Chapter 40: Found It

Casper just wanted to sleep forever honestly. Or at least for a few more hours. He groaned softly and nestled into the blanket as lights came on in the room and he could hear the steady footsteps heading over to the bed, the clicking of the heels on the red carpet gave it away, it was Clementine. While he was momentarily proud of knowing who it was without even opening his eyes didn't mean he was pleased. He just wanted more sleep.

"Thatch... And Casper it's time to get up," Clementine happily cooed. "Come on, time to go to breakfast," she said firmly as she rounded the bed, going over to Thatch's side. Casper felt the bed dip more on Thatch's side as she sat down, pulling Thatch into her arms in a loving hug. "Thatch, Casper looks exhausted. Get him up and dressed and down to the dining room," she instructed, giving the vampire a quick kiss on his forehead. "But do so gently, the poor thing looks so tired... I didn't know moving here would be so hard on him." She softly pondered. "When you head out make sure none of the students get lost," she added as an afterthought, tousling up Thatch's hair before she walked out.

Casper mumbled, pouting as he felt the living vampire beside him move, pulling the blanket off. Well, he supposed this was bound to happen if he kept staying up so late. Casper yawned and stretched out before finally opening his eyes, peering up at Thatch who was just grinning widely at the ghost, looking rather amused. Casper yawned widely and just laid there, idly watching the amused vampire. Casper silently swore he would somehow get revenge on Thatch for this. Dumb vampires and their need for practically no sleep.

"I'll go get your clothes. You rest your eyes a bit more." Thatch decided on his own. Oh, thank goodness. Casper nuzzled back into the pillow and shut his eyes, just trying to get those last sweet minutes of peace. He didn't really hear Thatch get up, suppose he dozed off partly. He only noted the sound of things being moved around, then next thing he knew Thatch was putting shoes on the fully dressed ghost. Casper rubbed his eyes and looked down at the vampire, trying not to smile as Thatch softly hummed while tying the laces. So cute...

Ah, but back in the old style clothes! They were very similar to what Thatch had Casper wear last time, just not as 'fancy' looking. Thank goodness for that honestly. Casper sighed heavily, and once he felt Thatch finish tying his shoes the ghost forced himself to sit up, stretching out and whining. Thatch just laughed and climbed back up onto the bed, grabbing his brush off the side table. Casper watched Thatch brush his hair back, pure muscle memory to get it into its' classic style. Then the vampire turned to Casper, scooting closer and started to brush Casper's hair, even if it wasn't really needed. Since Casper could change his appearance at will that meant he had perfect control of his hair, so he never let it get messy. But Casper let Thatch do whatever, and it took less than 1 second for the ghost to realize the feeling of brushing out hair was very relaxing. The ghost hummed and leaned towards the vampire, resting against his chest.

Thatch didn't comment, content to have such a peaceful morning with his ghost. Plus since it was partly his fault Casper was so tired this is the least he could do for the other. Thatch kept the fluffed up look to Casper's hair, not brushed back like his own. He liked seeing Casper's fluffy hair, it fit the ghost's bubbly personality. Thatch then set the brush aside and wrapped his arms around the ghost, pulling him close as they both just sat on the bed, enjoying the silence in the morning hours. That was until Slither and Ra busted in. Go figure.

Despite Ra being utterly passed out last night, he was loud and awake this morning, though his pendant was still softly blinking... so creepy. The mummy was the one to bust in the room, a big grin on his face and he looked ready for anything. Slither slowly followed, hanging back at the door and nervously peering in, keeping his head low like he was expecting to be yelled at for intruding... Which Thatch was most likely itching to do, but he didn't want to completely ruin their peaceful morning.

"Good morning! Lets head on down I'm starving, plus we totally need to fill in Mantha on last night," Ra talked loudly as he walked over to the bed, not even noticing he was interrupting a peaceful intimate moment between the two. "Also, turns out Slither has a room with his own personal heater and a heated blanket. From the looks of it, your mom or Kibosh set up some solar panels out and had the wires run into his room. I thought I heard some pounding on the roof this morning so I got a feeling there's going to be a lot of construction going on today."

"Solar panels?" Thatch frowned, looking positively confused. "Why do we need those?" Thatch didn't seem too fond of change, especially in his house.

"Uh, because electricity is something this place desperately needs. Trust me the candle aspect if very cool and old but, I don't want flames near my bandages." Ra waved the thought off. "Nor do I want melted wax everywhere."

"The candles don't melt, dad enchanted them to-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Either way, I think I heard Fly Boy saying we're all getting assigned tasks to do after dinner, so let's head on down. I'm starving!"

"When aren't you?" Casper playfully joked, finally pulling away from the vampire and slipping off the bed.

"Wait wait no, I'm not dropping this. We don't need 'solar panels', we don't need to make any changes to the house!" He defended quickly. "We can just... Connect everything to the power source? That way the castle doesn't have to change too much, right?"

"Well... If this 'power source' gives off electricity then... sure? I dunno Thatch, I'm just saying I don't want to be around fire, and nor does our gym teacher." The mummy joked a bit. "I'm sure if we find an alternate source to solar panels your mom will leap on it."

"Exactly! So we got to get to my dad's lab!" Thatch eagerly said and jumped off of his bed. Casper decided to take control of the situation.

"We will, but I think we should listen to your mom first. Won't she be at breakfast anyway? We can ask her to hold off on the solar panels while we go down to your dad's lab." Casper offered, taking Thatch's hand. He firmly looked at the vampire, trying to get him to calm down without using his words. It seemed to be working somewhat. "Trust me I don't want the castle to change much either, I love it this way. But no need to rush things, and besides we're not even sure if what Ra said is completely true. Maybe the solar panels are only for Slither's heater and blanket? We'll ask and see, there's no need to jump ahead and get in trouble-"

"There better not be trouble." A familiar voice came. The boys turned around and were greeted by the pleasant sight of their zombie friend. She smiled and walked in confidently. "We're separated for one night and you all are talking about trouble? Clearly, you all are hopeless." She joked, then hugged Casper tightly. Casper quickly returned the hug and laughed when Ra joined right in.

"Mantha! I'm glad you're here. You missed so much last night, we got to fill you in." Casper said excitedly. As he released the zombie he was bouncing on his heels, but he actually felt the weight to his actions. Ah right, clothes and shoes. Those weighed him down some. It felt weird to actually have some weight to him after all this time of just being weightless. It was nice though, a good change.

"Oh not now Casper, tell her when I get some food!" Ra complained and started to head to the door. "I can eat a lake monster right about now!" He called back.

Mantha chuckled and rolled her eyes, making a brief motion for everyone to move out. She could wait a few minutes if it kept Ra from complaining like he was starving to death. The zombie contently walked beside Casper, talking about how his clothes were cute while Thatch walked with Slither, checking up on his snake-like friend and making sure he didn't get cold during the night.

Ra's focus was on getting to the dining room to eat. It made the ghost wonder if using magic made the mummy hungry, that could be a good answer. Ra seemed ravenous as of late, ever since he discovered his magic so it was the only logical reason. After that spell last night it made sense why Ra was so hungry.

Upon reaching the dining room the group (minus Thatch) stood in awe. The long wooden table stretched the length of the large room, a simple white tablecloth covered the wooden surface, and all the way down the table was platter after platter of food. At every seat was a piece of paper folded to stand up on its own with a students name written, along with the plate and silverware and a cloth napkin. The 3 chandeliers hanging over the tables were all lit, giving the room a gentle golden glow that seemed to be the new norm in the castle. The large windows were all covered by curtains though, out of respect for the fact that Clementine can burn to death- and no one wanted that.

