Title: The Witch's Tale-a Halloween story

Writer: T'PeeJ
Feedback: tpeej@hotmail.com
Category: Holiday
Archive: Sure, let me know where.

Disclaimer: CC and 1013 own some and Tim Kring and NBC own another, but I own the rest unless otherwise stated.

I would like to thank Peter, my new brother for the use of his name. Sandy for betaing this story for me. She put up with a lot of crap over this story with me. I am putting her up for Sainthood after this!!!



Out of the darkness, Jimmy Bond's voice can be heard.

"The Witch's Tale- a Halloween story"

Written by T'PeeG

"Jimmy! You said her name wrong!" said Byers out of the darkness.

"So how do you say it and what kind of name is it any way?" asked Jimmy.

"It's pronouncing TighPeeJ. When you say T'PeeJ, it's a hard sound on the 'J', Jimmy. It's her Vulcan-Time Lord-Vampire name," said Byers.

"Geez, I knew one of us should have done this," said Langly from the darkness.

"Oh give him a chance, Langly," said Frohike. "You aren't doing it for a reason. This is Jimmy's story and he gets to do the intro. So lay off him, would you?"

"OK, so can I finish reading what she gave me to say?" asked Jimmy.

"Sure, Jimmy, go ahead with the rest," said Byers out in the darkness.

"OK now some of the things in this story BELONG to CC and 1013 and/or to Tim Kring and NBC everything else belongs to T'PeeJ, unless otherwise stated. So CC and 1013 and Tim Kring and NBC, please don't sue, I only played with them for a little bit. Hey guys, who are this CC and 1013 and Tim Kring and NBC anyway?" asked Jimmy.

"I don't know, Jimmy, but they all put it at the beginning at all of their stories to cover their asses," said Frohike. "The whole lot of them are scared of CC and 1013 and it makes them feel better by doing it. So we aren't going to argue with it, OK. So finish with this so we can get on with the story. I am dying to see what happens."

"Frohike, you just want to see if there is a pretty lady in here for you to stare at," said Langly.

"What is wrong with that, Langly? We all might get lucky for once." Said Frohike.

"You two stop it, let Jimmy finish this and then we all see what will happen in the story," said Byers.

"Thanks, Byers. I only have a little bit left to read. Also, to those of the Wicca faith, please take no offence to this. It's just a fun little story for T'PeeJ's favorite holiday. Thank you!" said Jimmy.





The Witch's Tale

By T'PeeJ







The woman stopped in front of the door to the Lone Gunman Newspaper headquarters. She looked back down the alley to where she parked the car, then back to the door. She reached into her bag and pulled out a cell phone and made a call. As she stood there talking to someone, Langly walked passed the monitor and saw she there.



"Hey guys, does either of you know this person?" yelled out the long-haired man.

Both Byers and Frohike came over to look at the monitor.



"No, I don't know her," said Byers.



"No, I don't either," said Frohike. "but I wish I did." The man smiled at the woman and the other men just shook at their heads at their friend and his thoughts on females.



"Get your mind out of the gutter, Doohickey and let's see what she wants," said Langly.



The woman had put away the cell phone and walked closer to the door. She was about to knock when a voice came through the door.



"Can I help you?" said Langly.



"UM I hope so. Does James Bond work here?" asked the woman. She stood five feet five inches tall. Her hair was long and a little brown color. She had an open face that had a natural smile. Her hazel eyes sparkled when she said Jimmy's name. She had on a long sleeve white shirt and a Halloween vest on top it and blue jeans.



"Yeah, Jimmy works here," yelled Langly back at her.



"Oh good, I was afraid I had gone to the wrong place. OK, then I want to drop something off for him. I will be right back, ok?" said the woman.



"Yeah, sure lady that's fine," said Langly back through the door to her.

She turned, then walked away from the door.



The men stood there by the door waiting for her to come back with whatever she had for Jimmy. Well at least the men know that Jimmy could win the ladies over with that a big goofy smile of his but, now they knew he could get them to come and make deliveries to his front door. Oh to be that good with the woman.



The woman was back in five minutes. She was carrying a big box in her arms. She put it down in front of the door. "Here this is for Jimmy. I have a note laying on top for him too and if you would give it to him for me, I would appreciate it."

.

"Yeah, sure lady, no problem," yelled Langly.



The woman walked back out of sight. The men just stood there waiting for several minutes to make sure she had left and wouldn't surprise them when the door was opened. After five minutes, Langly undid the locks on the door and opened it up. He stuck his head out to make sure no one was there and then he reached out to grab the box. It was heavier then the skinny man had thought it would be but, not heavy enough to ask for some help with it. Putting it down by the door, Langly picked up the note on top of the box. "She has nice handwriting," said the man.



"Really?" said Byers as he looks over Langly's shoulder. "You can tell a lot about a person by their handwriting."



Langly turned to Byers and handed him the note, "OK Narc, what can you tell by three words, 'James T. Bond'?"



Byers took the note and studied it for several minutes. "She is well educated, she is an easy-going person and she is going to be a teacher."



"How in the name of Bill Gates, did you get all of that by looking at three words?" asked Frohike, as he looked at the envelope too.



Byers laughed, "Well she didn't freak out when Langly talked to her through the door, so she must be able to go with the flow of the things around her. The only people who need their writing to be legible are teachers. It wasn't hard to figure out." Byers leaned down and put the note back on top of the box. He went back to his computer to work. The other two Lone Gunmen followed suit.







.

*****

Jimmy had been out running errands for the Gunmen all morning. He had picked up Byers' suits from the cleaners, and picked up some computer parts for Frohike and some software for Langly. He loved to do it for them too. Stopping for a red light, Jimmy turned his head and noticed a store window with a Halloween display. Was it fall already? The man thought to himself, Oh, man it must be. Lily could be any where in the world and I wouldn't know where to look for her. She is going to miss another Halloween with me. The light changed to green and Jimmy put his car into first gear. He saw a Mickey Dees up ahead, Maybe the guys are hungry, I'll stop and get some food to eat. Pulling into the drive thru, the man ordered the food.



When Jimmy got back to the warehouse, he had a little trouble figuring out how to get everything in on one trip. Finally he put the bag with the burgers in one of the bags with the computer parts that was hanging by his elbow. He draping Byers' suits over that arm, the other bag with the software around the other elbow, he grabbed the tray with the drinks and held it in his free hand. He prayed that the bag with the suits didn't tear open somehow and that he didn't spill the drinks on the suits. Byers would kill him for sure. He walked up to the door very carefully and kicked the door with his foot. Byers opened the door after a couple of seconds and Jimmy smiled at the bearded man. Byers reached out for his suits, and let Jimmy walk past him. Byers shut the door and locked it back up.



"Hey guys, I got some food while I was out. Hope you are hungry," said Jimmy with a smile.



"Starved, James T, fork it over," said Langly as he walked over to the newest member of the group. Jimmy handed the bag with the software to Langly and reached into the other bag and pulled out the food bag. Langly took it over to the workstation. He dug into his Big Mac and fries not seeing the need to wait for the others.



"Hey! How come you called me James T.?" asked Jimmy.



"It's written on the envelope over there on the box and the box is for you too," said Langly with a mouth full of food.



Handing the other bag off to Frohike, Jimmy walked over to the box by the door. The young man picked up the envelope and opened it.









Dear James T.,

So this is where you've been hiding out at. You sure are a long way from home, my friend. HA HA.



So like I was here and you weren't. You really must be at the places that I am supposed to find you at. Geez Jimmy whatever am I suppose to do with you if you don't play by the rules! HA HA!



Any way the box is from GGW and she sends her love.



Hope to see you soon!

Spock a.k.a. Lily (in case you've forgotten me!)



"LILY IS IN TOWN," yelled Jimmy. The man started to do an end zone dance and the other men just stared at Jimmy.



"I take it," said Byers. "That Lily being in town is a good thing?"



"Oh yes, Byers, it is. She is the coolest person I know, next to you guys. She is smart like you Byers and she is just so cool. You guys are going to love her. Let's see what GGW sent me." Jimmy grabbed the box and ripped the tape off the top. Pulling the flaps back, Jimmy pulled out a large bat on a stand. Jimmy started to laugh uncontrollably.



"What the hell did this GGW send you a bat for?" asked Frohike.



"You are going to love this," said Jimmy as he touched a button on the stand.





"Good evening Jimmy, Mr. B and Mr. L and Mr. F." A voice came out of the bat. "You four gentlemen are invited to my Halloween party on October 31. I will see you here at my house at 7:30 P.M. that evening. Your costumes are in the box with your names on them. In addition I threw in a snack for you too. You are too busy saving the world. Come and relax for a while with me and Lily. Jimmy, you will remember how to get down here. So come and have some fun. Your favorite Witch, Bridget the Midget the queen of the hexes."



"Who the hell was that, Jimmy?" asked Frohike.



"That is Lily's Grandma, Bridget O'Neill. She is a witch. GGW is Virginia's official witch too. She is really a cool lady." Jimmy reached down into the box and pulled out a box. It had a big 'B' on it and a second one that was much longer then the first one. It was much too large to fit in that box size, but it did. "These are for you, Byers." Reaching back into the box, Jimmy pulled out three more boxes. One had a big 'L' on it and the other had a big 'F' on it. The last box had Jimmy's name written on it. Walking over to the other men, Jimmy gave out the boxes to their owners. The big man moved the large box over with his foot, closer to the other. Leaning down, Jimmy pulled out an orange box. Pulling the top off, Jimmy looked and smiled, "Cookies anyone?"



"Wait," said Langly. "This woman wants us to drop everything on Halloween and come to her party? What if we already have plans for the evening? I mean Halloween is only two days away. No old lady is going to push me around like that. This is stupid."



