Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 15: Trick or Treat

The next morning at breakfast, everybody was eerily silent. Nobody mentioned the Boggart in the armor-lined hallway and not enough time had passed for people to realize that Takashi Wu had disappeared. Briallen wanted to go to her grandfather and tell him everything that she had seen but she knew that if she did that then he would learn about her involvement with the Boggart and that she had been outside, in the dark, by herself, without permission, and the last thing she wanted was to get into trouble again.

Marisol, who had taken to eating with Toby and Briallen at the Withers table on most mornings, nudged Briallen in the side and motioned towards Dante. He was sitting not far from them, between Brady Dolt and Morana Tenebros and was looking very smug for somebody who had met their worst fear just the night before.

"Detrás de usted! Es un vampiro!" cried Marisol suddenly as she pointed in fear towards Dante.

The smile on Dante's face turned upside down and he was halfway under the table when he whipped around to look behind him. When he saw there was nothing there he turned back towards Marisol and scowled. "Funny how you know about that, Escudero," Dante growled. "It's as if you were there."

"Or perhaps one of your amigos are spreading the word."

"Hey, hey! I don't feel like assigning detentions on Halloween morning, so break it up," threatened Aolani Kanaka, one of the Withers prefects, as she sat down directly across from Dante. Conall Lonigan, who had walked in with her, snickered. "I feel like I spend half my day separating the two of you."

"We were just leaving," said Briallen as she stood up, slung her bag over her shoulder and motioned for Marisol and Toby to follow her. None of them were in the mood to fight anyway, after Briallen had recounted her conversation with Lucan to them. The three friends stopped walking once they were in the entrance hall.

"I can't believe it's Halloween already," said Toby as he looked up at the chandeliers that had been transfigured into giant jack-o-lanterns. "Last year at this time I was back in De Moines, planning Halloween night pranks with my buds and finishing up work on my costume. I was a pirate..."

"What are you going to be this year?" asked Marisol casually even though she was glaring at the dining hall doors, obviously still angry with Dante.

"I don't know. I don't have a costume... I completely forgot about Halloween to be honest. It's kind of weird to dress up now, though, isn't it? We're actual witches and wizards... what costume could top that?"

"We can still celebrate Halloween. Even seventh years are dressing up to go to The Village. The Bubbling Cauldron is hosting a masquerade party and there are things going on in Hamlet Hall and at Prather Park. There's even going to be a parade in the afternoon! We can even go trick-or-treating!" said Marisol as she turned her gaze to Toby. "Zusa's, the candy store, is giving out candy apples and marshmallow popcorn balls."

"The teachers have also turned the hedge maze into a 'haunted' hedge maze for tonight," mentioned Briallen. "I heard Professor Trajan talking about it."

"But what would we dress up as?" griped Toby.

"Vampires?" suggested Marisol cheekily.

Briallen and Toby chuckled. "No," said Briallen. "The Boggart is still fresh in the teachers' minds so that could be dangerous for us. But I would love to see the look on Dante's face if we did... How about somebody famous? A trio?"

"Like the Three Stooges?" asked Toby.

"I refuse to dress up as somebody I've never heard of," said Marisol with a frown. "How about the three blind mice?"

"Or the three wise men or Peter, Paul and Mary."

"Or Wynken, Blynken, and Nod."

"Or the Three Musketeers!"

Briallen looked back and forth between her two friends and shook her head. "I think we could pull together quick costumes for Wynken, Blynken and Nod. All we would really need are nets."

"But I want to be a Musketeer!" Toby argued.

"Toby - it's the morning of Halloween. Where would we get Musketeer costumes?"

Toby frowned. "Fine. I'm Nod, though. The other two have girly names."

"Then I'm Wynken!" said Marisol happily as she laughed. "And that means Briallen is Blynken and I have to get going or I'm going to be later for Spell-Working. See you two at lunch!" Marisol skipped off giddily up the stairs.

"All we need are nets?" asked Toby as he and Briallen walked outside to go to their Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Well the nursery rhyme doesn't really say what they're wearing, now does it?"

Toby laughed and nodded. "You know, I don't think that Boggart had quite the effect we were hoping for," said Toby casually as they made their way to the pitch. "We should do something else. Does Marisol still have any of that Invisi-paste?"

