《Hocus Pocus》Chapter 7: I Put A Spell On You
Advertisement
——————————🧹——————————
The four kids and Binx walked towards the town hall where a Halloween party was taking place.
"Oh, great. How are we gonna find mom and dad in this place?" Max groaned.
They entered the town hall and went up the stairs where the party was being held. There were a number of people dressed up in costumes and a band of guys dressed as skeletons were singing up on a stage.
"I'm gonna find mom." Dani announced, walking off with Binx in her arms.
Max, Allison and (Y/n) looks around for a moment, until Max felt hands on his shoulders. He jumped and turned to see his dad standing behind him dressed as Dracula.
"Oh, Dad." Max sighed.
"It's not Dad. It's 'Dadcula'." He introduced.
"Oh my goodness, who must these charming young blood donors be?" He asked, taking Allison and (Y/n)'s hands and kissing them.
"Dad! Something terrible happened!" Max yelled.
Dave immediately dropped the act and his face fell. "Dani? What's wrong?"
"No, Dani's fine."
"Excuse me. Come here." He dragged Max away from Allison and (Y/n).
...
"Mom?" Dani called.
She turned and saw her mom dressed as Madonna, doing a pose.
"Mom? What are you supposed to be?" Dani asked.
"Madonna. Well, you know...don't you think?"
...
"Shoot, Max." Dave said.
Max hesitated to tell him.
"Look, whatever it is, just tell me."
...
"Come here." Dani waved her hand, and Jenny leaned down.
"This cat here, Binx. He can talk. Our friend (Y/n) is over 300 years old, and dated a witch. My brothers a virgin, he lit the Black Flame Candle. The witches are back from the dead and they're after us. We need help."
"How much candy have you had, honey?" Jenny asked.
"Mom, I haven't OD'd. They're real witches. They can fly and they're gonna eat all the kids in Salem. They're real!"
"Alright. Let's just find your father..."
...
Meanwhile, Winnie, Mary and Sarah also entered the party.
"Slither about." Winnie ordered.
Winnie looked around, and he froze when he saw (Y/n) wandering around. He smirked, showing off his fangs, and strode towards her.
...
(Y/n) moved through the party, pushing past people trying to find the rest of her friends. She stood on her tip toes and saw that Max and Dani's parents were off to the side, seemingly arguing with Max, Dani and Allison.
Advertisement
She started to push through the crowd to get to them, but her wrist was grabbed and she was yanked backwards into someone's chest.
"Hello, my little woman." A voice purred in her ear.
(Y/n)'s eyes widened and she turned to see Winnie smirking down at her.
"Winnie." She gasped.
(Y/n) tried to step back, but Winnie pulled her back into him, and wrapped an arm around her waist, trapping her to him. His other hand kept a firm grasp around hers, and he started dancing with her.
"Thou hast been very naughty tonight, my sweet. I may just have to punish thee." He hissed.
"Winnie, please stop doing this. I'm begging you!" She pleaded.
Winnie sighed. "I don't understand why thee is being so difficult. We could be together forever, like thou always wanted."
"Winnie, we're talking about killing innocent children." (Y/n) said.
"Yes we are...And?" He obliviously asked.
(Y/n) rolled her eyes at him, and Winnie just smirked down at her, and pulled her even closer.
"You know...this reminds me of our first kiss in the graveyard." He whispered. "Remember? I held thee in my arms just like this."
A small smile crept onto (Y/n)'s lips and she nodded. "You told me you loved me that night."
"Thou can imagine how surprised and lucky I felt when thou returned my feelings."
"How could I not? You were always so sweet and kind to me." (Y/n) smiled.
"We could have moments like this for an eternity if thou would just tell me where my book his, my sweet." He smiled, showing his fangs.
(Y/n) frowned and scoffed. "I don't know why I'm trying. All you care about is your stupid book."
She tried to pull away from him but he kept a tight grip on her.
"(Y/n), I've been parted from thee for 300 years. I'm not going to let thou go so easily." Winnie told her firmly.
"Winnie, just let go." (Y/n) demanded, trying to pull away from him again, but he still wouldn't let her.
...
"Hey, guys, I love you, but enough his enough. Just calm down."
"They're real they're gonna come."
"Don't you see how crazy this sounds?"
Max, Allison, and Dani were arguing with their parents about the witches, trying to convince them that what they're saying is true.
Dani looked around the room, and spotted Winnie and (Y/n) and her eyes widened.
Advertisement
"Max! Max, they're here! They've got (Y/n)!" Dani shouted.
Max and Allison turned and saw Winnie holding (Y/n) to him as she struggled in his grip.
"Here. Hold this." Max handed the book to Allison.
"Max, where are you going?"
Max climbed onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from the singer.
"Cut the music, cut the music!" He ordered.
They stopped playing and everyone turned to look at Max.
"Will everybody listen up, please?" Max spoke.
Winnie and (Y/n) stopped moving and looked up at Max as Mary and Sarah joined them.
"Your kids are in danger. 300 years ago, the Sanderson Siblings bewitched people."
Winnie, Mary and Sarah covered their faces from the crowd.
"And now they've returned from their grave." Max announced.
The crowd laughed.
"Hey, I'm serious. It's not a joke! I know this sounds dumb, but they're here tonight. They're right over there! And Winnie has his girlfriend (Y/n) captive!"
Max pointed in the crowd and everybody turned to look at the Sanderson Siblings, and a spotlight was shown on them.
