Chapter 12: Festive Spirits

I just realised now - Sept 23rd, that I needa get a Halloween chapter for this finished by Halloween. Sorry for not updating in a while. Have been feeling really weird and falling asleep before I can write. Besides, on Sept 18th my new baby siblings were born - twins Phoenix and Cassie.

Chapter 12: Festive Spirits

Artemis held Casey's hand as they walked down the street along with their group of friends. The pumpkin was really eager to get from house to house as she had her bag with her in order to collect candy from unsuspecting inhabitants.

The next house looked like a typical wooden house with a large porch which Artemis led Casey up to the front door. Percy, Hela, Aph and Apollo all stayed back on the sidewalk chatting so as to not crowd this person's front door.

The door opened and a bald man with a goatee opened, looking down and giving a grin. "Trick or treat!" Casey said cheerfully, making the man laugh.

"How's it goin', lil' lady?" He asked, reaching inside the bag of butterfingers and pulling out two to dump in her bag.

Casey smiled as Heisenberg gave her the chocolates. "Good!" She said enthusiastically, watching the candy fall into her bag. When they landed with a plunk! Casey looked up with a massive grin on her face, showing off a missing front tooth. "Thank you!" She cheered, to which the man laughed and waved her off.

Artemis turned as they left and thanked him again before he shut the door. The duo arrived back down at the sidewalk and Aph stepped forward and crouched down in front of Casey. "What'd ya get, sweetie?" She asked.

Casey looked in her bag and dug around for the two bars she'd gotten. She pulled them out triumphantly and showed them to her big sis. "Buddafinga!" She yelled, not able to pronounce it in proper true English fashion.

As Artemis stepped back beside Percy her boyfriend leaned over to her ear with her arms crossed. "I got in trouble last year for saying the candy might be poisoned and making her cry." He mentioned, making Artemis' head snap to him.

"Why the Hell would you do that?" She asked, outraged at her boyfriend. Percy merely shrugged and gave a slanted smile.

"I thought it was kinda funny until she didn't." He tried to justify it half-heartedly, followed by Artemis face palming in disbelief. She didn't press it further as the group started their walk to the next house, with Aph now being the one holding Casey's hand.

Artemis had ditched Percy's hoodie and left it in the truck, being much more comfortable now that no one outside of her friend group knew who she was - perks of being new in town. As such when Percy wrapped his arm around her as they walked, his hand came to rest on bare skin just above her hip, making her shiver. She'd never really had people touch her skin aside from the usually exposed parts like arms and face - though even then not that often. It was like being ticklish except she wasn't giggling, just getting a strange feeling.

Aph took Casey up the steps of the next house and knocked on the front door three times for her. They waited a few seconds before the door opened. An old woman stood there, curly white hair and a smile on her face. "Trick or treat!" Casey repeated once again to the lady as she had to the man next door.

The lady just smiled. "Oh, aren't you just the cutest little pumpkin I've ever seen!" She adored, dropping a handful of snake gummies into Casey's bag.

Casey once again checked to see what she got before looking up at the woman and repeating the routine. "Thank you!" She said, before turning around and being led by her big sis down the steps.

The group were made to do this several more times while they walked up and down a few streets in this town. There were quite a few other groups walking around in costumes - mostly kids obviously since the sun hadn't even gone down, but Artemis was apt to notice there was plenty of traffic along the main road. She brought this up to Percy. "How come so many cars comin' in?" She asked, holding his hand as they walked.

Percy looked down the street towards the main road as this was brought to his attention, noticing the multitude of cars passing by going 35 miles an hour. He looked back at his girl with his hand still linked to hers. "We get alotta Halloween traffic. Folks from outta town come in and even a lot of the nearby towns around the county come because aside from the county's big hub we're basically the only ones who do a big carnival thingy. That's why it's big for our town 'cause it's kinda like a collab for the county, y'know? Probably about half of em don't wanna go to that big town so ours is plan B." He explained.

Artemis nodded at that. To be honest she'd never questioned why a town with like two or three thousand people in it had a whole Halloween carnival, but the more you know.

Eventually after about four or five streets had been covered and Casey's pillowcase was full enough to the point where Apollo was carrying it for her - for a price of course, the group decided that was enough of the trick or treating. As the sun was setting and Casey only had a couple more hours until her bedtime, the group decided they'd better get her to the carnival before they missed out and Sally took her home - which, if she did miss out on the carnival, would no doubt result in tears.

They therefore changed course for the school, and more specifically the field behind the school where sports were played, but instead tonight had a Halloween carnival set up. There were no rides, but plenty of games and food stalls to spend their money at. Thankfully Apollo had remembered to get forty bucks off their dad, while Percy had gotten sixty, so all in all they had twenty bucks each - with Casey leeching off of them all, of course. Hopefully leeching equally but more likely she'd disproportionally beg her big siblings to shout her food and games.

To get to the back they had to go through a side gate which had been left open enough for people to walk through but not vehicles to drive through. Didn't need some redneck drifting a pickup in and flattening a family of four. When they made it to the back field Artemis took a moment to look around at the carnival.