Thatch walked forward, not even pausing. He seemed slightly interested by the fact they had assigned seats, but not surprised by it. He found his seat, which was near the head of the table. And much to their delight, Casper sat right beside him. Across from Thatch was Ra and across from Casper was Mantha. Slither got to sit on the other side of Casper, and they were delighted to see Wolfie sat across from Slither. Clementine clearly took the time to put the students who got along closer together, to reduce fighting and stress. Mealtime was a time for peace and relaxation after a long days work, or to prepare for a long day.

Clementine walked into the dining room, pushing a cart with several more platters of food. She took care of where she put them, studying the names on the seats before she set the platters down. It was then Casper noted that the platters were placed in front of their plates in a certain order based on what they were. Everyone's meal was custom designed for each student!

Now at this point Thatch finally looked confused just as Casper and the rest of the gang. So, Thatch being Thatch, he huffed and sat up straighter. "Momma!" He called out, and Clementine looked up swiftly as she set the last platter she was carrying down.

"Yes, dear? Something wrong?" she asked and walked over to her child, brushing her hands off on her apron. It was then Casper noted that Clementine was actually cooking all these meals, though he had a feeling the lunch lady was probably giving her a hand, there were so many monsters after all.

"What is all this?" Thatch motioned to the table, then looked back up to his mother expectantly. In front of Thatch, there were several jars filled with blood, each one with their own straw. But he also had ham, bacon, some buttered toast and oddly enough... Strawberry shortcake. The strawberry shortcake was in front of Casper too, but no one else got it.

"Ah well, I'll explain once everyone sits down," Clementine assured him. "Breakfast will start in just a minute, we're missing a few students. Oh, I bet they got lost…"

"They did," Dr. Burns steamed as he walked into the dining room, Monaco, Mickey and Mosshead in tow. "They got turned around and ended up in the library!" He huffed, watching as the three managed to find their way to their seats at least.

Casper looked up and down the table, noting all the students were there, and the teachers were lined up along the wall as if awaiting instructions. Clementine took a seat beside Thatch, and at the very head of the long table was an empty seat… Until Kibosh flew through the castle wall and just floated into his seat like it was no big deal.

Clementine cleared her throat, giving the green ghost a firm look. "We have doors and hallways for a reason. Walls are walls."

"Walls are annoying." He countered simply. "Anyways, I see we're all here." He stated as he looked up and down the table.

"Yes. I've already had questions about the seating arrangements and the food." Clementine's eyes naturally traveled from Wolfie to Thatch. "Students, these will be your assigned seats at this table during meal times only. This is so we can serve you the proper meals. As one of you have noticed each of you get a different meal. They are custom to your needs. For example, a werewolf must eat lots of meats, from raw to medium rare at most to ensure a good steady growth. While Ra must eat a lot of food with carbs, due to the fact his mummy magic takes up a lot of energy and leaves him starved after spells." Casper mentally patted himself on the back for being right. "If you don't like something you can tell me and I'll quickly adjust your meal plan. If you have any questions about your meals I have them planned out a week in advance so we can change them if needed." She explained simply. "At this place, we're changing your education to be more personalized as you grow. A lesson might apply to a zombie, but not to a moss monster. So with your basic courses more personalized ones will be scheduled throughout your week so you can fully come to your potential." she explained. "Kibosh had expressed this concern last night when he noted it was just now you students were doing lessons based on what you are-" her eyes briefly flickered over to Dr. Burns, but she forced herself to look away and pretended that she hadn't even noticed him.

"Your new schedule will be given to you at Monday's dinner. This weekend we'll be updating the castle for our needs. Once you're done with your meal see Ms. Headly for your assigned task." Kibosh said simply. "Now then, dig in so we can start our busy day." Kibosh said simply. The students looked a bit unsure… Until Ra started to dive right into his high carb meal.

Casper was pleased to see that he actually had some normal options. Casper used the utensils provided to move the food he wanted from the platters onto his plate. Jugs of milk, orange juice, water and apple juice were being passed around for their picking, so Casper picked milk for his drink this morning.

There seemed to be no complaints about the food, unlike normal. From the corner of his eye, Casper saw the lunch monster peer in, wiggling her long thin tentacles as she watched, then proudly hopped away after her job well done.

"Did you make this all, mom?" Thatch questioned as he drank some blood out of a jar. It was only then Casper noticed each jar was labeled something different. Rabbit, deer, dog, cow and such. Thatch was drinking the rabbit blood.

"Oh goodness no. I just made the meal plans- oh and the shortcake. That's a family secret after all." She chuckled. "Everything else was made by your previous meal provider, the lunch monster you lot keep calling her. She has a name."

"You can understand her?"

"Well of course… Her accent is very thick and at first, it was hard, but her name translated into English is Ayia. She would like it if you all call her by her name from now on as well." She informed simply. She was drinking her blood out of a wine glass, one might think it was real wine if they didn't see that she was a vampire. "She was the Ayia Napa Sea Monster before she came to Scare School. She's an outstanding cook." Clementine said happily. "Now hurry up and eat dear. You'll be helping-"

"Mom are solar panels being put on the roof?"

"... Well, yes." Clementine sighed. "As much as I wish it not electricity is needed for a school like ours to function properly."

"But they'll look awful, this is dad's castle and I don't want it to change that much."

"Oh neither do I dear, but we must do what's right."

"What if I can find a different way to get electricity? Will you take the solar panels down then?"

"... I suppose." She noted, glancing off. "No reason to put them up if we have another source…" Clementine didn't want the panels either. She thought they looked appalling on her home. Oh, she knew they were good and all, but she generally distasted anything dealing with the sun for pretty clear reasons.

"Okay, great!" Thatch grinned widely and looked over to Casper, who mustered a smile in return. Thatch's enthusiasm was a bit much at times, but it was very cute. Casper knew that Thatch was most likely going to skip out on the chore gave, convince them too and drag them all down to the cellar so they can go to his father's lab. Well… that sounded better than cleaning anyways!

Their plans to talk over breakfast was foiled as well. With them sitting at the table right beside Clementine and Kibosh it made it impossible for them to discuss last night. They would just have to catch the others up later. So the group ate, and honestly, Casper was grateful to have some normal food. It had been forever since he just had buttered toast! Plus the strawberry shortcake was amazing.

Once the group finished eating their personalized meal they got up from their table and managed to avoid Ms. Heady due to Dummy Girl complaining about her assigned task which allowed them all to slip out pretty much unnoticed.

Thatch eagerly started to lead the group, and on the way, he filled in the missing details for Mantha and Slither. It was best to get everyone caught up. Plus Casper was happy to see Thatch and Mantha were so chatty with each other, she was just as interested in the power source as Thatch. Good, maybe that would save the ghost some trouble!

As they reached the cellar steps they all started to head down, though Slithered lingered at the top. The snake-like monster had a frown on his face, looking widely annoyed. Casper chuckled and paused on the steps, looking up at Slither calmly as the rest were already heading down the dark stairwell, using Ra's creepy blinking pendant as a source of light for now.

"Come on Slither, we can't fall behind." The ghost reasoned, then kicked off the floor and hovered in the air as he flew up back to Slither to see what was wrong.