"Oh come on Langly, it will be a great party. When Lily and I were kids, GGW would come up every year and throw the party there in Long Island. She always had the best food and party games. She played the right music and everyone had a great time. You have to go. You will love the Poem and the games Hunt the wand and Show your magic. There will be tons of food of all kinds and music. You would love this party."said Jimmy.



"Jimmy, you don't believe this woman is a real witch, do you?" asked Byers.



"UH ... yeah, I do, Byers. I have seen the woman do some stuff that couldn't be believed. I have never seen her turn people into frogs. I don't know if she ever has or not but you know it's best to stay on her good side any way." Said Jimmy.



Langly opened his box up and pulled pair of black pants and a vest that matched. A white shirt that laced up the front was there and a black sash and a piece of black material also. Laying on the bottom of the box was a sword and a three-corner hat and an eye patch. "I think I am supposed to be a pirate." He said. Holding it up to himself, Langly found that it would fit him. He looked at the other three in the room. "Maybe she is a witch, Byers," he grinned, "it looks like it just might fit me."





"Witches in the magic sense are not real, Langly, so don't go there with it," said Byers.





"What did the dear pick out for me?" Frohike asked. Opening his box up. He pulled out a black jacket and a black pair of pants. A white shirt with a funky starched collar. "She made me a Priest?" he snorted, "Yeah, right lady, like I would be one of those."









"Well let's see what you two got," said Langly at Byers and Jimmy.



"Oh I know what I have. It's the same costume every year. I am a Knight, though not in a suit of amour. I get silk shirt and puffy pants and a fun hat to wear. A cool necklace goes with it. I don't know what Byers is, "said Jimmy.



Byers opened the smaller of the two boxes. He pulled out a purple jacket and a purple pair of pants. A pair of men's heeled shoes was there and a white shirt with ruffles that ran down the front. Byers stared at it all before opening the second box. Pulling out a purple guitar, he asked "what the hell does this mean?" He held the purple jacket up to himself and looking at the others, a confused expression on his face.



"Do you know the song 1999?" asked Langly, laughed.



"No, I don't know it. Who sings it?" asked Byers, looking even more confused.



"Prince Nelson of Minneapolis, Minnesota a.k.a. Prince a.k.a. the artist formally known as Prince a.k.a. Prince again. She has you as a rock singer from Minnesota. He loves purple, loves Minnesota and loves God," said Langly through his laughter. Frohike looked over at Jimmy. The youngest man just shrugged his shoulders at the older man.



"I am not wearing this anywhere and there is no way anyone will ever make me do it," said Byers.



Just then door buzzer rang. Jimmy walked over the monitor and yelled "LILY!" He undid the locks and threw the door open and closed it behind him as he went out. By the time the others got to the door, Jimmy had the woman in a bear hug and she had her arms wrapped around him as much as she could. Jimmy finally let go of Lily and she stepped back taking Jimmy's hands in hers.



Very slowly, Byers opened the door to the outside world, he and the others listened to the old friends talk.



"Jimmy but it is so good to see you. It has been a long year and I have missed you so much," said Lily. "Can't wait to tell you every where I have been. The things I have learned. This Thesis is going to be the biggest sucker in the world!" She started to laugh.



"I have missed you so much too. I can't believe you are really here. I want you to meet the guys. You are going to love them but first, can we do the charm? Please!"groveled Jimmy.



"Yes Jimmy, we can. You are such a nert!" Lily laughed. She brought her right hand up to Jimmy's forehead. "You are the Knight of the mind, a protector of all. You are the Knight of the heart, the protector of me." Slowly she moved her hand down to his chest and covered his heart with it.



"You are the lady fair who will guide us through the darkness. You are the one. Lily, I will see you there." Said Jimmy in a dream like voice. Removing Lily's hand from his chest, Jimmy held it in his hand, touched the ring on Lily's left thumb. It was a Celtic friendship ring that he had gave it to her years ago. She treasured it above all the things that Jimmy ever gave her. Way back when the left thumb was where women wore their wedding rings, it always pleased him that was where she wore the ring.



"Are you done now, you nert?" asked the woman with a laugh.



"Yes, I'm done. Now let's get you introduced to the guys. This is going to be so cool," said Jimmy, his voice was a little deeper then before. His goofy smiled changed, the wattage was toned down. They turned when Jimmy saw the other three were standing at the door. "Hey guys, this is Lily Burhop, my friend from Long Island and Lily these are the guys, Langly(pointing to him), Byers(pointing to him) and Frohike(pointing to him). Can she come in?"



"I don't see any reason why she can't," said Frohike. The other two men just stared at him. The man had lost his mind. "She is one of Jimmy's friends and that should be good enough for us."



One down two more to get, thought Lily.



"Uh... right," said Langly as he stepped back to let her by.



"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Frohike. I am very glad to meet all of James T.'s friends," said Lily.



"What is with calling Jimmy -James T.?" asked Langly.



"We are Star Trek fans of course. What else could we be. I am his Spock, well more like Spook but you know how that is." Lily said smiling at Langly.



"Hey cool. We are Star Trek and Star Wars fans too," said Langly. He smiled back at her. He reached out and shook her hand.



"Thank you, Mr. Langly. So what my Mom said that Jimmy's Mom said was that you gentlemen run a newspaper. I am surprised that Jimmy gave up his football dreams to come and join you. He never showed any interest in writing before this," commented Lily as she went through the door way of the warehouse.



"Well we helped Jimmy with a problem with his football league and since then he has been working with us," said Byers from behind Lily.



Turning toward Jimmy, "problems?" asked Lily.



"Later," said James T. to her.



"OK, James T." said Lily as she turned to Byers and shook his hand last.

"Any way the reason I am here is to ask you gentlemen to dinner at my Grandma's tonight. She would like to meet you and get to know you." said Lily. "Jimmy can get you out to her house and you can drive out tonight around 5:30 or 6 P.M.. If you don't have anything planned for tonight. It's a quick drive down I95 to Triangle, Virginia, where my Grandma lives."



"Yeah sure that is fine with me," said Frohike.



"Me too," said Langly.



Two down and only one more Gunmen to go, thought Lily.



"You know I will be there, Lily," said Jimmy.



Everyone looked at Byers and he just gave up without a fight. "Yes, tonight will be fine," said Byers. He wasn't happy about this and when she was gone, he was going to say something to them "So how old is your Grandma?"

"She just turned 82 years old a couple of months ago. She is not a senior citizen yet. She is more a teenager then anything else." Lily laughed. "I better get going home to GGW, before she thinks I've taken her car for a joy ride." She gave Jimmy a quick hug and was out the door.



Jimmy closed the door behind her and put on the locks.





****

Lily climbed into the big black hearse, pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. After a second the phone started to ring.



"Lily," said a voice.



"Hello GGW," said Lily.



"So what are the men like? Are they good people to Jimmy? Are they worthy to associate with him?" asked the woman over the phone.



"You'll find out tonight. They are coming over for the dinner. Mr. L and Mr. F where easy to get them to agree. The charm worked well on them, but Mr. B is going to more difficult. He said yes because everyone else wanted to do it. He is going to be a little harder to get. You will have your work cut out for you, GGW." Said Lily.



"You are going to help with this young lady and don't give me that crap about you not believing. You are as much in the mix as the others are," said the older woman. "If they are who I think they are, Lily, then things will be just fine. Jimmy will be a big help to them in the future. Now we just have to get them to see the poor guy as something more then a dork.".



"So what was the trouble that Jimmy got into with the football league? He said he would tell me later on but he didn't look too happy about it," commented Lily.



"He should be the one to tell you but he almost got hung out to dry with the football league. We knew it wouldn't work, Lily but he had his heart set on it. He will tell you Lily, don't worry about it. The other three saved him and that is what is important. So are you on your way home?" asked the witch.



"Yeah, I am sitting out in the hearse now. So I will be on my way back down to you now and I will talk to you when I get down there," said Lily. She closed the phone and started the car up. Pulling out of the alley, Lily stopped the car and looked back down the alley. "Jimmy, make sure, will you?" Then she drove off.



****

"What is wrong with you two?" asked Byers. "You let someone that we don't know come waltzing in here and then you agree to go down to Virginia to dinner at some person's house that says she is a witch and you two just say, 'sure it's fine with us'. Have you two lost your minds completely?"



Langly looked at his associate, "I don't see a problem with it, Byers. The lady wants to meet us. She is a friend of Jimmy's, so she should be all right. What is there to worry about?"



"Yeah, Byers, there shouldn't be too much trouble with this little old lady," said Frohike.



"Who says she is a witch," said Byers. Turning toward Jimmy, who was standing there eating cookies, he said "Jimmy, you are being awfully quiet over there. We are talking about your friends. Do you want to say anything?"



"Byers, you guys have to figure this one out on your own. I know I am going tonight and to the Halloween party. I will say that GGW and Lily aren't evil. They wouldn't hurt anyone that I am sure of." Said Jimmy. He took the box that GGW had sent to him, putting a Big Mac and fries and a drink. Placing the box with his costume in the bigger box and a few of the cookies with the bat on the stand, Jimmy carried the whole lot upstairs to his room.



The Lone Gunmen watched the young man walk away from them.



"Byers, I think we should go and see what the old gal is like and then decide if we are going to go to the Halloween party. Hey she may let me keep my Pirate outfit even if I don't go to her party," said Langly.



"All right, we'll go, but I am not promising a thing to anyone," said Byers.



"Good enough," said Frohike. "Let's see how good the cookies are?"



"You know Jimmy brought us food, should you be filling up on cookies?" asked Byers.



"I ate my Big Mac, Byers. I can have dessert now," said Langly as he reached into the box of cookies.