Considering the size of the town it was very impressive. While it wasn't as grandiose as a boardwalk fair, it was pretty legit in it's own right as everything was basically just stalls and trailers. There was some spooky music playing on speakers on the loading trays of pickup trucks. There were games inside of canopies such as needle in a haystack and horseshoes that were somehow made Halloween-themed. There were also food stalls in trailers where they sold hot dogs allegedly made of human flesh and 'fries from Hell'.

Look, Halloween carnivals are hard on a budget.

The group looked at the aisles of stalls and canopies wondering what to do first. There was the Haunted House but they unanimously agreed that would be best for last. Casey may not like that one too much so it was best to wait for her to be taken home. Unlike a carnival in a major city there were no rides or anything so that couldn't steal their attention. The question really came down to what aisle of the fair did they want to traverse first.

Percy raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Shall we 'split up gang and look for clues?'" He asked as a joke, but before anyone could laugh Apollo grinned and responded.

"That's a great idea, Perce. You, my lil' sis and Case go that way. Me and the girls will go this way." He decided, making Aph giggle at his pretty on the nose plan to get some alone time with the two hot girls.

Artemis and Percy rolled their eyes while the latter looked down at his baby sis who was still holding Aph's hand. "Looks like you're with us, monkey." He told her.

Casey grinned and abandoned her big sis to go hold her big brother's hand. "Yay!" She whooped, looking up at him as she squeezed his hand.

They seperated from the other three and went to look at some of the games on offer.

A lot of them were actually really fun. Percy and Artemis both had goes at a game where you threw miniature pumpkins at small pails of candy and if you knocked one over you got to keep it. Artemis pegged four over, Percy only got two. There's a reason he never played baseball. They split that candy 50/50, with Percy and Artemis putting two pails worth in their pockets and dumping the rest in Casey's bag.

They had another one where Casey actually participated. It was a cute little fishing game where you had to try and hook a pumpkin out in ten seconds or so. She saw it and looked up at her big brother. "Can I play?" She asked Percy, and how could Percy do anything other than fork over the buck fee?

Casey was handed a little green plastic fishing rod that was obviously meant for kids around the age of 7 or so but nevertheless she managed to hold it by herself. Artemis watched as Percy stood to the side of her and began coaching his baby sis on how to play.

"'Kay, so you gotta bring the hook over the pumpkin... like that. Now, you gotta move it so you get it in the little hole on it, see?" Percy watched his little sis swing it towards the hole but it just hit the side and bounced off. He studied it for a second before the time ran out and the guy running the stall announced as such. Casey looked a bit disappointed but she perked up when Percy handed him another three bucks for an extra thirty seconds.

She looked up and he began demonstrating the best strategy. "Okay, try gently swinging. Imagine you're painting. With a brush not your fingers. Just... gently..." He showed her, swinging his arm slowly like some sort of tai chi maneuver.

Casey looked back down at the rod and gracefully swung it to the side. It once again clanged off the plastic tip but she steeled herself and brought it back over to the right before turning it back to the left. Because of this change in motion the hook went horizontal and Casey managed to angle it just to the point where it went in the hole and caught on.

Her eyes widened as Percy clapped his hands once in excitement. "Yes!" He yelled, watching as Casey tried lifting the pumpkin out of the water but found she was unable to do so because it was a real pumpkin and thus heavy.

Artemis reached over and patted Casey on the head. "Good going, Case." She congratulated while the guy running the stand unhooked the hook from the pumpkin.

He lifted the pumpkin out of the water and held it out. "Here ya go." He said, inviting Percy to take it out of his hands. As Percy grabbed it he only just noticed there were no toys or plushies on the wall like there usually would be.

"Wait, this is the prize?" He asked, looking down at the big orange pumpkin. He looked at Artemis and she shrugged, just glad she didn't have to hold it.

The guy nodded. "Yep. Take it home 'n make a Jack o' Lantern." He suggested, which got Casey really excited.

She gasped and looked at her older brother. "I wanna do that!" She exclaimed, grinning and showing off the gap where one of her teeth was missing.

Percy chuckled and heaved the pumpkin so he was holding it more comfortably. "You're doing it with Dad's help. I don't want you havin' free rein with a carvin' knife." He told her, to which Casey just nodded frantically as if she was desperate to do it.

The three thanked the guy running the stall and then continued down the line to play some more games.

They met back up with Aph, Hela and Apollo an hour or so later. They were shocked to find their friends with so many prizes, meanwhile Percy and Artemis were just holding a big pumpkin and a very big doggy plushie among other prizes.

Percy had won her the plushie at a shooting game of all things. It was Halloween themed obviously, so instead of just hitting targets you had to shoot some cardboard zombies with a BB gun. You got more points for hitting them in specific places like the eye, the heart, the nuts or the head. With his shooting skills he'd previously told her about, Percy was the one to step up and play.

Crack, crack, crack, crack.

Percy hit all five zombies, sure enough. He didn't get the quintuple nutshot like he'd hoped, only ⅗, but it was still enough points for one of the large plushies at the back so he told his girlfriend to pick. Artemis chose the dog with the tongue poking out.

Artemis had had a chance to make it up to him too. She'd won her boyfriend a life sized plastic skeleton at a ball-throwing game. Turns out Artemis was a stellar pitcher, so she'd dinged each of those 15 targets over and got the jackpot prize of a skeleton mannequin thing so now Casey was also dragging that behind her.

