The Adventures of the SOL

 The wind blew hard against the windows of the castle, causing the foundation to shift and the floor to creak loudly.  Candles flickered and Lizer Castle’s residents pulled their covers up a little higher than usual.  The scratch of the leaves through the grounds and the go-kart track outside sounded like a corpse being drug through the golden red debris.  On the front balcony of the mansion, there sat a yellow pumpkin, grinning into the darkness as it’s candle waved frantically, like an animal caught in the jaws of a predator.

 Rei Wallace was loving every minute of it.

 "We wish you a happy Halloween, we wish you a happy Halloween--" she sang as she made the plans for her she-devil costume.  Halloween was almost as good as Christmas, but not as for lack of large presents.  But Halloween had candy and the year round carnival always had some sort of fun festivities.  Because of the nature of its residents, Halloween was taken quite seriously by all Lizertonians in Lizerton.

 "Whoo!" came a sound to Rei’s right.

 There was a ghost standing there like a sheet in the wind, it’s face twisted into a mournful wail as it crossed the room towards Rei.  Rei smirked and continued to sketch up the details of her costume.

 "Good job, Hotaru, how long did it take you to come up with that?  For a minute there I was almost scared,"  Rei informed the ghost and it frowned.

 "Your no fun once I can’t scare you," Hotaru complained shifting back into her normal girl form.  She tossed her thick black hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms in a pout.

 "Nothing scares me at Halloween," she said with a grin, "I’m the Halloween Princess.  Princess Halloween!  There, I think it’s finished."  She held the sketchbook back a little to look at it.

 Hotaru tried to look over her shoulder at the costume but Rei quickly pulled it away.  Hotaru shrugged and folded her arms again.  "What time is it?"

 "I’d say nine," Rei said, "Why?  Your not thinking of going to bed are you?  Does a little holiday like this frighten you?"  Rei smirked back at her.

 "Absolutely not," Hotaru replied, her finger in the air, "'Smatter of fact, wanna go for a ride on the go-karts?"

 "Ha!  Let’s see if we can find everyone else!" Rei said and stood up, turning over the picture before Hotaru could see it.  Rei went next door and into Amy's room.

 "That poor Dragon," Rei said, shaking her head.

 "Doesn’t she look cute?!" Amy asked.  Sady looked at the other girls miserably, dressed in a baggy yellow and white clown costume.  Amy smiled and stuck on a red foam nose, which Sady promptly sneezed off.

 "Yeah," Rei lied, "If you're all finished, we were going to take a ride on the go-karts.  Wanna come?"

 "Excellent!" Amy said and stood up.  Sady stumbled on the baggy legs of her costume trying to follow. "Oh, Sorry Sady.  Lemme take that off."

 "Yip!" Sady demanded.

 Amy took off the costume and they ran over to Mina’s room.  When they opened the door all they could see were a bunch of animals.  Mina was reading on her bed with her panther, TK, next to her, her black cat, Black, and Cere the squirrel.  The other animals were up and about.  The bird and the mouse were chasing each other playfully.

 "Hey, what’s up?" she asked, peeking over her book.

 "Ten bucks says I can beat you in go-karts!" Rei taunted and Mina calmly put down the book.

 "Let’s go then," she said and smiled evilly.

 Then there was Serena.  Serena was brushing her hair in front of the mirror.  The bunny ears on her head showed that she probably wouldn’t take them off until Halloween was over.  She looked up, inquiring, as Rei, Hotaru, Amy and Mina all stared into her very pink room.

 "Maybe I shouldn’t ask," Rei said, "You always lose anyway.  But do you wanna go-kart?"

 Serena frowned.  "I could beat you without a steering wheel, Ms. Road Rage," Serena sniffed and gave her hair a last stroke.

 "Prove it," Rei said and Serena followed them out the door.  They moved to Lita’s room, which had jungle decor and the feeling of exotic pleasures.  She poked her head out from behind a small wall.

 "Don’t come in!  I don’t want you to see my costume yet!" Lita said and ducked back in.

 "We wanted to see if you wanted to go go-kart racing with us," Rei said, half shutting the door.

 "Really?  Cool!  Hold on," Lita called back, and after some muffled sounds, came out in tight leopard skin pants, a fuzzy white sweater, and zebra striped ear muffs.

 They then headed to the end of the hall to Charlie’s room.  They opened the door and saw him sitting in an overstuffed velvet chair, reading a book.  The walls were covered from top to bottom with books and antiques and a fire was blazing in the chimney.  Rei reflected that Charlie was the only who was actually pulling off the creepy feel, as he was half hidden in shadows.

 "Hey Charles," Rei called and he looked up sharply at the calling of his full first name.

 "Yes?"

 "Wanna go-kart race?" Rei asked him and he laughed.

 "I beat you last time, didn’t I?" Charlie asked, and put the book down on the small table next to him.  Rei shrugged.

 "I can’t remember, but I’m sure if you did it again I would," Rei insisted.  Charlie sighed and stood up, grabbing his jacket and slipping it over his shoulders.

 "Why not?"

 "All right!" Lita and Serena both called and high-fived.