"I bet there's a lot of stairs and I bet it's cold…" He gloomily said, his stripped arms crossed. Casper rolled his eyes and made a gesture down to the stairs, and Slither groaned but willingly obeyed the silent command. He didn't want to be left behind either after all. Slither rested a 'hand' on the wall and took his time. Casper once again had the pleasure of imagining how Slither tackled the steps under his robe, his snake half having to carefully move down, laying across each individual step before he got to the next one. It was a slow process, but losing balance would such. Imagine a rolling Slither tumbling down the stairs- that would hurt.

Casper kept Slither company as they headed down, the faint green glow of Ra's pendant just within their vision, and after a minute a brighter glow of a fire. Ah, that would work!

As Casper and Slither reached the bottom of the steps they saw Mantha going around with one of the torches, igniting all the torches that hung on the wall. Casper figured Mantha was smart and was carrying matches since this castle's only light source was fire. As Mantha went around lighting things Thatch was examining the back wall, trying to find the exact brick his dad used. Casper walked over, his shoulders slumped as he looked at the wall. Yeah, they all looked similar… Casper floated up, his eyes scanning the bricks silently. There was very little talking between them, but it just seemed to work. Every once in awhile Thatch would motion to a brick and Casper would look- but they would both shake their heads and keep looking.

The friendly ghost ended up finding it first, it was far above Thatch's head so the vampire would have never seen it. The single brick in the wall that had a huge 'X' crack in it. They wanted to follow what Vincent had done as closely as they could, so Slither and Ra were forced to hoist Thatch up on to their shoulders to get the living vampire higher up. Mantha stayed nearby, ready to catch Thatch in case he slipped.

Casper floated nearby, nervously watching as Thatch placed his hand on the brick. He tried pushing it, nothing. Pulling, nothing. Magic seemed to be the only way after all. So the vampire huffed, forcing his eyes to glow. It wasn't hard, it was something all vampires learned to do- often they did it at night when they were desperate to see, locked away in a coffin or underground in the sewers. It wasn't necessary unless there was completely no light.

Still, the wall did not open.

Thatch growled in annoyance, looking at Casper, but Ra was the one to pipe up. "Tap it! Make your eyes glow and tap it, your dad did that." Ra said happily, adjusting how he was holding onto Thatch's left leg. Ra was shorter than Slither and therefore had to actually try to lift Thatch up more to keep him balanced.

The living vampire nodded and made his eyes glow again as he tapped the brick.

Still, the wall did not open, but this time something did happen. A large unseen force seemed to pulse from the wall, fully knocking Thatch like he got rammed by a car. Casper tried to catch Thatch but missed. Mantha was right behind Thatch and got the full front of the vampire. As Thatch landed directly on Mantha the zombie popped into pieces, which then scattered around the cellar.

"Well... I'm out of ideas man." Ra said simply, dusting his hands off as he watched Mantha and Thatch.

"Help me you jerk!" Mantha's head yelled from where it rolled- under one of the shelves and into a bunch of dust. Oh, poor Mantha.

Casper landed and started to walk around, finding her missing pieces and gathering them into a pile along with Thatch and Slither. Thatch was looking pretty guilty about the whole thing, trying to figure out how to put her together and which fingers went onto which hand.

Once Mantha had her arms, torso, and head attached she was actually able to direct them on how to put her back together, which saved her much trouble because Slither put her feet on backward- which in its own weird way was almost cute. Slither just didn't get feet.

Once their Mantha 1.0 was fully assembled Casper helped clean the dust off of her, weakly smiling. "That was… exciting."

"Kinda? I mean my head did get to roll into a spot we won't normally see," the zombie sarcastically sassed.

"I'm sorry about that," Thatch mumbled softly as he rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes wandered back to the door. "I have no clue what happened."

"Well, I do," Mantha said simply. "The brick is clearly a lock of some sort. You entered the wrong 'password'. If Vincent was as forward-thinking as you say that means he was ahead of his time. He's probably combined magic with technology, the cracked brick is the control panel. The tapping is the password. We need to find out the correct tapping pattern to open the door."

"I don't remember what he tapped." Thatch sighed, then looked at Ra. "Can we look again?"

Ra took a look at his pendant, then shook his head. "Nah man, the beetle's pretty mad right now. Can't do it."

"The… the beetle is mad?" Casper raised a brow.

"Yeah, he's totally mad. Look at his little leg wiggle." He held out the pendant slightly so everyone could see. Indeed the little legs were wiggling around. Everyone but Ra was very creeped out, and they all elected to drop it and never ask about that creepy beetle again- or at least until they were sure they could keep their breakfasts down.

And so, the group sat around, trying to remember. Whenever Thatch thought he got it Slither would hoist him up, Thatch would tap on the brick, and swiftly get knocked backward, which Casper and Ra caught Thatch so the vampire wouldn't get injured.

Thatch getting thrown back was a big FUCK OFF feeling honestly, and that only made the vampire more and more determined each time.

Casper didn't know how long they were down there, but he knew it was long enough for them to get in trouble for skipping out on their chores. The ghost heavily sighed and glared at the wall. Dumb walls, if only they could bash it in-...

Casper frowned and stood up, walking over to the wall. He could feel all his friends eyes on him, curious if the ghost remembered the pattern. Of course, he didn't, he had been so tired and nervous last night he barely remembered the dang brick! But one thing that he did remember was- behind the wall was hollow. It was just a hidden staircase. Casper turned and looked at the group, then couldn't help but to give the biggest smile ever as he walked back through the wall, his clothes and shoes falling into a pile on the floor.

Once on the other side, it was so dark, he couldn't see anything. He couldn't even hear his friends on the other side of the wall- maybe it was because of the spell? He knew they were making sounds of something because when he placed his hands on the brick he could feel the faint vibrations of them hitting the other side of the wall.

The ghost faintly smiled, then with his eyes utterly useless he started to feel around. His hands traveled over the bricks, feeling their cold surfaces, his fingers exploring every crack. The wall with the door had nothing, so Casper started to explore the walls next to the door. It took some searching, but his hand bumped against something hard, cold and iron. He grabbed it, feeling it with care. A lever in the up position. So Casper pulled it down- well no. It was pretty stiff after years of use. The ghost rolled his useless eyes on the dark and rested his feet on the wall while grasping the lever with both hands. Casper pulled again, and bit by bit he felt the lever tug and move until suddenly it gave away and snapped to the down position, causing the ghost to drop back onto the stone steps, though it didn't hurt much, and nor did he go tumbling down them. He just floated back up and looked proud as the bricks started to roll back, opening the closed off passage.

On the other side, the group stood there in awe, just gawking at the ghost in confusion.

"I'm a ghost, I forgot." Casper laughed softly. "There was a lever here this whole time so he could get back out." He motioned simply, then went and picked up his clothes. He started to redress himself, his chest swelled with pride. He got the secret door open, yay.

"Casper…?"

"Yes, Thatch?"

"You're the best!" Thatch said quickly and hugged the half dressed ghost, holding him close. Casper smiled and returned the embrace. Sometimes being a ghost was rather nice… Predicaments like this became easier, and if he could make Thatch happy then that was a significant bonus.

Thatch hurriedly helped Casper get redressed, then held his hand as he walked over to the staircase, peering down the seemingly endless steps. Slither tried his best not to look like he was going to die as Mantha grabbed one of the torches and held it up, leading the way down the steps. Normally Thatch would go first, but he was looking a pit pale- perhaps the excitement was running off and he was feeling the reality of the situation.

