J A K E'S P A R E N T S left home early on the thirty-first of October, ahead of the Oktoberfest event that was about to start in a couple of hours.
Having fallen asleep on the desk, Jake awoke with a start and found the book resting on his spread out arms, with the last page being open.
He had gone through the entire book and was then getting a pretty stiff neck.
He leaned back in his chair before turning to his phone and checking the time.
07:12
Closing the book, Jake walked up to the door and opened it after which he headed towards the kitchen and passed by his brother.
He waited for Ryan to step on him. He didn't, which was really weird. His brother never screwed up such an opportunity to torment him.
"Ryan," he called.
Jake watched as his brother stopped, facing the other way.
"Ryan?"
He slowly turned around and looked at him, his face nothing but a blank expression until he suddenly smacked himself in the face.
"What's gotten into you?" Jake asked and his brother answered by smacking himself again.
"Would you cut that out!"
His brother smacked himself over and over before stopping immediately after Jake had said that. He then began moving, brushing past Jake and going to the kitchen.
Jake shook his head and went to the living room when he then saw his brother appear out of the kitchen with a knife in his hand!
He pointed it at his cheek and almost cut himself before Jake yelled.
"Hey, what the hell's wrong with you? Stop that!"
Ryan stopped and let the knife fall to the floor. He remained silent and did not move.
It only took a moment for Jake to get what was happening, recalling how he had hypnotised his brother. He was still under his command!
The book. The book didn't say anything about reversing hypnosis.
Oh boy, what have I done!
"Ok, Ryan, you need to stop this!"
Ryan stared at him like he was speaking from a mile away.
He smacked himself again.
It was really getting annoying and Jake felt like he could smack him himself but oh, wait, he was currently making him do that!
"Look, I have to get ready for a Halloween party and I can't have you acting like this!"
Ryan was about to smack himself again before Jake caught his hand.
"You do that again and I swear I'm gonna kill you!"
A knock came from the front door and Ryan turned to go open it.
"Oh no, you stay put!"
Jake went up to the door where he found two small girls standing there, dressed like witches with the tall hats, cloaks and everything.
"Trick or treat!" both of them said together, holding out a tiny red bucket.
Another lousy thing about Halloween!...Trick or treating!
Jake turned over and walked to the kitchen counter where his mom had left baskets of candy. He grabbed some sneaker bars and was heading back to the door when he found Ryan standing there with them.
The two girls suddenly began screaming, causing Jake to run, pulling his brother back inside and closing the door.
"What did you do to them?"
Ryan remained silent and Jake was starting to get really pissed off.
This resulted in him seating at a couch for over three hours while watching Ryan standing near the kitchen counter doing nothing.
Maybe it was a prank?
No. Not really, Ryan would've probably been out trick or treating like the other kids.
Maybe I missed something from the book.
Jake turned to his room and didn't catch that fleeting moment when his brother's eyes darted towards him and was that a grin?
Jake got up and went in his room to go get the book. He almost dropped it when he found Ryan standing at the doorway.
"What are you doing?"
"We must have it..." came Ryan's eerie voice.
"What are you...?" Jake saw the pentacle glow but only for a slight moment before he began to get that strange feeling between his eyebrows.
It was his third eye. He was being warned about something. About his brother?
Jake then saw the flicker in Ryan's eyes and for a moment, they had turned to complete black before resuming to their normal color.
That immediately reminded Jake about something he had read from the book the previous night.
Oh no, not my brother!
It was something he had failed to account for and now he was about to suffer the consequences.
"Just hand over the book, seer," Ryan muttered, clearly with another entity speaking through him.
He advanced into the room when another knock came on the door.
Ryan turned his head to the door and began to walk towards it.
"Ryan, don't..." Jake went after him and placed a hand over his shoulder.
His brother suddenly turned to him and let out a sharp hissing sound. Jake gasped upon seeing the fangs that momentarily appeared in Ryan's mouth.
Ryan grabbed Jake's arm, twisted it at the wrist as Jake yelped before throwing him back and he landed against a wall, with the book falling a few meters away from him.
Great! Now my brother has superstrength too!
Ryan answered the door.
"Oh, hey...is Jake home?"
Jake immediately recognized that voice as he tried to get up on his feet.
"Gabriel! Run!"
