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Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

PROLOGUE: THREE WITCHES

*****

August 21, 1978…

The windows of the church were glowing with an eerie golden light, for inside the building at that very moment, the Carnival Master was standing at the altar with an open book in one gloved hand, and he was speaking to three kneeing women: two were dark-haired, the third was blonde, all three had pairs of horns growing out of their foreheads, they all wore revealing black outfits, and they all had glowing wands.

They were the three witches that the Carnival Master had found in the Black Forest of Germany, and he’d summoned them to Everlock once he had made the church, which was built on top of an ancient burial ground, his home base. Now they were casting curses on the town, filling the place with Darkness, and they were using an artifact to do it.

“And the world will know you are my Queens of Darkness,” the Carnival Master declared as they were kneeling around a pentagram circle that a creepy doll made out of sticks with a small skull for a head sat inside, and they were waving their arms through the air, the tips of their wands glowing the same eerie gold color.

*****

Earlier, one of the witches, Sandra, had been in the cemetery, where she used a dark spell to lure in a newlywed young man, where she removed his shirt, and had her way with him in the middle of the cemetery. Once they were done, she spoke to him, for he was fully under her spell.

“I need you to love me,” she insisted, “more than you love your wife.”

“I do,” said the man, staring fixedly at her, and fully in her power.

Sandra exhaled with a loud gasp as her corrupted magic surrounded them both, vaporizing the man so that there were only bones left while she absorbed his life-force into herself. Pleased, she gathered up the bones, and placed them into a box.

‘A new addition to my collection of lovers,’ Sandra thought with an evil smile.

*****

In the church, the Carnival Master watched as the three witches cast their dark spells over the town. “Bringers of evil…” he continued, reading from the book.

*****

Earlier in Fat Man Slim’s, the blonde witch, named Debra, was doing a dance around the stripper pole for a man in a blue business suit.

He took some money out of his wallet and tossed it to her, and she surprised him when she suddenly stepped forward, pinning one of his legs with her boot.

“I want all the money,” Debra hissed softly, leaning in close to him and ran her hand over his head, entrancing him with her dark magic, “you greedy pig.” And she covered his face with her hand, making him scream as she cursed him with her dark magic. “All of it!”

*****

Once again in the church, the Carnival Master was now leaning on the altar as the three witches continued to cast their spell. “Corruptors of the innocent!”

*****

Earlier in the witches’ lair, a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair, a braided yellow headband, a blue necklace, red overalls over a yellow shirt, and yellow shoes, was searching the place when the third witch, named Belle, entered with a smug expression.

“I knew you’d come,” Belle said with a sneer, knowing that this young woman was the sister of the man that her own sister had killed a short time ago.

The young woman glared at the witch. “One of you bitches took my brother,” she snapped, “and I want him back now!”

“No,” Belle snarled, grabbing the girl by her throat and holding up a black amulet with an amber stone in the middle. “I get what I want.” And eerie gold sparks flew around them, making the young woman scream as her youth was drained out of her, leaving her old instead.

Belle gasped as she absorbed the youthful energy and released her victim, relishing every single drop.

“Oh,” the now old woman moaned, devastated that this had happen to her, that she’d been cursed.

“Boo!” said Belle and the old woman screamed and fled as fast as she could. She laughed, enjoying her victory over the woman, who’d been quite strong and had first resisted her spell when she entered the lair. ‘But I got what I wanted in the end. Just like I always do.’

*****

An unseen wind was blowing as the three witches kept casting their spells, using the artifact, and the Carnival Master continued reading from the book. “Curse this town, and everyone in it.”

Once the spells were fully casted, the three witches lowered their wands, and watched as the artifact spread their dark magic throughout Everlock, increasing the Darkness tenfold, and when the time came, the town would all be theirs for the taking.

‘Soon, soon,’ the Carnival Master thought as the three witches left to spread terror and Darkness throughout Everlock. ‘Soon enough, my spell will be ready, and I will use it first on the town, and then on the rest of the world!’

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ONE: MORTIMER RETURNS

*****

After moving from the lounge to the couch in the arcade, the seven survivors were still coping with the lost of Esther, the truth that she and Curtis were members of the Society Against Evil this whole time, the revelation that Dawn was aware that there was a chance that when it came time for the prophecy to be fulfilled that she would probably die, and they all were wondering where the heck Mortimer had disappeared to.

“Where can he be?” Matt wondered, peering through the blinds that covered the window. “It’s been two hours. Could one of the lieutenants that serves the Carnival Master have grabbed him?”

“I didn’t see any sign of him when I was playing hide-and-seek with Crazy Alice at the hotel,” said Curtis and he glanced at Manny. “Did you?”

Manny shook his head. “Nope, not a single trace of him, and I went into practically every room in that place.”

“So did I, too,” Curtis agreed, having not seen anyone else in the hotel other then his friends downstairs.

Joey knew why his friends were worried about Mortimer, who’d been missing since the Funhouse, and he couldn’t blame them. Having a note that said that one of them had been corrupted by the Carnival Master had him worried, too.

‘As much as I want to go looking for Mortimer,’ he thought. ‘We still have a mission.’ “Guys, we can worry about Mortimer later,” he said. “Right now, we need to find the next artifact. Let's look at the map and see what we have to do.”

The others were agreeing when Calliope brought the map out of the lounge and placed it on top of one of the pinball machines, waving her hands over it in her usual manner as they gathered around, surprised to see that the change to the map was quite big.

“We have the gas station,” Manny remarked, pointing to the three new areas that hadn’t been on the map before, “the cemetery, and the bridge that leads to the cemetery.”

“Where should we start?” Joey wondered since that was a lotof ground to cover, and there wasn’t a note to let them have an idea of what they would be going up against this time.

Matt peered at the map, noting that next to the gas station it said “burned at the stake”. “‘Burned at the stake’ sounds exciting,” he said sarcastically, earning two skeptical looks from Joey and Dawn.

Nikita, however, started reading the note next to the cemetery. “‘Dead lovers-’”

Suddenly there was a loud sharp shrieking from outside, that made the group jump, scream, and cling to each other in fear as they looked around widely.

“What the hell?!” Matt yelped.

“What was that?” Ro asked uneasily.

“I don’t know,” Joey admitted as he held Dawn close since she was shaking once again.

Just then, they heard the pounding of running footsteps and the door was yanked open as Mortimer dashed inside, nearly colliding with one of the pinball machines. He was looking scared, frantic, and he was sweating like he’d been running for hours.

“Mortimer!”

“Oh my God!”

“What’s going on?”

“What was that?”

“Where are you coming from?”

“Where have you been?”

Mortimer ignored the questions that the group was asking him, and pointed behind him while gasping for breath. “They’re gonna burn him alive.”

“Who?” the group asked together.

“We don’t have time for this anymore,” Mortimer snapped, pushing himself so that he was upright, and he started back outside.

The group was confused since they’d never seen Mortimer act like this before, and they had a lotof questions that he wasn’t answering.

“What are you talking about?”

“Where are you going?”

Mortimer ran back outside. “Come on!” And they had no choice but to follow him, exiting the arcade to catch up with him.

Where has he been for the past two hours?

Why show up so soon after the creepy shriek, too?

What was going on with him?

And would helping someone who was about to be burned alive help them find the next artifact, or would they end up being screwed instead?

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TWO: WITCHES! PART ONE

*****

The group ran after Mortimer, who was leading them to the gas station, and they stopped when they saw that there was a man in a blue suit chained between two of the pumps with a sack covering his head. Who was this guy?

The man could hear them and began pleading for their help. `“She’ll be back soon to burn me!”`

“Who’s gonna burn you?” Matt asked.

“One of the witches!” the man answered in a muffled voice due to the bag, and both Dawn and Joey’s hearts sank into their stomaches, having had their grim share of magic for two years now, and it rarely ended well. “She'll be back soon to burn me! You have to find the key!”

“Where?” Ro asked. “Where’s the key?”

The man shrugged. “Look around, I don’t know.”

“Ok, guys, split up,” Joey said, taking command of the situation and wanting to get them out of there before any witches showed up. ‘After dealing with that Sorceress last year, I rather not deal with witches.’ “We need to find the key.”

The group spread out to search the gas station, which was looking different from the last time any of them had been there: there was dark blood smeared over everything, animal skulls were hanging from the rain gutters, and the whole place had a very Blair Witch Project feel to it.

“I don’t suppose we can just use a bucket of water on the witches,” Dawn suggested and Joey snickered. “Just a thought.”

“I wish that it was as easy as in Wizard of Oz,” the Savant agreed.

Matt glanced back at the chained and bagged man. “Are we sure we wanna help this guy?” he wondered, and he was concerned about Mortimer, too. ‘Where has he been for the past two hours? And why show up now?’

