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-Mystic Spirit Angel

The time for the town meeting to commence approached much faster than Amelia had expected

The time for the town meeting to commence approached much faster than Amelia had expected. Before she knew it, she was behind the door that opened to the side of the stage, holding her sketches, notes, and a hastily written summary of everything she had planned. If there was one thing that she was afraid of more than spiders, which was a fear she still had never gotten over, it was talking in front of an audience.

She gulped, 'Well, I suppose I've got to face my stage fright sooner or later.' She thought to herself. 'At least Jack will be with me.'

Said skeleton was standing a few feet behind her and could easily tell she was nervous, "Don't worry," he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "You'll do just fine. Remember, you're just speaking to a lot of your friends." He smiled at her when she turned to look at him with a grateful expression.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she opened the door and walked up to the podium on stage. Jack closed the door behind him and stood there to let her be on her own, but also to be near just in case she needed him.

The Princess of Halloween cleared her throat, "Settle down."

The citizens ceased their talk amongst themselves and turned their attention to the teenaged royal onstage.

"Thank you. First off, I'd like to tell everyone that I am very grateful for this opportunity to run Halloween this year. I assure you that this year's celebration will be the most awful one yet!" she exclaimed in hopes of capturing the townspeople's attention.

Her plan worked for a murmur of excitement passed through the citizens as they eagerly awaited her ideas.

"During my time away," she began, "I have studied the strange and unusual customs of the humans." She paused as everyone gasped, some in interest and others in horror, "And I must tell you that I find the way they celebrate Halloween to be very intriguing. Nearly everyone dresses up in costumes, pretending to be someone or something they're not for one night. Many will play pranks on one another, hoping to get a good scare. Others prefer to throw parties in which whoever has the best costume wins a mysterious grand prize!" she had begun to emphasize her words as she became more and more excited about the plans herself.

She even started to wave her arms and hands in animated gestures for more emphasis. "Some even will make their homes deathly scary and send people through them, not knowing what awaits them in every room. For lurking in the shadows are humans in the scariest and most fearful outfits you've ever seen. Then, they jump out the moment their victims walk near, scaring the very souls out of them!"

The crowed gasped and many oohs and ahs were heard.

"Fascinating indeed!" she nodded. "But one of the most interesting forms of their celebrations I saw was in the higher society of the humans. The classier ones dressed in the most elaborate, fancy, yet frightening, formal attire and attended what they called a Masquerade Ball. Everyone wore masks ranging from delightful to atrocious. In a large hall of some sort, they would dance to music performed by a live band. And, at the stroke of midnight, they took of their masks to reveal their identities to one another!"

All of the creatures began to talk to each other excitedly in hushed tones. The citizens obviously liked the idea.

Amelia grinned, "Now, I want to incorporate everything I've talked to you about today into our celebration, especially the masked ball. However, instead of being in a large ballroom, I would like the dance to be held in the town square." She unrolled one of her sketches, "I plan to recreate the spooky scenes I saw there, here in Halloween Town. I would also like to see everyone make their own costumes for I wish to hold a costume contest!"

The audience began to whisper to one another, already discussing ideas for their new outfits.

"I will need plenty of help making the decorations and I need everyone here in this room to pitch in. Now, here I have the list of jobs that I will need many volunteers for." she brought out a large list and began to read off the tasks that she needed people to do. The citizens would then raise their hand, or shout out, for the one that they wanted.

Jack had crossed his arms as he observed everything from the sidelines and beamed proudly to himself. 'Amelia certainly has come a long way from the small, frightened child she used to be.' he contemplated to himself, 'She is becoming quite the courageous leader and a fine young lady.' He stopped himself once the thought had crossed his mind. He couldn't help the slight awkward feeling that crept over him. However, he was snapped out of it when he heard a voice speak next to him.

"Amelia certainly has grown up quite a bit, and in a short while." Doctor Finklestein had rolled himself up next to the tall skeleton, "Much faster than that of a normal sorceress. Don't you find that a bit strange Jack?" he looked up to the Pumpkin King.

"Err, well…" he quickly thought of a cover up, "You see, since Amelia planned on spending several years in the human realm, she had to appear to grow older just like those around her in order to fit in. And I guess she decided that she didn't want to go back to the way she once was."

"Hmm…" the doctor adjusted his glasses in thought as he looked at the said sorceress. "I suppose that would make sense."

Jack mentally heaved a great sigh of relief, but immediately stiffened up again when the scientist spoke once more.

"However, I think you should keep an eye on her, but do be careful. There's something amiss about Amelia and I have a feeling that it isn't good." Doctor Finklestein concluded.

"Of course, Doctor." The king agreed, now a little worried that his long-time friend would grow even more suspicious of her real identity as time went on. He then turned his attention back to the girl at the podium who was finishing up the meeting.

"Well that just about does it for everyone." The young, ambitious, new leader spoke, "I expect to see everyone putting forth their best effort for our horrible Halloween!"

The audience applauded, as did the Pumpkin King of course, and they all made their way out of the town hall.

"Job well done Ami!" Jack complimented her as they made their way through town and headed toward his home, "Good cover up for why you've been gone so long, I might add." He had lowered the volume of his voice as he spoke that last sentence.

"Thanks so much Jack!" the princess beamed up at him, "But honestly I would've never been able to get up there if it hadn't been for you."

He chuckled lightly, "Thank you Ami, but I only just helped a little. You were able to get up there completely on your own."

"Well I still think you deserve some credit." She stated.

"You may have grown up a lot, but you're still the town's little terror." He smiled warmly.

"I'm never going to grow out of that am I?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Nope." He stated as he opened the door to his house for her.