Ryan hissed again and before Gabriel realized what was going on, he felt a hand fasten around his stomach as he was suddenly grabbed and yanked inside the house. He was hurled towards Jake's direction and hit his side against the wall.
"What the...Jake?" he groaned, turning to face Jake.
Ryan turned his head and Jake followed his direction to the book lying next to Gabriel.
"The book! Grab the book!"
Ryan dashed towards Gabriel who picked up the book and tossed it over to Jake just as his brother stopped right in front of him.
"You fool!" he hissed again and was about to lash out when Jake called.
"Stop it, Ryan!"
He stopped and for a moment, seemed to be reverting back to his normal self until his head began to twist awkwardly accompanied by disturbed hissing. He lowered his head and then lifted it up slowly at Gabriel.
"Jake, what's gotten into your brother?"
"Ryan!"
Ryan hissed again, his body, or whatever was inside of him, resisting Jake's hypnotic power. He raised a hand at Gabriel and Jake was pretty sure his third eye could see the claws coming out of his brother's fingers.
Seriously, what is up with all these demons and claws?
The book had over twenty chapters explaining about the forces of darkness and most were filled with demons and ways of how to kill/banish them but not ones that could perform possessions.
Still, as Jake looked at his brother, it all felt more than that. This was no normal possession. This was something different and he began to flip the book's pages.
"Better hurry up there, book wizard!" Gabriel yelled, leaning against the wall.
"Of course!" blurted out Jake after going through a certain page, "Hell fire !"
The moment Jake uttered those words, his brother's body began to tremble uncontrollably. He hissed then fell to the ground in a heap before starting to convulse.
It was working.
Until it didn't.
Jake and Gabriel watched on as Ryan regained control of his body and the strangest happened (as if an eleven year old sounding like a snake was nothing but strange!). He began to slowly ascend into the air. He was levitating.
"Jake?" Gabriel gasped.
Jake flipped over pages until he stopped at one after which he suddenly got up from the floor as Ryan charged at them from the air.
Turning the book over so that the page would face Ryan, Jake went on to shout.
"Hell fire !"
Ryan let out a sharp hiss which turned into a hollow bellowing like his mouth was elongating, his hands spread out in the air. For a brief moment, his darkened eyes met Jake's before he then turned and suddenly turned into a dark cloud of smoke which then seeped out through the half open window.
"Where...where'd he go?" came Gabriel who was still sitting against the wall.
"I thought that would work," muttered Jake before turning his head back to the book where he watched a symbol with a cross and a circle around begin to wane in its white glow.
"I think I shit my pants a little," Gabriel muttered.
Getting towards five o'clock in the evening, Jake was giving up the search for his brother especially with almost every kid in town playing dress up for the Oktoberfest
Gabriel had helped too but ended up aborting the search party about an hour earlier. Something about his mom getting him a costume.
Jake had reached out to Matt and his sister who agreed to help after a long and weird explanation of what happened to his brother.
They all met up near a pawn shop.
"I think your brother must have skipped town, man, " began Matt, who was in a red leather jacket with its sleeves rolled up and classic black pants that ended with loafers.
His hair was also redesigned to look more wavy and glossy and had explained to the others after they'd met earlier that he was Michael Jackson.
He even went on to attempt a 'moon walk' dance. It was terrible.
"So, you hypnotised and things went south, " Julia added, "I still don't quite get how he's possessed by a demon! "
Julia was in a cropped white jacket which darkened in purple around the base and a slightly ripped t-shirt that was inscribed Daddy's lil' monster and ripped jeans with prominent hiking boots.
Jake also noticed the blond wig she had with purple endings and realized she was dressed as 'Harley Quinn' .
He did not have a costume himself .It was stupid, plus he had a lost brother to find.
"He's not exactly possessed, " Jake said, responding to Julia, "well, after I hypnotised Ryan, I must've accidentally exposed him to the forces of darkness. They sensed the book's magic in him and now he's being used like a conduit. "
"A what now? " came Matt.
"I think I've heard that before, " Julia cut in, "he's like the Annabelle doll in Annabelle !"
She referenced the infamous doll which acted as a beacon to call upon the forces of evil—a conduit— as Julia explained.
"Except now, it's not a doll but my hypnotised brother."
"Well, if he's still under your hypnosis spell, " Julia added, "he'll eventually come back. "
"And don't forget the beacon thing!"