"I just want to try one, Byers and then I will have my sandwich, swear on my Priest collar!" said Frohike as he lifted his right hand up. He grabbed a cookie and walked over to where the other food was still sitting. Taking a bite out the pumpkin-shaped cookie, Frohike smiled as he chewed. Turning to the other food, the man started on his Big Mac. Byers walked over to get his Big Mac from the bag. Feeling the burger, he found that it was cold, so he went straight upstairs to the microwave to warm it up.



****

The four men climbed into the VW van and headed south on I95. There was hardly any traffic on the Interstate and it was in the middle of the week. They went down I95 to VA-619 E exit in less then an hour. Byers, who was sitting in the back with Langly, was very surprised that they made it down South so fast. The traffic should have been very bad. Jimmy who had been driving, was all smiles because he stared to know where he was. Follow VA highway 619 to old Triangle Road and turned left onto the road. The man just followed his memory down the road to the old Ante bellum house. He pulled off the road into the long driveway that lead down to the house. When the grand old building came into view, Jimmy was bouncing in the driver's seat. "We are here, guys." He stopped the van in front of the house.



All around the outside the house were cut outs of strange buildings. There was even a fake cemetery not far from the house. The men got out of the van.



"You know this looks familiar, but I can't place it," said Frohike.



"Try Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas," said Lily as she came around from the side of the house. "It's Halloween town. I love that movie so I talked GGW into letting me to do something different with the outside of her house. She doesn't like it, but as long as I am here, it will stay this way." The woman laughed. "How was the drive down here?"



"No problem at all, Lily," said Jimmy. "There was hardly anyone on the road."



"Well GGW said she would take care of the traffic for you. So like, I hope you guys don't mind being no longer in your nuclear free zone city, Triangle hasn't gotten that fussy yet. Though I think, they will soon. Come on inside, GGW is driving me crazy with ARE THEY HERE YET? As if she couldn't see that you weren't here yet. Man, I think she is worse then any kid out there." Leading them up the five steps to the front porch, Lily opened the door. The Gunmen couldn't get use to other people not having their place's so unsecured.

They walked passed a grand staircase and into a large room with lots of long and tall windows. Sitting in a corner of the room in a wheelchair sat an older lady. The white haired woman was sitting by a window doing some needlepoint. Her back was to the other people in the room.

Lifting her head up and without turning toward Jimmy Bond, she said "Well you are here, Jimmy." Turning toward the people now, the woman rose out of the chair and walked over to them. Jimmy bent down and kissed the woman's cheek, giving her a gentle hug, not like the one he gave Lily earlier. Standing next to Jimmy made the woman seem very



small. At four feet nine inches, she was short. She had on a sweatshirt with Minnesota written on it and a pair of dress pants.



"How are you GGW?" asked Jimmy.



"Oh not too bad for an 82-year-old woman. I keep everyone on the their toes that is for sure. So, these are your friends the Lone Gunmen? It's an honor to meet you at long last." Reaching out for Byers' hand, "John Fitzgerald Byers, glad to meet you sir." She shook his hand, smiled at the bearded man. Turning to Langly, "Richard 'Ringo' Langly, glad to meet you, young man. You are younger then I thought you would be but that's ok." She shook his hand and patted his left cheek with her left hand. Turning to Frohike, "Melvin Frohike, yes, I know it's Frohike, you punkass." She shook his hand. "Please make yourselves comfortable. Jimmy come and sit up here with me. My name is Bridget O'Neill, but almost everyone calls me GGW. I will answer to almost anything. Lily, the drinks, please."



"Sure, GGW," said Lily winked at Byers as she turned to leave the room. Byers watched the young woman leave.



The men sat in over stuffed chairs in the room. Jimmy sat down next to the older woman on a settee and he took her hand in his.



"Now let's get to those questions that we are all dying to ask each other. I think Byers should go first. He does look like he'll shoot straight up through the ceiling if he doesn't get to ask the first question," said Bridget.



"Well ma'am..." said Byers.



"Please call me Bridget. You don't have to be so formal with me. I am old enough to be all of our Grandmas," said the woman.



"Bridget, then. Jimmy really believes that you are a witch but we know that they aren't real," said the bearded man.



"Oh Byers," said the woman as she leaned forward. "Witches are real as your Mr. Mulder's little grey men. Why, if you can believe in them, do you not believe in witches? We are as real as other things that goes bump in the night. If you want, I can prove I can do magic for you." She turned toward the mantel, sitting above the fireplace were some pictures in frames and a snow globe. Closing her eyes, GGW pointed her hand to the globe and it floated over to Byers' hands and landed. She smiled him. "So what do you think?"



Byers looked at the globe which had a Loon in it. "You could be able to move things with your mind, Ma'am. That is no proof."



"Byers you are going to be a hard sell aren't you? OK then lets try something a little harder for you to use your science on." GGW looked at Jimmy and smiled. "Jimmy would you like to show your friends your costume?"



Jimmy smiled at her, "Sure I would love to but it's back at the warehouse. I can go get it if you want me to?"



"No need Jimmy, just stand up and leave the rest to me," said the woman. When
Jimmy stood, she reached out and touched his arm and his clothes changed to a
medieval style shirt in a dark blue velvet with what looked like fur on the
collar. A cape was hooked around his neck and the matching pants reached his
knees where they met a pair of lighter blue stockings. The shoes looked to
be made out of cloth and were laced up his leg. The hat he held in his hand
had matching fur on it. A necklace lay on his chest and on the necklace was
writing which said Knight a Parrot.
Jimmy turned so the Lone Gunmen could get a better look at the outfit.



"This is the costume, guys. I was looking at it before we left." Said Jimmy.



Byers put the snow globe down on the coffee table in front of him. "OK so you are something, but what I don't know." He looked over at Frohike and Langly to see if they were a little frightened by what just happened. They were just sitting there shaking their heads yes, like it proved it all to them.



Lily came in with a cart with drinks. She wheeled it over to her Grandma. The older woman got up and reached into the bottles on the bottom and was looking through them.

"Lily, where is the J&B?" asked the older lady.



"I couldn't find it, so I brought something else out for Mr. Frohike to drink." Said the younger woman.



"This will never do," said GGW. She took the bottle and waved her hand over it and it changed into a J&B bottle. "Now Frohike, do you like it straight or on ice?"



"Straight is fine, GGW." Said Frohike as he smiled at her.



Handing the bottle to Lily, she poured some into a glass. She was about to hand it to Frohike, when GGW stopped her.



"You forgot something." said the witch. GGW sat back down on the settee with Jimmy.



"Oh sorry, I did," said Lily. She reached into a small box and took a pinch of red powder. She dusted over Frohike's drink and then handed it to him. As she handed the drink to him, the color of the drink changed to a red shade then back to the regular color.



"Langly do you want a Mountain Dew to drink or something harder?" asked GGW.



"Mountain Dew would be fine, Ma'am," said Langly.



"All right, Lily, a big Mountain Dew for Langly." Said the woman to her Granddaughter.



"One ice-cold Mountain Dew for the man from the Midwest." Lily reached into the bottom of the cart and pulled a large bottle of Dew out of a bucket with ice in it. "Do you want to use a glass?" asked Lily to Langly.



"No the bottle is fine with me," commented Langly.



Lily took the lid off and sprinkled the red powder over it. She then handed it to Langly.



Byers couldn't tell if the pop changed colors like the J&B did but he assumed it did. With the bottle that green color, he had to assume.



"Jimmy here is your milk," said Lily. She sprinkled the red powder over it. The milk changed to red and back to white.



"Thanks Lily," said the young man and he took a big a drink.



"Now Byers, do you want tea? Or Coffee or a Pepsi to drink?" asked Lily.



"A Pepsi would be nice," said Byers.



Lily reached back into the bucket and pulled out two Pepsis.

Byers got up from the chair walked over to the cart for the pop. Lily was taking the caps off and reaching for the red powder. Byers took one and put his hand over the top just as she did the powder over the top of the bottles. He didn't see his own pop change color too. Lily handed the other bottle of Pepsi to her Grandma. She reached over for a glass and GGW poured some of her Pepsi into the glass for Lily. The younger woman moved over and sat on the floor besides Byers' chair. The bearded man watched her to see if she would try to pour any of hers into his bottle.



Lily smiled at Jimmy, "So James T. what have you learned from these great men about the newspaper business?"



"Oh a lot, Lily. You have to make sure you have the real truth. Just because someone says something to you, doesn't make it Hoyle. Even if you've known them all your life, you have to check everything out. Did you know that when filing that if the word 'the' is in front, you shouldn't file it under 'the'?" Said Jimmy.



"Yeah, Jimmy, you treat it as if it wasn't there." She looked at her friend. "I see I shouldn't have left town to do my research on my thesis. Oh well water under the bridge now." Looking back over her shoulder at Byers, "So you guys are doing great things with Jimmy's help?"



"I like to think so. Jimmy has been a big help for us," said Byers.



"Yeah, Jimmy is the greatest thing to come along since a computer," said Frohike.

Byers stared at the man. That stuff had to be a drug. It was affecting the other two.



"So what is for dinner?" asked Langly.



"The hollow gut speaks again," said Frohike. He wanted to hit the man along side the head. You don't ask people that. One of these days he prayed that Langly would learn that fact.



GGW started to laugh. "Langly, you remind me of my husband, it was a good thing that he was a wonderful man or I would have killed him for being the one person on the planet that always had his foot in his mouth all the time." Looking over at Lily and Byers, the older woman could see that Byers was staring at Lily.

"Lily, could you check on dinner while I entertain our guests?"



"Sure, Jimmy, I think this would be a great moment for us to talk. Do you want to come along?" Lily put her glass on the table next to Byers' chair. She was about to rise when Jimmy stuck out his hand to her. Taking it, Jimmy pulled her up. Lily took the glass off the table and took Jimmy's arm that he offered her. They walked out of the room.



