Have you ever felt sympathy for the characters that sit around, casually minding their own business, perhaps even just reading a book, when suddenly something out of the ordinary happens and forces them into an adventure they never agreed to going on? Yeah, you probably do.

Anyway, welcome to Kevin's life. Just your ordinary college freshman trying not to overdose on redbull and trying to make it so there was something other than caffeine, Ramen, and spite filling his very being. He never asked for the skeletal cat to jump on him while he was trying to get some fresh air with his roommate, but hey, stuff happens.

Kevin was just minding his own business, on that unseasonably warm October afternoon, his shaggy black hair providing shade for his eyes as he leaned over his textbook, carefully studying linguistics. The authors don't know much about linguistics, so that's about as much detail as you're going to get.

His roommate and best friend, Jason, was lying down on the grass, his dark blue eyes shut and his paint-spotted everything, from his short dark brown hair to his sneakers, stretched out leisurely as he soaked up the sunshine. Kevin resisted the urge to throw something at him. But the need to resist this urge didn't last long.

The skeleton cat that leaped elegantly across Kevin's lap just as he began to stretch out his spine caused him to scream loud enough to startle Jason right out of his peaceful dozing.

"What the heck was that for!" Jason yelled, glaring daggers at his friend. Kevin pushed his textbook off his lap and stood up before beginning to back away.

"Uh, dude, there's a skeleton cat," he stated, his dark eyes wide with terror as he looked at the creature. It seemed to be staring at him, its tail held aloft. The longer he stared, the more Kevin could see just the faintest shadow of a golden color superimposed over the cat's bones, and a piercing green hovering somewhere within its eye sockets. The cat meowed, flicking its tail slightly. Then, as if it had planned for the textbook to be on the ground, the cat neatly picked it up with surprising jaw strength and began carrying it away. But what was more shocking was the slightly moldy stuffed rabbit scampering by and taking Jason's sketchbook with it.

"HEY!" Both boys yelled simultaneously, Jason scrambling to his feet as fast as he could. The cat started running as soon as the bunny passed it, causing both boys to chase them. Now, you'd think that two college aged guys at the peak of their physical condition wouldn't have much trouble chasing down a skeleton cat and zombie bunny, right? Well, when one of them is groggy from a nap and the other hasn't slept in over 48 hours, then things start to get a bit tricky. Then add to the fact that they are running through wild woodlands, complete with rough ground and trees all over the place, then things get harder. They're also chasing rather quick, small animals going in the same direction. It's surprising they weren't as injured as they could have been, and the odd thing was that both animals seemed to make sure that they were following the two of them.

It was a bit of a surprise when the animals stopped suddenly in front of an enormous, gnarled tree. The cat gently placed the textbook on the dirt and meowed again, placing both of his front paws on the cover. It was just then that Kevin thought to question how a skeleton was making sounds like one of its living counterparts. The zombie bunny placed down its prize as well, standing atop it like it were a trophy of a sort.

The boys groaned. These undead forest dwellers wouldn't give up their prizes so easily. Jason then looked around.

"Hey, Kev, do you know where we are?" He asked uneasily. Kevin also looked around.

"Nope," he said, feeling the blood drain out of his face as he looked around in the darkening woods. His attention was drawn back from the woods to his friend, who was walking towards the tree. The bunny tensed, but seemed genuinely confused as the boy passed right by.

Jason traced a design into the bark with his finger, then moved on, unaware that the design remained, glowing softly with a warm spring green light. He continued moving around the tree, until there was a loud rumble and creaking sound. Then the bark smoothed out, looking almost like fabric.

"Wha-- how-- eh?!" Kevin sputtered, his hands flailing around his head, finding no other way to express the utter confusion he was feeling. Jason seemed equally bewildered.

"I don't know! I just saw it faintly in the bark and it felt right! Hey! The -- the things that have our homework--!" He didn't need to continue, because the animals disappeared into the tree right as Kevin snapped to attention. Without hesitation, Kevin followed them into the tree, quickly followed by Jason. They somehow managed to navigate the long spiral staircase down without falling flat on their faces, and came to a room with a dirt floor, two beds made out of dried plant matter, a desk made out of sticks and string, and two lumps in the walls. The most peculiar thing about the room was the fact that it was well lit. Their books lay on the desk, and the undead creatures were standing guard in front of the odd lumps in the walls. The boys walked cautiously, avoiding the strange symbol on the floor. Kevin first went towards the desk, but as he passed by, the cat reached out and pawed gently at his ankle.

Kevin stopped to inspect the lump. Glancing at Jason, he found his friend doing the same to the other lump.

"Jace? I'm seeing something that's oddly bluish in here. What about you?"

"I'm seeing reddish stuff. But it's hard to tell with all this dust." Kevin grunted in response, before pressing a tentative hand to the lump to brush the dust away. The lump seemed to be made of some kind of smooth, warm, translucent stone, and it was in fact blueish. Kevin peered into the stone while wiping the dust off on his pants. He could just barely discern the outlines of a face before cracks began forming on the surface of the stone, causing him to jump back. A rumble filled the room and the boys both prepared for death. The roots fell away from the stone as bits of it cracked off and began to dissolve. After a moment, the entirety of the odd stone had broken away and dissolved into thin air, leaving a girl behind.

Her hair was a fiery red color, and her eyes were closed. Her fair skin was flecked with freckles. Her face was tilted upwards, an almost yearning expression on it. Her slender arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, clutching at the fabric of her dress. Her dress was rather extravagant, clearly a symbol of wealth from an older time.