"Oh, I am counting on that..." Jake responded, nodding.
Towards six o'clock, Julia, Matt, Gabriel and Jake were already at Cole's place as the Halloween party began.
"Woah, this is a big party, " Gabriel was saying in his clown suit.
He hated clowns but his mother had bought him that costume and she began to cry when he refused to wear it, leaving him with no choice but to wear it.
Poor Gabriel.
Julia met up with some of her senior friends and left as the party started and that's when Jake remembered that he had asked Nicole out.
"Hey, keep us posted with your third eye," Matt said, turning to leave, "I don't want some creepy monster ruining my night while me and 'Billie Jean' 'beat it' over there!"
With that silly pun combining two of Michael Jackson's songs, Matt headed out towards a girl dressed up in a Madonna kind of fashion.
Gabriel wasn't that good with crowded places and resorted into trying the booze that Cole was already serving out from kegs while darkness set in, just as Jake checked the book in the satchel hung across one shoulder when he saw her.
She was laughing at something somebody had said before their eyes met.
Jake noted her brown top, cut out at the shoulders and matched with her brown skirt while her hair was tied back by a feather sticking out from the back.
"Hey," Jake began after they met next to a couch near a window.
"Jake! You came!"
"Yeah," Jake moved a hand under his chin, "Pocahontas?"
Nicole looked at herself before laughing.
"And here I was thinking that nobody would notice!"
"What? You look great!"
"And you are...?" Nicole winced, "the nerd kid with the bag!"
"No. I didn't dress up," Jake laughed, "but I think, yeah, I guess that's what I am now, huh."
"You're not that big of a Halloween fan, are you?"
"To be honest, I don't even get how it even came to be."
"Wow, you know your own way," Nicole chuckled and Jake could detect that she was impressed.
"Come with me!"
Without warning, Nicole took his hand and Jake felt that crazy rush inside him.
"What...?" Jake was suddenly being pulled out of Cole's house.
"Where are we going?"
They stopped at Barnstable High's front gate.
"Uum...I wouldn't go in there..."
"I wanna show you something, now follow me!"
Nicole turned to one side and Jake followed, completely surprised by this girl's energy which kind of excited him until she found the hidden exit that he used to sneak out of.
And she's a sneaker too! What more could I want!
"What are we doing, exactly? " Jake asked, getting inside the exit—now entrance—after Nicole.
"You'll see!"
He followed her into the library where he stopped her.
"I don't think we should go in there," whispered Jake.
"I know what I'm doing, let's go!" Nicole whispered back impatiently.
Jake then turned to his satchel and unzipped it.
"What are you doing?"
He checked the book. No glowing, check. Third eye mojo, check.
"Oh, I was looking for a flashlight but I guess I lost it."
"Come on!" she took his hand again and they went into the library.
They passed by the librarian's desk and Jake could see the door behind it was still open and quickly turned away, not wanting to recall what he happened in there.
They climbed up a fleet of stairs until Nicole led them to the roof.
"Here we are..." she said with a sigh as Jake turned to see a large full moon staring at them from the night sky.
"Wow."
"Isn't it amazing?" Nicole added softly.
"You really are Pocahontas, aren't you?" Jake joked, making Nicole chuckle before sitting on the roof, her legs straight in front of her while her hands were spread out from the sides which she used for support.
"My dad used to take me on these evening boat rides when I was little and we'd have so much fun, " she added.
"Sounds like a great guy. "
"He is. "
"Do you still do that? "
"Not anymore. He's always cooped up at work this days but I get it and I just spend time with my mom who's way into fashion! " she replied, gesturing to what she was wearing by the latter.
Jake then realised she hadn't known that much about her life. Not until that point. She also seemed to have her own way at things. Well, except that she loved Halloween.
She's pretty. I don't care about that anymore.
Jake leaned back and for a moment, his hand brushed over Nicole's fingers as they looked up at the moon.
Nicole gently placed her hand on top of Jake's, making him turn and notice her smiling without looking at him.
***
A few moments earlier, after Jake and Nicole had left, Matt had been talking to the Madonna girl and the conversation could've ended up being his best yet had it not been for the itching in his arm.
He was scratching at it furiously and Madonna girl couldn't help but notice as Matt took of his leather jacket to get a better 'scratching grip' if you may.
