"Come on, you silly Kacheek! We didn't all get painted Halloween for nothing!" stomped Kaile the Kau.

"Yeah, yeah! It's gonna be fuuuuuuun!" said Casey enthusiastically, running around them in circles.

Kersh and Kaile looked at each other and shrugged. What else could they expect from a hyperactive Chia?

"You got the flashlight Kersh?" asked Kaile.

"Um, y-y-yeah," the Kacheek smacked the side of the flashlight a few times and it flickered on.

"Then let's go!" the Kau started moving forward into the darkness.

"Whheeeeeeeeee! Fun time! Fun time!" Casey said running just ahead of them.

Kersh stopped and took a deep breath, looking up at the sign above them. It read: "Carnival of Terror"

In the dim light of the flashlight, ghastly shadows were cast by the motionless rides that surrounded them. Kersh wondered when the last time anybody rode them was. It was probably a long time ago, she thought to herself, so long ago in fact, that whoever had ridden them was probably dead. Even though she was just guessing, the thought definitely did not make her feel better.

"Wow, look at all this!" Kersh's thoughts were interrupted by Kaile's excited voice.

"Yeah! Rides, yippeee!" exclaimed Casey as he bounced up and down.

"It's not like we can actually ride them," Kersh said, "they've been shut down for years."

"Maybe we can start them up ourselves!" exclaimed Casey.

"Yeah right, like this place still has electricity!" Kaile replied, wishing it did.

"Well, let's check out the midway first!" offered Kersh, trying to sound brave.

"Okay!" Kaile and Casey replied in unison.

Feeling adventurous, the trio set off in the direction of the midway.

"Oh! Oh!" shouted Casey pointing towards a booth. "A game where you throw a ball at milk bottles, I've always been good at those!"

With the amount of energy the younger Chia had, Kersh and Kaile believed it.

"Then go ahead and try it out!" suggested Kaile.

"Guys, I don't know if-" Kersh was cut off by Casey's excited squeals as he picked up one of the three baseballs, which was conveniently, almost creepily, placed on the counter begging to be thrown.

Casey wound up his arm, and let the ball fly towards the carefully stacked pyramid of milk bottles. CRASH! The pyramid fell to the ground, and at the same time a strange "screech" was heard by the three pets.

All three turned around, startled, and a little scared. "W-w-what was that?" asked Kersh.

Seeing nothing, Kaile said "It was probably nothing, just the wind." Kersh shrugged as they turned back around, secretly thinking to herself that she didn't feel a wind, but decided to forget about it.

"Ooohh! Look! He's cute!" squealed Casey. Kaile and Kersh turned to see Casey clutching a red Korbat plushie to his chest. "Casey, that must be your prize for winning! But how did it get there? It wasn't there a minute ago!" Casey continued to hug the plushie, not caring how it got there.

Just then a loud burst of carnival music blared through the supposedly powerless speakers and neon lights began to flash.

All three pets turned in amazement to see...

"Th-this c-can't be right," Kersh whispered, eyes squeezed tight shut as she wished the sight away. "It would take lots of people to start everything up all at once... so where are they?" She almost didn't want to know.

Kaile suddenly let out a loud laugh. "It must be set up to do this. Just to freak us out," she said. "Don't be so scared, Kersh, it's nothing."

Kersh straightened, trying to convince herself that what the Kau said was right. Putting on a brave facade, she said, "You were scared, too, so don't tell me not to be scared!"

"Well, I wasn't as scared as you," Kaile shot back.

"I'm sure," Kersh said sarcastically. Still, her eyes flicked about her nervously for signs of danger, and she knew Kaile was right. She just refused to admit it.

Kaile looked around suddenly, her expression worried. "Uh oh..." she breathed.

"What?" Kersh demanded, catching on to her friend's worry. "What is it?"

"Where's Casey?" Kaile asked in a whisper.

Kersh looked around. "Um... maybe he went to the bathroom or something," she suggested to cover her own fear.

Kaile nodded, letting out a puff of pent up air. "Yes, yes, that's it. But we should find him before he gets lost," she said, shifting nervously. "His caretaker will kill us if we lose him."

Kersh nodded, glancing about her nervously. "Yeah. So, uh... where're the bathrooms?"

"I don't know," Kaile said. "Maybe they're behind that." She motioned to a balloon-popping booth.

Kersh nodded, and they began searching for Casey. Both were scared to their bones, though they couldn't find a reason to be afraid; the fear was just there. They looked behind several booths in the area, but didn't venture too far. After all, Casey might find his way back to the booth they'd last seen him at.