Then she began falling forward.

Instinctively, Kevin moved to catch her, gently lowering her to the ground. She whimpered softly, eyes fluttering, before they opened. They were a dazzling forest green that seemed to move through her iris like leaves fluttering in the wind. They stared into Kevin's for a moment, and her mouth opened slightly...

Before opening much wider as she screamed, pushed herself away, and began scrambling to a wall, before throwing her arms up in front of her like a shield and yelling something in an old language. But that wasn't the weirdest part. A shimmery silver force field shaped like a star blossomed in front of her, wrapping around her to form a protective bubble. Kevin stared at it in shock.

"Who are ye?! Where's Elvira?" The girl demanded in a strong Irish accent. Kevin cleared his throat, lifting his hands as a show of truce. "Ye get yer hands down right now! Don't think I don't know that trick!" Kevin quickly lowered his hands into his lap.

"I'm really sorry, I had no intentions of scaring you at all. Um, I'm Kevin, and this is my friend, Jason. Uh, we don't know who Elvira is, much less where, so, sorry again." His calming tone did seemingly nothing to ease the girl's nerves. The fire headed girl remained tense as her eyes flicked from one man to the other.

"I might be wrong but Elvira might be in the other casket thing," Jason commented, jabbing a blue painted thumb towards the other lump on the wall.

"How did I get out?" She demanded, but wasn't answered as Jason moved towards the other lump. He peered in right as the girl's face contorted in panic.

"So she's in here, huh?" Jason asked, wiping the dust off.

"Wait! No! Ye idiot something's wrong with the spell don't--" She was cut off as a pulse went through the other lump and, instead of it cracking, the material began to melt.

As it melted, it revealed a pasty girl. Her long, platinum blonde hair fell from a semi-floating position to a normal resting position. Her eyes were closed and her face was relaxed but her jaw seemed clenched. She was wearing clothing similar to the other girls, but it was black and a dark cloak covered her shoulders. Her body lurched forward, and Jason barely caught her in time. He inspected her face, and his thoughts were interrupted by a shriek of rage from the other girl.

"Ye-ye-- how could ye?! I told ye not to ye incompetent..." Her tone was threatening as rage flickered through her enchanting eyes. She stepped forward menacingly, her hand clenched into a fist. Before she could continue her advancement, the girl's eyes flashed open.

Her eyes, like the other girl's, were a brilliant green. They were a bright color, and they swirled in her irises. Jason was entrapped by them, and failed to notice her leg come up.

And slam into his face.

He gave a soft cry of pain, and she bent backwards, folding over herself and landing on the ground in a slightly squatting-slanting position. She grabbed onto the side of her cloak, twisting it around herself. Suddenly, she disappeared, and in a rustle of fabric appeared next to the red head, finishing the twirl there. Both boys were dumbfounded, their faces exposing their confusion. The redhead turned to the blonde as she stood up slowly, like a predator watching its prey. The blonde never stopped looking at the two awestruck boys.

"Sorry Ellie, didn't mean to let him wake ye," the redhead said. The blonde girl's gaze flickered to hers.

"Vhat vent wrong vith the incantation?" She asked, her voice monotonous and exposing no emotion. Her voice gave away only a small germanic accent.

"I don't know," the girl responded, her brow furrowing in thought. "Maybe it had something to do with the environment." she said, gesturing to the surroundings.

"So that's Elvira," Jason said. The blonde casted him a glare that made him tense before turning back to her friend.

Elvira scoffed. "There vas nothing in the scroll that said that the environment had an effect on the spell, Villow." Her eyes looked challengingly towards the freckled girl's.

"Well? So it never said it didn't," Willow replied.

"My familiars found us the tree with the biggest magical current traveling through." Elvira stated.

"So? What could let these..." She searched for a word to refer to the two men as. "...people release it?"

"I blame the cat," Kevin cut in, but was ignored by the two bickering girls.

"Something vas pronounced wrong!" Elvira hissed.

"I also blame the creepy bunny," Jason commented, and this time both girls' heads snapped to attention.

"Cat?" Willow asked, her eyes widening.

"Bunny?" Elvira said, a small grin twitched at her lips before it disappeared.

They both stretched their arms out, pointing their middle finger and index finger outwards. Their eyes began to glow, and the area around their fingers began to swirl.

"Stardust." Willow commanded. The skeleton cat pushed past Kevin, letting his tail brush against the man's leg before padding over to the girl happily. Her eyes lit up and she scooped up the cat and hugging him affectionately.

"Bonbon." Elvira commanded. The voodoo stuffed rabbit passed by Jason, before eyeing him suspiciously and bounding over to the girl. She tenderly picked it up and and dug her face into the side of the matted fur and stuffing. Both boys stared at them.

"Wha-a...?" Kevin stuttered, his confusion rendering him unable to talk. He was ignored.

Willow held the cat outwards suspiciously and eyed him. "Something looks different..." She muttered under breath. "Why is he a skeleton?"

"He looks better that vay," Elvira piped up, earning a glare of distaste from the redhead. She rolled her eyes and hugged her cat again.

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Jason said, holding his hand out as if to pause the scene in front of him. "You two were frozen in goop--"

"--And the creepy pets are yours." Kevin added.

The girls looked at each other before a grin grew on Willow's face and a look of amusement passed over the other girl's.

"Take care of us," Elvira sneered before taking her cloak and twisting it around both of them. They disappeared instantly.

"Well," Kevin said, getting over his shock. "Shit."