“Look, he’s gonna be burn alive,” Mortimer insisted, looking pale and sweaty, plus he was also wheezing a little.

“Who is he?” Nikita questioned.

Matt considered that a good question. “Everyone that we’ve met in this town is evil,” he added, knowing that the only exceptions have been Calliope and Mortimer, but he was starting to wonder if Mortimer could now be trusted.

Mortimer just shrugged. “We can only keep pushing forward.”

“‘We can only keep pushing forward’,” Matt repeated, unconvinced. “Great.”

The group kept searching for anything that could lead them to a key, and Joey noticed that there was a scroll in the jaws of one of the creepy-looking black skulls, this skull was also blood-stained, and the scroll hadn’t been there a moment ago.

‘Things just show up when they’re needed,’ he thought, but he wasn’t about to question how, not after two freaking years.

“Oh my gosh, what is this?” he asked uneasily, getting the attention of his friends as he gingerly removed the scroll from the mouth of the skull.

“It’s not a key,” said Ro.

“Careful, Joey,” Dawn advised, not liking the situation.

Getting the scroll freed, Joey opened it, finding that it was covered with numbers and symbols.

“You guys,” said Nikita, staring at the paper, “it's all symbols. It looks like an equation of some sort.”

“Wait,” said Curtis, pointing to a white card that had one of the symbols on it. “That’s one of the symbols.” He grabbed it and soon they were all finding more the symbols that were on the paper.

“I found one,” Nikita said, grabbing it and taking it to the car that Matt had spread the paper out on the hood, giving it to him to figure out since it made no senseto her.

Matt saw that the symbols and the numbers were connected, and began placing them together, having Dawn help him, even though this wasn’t her strong suit. “Ro and Nikita, look for two Js,” he instructed, since that was the symbol that hadn’t been found yet. “They're like two fishhooks opposite each other.” And Joey went to help look for the symbol. “Yeah, we’re missing that one.”

“Two Js,” Ro repeated, searching for the symbol.

Matt turned back to the paper, double-checking that it was the only symbol missing. “That’s the only one missing, right?”

Dawn nodded. “Yeah, of course if this involves math, I’m not that great at it,” she pointed out.

“You’ll do fine, Donny,” the detective reassured the brunette, having been impressed with her help on decoding the two letters earlier.

They were both distracted when Mortimer started coughing, Calliope was looking after him, and they exchanged uncertain looks.

“Be strong,” she told Mortimer. “I know something is happening to you.”

“Doing all right there, Mortimer?” Matt asked while Dawn was looking at their friend with concern.

“I’m fine,” Mortimer insisted, despite having his hand on his chest, and for a moment both the detective and the actress thought they saw something red glowing through his shirt, but it happen very fast, and they weren’t entirely sure. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Find the key.”

‘Something’s off with Mortimer,’ Dawn thought, once again exchanging an uncertain look with Matt, but they did have to find that key before the witches showed up to finish off the chained man. “Ok, if you say so.”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER THREE: WITCHES! PART TWO

*****

Just then, Joey found the last symbol and hurried back to the car to give it to Matt. “Ok, I think we have them all.”

“Ok,” Matt said, taking the symbol and added it to the rest. “Manny, you see that safe?” he asked and the Record Producer nodded. “Go over to it, and get ready to put the numbers in.”

Manny nodded. “Ok.” And he went to the safe. “Ready.”

Matt, Joey, and Dawn worked out the numbers and the symbols, and the detective called out the numbers and which direction they were to go while Manny turned the knob on the safe in the proper directions.

“98 counterclockwise.”

“They’re coming back,” said the bagged man desperately. “You have to hurry.”

“We’re trying, sir,” Nikita said to him. “We don’t even know who you are.”

Ro went over to the safe, where Manny was turning the knob until it clicked to signal that it was now unlocked. “And then it says, ‘Pull to open’.”

Manny twisted the handle and open the safe, resulting in a blast of white power shooting out and covering him. He and Ro, who’d managed not to get hit, started screaming and jumping around, startling their friends.

Their friends ran over to make sure that Ro and Manny were okay before they all cautiously approached the safe to see what was inside: on the back of the safe door was a note and inside the safe, there was some kind of creepy-looking doll made out of black sticks with a small white animal skull for a head.

“I think this is something,” said Nikita, positive that this was the next artifact.

When Joey started to reach for it, Matt stopped him. “Don't touch it! Don't touch it!” he warned, having seen The Blaire Witch Project, and knew better then to touch strange stick figures. “No!”

“Matt’s right,” Dawn agreed, pulling the Savant back. “Let’s read the note before letting loose whatever lieutenant is connected to that thing.” ‘Of course it’s probably too late since clearly the witches have already been here to tie that man up earlier.’

Nikita saw that there was a key next to the artifact and she managed to grab it without touching the creepy-looking doll. “Here’s the key. Here’s the key,” she said and then she read the note. “‘The witches are using the Wicker Man to curse the people of Everlock. To cleanse the Wicker Man, you must reverse three of the curses that they've cast’.”

“I hate dark magic,” Dawn grumbled, feeling a headache coming on. “It only leads to trouble.”

“Do we unlock him?” Nikita asked while Joey took the Wicker Man out of the safe. “We have the key.” And she hurried to the bagged man while Matt was thinking that they should put it to a vote.

“Come on, please,” the man pleaded, not wanting to be burned alive.

Nikita went to unlock the man’s wrists while her friends gathered around. “Ok, ready?” she asked, unlocking the handcuffs.

“Ok, we helped you,” Joey said. “You help us now.”

Once the man’s wrists were freed, he reached for the bag to take it off. “Freedom,” he gasped, laughing and snorting a little.

Once he removed the bag and the group gasped, staring in shock when he revealed that he had a pig snot and ears on his otherwise normal human face.

“Oh my God,” said Joey, staring. “What happened to you?”

“What are you looking at?” the man asked in a sarcastic tone, since he knew what they were all staring at.

“Well, you look-” Dawn began with a shock expression.

The man interrupted her. “You never seen a guy with a pig face before?”

“Um, not outside of TV shows or movies before,” the brunette admitted, and she was now half-expecting a Dalek to show up since she was now thinking of a certain two-part Doctor Who episode that’d involved the Daleks and humans that’d been transformed into pig people during the Great Depression in New York City.

Nikita was now regretting freeing this guy. “I’ve seen one before.”

“A young witch cursed me,” the man informed the group, recalling the pain of when her dark magic had changed his face.

“Is there a spell to break the curse?” Ro asked.

The man, however, ignored her and pointed at Manny. “You’ve been cursed,” he said, and the YouTubers looked at the Record Producer with alarmed looks.

“Huh?” Manny asked, having been spending the past few minutes trying to brush the white dust off his outfit, and he was only having a limited success. “What do you mean, they got me?”

“You’ve been cursed,” the man repeated and the group groaned while the Record Producer scowled, realizing that the white dust that’d come out of the safe earlier had been a curse, and now he was stuck with it and didn’t know what the curse was going to do to him. “Now, a curse takes time to manifest,” he added.

“That’s something,” Joey remarked.

Manny nodded. “I already feel like a pig sometimes,” he joked.

Nikita, who was now worried about Manny, saw the man take a key out of his pocket. “Wait, wait, what is this?”

“I took something from the witches,” the man told them, and he lead them to the nearby car. Opening it, he took out a black book, plus a rolled-up parchment, and handed them to Nikita and Joey. “I took this spell book and this scroll from the witches.”

‘I wish we could just jump into that car and leave,’ Ro thought, but she knew that it probably wouldn’t work for them anyway.

Handing the artifact to Dawn, who made a face at it, Joey started to open the spell book when there were scary screams, which make the group jump and scream, and the three witches came running out of the gas station toward them, armed with their wands.

The group fled with the pig man, and they decided to hide in Fat Man Slim’s since it was closer then the arcade.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FOUR: THREE CURSES

*****

The group ran inside the pub, slamming the doors behind them, and for the moment they’d managed to escape the three witches.

Nikita went to the nearest table and spread out the large parchment, which had a diagram of a triangle surrounded by three circles on it, and writing that would tell them how to cleanse the Wicker Man, which would mean breaking three curses.

“According to this,” Matt said, examining the writing, “in order to cleanse the artifact, it has to be placed on the triangle” and Nikita took the Wicker Man from Dawn, who was glad that she didn’t have to hold the creepy thing anymore, placing it on the triangle “and we need to obtain three items connected to three of the curses: an amulet of youth, a ring from a dead man, and the bloody snout of a pig.”

Joey, who’d been flipping through the spell book, glanced over at the pig man. “You’re the only one with a snout.”