 "Let’s go!" Rei said and they all ran down the stairs, Rei in the lead.  They burst out the back door and into the largest go-kart track anyone could conceive. There was a car for each of them.  Rei ran to her red one, Mina to her orange, Serena to her pink, Amy had the blue, Lita had the green, and Hotaru owned the black.  Charlie’s was a simple white with a black symbol on its side.

They all looked different too.  Rei’s was racy with a blue pinstripe, and Charlie’s looked like an older type car.

 "Start!" Rei called to the magically enhanced and voice activated track.  They pulled up to the starting line, which had a barrier up, preventing early starters.  Rei revved her engine and received other revs in return.

 "On your mark.  Get set.  Begin." The mechanical voice, sounding strangely like Rei’s, instructed and thee barrier fell.

 Rei slammed her foot on the brake and peeled out for a split second before shooting across the track.  She knew each turn like she knew her own castle.  She even took a moment to adjust her rear view mirror.  There was no way she was going to lose this race.

 Charlie was creeping up behind her in his older looking, but fast, car.  He turned the corners with such ease it was hard to believe that he didn’t do this more often.

 Behind him, going by only one motivation, were Serena and Lita, keeping their focus right on Charlie.  Serena’s car was, as was said, pink, with a lacy white pinstripe and golden trim on the windshield.  It looked oddly like a miniature convertible car.  Lita’s was similar, except that her’s had fuzzy animal print lining her windshield and as a pinstripe.

 Behind them was Hotaru, soon to pass, who drove the sleek black luxury go-kart.  There was no pinstripe or any design on it, just black.

 Mina’s had a large heart on the front with wings coming out of the sides.

 After that was Amy, not really caring about winning and enjoying the drive.  Her blue car had dragon’s wings painted on the side and a golden hood ornament that looked like Sady.  Though no less rambunctious than the others, she just wasn't all that competitive.

 Rei skidded around the hairpin curve and stuck the tip of her tongue out of her mouth, watching Charlie in her rearview mirror.  Charlie was slowly but surely gaining on her.  Rei narrowed her eyes and pressed all the way on her gas pedal.  If she missed a turn, she would have spun out and wouldn’t have had a chance of winning, but if she could hold on, then she would win for sure.

 And it was only one race, right?

 She floored the pedal and jerked back in her seat.  She concentrated hard on the curves of the  road.  As the sun sank below the hills surrounding the kingdom of Lizerton, the stadium lights burst on and illuminated the track.  She sighed with relief and pressed still harder on the pedal.  She watched Charlie’s frown as he passed from view at the corner.  She hit the straight way and flipped on her speed switch.  As she approached the first curve she turned it off.

 Now she was in a sure lead.  Unless she screwed up a turn, there was no way anyone could pass her.

 She went around for the last lap, becoming absorbed with her track.  She saw the stop light go off just as she passed it, but noticed too late.  The track was too narrow to turn around so she took an extra lap to get back.  When she got to the middle, she was sure everyone else was in their parking spots.  She pressed on the pedal, hardly able to wait until she could gloat about her win.

 She took a quick look behind her to see if Charlie had followed anyway.  He hadn’t.  She was completely alone on the track.  She focused back on the road.

 Rei looked ahead only just in time to see what looked like a girl standing in the middle of the track.  Before she even had a chance to react the magically run lights switched off with a loud click.  Left in complete darkness and swerving to avoid the girl on the road, Rei instinctively made a sharp left.  She felt the go-kart spin out of control and hit the side.  She bounced off of the spring loaded wall and hit the one behind her.  She spun until she reached the middle of the track.  There her small red go-kart stopped and she looked around, shaking off a slight vertigo.

 "Where did that girl come from?" Rei asked, looking up.  She gasped.  Even though it was completely dark, she could still see the girl.  She was watching Rei, then continued to walk towards the outer fence.  Rei started to call to her but had to sit down hard when she saw her walk right though the fence and disappear.

 "What the--?" she asked and shook her head.  She stared out past the fence, trying to see the girl, but she was gone.  Suddenly the lights burst one again and she jumped.  She let out a small exasperated sigh and restarted the go-kart.  It hummed and she put it into gear, then finished the lap.  She pulled into her designated spot and pulled over.  The others were watching her anxiously, curious as to what had happened to the lights.

 "What took so long?  Why’d the lights go out?" Lita asked.

 Rei saw Serena clinging to Mina’s arm and Amy grinned.  "She screamed when the lights went out.  I think she’s a little shaken up."

 Rei didn’t smile and Amy’s faded.  "What’s wrong?"

 "Let’s go in," Rei said, "I’ll tell you there."

They sat around the large fire place in the lounge, warming their hands by the fire, driving back the autumn air.  Rei told them what had happened on the track.

 "Wow, so it was a ghost?" Hotaru asked, becoming a little too excited for comfort.  Everyone cast her a suspicious glance.

 "Well, it wasn’t you," Rei said, "It didn’t have your aura.  I recognize the way your presence feels, that’s why I knew it was you in my room."

 "So who was it?"

 "Don’t you know the legend Rei?" Charlie asked her and she turned to him sharply.  He was leaned back in the chair so that the top half of his face was shadowed and that all they could see was his mischievous grin.