Casper held onto Thatch's hand, carefully guiding the vampire down the stairs, keeping only a step or two behind Mantha. Ra had noticed Slither struggling and was a good few steps back to keep him company. Luckily Mantha wasn't moving fast. Nerves were probably getting to her, but they were to everyone. Casper could feel the chill up his nonexistent spine, his eyes dead ahead. They weren't allowed here, but here they were. No one had been here in years, but here they were. They were going to see a piece of history, completely lost.

Step after step the group descended, their eyes constantly flickering back up to the entrance and each other, wondering who would flake and leave, who was try to back out first. None of them did, and before long the entrance had left their sights. The temperature was dropping the lower they went, and that posed a problem for Slither. Casper tried to fix it by removing the black jacket he was wearing and placing it around the snake's shoulders, just to add another layer to his clothes.

Slither didn't say anything about the temperature, whether it was from pride or embarrassment Casper couldn't tell, and he wouldn't press it either. Slither was learning his boundaries, and surely if it was getting dangerous he would speak up.

Further down they climbed, the colder it got. Further down, and it got warmer. They could see a faint light, and they could see the end of the staircase. At the bottom was a direct turn to the right through a doorway, the light was coming from there. Their pace hasted and they made it down the last several dozen steps and rounded the corners. Right away they were greeted by what could be described as a large dressing room. There was cushioned benches, a mirror for some reason, probably a human habit Vincent never quite got rid of.

There were hooks on the walls, several having some black cloaks, the pattern exactly matching Thatch's, only uncut. But there was also white jackets hanging around, many of them stained with something. There was very little dust, probably because dust was a bunch of dead human skin, animal fur and so far. No people or access to the outdoors made this place very well preserved even after all this time, seeing as all the torches in this room was still lit and forever burning, only their flames were actually blue and no the common orange and red.

It gave a weird hue to the room, but it kept everything nice and warm which was nice for Slither. The small group started to explore the room, looking but not moving on yet. There was a large wooden door on the other side of the room none of them were ready to go through. It was best to take things in bit by bit lest they get overwhelmed, especially Thatch. Casper found himself gravitating to the vampire, making sure he was okay and handling everything well. Casper couldn't understand exactly what Thatch was feeling. Casper had always known where his own dad's lab was, how to get there and so forth. He even showed a human friend, Kat how to get into it. Thatch knew nothing about Vincent's lab.

The living vampire was hanging around, looking at his dad's old cloaks with clear fondness. He reached up, carefully removing it off the hook and caught it before it ever touched the ground. Casper watched, trying not to smile. It was so big compared to Thatch, no wonder his mom had to cut it. But, with all these cloaks meant that Thatch could get more cut to his size so he would never truly grow out of his cloak. He could always carry a piece of his father with him this way.

"Thatch," Mantha called out gently. Naturally, they all tensed. It was the first time they spoke since they started to head down the steps. Their own voices were putting them on edge now, go figure.

"What Mantha?" Thatch carefully spoke as he placed the cloak he was holding on one of the cushioned benches. When he looked over he saw she was standing by the wooden door. She was ready to move forward, and there was no point in trying to delay them. Thatch took a deep breath and walked over, the zombie and once bully vampire giving each other a brief, nervous smile before Thatch pushed open the door, wincing in fear as the iron hinges creaked ominously.

The room before them was breathtaking. Calling it a lab was an insult, not that there was anything wrong with labs though. this was just above and beyond what they were expecting. The room, if it could be called a 'room' was huge, the ceiling taller than the ballroom, and for good reasons. Large objects hanged off the ceiling, held by firm metal cables. Many of the objects were glowing and shaking, one was spinning like its life depended on it, spewing out steam like a train. Oddly enough it had floating rings around it, rotating every which way. It briefly made Casper recall the rings of Saturn, that's the only thing he could compare it to. Also hanging from the ceiling was a random assortment of lights. Some were brighter than others, one looked like a mini sun while others were harnessing the blue flame. But then Casper spotted it, a single electric bulb was randomly hanging in midst of all the much grander lights. Was Vincent experimenting with different forms of power and or light? Vincent had electricity down here.

The large room was filled with things. Broken machines, to large tarps covering stuff. There was a huge machine near the back of the room, taking several tarps to cover it all. There was a lot to take in and try to understand. It was all a bit overwhelming.

One wall was a built-in shelf spanning the floor to ceiling space with a simple rolling ladder to get to the higher shelves. It was completely filled with journals to hardback textbooks, all in perfect shape due to the lack of dust. There was also a sturdy wooden desk build into the bookshelf/wall with golden trim. There was plenty of gold in this house in fact... Probably because silver was frowned upon.

The desk was covered in papers similar to Vincent's normal lab up in the tower, only these plans were much more detailed, small notes written beside each detail which was carefully measured and planned out on the gridded sheets. Casper even saw one of the papers had the exact design as another in the tower, only one was more detailed. So Vincent came up with the idea in the tower and tweaked it down here to perfection. Perhaps the open air helped him think?

Random experiments and objects were scattered about, some weird robot thing was endlessly bumping against one of the stone walls, and after years of this the robot had made a dent in its exact shape and managed to dent itself. The rhythmic clanking of the robot running against the wall filled the room, and it was honestly very loud. Mantha walked over to the robot, watching it for a few moments before she spotted the lever on its back and pulled it. the switch seemed stuck at first, but after a second tug, it clicked to the down position, causing the machine to sputter and let out a high pitched whine as the machine shut down, finally falling silent and giving some peace to the lab besides the general buzzing coming from many of the machines. At least one thing in this lab wasn't making noise anymore.

"Thanks, Mantha, that thing was loud." Thatch said to break up the silence. It was getting too quiet for his liking, or anyone's liking. They weren't talking and that made things tenser. Mantha returned back to the group, who all seemed to be sticking close together in the large room, not daring to wander off. Who knew what was in this lab, and if they could get hurt or not.

Slowly the group seemed to naturally find themselves at Vincent's desk, looking at his designs and plans. Much to Casper's disappointment, they weren't in English. Thatch seemed to be reading it, mouthing the words and only getting caught up now and then.

"Thatch? I didn't know you can read Latin." Mantha commented.

"Mom made me learn it when I was little. Being a vampire gives you a lot of time, and mom loved to fill it with lessons." Thatch begrudgingly replied. "I can read Latin, Greek, and Egyptian."

"Aye, nice." Ra beamed, seeming pleased someone else could finally understand his mother language. Any connection to home went a great way, no matter how tiny it was. "So what are you reading anyway?"

"I don't know... this makes no sense. A bunch of gargled talk about ghosts... this looks like he was making something for Kibosh." Thatch made a motion to the sheet, holding it out more so they could all see. Casper hovered closer, peering at the paper. That couldn't be...

"My dad's machine..." Casper softly whispered. Casper couldn't mistake it, he knew his dad's work too well. Years of haunting that old house gave him tons of time to explore his dad's lab. He didn't get a lot of what was going on in there, but he knew what every machine looked like and the basics of what it did due to his dad's very detailed notes.

The machine in this plan looked different but similar. The machine his dad built had a ramp going up and this one showed stairs. Vincent and his endless love for stairs. But it also seemed Vincent's love for levers made it into Casper's father's work. Casper remembered the 'control panel' which was 5 levers in a row that needed to be pulled to the correct spots. The blueprints Thatch held also showed the spot for the ghost to go being a square room, while Casper's dad went for a circular capsule.

