Navia

It is strange to see Greenhaven decorated. There are jack o'lanterns every where you look, streamers of bats strung up in the dining hall, and a whole lotta skulls and bones. Yep, as you've probably guessed, it's Halloween. We, the Chosen Eight, have decided to do a group costume, and that's where I am right now. Getting ready with the others.

"Does the mask fit okay?" Niko asked, adjusting the gold and yellow lion mask that covered his face. He was dressing up as Cabaro, the Great Lion.

"Yeah." Lucia said, putting on her own spotted mask. "What about mine?"

Niko reached around me, and tilted the mask slightly to the left. "Purrfect." He grinned, "you'll make an amazhong Uraza."

Lucia punched his shoulder. But behind the mask, I'm pretty sure she was blushing.

Turning away from the pair, I almost crashed into Tazi's curled ram's horns.

"Sorry!" The boy stepped back, almost dropping the mask he held.

"My bad." I replied, stepping around him. I dodged Lizzie, dressed as Essix, who was heading toward him. Maneuvering around Sasha and Zay, who were teasing each other about their costumes, and finally found Sabien.

"Hey!" He beamed at me, making my cheeks go hot beneath the white furred mask. "Your costume is amazing, Navia. Or should I say Suka?" The boy wiggled his brows at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Go ahead, but only if I can call you Mulop." I replied with a mischievous smirk.

He chuckled and stood, careful of the other eight arms that were a part of his costume. "Fine."

I took one of those arms, ignoring the hand he extended out to me. Sabien rolled his eyes, but didn't protest as I pulled him through the others.

We all had our masks on by now, and what used to be a room with the Chosen Eight was now a room with eight of the Great Beasts.

"Okay, everyone." Lucia stood at the front of the room. "Let's show everyone our awesome costumes!"

"Wait!" Tazi stopped us as we were about to leave. "Something always happens on Halloween, so everyone pair up. And please remember to keep an eye on your partner."

I exchanged a look with Sabien, my partner.

Zay

I rolled my eyes. "Tazi is jumping to conclusions again."

Sasha, my partner, nodded. "But still." He said, a touch of uncertainty in his voice.

"Don't worry." I scoffed, "I'll stay close." I hid it well, but Sasha's hesitation unsettled me. Not much scares that kid, but what does isn't something stupid like spiders.

Sasha nodded, tightening the knot in the ribbon of his elephant mask. "Let's go party." He said, and although I couldn't see his face, I knew he was grinning. Or forcing a grin, at least.

I followed him out the door, glancing back once.
Tazi's right. Something's going to happen.

Lizzie

"Stop being so dramatic about Halloween!" I scolded my partner, Tazi, as I led him into the dining chamber.

The tables had been pushed aside, and there was a group of instrumentalists playing haunting, eerie music.

"C'mon, let's dance!" I said, grabbing Tazi's hand. My cheeks flamed, and I was glad that the falcon mask hid my face.

The boy coughed, obviously embarrassed, as I took his other hand and started dancing.

"Sorry." He grunted, accidentally stepping on my feet.

I giggled, "it's fine. I don't have much experience, either."

We danced for a while, talking and giggling. Suddenly, the candles in the pumpkins were extinguished. Taken by surprise, I stumbled and fell. Tazi fell on me, his hand clenching mine. He rolled off and yanked me to my feet.

"W-what's going on?" I asked, my voice squeaking.

"I knew it." Tazi's voice was hoarse with fear.

"What?"

"Something is going on, Liz! We need to figure this out."

I swallowed, squeezing his hand. "O-okay, Tazi."

Lucia

When the lights vanished and the room plunged into darkness, I was terrified. Niko has stepped away from my side for a moment, and I couldn't see a thing. I heard whispers around the room, but they sounded like ghosts, or worse. My heart thudded loudly, and I started breathing quickly.

"Niko?" It came out as a whisper, so I cleared my throat and tried again. "Niko!"

Silence. Then,

"Lucia!" That voice. His voice. Niko's voice.

"I'm here!" I called, feeling almost dizzy with relief.

"Hold on!"

I heard footsteps, and Niko's voice apologizing as he made his way over. Then, his presence was beside me.

"Lucia. Are you alright?"

I wanted to hug him tight and never let go, but instead I grabbed his hand and gave it what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. "I'm fine."

He squeezed back. "Good. We need to find the others and figure this out."

I nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see me. "Yeah." I added quickly.

Niko pulled my hand, and I let him drag me through the darkness. Occasionally I had to dodge people, but most of them heard us coming and moved out of the way themselves. Niko stopped suddenly, and I slammed into his back, tumbling backward and losing my grip on his fingers.

"Niko?" I stood and reached out blindly. My fingertips ran over his back, and I stepped up beside him. "What's wrong?"

The boy didn't reply for a long moment. Then, in a hoarse whisper, "do you see that?"

"See what?" I replied, straining my eyes to see something. "It's dark, Niko. I can't see a—" I gasped, freezing on the spot.

Sabien

Darkness was never a fear of mine. But when the lights turned off, it scared me. Bad. Navia and I had been dancing together when it happened, and we'd both stopped.

"Hey, Sabien?" Navia whispered in my ear, her voice shaking ever so slightly.

"Yeah?" I murmured.

"What's going on?"

I was about to reply, when her hand was ripped out of mine. A ghostly blue light illuminated the hall.

