The first thing on the shopping list was 'hair of a werewolf' so they stopped by a place called Wolfie's, which was a hair salon owned by a werewolf. 

At least, Maisie assumed it was owned by a werewolf. She didn't want to look like a jerk by assuming. 

"First stop," Marnie stated, "Wolfie's."

When they got in the salon, there were an interesting sight of creatures getting their hair and nails done. 

Dylan asked, "We're gonna start by conquering bad hair?"

Maisie tried not to laugh at that.

"Well, he is a werewolf," Marnie whispered to them, as if that explains it.

Wolfie turned to them, "Can I help you kids?" He twirled his scissors around his finger and Maisie cringed, imagining the scissors flying off and getting stuck in a wall.

Maisie found herself thinking that something about this man - uh - werewolf, reminded her of her soccer coach.

"Oh, yeah," Marnie started talking to Wolfie. "Um, I was just wondering if you had any part-time jobs available. Maybe, like, after school or something?"

Wolfie shook his head, "No, no, no, I'm sorry, we don't." He turned back to his customer, "Oh, this sulfuric acid treatment is coming along nicely."

I'm sorry, what? thought Maisie, wondering if she heard correctly. Sulfuric acid?

"It's really gonna split your ends and bring out those roots, baby," Wolfie told his customer.

"But I always wanted to become a beauty technician," Marnie told Wolfie. 

"Oh, careful, Loki, careful," Wolfie said, going to his co-worker, who was tending to a lady covered in leaves. "She's an herb, not a shrub, okay? Think salad - light, crispy..."

Marnie continued her spiel, "Well, you know, um, I could really be a help," she waved at Dylan to grab the electric razor so he can cut Wolfie's hair. "Maybe, uh, sweeping the trimmings around the shop. Maybe even do some hairstyling..." She grabbed what looked to be a hairdryer.

"Don't touch that, okay?" warned Wolfie.

Maisie thought that maybe if Wolfie knew what they really were after, he might've loaned some hair from his head or from the trash or something.

"Don't worry," Marnie said to Wolfie, "I use one of these all the time."

"Put that down," warned Wolfie.

Marnie turned the device on, which expelled flames.

Maisie jumped back in shock.

"The other button," Wolfie said. "Turn it off. Will you just please turn it off?"

Maisie watched as Dylan crept up to Wolfie, while the werewolf was distracted by Marnie with the flaming hairdryer.

Wolfie howled and grabbed his head. Marnie turned off the hairdryer.

"Hey, hey, hey," Wolfie called to them.

"Call me if you need me," Marnie said as she turned and ran out the salon.

"Sorry," Maisie called to Wolfie over her shoulder as she ran out of the salon and to their next destination.

Their next destination was a gym.

There were a lot of creatures from Aggie's Halloweentown in the gym. There was basketball and even, what Maisie, assumed was dancing, judging from what she was seeing.

However, despite the multitude of creatures being in the gym, Maisie couldn't find a single ghost.

"There's gotta be a ghost around here someplace," Marnie said.

"We haven't checked the entire building," Maisie said.

Marnie got up, "Come on." 

They ended up going down the stairs and saw what looked like a giant lizard.

"Snot Man," Sophie said as the snot man walked past.

"Ghosts are dead," Dylan complained. "Why would they worry about fitness?"

"Even they worry about their health," replied Maisie. "So, they won't sound like Carol going up the stairs at school." She remembered how the girl would breathe heavily just by jogging up the stairs to get to her next class. She sounded like she was coughing up a lung.

"Come on," Marnie said, going forward to the steam room.

They opened the door, and Sophie pointed, "Look, a real ghost." There was a transparent man in orange shorts with yellow flowers on them, wearing a red hat.

"And a real sweat box," added Marnie, looking equally impressed.

The man got in the sweat box and had the door closed on him.

"All right, distract him long enough so I can get the sweat," Marnie told her siblings.

"Would you get a grip?" Dylan said, "He can't sweat. He doesn't have a body."

"Would you get a grip?" Maisie retorted, "This is Halloweentown. The ingredients call for sweat of a ghost, so that means ghosts sweat."

"Just distract him," Marnie told them.

Maisie wasn't entirely sure how to distract a ghost. She didn't know fun facts like Dylan or have childish cuteness like Sophie.