"This isn't your dad's machine," Thatch said defensively. Casper didn't blame him, of course, they would be confused.

"No no, I'm serious. My dad built this in his lab. It's supposed to turn ghosts humans, he became obsessed with the idea after I died... Watch uh, there's a special liquid that's supposed to go into that slot," Casper explained, briefly pointing at the blueprint. He then quickly started to search the table, lifting up papers with care as his eyes scanned around in confusion. He couldn't find it there. He looked up, swiftly starting to fly around the lab. His blue eyes jumped around, machine to machine, shelf to shelf- there!

On the top shelf was a bottle filled with red liquid. Casper dashed to it and picked it up, gently holding it in his hand. It was familiar but different again. Instead of tear dropped shape the bottle was a simple square with a spout. Casper flew back down and held it up for them to see. It perfectly matched the spot on the blueprints.

Thatch looked at the bottle, then back to the plans, a frown deep on his face. "This makes no sense... Ah look, there's a note here." He pulled the designs closer, squinting at his father's overly neat and miniature handwriting. "Failure- works 24 hours in latest model. The test concluded: impossible."

"But it did work! Kat's dad died and turned into a ghost and we managed to change him back."

"Who's Kat?" Mantha asked simply, her arms crossed over her chest.

"She's a human that moved into my house with her dad. They left there, of course. The house isn't safe for humans. My uncles scare any visitors or buyers off." Casper explained easily. "But the fact of the matter this machine worked, though the one my dad built was different."

"Maybe your dad modified it and improved on Thatch's dad's design?" Ra commented offhandedly. "Sometimes it demands a couple exceptional and talented minds to produce magnificent things." Ra surprisingly spoke with a lot of wisdom, catching Casper off guard. Huh, maybe the mummy was finally showing his years.

"I'm just trying to figure out why my dad would make this." Thatch sighed and placed the document back down on the counter. Casper set the square shaped bottle down with it, though he had to admit he was interested. The machine at his house could work if it made more of that fluid... Could he be human? Did he want to be human? With Kat, they had planned on changing him back, but being human meant he had to leave school, leave all his new friends. Perhaps it was best he just stayed a ghost.

"Guys?" Slither piped up. The group looked over, finally, Slither had moved away and was on the other side of the room. He was standing beside a doorway, which was left open. There were dozens and dozens of different types of cables coming out of the room, powering all the machines in here. "Where does this go?" The snake monster asked calmly.

Thatch and the gang walked over, and looked, seeing yet another set of stairs. This one turned sharply, a spiral staircase it seemed. Mantha held up her torch and started to head down, having to be careful where she placed her feet so she didn't step on a cord. Casper floated over and Slither... Well, Slither didn't care. His weight was distributed evenly across the cords so he was able to just slide over them without worry.

These stairs weren't too much trouble, they only led down to what could be considered a basement for the enormous room overhead. Only thing was, this basement looked… natural? It was a clear space with torches screwed into the stone walls. It looked like an open chasm, and they could hear the sound of water. Mantha began to move around, her hand trembling as she starting to light the torches with her's, only when she lit these torches their flames burned blue, and were much brighter than her own torch. The first torch she lit covered a lot of space. It was strange, machinery was all set up in the cavern, but from what Casper could tell they were all just regulators to control the flow of power. Course everything was placed a good few feet away from the underground water that seemed to be pouring out of a crack in the rock wall. It pooled on the ground, making a small pond in the large room, then diverted away through another opening on the floor. Well, at least that explained the water sound.

All the cords appeared to lead down one of the tunnels, so what else could they do but follow. But as they started to go down Casper did note there was… small bones on the ground. Rat bones, bats even, a few rabbit and... Cat bones.

Casper was pleased he could just hover over it, but the others were forced to actually step on and over them. Every time one of them unintentionally walked on a bone and snapped it they would wince, and Ra took it a step farther by sputtering 'sorry' every time he did it. Whether it was for making a sound or saying sorry to the dead animals Casper really didn't understand.

The tunnel opened up to an extensive underground… Well, Casper could only describe it as an underground forest! When they wandered into the large opening they were up on a cliff edge, looking down at the forest. The water in the previous room flowed out the wall here too, creating a mini waterfall and making a much larger pond which then leads into a stream which then twisted amidst the trees. But, this had to be impossible. There was light, but it wasn't coming from overhead, instead beneath them. Something was generating enough light to fill the entire chamber and sustain a forest.

"Whoa, that's… whoa." Mantha softly spoke, standing near the edge of the cliffside, gazing out with wide eyes. Thatch seemed to shock for words, and that worried Casper. Thatch, speechless?

The ghost rested a hand on the vampire's shoulder, trying to bring him some comfort. "This is pretty cool, right Thatch?"

"I found a way down," Slither dully said. They turned back around and saw more stairs carved into the walls. Vincent and his love affair with stairs were starting to get on Casper's nerves, and the ghost wasn't even using them! Casper weakly offered a smile and watched as Slither just sighed and started on his slow descent, stair by stair, back and forth on the step to slowly lower himself to the next so he never lost balance.

"Thatch, dude… Your dad is being a total jerk to Slither," Ra joked with a big grin, even if he was also mildly annoyed with the stairs.

"Hey, my dad never knew a snake monster will be entering his top-secret lab!" Thatch defended, then looking at the stairs going down. Nope. The vampire went to the edge of the cliff and jumped off and swiftly turned into a bat. Ah, right. Vampires.

Casper grinned, giving a small wave to Mantha and Ra as he too leaped off the cliff, laughing as he fell. He only started to fly once he got near the water's surface, playfully flying fast which caused Thatch to give chase in a playful manner. It felt nice to have some space to fly after being in those tight staircases.

Thatch and Casper flew around above the water's surface, the ghost's laughter filling the air. It felt nice to relax and breath. It almost felt like they were outside again. Ah outside, Casper was craving the sight of the sky again, to feel the gentle breeze outside these dumb stone walls, trapped so far underground. He didn't even know how far down they were. There were so many steps and they were so terribly deep, he hoped to get this done quickly but at the same time, he felt an urge to stay. Vincent's research somehow got to his dad, how? How was his and Thatch's father connected?

"Casper! Thatch!" Ra shouted from the shoreline, having finally reached the bottom of the fuck ton of stairs. Ra crossed his arms, huffing furiously. Mantha was already peering into the forest, keen to explore while Slither… Slither was laying face first on the ground, unmoving as he just weakly moaned. "I think Slither hates this little field trip of ours."

"We got so much more to do!" Casper countered and landed beside Ra. "come on Slither, up! We gotta keep going!" Slither just let out a louder groan for about 5 seconds before he shushed. Thatch flew by, nearly touching Casper's head as he swooped down so low. The vampire then changed back, landing right beside Slither with his hands sassily placed on his hips.

"Excuse me, what's this? We can't take a break now, we got to follow where these cords go!" Thatch huffed, grabbing Slither by his robes and trying to drag the snake monster, who elected to stay limp as a gummy worm.

Mantha rolled her eyes, looking back at the group of boys. "Come on, the cords lead this way," she said. Oh, right, they were following the cords. Casper almost forgot that. The ghost looked back to the cliffside, seeing the cords lead down the stairs. Once they hit level ground plants and roots were trying to grow over them, but somewhat he could see they were still uncovered, and it looked like the vegetation was kept back. He didn't know what though, it looked like things were just cut for getting too close.