 "What legend?  I’ve lived here all my life and never heard any legend," she told him, and he shrugged.

 "It was going out when I worked here, but an old lady in the kitchen told me about it," Charlie replied, "I might have never heard it otherwise."

 "What’s the legend?" Lita asked, leaning towards Charlie and softly touching his arm.  He took a moment to give her a look.

 They crowded around, sitting on the floor in front of him, except Rei who was on the couch across, looking very skeptical.  He placed his fingers together and tapped them as though considering.  Finally he leaned back and began.

 "There was once a Princess of Lizerton," he started,  "Who lived in this castle.  The back yard used to be a huge garden and she loved nothing more than to walk through that garden."

The girl’s name was Princess Rune.  She had long brown hair that went past her waist.  She was a real Princess, not like Rei who was only a Princess by law, otherwise she’d be Queen.  Her parents ruled Lizerton.

 She walked through her garden with a deep affection for it.  She also loved the color blue.  ("Amazing taste!"  Amy cried.)  The garden was filled with every blue flower in existence.  She loved the Bluebonnet the most.  At the back of the garden was a semi circle of Bluebonnets.  She would sit in the middle of the circle and read, or play.

 The thing that made this Princess different from most people in Lizerton was that she was very lonely.  She had no brothers or sisters.  Her father consoled her and played with her but she wanted to play with a little girl her own age.

 None of the girls in the maid service had time, the kitchen cook’s apprentices were not interested in flowers, and the stable girls were much too tom boyish for a Princess like Rune.  She could find no one to share her circle of Bluebonnets.  She sat in the back of the garden, waiting for someone to come play with her.

 Then one day, a voice floated through the air and into her ear.  It rose over the brick walls of the back yard.  It was like a wind, soft and gentle.

 "Rune... Rune... come play Rune..."

 She heard its call and followed the voice.  She at last had someone to play with.  She tracked it to the outside of the wall and started to climb over, but her nurse called her in, and, afraid of getting into trouble, she stopped.

 She considered whether she should meet her new friend or go home.  ("Go home!" Lita called, "Voices over walls aren’t to be trusted!")  She waited and the voice had stopped, so she went back to the castle.

 But the next day, the voice rose over the wall.

 "Rune... I want someone to play with... come play with me..."

 She followed the voice to that same place at the wall and climbed over.  She looked around and saw no one.  Then she heard the voice call her name once more.

 "Rune, I’m over here..."

 She looked for the source and was drawn towards the forest, but as she started towards it, a couple of stable hands who were exercising the horses walked by, and she quickly scrambled over the wall.  ("Good job," Hotaru nodded, "This girl must be pretty naive.")

 The next day she waited for the voice over the wall, making sure no one would interrupt her this time.  She was excited and eager to meet her new friend..  She heard it calling for her in the forest.
 "Rune... I’m over here... come play..."

 She ran in the direction she heard it from, her heart thumping with excitement.  She was going to get a friend at last!

 She approached the forest and followed the voice to  small clearing.  Inside was a gray stone church.  She stared up at the tall cross in front.  ("Wait, you mean the broken down one I go to when I need a break?" Rei asked nervously.)  She heard the voice inside and started towards it.

 But she heard her father calling.  She didn’t dare be late for her father and ran away, promising to go and meet her new friend next time.

 So, with a new determination, she sat off into the forest and found the church again.  One of the maids was watching her go into the forest and called a stable hand.  He went out to find her.  ("Maybe she’ll stay away," Mina said hopefully.)  He gathered up a few men in case he had trouble finding her.  They scanned the woods and found no trace of the Princess.

 Alarmed, the stable hand alerted the King of his missing daughter.  ("Poor King..." Serena said.)  The King sent a search party to find Princess Rune.  They scanned through the woods, everyone including the King.  The Kingdom was at a standstill, because it was Hallow’s Eve and the festivities had been put aside until the Princess was found.

 The King went the way the maid had pointed out and stumbled across the church.  He, being a religious man, thought to pray for his poor lost daughter's safety, and entered.  As he walked in, he saw it was completely empty.  He knelt in front of the crucifix without setting his eyes on Jesus' face, and prayed for his daughter’s safety.

 At the end of his prayer he looked at the face of Jesus and was greeted by his daughter’s.  She was bound limply to the cross and her blue dress was scored with blood.  The King followed her blood and saw it pool over the edge of the alter.  Behind her, smeared into the stone, were the words, "I only wanted to play."

"And so every Halloween Night, the Princess wonders towards the church, looking for a friend to play with, and will forever more only find the murderer, who will kill her again each year until her soul becomes rested."

 Everyone was very quiet as Charlie finished his story.  "Sometimes, Charlie, you are too good at telling a story," Rei shivered, "Besides, that was just plain morbid, don't you think?"  She cast a look at the others to see if they would tease her but all their faces seemed a little pale.

 "What happened to the King?" Lita asked as Serena gripped her arm, looking around for any sign of movement.

 "He was so furious that he put a bounty on the head of the killer and burned the church down.  No one knows it’s there except Rei and I and maybe someone else," Charlie said, then suddenly shifted from under the shadows.  He gave them all a big, cheerful smile. "Well, I’m positively worn out.  I’m going to bed."