"Oh, that's the stuff! " Matt went on to scratch.
"Is everything ok? "
Matt, who had his head down while scratching, quickly turned to face the girl.
"Almost there! " his voice came out cold and his eyes were bloodied while his face appeared as if it had lost color.
The girl screamed, causing more screams to follow like it was a psych charade and ran off, leaving Matt standing there with his itching arm.
"Hey, wait, where are you...? " that's when he noticed his voice but it was already too late.
He began to feel a crazy sensation in his stomach like his guts were slowly turning round and round and the itching stopped after he was no longer himself anymore but something else while he ran to the bathroom.
He never made it there after his mind drifted away and was taken over by something else.
"Nice costume, man!" came Cole who met him in the hallway.
Matt let out a low inhuman growl before lunging himself at Cole, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
"The fuck, dude! Lemme go!"
Cole watched as Matt's mouth opened up and he suddenly threw up in his face before heaving him back against a wall.
"Shit! Somebody get that fucker!" yelled Cole, wiping away the slime from his face and it was clear he didn't recognize it was Matt.
Matt moved knocking down people in his path and one guy grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Hey, what's your problem, pal?"
Matt turned to face him and of course, nobody reacted as they had no idea a demon was standing there but a boy with a very realistic costume.
A moment later, a guy's body suddenly broke out from a window, shattering the glass before hitting the ground hard, his head lying in a sickening position.
Screams followed later on as Matt left Cole's house, with the other party guests gathering around the boy who'd been thrown from the window. His head was cracked and if one looked close enough, could see the brain frothing with blood inside.
Two girls and a boy threw up.
Julia heard what was going on as she ran out of the house to find her brother standing at the sidewalk, talking to someone she thought she recognized.
"Matt?" she called out.
Julia watched her brother leave with the other person.
***
She turned to look at him, with the moon's reflection making her eyes glint with tint white specks and he could feel her warm breath, until that moment was taken away and replaced by the eerie feeling at the back of his neck and between his eyebrows.
No! Not now!
Jake pulled back.
"Are you alright? You seem a little shaken," Nicole asked, noticing Jake's behavior.
"I think we should get down from..."
Jake stopped when something on the roof caught his eye.
Just between them where they sat, was the Barnstable High logo; the lion, painted there on the roof.
Jake began to get a strange feeling of deja Vu.
"Oh my God, Jake, look!" Nicole got Jake's attention by pointing out to the moon which was changing color.
It was turning red!
Of course! Now Jake remembered where he had seen this before.
The dream!
"Okay, Nicole, we really have to go now!" Jake started with an alarmed voice as his third eye began to act up and he thought he saw something.
Wait, what is that? No what are those? Demons!
He turned back to the logo below him and then recalled another thing from his dream, which now seemed more like a vision. There was something that broke through the logo from the...
Jake did not have enough time to gather his thoughts when Nicole suddenly let out a scream after the ground—or rather—roof, between them exploded right at the logo and what looked like a long column like a pipe shot up from the breakage.
Then they saw it, towering high above them and blocking the red moon's light.
"Apophis!" Jake muttered as Nicole turned to him.
"What?"
"We have to go! Come on!" Jake grabbed her hand and they ran down from the roof.
"Oh my God! Is that a snake?"
Nicole was shouting hysterically and Jake was glad she could see it.
They were in the top most floor of the library, hiding behind a shelf as Jake began to take off his satchel and remove the book.
"Why do I have a feeling that you know what's going on?" Nicole asked, trembling.
"You saw the snake, right?" she added.
"Yes..."
"Wait, what was that name you said?"
"Apophis. It's an ancient Egyptian evil serpent god," Jake replied, getting the book which Nicole saw its cover glow in a bright orange light with a strange symbol on it.
"What? How...how do you know all this? And why is a thirty foot snake attacking us in a library?"
"Calm down, okay. I'll explain everything but now we have to try and not get killed. Can you do that?"
"Not get killed by a giant snake? Sure!"
Jake was just flipping through the pages of the book when a low hissing sound filled the entire section.
Nicole grabbed onto his arm, pressing her fingers against it.
Ow! I'm scared too, you know!
'Just give me the book, seer!'
Came the hissing.
