The bus finally landed in a bright and sunny place. Maisie knew instantly where they were – Halloweentown.

"We're here," Marnie said. 

Dylan asked, "Yeah, but where's here?"

"Obviously Halloweentown," Maisie told him.

They got out through the back of the bus and Marnie walked around taking everything in. Maisie did as well, looking at the buildings.

"Whoa," Dylan said. 

Everyone here was a monster, it was obvious, and Maisie loved it. There was a giant pumpkin statue, and, on the plaque, it said, Halloweentown Est'd Long Ago.... The pumpkin didn't look very warm and inviting like in the book. It was sad.

"I don't get it," Dylan said, coming up to them. "Monsters are just pretend."

"Dylan," Marnie said. "This is it."

"Mom said they were just pretend," Dylan said. 

"We're in Halloweentown," Maisie said, still in awe, looking at everything. 

"Just like the book," Marnie said. 

"Or maybe we just fell asleep on the bus," Dylan said. "Yeah, that's it. It's all a dream."

"That we're all sharing?" asked Maisie, incredulous. She looked at a woman with a pumpkin head. She was holding the hand of a boy with a pumpkin head. 

"The decorations, the goblins, the witches, the ghosts," Marnie said.

"And Grandma – she was a dream too," Dylan said.

Maisie said, "Oh, man, where did she go?" She was to stunned by Halloweentown, that she forgot all about Aggie. She looked around at the townsfolk. Maybe they would helpfully point them in the direction of Aggie.

"Yeah, she's gotta be around here somewhere," Marnie said. 

Dylan grabbed Maisie's arm, and she whirled on him, "What's wrong?" He was looking at the bus as it drove off. "What?"

Marnie noticed them, "What are you two doing? We're gonna lose—"

Once the orange bus moved, there was Sophie standing on the other side of it. She smiled and waved at them before going up to them. 

Maisie was in shock, "Sophie!"

Marnie asked, "How did you get here?" 

"Careful, she could be a mirage," Dylan told them.

"Knock it off already," Maisie said. "You're just in denial. Can't you be open-minded for once?"

"Stop," Marnie told them. To Sophie, she asked, "How did you get here?"

"I followed you onto the bus," Sophie said.

"You were sleeping," Maisie told her.

Sophie said, "I was pretending." She moved to look at the pumpkin statue. She had her dinosaur backpack with her.

Maisie tried to figure out how Sophie got onto the bus without them noticing, or where she was sitting. Maisie was impressed.

"See? You two are bad influences," Dylan accused.

"The pumpkin doesn't look very nice like in the book," Sophie said. 

"You're right," Marnie agreed. "It is different."

"It's the bad thing," Sophie said.

Maisie asked her, "How do you know the bad thing?"

"What bad thing?" asked Dylan.

Sophie looked to the side and a man in a beige and orange suit came up to them twirling a cane.

Maisie instantly disliked him, because was twirling a cane like a jerk. One boy in her history class, twirled pencils between his fingers and made it his mission to try and get them to launch and hit her with them. The worst part was that he would get this spark of happiness every time she turned to glare at him, because she knew he had a crush on her. So, she hated people who twirled stuff around.

"Well, hello there," the man greeted, at last, keeping a hold on his cane. "I don't believe we've met and that means I'm in trouble, 'cause the mayor's supposed to know everybody."

He seemed almost like a Willy Wonka type. For English class, they watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory because they had a substitute teacher. She had a feeling that Willy Wonka would've just sat there and watch those kids die. 

"I'm Sophie," she introduced herself.

"Pardon?" the mayor said.

"Sophie," she repeated.

"What?" the mayor replied. 

"Sophie," the girl repeated, sounding a little more annoyed.

"I can't hear you," the mayor said. He crouched down to be eye-level with Sophie. "I seem to have a—" he used magic to pull a huge lollipop out of his ear. Maisie gasped at that and felt the amazement roll of her siblings. "There you are, Soapy."

"No, thanks," Sophie said. She had been told about accepting candy from strangers.

"Okay," the mayor said and used magic to make the lollipop disappear.

Maisie felt her siblings be even more amazed.

"Neat trick," Marnie said. "I'm Marnie." She held out her hand for a handshake.

The mayor stood up and shook Marnie's hand. "Hello, Marnie. And that wasn't a trick, I'm a warlock in my off hours."

They mayor looked at Maisie and Dylan, "And you two are?"

"I'm Maisie," she said. She grew a little weary of the mayor. Something about him seemed weird...

The mayor poked Dylan with the cane. "And you are?"

"Hey," Maisie said. Now she had a reason to dislike him.

"Human," Dylan said.

"His name's Dylan and he's our brother," Maisie said. 

"We're Aggie Cromwell's grandkids," Marnie added with a smile.

The mayor seemed surprised, "Wait a minute...does that mean... are you Gwen's kids?"

Marnie nodded.

Dylan asked, "You know our mom?" 

"Well, I did a long time ago," the mayor said. He seemed to look around and moved away, "Is she here with you?"

"Um, not right now," Maisie said, trying to think of a lie.

"But that's okay," Marnie said. "See, we came with our grandma and we kinda, um, we kind of lost her in the crowd, getting off the bus."

"Do you know where she lives?" asked Maisie.

"Oh, of course," the mayor said. "She's lived in the same house for two hundred years."

Two hundred years? Maisie was in disbelief.

"I'll get Benny to run you up there," the mayor continued. He whistled and a yellow-and-black cab started to drive towards them. "Come on."

"We, uh, really appreciate you doing this for us," Marnie started and trailed off as the cab stopped in front of them.

There was a skeleton in the driver's side. Maisie gaped at the sight. 

"Howdy, Mayor, what's the rush? I'm on my lunch hour – filet-o-fish, ha!" the skeleton, Benny, said. He had a fish bone in one hand. He tossed the fish bone into the backseat. "Just kidding!"

"Well, I found a bunch of Cromwells in the town square," the Mayor told the skeleton. "Need you to give them a lift up to their grandma's place."

Maisie hesitated and went to the cab, with her siblings following them.

"Sure, it's just over the river and through the woods," Benny said. "Ha! No, actually, it's just two streets over, up a quarter mile past the old movie theater."

Maisie got in the cab, trying to avoid stepping on the fish bone that Benny threw into the backseat.

"Say hi to Aggie for me and uh," the mayor told them after closing the door. "There you go." Through the open window, "He's a much better driver than he is a comedian."

"Hey," Benny said offended.

"Thanks for you help," Marnie told the mayor. 

"So long, Soapy," the mayor told the girl.

"Sophie," she corrected him.

Yeah, Maisie hated him because he thinks calling her Soapy was funny when it really wasn't. The worst part was that she can tell the mayor was being deceptive. She didn't trust the mayor as far as she can throw him – which wasn't saying much, since she can't throw very far, but she can kick.

The mayor tapped the cab and it drove off.