"So what is that burning question you are dying to ask, Frohike?" asked the older woman.



"Well what does GGW stand for? It seems a little odd but people call their Grandma's and Grandfather's different names. What is with yours?" asked the short man.



Bridget leaned back in the settee. She smiled at the men. "Well when my daughter, who is Lily's Mom, was a little girl, she saw a Sugar Crisp commercial on TV. There used to be another character in them. It used to be an old woman by the name of Granny Good Witch. My Daughter shortened it to GGW. She thought since I was a good witch, why not just get me used to being called Granny too. So I have been GGW since the 1960's something. Way before the kids were big enough to be an adult or married. Oh Langly, if you don't come to the party, which I hope Byers will agree to, you can keep the Pirate outfit. Now Byers, what is wrong with being Prince? He is a wonderful singer and he is one interesting being."



Byers looked at the woman, "I don't even know who the man is, except that he sings Rock and/or Roll music."



"Well let me put in a Prince CD's for you and then you will get an idea of the man. Plus he wears suits of a sort and I thought that would be more comfortable for you." The woman got up from the settee moving back over by the wheelchair. She reached up to the wall and push on a section. It popped open for her. Moving the section, the Lone Gunmen could see a CD system hidden back there. She waved her hand, a CD appeared out of nowhere. Placing it in the player, GGW walked back over to the settee with the remote in her hand. Sitting down, the woman hit play and the Princes' song, "1999" started up. She watched Byers face. He was turning red. "Byers it isn't that bad. You would be great as Prince, but if you don't want to come dressed like that it is fine. I can come up with something more of your liking."



"No, I will come to your party as Prince. It could be interesting night," said Byers.

GGW smiled at the men. There was yelling coming from the direction that Lily and Jimmy had gone off in.



"James are you telling me, that you were almost arrested for some guy's murder?" yelled Lily. She came into the room and not at all looking very happy at all. "You guys were able to stop that and I thank you, but if you think I am going to take this as a good sport, you are more insane then Jimmy is." She turned and went out another door way.



"Jimmy, she has gone out to the store. Go out and calm her down. Is dinner ready?" asked GGW.



"Yes, it is. They will be serving it in five minutes. I will be out in the store with Lily." said Jimmy as went out the same door way.

.

"Well Lily didn't take that well," said her Grandma. The door bell rang. "Excuse me, gentlemen." Bridget got up and left the room. There was laughter coming from the direction of the front door. A second or two later, the woman reentered the room, "Gentlemen, I would like you introduce you to some Lily's college friends." Three woman came in and two guys followed them in. "This is Sandy (pointing to a dark haired woman) and this is Brey (pointing to a blonde haired woman) and this is Nora (pointing to a red haired woman) and this is Igador (pointing to a short dark haired man) and this is Duncan(pointing to a red head male). These are some friends of Lily's friend James T. -Byers(pointing to him), Frohike(pointing to him) and Langly(pointing to him). Lily is out in the store with Jimmy. Let me get them. Dinner will be in a few minutes. Please make yourself comfortable." The woman went out the doorway.



Sandy walked over to the chair that Langly was sitting in and sat down on the arm of the chair, "So good looking, are you going to the party?"

.

"Yeah, I am. I am coming as a pirate." Said Langly.



"Well I was trying to figure out if I should be a wench or a school teacher for the party, but I think a wench would look better on your arm then a teacher. Because that is where I will be attached to all night," said the woman and leaned down and kissed his cheek. She got up and went out the door, yelling back, "I get the back bedroom! I will fight everyone for it!"



"Hey!" everyone else yelled after her and following the female out of sight.



Lily came back into the room with Jimmy on her heels and her Grandma bring up the rear.

"Where did everyone go?" asked Lily.



"They went upstairs to fight over a back bedroom," said Byers.



"Must have been Sandy staking a claim. UM.. Langly, you might want to watch out for her. You are guy she will fall in lust with. She is going to be all over you like a bad cold," said Lily.



"Too late, Sandy is going to Langly's wench at the party," said Frohike with a smile.



"Yeah, that sounds like Sandy. Great mind to go with that body. Try not to break her heart. She has four very big brothers and they protect her like a bad cold. One of them is on MN Vikings football team as a linebacker. The others are all on college teams and they are all most likely going to some other big teams." Said Lily as she walked out the doorway to the hall. "Hey monkey brains, get down here and don't bring the fight down either." Lily yelled up the stairs to her friends. The five people came down with smiles on their face's.



"Queen Lily!" they all yelled.



"Yeah, my royal subjects. Get down here, you idiots!" said Lily. All six were laughing and hugging each other. "It's time to meet the King! Come on!" said Lily as she came back into the room with the other five. "This is James Bond, the King of my world. Be nice or I will kill you all." That came across as the threat it was meant to be.

The five looked up into Jimmy's face. He smiled at Lily's college friends.



"Well Jimmy, it's nice to meet you at long last," said Igador. "I am Igador, but everyone calls me Iggie. I was married to Lily for a class. So she told me a lot about you." The short man walked over to the man-child to shake his hand.



"So you are Iggie. Lily told me about your class. Glad you divorced her. I hate to think I was hanging around with unhappily married woman." Jimmy pumped the mans hand.



A woman came in through another doorway, "Dinner is ready now."



"Thanks Celine, Well everyone it's time to eat. Follow Lily into the dining room," said GGW. She held out her hand to direct everyone the way to go. As Jimmy walked by GGW, she touched his clothes and they changed back to what he had been wearing.



****

Frohike unlocked the door to the warehouse and everyone filed in. "That was a great

dinner," said Frohike, locking the doors after everyone was inside. "Jimmy is food always that good there?"



"Yeah, Frohike it is," said Jimmy. Looking over at Langly, "UM.. Langly so did you enjoy the footsie with Sandy during dinner?" He smiled at the long haired man.



Langly blushed and walked over to the computer. "Playing footsie wasn't the only thing going on at the table. Byers was staring a Lily all night. So start on him, would you!"



Jimmy turned to face Byers, "Why were you watching her for? She isn't a witch yet, Byers."



"There is something about her, Jimmy. I can't put my finger on it," said the bearded man.



"OH," laughed Jimmy. "I was afraid you were falling in love with her. The something is her power. She has been like that all her life. She doesn't believe GGW that she will be a powerful witch once GGW dies. Actually Lily doesn't believe any of the witch stuff when it comes to herself. It's bull to her." Jimmy walked past the work station to stand behind Langly.



"Jimmy, how long have you been in love with Lily?" asked Byers.





"Since I was six years old," said the man-child. "She loves me as a friend...bummer. She is into older guys, like you three so I have no chance with her." Jimmy drifted off in his mind. He could see Lily as a child, sitting on the steps to her families house reading a book. He thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world as he walked right over to her and sat down. Looking up from the book, Lily smiled at Jimmy and that was it, he was in love. She had been his best friend from that moment on. Well until he meet the Lone Gunmen. Then she became his best female friend. No one would ever take her place in his heart.



"Jimmy," said Byers. Everyone was staring at the youngest member of the group.



"Jimmy?" said Langly.



"HM...," said Jimmy as he came out of his memory of Lily as a child.



"Byers is talking to you," said Frohike.



"OH I am sorry, Byers. I was lost in the past. What did you say to me?" asked the man-child.



"I asked you if you would go upstairs to get your costume. I want to see it," said the bearded man.



"Sure," said Jimmy as he turned and went up the stairs to his bedroom.. He was up there for a few minutes and was back downstairs with the outfit in his arms. Laying it out on the work station so they all could see that it was the outfit that GGW had changed his clothes into.



"Jimmy what is with the Knight a parrot?" asked Byers.



"I heard that Prince Charles is the heir a parrot to Queen Elizabeth. So I thought I could be a Knight a parrot to Lily," said Jimmy with a big smile.



"Jimmy, Prince Charles is the Heir apparent to Queen Elizabeth, not a parrot. A Parrot is a bird," said Byers with his head down.



"Oh," said Jimmy. "No wonder why GGW laughed at me when I said I wanted a necklace with Knight a parrot. She knew and never said anything to me that it was wrong. Why

wouldn't they tell me that is was apparent not a parrot?"


"They just didn't wanted to make you feel bad about it. How old were you when you asked

for the necklace?" asked Byers.



"I was seven years old when I first wore the knights outfit to a Halloween party at Lily's

folks house. They never said a word to me about it. I feel like an idiot now." said Jimmy as he grabbed the necklace and threw it across the room.



"Jimmy," said Frohike as he went after the necklace. "Your friends weren't trying to

embarrasses you. They were trying to make you happy with what you asked for." The older man picked up the necklace and brought it back to the younger man. "Here." As he placed it in Jimmy's hand. "If you throw that again, Jimmy, I will make you eat the damn thing. They were trying to make you happy. Now get over it." said the short man.



"Look it's late," said Byers. "Why don't we all go to bed and then if it's still bothering you tomorrow Jimmy, then we can call Lily and you can talk to her, OK?"



"Yeah,"said Jimmy. Grabbing the clothes, the man went up the stairs in a huff. The three other men followed.



*****

The next morning Langly worked at the computer at the workbench when the phone rang. Reaching over to the recorder, he turned it on and answered the phone "Lone Gunmen newspaper group, Langly speaking."



"Well I hope you are practicing your 'Polly want a cracker' for tomorrow night."said a females voice.



"Sandy, is that you?" asked Langly as he reached over and turned off the recorder.

"Yes, Langly it is." she said. " I hope it was alright I talked Lily out of your phone number. I just had to call you and hear your wonderful voice. Since I couldn't figure out a way to see you today, I thought I'd just call and see if I could get you to... Well whatever comes into the head of yours will do."