 He stood up and walked out of the room.  The girls all gave each other wide eyed looks.    "Do you think it’s true?" Serena asked.

 "Well, Rei saw her, didn’t you?" Hotaru turned to the princess, who was curled up on one end of the couch, thinking.

 Rei nodded, "And she was headed right for that church."

 Silence reigned in the room as everyone gathered her thoughts.  Rei stared into the fire.  "It’s odd.  I’ve been in that church a million times, and it’s never had any bad spirits in it.  A few, yes, but not any particularly rude ones."

 They fell silent once again.  The fire gave a loud pop and they all jumped, Serena and Lita giving a little scream.

 "Well, I guess we should go to bed," Rei said hesitantly.

 All at the same time, the girls asked Rei, "Can I sleep in your room?"

In the end, Rei had convinced the girls to sleep in their own rooms.  She sat in her bed, staring up at the canopy.  No one had asked her why she had never seen this particular ghost here before, and she thought she knew why.  They didn’t want to know.

 Of course, there was a rational explanation for Rei not knowing, and that was because she was always away at Halloween.  It was traditional for Rei and Charlie to spend Halloween together, and since he was now living in the castle, there was no need to go anywhere.  There were three days until Halloween.  Normally she would have been gone for two days already.  The kingdom usually did her the favor of holding the celebrations early, but now they were aligned with the actual holiday.

 So did this make a difference?  Rei thought it did, because she had that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was going to happen.  It was like being nervous before talking to a crowd.  It ate away at you until you got it over with.

 Another thing that bothered Rei was, who was the killer?  Who would do such a thing to an innocent Princess?  Was this story even true?

 Rei couldn’t sleep, didn’t really need to, so she decided to check it out in the library.  The library held a book that had her entire (adopted) family’s history.  It should have some information on Rune.

 She stood up and lit a candle.  She was in a billowy night gown that went a little above her knees.  She felt it tickling her legs and making her feel as though something was crawling on her as she opened the door.  It went with a creak.  She tiptoed down the hall, making sure she didn’t wake the others.

 Rei came out in the throne room and stopped.  She looked at all of the many empty seats in front of her and swallowed.  She checked each one, hoping no one suddenly appeared to be sitting in one.

 She cleared her throat and walked quickly down the aisle.  No audience seats were going to scare her.  She walked down the stairs of stone with nothing more than her red slippers pattering against it with each step.  She looked at the large front doors, closed because of the cold weather (open in the summer), and quickly walked into the doorway under the stairs.  On the first floor, it was a little confusing.  You could only get to certain rooms by certain other rooms.  For example, the library filled the end of the right side, but the only door to it was  the room in the above left, not the below.

 She made her way to the library to discover that the maids had already turned out all the lights.  The great stained glass windows made odd shadows on the floor.  With a great gust her candle blew out and she was surrounded by darkness.

 Rei fumbled for the matches in her nightgown pocket and dropped them.  She felt around for them and found them on the floor.  As she laid her hand on them she saw something streak across the windows vague light.  She looked up quickly but saw nothing in the darkness.  She quickly forgot the matches and held up a hand.  A small orb of light appeared.

 At the same time, a light came on directly in front of her.  She screamed and jumped back, her orb fading.  Rei took a deep breath, but knew that in that little strike of light someone else had screamed, and that someone else was Amy.

 Stupid, why didn’t you check for a presence? she thought.  Lighting the candle, she saw Amy light her own a few feet away.

 "What are you doing?" Amy asked, "You scared me!"

 "Where’s Sady?" Rei asked, "She could have told you who I was."  Rei stood up and looked for the light switch.

 "She was asleep so I let her nap," Amy said, "Why are you in the library?"

 "I wanted to look up some information on that Princess Rune," Rei said, "What about you?  Oh wait, same reason.  Loud thoughts don’t keep secrets Amy."

 Amy kind of grinned and shrugged.  "It was an interesting story.  I wanted to see if there ever really was a Princess Rune."

 "Don’t know how you planned on that," Rei said, flipping up a switch, illuminating the room, then walking over to a large desk.  She felt better now that the room was completely lit.  She pushed back the top of the roll top desk to reveal a rather large book.  Inside was every King, Queen, Princess, Prince, Advisor, and Duke ever to serve in Lizerton.  She flipped to the last page that wasn’t blank.  It held her picture, one in which she was very young, and the names of all of the men and women that worked for her.

 "Now, Charlie said that he had heard the story when he was working here, which was somewhere between me and King and Queen Alexibre, who I inherited the throne from.  An old woman told him.  Now... yes, the cook was Brandi Spatch.  The story was going out when she told him, so..." Rei flipped back about ten pages and they saw a girl in a blue dress with an innocent smile on her face staring up at them.

 "Rune Alexandria Bethamere," Rei read, then flipped forward, "That’s kind of weird."

 "Huh?" Amy asked, looking over her shoulder.

 "I’m the first Princess to rule here since her death.  She was my Princessly predecessor," Rei smirked at Amy.

 "Clever," Amy said, "So Rune really was a Princess here.  Does that make the story true?"