“This is a curse,” the pig man retorted, pointing to himself.

“So, if we reverse your curse, can we have your snout?” Manny inquired, and the pig man shrugged in agreement. ‘Ok, so we have to break his curse to get his snout, that should be fun.’

Just then, an old woman came out of the pole dancing room, startling the group, who didn’t know that this woman had once been young, and had had her youth stolen by one of the witches.

“Whoa!”

“Oh, my God!”

The old woman was surprised to see them there, having been avoiding people ever since she’d been cursed. “Thought everyone had gone home.”

Nikita stared uneasily at the old woman, recalling what her Mexican grandmother had told her about certain supernatural threats, including a bruja, which was Spanish for witch, and this old woman could be another witch or even a cucuys, which was another name for the bogeyman. ‘If she’s either, then I’m outta here!’

The old woman pointed at the artifact. “I’ve seen that before,” she announced. “I’ve seen the witches use it around the town, and one of the witches did this to me.” She swallowed, clearly fighting back angry tears. “My name is Maria, and the witches killed my brother with their curse, and then, they stole my youth. Look at me. I look like a goddamn hag.”

“I love your overalls,” said Ro, hoping to cheer Maria up.

“Yeah, super cute,” Joey agreed, feeling sorry for the poor girl and hoped that they could help her since it was clear that the curse on her was another curse they would need to break, along with the curse that was used to kill her brother. He looked at the book and saw a spell on one of the pages. “Guys, guys, guys, there’s a resurrection spell in here.” He looked at Maria, who was now looking hopeful. “Where do we find him?”

“His bones are in the cemetery,” Maria told them, feeling more hopeful then she had in the past forty years, not that she knew that it’d been forty years.

Joey flipped through the spell book, finding other spells that they would be needing in order to break the three curses. “We have the Swine Undone,” he read as his friends gathered around, “we have the resurrection spell, and we have the transformation spell.”

“Yes,” said Maria, “the transformation spell will help you disguise yourself to look like one of the witch’s lovers.”

“With three curses to break, it looks like we’re gonna have to split up again,” Dawn remarked, not looking forward to that, and she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with witches either, even to cleanse the Wicker Man, and she knew that meant one of them was probably going to have to die for that to happen.

Mortimer, who’d been unusually quiet, walked forward to face the group. “So who wants to come with me to help Pig Face over here?” he asked, gesturing to the pig man, who rolled his eyes.

“I gotcha,” said Matt, who figured that he could use the Swine Undone spell since it looked like it required a potion, and that meant some kind of chemistry.

Mortimer looked at Curtis, Dawn, and Manny. “Guys?” And they nodded, figuring that they could help Matt with finding the ingredients for the spell, and the detective removed both the Swine Undone spell, plus an invisibility spell that would probably come in handy, from the book.

“Don’t get tagged again,” Nikita warned them as they left the bar to get the ingredients for the two spells.

“Don’t screw it up,” the pig man added, looking forward to be returning to his normal self, and went to the bar to get himself a drink.

After group one left, Joey was turning the pages of the spell book, trying to decide which spell they would need to use first. “So, I don’t know where to begin.”

And that was when he sensed something and looked toward the window, spotting one of the witches heading toward the doors. “It’s one of the witches! Hide!” And they all hid under the various tables, except for poor Maria, as the witch entered the bar.

The witch, Sandra, looked around and then she faced Maria, who cringed as she invaded her personal space. “Where did they go, old lady?” she demanded, pressing the tip of her wand, which was glowing red, to the old woman’s face. “Tell me! You know what I can do.” She then let out a disgusted sigh, lowering her wand and turned away. “Ugh, I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to go meet my lover.” And she left the building.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FIVE: FINDING ITEMS

*****

The moment that the witch was gone, Joey crawled out from under the table, relieved that they all had managed to avoid being captured or cursed. “Oh, my God. Guys, she’s gone.”

Nikita, Ro, Calliope, the pig man, and Maria all came out of hiding as well.

“That was the witch who killed my brother,” Maria told them, tearing up with anger and frustration.

“That filthy witch bitch,” Nikita growled.

Maria nodded, fully agreeing with that statement. “She saves the bones of her victims in the cemetery,” she explained. “She lures men there at night, and has her way with them before killing them.”

“All right,” Joey said, turning the page to the resurrection spell, “listen up, guys. ‘To bring someone back from the grave, you will need to place their bones in a ritual urn and surround it by emblems of the four elements, which lie hidden in plain sight. Soilof the sun, wind of the gods, metal flame, and petrified rain’.” He put the book down on the table. “Come on, let’s find those.” And they started searching the main room for the items.

“Uh…soil of the Sun,” said Nikita, looking around for anything that could fit that description, and spotted a pot with a sunflower in it, and Joey grabbed it, having figured it out at the same time. “Soil of the Sun. Sunflower.”

“So, this is, like, Earth,” the Savant agreed, bringing it over to the table.

Ro was looking around and found a folded fan, which she unfolded and waved it. “I found a fan,” she said with a cheerful smile, positive that this was one of the items they needed. “Is it wind?”

“That’s definitely wind,” Joey agreed. “Bring it over.” And she did so, setting it on the table next to the sunflower.

He looked around again and found on a TV in the pole dancing room a metal lighter, picking it up. “Wait, do you think it’s this?” he asked, going back to the main room and Nikita nodded, figuring that was Metal Flame.

“A lighter, yeah.”

“Ok, so we need ‘Petrified Rain,” the Troublemaker remarked. “But what could that be?”

“Probably with the liquids?” Joey suggested and they went over to the bar to search for something that could be the Petrified Rain.

As they looked around, Nikita picked up a water bottle. “A water bottle?” she suggested. “That’s Petrified Rain?”

“A water bottle?” Joey repeated and shook his head. “That’s purified.”

The Savant searched the cups and found an ice cube in one of them. “Would it be an ice – it wouldn’t be an ice cube would it?” he wondered, dumping the ice cube into his hand.

“Wait, petrified – yes,” said Nikita.

Realizing that she was right, Joey grabbed a metal container with a lid, and put the ice cube inside it to keep it from melting. “Ok, we got all four elements.”

Going back to the table, he picked up the spell book and reread the resurrection spell, making sure that they had everything they needed. “‘To bring someone back from the grave, you will need to place their bones in a ritual urn’. Oh, we need to put the bones in the urn.”

Nikita pointed out something else that they would need to do, and that was going to involve Joey in a way that she knew that he wouldn’t be comfortable with. “We have to transform you,” she informed the Savant. “That was the transformation. We have-”

“I have to get the bones?” Joey interrupted, alarmed that she wasactuallysuggesting that he would need to get the bones from the witch, and that would mean that he would have to flirt with the witch. ‘I can’t do that! I’m gay!’

“Yes, yes,” Maria agreed. “Absolutely.”

“Oh great,” he groaned, not looking forward to flirting with a witch, or pretending to be straight. He had done it before, and so it wasn’t unfamiliar, but still. ‘The last time that I had to act straight was in Storytellers, and that was five years ago!’

*****

While all of this was going on, Mortimer was leading Matt, Manny, Dawn, and Curtis to where two of the witches were busy casting spells in a fenced area that had been the lair for the Snake Woman and the lair for the Man with No Name, and they could see an altar lined with candles. Around it were shelves filled with various ingredients.

“Guys, witches,” Mortimer whispered, and they hid themselves on a nearby porch, peering around the corner at the two witches. “Come here.”

In the middle of the area, the two witches, Belle and Debra, were waving their wands up and down as they casted a dark spell. “Curse the innocent!” they chanted together. “Redeem the evil! Open the sky and pour out your darkness, that we might see your wicked ways!”

Curtis shivered a little. “That’s a lot of Darkness in there,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I can sneak in there without being overwhelmed by it. No amount of training has really prepared me to deal with evil on this level.”

“Same,” Dawn agreed, shivering a little, and she could feel the Light stirring inside her. “I don’t think I can do this…the Light doesn’t like it either.”

“Just do the best you can, honey,” Manny assured them.

Mortimer looked to Matt, who was holding the two spells that they needed. “All right, come on,” he whispered in order to not draw the attention of the witches as they continued to cast their dark magic. “What does the spell say?”

Matt checked the ingredients for the invisibility spell. “We need to find a cloak and white sand.”

“And what does this one say?” Mortimer asked, pointing to the other spell.

“This one – swine undone,” Matt said, checking the ingredients. “‘To remove the curse of the greedy pig, you require a potion made from mixing elk's blood, yeti's milk, and salamander eyeballs in a silver flask’.”

Curtis made a face. “Yuck, definitely dark magic if we need gross stuff like that.”

“Ugh,” the actress agreed. “That’s just gross.”

