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If grilled on the subject of costume, Algie would have to say he cheated.

Most people, on Halloween, went all out to become something fantastical or beyond. Algie went more with the theme of 'what do I have laying around that I could wear?' The answer was obvious and so as he popped into existence on the doorstop of Reyna's swampy abode, he was every inch a WIZARD!

He had gotten a little more elaborate with it. He'd worn the fanciest robes he had, dark green velvet embroidered with gold along with a rather ridiculous wizard's hat. It always made him laugh as it reminded him of one of his old teacher's from school. The brim was wide and the pointed top sagged and flopped over onto it's side. With a quick charm he'd acquired a long grey streaked beard that reached his stomach and was woven with golden thread. His usual modern glasses had been replaced with round golden spectacles. As an expert on the subject, he'd made sure his "costume" was perfect.

Of course little Bloodstone could not dress up but did seem curious about the whole act of disguise as Algie had dressed at home. Now he rested on the man's finger but the wizard suspected that once they started into the haunted house that Bloo would get much more active.

"I certainly planned this well.." He'd appeared right on the house's doorstep and had missed the swampy puddles surrounding the home. He didn't hear any noise inside but was ready for anything when he opened the door. It was Halloween after all!

Algie gasped in disbelief and amusement as they stepped inside and Bloo had already left his finger. The room he'd walked into was a perfect re-creation of the spooky home of the Addams Family! The black and white checkered floor led to the large staircase. Archways draped in curtains led off to a family room and it was perfectly decorated in all of the creepy pageantry of the television show.

"I never watched much television but this is a classic." He pushed his glasses up as Bloo zipped around in the vicinity checking everything out. Algie stood a while before he realized there was nothing happening. He picked up scary noises, strange moans coming from deep within the house and the skittering of animals in deep dark places. It was then that something caught his eye and gave him a childish feeling of giddiness.

While Bloo examined a strange candelabra shaped out of human skulls, Algie eyed up a hangman's noose hanging rather obviously from the cieling. He looked around rather sneakily, as if he were to get caught, and then yanked it with a grin. He even gave his own (awful) impersonation, "Yoooou Raaaaang?"

Bloo zipped back to Algie in apprehension as a massive sound of a gong rang through the room and the house shook uncontrollably!

Mystic phased into view with a vauge look of consternation. 'It's not nice to point such things at people,' he replied smoothly as he fluidly glided his way over to where Algie was standing.

He reached for his hand and dropped a piece of candy into his palm. 'There are two more to collect. One from my own guardian, Reyna, and another from Hawk's Eye.'

He faded almost entirely from view and darted through one of the more solid walls. He poked his head back through the wall on a second thought and said, 'Watch out for the nightmare beasts, eh?'

Then he disappeared.

A pair of arms reached down and initially Algie seemed receptive. Of course then another pair of arms reached out.. and then another. As he turned to exclaim he was pulled into the darkness and before he could even respond he popped back in the front door once again.

The man blinked in surprise. Bloodstone apparently had been propelled along with him and now hung uneasily in his bond's shadow.

"That was strange.. we are back at the beginning." The passages that had opened seemed to have been reset, now just solid walls. Algie heard a skittering noise in the room to his left but was suddenly not as eager to go pursue it.

"We've not many options.." He frowned and stroked his temporary beard but Bloodstone had already shaken his fright and was starting to move towards where he heard the noise. The room appeared to be the dining room and there was a large painting on the wall that looked something like Washington Crossing the Delaware but all the figures were skeletons.

"It's coming from there.." The noise sounded like an animal scratching and was coming from the opposite side of what looked like a swinging kitchen door.

"Ready?" Algie took a breath. "One.. Two.. Three..!" He pushed it open.

Algie started to cough uncontrollably from the amount of dust that had just spewed into his face. By the time he'd wiped his eyes he realized that once again he was back in the entrance hall.

The older man let out an uncharacteristic yell of frustration. "They should call this the often-spooky-but-otherwise-extremely-inconvenient house!" He picked a cobweb out of his beard and gave a stern eye to his wisp who seemed to dance in amusement. Apparently the spooky noises and brushes with death were fun, regardless of the fact that the stone seemed a little frightened a few times throughout the encounter.

"I think I am fed up with the downstairs for now. Time to go up?" Algie sighed tiredly. "I'm too old for this."

They began their ascent and found that the stairs were deceptively narrow and tall. Algie was panting by the time he got up to the top, leaning on the banister. There was a set of large double doors that when tried, seemed locked. A small alcove was set in the wall and in golden scrolled letters a sign above read 'Insert Hand for Help'.

"They couldn't be more cryptic?" Algie looked for ANY other option but found none. The alcove he reached into was just coated in dust and cobwebs and after his arm had gone 3/4 of the way in he felt gross things moving around his fingers. He shuddered in disgust but pressed on until his fingertips touched against a panel. The double doors unlocked with a loud hydraulic hissing noise.