"I can came up with a lots of things to do, but not over the phone. I could get the van and come down and we could...you know. We could go out and...you know. If that sounds good to you?" Said Langly.



"All of it sounds good. So how soon can you leaving?" asked the woman.



"I have the keys to the van in my pocket, along with a rocket. I am powered up and ready to blast off. See you in about 45 minutes." said Langly.



"I'll be on my best behavior until then. After that sweetheart, I am all yours. Bye." Said the woman as she hung up her end.

Langly hung up the phone and bolted for the door. He undid the locks and barely opened the door before he was out it and in the van and driving away.

When the rest of the Lone Gunmen came downstairs, the door was still open. Langly was gone and so was the van. Frohike locked the door up. Byers turned on the recorder to listen to the last call. They heard Langly talking to Sandy. They stopped worrying about the man being kidnaped. Then went to work on the newspaper.







****

The four men came down the stairs in their Halloween costumes. Frohike even had his priest collar on right. Langly had the pirate outfit, the scarf tied to his head and the hat on top of it. Jimmy and his Knight a parrot outfit. Byers got into the Prince suit and had the guitar slung over his shoulder. They were getting ready to leave for Virginia. Going out the door, Frohike locked up behind himself. The man climbed in behind the steering wheel, Langly in the shotgun position and Byers and Jimmy in the back. The drive down to Virginia was as quick as the last time. When they pulled into the driveway of the grand old house, there were more cars there. Frohike parked the van close to the garage. Everyone climbed out and moved toward the house, when a female voice came out of the darkness,

"Well it's about time you guys get here". Out of the shadow of the house came a person. Once the person stepped into the light, the Lone Gunmen could see that it was Lily. She was dressed like Lily Munster, even the silver bat necklace was around her neck. Slung over her shoulder on a string was a doll without a head. Byers, Frohike and Langly stared at her.



Lily hugged Jimmy and said, "You didn't tell them my full name did you?" She just smiled at them.



"I didn't see a need to tell them, but I will." Jimmy laughed. "OK guys I want you to meet Lily Wednesday Burhop."



"As in Addams Family and the Munsters TV shows?" asked Langly.



"Yes, all of us Burhop kids were named after people off those two shows. My Mother loved them. Wait until you meet the others. Mom and Dad got here this morning. Dad is Henry the VIII and Mom is the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Eddie is the Swedish Chef from the Muppet show and Mari is June Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver. HG is Edgar Allan Poe. You are going to love my weird family, guys." said Lily as she took Jimmy's arm and walked into the house. The rest followed them in. Just inside the door, Sandy sprang on Langly. She wrapped her legs around the mans waist and put a lip lock on his face. Langly just wrapped his arms around the woman. He was enjoying the kiss.



"Release him, Sandy or he will never find the food. He might actually like some food," said Lily. "He can eat you up later, OK?"



Sandy released the kiss on Langly's face and unlocked her legs around his waist, "OK." Smiling at Langly, she took the Pirates arm and walked with him into the ballroom..



Brey came down the stairs in a nuns outfit on. She smiled at Frohike an he stuck out his arm to her and they went into the ballroom. Nora came down the stair in a Madonna outfit and took Byers by the arm and lead him into the ballroom. Jimmy and Lily followed everyone into the ballroom. The room was empty. With all the cars outside, the room should have been filled. There was just 11 people in the room



"Where is everyone?" asked Byers.



"Oh," said Lily. "Everyone else is changing into their costumes. No one dressed at home except you guys. Though could you see getting pulled over by the cops, while you are dressed as Dracula?" Lily started to laugh.



Lily introduced the Lone Gunmen to her parents. "Mr. Byers, Mr. Frohike and Mr. Langly, I want you to meet my parents, Rocky and Storm Burhop. Mom , Dad these are the Lone Gunmen." The couple were sitting on a couple of thrones. Rocky wasn't as fat as the real King Henry the VIII of England, but he didn't look to bad in the medieval clothes. Storm looked just the Queen of Heart straight out of Disney's Alice in Wonderland. GGW sat next to the Queen of hearts in the wheelchair. She was dressed in some old fashion clothes, black dress. The collar on it went all the way up GGW's neck. She had a note pinned to her dress. "I am an 82 year old lady. Push the chair and I will tell you about my childhood. Feed me and I will tell you about my marriage. Get me drunk and I will tell you the rest of my life story. You have been warned."



"Mr and Mrs. Burhop, it's so nice to meet you," said Byers as he shook the royal couple's hands.



"Like wise," said Frohike.



"Same here," said Langly.



"Oh please," said Storm. "Call us Rock and Storm. And by the way, off with your heads!"

They all laughed.



"Hey Rock, Storm. It's been awhile," said Jimmy.



"Jimmy, your Mom wants to know if you are coming home this year for the holidays? She said your bosses are invited to come too." said the Queen of Hearts.



"Oh well I will have to call her and talk. I don't know if I will be able to get home again this year. It will have to be a last minute thing. If we are working on a hot stories or not. I am not going to leave the guys in a bind without me and I wont drag them off to Long Island if they are busy," said Jimmy. Turning away from everyone, Jimmy looked over toward the door which everyone came through to see the one person he had hoped wouldn't be here tonight standing there.



Jimmy grabbed Byers by the arm and pointed him toward the doorway, "Do you remember me telling you that Lily likes older men?" asked Jimmy.



"Yes, but you don't worry have to worry about any of us," replied Byers.



"It's not you guys I am worried about. You see the guy standing in the doorway. That is the guy I do have to worry about. It's Dr. Garret Macy. He has asked Lily to marry him every year since she was 17 years old on Halloween. He lives in Boston, I was hoping he wouldn't come down here this year." Said Jimmy.



Byers looked at the man, he seemed to about Byers' age with more grey in his bearded. He was going bald. He looked about the 5 '5" like Lily. Byers watched the man enter the room and head straight for Lily.



"Lily," said the man with a deep voice.



She turned around and saw Garret. "Doctor, you make it after all!" said Lily as she grabbed him into a hug. "I am so glad you made it. I thought your work wasn't going to let you get away this year?"



"I told my people to do their jobs and left Boston. I would never miss a Halloween with you," said the man, smiling at Lily.



Jimmy touched Frohike and Langly and they moved closer to him and Byers. "That is the guy Lily is in love with. I told you she liked older guys. I had hoped that she might fall for one of you and I could just hang out with you two, but it seems he is still hanging around. He works at the coroner's office for the state of Massachusetts." Jimmy looked at his friends.

"You can go from there if you want to shake his hand."



"Jimmy, you remember Garret, don't you?" asked Lily.



"Yes I remember the Doctor. It's good to see you sir," said the man-child.



"It's good to see you Jimmy. I see you are still wearing your Knight a Parrot costume. It's just keeps getting nicer each year," said the Doctor.



"Yes well as a child, I confused heir apparent with a parrot. I've never changed it because I thought it was funny." Said Jimmy with confidante.



"Garret, I want you to meet Jimmy's business associates, John Byers, Melvin Frohike and Richard Langly. They own a newspaper called the Lone Gunman," said Lily. "Lone Gunmen, this is my old friend Doctor Garret Macy of the Massachusetts State Coroner's office in Boston."



Garret stuck out his hand to the men. Not one of them moved to shake his hand.

"I see Jimmy told you where I work at." Garret looked at Jimmy, "You gave up football to be a reporter? I didn't know you could write a sentence correctly, Jimmy." Said Garret Macy.



Langly start to move toward the guy when a hand grabbed the back of his pirate outfit. Turning his head he saw Sandy there. She shook her head no. No one talked about his friends like that but if Sandy didn't want a fight here, it was cool with him. He would get the Doctor later.



"So what do you think of me coming as Voyagers EMH? I thought it was funny to do." said Garret. He stood there in the blue and black Starfleet uniform with a blue jacket over it.



"Well Star Trek in any form is cool with me, Garret. You know that. You realize the crew is back together tonight. We have Capt James T and me as Spooky and you as the Doctor. We can rule the house now!!!" Lily laughed.



"True Lily, we could," said Jimmy as he reached out touching her shoulder.



"Lily, I need to talk to you, privately sometime tonight," said Garret.



"We can do it now, Garret," said Lily as she took him by the arm and lead him off to a corner.



"He is about to ask her marry him again," said Jimmy to anyone that was listening. He moved his head back and forth. He was going to die the moment she said yes to him. Jimmy watched Lily and Garret. Something wasn't right. Garret wasn't acting right. His head was down. He looked like he was very uncomfortable at the moment. Lily took the Doctor in her arms and held him. The Doctor slowly put his arms around her. Lily looked over to Jimmy. She looked very sad.



"Jimmy," said the Queen of Hearts. "Garret must have told Lily about his Mother. It's really sad what happened to that woman."



"I knew she was sick but has she gotten worse?" asked Jimmy.



"She died three months ago. He wouldn't call Lily while she was working on her thesis. He wanted to wait until she was back before he told her. I don't think he going to ask her to marry him this year because of it," said the Queen.



Lily and Garret moved out of the room through the glass doors to outside. Jimmy could see them walking in the moonlight. They were gone for awhile. People started to coming downstairs. The room filled up quickly and music was turned on. Jimmy tried to keep an eye on them while they were outside.



Langly and Sandy moved over to the food, "Langly the reason I stopped you from going after the Doctor is because Lily didn't want any trouble. There is enough bad feeling between Jimmy and the Doctor. She loves only Jimmy, but he hasn't done anything about it, as far as I know."



"Jimmy says that Lily loves only older guys, that is why Jimmy hasn't done anything. He doesn't think he is her type," said Langly as he popped some crab meat in his mouth.