They peered around the corner to check on the witches and saw that they were still casting their dark magic, which meant that getting the ingredients from the shelves near them wasn’t going to be easy, and neither would getting past the witches.

“What we need is probably on those shelves," the detective guessed, eying the shelves. "But the witches are right there, and they don't seem to be moving.”

“They might be distracted while they’re casting their spells,” Mortimer suggested.

“I think you’re right,” Manny agreed.

Curtis wasn’t so sure. “Maybe, but is it worth the risk?” he wondered. “I don’t have that much experience with witches, especially dark witches, and they can be tricky.”

“I think it’s worth a shot to see what we can grab,” Matt suggested, and the four of them snuck into the lair, Mortimer stayed on the porch to keep an eye on the witches.

Reaching a tree to hide behind, Matt pointed to the ingredients that they needed for both spells, and they started moving around the tree – only to have one of the witches to suddenly appear from the other side, and they ended up running away from her.

“Oh!”

“Oh, my God!”

“Look out!”

“Go that way!”

“Get them!” the other witch commanded as the three guys split up, hoping to distract the witches while at least oneof them could get the ingredients without getting cursed, or worse.

While Matt, Dawn, and Curtis were distracting the witches, Manny ran to the shelves and started looking for the ingredients, grabbing what he could before running again when one of the witches started heading toward him. During all of this, Matt managed to grab a black cloak off a nearby wagon as he ran by while Curtis and Dawn both made faces at one of the witches before running off, too.

“I got the cloak, Manny!”

“Good job,” Manny said as he ran from the witch chasing after him. “Ok!”

Matt tossed the cloak to Curtis and Dawn as he ran passed, and he turned to taunt the two witches, which he knew was probably nota good idea, but if it gave his two friends time to get out of the area, then that was what he was going to do. “Come on!” he taunted, and one of the witches turned toward him. “Think you’re so bad? Can't even cast a magic spell, and me…”

“Shut it!” the witch warned, pointing her wand at him.

“I’m just inches away from you,” the detective continued to taunt, now backing away, and when one of the witches came at him, he ran. “Come on!” But he didn’t get very far when he ended up tripping and falling flat on his face. “Aw, damn!”

“Matt, run!” Mortimer shouted, but he could see that it was too late.

Matt sat up, only to find both witches standing over him with their wands raised, the tips glowing red.‘Aw crap!’he thought as one of the witches zapped him with a curse before he could get away and the red sparks stung.‘Great, just great!’

“Be gone!” the witch ordered and the detective got up and ran away.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SIX: OBTAINING BONES PART ONE

*****

While all of that was going on with group one, group two ran to the bridge that lead to both the cemetery and the church, where the Carnival Master was still trapped, and they stopped short, primarily because they still had to do the transformation spell on Joey, who wasn’t looking forward to having to flirt with a witch.

Swallowing, Joey turned his back on the Devil’s head that lead to the bridge and he faced the girls so that they could cast the transformation spell. ‘Oh, I hope this works and I don’t end up regretting this,’ he thought, bracing himself since the last time any magic had been used on him, it’d been by the Sorceress when she forced him to invite people he knew, which had included Dawn, to that mansion in the Victoria Era last year.

“With this spell we recite,” Nikita and Ro read together, hoping that this wouldn’t blow up on them, “let thou walk as them tonight.” And they watched as a magical tornado made out of rainbow sparks surrounded Joey for several hour-long seconds before disappearing.

“Do you feel any different?” Calliope asked the Savant.

Joey looked himself over, finding nothing different about himself, and shook his head. “No.” And he knew that this wasn’t a good thing since he was gay and not into girls.

“Well, you’re just gonna have to act straight, Joey,” Nikita stated, seeing no other option, and they all headed for the cemetery.

*****

Reaching the front steps that lead to the doors of the church, the girls hid themselves and watched as Joey made his way over to the cemetery, where Sandra was walking around, and he mentally prayed that he would be able to pull this off. ‘Ok, Joey,’ he thought to himself as he did his best to act butch, which was something that he hadn’t done since Storytellers. ‘Time to be straight. Oh God! Please don’t let me get cursed or worse!’

“That’s good,” Calliope whispered, watching as the Savant went to see the witch. “That’s very good. Go get ‘em, lover boy.”

“You got this,” Nikita whispered, hoping that she sounded confident.

“You can do this, Joey,” Ro said with what she hope was confidence.

*****

When Joey reached the cemetery, Sandra turned to face him, and apparently the transformation spell had worked, since she was clearly seeing someone other then the Savant.

“Hey,” Joey said in a gruff voice and he could feel the blood rushing to his face at what he was having to do, and it’d been a long time since he’d had to pretend to be straight. “’Sup.”

Sandra smiled and approached him. “Hey, lover boy.”

“How’s it going?” Joey asked, still doing his best to act butch and not like his normal self, keenly aware that the girls were doing their level best not to crack up and reveal themselves to the witch. ‘I’m so never going to live this down!’

“Good,” Sandra purred. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Joey nodded with a nervous smile. “Yeah.”

“Yes,” Sandra agreed, stepping up to him and grasped the front of his coat.

Now Joey was feeling really awkward when she started pulling him toward the gravestones. “Uh, so-” he stammered, forgetting to talk in a gruff voice, but the witch didn’t seem to notice the change of pitch.

“Come with me,” Sandra requested, pulling him with her.

“Uh, ok,” the Savant agreed nervously.

Sandra pulled him into the middle of the cemetery near a mausoleum that had two urns on either side, where she let go of his coat, and she began circling him with a sultrily smile on her face while Joey was shaking in his boots, positive that she would be able to sniff the gay right off of him. “Tell me a poem,” she requested, running her fingers along his back.

“Um, uh…” Joey stammered, doing his best to not flinch away from her touch as she started to stroke his face and neck. “Bones are good. Bones are fun,” he recited off the top of his head as he moved backward a bit, but she was moving toward him. “Don't you just love to tell me where the bones are?”

Sandra reached for the Savant’s hands, which he’d tucked into his pockets. “Take these hands out of your pocket, baby,” she requested, and he reluctantly did so.

“Ok. You know what?” Joey said, thinking quickly and coming up with a way to find out which bones belonged to Maria’s brother. “I have a kink.”

“Please, tell me all about it,” Sandra requested, moving closer to him with an interested smile on her face as she started playing with his coat.

“So, I’m really into bones,” Joey continued, hoping that he wouldn’t regret this.

Sandra was intrigued to hear this as she started moving him toward the side of the mausoleum, and she was tugging on his coat in order to get him to take it off. “Tell me more.”

“Well, um,” Joey stammered as the witch started pressing herself against him, running her hand over the side of his face, and he was doing his best not to panic and run away, “big bones, small bones, any kind of bone, really, I’ll be happy with.”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SEVEN: OBTAINING BONES PART TWO

*****

Still hiding by the front steps of the church, Nikita couldn’t believe how frisky the witch was getting with Joey, Ro was covering her own face since this was getting to be too much, even for her, and Calliope was impressed.

‘Come on, Joey,’ Nikita thought, watching as the witch finally convinced Joey to take his coat off, and she tossed it toward the mausoleum, ‘find the bones and give me the signal so that I know which box of bones to grab!’

“Do you love me?” Sandra asked the Savant.

“Yeah, of course I love you,” Joey agreed quickly, hoping that he reallywon’t end up regretting his choice of words as she played with the front of his shirt, unbuttoning it a little. “You're…you're the most beautiful witch I've ever seen.”

Sandra touched his face once again. “More than your wife?”

This time, the Savant had to resist laughing since he didn’t even have a wife, so that was an easy question to answer. “Yes, definitely more than my wife.” ‘Good thing she didn’t ask me if I love her more then I do my boyfriend!’

“Joey doesn’t even have a wife,” Nikita hissed, fighting back a giggle. “He has aboyfriend.”

“She’s very sexual,” Calliope pointed out.

Sandra was clearly satisfied with that answer. “Ok, baby,” she said, taking his hand, “come with me.”

“Ok,” Joey agreed, hoping that she was going to show him which bones belonged to Maria’s brother, and he snuck a quick glance toward where his friends were waiting.

Sandra walked with Joey over to a box filled with human bones that were next to a gravestone with the name Sam on it, and she gestured to them. “These are your bones.”

“These bones right here?” Joey asked, wanting to make sure.

“These are the bones that you want,” the witch agreed.

The Savant nodded and as she drew closer to him once again, he quickly pointed at the box of bones, hoping that his friends would be able to grab them and get out of there without being seen by the witch. “Ok.”

Sandra put her hands on his chest. “So, come with me now,” she said, pushing him toward the mausoleum once again, where his coat had been tossed earlier. “Are you happy?”