Marnie went to stand next to the ghost, who had his eyes close. She motioned for them to come forward and distract the ghost.

Marnie turned the level of the sweat box up to 'hotter', which was helpfully labeled.

Dylan started, "So, uh, did you know that Sea-Monkeys are actually shrimp?"

The ghost opened his eyes, looking bewildered. He shook his head, "No."

"Keep going," Marnie urged them.

"Um," Dylan looked like he was thinking hard, "Did you know that there is no proper name for the back of the knee?"

The ghost seemed confused, "You don't say?"

Maisie decided that she liked this ghost because he didn't seem annoyed by these random children being here. 

"I memorized the entirety of the poem Annabel Lee for my seventh grade English class," Maisie told the ghost. Sure, it wasn't impressive considering that Jack had memorized The Tall-Tale Heart.

The ghost looked at Maisie, "Really?"

"Yeah," Maisie replied.

Sophie decided to put a clean white towel over her head and started going 'ooh', like she had done before Aggie corrected her on how ghosts moan.

The ghost seemed to chuckle, "Very funny, kid. Now go back to your mommy."

Maisie cringed because her mother had been turned into a statue due to an evil warlock.

Sophie kept doing her routine, which was clearly making the ghost madder.

The ghost chided, "Hey, kid, I don't appreciate stereotypes like that, all right?"

Maisie could tell that the ghost was getting frustrated, which meant that he would be getting more heated from the anger.

So, Maisie went over and put a clean towel over her and joined in with the 'stereotypical' ghost moans.

"You too, huh?" said the ghost, clearly feeling very frustrated and maybe a little mad. "Sure, sure, make fun of the transparent guy. Just because you can see through us doesn't mean we don't have feelings." He paused, "Whoo, is it getting hot in here. Hades was nothing compared to this." He called out, "Can I have some help over here? Burning up!" He paused, "Attendant!"

"Yes! Got it! Okay!" Marnie said. "Come on."

Maisie threw off the towel and said, "I'm so sorry for everything!"

They ran off while the ghost called for the attendant.

The last place was a dentistry, so Marnie went in pretending to be an assistant to get a fang from a vampire. 

Sophie went to go play with a dog that had its leash tied to a fence. 

"There she is," Dylan said, spotting Marnie.

"I got it, I got it!" called Marnie, waving the tin with the tooth in it.

They went to go meet in the middle of the street, but Maisie spotted a cab hauling butt down the street. She grabbed Sophie and Dylan, before they got creamed by the cub. 

Marnie had stopped in her tracks. 

The driver of the cab was Benny.

"Say there," Benny started. "If it ain't the Cromwell kids. I hear your mother's in town."

Marnie went to the driver side window.

Something about Benny was off.

"Um, well, yeah," Marnie said.

"She's with our grandmother," Maisie told Benny.

"Yeah, we came to do a little shopping, but we're done now, okay?" Marnie said, "So, bye." She turned around.

"Hey, I got a fare up that way, anyway," Benny said. "Why don't you let me give you a lift?" He added, "On the house." He revved the cab.

"Hey, that'd be great, thanks," Dylan said.

"We're fine walking," Maisie told Benny.

Sophie grabbed a hold of Dylan's shoulder, making him look at her, "What is it, Sophie?"

"The bad thing is in him," Sophie whispered.

"What?" asked Dylan.

Benny revved his cab a few times, like he was trying to drown her out, "Little kids. What an imagination, huh?"

They looked at Benny. Something about him really was off, like he didn't come off as friendly as before when they first met him. "Come on. Get in. I gotta go."

"Then go," Maisie told Benny. "We're fine walking."

Marnie asked, "Who told you our mom was here?" 

"Hey, what's with the third degree here?" Benny ordered, "Get in the cab." He grabbed a hold of Dylan's shirt to pull him in.

While Maisie and Marnie got in a tug-of-war over Dylan, Sophie ran over to the dog and unclipped his leash, "Fetch the bone." The dog ran for Benny who sped off. The dog chased after the cab, barking.

Dylan rubbed his neck.

Maisie looked at him, "Are you okay?"

"No," Dylan replied. "I almost got kidnapped by bones." He put one arm around Sophie's shoulders, "Thanks, Soph."

Marnie nudged Dylan, "Come on. Let's get going."

They hurried back to Aggie's house.