They couldn't find him. They were half frantic by the time they returned to the booth he'd won his plushie at. "He couldn't have gone far," Kaile protested. "We looked everywhere, but how far could a little Chia go?"

"I don't know!" Kersh wailed. "He's gone, and something horrible's happened to him, I know it!"

Kaile felt that she needed to play the part of the calm, rational one now. "No. The owners of the Carnival would never make it dangerous, just scary. Casey's fine, and we'll find him any time now."

For seemingly no reason, Kersh asked, "Casey never puts down a new toy, right?"

"Right," Kaile said absently.

"Then why, if he's safe as you claim," Kersh demanded, "is his new Korbat plushie right here?!" She pointed to the plushie he'd won, still sitting on the booth's counter, looking completely innocent...

"Well, maybe he wanted to give it to one of us!" she said nervously.

A low howl came from the large central circus tent. Both Kaile and Kersh jumped. They looked at each other.

"What was that?" asked Kersh, shaking softly.

Kaile was too afraid to speak. They gave each other another glance, then, huddling together, walked slowly towards the tent. They came towards the entrance, when a large powerful gust of wind came up, chilling them to the bone.

"Let's get out of here!" urged Kaile, suddenly overcome with fear.

But, Kersh shook her head: "We can't leave Casey here, what if something happened to him?"

Kaile gulped and nodded silently. They walked into the tent, staying as close together as possible. Inside, there was a large audience and a central stage. They both turned around to look at everything.

"Wow, this place is REALLY big..." said Kaile, her fear fading for a moment, but only a moment.

The same howl started again, but louder this time. Taking Kersh and Kaile by surprise, they both screamed.

"Kersh! I'm really scared! We shouldn't be here! Casey probably left already!" cried Kaile.

"Kaile, I'm scared too! But we can't leave Casey! We can't take the risk!" said Kersh more confidently than she felt.

Kaile was silent. Kersh started to walk, but Kaile stood frozen in place, shaking violently. Slowly, Kersh turned around to look at what she was staring at. There was a Chia there, but it was definitely not Casey. This Chia was bigger, much bigger. It stared at them with a haunting grin on its face.

"Hello... what are you doing in my carnival?" he asked almost politely.

Kaile and Kersh gaped, astonished at his fine manner. Kaile gave a glance towards Kersh, who shrugged. Kersh took a step forward.

"Ummm, actually we were just looking around... you see, we're lost. However, we can't leave because our friend Casey is here somewhere, but we can't find him... have you seen him??" she asked nervously.

He gave his haunting grin. They both shivered.

"What are you doing in my carnival?" he asked again, calmly.

The girls looked at each other.

"We just told you sir, we-" started Kersh.

Suddenly, the lights went out and all was plunged into darkness. The girls screamed. A slightly annoyed voice came from behind them.

"Why are you in my carnival??" it asked.

The girls turned around, confused and afraid. All of a sudden the lights came on, and right in front of them was...

"C-c-casey, Is that y-you?" Kaile asked.

The large Chia's voice boomed through the tent, "He is ours now."

Suddenly the Chia disappeared as the lights of the carnival went out, except for one blazing spotlight beaming straight down onto the two frightened pets. Kaile and Kersh were now standing in the middle of the tent, unable to see into the surrounding darkness due to the light shining directly on them. They had never been so scared in their lives.

"Kaile we have to get out of here." Kersh cried. Mustering their couage, they ran blindly into the darkness.

Suddenly a gust of wind flapped open a door of the tent and they both raced out into the night. They ran along the tall black fence surrounding the carnival, until they spotted a bend in the bars behind a bush. They squeezed through, and kept running in mindless terror.

Kalie and Kersh ran until they were both out of breath and dropped to the ground, exhausted. After a few moments Kalie sat up and looked around. They were in the middle of the forest. They were so scared when they left the carnival that they ran without even thinking, and now they were lost in the middle of nowhere.

"Kersh, I think we're lost."

"Oh no! What are we going to do now?" Kersh asked.

"I don't know, I guess we could look for a path or something."

"Wait, what's that?" Kersh pointed deeper into the forest. "It looks like a light."

"Should we go see what it is?" asked Kaile.

"I don't know, what if it's something bad?"

The light was growing brighter and brighter as it approached them. "I think it's coming this way," Kaile said nervously.

Suddenly it was upon them. It was a Light Faerie! She began to speak:

"You are the first in a long time. The first to stumble upon this forest. Only those who escape the Carnival of Terror can enter these woods. You are lucky."