Joey nodded nervously, having to walk backwards. “Yeah.”

“You love me?” the witch asked.

“Yeah, I love you,” the Savant responded.

*****

Once they were certain that the witch wouldn’t see them after she and Joey disappeared on the other side of a mausoleum, Nikita ran toward the gravestones, reaching the one that Joey had been pointing at, and the troublemaker grabbed the box that had the correct bones.

Taking a quick peek toward where the witch now had the Savant pinned to the side of the mausoleum, she made a face, and then they ran back to where Ro and Calliope were waiting.

*****

Joey was definitely sure that he was going to freak out, giving how frisky Sandra was being with him. “Um – oh, wow!” he gasped, trying to keep her from ripping off his clothes. “Yup. Ok. Oh!” He grabbed her hands when she tried to undo the rest of the buttons on his shirt and gently pushed them away. “Oh, it’s – it’s a little too cold to unbutton.”

Sandra sighed, pulling her hands free, and turned away. “Ugh, you’re no fun.”

“What do you mean, I’m no fun?” Joey asked while buttoning his shirt up again, and he felt a little insulted.

“Take it off,” Sandra requested, turning back and walking toward him. “Show me how much you love me.”

Before the Savant could react to this, he heard the girls doing imitation bird calls, which was his signal to get out of there now. “Uh, you know what?” he said, picking up his coat and quickly put it on.

“What is that?” the witch asked, moving toward the church, having heard the bird calls.

“I actually-” Joey began, trying to sneak away while she was distracted. “I think I actually-”

“What is that?” Sandra repeated, starting to become suspicious. But when she could see the front of the church, the girls had already duck around the other side, and she turned to face the Savant, her eyes flashing with betrayal.

Joey started back away from the witch, seeing the anger etching itself across her face. ‘Oh crap!’ “I just remembered. I actually-”

“Was this a ruse?” Sandra demanded, advancing toward him, gripping her wand tightly in one hand.

“No,” Joey said quickly, screaming with alarm when the witch growled and zapped him with her wand, hitting him with painful red sparks.

“Get away from me!” she yelled as the Savant ran away.

‘Aw crap!’ Joey thought as he fled toward the church to find his friends. ‘I think she just cursed me!’ “Guys, go! Go, go, go!”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER EIGHT: BREAKING THE CURSE PART ONE

*****

Joey ran around the church until he found the girls waiting for him behind it, and he was relieved to see that they were all right and had the box of bones that they needed for the resurrection spell. “Oh, my God. That was scarring.”

“Did that witch hurt you, Joey?” Ro asked, concerned.

Joey shook his head. “No, but I think she might’ve cursed me,” he admitted and when the Jet Setter groaned, he didn’t blame her. “I should’ve run sooner.”

“We’ll – we’ll figure something out, Joey,” Ro promised. “Right now, we got a different curse to break.”

Knowing that Ro was right, they waited until the witch was gone, and then they ran back to the cemetery. Earlier, Joey had noticed that there were two urns next to the mausoleum, and he figured that those were the urns that they needed for the resurrection spell.

Taking the box of bones from Nikita, Joey set it on the ground and opened it reveal a bunch of white human bones. “These are the bones,” he stated, still a bit shaken from having to flirt with the witch and being cursed. “We need to put the bones in the urn.”

“Ok,” Ro agreed.

Nikita handed the items she’d been holding to Ro, grabbed the bones, and dropped them into the nearest urn while the Jet Setter placed the elements around the base of the urn.

Once this was done, they started reading the spell together. “What once was lost returns with no cost. Souls sent to the-” and they faltered, getting stuck on the word.

“Gugh-guh…” said Ro, trying to make out the word since it was in a fancy handwriting that wasn’t easy to read.

“Gate?” Joey guessed and they all agreed, seeing that it was ‘gate’. “Ok, let’s redo it.”

Nodding, they started the spell over, hoping to get it right this time. “What once was lost returns with no cost. Souls sent to the gate rebel against you. Fate restores the body whole. Your life renewed, a new soul.”

There was a whooshing sound as the two urns began glowing red, letting off red sparks, and when the door to the mausoleum glowed gold, flying open, they all screamed and retreated, unsure of what would come out. The second the door opened, a figure came staggering out, and it was a man with only pants and shoes on, and he was looking around with a bewildered expression on his face.

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Nikita, realizing that this had to be Sam, and he was definitely fine-looking. “Oh, hello.”

“Oh,” said Joey, blinking a little.

Nikita approached Sam and resisted her desire to flirt with him, which wasn’t easy. “Can I just say something, sir,” she said, getting his attention. “You look amazing. Um, you’re not wearing that much clothing, but I do see a ring.” And he was wearing a gold ring on his left hand. “So, um, I think we-”

“We need your ring,” Ro said quickly.

Sam stared at them and then at his ring, still unsure of how he’d ended up in the cemetery when his last clear memory was of being at home with his wife. “It’s my wedding ring.”

“We know that, hon,” Nikita agreed, “but we need it to help stop the Carnival Master from destroying the town and everyone in it. If you give us your ring, then we can use it to save others.”

Sam considered this and then nodded, taking his ring off. “Here take it,” he said, handing it to Joey.

“Thank you,” Joey said, relieved that they had broken both a curse and had gotten one of the items needed in order to cleanse the Wicker Man.

“Thank you,” Ro said gratefully.

After directing Sam to the town, they thanked him once again, and they also headed back to the town to rejoin their friends, who they hoped had managed to get the other curse broken.

*****

Meanwhile, Manny, Matt, Dawn, and Curtis rejoined Mortimer on the porch and looked over what they’d been able to grab from the witches, but it wasn’t a lot, and the only item that they had for the invisibility spell was the black cloak.

“What do you have?” Mortimer asked.

Curtis shrugged, holding up the cloak. “Other then the cloak, not much.”

“Yeah, those witches made it nearly impossible to grab anything,” Dawn added, frustrated.

“I have nothing,” Matt complained, positive that he’d gotten cursed for nothing. ‘And if someone says this curse will kill me – again– I refuse to die a second time in a row.’

“I had random oils,” Manny said, pointing back to the shelves, “nothing.”

Matt nodded, having had no luck either. “I tried to grab literally everything I could find.”

They all looked back at the witches, who were doing their dark spell again, and they noticed that Debra would occasionally go over to a sundial, do something to it, and then walk away. They also saw that there were containers next to the sundial. Exchanging a look, Matt, Dawn, and Manny ran over to the sundial when the witches weren’t looking, and found a bottle of white sand, plus a few other ingredients that they needed.

Grabbing them, they ran back to the building, where they met up with Curtis and Mortimer. “We got everything.”

Looking through the instructions for the invisibility spell, Curtis and Dawn both helped Manny put the cloak on and, after quickly reading the spell, Manny tossed some of the white sand over his shoulder, rending him invisibility.

“This is only gonna last five minutes,” Mortimer informed the Record Producer.

“Five minutes?” Manny, Matt, Dawn, and Curtis said at the same time, shocked since the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter didn’t have a time limit.

‘Great, so I have five freaking minutes to find the ingredients for the swine undone spell,’ Manny thought, taking the spell with him so that he could make sure that he was getting the correct ingredients. ‘Darn, and I was hoping that I could sneak up behind the others and shout ‘Boo’, and do few other fun things!’

“You got it,” said Curtis. “We’ll be here.”

“You can do it, Manny,” Dawn agreed.

“Go for it, Manny,” Matt said, hoping that his friend wouldn’t get caught and killed by the witches. “You got this.”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER NINE: BREAKING THE CURSE PART TWO

*****

Holding the cloak close to himself, Manny made his way back into the witches’ lair, moving as quietly as possible since it was possible to make noises, even when invisible, and when he reached the shelves, he began looking for the ingredients while the witches continued casting their dark spells and walking around.

‘Seriously?’ he thought, not finding any of the ingredients he needed on the shelves. ‘Come on! What kind of witches are they if they don’t have anyof these ingredients?!’

*****

Back at the building, Mortimer, Matt, Dawn, and Curtis were watching and waiting for the Record Producer to come back, and while they couldn’t see Manny, they did see items move, seemingly on their own.

“You gotta hurry, Manny,” Matt muttered and then he side-glanced at Mortimer, who wasn’t looking as pale, but he was still concerned about him, and he could tell that Curtis was also concerned about their friend. “So, Mortimer, you feeling okay, buddy?” he asked. “I know it's been a long night. It's been a long night for all of us.”

Curtis nodded. “Yeah, and if there’s anything you need to tell us, you can,” he agreed, positive that there was something offish about Mortimer, but he wasn’t sure of what that was. ‘Has he been corrupted by the Carnival Master?’

