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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 welcomed the witches and wizards like beckoning fingers. Calling to them, tempting them to disappear into their ebony embrace. Jesse was the first to take a step toward the door, but a hand on his shoulder prevented him from going any further.

"Wait, it could be a trap," Penny warned him.  

"A trap?" Jesse retorted, his eyebrow arched in disbelief. "It's the front door, it's freedom!"

"But the host said that nobody could leave until they arrived," Jackson reminded him.

"Maybe they changed their mind!"

Jesse strained against Penny's grip and was eventually able to pop his shoulder free. With a shrug, he took another step towards the front door but he was stopped when he ran into Luc, who had quickly maneuvered in front of him.

"Just think about this, Plum," Luc cautioned him. "Look out that door. Does that look the same as you remember it looking when you first came through it?" 

Jesse peered over Luc's shoulder towards the inky darkness. The thick fog made it difficult to make out any familiar shapes, such as trees or rocks. "I mean, a little?" Jesse answered slowly. "I remember it being dark."

Luc raised his eyebrows, prompting Jesse to sigh and take another look. "Okay, maybe not. But what other choice do we have? Sure, out there could be death, but in here, there's certain death. We should at least try, don't you think?"

The rest of the group found it hard to respond. 

Jesse took a few steps beyond Luc, who held him firmly in his stare but didn't move to stop him. "Maybe it's not a trap, but a test. Maybe the host wants to see if we're willing to conquer our fears to gain our freedom," Jesse continued. 

Jesse tested his boundaries and took another couple steps closer to the front door. When he got a little too close for the group's liking, Luc took a step forward to stop him, but before he could reach Jesse, something else did. A tendril snaked along the floor towards Jesse's feet, but this one was much longer and much larger than the rest. It also appeared to be fleshy and purple in color. 

Before the witches and wizards could even notice its presence, it had latched onto Jesse's ankle, sending him crashing to the floor before dragging him towards the door. In the blink of an eye, it, along with Jesse, had disappeared into the darkness. 

"HOLY SHIT!" Jackson's scream occupied the space where Jesse's would have gone if he had had time to. "What the fuck was that?!"

Thomas leaned against the banister to support his weight, his knuckles paling as they gripped tightly onto the handrail. "He just...then he...gone, he's gone..." Thomas choked the words out, his forehead slick with sweat. 

"Idiot," Luc muttered under his breath as he stormed towards the door with his fists curled.

"Wait, weren't you just telling him not to go near the door?" Willow shouted after Luc from where her feet were still planted on the stairs. 

"Somebody has to go get the moron!" Luc called back over his shoulder, his pace unwavering.

"Don't you think we should strategize first? We don't even know what that thing was!"

"It kind of looked like the giant squid from the Black Lake..." Madelynn's voice was quiet but it reached the ears of everybody else in the room. Including Luc, whose feet came to a halt. 

"But how could that be?" Jackson exclaimed. "We're nowhere near the Black Lake, nor a body of water for that matter!" 

"This place doesn't exactly work by logic," Penny muttered. 

As if in response, an inhuman scream erupted from the dining room and the group froze in horror as an inferi appeared in the doorway, its blood-soaked blonde hair sticking to its face. It sniffed the air like a wild animal, a gurgling rising in its throat when the scent of the witches and wizards reached its nostrils. 

The group huddled together, holding the torches out around them to keep the inferi back, but a mysterious breeze ripped through the Shrieking Shack and snuffed the flames out. With a startle, they collectively clambered up the stairs like they were all part of the same mass, until they heard stomping and screaming coming from above. Within seconds, two inferi appeared on the steps, sending them back down. 

As they made their way to the foyer, the group noticed two other inferi emerging from the basement and the room at the end of the hall, their arms flailing as their legs pushed their broken bodies towards the witches and wizards.

"The parlour!" Willow shouted, breaking free from the group to rush towards the room to the right of the foyer. The group followed on her heels, but when they arrived, they noticed another undead visitor waiting for them inside. They had been surrounded. 

"Fuck, what do we do now?!" Jackson asked as they were pushed back into the foyer, the smoky tendrils that leaked from the front entrance licking the back of their necks and sending chills down their spines.

"Is there any other way to defeat these things?" Luc asked, his knees bent, his stance wide, and his fists curled in preparation to fight. The inferi were slowly closing in, their outstretched hands grabbing at the air. 

"No," Penny answered with wide eyes and a fierce shake of her head. "Not without our wands."

"That leaves only one other option," Willow sighed as she glanced back at the darkness behind them. 

"No," Thomas said firmly, locking his knees and crossing his arms over his chest. 

"Do you want to be a zombie snack?" 

"No, but I don't want to be a giant squid's dessert either!" 

"Well, too bad, Wadsworth," Luc snapped. "The choice is no longer yours." 

With a sharp shove from Luc, Thomas's knees buckled and he stumbled backwards.

"You ass--" Thomas called out, his voice fading away as he disappeared into the darkness. 

Luc was quick to follow, with Willow, Penny, Madelynn, and Jackson just barely making it through before the boney fingers of the inferi could latch onto their clothes. The door slammed shut with a force so strong, the witches and wizards could feel the ground vibrate as they fell on top of each other in a pile on the other side.

