The eclipse washed over the city of Duckburg. The winds picked up. Few people noted the change in the air. A duo of scientists watched it from their office window at Waddle. A small smile crossed Mrs. McDuck's face as she found the eclipse very pretty. Glomgold was watching it from his backyard with protective blacked out glasses. Doofus missed it, as his brother had locked him in the closet. And a young hummingbird girl didn't bother a second glance at it as she walked across the sandy beach, backpack strapped over her shoulder. The eclipse seemed nothing more than that: an astronomic phenomenon that would come and go.

The winds grew unusually strong, and the sky unusually dark. But everyone figured it was simply the eclipse. Were their shadows stretching longer? Just a trick of the light. Was the eclipse glowing? Nah, eclipses do that. It's actually kind of bright...

And then there was the giant swirling shadow vortex hanging over the Duck mansion.

No one could really explain that one.

Oh, and also peoples' shadows were coming to life and attacking them. That might be problematic.

...

Gladdy stared up to the mansion, eyes wide. He hadn't seen anything like that since... "De Spell!" Turning on his heals, he turned to face the rest of the confused family. "You guys, I think Fethry might be in danger!"

"You think?" Louie crossed his arms. Just as the words left his mouth, their shadows stretched and morphed. The kids jumped back startled. The shadows wore evil grins, moving as if they were laughing before flying off with the rest of the shadows.

Pacing, Gladdy began panicking. "Magica's back and terrorizing Duckburg! I thought she was one of the good guys! What's going on!"

Bradford nodded along, thinking it over. Gladdy could only hope to be as level haded as the old bird. "This looks like her magic, but there's something different about it..." He looked up, the kids' curious and eager eyes landing on him. "Gladdy and I will be back." After waving for Gladdy to follow, they started in the direction of the mansion.

"Wait! What's going on? Who's Magica?" Huey called after them.

Motioning for Bradford to wait for him, Gladdy came back to answer their questions. "Magica was a very powerful sorcerous back when Feathry and I were kids. She and her brother mostly dealt with shadow magic, but she was more of a protector of bad magic than anything. I wonder why she's going after Feathry now."

Louie approached him. "Can we come?"

Looking over them, Gladdy remembered when his own uncle had gone up against Magica. When they had decided to tag along, it hadn't ended well. He shook his head. "No, you guys gotta stay here. Trust me, this magic stuff is messy."

"But-"

Gladdy gave them the sternest look he could (though even that didn't look very stern). "Stay put." After patting them each on the head, he ran off to Bradford and the duo started the walk towards the mansion.

Despite only being a few minutes since the start of the shadow chaos, the streets were in disarray with people running from their own shadows and cars scattered and flipped about. Bradford and Gladdy snuck by the mess, racing up the road to the mansion. They were at viewing distance fro the front gate. Roof ripped from it and chunks of the home missing, it stood. Gladdy frowned at the mess. This really was Feathry's 13th birthday all over again, wasn't it?

Shadows past to and fro in front of the gate and around the walls. Finding a place to hide behind a tree, they pulled themselves together. "How are we going to get in?" Gladdy looked to Bradford for answers.

"I don't know. It shouldn't be too hard. They're just shadows. Right?" Bradford's beak tweaked uncertain.

Grunting from behind drew their attention. A familiar face climbed over the brick walls of the fence. Mitzy toppled over, face planting on the grass. Jumping to her feet, she dusted herself off. "You guys! It's crazy in there!"

"Mitzy!" Gladdy cheered. Bradford shushed them both, keeping an eye on the shadows at the gate. Quieting his tone, Gladdy said, "What's going on?"

"Some girl named Lena's got Fethry trapped in there. She knocked me out and then went after him. He's probably hiding in there somewhere." Mitzy ran her hands through her bangs. "My hero," she mumbled sarcastically. "While Lena was distracted, I managed to sneak out."

Wringing his hands together, Gladdy frowned. "Wait, Lena's doing this? But what does Lena have to do with Magica? And why would she attack Fethry?" Lena was always such a nice neighbor to him back when they lived in the apartment complex. What happened?

"Beats me. So, what do we do now?"