“You can trust us, Mortimer,” Dawn added, certain that something was off about him, but she wasn’t sure, and that probably had to do with the Darkness surrounding the two witches.

“We just gotta get through this,” Mortimer said with a nod, but he still wasn’t saying what he’d been doing the past two hours.

“Yeah, I agree,” said Matt. “You've proven your trust to us tonight. I was skeptical of you at first, but don't… I don't want you going and betraying us, all right?”

“Of course not,” Mortimer agreed.

“If there’s anything we can do to help,” Matt added, “let us know.”

“Anything at all,” Curtis agreed.

Mortimer nodded. “Thanks.”

“Of course.”

*****

Manny was still searching around the shelves and even the ground itself for the ingredients, and moving around with the cloak on wasn’t easy. ‘Who knew being invisible could be so challenging?’ he wondered, having almost tripped on the cloak twice so far. He then noticed a black briefcase on the ground, and when he opened it, he saw the very ingredients that were needed for the spell.

‘Oh, so obvious!’ Manny thought, grabbing the ingredients, including the silver flask, knowing that he didn’t have much time left before he would become visible again, and he ran out of the lair to rejoin his friends, just as the invisibility spell wore off.

*****

After confirming that Manny had managed to get all of the ingredients needed, they booked it back to Fat Man Slim’s, and they were surprised to see that none of their friends were there, not even pig man or Maria.

“Where is everyone?” Mortimer wondered.

Just then, pig man came out of the pole dancing room, startling the three guys. “Oh my God.”

“Oh, hey, hey,” said Matt as the pig man chuckled. “Hey, you.”

“Uh, hi,” said Dawn, spooked.

“Hey, buddy,” said Curtis and Manny at the same time.

Matt held up the items before setting them on the table. “We got your supplies.”

“Can you mix it up, guys?” the pig man inquired.

After confirming that they could, Matt sat down and, with Curtis and Dawn’s help, mixed up the ingredients in the silver flask while Manny read off the instructions for the spell. He then handed the spell to Matt, who read the spell, and the contents of the cup started glowing a golden color.

The detective then stood up and handed the cup to the pig man. “Drink this right now.”

The pig man eyed the glowing liquid and then glanced at the four men and the woman, who were hoping that it would work. “I hope you guys did this right,” he said before downing the contents in a single gulp.

“I’ve cured snake’s venom tonight,” Matt said, certain that he’d mixed up the ingredients correctly. “How’s it taste?” he asked the pig man.

The pig man shrugged and then he started coughing a little, and then the coughing got worst as he began to convulse, alarming the YouTubers and Mortimer. His whole face began glowing with a golden light, and then the light faded, revealing that he was back to normal and no longer looking like a pig.

“Hey!” Matt said, delighted that the curse had been broken.

“Woo!” Dawn cheered.

“Looking much better,” Curtis added, and they all were grinning.

The man chuckled, went to the table, and slammed the pig snout onto it, happy to be back to normal. “I can’t believe that you guys pulled it off,” he remarked, impressed. “I owe you one.” He then slapped hands with Matt, Dawn, and Curtis before leaving the bar while Manny made a face while picking up the pig snout.

“Stay away from witches, all right, my man?” Matt suggested, happy that they had actually been able to help one of the town folk for a change. “Stay away from witches.”

“That was a little violent, honestly,” Manny remarked.

“Eh,” said Matt with a shrug, not too alarmed.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TEN: NO VOTE…AGAIN!

*****

While all of that was going on, Joey, Nikita, Ro, and Calliope were heading back to Fat Man Slim’s, having just left the carnival, and they were passing the arcade when the three witches suddenly came out, dragging Maria with them, and the group was forced to hide behind the drug store to avoid being seen.

“I don’t know who you are,” one of the witches growled while gripping Maria’s arm in a painful grip as she dragged her onto the street, clutching a deadly-looking knife in one hand, “or what you think you're doing here, but if you don't show yourselves… I'll slit this bitch's throat right now!” And she pressed the knife to Maria’s throat while the other two witches stood on either side of her, armed with their wands.

“Oh no, Maria. “Joey wasn’t sure of what to do, but he suspected that if Maria was killed before they could remove the curse from her, and if she did die, then they wouldn’t be able to finish cleansing the Wicker Man.

Ro was also worried for Maria, and made a decision, for she felt it was time for her to step up her game and be a hero. “I’m going out there to convince those witches to let Maria go,” she announced, getting surprised looks from Joey, Nikita, and Calliope.

“You sure about this, Ro?” Joey asked, not having expected her to volunteer for something so dangerous.

Ro nodded. “I can do it, I can do it.”

“You’ve got this, Ro,” Nikita said, hoping that she was sounding confident.

Ro nodded again. “Ok, ok.” And she snuck around the building to approach the witches.

*****

“Seems like they don’t care very much about you,” the witch with the knife sneered at Maria, who grunted with fear as the knife was pressed closer to her throat. “That’s what happens when you get old.”

Just then, Ro approached the witches with a cheerful smile, hoping that she would be able to save Maria without getting hurt or killed herself.

“Hey, ladies!” she said and the three witches, who’d been surprised by her arrival and were now watching her warily. “Good evening! You guys are looking great. Curses all over the town.” She circled them to get close to Maria. “I love your outfits and horns. Everything's looking really great. I just need to borrow her,” she requested and the witch removed the knife from Mara’s throat. “I know you guys are sobusy, so I don't wanna, like, waste your time-”

“Would you like to trade places with her?” the witch questioned the Jet Setter, pointing the knife at her when she got closer.

Ro laughed nervously. “Maybe later.”

“You don’t belong in this town,” the witch snapped, glaring at the Jet Setter while retaining a painful grip on Maria’s hair and was pressing the knife to her throat again.

“Who are you telling?” Ro asked innocently. “I know! I agree! I agree!”

“And you'd better leave…” the witch added as the other two witches started moving toward the Jet Setter.

Ro nodded while still trying to get Maria away from the witches before they killed them both. “I will,” she agreed. “I just gonna take her with me-”

The witch suddenly removed the knife and threatened the Jet Setter with it. “Before I tear you open,” she warned, and she let go of Maria, who crawled toward the slowly backing away girl. “Crotch to throat.”

“Ok,” Ro said uneasily. “Ok. Right now, I just need to take her-” And before she could grab Maria, all three witches raised their glowing wands, and they all zapped her, making her gasp and freeze in place for a few seconds.

*****

Joey, Nikita, and Calliope all cringed from their hiding place, realizing what had just happen to their friend. “Crap! They’ve cursed her.” And they duck around to the other side of the building to get back to Fat Man Slim’s, hoping that Ro would be able to grab Maria and get her to the pub.

*****

Recovering, Ro quickly grabbed Maria by her arm, and she hurried the old woman away before the witches did anything else to them. “Ok, come on. Come on. Come on.” And they ran for Fat Man Slim’s to rejoin her friends. ‘Oh God! I’ve been cursed!’

*****

Inside the pub, Matt, Manny, Curtis, Dawn, and Mortimer all looked up when Ro ran inside with Maria.

“Oh, my gosh, Ro,” said Manny.

“Ro, Maria,” said Dawn, wondering where Joey, Nikita, and Calliope were.

“Hey,” said Ro, happy to see them.

“Hi, hey,” said Matt, relieved to see her, and he immediately became concerned when he saw how wigged out both girls were looking and acting. “Are you ok?”

Ro sighed and told them about how she rescued Maria. “Saved her from a bunch ofwitches, but I think I got cursed,” she concluded. “I'm not exactly sure what happened. I just annoyed them really good.”

“Wait,” said Matt, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her moving since she was clearly jittery from the experience. “Wait, you got cursed?” And when she nodded, he groaned. “Great.” ‘I get cursed and now Ro, of all people!’

“Oh no,” Dawn groaned. “Ro…”

Curtis wasn’t happen to hear this either. “Wonderful, now three of you are cursed by those stupid witches,” he grumbled when Joey, Nikita, and Calliope all ran inside, having had to take a long way around to avoid the witches.

“Hey, guys,” Joey said, reaching the table and showing them the wedding ring. “We got the ring. You guys got the nose?”

“We have the nose,” Matt confirmed, pointing to the pig snout that was already on its’ spot on the parchment.

“It’s already down,” Manny added.

Nikita nodded and turned to Maria. “We resurrected your fine-assbrother, by the way,” she informed her.

“Oh my…” Maria gasped, tearing up with joy that her brother was alive.

“How fine are we talking, though?” Manny inquired, curious.

“Very,” said Nikita and her friend started looking interested.

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Please, save those kinds of thoughts for later,” she requested. “We still need to reverse the curses.”

