Chapter 3 – You In Or Out?
"We can talk there" Norman said as he pointed out to the small park in the town square.
The streets where dark and quiet. Nobody was around. The only source of light came from street lamps and the moon. Hally slowed down and landed them both on the soft grass gently. She let go of his hand, which had become slightly moist from the nerves in his stomach. The flying was amazing but the two holiday spirits had come to him for a reason. Something so important that they travelled a long way just to meet him.
Jack floated down and stood next to Hally, who sat on the grass. Jack followed her example as did Norman. He wasn't afraid of these strange people. They were nice and wouldn't hurt him. Well Jack had kinda hurt him with a snowball but he wasn't exactly dangerous. Well he hadn't seen any plough trucks nearby when they were up in the air.
"Norman" Hally said without looking at him. "Have you ever heard of the Halloween Curse?"
Norman shook his head. He'd heard of plenty of curses from movies and comics but he had never heard of a Halloween Curse.
"The Halloween Curse goes back to the early days of Halloween" Hally said. "I'm the spirit of Halloween. The Curse is said to bring about 365 days of darkness, where the doors of the spirit world will open and unleash thousands of dark souls into this world to reek havoc"
"It's said to have been only done once in the dark ages" Jack said. "But records of the effects of the Halloween Curse have all been either destroyed or lost"
"Okay" Norman said. "What's this curse got to do with me?"
"We have an enemy" Hally said. "His name is Pitch. He's the boogeyman"
"The boogeyman is real too?" Norman asked. "Wait, no, of course he is" Norman joked laughing to himself.
"Norman this is serious" Hally said looking up at him from the grass. "We can't run away from this. Pitch needs to be stopped. This is going to happen if we don't stop him"
Norman was slightly startled by the sadness and fear in her voice. It was evident on both Jack and Hally's faces. The situation was serious. They were telling him the truth. This curse was a serious matter. Another chill ran down Norman's spine as the cold night air, breezed past him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make a joke out of it" Norman said feeling bad as he watched the two spirits.
"It's okay" Hally said. "This must seem very strange to you, kids your age really don't believe in us anymore. But you can see us, you can hear us"
"You can help us" Jack said as he flicked his wrist and another gust of cold air blew past Norman.
Norman shrugged, still unsure why these spirits needed his help. He couldn't really do much except try and coax them to move on. But that wasn't the cause. They weren't the usual ghosts he dealt with on a daily basis.
"Why do you want me anyway? How am I any use to you two with this curse thing?"
"For the Halloween Curse to happen there must be a ritual performed. A spell. There's a reverse spell. All the ingredients are scattered around the ancient world. There's a map that shows us where each ingredient is. Like clues that point us towards them. There's 7 in total" Hally explained as she stopped pulling up the grass and stared up at him.
"All the people that have any connection to the first Halloween Curse are dead, also there's some nasty spirits along our journey" Jack said. "We need you to come with us to stop the Halloween Curse. We can't speak to ghosts"
"But I can" Norman said nodding in understanding.
These strangers were asking him to go along with them on what could be a dangerous journey to talk to unfriendly ghosts. Jack had called them nasty.
"That's why we need you Norman" Hally said. "You've a great gift that could help save a lot of people"
He could save people with his gift? He had before. His ability to talk to the dead had saved his town when he was 11. Everyone had thought he was a hero but was he really? All he ever did was just talk to some zombies who had realised their mistakes. He wasn't the adventurous type. He hated camping. He couldn't defend himself. He was flunking gym for Christ's sake.
"This journey is going to take you awhile" Norman pointed out.
Jack nodded. "At least two weeks"
"My family will notice if I'm gone, plus I've school and friends" Norman said.
"We could make it that nobody will notice your absence" Hally said. "We could put the town to sleep until you return"
Norman raised an eyebrow. She could make people sleep for two weeks? Wow the night was really getting strange. He decided not to question it. He didn't really know what the two spirits in front of him could do. The whole situation was strange. Nobody would believe him if he told them. Not even Neil. Neil.
"I'll go" Norman said. "But on one condition"
"Name it" Hally said in surprise.
She hadn't been expecting him to ask for anything of them. She would have prepared for it, brought money or something she would have thought teenagers liked. She hadn't had much experience with modern teenagers. Did they like candy? Tricks? She didn't know what they liked to do.
"I want to bring someone along" Norman said.
"No way" Jack said. "We can't have another person going, its already dangerous enough for us three to go"
"Then I'm not going. I can't go anywhere with Neil" Norman said.
"Who's Neil?" Hally asked. "Your girlfriend?"
Norman blinked before laughing at the honest look on Hally's face.
"Neil is clearly a boys name Hal" Jack said smiling.
"Well you never know!" she exclaimed. "There's so many kids out there with unisex names like Taylor or Cameron or Rodger nowadays that I've honestly lost count"
Norman bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. Rodger? Really?
"Alright, alright" Hally said. "Bring Neil with you, but he's your responsibility"
"Done" Norman said smiling. "When do we leave?"
"We'll come back for you and Neil tomorrow night at midnight" Jack said as he stood up. "It's going to be light soon. We should get you back"
Both Hally and Norman stood and looked up at the moon in the sky.
"Pack what you need for a long journey" Hally said. "We're not really sure what to expect out there"
With that said Hally took Norman's hand and floated up into the air. Norman couldn't help but be filled with excitement and joy as Hally got higher and higher and started to fly again. The feeling was awesome. He'd never get tired of it.
A/N: Thanks for all the comments and votes guys :) Here's the next chapter. I'm working on the 4th chapter now :)