Oh boy, Jake began to wonder if his brother had turned into a serpent but that wouldn't be likely because he was not possessed. He must be somewhere around then, still fueling the demons as a conduit. He had to find him!
"Jake..."
'We are stronger now, thanks to you! And all we ask for is you give us the book instead of prying it from your rotting corpse!'
Jake landed on the page with the protection symbols.
The hissing grew closer and closer and then went silent.
"Where is it?" Nicole whispered.
Jake turned his head from shelf to shelf.
This was probably the time to put his third eye into perfect use—if he only knew how.
'Give it to me!'
A shelf suddenly fell over as Nicole screamed when the huge serpent burst in front of them, its large black eyes darting down at them with its large jaws and sleek scaly skin that glowed a little from the red moon's light in the dark library.
Jake hastily turned the book to the serpent, activating the Triquetra protection symbol as bright light shot out towards the snake.
Apophis recoiled, hissing madly before slithering through shelves and knocking them down as he retreated.
"Let's go!" Jake grabbed Nicole and they made a run for it.
They were descending the first flight of stairs when the hissing came again.
Apophis was slithering back after them and heaved its large head at them, opening its jaws and preparing to chomp them down when Jake pulled Nicole ahead of her, pushing her father down the steps.
The serpent missed them but not before jabbing Jake from behind. Its head crashed against the ceiling. Jake fell from the jab, rolling down the remaining steps of the stairs and Nicole helped him get back up.
"Are you ok?"
Jake nodded, cringing from the minor sprain he could feel in his left ankle.
Grabbing the book, Jake and Nicole ran down the next flight and were through to the other floor.
"I think we're losing him!" Nicole added with slight excitement.
Jake was flipping the book again when a loud crash came followed by the ceiling giving away as the snake came down on them.
The two turned and began to run for the stairs when Jake tripped and lost his footing, probably because of his ankle. Nicole was already at the stairs when she realized she was alone and turned back to go help Jake.
"No, keep going!"
Nicole ignored him and ran towards him. She was about to help him up when the snake's huge tail suddenly lashed out, sweeping Nicole from her feet and throwing her back where she almost hit her head with a sharp protruding piece of wood from the ceiling debris.
"Nicole!"
***
Julia had dragged Gabriel out of the party who was almost getting drunk but still managed to walk.
They followed into the direction that her brother had disappeared off in.
"Huh, I think he went to school!" Gabriel said wearily and could not have looked any stupider in his clown costume.
***
Jake rolled over just in time to avoid the incoming tail of the snake which crashed next to him, missing him by inches.
He searched for the book with his eyes and spotted it sticking out a pile of debris and got up to go after it. He had almost caught up to it when he failed to see the tail that got him on the side, the force sending him crashing into a pile of books.
'You are no match against us, seer! We will destroy you like we did the last seer before you!'
Jake noticed Nicole was stirring and trying to get up.
Oh, she's okay!
She was closer to the book than he was and began to think of a plan.
"Then come over here and do your worst!" Jake began.
"Come on, you piece of shit! Cause you ain't getting that book while I'm still standing!"
*
Julia and Gabriel had just reached the school as she rushed over to check security at the front gate.
Well, the gate was torn open.
"Come on!" she signalled Gabriel.
Julia spotted the security guy seated outside his office and quickly ran up to him.
"Excuse me sir, I'm looking..."
Julia's words vaporised from her lips when she saw the security guy's face whose empty eye sockets were two wells dripping with blood and his mouth was wide open where Julia could see worms wiggling around inside.
"What the fuck!" Gabriel screamed, taking a few steps back, "What happened to him? Is he dead? He's dead, right? Is he...?"
"Of course he is! Now keep it down!"
"Oh no, Julia. I'm done! I'm outta here!" Gabriel went on, regaining his sobriety.
Julia walked up towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders, peering down at his short stature.
"Hey! Snap out of it! My brother, your friend, is in trouble! We have to help him!"
"But...but what about Jake..."
"We didn't find him after the party! It is up to us now, okay!"
Gabriel nodded.
"I said, okay!" Julia snapped, shaking Gabriel by the shoulders like a toddler.
"Okay!"
"Good, now let's..."
They heard a crashing sound come from the library.
*
"Come on, tough guy!" Jake waited until Apophis was upon him before suddenly jumping on top of its head, missing its opening mouth.
"Nicole, the book! Over there!"