Maria was just happy to have her brother back. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Joey told her, feeling better that they were able to help some of the town folk. He put the ring on the circle on the parchment, and noticed that there was something new written on it that hadn’t been there before. “Wait, this is new,” he told his friends as they drew closer to see what it said. “‘Those of you who have been cursed must now pay the price. To reverse the third curse, you must recover the Amulet of Youth by passing through the witches' tangled skein. The last one to complete it will pay with their life’.”

“This is bad,” Dawn said uneasily, looking at her friends. “This means that there isn’t even going to be a vote.”

Nikita was feeling really uneasy. “Wait, who was cursed?” she asked, and Manny, Matt, Joey, and Ro all raised their hands.

“Oh crap,” said Curtis, looking at the four of them. “That means you’re all are going into the final death challenge.”

Joey nodded, not thrilled since he’d been avoiding that so far, and he looked at Nikita, Dawn, and Curtis. “You’re the only ones who weren’t cursed.”

Dawn groaned, running a hand through her hair. “This is really bad, guys. Really, really bad.” ‘So much for keeping Joey and myself out of the eliminations.’

“So, we’re all competing against one another?” Manny asked.

“So one of us is gonna have to pay the price to cure the amulet,” the Savant confirmed.

“And cleanse the Wicker Man,” Matt concluded, not looking forward to going into another final death challenge, especially since the only time he went into one, he’d ended up dying, and he wasn’t looking forward to dying again.

Manny groaned and hung his head, for this was going to be his third final death challenge. “Ugh, shit.”

Nikita wasn’t thrilled to have four of her friends going into an elimination, and recalled that Joey and Dawn had gone through something similar last year. “Joey, Dawn, didn’t you both say that this happen once last year?” she asked them. “Something to do with werewolves?”

Dawn nodded unhappily. “Yeah, one of the gems we needed for the Crown of Oblivion was being held by werewolves,” she answered. “And the six of us had to run a gauntlet since there wasn’t a vote. Andrea would’ve been killed by the werewolves, but Alison gave her life instead.”

“And I don’t think we’re going to be as lucky this time,” Joey added, not looking forward to going into the elimination, knowing that if he died, then they would all die, too.

“Time to go,” Mortimer said and, after exchanging hugs and wishes of good luck, the four cursed people followed him and Calliope out of the pub.

Dawn, Curtis, and Nikita watched their friends through the windows, wondering which of them would come back alive this time.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: TANGLED SKEIN PART ONE

*****

When the group arrived at the witches’ lair, they saw that it’d been changed with a long table that had black cups filled with some kind of dark liquid, four smaller tables with a disc challenge, four buckets filled with water and rotten apples, and the skein itself, which was criss-crossing ropes with bells tied to them.

Beyond the skein, the witches were waiting on a platform that had a long altar on it, covered with a white fur blanket, surrounded by lit candles, and there was also a wooden case with a velvet pillow and the amulet that they needed to get. And the three witches were clearly ready to kill someone based on how they were staring at the YouTubers.

Mortimer and Calliope moved to the side while the quartet approached the table, where Ro found a note with the instructions on it, and gave it to Manny to read.

“‘The last one through the four challenges will be sacrificed by the witches’,” he read, feeling uneasy, especially since the three witches were holding wicked-looking daggers in plain view. “‘The first is the witch's brew, the second is the witch's hat, the third is the bobbing for rotten apples, and the last is maneuvering through their tangled skein without ringing a bell’.”

The quartet exchanged uneasy looks as they took their positions at the table to start the challenge, and Calliope was the one to tell them to start.

“Once you find a pentagram at the bottom of one of your cups,” she informed them, “you will be freed to move on to the second challenge. Begin!”

They all grabbed the first cups and began drinking the dark liquid, which burned as it went down their throats, making them all want to gag, cough, and throw up, especially with how nasty it tasted. But none of them did, and both Manny and Matt started on their second cups when they couldn’t find the pentagram at the bottom of the first cup. Ro was still on her first cup, making faces, and Joey thought he was going to throw up while finishing his first cup and starting on the second cup to find the pentagram.

Manny stopped drinking, burped, and he nearly threw up. “Oh, my God.”

Poor Ro stopped drinking again, and this time she was gagging and actually throwing up the contents of her stomach.

“Oh…” Joey gasped, finishing off the second cup and saw the pentagram at the bottom. “I got one.” And he burped a few times, feeling like Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when they were having to burp in order to keep from being sucked into a giant fan. “Ok.” He put the cup down on the table and ran for the next challenge.

Matt finished his second cup, found the pentagram, and held his cup up in victory before setting it down on the table to head to the next challenge, leaving Manny and Ro struggling with the witch’s brew.

“Oh, my God,” Manny moaned, putting down the cup and was bent over as he started throwing up. “Oh, my God.” And Ro was throwing up, too. “Oh, please, please stop,” he said, when he saw her throwing up as he tried to drink the brew again.

*****

Meanwhile, Joey and Matt were working on the witch’s hat challenge, which Matt was breezing through while Joey was struggling with it.

“Two,” Matt said, finishing the challenge and ran past the Savant to take on the third challenge.

“Matt, I don’t understand,” Joey called after him, struggling with the challenge.

“You got it, Joey,” said the detective reassuringly, determined not to stop and lose his lead, for there was no wayhe was going to die again.

*****

Back at the first table, Ro and Manny were still struggling with the witch’s brew, and the Jet Setter was throwing up in her hair because of the brew.

“Ugh, it’s in my eye!” Ro shrieked, nearly dropping the cup as she tried to clear her eye of the gunk. “It is in my eye!”

Manny wished that he could help her, but he couldn’t, and he was bent double once again, feeling really sick because of the brew.

*****

Taking off his sunglasses and holding them behind his back, Matt immediately plunged his head into one of the buckets, grabbing one of the rotten apples in his mouth, and quickly straightened up, water flying everywhere.

“I’m not dying again!” he vowed, taking the green apple out of his mouth, tossing it to the ground, and he ran for the fourth and final challenge while wiping water off his face, pushing his hair back, and putting his sunglasses back on.

*****

Back at the witch’s hat, Joey was finishing up when Manny finally found the pentagram at the bottom of one of the remaining cups. ‘Finally!’ he thought, dropping the last disc into place, and he ran to do the next challenge while wishing the Record Producer good luck. ‘I can’t believe how hard that freakin’ disc challenge was!’

*****

Matt was working getting through the tangled skein without ringing any of the bells, and this wasn’t easy. He was sliding under one of the ropes on his belly, moving sideways, and groaned when he heard one of the bells tinkled when his elbow accidentally hit it.

“Oh, this is-” he grumbled, now having to go back and start over on the skein. “Aw, I heard the bell.”

*****

Back at the first table, Ro was still struggling with the witch’s brew, and she was leaning against the table as she kept throwing up. “Oh, my gosh,” she moaned. “I cannot keep anything down.” And she heard Manny laugh empathically, but she didn’t resent that since she knew that he’d gone through this mere moments ago.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TWELVE: TANGLED SKEIN PART TWO

*****

Meanwhile, Matt was still trying to get through the tangled skein while Joey, having taken his coat off and tossed it to Calliope, was dunking his head into one of the buckets while he had his hands clasped behind his back, and got one of the apples out.

“Ugh!” he groaned, spitting the rotten apple out of his mouth and went to deal with the tangled skein, just as Manny finally finished the witch’s hat.

*****

Matt finally got through the skein and got to his feet once he was cleared of it. “I’m not dying again!” he grunted as he ran up the steps to the platform, freeing himself of the curse, and turned to check on his friends. “Oh no,” he whispered when he saw that Ro was still at the first table, throwing up, and he had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to make it. “Ro…”

*****

Manny reached the bobbing for apples buckets and he hesitated while clasping his hands behind his back. “I have makeup on,” he whined, not wanting to risk ruining his makeup by putting his face in the water to get one of the apples. ‘I also don’t want to die, but still…’ Taking a few short breathes, he finally plunged his face into one of the buckets to get an apple.

*****

Joey, who was making his way through the tangled skein by this point, called out to him. “Come on, Manny. You got this,” he said reassuringly. “Don’r worry about your makeup.” He then groaned when his foot hit one of the ropes, making a bell tinkle. “Oh!” And he went back to the start, almost tripping on the rope, and he wasn’t sure if it was from the stress, the exhaustion, the curse, or all three at once.

*****

“Oh, my God!” Manny moaned, his voice muffled with the apple he’d grabbed with his teeth and got his head out of the bucket. He spit the apple out and glanced back at Ro, who was still at the first table, and then he went to deal with the tangled skein, wishing that he could help the girl, but he couldn’t. ‘Ro, I’m so sorry!’