Casper floated above the cords, gradually following them. As he passed Mantha they both gave each other anxious smiles before Casper began to lead the way. Slither eventually seemed to decide he should move his scaley butt on his own because Thatch was back at Casper's side and Slither was now easily keeping up with the group now that there were no more stairs for him to fight with. The battle was over for Slither, for now. The war would be climbing back up them.

The group gradually made its way into the forest, following the twist and turns of the cords, which oddly enough were not obscured by grass or roots no matter how far in they got. Made no sense, the cords were just cords and there was nothing magical about them.

The forest got thicker so they had to watch their step, and much to Casper's surprise Slither seemed perfectly fine in this environment. He went over roots and the cords, easily ducking under branches, and sometimes helping the others by holding up a low hanging branch for them. Huh, guess snake monsters like Slither truly were meant for the forest, though every once in awhile his robes might snag on a branch. Slither also seemed slightly on edge, his gray eyes darting around the forest. Could Slither hear something they could not, or was he just nervous?

There wasn't much time to ask that question because the trees gave away into a large clearing, no life or grass. The clearing was a perfect circle, and at the center was a large piece of machinery, all the cords hooked into it. But that was just the receiver to absorb the endless power. Right above the compact machine was a large floating orb. It hovered in place, its blue light nearly blinding to look at. It was on fire but at the same time, it looked like water. The cords stopped here, this was the end of the line. All the power that went into Vincent's lab and into the protective charm around the whole castle came from here.

"What is that?" Mantha mumbled, holding up her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light. Slither seemed highly annoyed by the light, staying back at the treeline as he stared at the ground, not even facing the orb's way. It was so terribly bright, Casper was seeing spots after looking at it.

No one could truly answer Mantha's question. The only thing they could call it was the power source. Thatch grabbed his cloak, lifting it up to shield his eyes as he determinedly marched forwards towards the orb. Casper whined and quickly followed, gently placing a hand on the vampire's shoulder, keeping close in case anything was to happen.

But before anything was done they heard screaming from… Ra. Casper and Thatch turned around, spotting the mummy being knocked flat onto his back while Mantha defensively moved in front of him, arms up in some sort of defense against the monster before them.

It was large and black with a white mane. At first, it looked like a weirdly colored lion, until Casper spotted the massive feathered wings which were speckled with black spots, then the long scales tail that reminded him of a lizard. Its eyes were slit and narrowed like a snake as it hissed at Mantha, but then its attention turned to Slither who had moved swiftly, getting in front of Mantha protectively.

The creature let out a roar and lunged forward, knocking Slither to the ground, which in turn made Mantha stumble back and lose her head, uselessly rolling across the ground. At least her head ended up beside Ra, but the mummy seemed to be left in a state of shock as he watched the strange creature before them all open its jaws, revealing its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Slither held up his arms in defense, but he could do little to stop the teeth that sank deep into his shoulder.

The monster, the true monster raised Slither off the terrain then and started to shake him, teeth embedded deep in his flesh. Slither howled out and fought, trying to wrap his extendable arms around its throat to choke it, but with all the shaking he could barely get ahold of the creature at all.

"Slither!" Thatch shrieked and took off running towards them… the creature bit down and there was a loud snap as Slither's bones broke in between the powerful jaws. The furred beast shifted its grip and instead carried Slither by his neck, biting down just the same. Slither's body dangled lifelessly in the jaws, his eyes forever opened in confusion and agony, blood falling from his throat and shoulders which painted his ordinarily clean purple garments.

Then, he was abandoned to the ground, his body a lifeless lump. Ra finally came to his senses and grabbed Mantha's head, holding it close as he started to clamber away, trying to head for the trees. The unnamed monster growled and ran, easily jumping off the trees themselves and cutting Ra off before he even made it to the treeline. The mummy tenses, his back rigid like an ironing board. His necklace was still blinking green, and Ra didn't show any signs of him about to use a spell. Perhaps he couldn't as long as it was blinking Ra couldn't use magic.

Casper tore his eyes away from the beast and to Thatch, who had dropped by Slither's corpse, holding it close to his chest as weak sobs escaped him. Oh no... Slither.

Casper looked back at the creature as it growled, slowly moving forward towards Ra. It was low to the ground, stalking, hunting with its eyes on the mummy and zombie head. It snarled and bared its fangs threateningly, and when it saw Ra showed no signs of fighting back it roar and moved to lunge, only to be knocked aside by a gust of wind…?

Casper's eyes shot back to Thatch, who was back on his feet, hands raised. His chest throbbed with emotions, acid tears drenching his face, but even so, he was glaring so hatefully at the creature as he stood before Slither's body, shielding it. His hands tremble, but the living vampire looked so determined.

The creature roared in outrage and plunged back into the treeline, simply skirting around the obviously well-memorized area. They were in the center of its hunting ground- it must be here to preserve the power source. It was beginning to make sense to Casper. It guarded and maintained the power source and the cords, why else would the vegetation be cut back? This also explained all the bones in the cave. They were going to end up in that pile of bones… Oh wait, he wasn't. Casper was the only one safe.

The monster was circling the clearing, watching Thatch now. Thatch kept moving, always staying between it and Slither's body. Casper couldn't just stand there, Mantha needed his help. So, the friendly ghost anxiously started to move, just to see the slitted eyes of the animal go to him. In that instant Thatch growled and shot out a blast of air, uprooting a tree and knocking it back completely. Thatch's power took the friendly trio completely off guard. Ripping papers off the school walls was one thing, but knocking over a tree? Casper could only say it was because Thatch was in such emotional distress his powers were going haywire. He hoped Thatch could just keep control of them.

The monster snarled and swiftly hurried away from the toppled tree, out of dangers way. Thatch's distraction gave Casper adequate time to get to Mantha's body and drag it over to Ra. The pair immediately put her head back on and helped her stand up, then they all held together. Now they had to get to Thatch. Casper would shout at the vampire to fly elsewhere, but this monstrosity also had wings. Surely it would catch up to Thatch if he was a bat. They needed to run, but Casper also didn't want to leave Slither's body behind. Slither was their friend!

"Thatch," Ra called out warily. "We need to go man."

"I'm not leaving Slither!" He snapped harshly, his voice cracking. Casper's gaze softened. Of course, he understood Thatch's position, but… Choices had to be made. Casper helplessly looked at Thatch, his shoulders slouched in sorrow. Slither was their friend, he tried to protect them even after they made him suffer through all those stairs and all the difficult tasks they put him through, like being a spy when they had to find out Dummy Girl's plan. Casper wanted to tell Thatch it was okay, that they could go get help and return for Slither's remains, but then he saw it. The beast was creeping out of the trees, ready to lunge.

"Thatch, no!" Casper screamed. The living vampire turned back around to look at the beast just as it lunged. Thatch was knocked onto the ground, skidding a few feet away. As he tumbled across the ground he brought up a cloud of dust and dirt, making it hard for them to see. The vampire wheezed in pain after just having all the air knocked out of him. As he started to rise the monster was suddenly before the vampire and swiped him with the back of its large paw, sending the vampire flying again and crashing against the machine just below the power source. This only seemed to agitate the monster further, even if it was the monster who caused that!