 "Well I'd say no.  How did they know about the voice, unless the killer was around to tell the tale?" Rei said, "It may or may not be."

 "Let’s go to bed," Amy yawned, "And think about it in the morning."

Rei woke up late that morning and went down to brunch.  Everyone else was there, not quite awake, and munching on cereal or some other weak breakfast source.

 "Where are the cooks?" Rei asked.

 "Taking care of the food for the festival," Serena whined, "And I wanted pancakes."  She glared at the cereal bowl in front of her as if it was the anti-Christ.

 "Better than nothing at all, right?" Hotaru shrugged., but she probably looked in the worst mood about it.

 Charlie was frowning at the oatmeal in front of him, and shoved it away in a finicky manner.  "No thanks, I’m not hungry," Charlie said, and reached for his usual cup of coffee.

 "Baby," Rei said, pouring a bowl of cereal for herself, "Breakfast is important and you never eat."

 Charlie rolled his eyes, then gained a mischievous expression.  "So, did everyone sleep okay last night?"

 The looks around the table said no.  Even Lita seemed a little put out.  Everyone else just seemed to be glaring at Charlie.

 "Hey, let’s have a go-kart tournament," Amy said suddenly, and everyone stared at her.  "Yeah, we separate into pairs and race, then see who wins championship!"

 Rei could read her thoughts a mile away, even if she hadn't been a psychic.  Amy wanted to see Rune in action, so she made up this plan about the go-karts as an excuse to be outside.

 "Okay!" Serena said, oblivious.

 "Wait," Lita could see what Amy was up to and was trying to make an excuse to get out of it, "There’s seven here.  How do we pair off?"

 Amy looked at her.  "Well, one will have to be a trio, or something."

 "That wouldn’t give everyone an equal chance to be in the race," Mina shrugged, "We should just forget about it, unless there's an eighth racer."

 "What about Rais?" Rei asked before she could help herself.  Maybe she was curious about the ghost too?

 They all stared at her.  She was the only one who trusted Rais fully.  Rei couldn’t have said why, just that she knew they could trust him.

 "Come on," Rei said, "There is nothing wrong with him."

 "No..." Hotaru said slowly, "Except that, and maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing, when we first met him, he was trying to kill us!"

 "Talk about holding a grudge," Rei pouted and everyone rolled their eyes.  Rei may have not been as spoiled as some Princess’s but when she wanted something, she usually got it.

 "Well, it would even up the contestants," Amy suggested.  No one seemed to notice as a faraway look came over her eyes.  It had been a few weeks since they last encountered him and she remembered what had happened.

 "And we could have another boy on the team," Serena added, "Since poor Charlie is all alone in that area."

 "I’m in!" Lita said automatically.

 "Now we have to find him," Mina said.  "He spends all his time in the forest, and it’s hard to find--" she stopped and smiled.  "Cere!"

 "Oh yeah," Rei said, "We could just send Cere."

 "Cere!" Mina called.  She might have sent TK the panther, but Rais might not like that since TK almost killed him when they had first met.

 The squirrel appeared on the table and grabbed a crusty piece of toast from Mina’s plate.  Mina ignored this and told Cere to take a note to Rais.  She grabbed a napkin and Charlie lent her a pen.   She scribbled the message on the napkin and handed it to Cere.

 "What’d it say?" Lita asked.

 "Too meet us at nightfall at the castle," Mina said, "Who knows, maybe we’ll see a ghost."

That night, the SOL waited for Rais in front of the castle.  They were wearing sleek racing outfits to match their cars, except Charlie who didn’t believe in such nonsense.  Rei twitched her nose impatiently with her helmet tucked under her arm.

 The sun was just sinking below the horizon as Rais approached without sound.  He hadn’t changed much since they last saw him, except his hair was longer and untidy.  Charlie sniffed in disapproval.

 "I got a note--"

 "Yeah, we sent it to you," Rei said, "Get inside, it’s freezing!"  She dragged Rais inside.

 "What did you guys want?" he asked, "I thought it might be important, as you’ve never asked me to the castle before."

 "We want you to race," Serena said, holding up a helmet behind Rei.  Rei smiled as he took on a look of confusion.

 "Race?" Rais asked uncertainly.

 "Go-karts," Mina explained, "We needed one more person to make it even and Rei said you should be the eighth person.  We’re having a tournament."

 "Go... Karts?"

 "Come on," Rei sighed and grabbed him by the wrist.  She dragged him out to the track, with the others right behind. He blinked a few times at the cars lined up, each spot labeled for each person.

 "The white one’s yours," Rei said, "I ordered it this morning.  If you want, we can have it painted and label the parking spot."

 "That’d be awesome, but you don't... I mean..." Rais fumbled his words and started blushing.  For some reason Rei started to blush too.

 "Of course we do!" Hotaru insisted, "She already bought the stupid car, you wouldn't want to insult her would you?"

 Rais smiled and shook his head.

 "Well, have you ever raced before?" Lita asked, sitting on the hood of her own car.  He looked at his own as if it would bite him.

 "Um, no," he said sheepishly, "I don’t think I’ve ever seen a go-kart.  I think I heard of them somewhere though."