The next day, everyone began to work on the tasks that they had been assigned. It was a very productive day and Amelia was extremely pleased with how hard everyone worked. Some of the citizens were even way ahead of time with their assignment and started to make their costume for the costume contest and the masquerade. There were even a few who had asked their teenaged leader sketch out a design for them so they could have some place to start, which of course, she was delighted to assist. Other townspeople continued to work on their job to remain ahead of schedule. The city decorations came along nicely and looked positively frightening. The construction workers were building a platform where the awards would be given as well as where the judges would sit for the judging of the costume contest. The younger creatures were making many piñatas and found all sorts of treats to put in them, as well as some scary pranks like spiders and bugs. The band rehearsed their songs that they would play at the masquerade and throughout the night. The witches made potions to create all sorts of creepy effects, such as an eerie green fog, small storm clouds that created thunder and lightning, large mutant bats, and smokescreen that would make people vanish into thin air. Amelia busied herself by supervising and assisting with all of the projects, and by the end of the day, she was absolutely exhausted.

In the evening when everyone was sent home, she plopped herself into a large armchair in Jack's tower and heaved a great sigh. "It's only been a day and I'm already this tired?"

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Jack stated from where he sat in his tall chair at his desk.

"Easy for you to say, you've done this kind of thing for, well, ever." She commented.

He chuckled, "Well not exactly that long, but yes for a while."

"Oh, I remembered something." The tired sorceress stated.

"Hmm?" he looked directly at her to signify that she had gained his attention.

"I was meaning to ask you," she began, "Am I supposed to be capable of using my powers outside of the holidays."

"Oh, well…" he scratched his chin and looked at the ground in thought, "In theory, no. I'm assuming that you've been able to?" he raised his head make eye contact again.

"Yeah," she nodded. "It was weird, I didn't even mean to but I accidentally cast a spell when I was at home, and it worked."

"Interesting…" he put his chin in his palm as he pondered a possible explanation. "Well, it is actually quite possible that you may have some natural, mystical abilities of your own without the help of your sorcery." He looked toward her, "It's not unheard of for a human to be born with magical qualities."

"But most people believe that's all just a bunch of junk." she pointed out. "You know, all hocus pocus, smoke and mirrors."

"Ah, that is all just show magic." He explained, "Which would be your so-called magicians and what not. The kind that I'm referring to is only endowed to a very scarce number of humans, many of whom do not know how to control their mystical abilities." He let out a small sigh, "Because of that fact, most of them do not even attempt to master their powers and try to go on with their lives as though they never existed. Unfortunately, those who did want to try and master their abilities sought out help from the ones who were famous with show magic, thinking that they were both the same thing."

"Oh, I see." She was very intrigued with the information given to her.

"Yes, it's actually even rarer for a human to master their powers, let alone figure out how to control them. It's also very possible that you are one of these cases because you are lucky enough to have found a teacher in this sort of art." He grinned.

Amelia rolled her eyes for she knew he was just boasting about himself with that last line. She glanced at the tall grandfather clock and saw that it was late. "Well, I think I'm going to turn in for the night." She said with a yawn. "Goodnight Jack."

"Goodnight Ami." He smiled as she descended down the large, spiral stairwell. She didn't realize that she had forgotten to ask him about the ghost in the mirror, who oddly looked exactly like her own self.

After she entered her room, her mind was still congested with several questions yet to be answered. If she did have natural, magical abilities then why or how did she get them? Certainly they weren't hereditary because as far as she knew, there weren't any ancestors of hers that were considered crazy or had been tried as a witch. Was it more than a coincidence that one of the rare humans with magical abilities wandered into a place only thought to exist in merely fantasies?

She sat on her bed with her chin rested on top of her fisted hands. 'The answer he gave me has only left me with so many questions that I have no answers to.' She thought, 'And I doubt that he would know either.' She then took off her circlet crown and set it on her bedside table.

With a sigh, she got up and closed the crimson red curtains of her window. She then walked over to her large wardrobe. "I wonder if that nightgown will fit me better now that I'm bigger." She stated absently to herself, remembering how huge it was on her when she was little.

She opened the doors, reached in and grabbed the said article of clothing. She changed into the nightgown, which she was still pretty sure that it had once been part of a ghost costume. She looked at herself in the tall mirror in one corner of her room and flushed a deep shade of red. The edge of the gown only reached halfway down her thigh and was definitely a little tighter than she remembered. "I guess I grew more than I thought."

She dashed over to her door to make sure it was locked and double checked the thick, blood red drapes to make sure they were closed all the way. She then grabbed her spell book, which she had also set on her nightstand, and quickly flipped through the pages.

"I know I saw that spell somewhere in here." She mumbled to herself as she continued her search for the appropriate incantation. "Ah ha! Found it!"

She held the book out at arm's length and read the spell, "Planto mei induviae minor."

She felt her clothing do the exact opposite of what she had intended. Instead of becoming larger, the already tight nightgown shrunk. "Eep!" she squeaked. "No, no, no, no! Not what I wanted at all!"

Flustered, she looked at the incantation again, "Oh duh, I got the last word wrong." She concentrated and tried the spell again, "Planto mei induviae maior." This time, she got the results she wanted. The clothing grew and belled out around her body. "Ah," she sighed in relief, "much better."

After she placed her book back in its spot on the table next to her crown, she stretched her arms above her head and yawned. She then tucked herself into bed and finally went to sleep. Unfortunately, her thoughts were still clouded with her unanswered questions and she fell into a fitful slumber.

However, Amelia hadn't realized that sleepless nights would be the least of her worries. For just beyond the horizon, trouble was coming her way.

Ooh, what could it be? Just so you know ahead of time, the next chapter will be short. I've tried to make it longer but it's just not working ( Sorry! But it will still be good, I promise! Please review!