Apollo was covered head to toe in articles of clothing/costume he'd won. You couldn't even tell he was a vampire anymore aside from the fangs. Hela was busy eating some of the sour candy they'd won at apple bobbing while Aph carried around a plushie like Artemis except hers was a cat. "Ooh, you got one too! We should fight with 'em!" Aph exclaimed when seeing Artemis' doggy. To encourage her suggestion Aph held out her plushie and growled slightly, whacking it a bit against Artemis' dog.

Rolling off of that strange encounter, Artemis looked at Hela and Apollo. "So what now?" She asked, and it was just then that Aph remembered something and perked up.

"Oh yeah! Dad texted saying he was here. Guess it's time for you to go home, miss." She said, bending forward slightly to look at her baby sis.

Casey pouted and squeezed Percy's wrist. "I don't want to! I wanna stay with you!" She said, looking between her three big siblings. Percy laughed and readjusted his grip on the pumpkin with this new weight of her hand on his wrist.

"You've already played all the games, pumpkin. Speaking of pumpkins, if you go home then you can eat your candy and get dad to help you carve this bad boy." He said, lifting the pumpkin an inch to show her. That piqued Casey's interest as she stared at the pumpkin. Candy and pumpkin-carving would be cool as hell.

Speaking of hell, Hela walked over and leaned so she could whisper in Casey's ear. When Casey heard whatever was said her eyes widened. "How scary?" She asked, just worried by the mere mention of it.

Hela smiled softly. "So scary." She said, emphasizing the point that maybe Casey didn't wanna stay after all.

Casey looked up at Aph with a worried look. "I wanna go with daddy." She said, making Aph and Percy laugh.

Aph held out her hand and smiled. "Ok, sweetie. We'll go find him." She told her baby sis, who took her hand gratefully as they began to walk away from the fair and towards the street where all the vehicles were parked.

They found Poseidon standing outside his 4-door pickup truck waiting for them. When he recognized his kids in the dark he stood up from his spot leaning against the truck. "Have fun, carrot?" He asked as Casey rushed over.

Casey nodded. "Ya-huh! Look what I got!" She exclaimed, opening her candy bag and looking inside it. Poseidon peeked in and saw it was ¾ full of various candies.

He whistled. "Wow. Ain't you just unhealthy. C'mon." He said, opening the backseat door and letting her put her candy inside. Poseidon looked back at them all. "Wanna put your stuff in?" He offered, and the teenagers all obliged, especially a seriously grateful Percy with his pumpkin.

As Casey was buckled into her carseat she found herself surrounded by various halloween costume pieces, toys, candy and a pumpkin with her own bag of candy sitting on her lap. Poseidon looked back at his older kids and their friends. "So what else you got planned for tonight?" He asked, since the sun had only just come down.

Percy shrugged, so Hela answered for them. "Probably go to that new haunted house they set up." She told him, and Poseidon nodded. Good thing he came for Casey when he did. She'd develop PTSD from something like that at this age.

Aph then piped up. "We were thinking of goin' to a party if that's okay. Promise we'll be good." She crossed her fingers hopefully.

Poseidon wasn't as happy with that one, but they'd been to parties before and he'd never heard of it being too wild. It was a small town, he'd know if they were drinking heaps. He sighed. "Okay, but just... be safe." He relented.

Aph grinned and hugged him. "We will, thanks dad!" She thanked as he walked back around to the driver's seat of the truck. The five teens watched as the pickup pulled back onto the streets and drove off, with Casey waving at them as she went past.

The group now found themselves child-free and able to do what they wanted for the rest of the night. It was Hela's previous suggestion of haunted house they went with.

The house itself wasn't in the urban part of the town, rather it was about a half mile out in the country so as they had not gotten the ride with Poseidon and Percy, Apollo and Hela felt like a walk, the five were left to trek their way there instead. The Fall night wasn't all that cold yet since the sun had only been down for about 45 minutes but it was still very dark due to the fact that Fall weather is strange and the sun goes down at 5:30pm.

As they got closer to the location they could see cardboard signs nailed to a farm post that said in capital letters 'haunted house 300ft'. It had a pretty good drawing of a classic jack o' lantern face on the sign so it must be legit.

The driveway to it was about a hundred feet or so so it only took about a minute or so for them to be rid of wire fences on either side and instead be met with a large two-storey house in this dusty property. The house was kitted out for the season with Target-bought Halloween decorations lining the outside.

The corner of Artemis' now straight mouth rose. "Wow. Real spooky." She rolled her eyes, not knowing what she was expecting from a budget small town attraction.

Hela nudged her slightly with her elbow as they walked past parked cars and headed towards the line which was outside. "Scared yet?" She asked, to which Artemis just shook her head no. There were around fifteen or so people waiting, a lot of them middle-school age as 8pm was relatively late for some of those with more conservative and strict parents. Meanwhile the kids who had no curfews would probably be coming later before the attraction packed up at midnight.