"Our friend," Kaile inturrepted, "he's still in there. We must save him!"

The Faerie continued. "No one they have taken has ever come back alive. There is only one way in, just as there is only one way out. To find your friend you must find where he passed over to their world, and you must enter. But finding your way back out won't be easy. It's never been done before. The choice is yours."

"But what if we don't get out?" sighed Kersh.

"If you want to leave, go right... if you want to save your friend, please walk straight," explained the Light Faerie as she disappeared back into the night.

Walking slowly to save Casey, they talked to try and keep their minds off what they might face. "We must go back to the game he won... we must win a prize just as Casey did," spoke Kaile.

"But what if we can't win?" asked Kersh, worried.

"We have to," said Kaile sternly.

Reaching the small opening that they'd emerged from before, Kersh crawled through first, then waited for Kaile. Once they were both through, they made their way back to the game. "The toy! It's gone!" exclaimed Kaile.

"But look, the ball is back... I'll try, I'm sorta good at this," Kersh said, still scared.

Kersh picked up the ball and threw it at the milk jugs, which had been restacked. *Wham* the jugs fell off. "I guess we wait for a toy now," spoke Kaile.

Within a few moments a blue Cybunny squeeze toy appeared on the counter. "Let's pick it up together," said Kersh. They held the toy together for a few moments. Suddenly they where tossed and turned in a cold wind. Then the toy was gone and they were back at the carnival... except this was differnet. The Carnival of Terror had Chias running around and many happy guests. This must be what it looked like before, thought Kaile.

"If the carnival was so popular, why close it?" wondered Kersh aloud...

"Ladies and Gelerts! Please put your paws together for... Jenoila!" The audience cheered as a giant black female Lupe bounded out of the silk curtains behind the Chia. Its fur was as dark as tar and the tip of its tail and ears were colored a deep purple. The Lupe's gold eyes glared and it snarled.

Jenoila bounded toward the screaming crowd, but was yanked back by a thick chain. The mob of Neopets laughed and jeered at the helpless black Lupe, who dropped her head down in shame. Now Kersh finally got a good look at her face. Although the Lupe looked horrifying at first glance, her eyes were sad and pained. Just looking at that face brought tears to Kersh's own eyes. Jenoila whimpered when a whip smacked against her tail end, unseen to the crowd. She yelped and raced away, only to be pulled back painfully by the chain.

"What's the matter?" Kaile asked Kersh. The Kacheek showed Kaile what she had seen, and she was just as sympathetic. "But what can we do? We're not of this time."

Suddenly the two Neopets were whipped back into the chilling wind for a few seconds. When it subsided again, they were still at the carnival, but it looked completely different. Rides were smashed and crumpled. Neopets ran screaming across the grounds. They seemed to be running away from shadows. But how could a mere shadow harm one? Then the two pets saw a small Chia straggling behind the others. A veil of darkness caught up with the poor soul, and he was consumed with a faint squeal. The shadow faded away and the Chia was gone.

"This is horrible!" Kaile cried. "No wonder the Carnival is haunted. This darkness must have destroyed the rides and taken possession of all the Neopets here." Peering through the darkness they spotted Jeniola sprinting away from a dozen pursuing shadows. The broken chain attached to her collar flailed wildly in the wind as she approached Kaile and Kersh.

"Quick!" she yelled at them. "Run for your lives!" The two stared at her in shock, oblivious to the large dark presence creeping up behind them...

Before Kaile and Kersh could react, Jeniola was already bounding away from the shadows, with her two passengers clinging on for dear life.

Jeniola, they realized, was a very fast runner, and was quickly outdistancing the darkness.

In a matter of minutes, Jeniola was carrying her two passengers up the side of a steep hill. She never stopped for a breath until they reached the top.

Once on top of the hill, which was almost big enough to be a mountain, Jeniola sat down and let Kaile and Kersh tumble to the ground.

"Th-thank you!" Kaile and Kersh managed to squeak while panting for air, though they were not even the ones running.

"You are most welcome." replied the large Lupe, not even breathing hard.

Kaile and Kersh were almost surprised that she could talk, though there was no good reason for them to be. After all, she was just another Neopet.

"We thought that you were going to, well, you know..." Kersh said apprehensively.

"Eat you?" Jeniola finsihed for her.

"Well, yes." replied Kersh, rather embarrased.

"It's ok, I guess if I had seen me I would have thought the same thing. I'm not so vicious, it's just that they..."

"Abused you?" Kersh finished, returning the favor.

