At 2:00 PM, the heavy front doors opened, and a crowd of excited guests flooded into the Wellington Mansion. Once they arrived, the guests spread out into different rooms to enjoy the party. The deserted house quickly transformed into a bustling hub of Halloween fun, filled with laughter and the glowing lights that Victoria's parents had just fixed.
The mansion came alive as the crowd explored the rooms.
In the library, a captivated group gathered around Eliza Creeps as she opened her first book, her spooky voice sending delightful shivers down everyone's spines.
In the foyer, crowds swarmed the buffet table, loading up their plates with the spooky treats and birthday snacks prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Bullet.
On the dance floor, the rest of the teenagers showed off their moves, laughing and singing along to the upbeat rhythm of "One Way or Another."Around the candy bowls, kids eagerly scrambled to collect their favorite trick-or-treat candy, stuffing their trick-or-treat bags with chocolate bars and gummy worms.
Griffin, Mandy, Ned, Oscar, Quinn, and Victoria mingled with their guests, thrilled that their spooky birthday bash was a massive success. For a while, the mansion buzzed with energy and classical music, but the Wellington estate's heavy history still lingered in the shadows.
While everyone partied, Victoria's parents announced that it was time for cake and ice cream, ringing a brass bell to get everyone's attention. They then went into the kitchen to prepare the treats. A moment later, they walked back out into the foyer: her mom proudly brought out the chocolate cake decorated in vibrant Halloween-colored icing with "Happy 13th Birthday, Victoria!" written on it. At the same time, her dad carried out the matching Halloween-colored ice cream.
Griffin, Mandy, Ned, Oscar, Quinn, and all the guests gathered around the buffet table, creating a massive circle. Her friends then loudly sang Happy Birthday to her, their voices echoing beautifully off the old mansion walls. Victoria smiled, took a deep breath, and then she blew out the candles, making her wish.
Right after the candles went out, everyone clapped, and Victoria's parents served cake and ice cream. Her mother brought cake, and her father brought ice cream. They ate all their cake and ice cream, wished Victoria a happy birthday, and enjoyed the party. Victoria sat by the fireplace and unwrapped her gifts one by one: Mr. and Mrs. Bullet surprised her with a premium movie projector setup so she could watch her favorite monster movies on a giant screen. Griffin gave her a vintage, leather-bound book of classic ghost stories. Mandy handed her a glowing, color-changing crystal ball lamp for her bedroom. Ned picked out a spooky, detailed model skeleton kit that could be posed. Oscar surprised her with a fluffy, howling werewolf plush toy. Natalie gave her a box of gourmet, dark chocolate cauldron truffles. Ben, one of her classmates, gifted her a gothic-style silver charm bracelet with a tiny bat and pumpkin charm. Lily, another party guest, handed her a set of neon Halloween-themed nail polishes that glowed in the dark. Sam brought her a mysterious trivia board game called Midnight Mansion for their future game nights.
After Victoria unwrapped her gifts, Mrs. Creeps called everyone back to the dimly lit library. She sat in her large velvet chair and read her newest horror book out loud. Her ominous voice filled the room, and the story's terrifying twists scared some of the guests, who shivered and huddled closer together.
After the book reading, the kids gathered back in the foyer and did some new activities Mr. and Mrs. Bullet set up.
Some people carved pumpkins and made scary jack-o'-lanterns at a side table.
Other people went back to the dance floor and danced to the music echoing through the foyer. The song playing was "Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf: The Werewolf Rock."
Some people got Halloween balloons that were tied around the room.
Others kept stuffing their trick-or-treat bags with the endless bowls of candy.
Mr. and Mrs. Bullet also set up bobbing for apples, and some guests participated, laughing as they tried to catch the floating fruit. At the same time, Mr. and Mrs. Bullet handed out glow bracelets for them to connect and make stuff out of them, turning the dimly lit room into a sea of neon colors. The guests also happily ate the candy apples Mr. and Mrs. Bullet brought out from the kitchen. The celebration was such a hit that the guests even asked for more cake and ice cream, and Mr. and Mrs. Bullet gladly served it.