Honestly, the line itself was Hell. The people running it seemed like they were only letting in one group every ten or so minutes, probably so they groups didn't all bump into each other on the way through the house. Tired and miffed, Artemis was just leaning against her boyfriend, who in turn was leaning against the wall of the house, as they listened to the extensive Halloween ambience playing through speakers and the occasional scream from inside.

Eventually the group in front of them was let in and the lady with the Ghostface mask manning the line gave them the run-down. "Hi, so you probably vaguely know the drill, it's a small town after all. But just a reminder there's a linear path through the house, just go through the open doors and enjoy. Once you reach the laundry you'll find the door to the back open where the fun continues in the scary corn maze. Again, don't wander off, just stick to a path, try to find your way out and avoid being scared by the monsters." She recited to them, not mentioning that the 'monsters' were costumed actors, not that any of them didn't know that.

The five were forced to wait another ten minutes or so before the lady's watch beeped. Apollo checked his watch to see it was around 8:50pm. She looked up at them and stepped aside. "Okay, you can go in now. But beware, you're in for a scare." She said spookily, totally not stealing that line off of Goosebumps.

The group walked in the front door which the lady shut quickly behind them. The five all stood around looking at everything for a few moments. "They bumped up the quality from last year." Percy noted, to which Aph hummed in agreement. Artemis and Apollo obviously couldn't contribute anything to that.

The zombie named Hela leaned over to Artemis as they began walking past the staircase which had been blocked by four boxes and a candle. "Y'know who owned this place?" She asked her.

Artemis' relatively intelligent mind began inferring, thinking about how big this house was - it was basically a farmer mansion. "Someone rich?" She asked, waiting for Hela to elaborate.

The zombie smirked. "Not just that. This place belonged to one of the mayors of this place, old Homer Knudsen. No one liked Homer. He was an asshole, so much so to the point where one night, the townspeople came together and discussed what to do with the psycho." She told her.

Artemis' interest was piqued, so as they slowly walked anticipating a jumpscare she nodded for Hela to continue. "Two men had an idea which none of the other's outwardly agreed to, but yet none stopped them. Later that night, when Knudsen was sitting in his chair, those two men broke into his house, this very house, and killed him." She whispered.

Right as she said that, they reached a corner where a man in a werewolf mask was waiting around the corner. When they walked past, he jumped out and roared at them, making all of them jump, and Aph even yelped. Artemis jumped in fright backwards into Percy, who laughed after realising it wasn't a real threat and that his girlfriend had just cutely gasped and backed up into his chest.

The group continued while Hela also continued her story. "But it doesn't end there. Legend says that since then his spirit has haunted this town, and every few years on Halloween night Knudsen takes his revenge on the townspeople who refused to save him. He does this by targeting... their children." She whispered, making Artemis' neck hairs stand up. "Two of those townfolk who were there that day, were none other than your boyfriend's own grandparents..." She dropped the bomb, making the twist of the story hit all the more harder as it became personalized to her.

Hela laughed while they were jumpscared a couple more times by actors in cheap Halloween costumes. Artemis stuck close to her boyfriend who rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, both their hands linked. "Don't worry about it. Just an old story teenagers tell to make a more exciting explanation for why drunk drivers die in car crashes and why kids who swim alone at night drown. Then again, there was last year..." He trailed off, making Artemis' head snap to him with a scowl.

She slapped his arm, making Percy laugh. "Quit it!" She hissed before yelping outwardly as a zombie jumped out of a closet and screamed at her. Artemis instantly covered her mouth and backed up into Percy's hold as her boyfriend laughed at how embarrassed she was for showing fear.

They'd walk around a corner and a witch prop would start cackling, making one of them jump. Their tour continued upstairs as they went through the routine of actors jumping out from closets or under tables and just screaming at them. Honestly if the special effects were better it would've been relatively scary.

When they were at the end of the upstairs area Percy looked at his girlfriend and held out his arm. "Need some support?" He asked with a smirk, referencing her yelp from earlier.

Artemis merely blushed in response but decided to link her arm with his anyway and lean into him. She liked his embrace so why not?

The haunted house tour took like half an hour before they were in the laundry room downstairs, which itself didn't feature any scares but there was an open door leading out to presumably the backyard. Apollo was the first of them to peek out the back, and sure enough a man in a hockey mask was hiding behind the door outside and jumpscared him like a motherfucker.

The group laughed it off and exited the mansion, only to find a full field of 7-8 feet tall corn fields. How was there a cornfield if the guy who owned this house was dead? Oh well.

Apollo and Artemis were obviously confused and reluctant to just vanish into a dense crop field like that, but the Jacksons were eager to beckon them over. Percy parted some of the corn revealing an occupiable area in between the rows, enough space for two or three people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. The only indication that that was even an entry point was one jack-o'-lantern one a stool lit up next to it. How that was supposed to somehow symbolize 'entry' was beyond Artemis and Apollo's comprehension.

"This is the best part!" Aph hyped up as the girls all stepped over the bent corn into the maze before Apollo and Percy followed, shutting the gap behind them. Artemis looked left and right, seeing three different paths, and already felt lost.

Apollo brushed the side of his hair with his nails. "To be honest, I'm more scared of being lost than jumpscared." He revealed, making some of the group sympathize with that.

Hela nudged him too with her elbow, her zombie makeup still looking hella good. "Well then don't wander off or you might get both." She said playfully, bringing a lopsided grin to Apollo's face.