Eyes narrowed, Bradford examined the entrance from afar. "We've got to get in there if we want to save Fethry. Maybe we can climb the walls like Mitzy did."

Gladdy made to it, hoisting himself up to get a better view of the space past the walls. He could see several shadows passing back and forth, spreading out further with each shadow added to their numbers. "In the few seconds we were talking, the amount of shadows doubled."

"What? That's ridiculous. Let me see." Mitzy joined him in checking over the wall. Her eyes widened at the sight. "This is ridiculous." She let herself fall back down. "He's right. She's got a lot of protection in there."

Pacing, Bradford stroked his chin. "We need some sort of distraction to spread her resources thin. We need to get her attention multiple places. Let's see." He stared intensely into nothing, planning.

"My family's got a boat," Mitzy offered. "We could sail around back and cause a ruckus there."

"Good idea. I think I can manage to fly Launchpad's plane, so that could work as distraction in the air, and I know some people who could handle a ground attack. You guys go get the boat, and we'll all attack at once, let's say... 9:00. Got it?"

Gladdy and Mitzy nodded. Gladdy tried to push away the uncertainty in his gut. He would save his best friend, and he would get to the bottom of this. No need to worry. "Got it."

...

"So, we're totally going after them, right?" Huey looked to the others.

"We have to!" Webby bounced on her knees nervously. "We have to save Feathry!"

Louie attempted to calm the others. "Guys, Gladdy told us to stay put, and the responsible thing to do is wait until they've dealt with it." That earned dirty looks from Huey and Webby.

Dewey frowned, rubbing his arm. He was still mad at Feathry, but Feathry needed them right now. Would Dewey really allow his grudge to get in the way of his family? Was Dewey strong enough to risk his life for a man who was willing to throw away his mother's? Taking a deep breath, Dewey stepped forward. "Louie, I think they're right. What if something happens to the adults and they need us?"

Louie looked over Dewey, then smiled. "Alright. Glad to see you're back on board." He ruffled his younger brother's hair. "So, what's the plan?"

"I've got it! All we need it a flamethrower and 2 gallon jugs of mustard!" Hands in his hips, Huey puffed up his chest proudly. They all stared at him confused. He sighed. "Well, I don't see anyone with any better ideas."

"Actually, I might have one," Webby said. "We just need to convince those shadows to let us through. And who's great at convincing people to do stuff?"

Huey beamed. "Oh! Oh! I know this one! It's..." He grinned as if he knew, but he looked to Webby for any sign of the answer on her face.

After waiting for him to answer, Webby gave up. "Len-"

"Lena! I was gonna say that!" He shot her finger guns. "Where is she?"

"I don't know where she lives anymore since we destroyed her apartment, but one time she told me she likes to hang out down by the old amphitheater. Let's try there." Webby skipped back into the hotel, the boys trailing along. "I hope she's alright."

...

"Lenaaaaaaaaaa!"

Dewey covered his ears at Huey's squeal-like call. Kicking off the sand from his feet, Dewey went up the steps to the amphitheater. He was starting to get cold, and the strange color of the sky didn't help his nerves. Sea spay hit against his beak. He rubbed his arms as he shivered. Huey and Webby went back and forth calling for the teen girl. "Are we sure she's here?"

Gaze squinting across the shoreline, Louie searched. "We're kind of to in the open. You'd thin we would've run into her by now."

"At least we haven't run into any shadows yet," Dewey said, more to reassure itself than anything. He pushed his fears away. He had to be strong for Fethry and the rest of his family.

Taking in a deep breath, Huey readied himself for more calling. "LENA!" His foot stomped down, revealing a hatch in the stage floor. He staggered back. "Hey, I found something!" The kids moved to stand over it, both curious and perturbed. Huey started down, followed by the rest.

They climbed down a ladder into a dusty narrow space. The closed corners were decorated in colorful lights and a neatly made bed.

Louie coughed on some dust. "Is this where Lena lives? No wonder she's always sleeping over at our house."

The four split up, searching the room for any clues as to where Lena could've gone. Dewey was knelt down under the bed when he found a skinny, purple notebook. Wiggling out from under the claustrophobic space, he sat up.