Sandy played with the bottom of her drink, "Well we are going to have get them together somehow." She smiled at Langly. She stepped closer to Langly and whispered in his ear. The man just smiled.



Lily and the Doctor were back inside the house and moving toward the food. Garret fixed himself a plate of food. He wandered away from everyone, to sit by himself. Lily talked to GGW and her folks in whispers. She moved toward the food to get a plate of food then went to sit with the Doctor.



The Swedish Chef walked up to Jimmy and put him in a hug. "Jimmy! You made it. Man it so good to see you."



Langly wander back over to his friends. Sandy was else where with the rest of the college friends working on their plan.



"Eddie, you look great. You have to meet my friends, Eddie this is John Byers, Melvin Frohike and Richard Langly, they own the newspaper The Lone Gunman. Guys, this is Lily's brother Eddie. He is an owner of a couple of restaurants in NYC," said Jimmy.



"Hello,"said Eddie to the Lone Gunmen. "Jimmy, I just opened a restaurant in DC called Noir Chaudron. I am going to be living down here with GGW for awhile"



"You are Eddie I. Of Noir Chaudron?" asked Byers.



"You've heard of it?" asked Eddie, he smiled.



"It has a six month waiting list to get a reservation in the place. Oh yes, I have heard of it," said Byers. He looked at the man. "Can I ask you a question?"



"Sure," said Eddie.



"Lily told us that all you kids were named after character from the TV shows the Munsters and the Addams Family. Edward would be from the Munster, but what does the I stand for?"



Eddie smiled at Byers, "My name is Edward Itt Burhop. I. is for Cousin Itt. I always thought it was funny name."



"There is Mari," said Eddie. "Mari, come here. Jimmy is here."



"Jimmy!" called a woman who looked like June Cleaver form Leave it to Beaver. The woman in the 1950's type clothes came over to them. She even had the pearls around her neck. Jimmy put her in a hug.



"Marilyn, it is so good to see you," said Jimmy. "Guys I want you to meet Lily's little sister Marilyn Morticia Burhop-Lott. These are my friends, Mari the Lone Gunmen."



"Hello there gentlemen. GGW spoke of you today. She said you own a newspaper and Jimmy is working for you. I am so glad that you were able to come to the party." Marilyn like Eddie looked just like Lily. Same shape of face and eye color. Their hair was a little lighter shade of brown then Lily's. "HG has to come over here and meet you guys." Jimmy, Eddie and Mari all started to look around the room looking for the other brother.



"There he is in the corner with your husband, Mari," said Jimmy.



"I'll go get them," said Mari. She moved off in that direction.



"So she was named after Cousin Marilyn and Morticia. HG must be Herman Gomez then?" asked Frohike.



"You are correct. Though we have always tried to get HG to go and change it to Gomez Herman. He won't do it. He says it would hurt Mother too much." said Eddie.



Two gentlemen came through the crowd with Mari. One was dressed like a Roman and the other wore some old fashion clothes.



"Misters Frohike, Byers and Langly this is my husband, Ben (the one in Roman clothing) and this is my brother HG, but for tonight, it's Mr. Edgar Allen Poe." said Mari. The Lone Gunmen shook their hands.



"So who is the oldest of you Burhop's?" Asked Frohike.



"I am," said HG. "I am a day older then Lily."



"You are her twin?" said Byers.



"Yes, I was born at 11:56 P.M. and she was born at 12:01A.M. Then two years later these two come in the same way. Eddie was born at 11:56 P.M. and Mari came at 12:01A.M." said HG.



"There are two sets of twins in your family? Now that doesn't happen too often." Said Byers.



"No it doesn't happen that often, but the weird part is that in the first group Lily is the strongest of the witches and I am the strongest witches in the second group," said Eddie. "One of the reasons I became a chef, besides I love to cook. I make all the spells. Where Lily doesn't believe in the witchcraft. She has always had her books and study to keep her busy. While the rest of us are following the family into it's tradition." said Eddie.



"Yes, well some of us are better at being witches then others," said HG. "Are you going to help Lily with her poem this year, Jimmy?"



"She hasn't asked me yet, but I would any way," said Jimmy.



"Poem?" said Byers.



HG laughed, "Yes, GGW has this old book with scary poems and Lily reads one every year. She loves doing it. Though she hates the poems that GGW picks. One of these years Lily is going to tell her no on those poems and pick one that she likes."



"So do you all have jobs to do for the party?" asked Byers.



"Mari decorates the house, since that is what she does for a living. I do the food up," said Eddie. "HG... well he just shows up and the place livens up." He smiled at his older brother.



"What do you do for a living, HG?" asked Byers.



The man just stood there, he didn't seemed to hear the question.



"HG..." said Byers.



"I am the head body thief in New York City," He said with a smile.



"A WHAT?" said Frohike.



"He is a mortician. A body thief." said Mari. "You stab them, he'll slab them into a box or whatever way you want to go. Or at least that is what he tells us." The Burhop family smiled at one another.



"Oh," said Byers.



"So your job is one down from Doctor Macy?" said Langly.



"Yes, you could think of it that way." said HG.



The group broke up and Jimmy spoke so that the Lone Gunmen could hear him, "You guys, HG always says he works as a Mortician in New York. He lives down here in Langley, Virginia. Go from there." The rest of the group stared at Jimmy.



"You mean he is FBI?" asked Byers



Jimmy shrugged his shoulder at him. "FBI, CIA what is the difference. He is never in this country. He only sends email home and rarely ever shows up for anything except Halloween. As far as I know, he could be the boogeyman. I wouldn't put a bet on it that he isn't some sort of boogeyman for someone." The rest of the Lone Gunmen stared at HG from across the room.

*****



Lily fluttered around the room, gathering people about. "OK people it's poetry time. Time to get out the lighters and good cheer. Cuz I am going to scare you." Moving over to her college friends, Lily whispered to them and they moved about the room picking things up. Lily moved over to the stage. "I am doing a new piece of poetry tonight. One from my book of scary stuff, not GGW's. Her's is so old that it could give us the weather for the last hundred and fifty years on Halloween." Lily stepped up on the stage. "Jimmy, where are you," she called out in a sing songy voice.



"Right here," answered Jimmy. He came out of the darkness and up to the stage. She whispered to Jimmy for a second and he moved away. The man was back in a second. "Ready," he said to Lily.



"OK everyone knows the rules! No wait, we have some newbies to GGW party. OK for them, real quick, these are the rules. I will read a scary poem. You will be scared." Everyone laughed.

"You will love it when I am done with it and you will beg for more. You won't get more, but you will beg. You will be impressed by my reading. Got it? Last rule, everyone holds hands and not with yourself either. Take the person next to you, hand. You will hold it from this point to the end of the poem. Got it?"



"Got it," said the people in the room. Everyone took the hand of the persons next to them. A light was turned on to see Lily's head and another one for her body.



"Jacks Lament - Written by Danny Elfman." Said Lily. Then she cleared her

throat. Garret stood on Lily's right and Jimmy stood on her left side. The stage was set.

"There are few who deny, at what I do I am the best for my talents are

renowned far and wide.

When it comes to surprises in the moonlight night,

I excel without ever even trying.

With the slightest little effort of my ghost like Charms,

I have seen grown men give out a shriek,"

A man screamed in the room.

"Thank you," said Lily. She started with the rest of the song.

"with a wave of my hand, and a well placed moan ,

I have swept the very bravest off their feet."

There was a sound of something hitting the floor. "Sorry, I got swiped away

on that one," said Iggie.

"You ok, Iggie?" asked Lily.

"Yes, I will live," said the man.

"Good, now can I finish it now???" Asked Lily.

"Sure go ahead," said a couple of voices.

Thanks," said the woman. "Now where was I?"

"I have swept the very bravest off their feet," said Iggie.

"Thanks," said Lily.

"Yet year after year, it's the same routine,

and I grow so weary of the sound of screams.

And I Jack, the Pumpkin King have grown so tired of the same old thing.

Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones,

An emptiness began to grow,

There's something out there, far from my home.

A longing that I've never known.

I'm the master of fright, and a demon of light

and I'll scare you right out of your pants.

to a guy in Kentucky I'm Mr. Unlucky

and I'm know throughout England and France.

And since I am dead,

I can take off my head to recite Shakespearean quotations." The light on Lily's head was turned off and there was a sound of something hitting the floor.

"Don't anybody move," said Lily. "I've lost my head. I don't want to be stepped on."

The laughter filled the room.

"Hey Lily is that your head?" asked Jimmy.

"You are correct, James T. Now be careful I don't want to end up like C3PO

and have my head on backwards,"said the woman.

There was a sound of movement and someone standing next to Lily's body. The

light shined on Lily's head again. She just stood there smiling. Moved the

head and the neck and everyone heard her neck pop.

"Sorry," said Lily.

"No animal nor man can scream like I can with the fury of my recitations.

But who here can ever understand,

that the pumpkin king with the skeleton grin,

would tire of his crown, if they only understood.

He'd give it all up, if he only could.

Oh there's an empty place in my bones,

that calls out for something unknown.

The fame and praise comes year after year,

does nothing for these empty tears."



Lily finished the poem. She took her bows. Everyone was laughing and having a good time

.

Walking over to GGW, "See I told you everyone would enjoy it." said Lily.



"You were just lucky this time," said the older woman.

Lily lean down and kissed her Grandma's cheek.



"You worry too much," said Lily.



"And you young lady, don't worry enough," said GGW. "Now go get the music going again before someone starts to sing on their own."

Lily moved away from the older woman into the crowd. She was able to get through the crowd and talked to the DJ.



The Ramone's song "Pet Semetery" started to play. Langly smiled at the choice. Grabbing Sandy's hand, he took her out on the dance floor and they bashed into one another for a while.



Madonna came over to Byers and asked, "Would like to dance with me?"