"Yes, I wasn't trying to destroy the crowd, I was only trying to escape! The audience couldn't see, but they were whipping me to make me run!"

Neither Kaile nor Kersh could believe that they could treat someone so cruelly!

"But that's not important right now," she said, "but your friend is."

"You know about Casey?" Kaile asked.

"Yes," she replied, "he was to be the next act."

Kaile and Kersh gasped. Casey, a sideshow freak? But he was just a child!

"Where is he now?!" Kaile asked, almost desperately.

Jeniola shifted her gaze down over the hill, to the rest of the carnival.

Kaile and Kersh looked, too, and gazed in horror at what they saw. The darkness was consuming everything, tearing children from their mother's arms, their screams echoed through air and bounced of nearby mountains.

Chias everywhere were running, being sucked up one at a time, into a dark void.

Tents were torn, poles snapped in half, ticket booths sucked into the swirling madness, and Casey was nowhere in sight!

"Where's Casey, I don't see him?!?" Kersh screamed madly, scanning the terrible scene below for any trace of him.

"The darkness. It has taken him." they heard Jeniola say sadly.

"We have to get him back!" shouted Kaile, willing to try anything!

"Are you sure?" said Jeniola seriously, lowering her eyes until they leveled with the two girls.

Kaile and Kersh stared for a few seconds, then responded firmly, "Yes."

Jeniola's eyes glazed over, and her tone became more intense, "Once you enter the darkness, you can never come back unless you succeed. If you can't fight off the evil and rescue your friend, all, including you, will be lost. Do you really want to risk all that, or do you want to turn your backs, and pretend all this never happened?"

"We could never turn our backs!" replied Kaile, "Never."

"Then be prepared for the worst time of your life." she said.

Just then they heard the howling come closer. All three peered over the hillside, and saw that the darkness was scaling it, moving closer by the second.

As it crept over the side of the hill, all three stood facing it, knowing what they must do...

"I've been expecting you," the Chia murmured and grinned at them, making Kersh's hair stand on end. She shuddered. "You've been looking for your friend have you? Well, here he is!" Several Neopets walked through the crowd, dragging poor Casey behind them.

"Casey?!" Kersh exclaimed.

Casey made no reply; he just uttered one word. "Enemy," he groaned, glaring at the frightened pets.

"If you want him," the Chia explained with a grin, "you'll have to win him."

"What do you mean?" Kaile asked, confused.

The Chia smiled yet again, and threw his arms up. "Let the games begin!" Lights began to turn on and all the ghostly Neopets turned and began walking towards a large tent ahead of them. The threesome followed.

"I don't feel very good about this," Jeniola whispered. "It just doesn't feel right."

"None of this does," Kersh replied.

It seemed like hundreds upon hundreds of neopets were entering this huge tent. Each pet looking just as ghostly as the other. All the pets were seated around a giant arena. Some strange looking devices stood in the center, making the three even more uncomfortable. The Chia beckoned them to the center of the arena.

"Citizens of the Carnival of Terror," the Chia announced, almost too happily, "I proudly announce the first, *cough* I mean annual, Games Night!" The crowd remained silent.

The three gasped as the Chia walked over to an object covered with a cloth. The Chia pulled the cloth away to reveal...

"May I present the one and only Gareth, meaning, 'gentle'!" the Chia laughed, his deep voice echoing off the walls of the stadium. "And I assume you expect he'll be 'ever so gentle' with you!"

No, we don't think so at all, Kersh thought to herself.

"Let the games begin!" the Chia called out, and he struck a large bell with a metal mallet.

Kersh sat there frightened to death, with Kaile by her side. Both were frozen in fear. The monster was let out of its cage, stretching a long neck towards the girls as it stumbled out. The monster then opened its mouth and roared in their faces. The faint smell of meat reached Kersh's nose. She shivered at the thought of being torn to shreds.

Suddenly, she felt an impulse to be nice to the monster. Nice to him? she thought. Would that ever...?

"Kaile," she whispered, "maybe we should be nice..."

"Nice?" Kaile's confused face slowly smiled. "Yeah!"

They approached the monster with caution. "Nice monster, nice monster," Kaile murmured, "we won't hurt you."

Thinking quickly, Kersh ran up and threw her arms around the monster's neck. Gareth immediately reacted, caressing Kersh and Kaile.

The monster then turned around and roared ferociously at the yellow Chia. The ghostly figures gasped.

A door opened, and out came Casey, free at last. The monsters keeled over in their seats.

The four friends then went outside to start their new project of bringing back the carnival.

The End