"This is absolutely disgusting. My fond memories of the Addams Family are also forever tarnished." His hand was covered in a clear goo by the time he pulled it out and a worm dangled from his fingers. Algie let out a high pitched, yet short, yelp and tossed the offending creepy crawly to the floor. Bloo was already waiting by the double doors, tendrils eagerly touching the handles.

With a shoulder involved, Algie pushed the knob and shoved his way through.

Reyna turned the knob a bit more forcefully and shoved the door open, but caught it before it smacked Algie in the face after she realized it was he on the other side.

"Oops," she said with a brash smirk. "Hm. Looks like I found you rather than you finding me," she announced, "I'll give you a piece of candy anyway, eh?"

She reached out handed Algie the candy as promised. She strode her way past him and across the room, before she stepped through a door that mysteriously hadn't been there moments before.

"See ya~!" she called cheerfully over her shoulder with a wave of her hand. She was having almost entirely too much fun!

Algie stood face to face with a freshly roasted corpse. No wonder the smell seemed to hit him late. He covered his nose and mouth, horrified and feeling slightly sick. The corpse had a lightbulb clenched in it's teeth and in only a moment the bulb started to glow.

Algie coughed managing only one word, "Fester..?" Before the corpse issued a maniacal laugh and it's rotting arms reached for the wizard, closing him in it's gooey rotting grip.

He winced, Bloodstone shaking, and when he opened his eyes he was once again back at the entrance. His stone even seemed relieved as Algie wiped some sweat from his brow.

"Disgusting.." He took a moment and relaxed into a dusty, old style recliner. "I don't know how much more of this I can handle, Bloo... Of course there's no serial killers but this old stuff is pretty spooky on it's own!"

He leaned back to recline, setting his feet up when the moving chair activated a switch. He heard the click and instead of being interested, simply let out a groan. "Again?"

The black and white tile of the entry hall slid aside to reveal a set of cement stairs leading downwards.

Leaning over the water, of course, had been a mistake. The surface began to bubble and large tentacles shot out of the water at amazing speed. The wizard screamed as he was bound in their slimy grip and dragged beneath the surface.

He held his breath, closed his eyes.... and then realized he was back once again at the entrance.

"This is very frustrating." He rubbed his face, removing his golden spectacles to massage the bridge of his nose. Everything about this place was annoying him now. His nostalgia was gone but here he stood in the Addams Family entry hall and everything was pristine, as if none of the horrible, frightening events had ever happened.

He turned to try the front door knob, ready to give up, but Bloodstone gave a shake. The wisp, despite being frightened, wouldn't let him quit. He could feel it bolstering his confidence and turning his 'it's not fair' attitude into a 'fight this thing to the end' attitude.

"Alright.." Algie definitely felt more confident. "Maybe we should try some things again?" The hangman's noose that called the family butler still hung nearby but this time had a helpful little sign, like something out of Alice in Wonderland.

'PULL ME. HARD!'

Algie grabbed the loop and pulled. He pulled with both arms until he was sure it wouldn't pull anymore. Once more the gong sounded and the ground started to shake.

As Rhys and tek came through the door they found themselves in a much different enviroment from the previous. The empty room that the strobe lights and neon colors had disappeared and left was now gone and they found themselves within the foyer of a large manor. The door they had come through snapped shut behind them, "it looks like we found our way ... further into the house." Rhys spoke softly. Tek darted ahead curiously pausing at a nearby table, Rhys eyes widened some watching the fiend, Tek's green coloring was gone, he was made up of black and shades of gray; holding his own hand up Rhys found he too was now lacking color, they appeared as they would have in a black and white film. "Tek...look at this." Rhys just left his hand up his voice more then a little wary.

Tek turned and moved back to his guardian, Interesting! We are lacking pigment...We do hope to get ours back, but if you don't it shouldn't be so bad - yours wasn't very interesting anyways.

"Hey!" Rhys moved forward narrowing his eyes at the little fiend. After only a few steps Rhys paused there was soft music playing through the house and each step echoed strangely.

The two moved further into the house, they moved away from the checkered tiles and through a nearby archway. A piano sat in the room and eerie music came from it but from their positioning they didn't see anyone playing it. We wonder if it's a machine! The ripple of Tek's cape as he darted toward the piano was all Rhys saw the little fiend moved so quickly. "Will you stop that," muttering Rhys hurried along behind Tek, he didn't have much trouble catching up because the fiend had stopped and was staring at the piano. As Rhys came closer he could see why the fiend had stopped, it wasn't a machine making the piano play but rather a disembodied hand dancing over the keys and making the song play.

"Whoa, what is that..." pausing for only a moment Rhys moved forward reaching for the hand upon the piano. As he did the sound of a door snapping open behind them caused him to turn in surprise.