 "Well, get in," Rei suggested, opening the door to his car and insisting he get inside.  Reluctantly he stepped inside.

 They showed him how to run it and explained switching gears.  He listened with rapt attention as they showed him how to steer the curved and explained their techniques for driving to him.  After awhile he started the go-kart, and the engine started with a nice smooth hum.

 "Now, go for a test lap," Rei winked, "See you in a sec... or maybe more, depends on how good you are."  She stepped back and everyone watched with grinning faces.

 It took Rais a little while to figure out the steering, but he got the hang of it by the end of the track.

 "Well, it won’t be very fair since you’ve just started, but you should do okay," Mina put in, "Let’s start.  Who goes first?"

 "Let’s draw straws," Charlie said, "Shortest go first longest go last."

 He broke up some sticks and placed them in his hand.  They each took a stick and checked the size.  The first up were Amy and Lita.

 They raced, and Lita won of course, since Amy just rode because she liked it.  Amy didn’t care much about winning a little thing like a go-kart race.

 Next were Mina and Serena.  It was a tough race, but in the end, Serena won by a hair’s breath.

 Then Charlie and Hotaru.  They raced and Charlie beat Hotaru easily.  Hotaru seemed more than a little disappointed and decided not to speak to Charlie.  It was just too bad he couldn't have cared less.

 Then it came down the Rais and Rei.

 "Poor Rais," Lita said when Rei wasn't paying attention, "I honestly don’t think you stand a chance against Rei."

 "She’s pretty good," Serena nodded, "Hardly anyone can beat that speed demon."  She smiled.  "Well, good luck!"

 "Well, that’s reassuring," he muttered, sliding into the seat of the go-kart.

 "To the starting line, please," the voice of the track said, "All contestants to the starting line."

 Rais pulled over to the starting line where Rei waited for him.  She winked and put her helmet on.  Rais revved his engine with a small grin on his face.

 "Ready.  Set.  Go."

 Rei shot off faster than Rais knew possible.  She had somehow mastered the ability to start fast.  He pulled in behind her.  He could see her black hair waving beneath the helmet and pressed a little harder on the gas pedal.  He almost exclaimed in joy as he slowly passed her.  She blinked a few times as he went by, then her face contorted in determination.  She pressed all the way down on her pedal and zoomed by him.

 "That’s a little dangerous," he muttered, but pressed down on his own.  They were racing side by side.  They hit the straightway and Rais realized that this was the second time that they had passed it.  One more lap to go.

 He focused with determination.  With such an equality in speed, he’d have to win with good driving.  He kept the car as straight as it could go.

 They approached the finish line and Rais managed to go all the way straight.  Rei passed him a worried glance as he went a little in front of her.  She didn’t have a chance to pick up the pace before they hit the finish line.

 They went around and Rei was so surprised at her loss that she took the victory lap with Rais.  She realized she was still following him and laughed.

 "Idiot!" she shouted, still laughing, "I can’t believe you beat me!"

 Rais just winked and saluted, and Rei continued laughing.  Rais turned his attention back to the road and gasped.  The girl from yesterday was there and she was right in front of him.  He hit the brakes, but not fast enough.  He went right through her and started to spin out of control.  He hit the side with a thud.  Rei made a hard jerk to the left and skidded to a stop.

 "Who is that?" Rais asked, getting out of his car.

 "It’s that ghost again!" Rei growled, "Come on."

 "What about everyone else?" Rais asked as he followed her towards the gate.

 "They know," Rei said, "I just told them.  They should follow us shortly.  Just come on!" She jumped into the air and over the fence.   Rais watched, surprised at how quickly she had made it, then started climbing up.

 "How do we know where we’re going?" Rais asked her, jumping down and following her at a run to the forest.

 "I already know where she’s headed," Rei told him, "Well, according to the legend anyway."  She ducked into the woods and Rais followed.

 "Are we going to that church by any chance?" Rais asked after a moment.

 "How do you know about it?" Rei asked, slowing down a bit.

 "Um, how long have I spent in this forest?" Rais asked with a smile. "I practically know this forest by heart.  I’d be surprised if I haven’t discovered everything in it that there is to discover."

 Suddenly a figure dropped in front of them.

 "Lita," Rei exclaimed, "I forget that you can move so fast in a forest."  Lita smiled and shrugged.
Rei looked over her shoulder.  "Hey, was that her?" she asked, pointing.  Lita turned just in time to see a white flash disappear through the trees.

 They started running again, Lita in the lead.  Suddenly, Lita burst out into the clearing where the church was and skidded to a halt.

 Rei took an uneasy step back.

 "What’s wrong?" Lita asked her.

 "This place is crawling with evil spirits," Rei said, looking around herself nervously, as though seeing things the other two couldn't. "They're practically leaking out of it."

 Lita stared at Rei for a moment, the turned back to the broken church.  She felt a chill run up her spine and understood what Rei meant.

 "Come on," Lita said, trying to ignore the feeling.

 They marched up to the building and opened the heavy wooden doors.  Rei stepped in and took a good look around.  Suddenly her back went completely straight and she fell back, clutching the sides of her head.

 "Rei!" Rais said, "What’s the matter?"