"No," murmured Briallen sadly. "My grandfather confiscated it as soon as he found out she had some. Apparently some students go into shock when they notice their teeth are invisible and so he won't give it back until winter break."

"That sucks. What else could we do?"

"Set him on fire?" suggested Briallen, having given up at choosing something more inconspicuous. She groaned in dismay when she reached the pitch and saw that the Nogtails were back. Her bruise had still not fully healed from the last time they worked with Nogtails. She saw Dax Rieger motion towards her and then towards the Nogtails and give her a thumbs up, all while laughing. Briallen stuck her tongue out at him.

"I do still like that idea," agreed Toby.

* * *

"I look stupid," complained Marisol as she sat down at the Withers table and pulled at the brown wool sweater she had borrowed from Kimmy Moseley. It was only five o'clock but the dining hall was full of people eating an early dinner so they could begin the Halloween festivities and almost everybody was in their costumes already. Luckily for Briallen, Professor Morra was in a good mood and canceled Briallen's detention for that evening.

"You look fine, Marisol," said Briallen as she leaned the butterfly net she had borrowed from Mr Eldred against the bench she sat on and looked around the room to see what everybody was dressed as.

Briallen spotted Ashley Price at the Summerbee table wearing a blue night gown and waved to her. Next to Ashley was a very grumpy Anthony Boesche wearing a green shirt, shorts, and tights and a funny green hat with a feather in it. Dax Rieger at the Almerick table was wearing a white tunic with a red cross and was showing off a large sword to a couple of other Almerick boy dressed similarly. Mindy Price, also at the Almerick table, was dressed as a what Briallen assumed to be professional Quodpot gear and was chatting merrily with Benjamin Beauvais, who also happened to be dressed as the same thing. Briallen noticed that a lot of kids were dressed as professional athletes. Cass Elwood had even dressed as a Muggle athlete, though she had gotten several Muggle sports confused and wore knee-high socks, a basketball jersey over a tennis skirt and carried a hockey stick.

Melanie Swinton and Grace Daniels, the Platt Princesses, walked gracefully into the dining hall dressed in ornate gowns, claiming to be the Queens Anne Boleyn and Marie Antoinette. Briallen briefly considered telling them about the tragic fates of the two queens. She nearly spat out her pumpkin juice when she noticed that Dante Garcia and his friends were dressed as mobsters and flappers. At the Platt table she looked for Lucan and was surprised to find herself disappointed when she did not see him there.

"Briallen!" shouted Marisol as she snapped her fingers in front of Briallen's face.

"Huh? What?" asked Briallen as she looked over at her friend.

"I was just asking you what you thought of Kara and Gavin's costumes. Aren't they gorgeous?"

Briallen looked over at the couple at the Summerbee table and her jaw dropped. Gavin was wrapped in a white toga and a red cloak with a crown of gold leafs wrapped around his head. His dark curly hair and Mediterranean looks fit his costume well and he reminded Briallen of a Roman Emperor. She felt that familiar flutter of the heart and thought she just might melt right then and there. Kara Price was wearing a costume similar to Gavin's but her hair, which was usually in a long braid, was loose and fell in long red waves down her back. Briallen could not help but feel jealous as she looked at the beautiful couple and wished that she were in Kara's place.

"I could be looking gorgeous right now too, but I just had to be stupid and suggest we dress up as three crazy hobos who fish for stars," said Marisol sadly as she continued to stare at the couple.

"Hurry up and finish eating already," said Toby with a mouth full of roast chicken. "I'm done now and I want to get to Zusa's before all the fudge is gone. And I want to see the parade."

"After Zusa's I want to go to Hoadley's Hollow. Everybody knows rich people give out the best candy," mentioned Marisol as she daintily tapped the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "And then Merlin's Court. They're nearly as rich as the people in Hoadley's Hollow according to Hayden Van Vlerah, and he should know since he lives in The Village."

"Sounds good to me!" Briallen jumped off the bench and tapped her net on the floor. "Troops, march!" And the three friends exited the school for the carriages out front which would take them to The Village.