Only, I wasn't in the hall anymore. Trees ringed with fog surrounded me. I looked around, looking for the others. None of them were here. My pulse thudded in my ears and I gulped.

"Hello?" I called. "Anyone here?"

No reply. Only whispers. Whispers that grew louder. And louder. Until they were no longer whispers, but screams. Screams of familiar voices. I strained to understand what they were saying, but I caught a few words here and there.

Suddenly, as quickly as they arrived, the voices vanished. I looked around, shivering. Then, a figure stumbled out of the trees.

Sasha

This is bad. Really bad.

I stood in a wood room, shadows blurring the corners. The stupid voices were gone, leaving me in a deafening silence. The door of the room swung open, and I gasped. The figure tripped over the threshold and I jumped forward, grabbing her forearms before she fell. The girl pulled herself the her feet again.

"Sasha, where are we?" Zay was pale, but not trembling.

"Where did you come from?" I frowned, shoving a hand through my hair.

"From the..." She didn't go on.

I felt my frown deepen, and started pacing.

Zay watched me walked back and forth. "This is so creepy..."

I barked a laugh. "Oh, sure. I'd totally describe this situation as 'creepy.'"

Zay folded her arms, glaring. "Well sorry, Mr. I-know-everything. It's not my fault we're in this situation!"

"Well it's not my fault, either!" I stopped my pacing and glared right back.

"Exactly! Neither of us is to blame, so instead of arguing, we should focus on how to get out of here!" Her tone was accusatory, but in her eyes I saw fear.

I sighed, my shoulders slumping. "I know, Zay. But how?"

"Well maybe... no, that's stupid." She muttered.

"Stupid ideas are better than no ideas, which is what we've got right now." I said, raising an eyebrow.

Zay glanced at me, a flash of surprise passing over her face. But it was so quick, I might've imagined it.

"Okay. Well, here's an idea..." she said, "since I found you, maybe we should go and try to find the others."

I blinked slowly, processing the idea. Finally, I nodded. "Good idea."

I walked to the door, Zay following close behind. I pushed it open, stepping into the dim dusk outside. She stepped up beside me, and I felt her small, cool palm slip into mine.

"Let's do this." I said, starting forward.

Tazi

Okay, this is definitely not like the previous years of Halloween, I thought as I wandered through the misty field here I'd ended up.

"Tazi!"

I whipped around, searching for the sound. Three figures came into view in the mist. One ran toward me, and I saw that it was, in fact, Lizzie. She flung her arms around my neck, laughing. The other two came closer, and I made out Zay and Sasha.

"Wha– I– how–?" I stammered, at a loss for words.

"We found you!" Lizzie laughed.

"Yeah." Sasha confirmed, " and we should get going. We still need to find Navia, Sabien, Niko, and Lucia."

I nodded slowly, and let Lizzie pull me along as Sasha and Zay turned and started walking again. Lizzie was talking, but I wasn't listening. Instead, I observed the pair into front of me. Specifically their clasped hands.

Niko

Lucia had found me, and together we'd found Sabien and Navia. The four of us were walking together in a tightly knit group, searching for the others. It was just our luck that we stumbled upon their tracks.

"Come on guys!" I called, breaking into a run. The others followed suite, and together we sprinted along the set of tracks. Before long, the foot prints became fresher.

"We're almost there!" I panted, forcing my tired legs to go faster. No one protested as we all pushed our speed. Then, I heard them. Their voices carried, so they must've been speaking quite loudly. A quick glance back showed me that the others had heard it too. The four of us burst into the clearing, surprising the four of them.

"Niko?!" Lizzie said, staring at me.

"We all made it!" Navia smiled, leaning against a tree to catch her breath.

"Now we need to get out of here." I nodded, starting to pace.

Everyone started talking at once, making my head hurt.

"Hey!" Sabien shouted over the noise, quieting everyone. "I have an idea..." He described his plan, which at first warranted quite a bit of doubt, but soon everyone warmed up to it.

"It's the only plan we've got." Sasha grunted as we formed a circle and joined hands.

"Okay everyone," Tazi spoke up. We all looked at him. "My mother told me that if a situation ever seemed hopeless, I should repeat this rhyme." We waited as he cleared his throat.

"Sharlen agulen faelen! Telgo huero yogozarten!"

He looked at us. "Got that?"

We nodded.

"One three then." Sasha said.

Sharlen agulen faelen? Telgo huero yogozarten? I wondered.

"One..."

Sharlen agulen faelen... Telgo huero yogozarten... I swallowed, griping Lucia's hand tight.

"Two..."

Sharlen agulen faelen. Telgo huero yogozarten. I thought, pushing aside my fear.

"Three!"

"Sharlen agulen faelen! Telgo huero yogozarten!" Our voices mingled as it echoed around the clearing. The effect was instantaneous. A blinding white light pulled us off our feet, and two seconds later, slammed us back onto them in the middle of the hall. I fell to the floor, laughing happily.

Olvan, Tyler, Lenori, and Ryan rushed over.

"What happened?" The Greencloak leader demanded as we stood up.

"Something always happens on Halloween." Tyler grumbled, hauling Navia to her feet.

We looked at one another.

"Let the kids rest." Lenori said, placing a hand on Olvan'a arm. The burly Greencloak nodded, and turned away.

I looked around at the others. "We survived Halloween, guys. We can do anything."

Dang that is one long special. 2000 words! Hope y'all liked it! New chapter will be up soon! Peace! ☠︎︎