*****

Matt was still watching Ro struggle with the witch’s brew, plus he noted that Mortimer was looking ill, too, and he was aware that Joey was close to getting through the skein while Manny was trying to get through by scooting on his back.

“I’m gonna just barf,” Ro stated, feeling reallysick and was holding one of the cups, but she just couldn’t drink anymore.

“Ok, Ro,” said the detective, wishing that he could help her. “Baby sips. You can get through it. I got through the hot dogs. You can do it, Ro.”

Joey finally got through the skein without ringing anymore bells, and ran to join Matt on the platform, freeing himself of the curse, and gasping with relief. “Oh, my God,” he said and his heart sank when he saw that the Jet Setter was still at the first table.

“Don’t – don’t think about it,” Matt advised as Ro put the cup down and started gagging again, leaning on the table for support. “Don’t think about it.”

“Ro,” said the Savant, realizing that she wasn’t going to make it, and he felt his heart breaking once again. “Oh, God. Ro.”

“It’s ok,” the detective said again, feeling his own heart sink and break. ‘Now I really do understand why Joey and Dawn have so much guilt for the last two years,’ he thought, feeling his own heart break. ‘Seeing someone you care about fail a challenge and knowing that they will die, it’s too much!’ “Baby sips,” he said as Manny rolled out from under the skein, joining them on the platform, and he was also freed of the curse.

“Manny,” Joey said, nodding to the first table, and he agreed with the Record Producer’s devastated expression. ‘We’re going to lose Ro!’

Matt knew that it was too late for the Jet Setter now that Manny, who was standing next to him and panting, had made it through all four challenges. “Ro, you’ve been the best friend I could ask for,” he declared.

Ro smiled at them tearfully, knowing that her time was up. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” said the detective with a sad smile. “I’ll miss you.”

Matt, Joey, and Manny watched as the three witches left the platform and went to retrieve Ro, for they knew that she was fated to die by their daggers.

“Oh, my God!” Matt exclaimed when the case glowed gold and opened, revealing the amulet. “Oh, my God!”

“It’s open,” said Manny, pushing open the door and grabbed the amulet.

Joey saw the witches were now grabbing Ro, and he knew that it was time for them to go. “There’s nothing we can do,” he told Matt and Manny, realizing that they both were wanting to try and save their friend, and he knew that they couldn’t. “We have to go.” And he lead them away from the platform to where Mortimer and Calliope were waiting and, after calling out to Ro to be brave, they fled in order to avoid seeing her die.

The three witches marched Ro, who was already out of it because of the brew, to the platform and the altar. She didn’t put up any kind of fight as they lifted her onto the altar, laying her flat on her back. ‘Goodbye, everyone, I love you all,’ she thought, shutting her eyes and heard the witches scream before she felt the piercing pain of the three daggers, and everything went black as she let out a single shriek of pain.

It was over.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: BITTERSWEET

*****

At Fat Man Slim’s, Curtis, Nikita, and Dawn were pacing and waiting for the return of their friends…well, at least three of their friends, and they were getting reallyantsy when the brunette suddenly stopped and looked at the doors. “Someone’s coming.”

No sooner were the words out of Dawn’s mouth when Joey, Matt, and Manny entered with Mortimer and Calliope right behind them. “Oh no,” she whispered, realizing who was missing. “No…” And she buried her face into Joey’s shoulder as she started to cry, and he hugged her, letting her tears soak his coat.

“Oh, God,” said Curtis, who was relieved to see that Joey, Matt, and Manny were still alive, but knowing who wasn’t coming back wasn’t good for any of them.

“Where’s Ro?” Nikita asked, even though it was clear to her that the Jet Setter hadn’t made it through the challenge.

“Ro’s memory will live on through us,” Matt said sadly and he nodded to Maria. “And through her.”

Manny went to Maria, showing her the amulet. “We have the amulet.”

“You did it?” Maria asked tearfully, recognizing it as the very amulet that’d been used to strip her of her youth.

Nodding, Manny placed the amulet on her forehead, and stepped back when Maria gasped as golden sparks swirled around her, restoring her youth. “Oh, my God, you’re a babe.”

Maria was back to normal, and she was amazed to be young again. “I have my life back!” she gasped and smiled at the group, who were tearfully smiling in return. “Thank you, everyone.” And she hugged them all in a big group hug. She then went outside, where she found Sam, who was now wearing a coat. “Sam! Oh!” And she hugged him, happy to have her brother back, and they headed off to find his wife.

*****

Inside the pub, the group watched the reunion through the windows, happy that Maria and Sam had been restored and reunited, and this reminded them of why they had come to Everlock in the first place. Not just because of the contract that Joey and Dawn had signed, not just to cleanse artifacts, and not just to stop the Carnival Master before sunrise.

The biggest reason was to save the people of Everlock, and they had just managed to save three people by breaking three curses.

As happy as it was to see Maria and Sam run off together, the group knew that they still had to cleanse the Wicker Man, and find the two remaining artifacts since time was running out. There was only a limited amount of time before sunrise, and the Carnival Master broke free of his amber prison.

“Let’s cleanse it,” Nikita said, referring to the artifact.

Nodding, Manny placed the amulet of youth onto the circle on the parchment, and they all jumped back as gold sparks shot out of the Wicker Man.

Once again, Dawn felt the Light react and she glowed brightly, causing her to bend over, her hands on her knees as she gasped while the Light did retreat, but she was still glowing a little. “Ooh, really feeling light-headed.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Joey said, grabbing the artifact off the table and, with the help of their friends, helped the brunette out of the pub.

*****

The group returned to the lounge, where Joey placed the Wicker Man in one of the display cases and turned to the others. “Guys, we only have two artifacts left,” he said. “We’re gonna get out of Everlock.”

“Well, four of us are,” Matt pointed out, having done the math that at least two more people would die in order to cleanse the final two artifacts once they’d been found.

“Way to kill the mood, Matt,” Dawn muttered, sinking onto the couch, where the others joined her, and she was rubbing her forehead with one hand, since her head was aching.

“Sorry,” Matt apologized. “You sure you’re feeling ok, Donny?” he asked, noting that she seemed a bit pale, even with her still glowing softly.

The brunette sighed. “I really don’t know anymore,” she admitted. “All I know is that the Light is growing stronger, there’s less Darkness, and yet, there’s still something offish, but I can’t tell for sure where. Which is probably why I have a headache.”

“Maybe this is your body’s way of adjusting to the Light growing stronger,” Curtis suggested. “As the Light grows stronger with each cleansing, you’re probably just adjusting to the changes.”

“Is that possible?” Nikita asked, glancing at the brunette.

Dawn shrugged. “Maybe, although I’m not really sure since I’m still learning about the Light and how to control it,” she admitted. “But, it does kinda make sense.”

“Good of a theory as any,” Matt agreed and noted that Calliope, who’d placed one of Ro’s cards into the ticket box, had just escorted Mortimer out of the lounge, saying something about getting him some tea. “Guys, where do you think Mortimer was for the past two hours?” he asked his friends.

“That’s a good question, Matt,” Manny agreed. “Where was Mortimer when Willie showed up here, and where was he when we were dealing with the Mad Hatter and Crazy Alice?”

“Dawn, can you sense anything off about Mortimer?” Joey asked the brunette.

Dawn considered that and shrugged once again. “Hard to say,” she confessed. “I can tell that there is something offish about Mortimer, which wasn’t there before, and that’s about it. If he’s been corrupted, I can’t sense it…at least, not yet.”

“What do you mean ‘not yet’?” Nikita asked.

“Well, think back to when we first arrived in Everlock,” the brunette explained. “There didn’t seem to be anything wrong, and I couldn’t sense any Darkness before the jack-in-the-box was first opened. The Darkness had been shielded somehow, and, now that I think about it, it’s similar like when that Darkness was growing inside you, Joey, which neither of us knew about until it was too late.”

Joey made a face at the memory of being overwhelmed by the Darkness that’d been growing inside him for a yearwithout his knowledge until it was too late, and how that lead to the events of last year. “You think that’s happening to Mortimer?”

“Maybe?” Dawn shrugged again. “Honestly, I’m not really sure, and I was told once that it can take time for something like Darkness, energy or magic, to grow.”

“Well, I think we should keep an eye on Mortimer,” Curtis suggested, hoping against hope that Mortimer hadn’t been corrupted. “And if he has been affected by the Darkness somehow, then you can use the Light to help free him, Donny.”

The others agreed that it was the best they could do for the time being.

To Be Continued…

*****

I have so many, so many regrets.

So many lies, so many broken ties.

I wish for my old life.

Wish I could fix my strike.

Cause no one truly escapes the night.

Oh, won't you help me escape the night.

Oh baby help me escape the night.

Escape the night.