As the clock tower strikes eleven and the chimes echo through town hall, the doors fling open wide. A pillowy cloud of smoke and low hanging fog creep in through the opening. Across the floor, a faceless woman glides, as though she’s not walking but flying. The music stops and all eyes turn to the strange woman. There’s an uneasy feeling that settles across the room. Who is this? What do they want? For some residents in attendance, perhaps it’s a grand entrance in the way of a dark Cinderella moment. The witches present, however, know different.
Despite her lack of a mouth, the eerie woman begins to speak in a muttered tone. Her words are unintelligible, though to a trained spell caster, it’s clear that it’s Latin. The glamour around them begins to shake, glimpses of the real brick and mortar of the building shine through sparks of the faerie magic. The windows begin to rattle, and the very floor beneath them starts to quake.
A young southern witch by the name of Magnolia Sinclair steps to the front of the crowd, knowing in the pit of her stomach that this is not positive magic. Fire grows from her fingertips and soon a ball is formed; she throws it at the anonymous assailant. However, this stranger is far more powerful than she. With a wave of her hand, the fireball dissipates in thin air. Soon, in its place, a blast of pure energy is pushed through the air. It hits Magnolia, sending her flying into a nearby table where she sustains several cuts and scrapes, including a rather large gash across the right side of her forehead. In her defense, the two grand witches Dorthea and Silvana step forward to cast their own spell, but much like Magnolia, they’re blasted backwards.
The lights flicker above, and soon, the faceless woman begins to take shape. Her dark brows and cold eyes are what appear first, and then soon, her nose and lips are visible. A loud gasp comes from the crowd, and those standing near Mayor Marnie Piper-Cromwell overhear her say, “it can’t be…”
The strange woman before them releases a bone-chilling chuckle as she steps forward. “Citizens of Halloweentown,” she addresses the crowd, her voice low and gravelly. “It seems as though you do not learn from your past mistakes. Tonight, I will make you see yourselves for what you truly are.” With a wave of her hand, part of the crowd appear lifeless, and dull. The warmth from their skin slowly starts to drain, as they’re left to look gaunt and empty. “For those of you that are weak, you will be grey to those around you. You will remember nothing from before this, nothing about what you truly are. For you are hollow inside, as boring as can be.”
The brunette waves her other hand in front of her, and once more the glamour shakes. Another part of the crowd begin to feel intense pain in their abdomen, for some it’s so severe they hunch over. Their faces partially distorted to appear monstrous, grunts slip through their lips. “For those of you that are cold and unfeeling, you will be cruel to those around you. Doomed to show the outer world what your heart is truly like. Judgmental, vicious, and monstrous.”
The strangers heels click as she takes a few more steps towards the now petrified crowd. She raises both hands above her head and slowly brings them down in a sweeping motion. “For the rest of you? Your new identities are the costumes you chose to wear to this event. For you care about nothing other than the way people perceive you. You are shallow. Unable to feel what is within you, for there is nothing. Your appearances are more important to you than your morals, than your own heart.” Screams fill the room as one, by one, the remaining party goers morph into the costumes they wore to the Monster Ball.
The only person left unchanged is Marnie, and soon, she is ushered away into a closet that is locked from the outside.
The stranger turns to address the crowd once more. The grin on her face grows second by second, becoming more sinister. “Like my father and my grandfather before him, you turned your back on me as a child. All because of my family name. My mother and I were run out of town like rats. You will pay for your sins.” The woman floats across the room once more. She finally lands at the chair at the very front of the room where she promptly takes a seat. “You can think about your misdeeds as you suffer from the very spells they cast upon this town at one point.” She cackles once more as her spells finally lock in. “My name is Kala, and you are all my pets now.”
This twist is based on the spells casted in Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge. The characters have been split into three categories. The first spell is the grey spell, cast upon Halloweentown in the second film. The second, is what happens to those that fall into Kalabar’s trap in the first Halloweentown movie, like Harriet. The final spell is the spell cast upon the mortal realm in the sequel.
For the other half of the Monster Ball event to unfold, I will be creating a list of all of the characters and randomizing the results. Each character will be placed into one of the three categories. I will message your tumblr accounts as to what muse has what spell cast upon them. Please keep the spell your characters receive as a secret until Thursday, October 21st, when this part of the event will go live. There is no need to make new threads for this, as all characters are experiencing this in their own way. I think it will be interesting to see our current threads unfold due to the change.
While some muses may get injured due to the chaos, please do not write and/or plan any major injuries without clearing it with me first. I hope you enjoy this. Get creative, have fun! Happy Hauntings.