Mr. and Mrs. Bullet now turned off the lights so the glow bracelets would light up in the dark, transforming the mansion into a glowing neon party room. In the dark, the guests shared their glow bracelets and made amazing things with them since they had more to connect. The teenagers laughed and cheered as they linked the glowing tubes together to build neon glasses, long glowing chains, crowns, and bright spheres that lit up the shadows of the old Wellington estate.
Eliza Creeps used the glowing darkness to tell another horror story, her voice dropping to a theatrical whisper that echoed through the shadowy, neon-lit mansion. The bright colors of the connected glow bracelets lit the guests' wide, scared eyes as they huddled together, hanging on her every word.
After she finished her terrifying tale, Mr. and Mrs. Bullet turned the lights back on, hoping they scared some people. The bright foyer lights flickered back to life, revealing a room full of relieved laughs and a few playful shivers from the crowd, everyone thoroughly enjoying the spooky birthday atmosphere.
After the party, the guests said goodbye to Victoria and her friends, grabbing their trick-or-treat bags, jack-o'-lanterns, and glowing creations as they headed out into the chilly Halloween night. They all thanked Victoria for hosting the ultimate thirteenth birthday bash, leaving the Wellington Mansion quiet once again.
Now, only Victoria, Quinn, Griffin, Mandy, Ned, and Oscar remained in the grand foyer with Victoria's parents, surrounded by crumpled wrapping paper and leftover candy apples.
Victoria's parents and friends helped Vitoria clean up the party decorations, throwing away empty plates, gathering leftover candy, and packing up the boxes. After they were finished, Victoria's parents gave them full permission to spend the night in the mansion without them. Trusting the teenagers to be responsible, her parents headed home for the night, taking Victoria's birthday presents with them for safekeeping, and left the kids completely alone in the massive, quiet mansion.
Now, the heavy wooden doors clicked shut from the outside. Victoria, Quinn, Griffin, Mandy, Ned, and Oscar were officially on their own, surrounded by dark rooms, carved jack-o'-lanterns, and the estate's lingering chill.
The kids went upstairs and looked around for bedrooms. Once they each found a bedroom, they stayed there for a while, but they got hungry, so they left and headed to the kitchen to look for something to eat.
Once they made it to the kitchen, they tried turning on the lights, but they wouldn't work, so Quinn lit a candle and spotted a jack-o'-lantern on the counter.
"Probably just leftover from the party," Quinn said.
Quinn then lit the jack-o'-lantern and blew out the candle she was holding. Since the jack-o'-lantern was lighting the room, they thought they had nothing to worry about. Victoria opened the fridge door, and the fridge light made the room brighter. They heated some leftover pizza from the party, along with other leftover food.
After eating, Quinn tried to blow out the jack-o'-lantern, but it relit itself. Quinn blew and blew, but the candle wouldn't go out.
Quinn said, "Looks like whoever carved this one put in a trick candle."
Jack, the talking jack-o'-lantern, said, "That's not the reason my candle won't go out."
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, ran back to 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 to pick the lock with a hairpin, but it levitated out of her hand and floated away. Victoria screamed when her hairpin flew away. Then they heard a witch laughing and hid because they felt something terrible would happen.
Sarah Belington's ghost then phased through the wall. Once she did, Jack hopped out of the kitchen, saw her, and wasn't too happy.
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 screaming, 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 mansion 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."
As they talked, 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 for my birthday party and spend the night, 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've got to go upstairs."
The kids ran upstairs as Jack said. Jack said, "Now, you've got to get to the room at the end of the hall."
The kids ran down the hall and arrived at the room Jack had been talking about. Once they did, Oscar opened the door. The kids entered 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. In fact, it was I who played with the lights while you were setting up the party."
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."