"I think I found something."

Webby took the book, looking it over. "Oooh, her diary! It would be rude to go through her most private writings..." She frowned at the book, unsure. "But, I wanna see if she wrote anything about me." She passed it back to Dewey. "Does she refer to me as her best friend, or her super best friend? I need to know!" She rubbed the back of her neck. "Also check if she left any notes about where she went. That might be more important."

Dewey flipped through the pages. Finding the last one, he read it over. It was scrawled on in a rushed fashion in a bright pink, glittery gel pen. Huey and Louie joined to listen. "'Dear diary, today's the day! I've been planning this for at least three months now. No way that any of this will go wrong. I, the great Lena De Spell, have found a way to both bring back my father and get revenge on Fethry at the same time. You see diary, I am the shadow of Poe De Spell, and fourteen years ago, he died. It was all thanks to Fethry, who pushed him off the cliff where Poe drowned. Fethry nearly drowned too (though I wish he had died too. He deserves it.) But according to Magica, Poe's soul was trapped in a penny and given to Fethry by Scrooge. But he can be freed on the night of the eclipse, when my powers will be at their peak and Magica's at their lowest. That's today. Today, I'm gonna march right up to Fethry's stupid mansion, demand that coin and free my father! I'll give you an update soon!' And then there's a winky face, and she signed her name."

Webby cupped her mouth. "This is Lena's fault? But- But-" The young girl came up speechless. Dewey wished he could say something to comfort her, but nothing came to mind. He simply put a hand on her shoulder.

Louie took the book, reading it over to himself. "Who knew Lena could be so dark?"

"She was conspiring against us right under our noses." Huey wiggled his fingers at Webby in a playfully terrifying way.

"Stop it!" She shoved him away, cheeks growing red as she grew upset.

He stumbled back, knocking into a curtain on the wall. It fell on top off, tangling him up. He started screaming and running around with a curtain on his head. No one payed attention to him, as all their eyes were fixed on what lay behind the curtain.

Drawings of Lena's plan, marked with numbers. Poe being freed. And at the bottom...

Louie gasped. "Lena's going to trap Fethry in the coin in Poe's place!"

...

Back pressed against the closet wall, Fethry cupped a hand over his beak to keep quiet. He could hear Lena's footsteps passing across the foyer, searching for him.

"Come on, Fethry. This doesn't have to be this difficult," she said in a singsong voice. Through the gaps in the closet door, he could see Poe floating next to her.

Fethry frowned, heart pounding. Here you are in closet, hiding from a ghost, again. Only this time he's got a terrifying little girl with him.

Her steps drew closer to the closet. The knob on the door turned. She smirked at his ridiculous state. "Found you."

He loosened, trying to put on a brave face. "Come on, Lena. Let's talk about this?" He punctuated the sentence with a hopeful grin. It was worth a try, right?

She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "Aw, it's so cute when you beg." Snapping her fingers, she looked to the host next to her. "Get him, daddy." At the command, the ghost scooped him up, hanging him upside down by the foot. Fethry yelped.

"Aw, come on, this is ridiculous!" He glared at the girl.

She stuck her beak up. "You should've thought about that before you pushed my daddy off a cliff."

"I didn't push him! I was knocked into him! There's a difference." Crossing his arm, Fethry swayed back and forth. "It was all because their dumb fight with Scrooge. If you want revenge on anyone, it really should be him."

Not even bothering to look at him, Lena rolled the penny back and forth on her finger tips. "Don't worry, I'll get to him right after I'm done dealing with you." A smirk crossed her beak. She held out the penny, turning to him. "Now, sit still, because that's how it's going to be for the next eternity.

A bright flash of light burst from the coin. And then there was nothing but the copper penny.

HEY GUYS HAS IT REALLY BEEN A MONTH SINCE I'VE UPDATED? OOPS. So, yeah, I spent the month of November working on a book I'm writing. It's like halfway done and should be complete done hopefully by January. But I thought I'd take a short pause and finish up this. Thanks for being so patient ya'll! And thanks for reading! (Over my break, this dropped down to number 10 in the tag Toaster T-T so sad)