Thatch gasped for air, rolling over onto his stomach to try to push himself, but his body shook with the effort and the vampire collapsed back to the ground. Casper could only watch in terror as the beast placed a massive paw on Thatch's back, pinning him to the ground easily and holding him there. "We have to do something," Casper mumbled, feeling his heart sink deeper into his chest. Before he could fly over Mantha grabbed Casper's hand, holding him back. Casper growled and looked back at Mantha, his eyes narrowed. How dare she try to stop him, Thatch was in trouble!

"Casper no! You'll get hurt, and look… It's not killing him." She said, keeping a strong hold of Ra and Casper. The ghost turned back around and stared. Thatch was still under its paw, pinned down to the dirt. The monster was curiously watching Thatch, sniffling his cloak and studying it. "Casper… this is Vincent's power source, right? Which means the monster should have obeyed Vincent…" She carefully explained, trying not to make any sudden moves lest she drew the attention of the beast. "Thatch-" Her words paused as the creature… purred. The monster with the still bloodied mouth was purring, grabbing Thatch by his cloak and lifting him up. Thatch quickly reached up and unclasped the cloak, falling back down to the ground. Yes, he hated to leave his cloak behind, but he saw what it did to Slither and he didn't want to be shaken around like a rag doll. The vampire was desperate to escape alive with the others.

The beast looked confused, dropping the cloak with little interest and moved forward, this time picking Thatch up by the back of his shirt, but not hurting the vampire now. Instead, it laid down and set Thatch between its large paws, close and safe, like a happy momma lion.

"Now that's terrifying," Ra said simply as he watched. "Thatch, are you okay?" He nervously asked. Thatch wasn't looking too happy, his eyes darting over to the group, then back up to the monster. Casper wishes he could be over there because suddenly the vampire's attitude changed. He shifted, sitting up more as he looked at the beast.

"Oh, my stars… Munchkin?" He carefully spoke. The murderous beast tilted its head and Casper saw its tail wiggle… happily? "Munchkin you… I thought you died in the fire, you're so big!" He gasped. 'Munchkin' idly watched Thatch, licking its lips to clean itself of Slither's blood. Thatch seemed to be in shock, unsure how to handle this.

Casper carefully took a step forward and Munchkin snarled loudly, turning its head to the ghost. "Wait, no Munchkin!" Thatch quickly corrected. Munchkin looked back to Thatch, it's ears pressed back as it watched the upset vampire. "They're my friends, don't hurt them." He said firmly. The beast watched Thatch, then let out an irritated huff as it laid its head down on the dirt, its slitted eyes watching the intruders distrustingly, but at least it showed no signs of attacking.

"Thatch," Casper carefully started. "What is that thing?"

"This… this is Munchkin. I helped my dad hatch her. She used to be so small… she was only this big," He held his hand up from the ground, showing about the size of a beagle at most. "She was one of dad's experiments…" Thatch nervously explained. He carefully got up, despite the irritating noise Munchkin made. Casper didn't care move closer, so Thatch went to the ghost and pulled Casper into his protective arms.

They weren't in danger, Casper could see that. The beast Munchkin was still resting beside the terribly bright orb that hurt his eyes. Casper hid his face in the vampire's shirt, just holding onto Thatch with all his strength. Slither was gone…

"We gotta get out of here," Mantha decided firmly. Her eyes drifted back to Slither. "We… We need to get him back."

"Oh!" Ra looked surprised as his pendant stopped glowing. If only it had done that a few minutes earlier maybe!... Casper tried to control his thoughts. He shouldn't think that way. Casper took a deep breath and watched as the mummy carefully raised his hand. A green aura sounded Ra's hand, then shot out and surrounded Slither. Ra raised his hand more and Slither's body raised off the ground. "Let's get him- oh no." Ra's distress was brought as Munchkin stood up, snarling as Slither moved.

"No Munchkin, no! Down!" Thatch quickly ordered, stepping between the beast and Slither. Munchkin looked at Thatch, her ears pressed back but her slitted eyes wider, almost to normal circles as if she was trying to take in as much information as she could. The beast was clearly confused. Thatch stood his ground, keeping Casper close to his side while he kept his hand up in the 'stop' motion. There was a brief standoff, then Munchkin made a sound which resembled a whine as she started to circle the power source defensively, her eyes constantly darting between the intruders.

"Dumb beast," Ra coldly muttered.

"She's not a dumb beast, look at her… she's doing her job." Mantha defended. "We entered her territory, we got too close to the power source. We're not even supposed to be here."

"So what are you saying, this is our fault?" Ra snapped. "Look at Slither, huh? Was this his fault? Did he deserve this?"

"That's enough," Casper tried to calm the two, but this was way over their heads. They were just kids… "It's no one's fault." He weakly spoke as he went over to Thatch's discarded cloak. He picked it up and carried it back to Thatch, who swiftly put it back on.

"Casper's right. This was… this was a terrible accident." The living vampire weakly uttered, but in his eyes had had a hardened look Casper couldn't explain. Ra immediately backed down when Thatch spoke. It was the vampire who knew Slither best. "No one is to blame… All we can do is get Slither back. Come on," He instructed, holding Casper's hand tightly. The ghost weakly smiled and followed Thatch's lead as the vampire made to lead them back to the stairs, but Munchkin didn't seem pleased with that.

Munchkin raced over to the small group of children and cut them off, defensively standing between them and the treeline.

"Munchkin, out of the way. We're leaving." Thatch ordered. The beast whined and lowered itself to the ground, then lowered its wings as it turned, showing more of its back, offering for them to hop on. Thatch seemed upset, but Mantha was quicker to pick up on what was going on.

"She's offering us a ride," Mantha explained. Ra didn't budge, watching as Mantha moved forward and climbed onto the back of Munchkin, who grunted softly but held still. Ra didn't seem as trusting, which was understandable.

Thatch seemed pretty trusting in Munchkin though, even after all that had happened. "Ra it's fine unless you want to climb up all those stairs." He rolled his eyes. Ra frowned, but climbed on behind Mantha, tightly holding onto her with one hand while the other kept the spell going as he guided the body closer, letting Slither's lifeless form rest across his lap and chest, keeping him close and safe.

"Let's go," Thatch sighed and turned into a bat after kissing Casper's cheek. Casper watched Thatch start to fly, going over the trees. Casper leaped off the ground to follow, though he squeaked when Munchkin roared and lunged into the air, expanding her huge wings as she took flight, easily advancing past both Casper and Thatch. She effortlessly flew up to the cliffside and landed as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Being confined for several dozen years gave one a lot of time to practice.

Thatch and Casper hurried to catch up, both arriving at the same time. Munchkin softly huffed, blowing air at Thatch before she turned and started to head down the tunnel, Mantha, and Ra still on her back, Slither protectively held in Ra's arms. The mummy wasn't going to let any wrong befall Slither's body now.

As Munchkin headed down the gloomy tunnel the stripes across her body started to glow in the dark, illuminating the way. Thatch changed back into his humanoid form and started to follow after he seized Casper's hand, determined to keep the ghost close and protected.

Munchkin silently leads the way, time to time looking back at Thatch to assure the vampire was still there. Everytime Thatch was and that comforted the weird animal. Munchkin even carried Ra, Mantha, and Slither up the stairs and into Vincent's lab, though Munchkin seemed much more cautious in this place. She probably didn't leave the forest much, or at all.

Munchkin let Thatch in front of her so he could lead the way, but the vampire was slowing down, his eyes drifting over to his father's desk. Something was on his mind, Casper could just tell. So, he decided to ask and see what was up.

"Thatch," He started off gently. "I see those gears turning. What's going on?"