* * *

The end of the parade rolled by and Briallen, Marisol and Toby nibbled quietly at their free fudge from Zusa's as they examined the locked gates of Hoadley's Hollow, a gated community in which the wealthiest witches and wizards of The Village resided. Within the high walls was a large pond surrounded by only five houses. Well, to Briallen the houses looked more like plantations the size of Buckingham castle.

"I do like challenges," said Marisol as she pulled out her wand.

"What are you going to do, Marisol? Float the gate away? Or maybe you can turn it into a paper weight," suggested Toby sarcastically. "Let's just move on, it's getting dark. Prather Park is only a couple of blocks away and I heard they're holding contests for apple bobbing and wand-pumpkin carving. I'd like to see that."

"We're supposed to be trick-or-treating! Not going to parties and breaking into neighborhoods," whined Briallen.

"Kelley Street is right there! We can just trick-or-treat on our way to Prather Park. Ashley said that the shops give away candy too."

"Okay, whatever. I just want candy." Briallen crossed Main Street and briefly glanced at her reflection in the window of the candle and lamp store. If it had not been Halloween, the residents of The Village might have thought she was homeless because of how she was dressed. Briallen, Marisol and Toby made their way down Kelley Street, stopping at the various houses and stores (including one particularly modern Muggle-looking building that was the local Healer's place of practice).

Toby ran excitedly across Kelley Street and into Prather Park once they had hit all the buildings on that street and called for Marisol and Briallen to join him. Briallen frowned as she looked around the crowded park. With the exception of those Bergamot students that lived in or near The Village (which was just a few dozen or so), the only people in the park were parents and small children.

Even after pointing out to Toby that the Prather Park activities were just for little kids it was difficult for Marisol and Briallen to convince him that they should move on. Of course, since they had done what Toby and Briallen had wanted to do, Marisol insisted that they do what she wanted as well and so the trio stopped at the Bubbling Cauldron, a local pub that almost all of the Bergamot students frequented.

As they sat at their corner table looking over a map of The Village that the teachers had given to every student and discussed the best trick-or-treating route, a commotion suddenly broke out near the bar. With a scream, a young girl with a square face and jet-black hair who was dressed as a hag punched the shoulder of an older boy who looked just like her and stormed out of the pub.

"What a baby," said a familiar voice from behind Briallen. She turned in her seat to see who had spoken and was taken aback when she saw a well-dressed boy wearing a dark green and gold embroidered vest with a scarf, long coat, cane and top hat, with a white half-mask covering his face. He reminded Briallen of a Victorian gentleman; the kind of gentlemen she used to swoon over when watching her father's old recordings of a black-and-white Sherlock Holmes TV show that he had brought with him from England.

"That boy probably deserved it, Lucan," Marisol said nastily as she accidentally-on-purpose knocked her net over so it fell over Lucan's head. Angrily, Lucan removed the net and pulled off his hat and mask so that he could fix his hair. Briallen gagged and smacked herself on the forehead.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Toby. "You look like you just ate another Cockroach Cluster."

"Um, nothing... let's go. We need to hurry up and get our trick-or-treating done if we want to make it back in time to go through the haunted hedge maze."

"It's not very scary," said Lucan calmly. "Just full of a bunch of Muggle tricks. It would have been better if they had used gags from our world."

"There is only one world, Lucan," said Briallen as she put her sweater back on and shook out her hair.

"No, there's not."

Briallen did not have the chance to argue with Lucan, though, as Marisol and Toby dragged her out the door and into the chilly autumn night. "I should tell the Price sisters he said that," said Toby. "They'll hex him into a ball of slime."

Marisol looked at Briallen pointedly and Briallen sighed and shrugged. She knew what Marisol was suggesting: that Lucan sitting right behind her in a crowded pub was not a coincidence. She hadn't told Marisol about what she had heard Lucan say about her the previous week, and so Marisol still believed that Lucan Stone had a crush on Briallen. The three friends made their way about The Village, stopping at every house they came across and collecting handfuls of candy. They were thankful for the tall torches that provided light as they went further north in the town to the more residential areas as there were clouds blocking the moon. When they finally made their way back to Zusa's, where the carriages were waiting to take them back to Bergamot, their pillowcases were almost full.