Nicole got up and dashed to the book which he quickly retrieved and tossed it towards Jake who grabbed it.
By the time Apophis realized what had happened, Jake was running on top of him, heading towards his head, with the book closed and the pentacle glowing brighter than ever. He tried to wiggle him off and at one point, Jake almost fell off but not before slamming the book onto the back of the snake's head, with the symbol pressed against it.
Apophis let out a terrible hiss accompanied with wailing and screaming as the book began to glow even brighter with orange light.
Jake hit the ground and began to heave himself away from the demonic reptile as it lashed out, trying to make the book fall of. The book was glued to its head.
Nicole caught up to Jake and drew him away as they watched the serpent's body burst into flames and Jake was sure he could 'see' the dark ghouls and spirits flee from the burning snake, wailing in anguish until nothing was left when a sudden burst of bright orange light followed, blinding both Nicole and Jake.
When the light died down, there was nothing left there, except for burnt up library books as Jake walked up to the scene. The book was gone. Or burnt up? He did spot something though, a small piece of a white substance. He picked it up.
It was one of the serpent's tooth which was almost as long as his open palm.
"The moon's no longer red," Nicole said softly, peering out through the window.
There came a low growling just as Jake spotted his brother, who was lying just a few meters away from where the snake had been toasted, with a pile of books lying on top of him.
Nicole turned round to find a weird looking Matt standing there behind her, scowling and gnashing his teeth.
"Umm, Jake..."
Jake turned to Nicole and saw Matt.
Matt breathed heavily, like an animal. He eyed them both with his bloodshot eyes and suddenly, without warning, charged at Nicole.
"Nicole! No!"
There was a soft thump as Matt hit the ground and before him, stood Julia, clutching at a piece of wood that she had swung at him from behind.
"You guys okay?" she started as Gabriel rushed in after her.
"Woah, what the hell happened in here?" Gabriel asked, checking out the library.
Julia collapsed next to his brother and began to check his pulse.
"What happened to him?"
Jake spotted the mark on his arm.
"That's where he was scratched by the demon, he's possessed!"
"Well, can you do something with your book?" Julia was almost into tears now.
"The book's gone."
"But...but you read it, right?"
Jake passed a hand through his hair and turned to his brother. He first helped him out of the pile as he regained consciousness.
"Hit yourself!"
Ryan smacked himself upon hearing this.
"What are you doing?" asked Nicol, who was by the far the most baffled by what was going on.
"He's still under my control," Jake replied, "that means he's still a conduit and all I have to do then is...meo testamento in vis submittere! "
"What?"
"Ryan, hit yourself!"
Ryan's entranced face then turned into a sneer.
"What is wrong with you?" he responded.
It had worked, Ryan was no longer under his control.
"He's not a conduit anymore. I reversed the spell I used to hypnotise him by saying it backwards."
"It's working!" Julia cried out in Glee as her brother began to stir.
Matt's face reverted to normal with his eyes no longer red and his skin back to its original brown color.
"What happened to the party? And what is my sister doing kneeling next to me?"
"Okay, guys," Nicole spoke, "let's go before someone sees us!"
Elizabeth Fowler, Jake's mom, was doing an exclusive the following day outside Barnstable High which had been shut down, pending an investigation on what had happened during the night of Halloween and how two people had died mysteriously in that school.
Jake was heading over at Matt's where they had agreed to meet up when he spotted Nicole.
"Hello, again. "
"Oh, I was actually looking for you! "
"You were? "
"Yeah, well it's not like I can pretend that I didn't see all that shit yesterday even after hearing all those stories in Atlanta about people who can run really fast! Plus, you owe me an explanation. "
"I was just going to do that right now, wanna come? "
"Sure. As long as you promise we won't bump into another evil demon snake! " Nicole joked and both of them laughed as they walked into Matt's house.
***
Back at Jake's place, Ryan was playing videogames with Glenn when he stopped the game.
"Did you hear something?"
"No."
Ryan shrugged before getting back to the game.
There was a sound coming from inside the house. Inside Jake's room as a bright wave of white light could be seen from his window before dying out almost immediately and there it was, lying on top of his desk, next to his laptop.
Mirantibus vivlío
The 'book of wonders'—if you may as Jake had checked out that term on the day before Halloween.
The book.
THE END