"Great advice." He mused, waiting for one of the five of them to pick a path and lead the rest of them.

Artemis chose left and just started walking, wordlessly encouraging her friends to follow, which they promptly did. Artemis made sure though not to just wander ahead of her friends lest she get lost and murdered.

Thankfully it wasn't just barren pathways in a cornfield. There were occasional decorations like a skeleton mannequin not unlike Percys and a sign pointing in every different direction likely trying to mislead. One of the actors in a spider mask reached out and grasped Percy's shoulder, making the kid jump and laugh.

They got a few more scares as they went along,hearing other groups screaming and laughing the distance too. By this time it was very dark outside, to the point where if it was an easy to follow linear path then they'd have considered pulling out their phone flashlights.

The air looked somewhat brown as though it was dusty though considering they could breathe and keep their eyes open this obviously wasn't the case. They rounded another corner only to find it was a dead end again. Unlike other dead ends they had encountered though, this one featured a surprise for them.

A very large and intimidating man, taller than Percy so maybe 6'4" or so, with very broad shoulders was standing still at the end of that dead end, staring at said dead end towards the wall of corn. Percy's first thought was that he was a fellow attraction-goer who was also lost in the corn maze until the man seemed to have heard their footsteps and turned.

They saw that along with the black clothing he was wearing a ghostly white expressionless mask, with eyes being substituted by two black pits of void. He was now facing the five of them, standing up tall and not saying a word. The group looked at each other warily, and Aph cleared her throat. "Hi." She said awkwardly, unsure if this was an actor and if so, why had he not jumpscared them? Maybe he was going for a more creepy thing but if so it was also extremely awkward.

They couldn't even tell who he was looking at because his eyes were merely black pits. Percy was the one to lean forward ever so slightly in between Artemis and Hela. "Let's go." He whispered, and the rest of the group very much liked the idea. Apollo was the first one to leave, doing a complete 180 with Artemis following close behind. Hela and Aph then left while maintaining eye contact with the creepy guy and then it was just Percy and this man left staring at each other.

He stood frozen transfixed by this masked man in the corn maze, feeling vulnerable and confused. Was he an actor, or just a normal Halloweener? "Percy!" Artemis hissed from outside the dead-end way, snapping her boyfriend out of his stupor. Percy quickly rushed out to be with them and the group speedwalkes far away from that guy.

When they felt a good distance away Apollo laughed out of the blue. "Holy shit, that was scarier than any of the other ones." He joked, making most of them agree with him.

The group walked through the maze for maybe another half hour before they found an exit with a masked lady waiting at the end. She had a bucket of candy with her and offered them some, to which the teens happily obliged and thanked her.

Now they were finished with all the Halloween attractions in town and were differential on what to do. "You guys still wanna go to the party?" Aph asked as they stood chilling around the side of the haunted house with their marshmallow sticks.

Apollo and Hela were both still down but Artemis was shaky. "Eh, I dunno, I'm not too excited about drinking and loud music." She said, noting that it was already like 10pm already.

Percy shrugged his soldiers. "True that. I'd probably throw up." He agreed with his girlfriend on the matter.

Aph pouted. "But it's Halloween! Don't you wanna just experience it?" She asked Artemis, since Percy had already been to a Halloween party.

Percy shrugged once more. "There'll be a party next Friday with football starting up anyway." He countered, but Aph and Apollo weren't ones to let them just miss out. Hela couldn't care less.

"C'mon sis. Just go for a little bit?" He asked, agreeing with Aph in that this was a once a year experience, and it'd be a sin to miss out. Besides, it's not like they had a curfew really. Their parents were out at something tonight so either way no one would be waiting up for them.

Artemis bit her lip, looking between him and her boyfriend. Percy shrugged, basically just saying he'd swing whichever way she did. After the pressure of Apollo and Aph's looks she sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll go for a bit then head home." She relented.

Apollo and Aph grinned, and once they had finished their candy they headed off to the party.

It was interesting, to say the least. Artemis had never actually properly been to a real party, and she honestly wouldn't count this either. Like this time, last time Artemis had been dragged their by friends, refused to drink, talk to any of the guys who were attempting to hit on her, got slightly annoyed when a song she didn't like was playing because it was uber loud, and she mainly stuck to one of her friends. Generally she was glued to Percy's shoulder like a lost child, while he had a single cup of some kinda alcohol and chatted with everyone that managed to recognize him in amongst the chaos.

It felt cool to be in this sorta situation where everyone was wearing costumes, very festive, but she felt like she could only really enjoy this situation if celebrating or wanting to get hammered, and Artemis was neither.

After maybe 45 minutes to even an hour Percy noticed her clinginess and quietness and frowned. Thankfully they were in one of the less bass-boosted rooms so he could speak. "You're not enjoying this, are you?" He asked.

Artemis had a lop-sided frown. "Not that much. Maybe next week or whenever you said. I'm just kinda tired and not in the right mood." She said apologetically, feeling like a bummer. Her boyfriend was having a great time interacting with friends and drinking and here she was being a downer and bringing him down with her.