"I don't see why not, but do either of us, Prince or Madonna, know how to dance??" asked Byers with a smile.



"Well yes, both of them do know how to dance." Madonna laughed as a slow song started up. Byers took her hand and lead her out on the dance floor.



Frohike and Brey followed Prince and Madonna out on the dance floor. Langly and Sandy where still out there dancing. They were lost in their own little world.



Henry the VIII and the Queen of Hearts came out to dance with the younger people. Eddie sat down on one of the thrones next to GGW and they talked in whispers. Mari and Ben danced and HG watched from the sidelines.



'Always something there to remind me' started to play. Not the slow one either. This was a hard rock version. Langly looked at Sandy who was laughing during the song.



"You don't know this song this way do you?" asked Sandy.



"No I haven't heard it this hard edge sounding," said Langly.



"Well it's from an episode of Xena the Warrior Babe called 'Lyre, Lyre Hearts on Fire'. They put modern songs in for the characters to sing. They did that one and 'Dancing in the moonlight' and 'We can work it out' and 'War' and several others. It's a fun CD to listen to," said Sandy.



"So who is the Xena fan?" asked Langly.



"No one, Lily loves Ares and Joxer. So she watches to catch those two. She freaked when they killed Joxer off. I thought she would never stop yelling into the phone at me." Sandy laughed. "It took me a couple of hours to get her to calm down about it. She wanted to kill those people for killing Joxer."



"So when do we put Jimmy and Lily together and get them out of our misery?" asked Langly as he pulled Sandy closer to him. There was no way a hair could get between them.



"A little later tonight. There is still the SHOW YOUR MAGIC to do and HUNT THE WAND to do. We were thinking that we could do a Hoo Doo on them during the hunt. A little spell could put them in a closet for a very long time." Sandy looked at Langly. She smiled at the Apollo of the computer world, "so let me take you upstairs to my room and I will show you my...art." Sandy leaning into kiss the man, Langly followed her off the dance floor and up the stairs.



Lily watched Sandy and Langly leave the ballroom. She leaned over to Jimmy, "Well," she whispered. "There goes Sandy. Langly has her wrapped around his finger. I hope he can keep up now."



Jimmy looked off in the direction of the stairs. "Some people have all the luck. So Lily are they going to play 'hunt the wand' this year?" asked the young man.



"Yeah they are planning to play it a little later. Why? Aren't you having any fun tonight?" asked Lily.



"I always have fun with you, Lily. It's just that I have other things on my mind tonight." Looking into Lily's hazel eyes. "Lily do you ever think about us as something more then friends?"



Lily pushed her chair back from the table. She looked at Jimmy. Her best friend. The only person she had ever loved. "Yeah sometimes, but since you have no interest in me any other way, I never would do anything about it."



This made Jimmy moved his chair back from the table. "What do you mean, I have no interest in you? You are the one that loves older men, that is why I never done anything about us?"



"Older guys? Where did you get that idea at?" Lily said and turned her head toward where Doctor Macy was standing. "Oh Garret is where you get that idea from. Jimmy, you big dufus, I love only you. Why the hell do you think I keep telling Macy no on the marriage proposals. I have been waiting for you to notice me."



Jimmy moved his chair closer to Lily. "I have been waiting for you to noticed me!" The man started to laugh. "Lily, I think we have been dumb as the box that the rocks came in with each other. I have loved you since I was six years old. I think we have been wasting a lot of time." Leaning forward, Jimmy put his hand Lily's face and kissed her. Lily kissed Jimmy back.



"Hey Byers," said Frohike as he come up to the man on dance floor. This time Byers was dancing with the Queen of Hearts.

"Looks like the a parrot found his own little monster." The priest pointed off in a direction. He was still dancing with Brey.



Byers looked the way Frohike was pointing. He saw Jimmy kissing Lily. "Well that is one problem taken care of." Byers lead the Queen back to her King. Then he moved off toward the food. He was feeling a little hungry. Looking at all the food, someone had moved up beside of Byers.



"John," said a woman.



Byers turned to look at her. He just stared at her. He was in complete shock over the person standing next to him. "Mom,"said the man.



"Hello son, I am so glad you came to the party." She hugged Byers. "I have missed you so much. I am sorry you are still having problems with your Father. I had hoped you two could work out your differences. You have to figure out a way to come together. You two are all that you have left of your real family. I know how you feel about Frohike and Langly and Jimmy, but they are not your flesh and blood. Your Father is. Once he dies, that is it John. You can't take back any of the harsh words or the bad feelings either. Make up with him." said the woman.



Byers just stared at his Mother. She looked like when he was a kid. So young and beautiful. "Mom, I am not the only who has to give and take on this. Dad isn't giving much of it to me. I love him dearly, but the man is a stubborn as always. As far as he is concern he was right. I was an idiot for giving up my job at the FCC. He doesn't see the good we are doing with the newspaper. He will never understand why we or why I do it. He thinks the rest of the guys have been drugging me for the last 11 years." Byers realized this was a ghost of his Mom, but she was so much like the woman, he loved.



"John, you have to keep trying to get through to your Father. He doesn't have a lot of time left. He knows you love him, but he doesn't really believe you do any more. You walked away from everything he holds dear. He's belief aren't the same as yours. They should be as far as he is concerned, but he can't figure out how you two could be so different from each other." Taking John's hand in her's, "You are going to have to take the first step and make Bert do the same thing." She stepped back and disappeared.



Byers stood there in shock. His Mother had come back to talk to him. He just stared at the spot where she stood.



"Byers, are you ok?" asked Lily.



"My Mom was just here. She has been dead for sometime, but she was here," Byers as he turned to look at Lily.



"Well it is All Hallow Eve. The day when the dead can cross over to this world. This must have been the first time she has gotten through to you. This is a good sign." said the young woman with a smile. Turning away from the man, she moved out into the great hallway.



On the stairs stood Mrs. Byers. "Thank you for inviting me to your party." said the ghost.



"No problem, Mrs. Byers. I would do anything for Jimmy's friends. Any way I could see the pain the man was in over his father. I thought you might make him do something about it. The look on his face, I think you scared him. What did you say to the poor guy?"

Asked Lily.



"That his Father didn't have much time left. That was a lie, but it did scare him," said the ghost of Eleanor Byers.



"Your husband is going to die soon?" asked Lily a little concerned.



"No his time isn't up for sometime. I though it would jump start John's heart and get him to do something about Bert." The Ghost smiled at the young lady. "Thank you once again for inviting me to your party. I am going now."



"You are welcome, Mrs. Byers," said Lily. The ghost disappeared for good this time. She turned back to the party to find GGW standing there with Eddie.



"So you have been messing around with ghost tonight, young lady?" said the older woman.

"I just went to her grave yesterday and talked to her and told her was invited to the party, so she could talk to her son. Is there anything wrong with that?" asked Lily.



"No it is just something I would have done. I am sorry I missed it. You are going to be a wonderful witch, Lily." said GGW with a smile.



"I am not staying here. I am going to write up my thesis and get on with my life, so don't even try to trick me into staying here and running your business. I am not going to be a witch, GGW. You know that. I am going to be a teacher or whatever else comes my way. I am not a witch." said Lily as she walked passed GGW and Eddie.



"She isn't giving in GGW. What are you going to do now??" asked the male witch.



"You hang on to you wand Sonny boy, and watch and see." said the witch. "Go and tell HG that it's time to play HUNT THE WAND."



"OK GGW." said Eddie as he went back into the ballroom. Looking around the room for a bit to find his older brother. He whispered into his ear that it was time for the next game.



"Hey it's time to play hunt the wand," yelled out HG. Now this a fun game of scavenger hunt. The team that wins, gets to use the wand for SHOW YOUR MAGIC later on. The list of things you need to hunt down are here on the table. Your teams can be any size you want. Good Luck and GO!!!!!"



People broke up into groups. The Lone Gunmen stood close to Jimmy and Lily.



"Do you want to form a team?" asked Frohike.



"Don't worry about it man," said Lily with an evil smile. I am about to cheat like you wouldn't believe. Jimmy handed her the list. "Everything on this list is hidden through out the house and grounds. There is at least 3 of everything here. We are going to stay in this room only to look." She smiled at the men.



"What do you have in mind?" asked Byers.



"Are you going to use your magic to pop everything in here?" asked Frohike.



"No I am not going to use magic. I am going to use my nose problem to find everything. Yesterday GGW was in here for an hour or so. That was before the decorations went up. She planted some of the stuff in here. I figure it would be easy to locate them." Lily just kept smiling at the men. "Look through the room, guys!!" Everyone started to look through the room for the stuff on the list.



"Hey," yelled Byers. "Is a skull on the list?"



"Yeah it is," said Lily. "That is one, Hobgoblins. Let's keep looking."



"Lily, what about a sword?" called Brey.



"A broad sword is on the list," said Lily.



"So how do you tell the difference between a sword and a broad sword." asked Brey.



"A broad sword is wider in the blade then a regular thin sword," said Byers.



"He is right, Brey. Is the blade wide or thin?"asked Lily as she walked over to the Nun.



Brey held the sword up so everyone could see it. "It looks broad to me," she said.



Byers looked at it, "I think it is a broad sword."



"OK great 2 down and at least five more to go," said Lily.



Langly and Sandy came downstair into the ballroom. "Hey, you know locked doors don't keep out witches out of rooms," said Langly.



"Well I could have told you that one, Langly," Lily smile at the couple. "I hope they didn't catch you with your pants down." The young woman laughed at her dumb joke. "Hey come and help us in Hunt the wand. We have 2 items already."



"Sure," said Sandy.



"We are only looking in this room, so pick a spot. When you find something, yell it out and I or Jimmy will look to see if it's on the list," said Lily



Langly and the dark haired woman went off to another section of the room.



