Despite the friends she had made on her previous journeys through the Haunted Woods, the young Usul still feared the sinister fog that always settled around the trees. She found herself wary of what might be lying in wait just beyond the flickering light of her lamp.

Gilly shivered, pulling her red cloak tightly around her shoulder. No, she wouldn’t be venturing out here if not for the invitation Sophie and her family had extended to her.

The town of Neovia now held a yearly feast to honor her bravery ever since she had helped Sophie lift the decade-long curses cast on the unlucky townsfolk. It would be shameful if she was too afraid to make the trek out to their quaint little village to attend such an event.

Suddenly, Gilly was shaken from her thoughts as a loud crashing sound rumbled behind her. The Usul’s ears twitched as she whirled around, swinging her flickering lamp.

“W-who goes there?!” She stammered, cowering behind her light to find…

Gilly froze. Her grip tightened around the lamp, and for a heartbeat, the woods went still. Nothing but her own breath puffing in the cold air to keep her company. The eyes let out a high-pitched squeak as Gilly swung her lamp in its direction.

It was a Spyder. Only a Spyder that scurried backwards into the darkness to avoid her light. Gilly let out an uneasy breath. "Oh... oh thank goodness. You gave me a good fright."

Suddenly, a paw gripped her shoulder and Gilly let out her own high-pitched screech. Her stomach lurched into her throat, and she swung her lamp like a weapon in hopes to make purchase to whoever was trying to attack her.

"Gilly! Gilly, wait! It's just me!"

She lowered the lamp a fraction to get a better look and the figure tentatively stepped back into her lamplight. A small Meerca--bundled up in a scarf two sizes too large for him--blinked up at her with relief.

"P-Percy?" Gilly relaxed at the familiar face. "What in Neopia are you doing out here?"

Percy gulped and looked behind him. "I was trying to get to Neovia, but I think something is following me."

Gilly's fur prickled. "Following you?"

Before he could answer, another sound rippled through the trees—soft and dragging, like something heavy shifting over roots. Gilly swallowed hard as the fog behind them parted just enough to reveal a looming silhouette stepping into their path...

Holding her lamp aloft, she illuminated the Gelert heading towards them. Bruno was huge, his footsteps bounding on the path and kicking up dust, but it was what he was dragging behind him that had caused the sound that had rippled through the trees. A sack of some kind, filled with something clearly heavy, as it was taking Bruno both hands to drag it along behind him.

"Hello, you two!" Bruno called, somewhat sheepishly. "Didn't mean to frighten you. Are you heading for the feast too?"

"Absolutely," Gilly said, not wanting to admit she had been a little spooked. "What on Neopia have you got in that bag?"

"It's the weirdest thing," Bruno said. "Sophie asked me to collect them, you see. Said it was important for tonight. I don't know why."

"Collect what?"

Bruno cast an eye back over his bag. Gilly didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't help feeling something was wrong. Why did Bruno suddenly look so worried?

"Well," Bruno said, "it's..."

“It’s a bag of potions and potion ingredients,” the towering Gelert admitted sheepishly.

Ever since his own transformation, Bruno has been very wary of potions, spells, and his own sister’s concoctions. No matter how good, evil, or neutral they were, he could never fully trust them again.

“Hmmm, maybe she’s planning to concoct something for the feast?” Gilly suggested, unsure of Sophie’s intentions herself.

“Yeah, maybe it’s a [i]petite fours[/i] for after dinner,” Percy suggested in a silly accent.

“Yeah, maybe,” Bruno agreed with a forced chuckle. He looked down at the lumpy, burlap sack in his large paws as a silence fell over the trio. The Gelert still couldn’t shake his feeling of prudence.

“Shall we?” the Usul suggested with a smile, holding up her lantern and leading the way toward Neovia.

“Wait for me!” Percy shouted, his stumpy Meerca legs working twice as hard to keep up.