Percy smiled understandably. "That's alright. Maybe if we win next week you'll be more enthusiastic. Besides, you've experienced it now and there's always next year. I've heard parties become that much better in senior year." He encouraged.

Artemis smiled back. "Here's hoping." She said to him.

They stood against a wall in the dining room area away from the congested living room and game room, and Artemis was ready to go home. Percy gave her a side glance and held out his half-full cup. "Wanna finish that for me?" He asked, offering her the beer.

Artemis had never had alcohol in a party situation before, only when her dad gave her the occasional sip or a bottle of some 2%. Well, she'd also dabbled in booze with Zoe before but that was less them drinking together and more Zoe drinking and getting her to have some of hers. It was kind of a similar situation right now. "I always got told never to accept drinks from guys at parties." She said, accepting this guy's drink and sipping on it. The beer was bitter, but she pushed through it and slowly downed the rest of the plastic cup's liquid.

Percy smirked. "Oh no, I've poisoned your drink which I was just drinking a few seconds ago, how spooky." He joked, being festive.

Artemis actually choked on that before from that and coughed. Percy laughed while Artemis did a mixture of laughing and coughing before lightly punching him in the shoulder. "Dickhead." She laugh-choked as Percy held her still.

Once she was done she completely disrespected the guy running the party by merely dropping the cup on the floor. Percy looked at his girl. "You wanna go home now?" The fishman asked Harley Quinn.

Artemis smiled, glad she had such a nice boyfriend.

Since had drunk two cups of beer at the party, they were gonna be walking home, which he informed her would take about an hour. It was already 11pm, so they'd be home at around midnight at which point Artemis considered just passing out on the floor of her room.

Thankfully they'd swung by the main street and grabbed two hoodies out of Percy's truck for them to wear so they weren't freezing thankfully, though Artemis' legs were a bit chilly as she didn't have much covering them. They had gotten out of the town in about ten minutes and the rest of the walk from then on would be on the main highway road.

Since there were no cars and either way they'd be able to see them cause the headlights should be on, Percy and Artemis were just walking in the middle of the road. Artemis was once again leaning on her boyfriend as they walked, now enjoying his arm wrapped around her and resting on her bare skin.

They used the time to chat with each other about their various 'spooky' experiences. Artemis told the story of how she'd been chased home by a dog while trick or treating and she could swear it was the size of a grizzly bear, even though this was New York City.

Percy gained a thoughtful look on his face. "I mean, all I can really think of that was legitimately something scary was what happened last year. We had a kid go missing on Halloween night and they never found him. Police chalked it up to getting lost in the woods and after a few weeks they gave up the search. Kids at school were dicks about it though and there was all this talk of the boogeyman and serial killers 'n shit. Not a fun time." He explained, even though it was less of a personal experience and more of a local news story he'd heard. The Jacksons had spent an entire day scouring their farm and the woods around it to help the search but obviously found nothing.

Artemis was kinda put down by that, but she tried to alleviate the tension by spouting on more about all the urban legends the city gave out around Halloween. "Well me 'n Apollo used to go on camp for a few summers upstate, and there was this big urban legend, apparently every kid in New York State's heard it, it's about this boogeyman named Cropsey." She began.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Cropsey? You had a boogeyman named Cropsey?" He laughed, expecting a scarier name. Though to be fair, what was a good boogeyman name?

Artemis rolled her eyes and continued the story. "Yeah. He was called Cropsey. Basically, legend goes that there was this psycho boogeyman that lived in an abandoned mental hospital who would snatch up little kids and kill them. In some stories he'd get 'em from a summer camp - which is why I heard it - or would get 'em in a forest near where they lived." She recited the story.

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Wow, pretty scary, but... kinda basic? I mean, an insane man kills kids, how unique." He cracked, but Artemis wasn't done.

Artemis raised one eyebrow. "That's not all. Cropsey was real. They made a documentary a couple years ago that exposed that there was a serial killer in Staten Island who'd kidnap kids and kill them, and apparently he was the real-life inspiration for Cropsey." She finished.

Percy's eyes widened. "Woah." He whispered, not really scared but the mood was set for Halloween alright.

Percy was about to tell another story when Artemis stopped in her tracks with her arms still crossed, and Percy's grasp left her for a second as he didn't realise they were stopping. "What the-" Artemis whispered, her eyes widened as Percy looked back.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?" He asked, confused as to what had paralyzed his girl so. Artemis simply nodded forward, so Percy whirled back around again to see what she was staring at.

It was a windy night, so the small cloud of mist in front of them was moving to the left slightly. But it wasn't the mistpool that was strange, what Artemis and Percy were shocked by was the almost luminescent glow coming from it, like they were looking at a pool of water under moonlight.

Whereas everything around them was dark and indiscernible, this figure was clear as day to the two teens, if distorted and unrecognizable. There was pink, green and brown colored fog, contrailing like the Flash had just zoomed past in a new outfit. The colors seemed to form an image though, one that gave off uncanny valley vibes.

It looked almost human, with a semi-straight center region with offshooting trails of neon, like the limbs of a retro spider. What wasn't all that distorted was the upper-centre, where this optical illusion was seemingly presenting expression to them. A rounded shape of white and black, with blurry marks as though to convey facial structure and design.