Winnie scowled but stepped forward. His arm still wound tightly around (Y/n)'s waist.
"Thank you, Max..." Winnie growled. "...for that marvelous introduction."
Winnie smiled and turned to the crowd.
Winnie threw his arm up dramatically.
He looked down at (Y/n) with a predatory gaze and she looked up at him with wide eyes.
"No! No don't listen!" Dani screamed, covering her ears.
Winnie faced the crowd again.
(Y/n) tried to slip away while Winnie was distracted.
He snagged her hand and pulled her back to his side.
The crowd laughed in excitement.
The lead singer put his hand on Max's shoulder.
"Good joke. Happy Halloween. Thanks." He smiled.
"No, man, I'm serious!"
"Yeah, yeah." He dismissed Max and lead him off stage.
Winnie threw his hands up and spun around, before grabbing (Y/n)'s hand again and dragging her up onto the stage, with Mary and Sarah following behind
Winnie took both of (Y/n)'s hands and pulled her to his chest and began dancing with her, while Mary and Sarah sang backup
Mary and Sarah: "Gone, gone, gone, so long!"
Winnie pushed (Y/n) out, and twirled her back in, so her back was up against his chest, and started swaying them side to side.
Mary and Sarah: "So strong, so strong, so strong."
(Y/n) ducked out of his arms and tried to run off the stage.
Winnie grabbed her waist and pulled her back. He grasped her chin and made her look at him, and smirked.
Winnie started walking forwards making (Y/n) walk backwards.
Winnie pointed at (Y/n).
He pointed at himself.
Dani, Max and Allison huddled together as they watched the display.
"Binx, where are you?" Dani called.
Mary and Sarah: "Watch out, watch out, watch out, watch out. He ain't lyin'"
Billy Butcherson came up behind the three kids and tried to grab them, but the ducked and ran.
Winnie twirled (Y/n) under his arm and came up behind her as they faced the audience, and got close to her ear.
Mary and Sarah came on (Y/n)'s left and right sides.
Mary and Sarah: "He's vicious."
Max, Dani and Allison tried to warn Dave and Jenny to cover their ears, but they weren't listening.
Billy suddenly came up behind them and they had to run for it again.
Winnie sent (Y/n) a wink, and pushed her towards his sisters, who each grabbed one of her arms.
Mary and Sarah came right behind Winnie, still holding onto (Y/n).
The crowd copied them.
Crowd: "Ah-say-into-pie-oppa-maybe-uppen-die."
Crowd: "In-kama-koray-Ah-ma."
Max, Allison, Dani and Binx managed to get away from Billy and escape the Town Hall.
Crowd: "Hey."
Crowd: "High."
(Y/n) shook Mary and Sarah off her and made another attempt to slip away, but Winnie saw her.
Winnie grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, wrapping his other arm around her waist and dipping her down.
The crowd cheered at their performance and began dancing again. Winnie pulled (Y/n) back up, but didn't let her go.
"Dance, dance, dance until you die!" Winnie laughed.
(Y/n) put her hand on his chest and tried to push him away, but he just looked down at her in amusement.
"Oh no. You're not going anywhere my sweet. You're going to help us track down my book."
Before she could respond, Winnie scooped her up, and threw her over his shoulder.
"Sisters! Come along. I've got one thing I want back, now we must get the other."
Winnie marched off the stage and through the crowd, with his sisters right behind him, while (Y/n) kicked and screamed at him, demanding to be put down.
——————————🧹——————————
Advertisement
- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153 - In Serial48 Chapters
Gamer's Guide to Waking up as a Dinosaur
Being born is hard. Being reborn is even harder. But being reborn as a baby dinosaur in a world where everything wants to kill you, skin you, and suck the marrow from your bones? That's the hardest. At least the magical blue boxes say I can evolve, though? Link to the discord: here. Cover art done by Monomuss. You can connect with him via the discord server.
8 192 - In Serial69 Chapters
Peacekeepers (COMPLETE)
Everyone had assumed it was a supernatural event that caused individuals to experience mass psychosis. The world went crazy to the point private militias maintained control and even governed. These groups protected their civilians from terrorists, anarchist and idealistic groups, as well as cults that come out the woodwork. An Ex-mercenary, Nick Garvey decides to get back in the fight after two years of stagnating.
8 483 - In Serial11 Chapters
"I Am The Hero"
A powerful being send the Main Character to another world but not as a hero. The being sent him as a way to balance the other world, but the Main Character who was obsessed with light novels with the scenario of the mc becoming a hero and saving the world. He thought of himself as the Hero of the other world and goes on a journey to save the other world. This novel is on Hiatus Ehe.
8 151 - In Serial12 Chapters
Habits [VKOOK]
Taehyung has a bad sleeping habit, leaking secrets. He moved out of his shared room with Hoseok and Jimin after doubting them for knowing things they shouldn't know. He now shares his room with Jungkook."Hoseok Hyung is the one who took your food, Seokjinnie..."Jungkook smiled and rushed to Seokjin to tell him.After all, Jungkook isn't the one to be trusted as well.
8 79 - In Serial66 Chapters
Amphigory
"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquility." -William WordsworthAn amateur collection of my dark poetry, spoken word, and deep late-night thoughts.***{ONGOING}***warning: many of these pieces cover topics such as depression, anxiety, suicide, abuse, rape, and others which may be considered triggering to some. Read at your own discretion.
8 110