The three of them walked through the moonlit forest, scanning for potions and Sophie’s list of ingredients as they made their way towards the annual feast…

“Oh, no!” lamented Bruno. “Sophie will be so disappointed!” “Now, how are we supposed to replace all those?!” sighed a clearly frustrated Percy. “I know nothing about making potions! Do either of you know anything about alchemy?!”

“Hold on…” frowned Gilly. “I think we have bigger problems…” She pointed to the mess of broken potions. Sure enough, the different potions were reacting with one another. “This isn’t good, to say the least…” stammered Percy.

The potions combined into a rainbow glow, and then a large explosion occurred! The trio was knocked over, but otherwise unharmed. As the smoke cleared, the trio could see that the reaction had created something mysterious. It was…

The trio stared at the creature, and it stared back, blinking softly.

With a squeak, or was that a chirp? It began to scramble down the path towards Neovia without them.

"Wait!" Gilly cried. "We can't let it get away!" She began to run after it, beckoning Bruno and Percy to follow.

They looked at one another in a mixture of shock and horror, not sure what they'd unleashed, and made after Gilly.

Ahead they could only hear the unnatural sounds of the creature, and the crashing noises of it clumsily making its way through the woods.

Suddenly a new, unfamiliar noise broke through the cacophony.

They craned their heads, stopping to listen.

"Is that...?"

“What was that?” asked the Meerca, voice still quivering from all he had just witnessed, and the exhaustion of the chase.

“I’m not sure,” said Bruno, “but it sounded… familiar somehow. Like something from a dream I once had or… perhaps a memory?”

“I know exactly who that was,” said Gilly, with a shudder. “We should get out of here, fast. That Petpet is bad news!”

“But Sophie wanted these ingredients for a reason!” protested Bruno. “If I can’t get fresh ingredients for her, the least I can do is deliver what those ingredients created!”

“Gilly is r-r-right, Bruno,” chimed in Percy, timidly. “You heard the same thing we all did. That’s a bad omen, for s-s-sure! This part of the woods is haunted enough without us adding any more eerie to the equation. I’m sure Sophie will understand. Let’s get out of here!”

Without waiting for Bruno to respond, Gilly and Percy turned and started heading down the path to Neovia. Bruno stared down sadly at the broken potion vials and empty bag. Sighing, he turned to follow them.

---

Before long, the group arrived at the outskirts of Neovia. Peering down at the sleepy town from the hills above, the scale of the feast was obvious.

Rows and rows of wooden tables neatly lined every cobbled street, each adorned with a long pale teal cloth which was embroidered at both ends with the Neovian town crest. Upon each tablecloth rested multiple displays of fresh fruits, meats, as well as plates and plates of delicious pastries as far as the eye could see (the Crumpetmonger had obviously been very busy).

Celebratory bunting and streamers had been draped languidly from one gas streetlamp to the next, some sporting messages like “Thank you, Gilly” and “You’re a hero!”. Everything was perfectly in place, down to the last detail. The whole scene was certainly a marvellous sight to behold.

Or, more accurately, it would have been marvellous, had it not been for the lack of one key element.

The citizens.

The feast was deserted – Not a single resident was anywhere to be seen.

A small squeak drew the trio’s attention to the ground. Something small and blobby scurried away quickly, disappearing around down a narrow alleyway before any of them could shake off their stupor and react.

The same disembodied cackle from before sounded from somewhere above them as a light breeze blew through the abandoned, eerie scene. Gilly, Bruno and Percy stood, frozen, a chill creeping up each of their spines...

"Well, it seems Neovia is in need of my help once again..." He said as he looked at the trio.

Bruno stood frozen, not wanting to be involved with the Spirit after his history of what he had done before.

Gilly bravely stepped forward and tried to put on her most authoritative face. "We need to stop that creature, what happened to the villagers?"

"That creature has absorbed their spirits, you must free the citizens if you hope to see them again. But beware of having your own spirits taken." With that warning, the Spirit of Slumber seemed to fade away.