It looked like a person. A messed up, wavy image of a person but a person nonetheless. Was it a ghost? And alien? An optical illusion? Percy couldn't tell. "Hello?" He asked, knowing that if it was a person they would hear and answer. Artemis' eyes bulged and she visibly flinched at the sound, expecting some sort of demonic jumpscare from her boyfriend's trigger.

The misty figure didn't respond, didn't flinch, it just kept drifting to the side of the road like smoke in the wind. Percy honestly didn't wanna say anything again. It freaked him out. Sure it could just be the alignment of natural shapes fucking with his eyes but then why was it glowing like it had eaten a bag of glowsticks?

The two teens stood paralyzed as the spirit floated ever so slowly to the side of the road where they was a cornfield not unlike the one at the haunted house - minus the decorations. When it hit the solid crop wall it seemed to collapse as though it were just a gaseous cloud all along. But why did it look like that?

Percy and Artemis were frozen solid for a little while before a laugh wheezed from Percy's mouth. He looked towards his girlfriend with a nervous smile. "It's only like ten minutes away but can we haul ass?" He asked permission from his girlfriend to run away from the scary ghost thingy.

Artemis didn't say no.

The two teenagers sprinted at first but slowed to jogging after about a minute and so got to their driveways faster than they'd expected. When they reached the crossroads that seperated the Jackson and Olympia households they slowed to a stop all out of breath. Percy was hunched over while Artemis stood with her hands on her hips, and after panting for a bit Percy tried to stand up straight and stop looking so weak. "You gonna be alright?" He asked, making sure she was cool before he abandoned her to walk the rest of the way to her house.

Artemis nodded, crossing her arms. "Yeah, should be. My parents are out for the night but I've been told where the spare key is." She noted, and Percy nodded but disbelievingly.

"Home alone? On Halloween night? After whatever the fuck that was? You sure you don't wanna stay at ours for the night? At least until your mom and dad get home?" He asked a whole lotta questions at once, and honestly he raised some good points. Safe or not, if Artemis was alone in a dark house in the middle of nowhere after that experience and some of the stories they'd discussed, well let's just say Hera would be upset if she found a piss stain on the bed in a house with no dogs.

Artemis shrugged, not answering yes or no to his question about whether she was gonna be alright. "Well... I'll probably be alright. Either way I don't wanna be a hassle. Casey's gotta sleep so I wouldn't wanna wake her up." She made some bullshit excuse, knowing full well that opening the front door would not make Casey shoot up in bed. In reality she was just shy, honestly. The invitation to spend the night at Percy's lingered, and she had a similar but different idea. "But... I don't know, maybe if you want you can stay at ours? Just to be safe?" She reasoned, making Percy raise an eyebrow.

"Really? Me staying there? Wouldn't your dad be uber pissed if he found his teenage daughter home alone and asleep with her boyfriend? I don't wanna die!" He laughed, making Artemis blush as that thought hadn't even entered her mind.

"Well, no... maybe, I guess... If we sleep in the livin' room still clothed then it won't look that suspicious. We can just watch movies for the rest of the night." She reasoned, and Percy thought it over for a second.

He looked back up his own driveway and then down Artemis', before finally making up his mind. "Okay, I'll just text my mom quickly." He told her, and Artemis nodded before beginning the walk down her gravel driveway with Percy following her, phone in hand.

He didn't wait for his mom's reply, instead standing by the front door of Artemis' house while she went to get the spare key from under a specific rock. Surprisingly there were no bugs under there yet, but soon enough there would be. Artemis was just happy to have clean hands as she unlocked the door and let him inside.

Percy waited for her to get in, and after he and Artemis had taken their shoes off he took specific care to shut and lock the front door. Better safe than sorry.

They walked into the living room of Artemis' house and Percy whistled. "Wow, we have very different houses." He noted. Artemis' living room looked like a model house. The sleek and smooth kitchen was in the same room as the living room. In the latter a large flat screen was mounted on the wall, with one very large L couch in front of it facing the sliding glass door. Inside the living room was also the staircase, beginning right next to the foyer door and running up to a top floor that was technically in the same room as the living room as well, as there were no walls separating it aside from a railing.

Everything was dark until Artemis turned on the lights, blinding Percy in the white light bulbs of modern architecture. Percy's hands were in his pockets as Artemis walked up the stairs. "I'm gonna to get changed. Feel free to get some food or find a movie." She invited, and Percy looked up at her walking.

His throat became tight as he saw her walking from behind, his lower positioning giving him a clear view of the 'advantageous selection' of her Harley Quinn outfit. Artemis didn't seem to notice him staring at her ass, and after a few seconds he slapped himself out of it and guiltily moved to the couch.

It was wide and so perfectly comfy to lay on. He found all three tv remotes and turned them on, that being the television, sound and cable systems. Percy also discovered the Olympias had like 5 different streaming service accounts so Percy decided to just wait for her to get back. She'd know what was good on what.

Artemis hustled back down the stairs in some sweatpants and his blue hoodie, carrying two fuzzy blankets along with her. She dropped them on the couch from behind, before moving over to the kitchen. Percy could hear her bare feet hitting the kitchen floor before she called out. "You want some chips?"