 "I--I can see it!"  Rei said, her eyes having a faraway look to them.

 "See what?" Lita asked, but then knew what she was saying.  "You're watching the murder?  What’s happening?"

 "Not the murder," Rei said, "Rune is walking into the church, looking around for anyone.  She’s standing in front of the crucifix, but the body of Jesus is gone.  She’s stepped up onto the platform and is looking around.  She’s turned around and--who’s that?"

 "What’s going on?" Lita asked.

 "There’s a person wearing a dark cloak," Rei said, knitting her eyebrows, "They’re holding a knife!  She’s walking up to Rune, but Rune has her back turned."

 Suddenly, Rei was seeing out of Rune’s eyes.  Rune was beginning to turn around and any second--

 Rei gasped and shut her eyes tightly.  Right before the knife was about to cut into Rune, Lita gave her a hard jerk and the vision faded.

 "What do you see?" Rais asked.

 "I see... you," Rei said, and when Rais gave her a startled look she said, "I mean, the vision’s gone.  I was just about to see who killed her when it was gone."

 "Why did you scream?" Lita asked.

 "I screamed?  Well I guess because when she turned around, it was like knowing that I was fixing to be murdered, and I just couldn’t take it anymore," Rei wiped sweat from her forehead and stood up.

 "Guys!" Amy called.

 "What’s going on!" Serena called, "Have you seen any ghosts?"

 "We saw her but she’s disappeared," Lita told her, "She’s gone again.  We’ll find out before she’s gone forever."

 "No, not forever," Charlie corrected her, being serious this time, "Just until next Halloween."

 Rei swallowed.

 "Let’s go home," Rei said, and stood up.

That night, Amy and Serena went to the library before the lights went out and looked through the family book.  They were looking at the picture of Rune.

 "I wanna see what her dad looked like," Serena muttered, and turned a page back.  To her surprise, she saw her mother, and another boy, but no dad.

 "Wait, who’s this kid?" Amy asked, pointing at the other boy.

 "Uh," Serena read the title, "Prince Vanderwalt?  Weird.  I didn’t know there was a prince.  Charlie said she didn't have any brothers or sisters."

 They turned a page back and saw Rune’s father.  He had a large mustache and black hair, but other than the fact that he stared like a king, he could have been any other man.

 "Hmm," Amy said, reading, "According to this, the prince was the Queen’s son before the two were married, as was Rune the King’s daughter before they got together."

 "So?" Serena asked, "So the family was a little mixed up."

 "I guess--" Amy flipped forward, "Yeah, Prince Vanderwalt became King Vanderwalt since his sister died, even though she was the true heir."

 "That’s sad," Serena said, "Let’s go tell Rei about the Prince."

 "K," Amy said and they left the library.  As soon as they walked out the lights in the library went out.

 They two girls looked at each other.

 "Creepy..." Serena said nervously barely able to see since most of the other lights were off.

 Then all the lights went off.

 "Man," Amy muttered, "Come on, Serena." She grabbed Serena’s elbow and they marched down the hall, Serena occasionally running into things.

 They finally made their way to the hall, where they also managed to find Rei’s room.  Amy opened it and started to say, "Hey, Rei, guess what we--"

 Both girls froze.  Inside the room was a small glowing sphere of light.  Rei had the covers to her knees as she sat up, staring at the light.  Amy called her name, but she just stared forward.

 "What’s the matter with her?" Serena asked fearfully.

 "I don’t think she can hear us," Amy said, "Stay here and don't let her out of your site.  I'll go find the others."

 She ran out of Rei’s room and woke up the others.

Before they could get to Rei's room they heard Serena yelling.  All of them burst in and Serena was leaning out the window, calling Rei's name.

 Charlie ran to the window and saw Rei walking towards the forest, following a white sphere.  "Hurry!" he called and looked down.  How did Rei get down?  They were on the second floor of the castle.

 Of course, levitation might help in such a situation.  He jumped out the window himself and right before he would have hit the ground, he slowed to a stop.  Amy followed, knowing a little magic herself with Mina following on the magical TK’s back.  Lita held Serena as Serena brought them down.

 They all chased after Rei in the direction she had gone.  Lita and Mina got ahead quickly, Mina on TK and Lita jumping from branch to branch weightlessly.  The others lagged far behind but they got too caught up in the chase to notice.

 "Rei!" Lita called, "She’s just up ahead.  She’s standing in front of the church."  They rushed forward and came to the clearing where Lita made a brilliant leap to the ground and ran towards the church.

 "Gah!" Lita gasped as she approached the door.  As if from no where, a figure appeared in front of the door.  They were cloaked in all black and the hood hid any facial features.  Lita took several startled steps back and saw she could see the door handle through the figure's stomach.

 Mina jumped off of TK and ran to Lita’s side.

 "It’s only a ghost," Mina said, "Just reach through it."

 "Wait, can’t we just--" Lita said, peering around the edge, but to her surprised, where the walls had been knocked down, they now stood as good as new.

 The church itself looked as though it had never been burnt down.  It seemed new.  Lita took a deep breath and reached for the handle of the door that she could see through the ghost.  The ghost put up a hand and Lita flew backwards.  She hit a tree, then Mina ran into her.  As she rubbed her now sore head, Lita said, "Just a ghost huh?"