"Get off," Thomas, the unfortunate victim at the bottom of the pile, groaned. He could feel his lungs slowly filling with more air as the witches and wizards on top of him scrambled off. When he was finally able to stand, he just about fell back over after he got a look at his surroundings.

"Did we...actually get out?" Madelynn asked hesitantly. 

The fog had cleared and while it was still dark and gloomy, it was light enough to see the familiar sight of the Shrieking Shack standing before them in all its rotted glory. The cracked windows and creeping vines were just as Thomas remembered from when he first arrived what felt like lifetimes ago. 

"Maybe Plum was right," Jackson murmured. 

"But we can't be out. The giant squid...the host..." Willow said in exasperation, throwing her arms into the air. "None of this makes sense!" 

"It's another distraction," Penny announced.

"What do you mean?" Thomas asked, his brow arched in confusion.

"When we found the initials, the host knocked us unconscious and threw us into our own dreams-turned-nightmares," Penny explained. "Now that we've figured out that the victims weren't killed here, the host is trying to distract us again by making us think we're out."

"That means we're getting closer to their real identity," Madelynn added. 

"And also closer to danger," Thomas added. Almost immediately after Thomas said this, a howl echoed through the dark trees in the distance, sending the witches and wizards careening into each other.

"We need to find Plum," Willow reminded them. She paused before quietly adding, "If he's still alive."

The group silently nodded their heads in unison when a voice from behind them nearly sent them skyward.

"What about Plum?"  

"Plum!" Willow shouted, her hand pressed tightly against her chest in surprise. Her racing heart vibrated her fingertips.

Jesse stood before them, a little disheveled but perfectly unscathed. He looked around at his fellow group members in confusion, his arms hanging limply at his sides.

"Holy shit, we thought you were dead," Jackson said. 

"Dead?" Jesse asked with an arched brow and a chuckle. "Why would you think that?"

"Umm, maybe because of the giant squid?" Thomas commented as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Giant squid?" Jesse asked, his brow arching even higher. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The witches and wizards exchanged a glance with each other, their thoughts all meshing together. How was that possible?

"Did you hit your head when the squid was dragging you away?" Jackson exclaimed. "We all saw it!"

"If this is a joke or something, I'm not quite sure I get it..."

"Plum, what is the last you thing you remember?" Penny asked, her commanding voice directing his attention towards her. 

Jesse stood a moment in thought, his pointer finger stroking his chin. "Well, we got to the bottom of the stairs...and then we noticed that the front door was wide open...so I left."

"That's it?" Luc scoffed. 

Jesse nodded his head. "I vaguely remember arguing with you guys on whether or not I should I go, but you all must have changed your minds because now you're here too and we can all go home. Isn't that wonderful?"

Jesse flashed them a smile that was slightly unnerving. It seemed less like a natural human smile and more like a robot carrying out a function after being instructed. There was also a strange sheen to his eyes that almost made them appear luminescent. The group instinctively took a step back. 

"We can't leave, Plum," Willow informed him.

"Why not?"

"Because none of this is real..."

"Sure it is!" Another unnerving smile was accompanied by Jesse thrusting his arms out wide to display the world around them, his limbs moving almost mechanically. 

"You guys..." Thomas whispered just loud enough for those around him to hear. "I don't think that's Professor Plum..."

Evidently, Thomas had not spoken quietly enough, because the look on Jesse's face changed from a placid smile to a deep frown that ushered in a surrounding darkness. The thick fog that had choked the doorway was now choking the witches and wizards as well, their throats nearly bleeding from their continuous coughing. The only thing visible in the blackness were Jesse's glowing eyes. 

"RUN!" Thomas managed to choke out, but nobody made it farther than a step when something slimy latched onto their ankles. Thomas watched in horror as one-by-one, Luc, Willow, Penny, Madelynn, and Jackson were all yanked into the darkness. Even Jesse's glowing eyes disappeared, leaving Thomas completely alone. 

Thomas pressed his eyes shut in anticipation of the cold, clammy tentacle that would take him too, but it never came. There was nothing but the residual echoes of his friends' screams and the raised hairs on the back of his neck. Thomas forced one eye open to see what had become of himself when he was startled to find that his surroundings had shifted. 

He was back in the Shrieking Shack; in the parlour, to be precise, sitting on the desk in the corner. He felt something wrap around his ankle and braced himself for the suction cups, but was surprised to feel something warm and furry instead. Thomas looked down to see Mr. Boddy rubbing against Thomas's legs, a loud purr vibrating from within his chest. 

Thomas's initial reaction was to sigh in relief, but a moment later a slew of memories sent him stumbling to his feet where he found an audience waiting before him. Luc, Willow, Penny, Madelynn, Jackson, and even Jesse, were arranged in the same spots they had initially occupied during their first night at the Shrieking Shack. They stared at him expectantly, as if he was about to give a grand speech, but there was something off about them that sent a shiver down Thomas's spine. 

Their eyes were glowing. 

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A/N: Hey guys! I hope you are all having a great winter break and happy holidays! Sorry (yet again) for the long wait! The end of the semester was pretty crazy for me and since I'll be graduating this semester, the craziness unfortunately is only just beginning so there's likely to be more long delays between updates. I'm still dedicated to finishing this story though so I hope you're able to be patient with me! Thanks again for tagging along!