The group looked at one another. How would they be able to stop this blob of a creature? If only they had something they could use. That's when Percy realized he was still holding on the bag of potions, and there was one small one left inside.

"Hey guys, do we think this could help?" As he pulled it out of the bag Bruno and Gilly watched as...

Bruno shrank back a bit; his distrust of the strange potion was obvious to Gilly. “It wasn’t glowing like that before.” Percy turned the bottle over in his paw, “It feels warm.”

For some reason, Gilly felt a sense of calm wash over her, “I think we should open it.”

Percy nodded in agreement and moved his paw to the stopper. He looked up at Bruno to ask for his approval as well. Bruno breathed in deep to steady himself and inclined his head. Percy didn’t hesitate, he removed the stopper with one swift, fluid movement.

Suddenly, the blue glow intensified and the contents of the bottle spilled out into the open air. It hovered as a hazy cloud above their heads for a moment, then began to spread out and snake its way around the trio.

Gilly began to feel warm, and, strangely enough, brave. She was filled with a new sense of determination and confidence. She looked up to see if the others could feel it too and noticed that the blue glow had settled around her friends. It almost looked like some sort of a protective coating, a magical force field. She was confident that this would protect their spirits! All that was left now was to find that strange Petpet.

She looked to Bruno. “Do you think you can track that blob’s scent?”

The Gelert turned to the narrow alleyway behind them and sniffed the air.

“Follow me,” he said.

Bruno led them to the dark alleyway. His broad shoulders barely squeezed through the entrance. Gilly followed closely behind while Percy scrambled to keep up behind her.

Soon enough, they made it to the end of the alleyway. Bruno sniffed the air again, “This way.”

Gilly and Percy followed him down deserted streets. The whole town was deadly quiet, save for the occasional gust of wind that sent Percy jumping into the air.

As they followed twists and turns deeper and deeper into town, Gilly realized she knew exactly where they were headed…

How will this story end?

"Meepit Oaks Sanitorium does not sound like a place I wish to visit," said Percy, who began to walk away.

"You don't think he's in there, do you, Gilly?" Bruno asked. He turned and looked at her, and Gilly tried her best to give him a warm smile.

"Lucy helped us. Perhaps we can find help again," she said.

They slowly made their way into the Sanitorium, Percy jumping at every sound they heard. They began to search under beds and inside cabinets, looking for any sign of the creature. Suddenly, Bruno tapped Gilly and Percy on the shoulder. He put his finger to his mouth, urging them to be quiet, then pointed to a table.

At first, Gilly saw nothing, but then she saw a slight movement underneath the table. They all moved together, perfectly in sync, and reached out their hands toward creature. Gilly began to make a strange noise, and Percy and Bruno joined in. They didn't know why they were doing it, or how they knew to make the noise, but it began to draw the creature out.

Bruno grabbed the creature, and the blue glow from the potion suddenly returned, shining brighter and brighter. The creature made a tiny cry, and then the room went black.

"What- What happened?" Percy sheepishly asked. As his eyes began to adjust, he turned to see Bruno holding... nothing.

"I guess that potion did the trick?" Bruno said, though he was unsure himself. His ears perked up at the sound of voices outside.

"The citizens! They're back!" Percy cried, relief filling him. He began running towards the door, ready to join the revelry and joy of the feast. Bruno charged after him, excited to finally eat. Gilly, on the other hand, turned and looked at the table that hid the creature once more.

The table was dusty, with different instruments and tools scattered around, also covered in the same dust. At the center of the table, though, was a top hat - crisp, clean, and shining.

"Gilly, come join us!" Bruno cried around a mouth full of food.

She turned to the door, yelling back at Bruno. "Coming!" But when she turned back to the table, the top hat was gone. Was it her imagination? She didn't know, but she knew she'd always be here to help Neovia, no matter what, or who, tried to hurt it.

The End.