Percy called back in reply. "Sure! Whad'ya wanna watch?" He asked back, and Artemis shrugged as she got out some bowls.

She then realised that he couldn't see her shrugging and so turned and called out. "I dunno. It's up to you." She abandoned the decision making on him.

Percy sighed and scrolled through the horror movies on one of the streaming services, and by the time Artemis sat back down with the chips and drinks he still hadn't decided on anything. "Okay, um. There's Halloween, the newer Friday the 13th, Sinister or the Strangers. But it's up to you." He said, but at that point Artemis was already chomping on some chips.

She shrugged and then pointed. "Friday." She decided for them, so Percy complied and put it on. They sorted out their blankets so they were each lying on a wing of the couch, with three cushions at the vertex to act as their shared pillow.

Percy was still wearing his fishman outfit minus the backfin which was on the floor by the couch. The two watched the movie with all of the lights off save for the kitchen one, so it was almost entirely dark. The movie was hella good, and so after that was done they switched to Halloween, but by that point it was nearly 2 in the morning and so they were getting tired. By the time 2:30am rolled around both Percy and Artemis were snoozing on the couch.

Half an hour later the clock struck three, jolting Percy's eyes open. Who the hell still had a ring-ding-ding clock or whatever they were called? He felt unusually cold, but from looking straight ahead he saw that the sliding door was closed and he still had the blanket on. It was as though there was a breeze from somewhere but he couldn't pin down the direction.

Sleepily Percy inched his head up a bit to see Artemis' sleeved arm hanging down the side of the couch and her eyes closed, with her mouth covered by the blanket as his girlfriend snoozed. Percy found the image very cute, and considered going right back to sleep with it in his head.

Unfortunately for his comfort, his mouth felt dry as hell to the point where he needed a drink to function. Not at all keen on leaving the warmth and comfort of this couch, Percy pulled himself up with all the strength he had, careful not to wake Artemis. He trudged over to the bright and clean room with the sound of the Halloween theme song playing in the background.

He opened a few cabinets looking for the glasses, instead finding food and plates. The fourth one he opened did have them though, so he grabbed a pretty short and fat one. He filled it up with tap water and walked around the kitchen while sipping it. He looked at the fridge with it's magnets and notes stuck to it, the fruit pebble box sitting on the bench and then down the hallway adjacent to the kitchen. It was dark, but faintly in the pitch blackness he thought he could see the outline of a man, a rather tall one at that.

Percy wasn't 100% sure if this was another one of those hallucinations like with the ghost from earlier so he warily stepped forward and squinted his eyes. It still remained pitch black but he managed to catch the faintest glimpse of white before his fears were confirmed and the shadow man appeared to rapidly grow larger as though he were charging him.

Percy gasped and moved back, hitting the bench and looking to see if he'd just been impaled on a pitchfork or something stupid. When he saw the corner he'd just twerked on, he winced in pain but turned back to the hallway only to find nothing there. No shadowman, no white, no charging mass. Just darkness.

Percy was allowed a brief moment to sigh in relief, considering going down to check if there was anything up before immediately deciding that it was probably safe but going down there would be scary and his mental health was probably the only priority right now.

Tired at the witching hour and hoping that perhaps Artemis' mom and dad were gonna get home soon, Percy left the kitchen light on and trudged back to the couch. He saw his girlfriend still laying there under the blankets, the slow and steady rise and fall of the mound indicating she was living and breathing. He smiled and sat back down, looking up at the tv and debating for a second whether to turn it off to save power.

Nope, fuck that. Go back to sleep and have plausible deniability.

It didn't take much longer for Percy to fall back asleep after that listening to ominous horror movies music and sounds. When his eyes opened hours later it was to a kettle running and people talking loudly.

"We didn't do anything, dad, and I'm sure Percy shut the door! I watched him lock it!" Artemis whined as she followed her now-dressed dad around while she was still in the hoodie and sweatpants.

Zeus frowned. "Well you obviously didn't shut it properly!" He argued back, before Percy heard the sound of the bathroom door shutting upstairs and Artemis sighing audibly. She trekked her way back down the stairs into the living room where she saw Percy awake and on his back.

They smiled at each other as she returned to the couch and sat down, picking up the tv remote to turn on the morning news. "What's wrong?" Percy asked groggily, stretching his arms but neglecting to sit up and instead laying with his arms behind his head looking up at her.

Artemis frowned, watching the weather report. "Nothing, just... mom and dad found the front door open, but... I swear to god you locked it. I watched you turn the nub thingy! And Apollo said he stayed at yours for the night, so he didn't open it. Like I said, I watched you turn the lock so there's no way it blew open." She tried to piece it together in her head.

The gears clicked in Percy's head one by one. Home alone. 3am. Door open. Spare key. Breeze. Shadow man. White. White mask. The man from the corn maze. Door open.

Percy sat up at lightning speed, jumpscaring Artemis. His eyes were wide and his heart felt paralyzed.

I know it's been months but be grateful I updated by Halloween. Or more accurately at 2am on Halloween morning. Hopefully it's not November already for... idk, eastern russians. Happy birthday to my little sister Ari and Happy Halloween!

I think I'm taking my baby sis Selena out trick or treating again this year.

Word Count: 9080