all this." Harrison told them before they all parted.

So, Harrison found Carl in their room and took a deep breath. "Dad, something's going to happen tonight at the council meeting and we're going to have to leave." He said. Carl looked at him like he was crazy. "Just what have you been doing around here?" He asked. Harrison let out a sigh as if he'd expected as much. "Listen, I know I sound crazy, but we have to be ready to run." He said. "Harrison, we're leaving tomorrow, and I doubt these nice people will try to hurt us." Carl retorted. "What about Jones? He seemed nice enough and then he tried to kill his own daughter!" Harrison exclaimed.

"That was one person, and it's none of our business!" Carl declared, standing up. Harrison did his best to sound calm with his reply. "Dad, I've been talking to these girls, Charlotte and Moira..." He started. "Well, if you're so paranoid about these townspeople maybe you should stop talking to Charlotte and Moira!" Carl interrupted. "I'm not hearing any more of this nonsense." With that, he crossed the room and started out to the hallway. Harrison sighed and sat down on the nearest bed. "We're doomed." He whispered to himself.

The day dragged on and eventually it came time for the council meeting. A few chairs had been arranged in a circle in town square, and torches lit up the area along with the ivory glow of the moon. Tucker was nearby playing his sad, eerie fiddle tune. Smith sat at the head of the chair circle with Charlotte and Moira standing off to the side. Charlotte locked eyes with Harrison as if to say "Keep your eyes open", and several warlocks began to take their seats.

"Alright, let's begin." Smith announced. "This meeting of the Warlock Council of Fantome is now in session." Harrison could see his father's quizzical expression out of the corner of his eye. "First order of business, the time has come to take care of our visitors." The way Smith spoke the word "visitors" made Harrison tense. Smith took out two wine glasses, each containing a small amount of red-orange liquid. "Mr. Carl, tell me, how long are you and your son staying here?" Smith asked, approaching Carl with the glasses.

"Well, we're leaving tomorrow morning." Carl replied. Smith nodded. "Well, before you go, we'd like you to know how much we appreciate travelers like you." Smith sounded genuinely friendly, and handed one of the glasses to Carl. The warlocks in the chairs suddenly held glasses as well. They all raised them and simultaneously said "To the full moon!" and took a sip. Carl started to take a sip from his own glass, but Harrison grabbed his wrist. "Don't drink that!" He whispered. "Harrison, stop acting so paranoid!" Carl muttered in reply before taking a swig from the glass. To Harrison's dismay, he saw Smith and the other warlocks grin with wicked satisfaction. At first, nothing happened. Carl moved the glass away from his lips and coughed once. "Interesting taste..." He said before coughing again.

His coughing continued, and the sound began to warp until it sounded more like barking. Then he started to howl, dropped his glass, and fell to all fours. When the glass shattered to the ground, sending up a cloud of smoke, Harrison saw every wine glass explode in its owner's face, sending up even more smoke. In the cloud, Harrison heard commotion and more barking until he was jerked backwards by a familiar grip.

"Charlotte?"

"Come on! Hurry!"

Out of the smoke, the three of them ran, followed by a presence Harrison knew must have been his dad. However, when they arrived at the Black Cat House, Harrison saw not a man but a medium-sized brown dog with floppy ears. "Oh... dad..." was all he could say.