"I say we drop our bags of candy off in our rooms before we go through the hedge maze. I don't want to get scared, drop it and lose it all," said Marisol as she riffled through her pillowcase as they made their way up the stone steps and inside the castle.

"Let's meet back in the entrance hall in ten minutes then?" suggested Briallen.

Toby nodded. "Let's drop our nets off too. I'm getting sick of carrying this thing around." He shifted the lengthy butterfly net from one shoulder to the other.

The two girls nodded and then they made their way to their house common rooms. Once Briallen had dropped her candy and net off in her room and made her way to the common room, she looked around for Toby. After waiting for five minutes and still not seeing him she decided to go to the boys dorms and see what was keeping him so long.

"Toby?" called Briallen as she walked into the first year boys dormitory.

"Up here," said a voice above her. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

Briallen looked up and smiled. Toby had somehow gotten himself stuck, face up, to the ceiling of the room. "Now how on earth did you do that?" asked Briallen with a snort.

"I didn't do it. Dante and company did. They put aco-plaster on the ceiling and blasted me up here. They just ran off upstairs about a minute ago."

"What? Dante did this?" fumed Briallen. "Excuse me while I take care of this once and for all."

"Wait, Briallen! Get me down from here!"

Briallen ignored him and stormed up the circling stairs to the next room. When she reached the doorway she kneeled and peeked into the keyhole. Sure enough, Dante and his friends were inside, going through their candy and mocking Toby.

This is war. Let's see if they can take the heat, thought Briallen as she stood up, braced herself and then shoved the door open with all the anger she could muster.

Briallen pointed her wand at the windows. "Karonte!" The windows slammed shut and she pointed her wand towards the ceiling. "Incohestus!" Dante and his friends were looking around at each other, trying to determine whether or not what Briallen was doing was worth fighting since she was not pointing her wand at them. Then Briallen walked out of the room, pointed her wand at the door and shouted, "Karonte!" again. The door slammed shut. Still angry, she walked back to where Toby was, smiling as she heard the people in the previous room struggling to open the door.

"Deligare!" said Briallen as she pointed her wand at Toby. He dropped to the ground. "Come on, we're already late meeting Marisol. She's probably freaking out right now, wondering where we are."

"Okay. Hey, Briallen," said Toby, breathless as he ran to keep up with her quick pace. "What did you do to them? I could hear them yelling at you."

"I'm slowly turning them into great big wrinkly prunes."

Toby's eyes widened as they practically ran into the entrance hall. "Won't you get in trouble for that?"

"About time!" cried Marisol. "I was beginning to think that you two had been ambushed by Dante!"

"We were. But don't worry - I took care of it. Now, off to the haunted hedge maze!" said Briallen nonchalantly.

She did not want to have to explain to Marisol and Toby exactly what she had done to Dante and his friends just yet because she knew they would ask questions. Briallen wasn't even sure herself of what she had done. She, Marisol and Toby had practiced the locking charm she had used several times, after Dante had first become a target, in hopes that they could lock him in a closet at some point. The other spell she had cast, however, was one she had only ever read about. Briallen had no idea whether or not it would work and she did not want Marisol and Toby to know about it unless it had.

They all reached the entrance to the hedge maze where a small line had formed. The professors were only letting students in a few at a time in order to make it more scary. Briallen could hear the screams inside as the angry square-faced girl she had seen in the Bubbling Cauldron earlier that night entered the maze alone. After a couple of seconds, the group of kids in front of them had entered and they were next in line.

"I'm so excited!" said Marisol happily as the sound of a chainsaw sounded from somewhere deep within the maze. Her eyes widened when she heard the chainsaw and then she grinned widely. "Muggle scares!"

Toby guffawed and shook his head as the teacher blocking the entrance to the hedge maze moved aside to let them through. Briallen was shocked to realize that the professors had cast some sort of spell to make it darker in the maze, to the point where she could barely see where she was going.

"Marisol, let go! You're choking me!" complained Toby. Briallen could barely see her two friends in front of her but she knew that Marisol, the only one of them not that familiar with Muggles, was genuinely scared and clinging to Toby for dear life.

