Chapter 2

The next day, Victoria and Quinn were the first ones to arrive at the mansion on Halloween. Then their friends, Mandy, Oscar, Griffin, and Ned, met up with them and walked inside the mansion gates. Then they walked to the mansion and up the stairs to the door. Once they got to the door, Mandy tried opening it, but it was locked. Mandy said, "It's locked." Victoria said, "Not for long." Victoria put the key she found in the keyhole, unlocked and opened the door. Then, they all walked in and looked around. Oscar said, "It doesn't look like anyone's lived here for years." The amulet around Victoria's neck glowed, and she got a strong feeling. Victoria said, "Maybe not, but I have this strong feeling. Come on, follow me."

The others followed Victoria outside to the backyard, and when they got there, they walked through the pumpkin patch. Victoria's sense was getting more robust, and she followed it to a specific place in the pumpkin patch, and the others followed. When Victoria's feelings disappeared, she saw a jack-o-lantern with a smile and Xs for eyes. Mandy picked the jack-o-lantern up and looked at it. Mandy said, "This must be Jack, the talking jack-o-lantern." Victoria said, "I guess so, but he's not talking." Quinn said, "Let's see if he can." Quinn took a box of matches from her pocket, lit one, and then lit the jack-o-lantern while Mandy held it. Once the jack-o-lantern was lit, it spoke. The jack-o-lantern said, "Hey, hey, what a quack! Jack, the living jack-o-lantern, is back."

Mandy screamed when she heard it talk and threw it to the ground. Jack said, "Hey, kids, watch where you toss me." The kids all screamed and ran back inside the mansion, but Jack hopped after them. Once the kids got inside, they ran into the foyer and tried to open the front door but couldn't. Mandy said, "It's locked." Victoria said, "Don't worry, I got it." Victoria tried using the key to unlock the door, but it levitated out of her hand and floated away. Victoria screamed when the key flew away. Then they started to hear a witch laughing and hid because they felt something terrible would happen. The ghost of Sarah Belington then phased through the wall. Once she did, Jack saw her and wasn't too happy to see her.

Sarah said. "The witch is back."The kids spied on Sarah, and Sarah saw Jack. Sarah then snapped her fingers, and Jack floated up to her. Sarah said, "But who re-lit you, my friend?" Jack said, "Like I would tell you, you wicked old croon. And we're not friends." Sarah said, "Fine. If you don't tell me, I'll find them myself." Sarah snapped her fingers, and Jack dropped to the ground. Sarah began her search upstairs for the person who brought her back. Once she was gone, Jack hopped over to Victoria, who was hiding behind a chair. Jack said, "You can come out now; she's gone." 

Victoria opened her eyes and said, "You're helping us?" Jack said, "I'll explain if you come out and trust me." Victoria said, "Well, ok. Alright, everyone, we can come out now."The kids came out from hiding, and Victoria grabbed Jack and carried him over to where they were meeting. Once the kids saw Victoria holding the talking jack-o-lantern, they all screamed. Victoria said, "Calm down, he's on our side." The kids stopped shouting, and Jack started to explain. Jack said, "OK, now that everyone's calm, let me explain what's happening. That was the ghost of Sarah Belington. I thought I saw the last of her when my friend, Susan, read the spell out of her spell book and sent her back to her grave." Ned said, "Wait. Susan? As in Susan Piper." Jack said, "Yep. She read the spell, sent all the ghosts in this house back to their graves, and got rid of the monsters." Griffin said, "So that story Mrs. Piper told us was true." Jack said, "Yes, and I sat in that pumpkin patch for a decade, hoping no one would bring me back. Because if they did, they would also bring back the ghosts and re-haunt the house." Quinn said, "That's what Mrs. Piper said, but we thought it was an urban legend." Jack said, "Well, I guess you can see it's not."

While talking to Jack, the room started to get cold. Mandy grabbed her arms and began to shake. Mandy said, "That's weird, it's freezing inside here." Then, a ghost carved a G, an E, and a T on the door. The kids watched the spirit spell out "Get Out" on the door, and they screamed. Griffin looked closer and said, "Wow, these ghosts want us out. This place gets better by the minute." Jack said, "You might be enjoying this now. But after sundown, the ghosts get more restless." Victoria said, "Yeah, well, it was my idea to come here, and we don't scare that easily." Jack said, "In that case, I think I know someone who can help me protect you." Quinn picked Jack up and said, "Take us to them." Jack said, "First, you got to go upstairs."The kids ran upstairs as Jack said. Jack said, "Now, you got to get to the room at the end of the hall. The kids ran down the hall and made it to the room Jack was talking about. Once they did, Oscar opened the door. The kids entered the room and saw it looked like a witch's cottage inside. Jack said, "Oh, Alvin." Then Alvin emerged from hiding, and the kids saw he was a ghost puppy. Alvin said, "Oh, hi, Jack." Oscar said, "You want a ghost to protect us?"

Alvin said, "I'm a ghost puppy. I was here when your class visited and before you lit Jack." Griffin said, "Then how'd you get here." Alvin said, "When I was alive, my owner and I wanted to check out the mansion. When we did, we hoped it was deserted. Alvin pointed at a mirror and said, "But then some monster from inside that mirror turned us to stone. I got trapped here after we got turned to stone; I can only leave on Halloween. I don't know what happened to our bodies or my owner." Quinn said, "What was his name?" Alvin said, "Pete Jackson."