 "Where’s Rei?" Hotaru's voice was urgent as she approached, followed by everyone else.  Mina helped Lita stand, her wincing from the bump on her head.

 "Inside," Mina said, "there was a cloaked--"

 They turned to the door in time to see the ghost walk into the church.  Everyone paused and listened.  The silence was unnerving as well as deafening.

 Suddenly something came up behind them.

 "What’s all the commotion--whoa..." Rais jumped as everyone turned to him, ready to attack.  They all sighed when they saw it was him.  "Hey what's going on?  Where's Rei?"  he looked over them to the church.  "When did the church get fixed?"

 "It didn't," Hotaru snapped, "And Rei is inside there somewhere.  Come on, we have to hurry."  She shoved forward and went straight to the doors.

 They forced open the doors and entered.  Charlie was the first to gasp, because he was the first to look up.  The church was brand new and sparkling, chandeliers hanging above their heads.  The platform had white paint on it and the piano and all other things were still there.  But in the center of the platform, where Jesus should have been hanging on the cross, was Rei, tied to it.

 "Rei!" Hotaru called, but she didn’t respond.  Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be unconscious.

 Charlie ran forward, but in front of him, the cloaked figure appeared and he stumbled backwards. The cloaked figure pulled out a long knife.  She reared it back and aimed at Rei’s throat.

 Everyone let out a cry as a head emerged from Rei’s own.  It was Rune’s.  She had leaned forward in a silent scream.  One word was made out clearly on her lip as she screamed.  Help.

 The ghost knife went through Rune’s throat and her eyes went blank.  Everything seemed to freeze as Rune fell limp, unable to be seen because her position matched Rei’s.  The cloaked figure pulled back her hood and smiled.

 "Of course!" Amy said, "It was the queen."

 Everyone stared at her, then back at the woman, who was the queen.

 "The queen’s son--Rune--It all makes sense now," Amy murmured.

 "What does?" Hotaru asked.

 "The queen had a son that she conceived before she was ever even queen," Amy said, "That meant that, unless there was no other heir, he would never become a king.  Rune was the heir to the throne, that is, until the queen killed her so her son could inherit the throne."

 Everyone was silent, and the queen’s ghost frowned at them.  No one seemed to want to go forward and release Rei from the cross.   They could see the silver ghost’s blood dripping seemingly from Rei’s neck.  Then it all disappeared.  The blood, the queen, the walls, everything that was there that shouldn’t have.  It left the two remaining walls and the charred cross Rei now hung from by herself.

 They ran forward.  "Rei?" Rais asked carefully.

 Her eyes fluttered open.  "Wha?  Rais?  Where... Agh!" she realized she was hanging from the cross, "Hey, what’s going on!?  Why am I tied to a cross?"

 "Stand still," Charlie scolded.  "Let me undo this knot..."

 "Is this your idea of a joke?" Rei asked angrily, "This really isn’t funny.  How come I slept through all of this--!!??"

 She kept on ranting as Charlie and Hotaru finally managed to get her off the cross.  She fell down and landed hard.  She glared up at all of them.

 "If you’ll listen--" Amy said to the now angry Rei.

 Rei took a deep breath and let it out.  "Okay, explain, but it better be good."

 "Let’s go back to the castle first," Serena said, and shivered, "It’s cold out here.  And it’s kind of spooky."

 They started to walk back towards the castle, when Rei saw Rais out of the corner of her eyes walking back towards the forest.

 "Aren’t you coming with us?" she asked him.

 "I--" he started to say, but a howl sounded through the forest. Everyone froze and Rais smiled sheepishly.  "Um... Sure..."

Back at the castle, Rei listened to the group tell her exactly what had happened, each of them interrupting the other to get in their say.

 "I don’t remember any of that," she said, a little shaken up, "How weird..."

 "So it was the queen the whole time," Hotaru said softly, "How sad is that... Who did she tell that could have turned it into a legend like that?"

 "Could have been anyone," Lita shrugged, "After all, to pull off something that elaborate, she may have had some help."

 "Maybe," Hotaru said, "But it could have been anyone."  She grinned and shapeshifted into the queen, "But no good crime is ever done alone."

 "Cut it out," Serena shivered.

 "I guess we should go to bed," Rei said, and they all looked around.

 They heard a loud howl outside.

 "I could stand to stay up a little longer," Mina said.

 "Nope, not tired at all," Lita said.

 They all laughed a little nervously and stared into the fire.  Now the question was, would Rune’s spirit be back?  They’d have to wait till the next three nights before Halloween.

 "Er, Rais, would you like to stay here for the night?  It's much too cold to sleep in the forest," Rei asked him.

 "Er, okay..." Rais looked at the darkened window nervously.

 "That is, if any of us sleeps at all," Hotaru retorted and everyone gave a silent nod.  Outside a cloud passed over the moon.

 "Well," Charlie grinned, walking out of the room, "I guess we'll have to see if we were right..."  He turned a moment, somehow regaining his spooky shadowed look.  "But not until next Halloween."
 

 Chapter 7