Poor Toby, thought Briallen with a smile. Suddenly a hand went over her mouth and she was pulled sideways while Marisol and Toby continued going straight. Oh, my God! I'm being kidnapped just like Christabel and Takashi! What do I do?

Briallen came out of her shock quickly and began to struggle wildly with whomever it was that had grabbed her.

"Calm down!" hissed a voice in her ear. "I'm not going to hurt you!" The stranger's hand came off from around her stomach but remained over her mouth. "Don't scream. You'll attract attention." The stranger then removed their hand from over her mouth.

"Who are you?" demanded Briallen. "Do you know who I am?"

"I'm Lucan Stone and you're Briallen Bevin. I thought you would know my voice by now."

Briallen snorted. "Oh, right. I instantly thought of you when a crazy-person suddenly dragged me away from my friends." She reached out and punched Lucan in what she hoped was his shoulder. "What is the matter with you! Are you stalking me or something?"

"What? Stalking you? No!"

"Really, are you sure? Because that's what is seems like to me. You follow me around, stare at me, know my schedule. I know you don't like me but it's just a little bit weird!"

"I'm not stalking you! I needed to talk to you but your friends were in the way."

"Anything you have to say to me you can say in front of them because I'm going to end up telling them everything anyway."

"They're in the maze."

"Of course they're in the maze! We came in together!"

"No, the kidnapper," said Lucan, exasperated. "The small hooded person that took Takashi. They came in behind you and your friends."

"Lucan. It's Halloween... don't you think it's possible for there to be quite a few small, hooded people out tonight?"

"I know this is them, Briallen! They're after you and your friends!"

Briallen shifted her weight from one foot to another and sighed. She knew she and her friends had been seen last night. "What are we going to do?"

"Follow Toby and Marisol since the kidnapper is following them," said Lucan as he grabbed her hand and they went back into the maze. He pulled out his wand and used the Lumos spell to light their way.

"Won't the - the kid snatcher - won't he see your wand-light?" asked Briallen as they made their way quietly through the maze. She wondered briefly why they had yet to come across anything or anybody in the hedge maze, since it was supposed to be set up with scary gags for Halloween. So far it was just a dark hedge maze.

"No. We're charmed when we enter to keep from noticing the people before and behind us."

"Then how do you know the kidnapper was behind me? And how did you get ahead of us?"

"I know the maze well. I figured knowledge of the maze would come in useful someday. Plus, the charm doesn't work if you know what you're looking for."

"How exactly would memorizing the maze layout come in handy?"

"Quiet."

Suddenly Lucan stopped and he pulled Briallen behind him and peeked around a corner. "There they are! It looks like the kidnapper has Marisol!"

"What?" said Briallen, both horrified and frightened for her best friend. Quickly she shoved Lucan aside and ran forward a few feet, hesitant to go any further since she couldn't see much of anything. She could hear the sounds of a struggle but her eyes were taking too long to adjust. She wanted desperately to light her wand but knew it would put her in danger because it would illuminate not only the attacker but herself as well.

Briallen struggled, trying to think of a way to save her friend as she felt Lucan move beside her. She had to do something and so she pulled out her wand.

"Lumos Strobos!" shouted Briallen. Her wand emitted several short bursts of bright light. The light was not bright enough to identify the attacker but she and Lucan were able to determine which of the two people in front of them was the attacker and how far in front of them they were.

"Do that again!" demanded Lucan.

Briallen once again cast the strobe charm and then shouted, "Depulso!"

The attacker staggered momentarily but did not release Marisol.

"It didn't work! Now what?" asked Briallen frantically. She had not been a witch long enough to know any really good defensive or offensive spells.

"I know a spell that might work. Cast that strobe spell one more time!"

Briallen did as Lucan said and then heard him shout, "Arundos Avolares!" Briallen screamed as several arrows shot out of his wand like bolts of lightening. Two arrows struck the hedge but one hit the intended target and the attacker screamed in pain.

"Avada Kedavra!" shrieked the kidnapper as they pointed their wand at Briallen and Lucan.

Lucan raised his wand and pulled Briallen to him. "Protego!" he screamed desperately, as he tried to pull them out of the way of the attacker's spell.

Briallen saw the flash of green light in the darkness, felt a wave of intense heat, and then all was black again.