"My dad's machine… He labeled it a failure but… He said it did bring the dead back to life."

"It did?"

"Yeah, in the footnote." He released Casper's hand and walked over to the desk, picking up the square bottle full of red liquid, then looked to the design. "See here?" He asked, motioning to the bottom where Vincent's small but neat handwriting was, and there was a lot of it. "It says here it doesn't work without a body, but it doesn't necessarily have to work on a ghost. He used rats and other animals for his test and they all came back to life… Don't you think…" his voice trailed off his gaze went back to Slither.

Mantha seemed to be taking Thatch's words very seriously. "Where's the machine?" she almost demanded as she slid off Munchkin's back.

Casper's eyes darted around and fell on the large covered machine in the back, the one towering tall and covered by many tarps. Casper took off flying, zooming over to the machine and ripping the tarps off, letting them fall to the floor to reveal Vincent's machine. It perfectly matched the blueprints. The ghost then went back to Thatch, taking the red liquid and placing it into the correct slot.

"Okay, how do we work it?" Ra asked.

"I'll do it of course," Casper said confidently. "I worked my dad's machine. The control panels look exactly the same. "But what we need to worry about is how do we bring Slither back when he's… he's hurt." Casper didn't want to point out the obvious, but Slither was bleeding and broken.

"We don't need to worry, dad's notes say the bodies are healed in the process, no matter how badly he damaged them."

"Perfect!" Mantha gasped. "Ra, get Slither in there. Thatch, we need to make sure this thing has enough power."

The group of children started to work, Casper and Ra carefully putting Slither's body into the machine and sealing the door tightly. Casper then hovered around the control panel nervously while Ra kept close to the sealed door, peering through the small glass window. Casper could see Ra was unsure, doubtful. Honestly, Casper was too. This machine was similar but different than his father's.

Mantha and Thatch were behind the machine, checking it all out, checking out the cords. For them, it was an easy fix. This machine was unplugged, so they unplugged one of the other machines. The machine they unplugged made a loud beeping sound until it ran out of what little power it had coursing through it. Then the machine shut down, no more noise or buzzing from it.

Mantha plugged the cord into their preferred machine, and it quickly came to life. Casper felt it rumble as the power surged through it, the loud buzzing sound of electricity filled the room, the lights above all flickering as the machine soaked it up. Now that was familiar.

Munchkin hissed in fear, lowering herself and backing away from the machine and back towards the staircase to the forest. Casper paid her no mind, they needed to bring Slither back! So Casper turned his back to the beast and instead to Thatch who stood beside Mantha, looking at the machine determinedly. Thatch seemed to fully trust in his father's work. Casper just hoped this worked.

The ghost started to pull the familiar yet strange levers, watching the liquid drain out of the square bottle and into the machine. The lights started to tremble and flicker on and off constantly, a few of the machines in the room sparking and trembling as they shut down- broken by this machine sucking the power right out of them. This machine seemed to need a lot more electricity than the one Casper was used to.

But, as Casper pulled the last lever he felt a flicker of hope, his eyes moving over to Ra who had his hands on the door, standing up on his toes to peer through the mirror.

"I can't see, it's full of red smoke!" He complained, worry straining his voice. "Casper I can't see…" He lowered himself, looking over at the ghost. The machine shook and trembled, but it was growing softer until it stood still, only the buzzing from the machine continued. The lights were all shining brightly again even if some of the machines scattered about the room were still off or working oddly, not as smooth as before.

"Open it," Thatch suddenly ordered. Ra looked at the vampire, who seemed more annoyed that Ra didn't obey his order immediately. "Are you deaf? I said open it! Let's see Slither." He demanded.

"Thatch… What if it didn't…" Ra carefully spoke, nervously wringing his hands together. Ra turned away from the door, looking off the catwalk of the machine so he could look Thatch directly in the eye. "Thatch- SAVE ME" He yelped, nearly jumping out of his bandages as there was a loud banging on the door.

Casper hurried over, squeezing past the mummy who was currently clenching his poor, poor heart. The friendly ghost unlocked the door and pulled it open, letting the red smoke pool out of the machine. As Casper looked in he saw Slither on the floor of the machine where they left him, but he was sitting up. His robes were still stained with his blood, but he was healed and sitting up. Their gazes met, and Slither very dully spoke.

"I miss my egg."

"Slither!" Casper happily yelled and reached down, wrapping his arms around the gloomy monster in the biggest hug he could muster. "Guys he's alive, Slither's alive!" Casper called back. The hug quickly turned into a dog pile as everyone joined in, hugging Slither and celebrating. Thatch was trying not to cry tears of joy, lest the acid accidentally hurt someone. Mantha was straight up crying and hugged Slither, calling him a fool for protecting her. Ra was hooting and hollering to celebrate, his voice echoing off the stone walls.

"We did it we did it!" He yelled, releasing Slither from his arms as he hopped up and down. "We did it, YEAH! Take that!" He yelled at no one in particular.

"I miss my egg," Slither muttered again, covering his face with his arms. He hated being the center of attention, let alone in the center of the hug. "What even happened?" Slither cautiously spoke.

"We'll fill you in later," Casper grinned widely. "All that matters is we're all back together, safe and alive."

"... you're dead. So are Ra and Mantha." Slither said dully as he looked between the clearly undead monsters.

"Slither… Just be happy." Thatch laughed. "Come on, let's get back upstairs. We got to tell mom!"

"Oh right, we're in so much trouble!" Mantha gasped. She hurriedly got up and helped Slither climb out of the machine and down the stairs with Ra. "Munchkin, come here girl!" Mantha called. Munchkin slowly left the doorway and walked over, lowering herself. Mantha helped Slither climb onto Munchkin's back, after assuring the snake monster it was safe.

Thatch grinned a bit, walking out onto the machine's catwalk, looking over the lab with a fond look. Casper stood beside the vampire, weakly smiling.

"We made a mess of this place," Thatch noted.

"Nothing you can't fix."

"Nothing we can't fix." Thatch corrected. "You'll help me, right?"

"Why not?" Casper grinned and took Thatch's hand. "We should go."

"One more minute," the vampire requested. He made a motion and the ghost obliged, leaning against Thatch's side. Thatch fondly wrapped his arm around Casper, sighing contently as he overlooked the lab. "Casper?"

"What?" The ghost hummed in response, trying not to laugh as Mantha struggled to climb onto Munchkin.

"I love you."

"And I love you." The ghost grinned, peering up at Thatch. Their eyes met and Casper felt his heart melt. Oh, this was the start of something beautiful.

A/N:

Crystal Draculura Bloodsucker: Our longest chapter yet. Took us three days to write it. As the final chapter, we wanted to make this chapter as extravagant and epic as we could. Hopefully, we did just that.

KrymynalKrimzon: This was certainly a long chapter and an exciting end to the story. It was fun making up headcanons for the characters, even a murderous beast (who turned out to be a big softy named Munchkin). Writing something this long was straining, but with the help of Cry's encouragement and some awesome background music, we managed to finish it on time! I find it rather funny we're ending this story on Friday the 13th. Honestly, it feels odd to be writing fan-fiction after so long, but I relished it. It's a piece of my past I've almost forgotten about. We plan on writing a sequel, so be on the lookout for that. I don't even plan on writing a chapter this long, seeing as this was over 12,000 words. I'm sure if it was possible my fingers would have blisters. Until next time this has been KrymynalKrimzon, also known as Zena. Goodbye!

-Zena