"Lily I have a coat rack over with cob webs on it. Would that be on the list?"asked Nora who was dressed as Madonna.





"Let me look," said Jimmy. "Metal or wooden coat rack is here. Bring it on out"



"That's number three! Now we need at least four more," said Lily. "Look my little Hobgoblins are on a roll!!" Lily moved away from Jimmy to a corner and started to look at things. "Hey Jimmy is there a spy glass on the list?"



Jimmy looked down at the list, "Yeah it's here. Good going Lily. Got anything else over there?"



Lily kept looking through stuff. "Not much. Some of GGW's old books and some old body parts."

"BODY PARTS," yelled Byers.



"Not real ones, guys. Relax, OK. It's all rubber." Lily laughed to herself.



"Hey I have a piece of poetry over here," yelled Langly.



"Poetry,"said Jimmy as looked down at the list. "I don't see poetry written down here. Read it Frohike."

"OK,"said the older man. "From the beating of the heart to the touch of ..."



"Whoa, don't go any further, Frohike. That is a spell. You don't want to know about it. Is there a spell on the list Jimmy?" asked Lily.



"There is something on here called potion 9. Is that what it is?" asked Jimmy.



"Yeah it is," said Lily as she walked over to Frohike and took the paper from his hand.



"Would that be like Love potion #9?" asked Frohike. As Lily walked away from him.

Lily just smiled at Jimmy and didn't answer the question. She put the spell with the rest of the objects.



Lily went back looking for things, then said "Hey Jimmy, is there any football equipment on the list?"



Jimmy stared at the list for a bit, "no there isn't, Lily."



"OK well scratch that one. I'll try again." said the young woman.



Byers picked up something rolled up. Unrolling it he looked at it for a bit. "Hey is there anything on the list that is about the Civil Wars, or as said in the South, The war between the States?"

Jimmy looked at the list again. "I see a old map down here but nothing that says Civil War. Byers is it a map?"



"Yes, it is. It's of this area from the Civil War. It's in pretty good shape too." said the Bearded man.



"Lily would that count as an old map?" asked Jimmy.

"As far as I know yes it does. So Byers bring it on down!! How many is that anyway?" asked Lily.



"That is number five, Lily," said Jimmy.



"Cool," said Lily. "We need at least two more items off the list to have over half of the ten items to win. Keep looking!"



Jimmy watched Lily walk toward another section of the room. He smiled at her. Turning around quickly, Lily looked at Jimmy and pointed her finger at him. He laughed out loud.



"Hey I found a doll over here. Is there one on the list?" called Sandy.



"Yeah there is Sandy," said Jimmy.



"I have never heard of this doll before. It's called Yves Adele Harlow. She comes with a briefcase full hacking equipment. Three outfits, all basic black and four pairs of shoes and key to the Lone Gunmen Newspaper warehouse." said Sandy.



"WHAT?" yelled Langly.



"Tell me you are kidding," said Frohike.



"Good Grief," said Jimmy.



"I am just going to have the heart attack now, instead of later," said Byers.



Sandy held the box the doll was in out to Langly when he got to her.



"We have got to stop her somehow. I mean it. I am tired of this woman screwing us over. What a bit.." said Langly.



"Langly, who is this woman?" asked Sandy.



"She is sort of a friend and foe," said Frohike as he took the doll away from Langly. Frohike putting the doll with the rest of the objects.



"OK that didn't go over well." said Lily. She looked over at Jimmy. He looked down at his feet when he saw her looking at him. "That was number six, people we need one more."



Everyone started to look again. The door way to the room started to fill up with people.



Lily moved quickly over to Jimmy to protect what they had found. "Come on over here, Lone Gunmen." said Lily. The group moved over to where Jimmy was. People came in carrying in the coat racks and swords and putting them down in spots away from everyone else. GGW and HG started to walk around checking things off the list and seeing how much everyone had.



One of the other groups had all ten items. Lily looked at her group. "That's ok, we can still have fun any way. Stay close to me and we will just use each other on the Show your magic."



"What does that mean, Lily?" asked Byers.



"We are going to do magic of course." said the young woman.



"Lily, magic isn't real." said the bearded man.



"Well Master Byers, welcome to my world." Lily laughed. I believe that too, but tonight welcome to the other side of the coin.

The room was emptying out. Everyone was moving out to the patio just outside the ballroom.



"Come on," said Lily. As she lead the group out the door.



"You know, Byers, I don't really believe in this magic either, but tonight we are going to believe in it together, I think." she smiled at the Lone Gunmen.



"Does everyone have their wands?" yelled Eddie.



"Eddie, we need some down here," called out Lily.



"Coming Lil." the Swedish chef came running down to them with a box tucked under his arm. The man opened it up and pulled out black sticks. He gave everyone a wand.



"Now what do we do?" asked Langly.



"Believe and point it," said Lily.



Jimmy waved his wand over his head and brought it down hard in front of him. There was a loud puff and then smoke appeared. On the ground was a large envelope. He bent down and picked it up. He smiled at the guys.



"What do you have Jimmy?" asked Frohike.



"

Baltimore Ravens season tickets for us," Jimmy said with a wicked little smile.



"Really" said Frohike.

"Yeah if we have the time that is." said Jimmy.



Frohike took his wand in hand, closing his eye and thought for a minute or two. Waving it in front of him, a puffing sound and something was laying on the ground. The oldest member of the group bent down picking up the object. He smiled wildly as he looked inside the object. "Hot Damn it worked. Maybe I should have zapped Scully, but in the long run, this is better choose."



"What Frohike?" asked Langly.



"I now own 400 shares stock of the company that makes J&B." he smiled up at them. He licked his lips.



"Frohike, you didn't, did you?" asked Byers.



"Read em and weep boys. They are all mine!!" said the little man with the big smile as he pulled the stocks.



Langly took his wand and looked at everyone. Should he do what he really wanted to do or should he do what should do?? That was the burning question. He had magic power tonight. Should he blow it all on something good for mankind or on himself. Jimmy got tickets to football games. Important to him and he wanted to share it with his friends. Frohike got himself something that could maybe help the rest of them. So that was two for the group, well sort of.

Looking over at Sandy, Langly wanted so badly to be very nasty little boy. Not the best of ideas in a very public place.



"Um Sandy can I talk to you, please." said Langly.



"Sure, Langly," said Sandy as they both moved away from everybody else.



"So Sandy, I have no idea what to do here. Do I do something that will help the whole group or do I be a bastard and do something for me alone." Langly turned away from Sandy. " The part of me that wants something for myself is a real Bastard tonight. I want you and a red ribbon and a quiet beach some place warm. Then the other part wants to do something that everyone will benefit from it. What do I do?" Turning back to the young woman.



Smiling at Langly, Sandy leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You can have me and the red ribbon any time you want, so you don't have to worry about that part. Go with the other one. It could be harder one to come up with!" Taking Langly's hand, Sandy lead him back over to the others.



Langly smiled at Sandy. "You say Rocket, I say Pocket. You said Red ribbon I say you've got it." Langly closed his eyes and waved the wand in front of him. There was the puff sound but nothing appeared in front of him. He smiled at Sandy and stepped back to the others.



"Langly nothing happened. Try it again,"said Frohike.



"Don't worry about it, man. It may not be here with us now, but it will be soon." Langly smiled at his friends.



"Who wants to go next?" said Frohike.



"Sandy?" said Langly.



"Sure we could go next," said the woman. Sandy, Nora and Brey and Iggie and Duncan came forward. They joined the tips together and mouthed some words. There was a flash of light shot straight from the tips and into the air. It mushroomed over the entire party. Then spray down over the area. Everyone one started to cheer.

Moving back to the group. Sandy smiled at Langly. "We jointly put a protection spell over the people at the party for a year." said the woman.



"What are you guys a coven?" asked Langly.



"Yes we are,"said Duncan. Everyone stared at the man. It was the first time the man had spoke the entire time he was there. "I can talk. I just choose not to."



That left Byers and Lily to use the wands.

Byers looked at Lily. She didn't seem to take the hint of going next. Byers finally moved forward. He stopped and turned back around to his friends. "This is stupid. Magic isn't real."



"So what has been going on around here Byers. We all on drugs or what?" said Frohike.



"I don't know. I just can't put my finger on it. I'm sorry, I just don't believe in any of this," said Byers. Holding the wand out in front of him the puff sound and then nothing. Byers turned around in a circle. The look on his face was of surprise.



"What is the matter Byers? You look like you turned us all into frogs," said Langly.



Slowly Byers spoke, "I just tried to make this all go away. If it had, I would have believed that none of it had happened, but now..."



"Why do you believe now in magic?" asked Lily.



Byers smiled and walked back to the group. He wasn't ready to tell them what he saw in them now.



"Next batter for the New York Yankees, Lily Wednesday Burhop!!!!!" Called out Jimmy.



Lily just looked at her friend and thought she would strangle him LATER!

Walking out a bit, Lily waved the wand. A very loud puff sound was heard and then there was nothing to show for it. Lily was smiling when she turned around to go back to the group.



A voice called out from the house, "Lily, phone call."



"Thanks," she yelled back. Moving into the house Lily was gone for a several minutes. She came back out with a very large smile on her face.

"Hey everyone," yelled Lily. "I have announcement. I just got a call from my advisor from school. Someone there saw part of my thesis. They thought it was a great horror story material. They want to buy it." Now she was laughing out loud.



"Lily, what is your thesis on?" asked Byers.

Smiling at the bearded man, "Myths, Legends and Faerie Tales" said Lily. "Hey I might not believe that I am a witch, but I never said I didn't believe there aren't witch, vampires or anything else out there that will scare the hell out of you."





BOO!!

THE END!!