Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve

by Nicole Coverdale

  “What the… brr!” Josslyn shivered, running a hand down her body, frowning. “What the hell? I just got wet! How the hell did I get wet?”

  “And I can’t see worth shit!” Jade cried.

  “Let me help with that.” Jasmine held her hand up, a reign of white light appearing in the palm of her hand and lighting up the room.

  “Jasmine! When did you learn to do that?”

  “At that house, where I met that healer. I forgot about it, until I kind of killed Carrie with the rays.”

  “Carrie? You mean, that girl from that horror movie?”

  “The one and the same.” Jasmine glanced above her. “Looks like we’re in some sort of ocean scene. Look, there’s water hanging above us, and wait. Is that…”

  “Jellyfish!” Josslyn screamed. “Run!”

  They turned, racing across the room, and a huge, pink Jellyfish swooped down from above them.

  “Jade! Fry them!” Jasmine shouted as the Jellyfish’s tentacles swam around her head. “They’re poisonous! They could kill us!”

  “I’m trying!” Jade shouted, ducking as a purple Jellyfish swam over her head. “It’s not working. Julie! Burn them to a crisp, would you?”

  “I can’t! Mine aren’t working either!” Julie shouted, stumbling back, as another Jellyfish swam down from above. “Anyone have any ideas?”

  “Run!”

  They turned, racing across the room.

  “There! There are stairs right there!” Jade shouted. “Go!”

  “We’ll never make it in time!” Jasmine shouted. “Ahh!”

  One of the Jellyfish lunged toward her, wrapping its tentacles around her. She gasped, struggling to free from its hold, but before she could break free, its tentacles sunk into her skin. She stumbled back, falling to the ground unconscious.

  “Jasmine!”

  “We have to keep moving!” Julie cried, glancing back at Jasmine lying motionless on the floor. “She’ll be okay. She has to be!” She turned, hurrying up the steps. Her feet splashing with each step she took, the steps disappeared one by one. “This house is so weird!”

  “Ahh! Julie!”

  “Jade!” She reached her hand out, grabbing Jade as the Jellyfish did the same, flinging her high in the air. “Don’t let go!”

  “I’m trying not to!” Jade shouted. “But it’s strong! I…” She trailed off, the Jellyfish sinking its tentacles into her arms. She screamed, her hand falling free from Julie’s, and the Jellyfish threw her high up into the air. “Julie!”

  “Jade!” Julie screamed, glancing over the railing, water rushing down the sides, watching as Jade’s body fell far below, crashing to the floor below her, and lay there, not moving.

  “Jade!” Josslyn screamed. “Is she…”

  Julie shook her head. “No. She can’t be!” Tears filled her eyes as she stared at her two sisters laying on the floor, motionless. “I can’t lose them. Come on.” She grabbed Josslyn by the hand, dragging her up the stairs. “I’m not losing you too!”

  They hurried up the rest of the steps, stepping through the water, noticing the long-haired woman standing on the other side of the room.

  “So, you must be the evil witch,” Julie said, narrowing her eyes as she stepped further into the room. She glanced around, staring at the Jellyfish floating through the air. “What are you? Another Ursula?”

  “Oh please, Ursula has nothing on me,” the evil witch said, smiling as she turned from the seashell shaped cauldron. “Hello Julie. Josslyn. I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “What do you want from us?” Josslyn asked. “Why did you send us to those fairytales? Why did you ruin my favorite fairytale?”

  “Because if I can’t have my happy ending, no one can!” the evil witch shouted, air rushing from her lips and propelling toward them. Josslyn gasped, stumbling back. Her back hit the wall, and Jellyfish swarmed around her. Grabbing her by the arms, by the legs, and pinning her to the wall. Another swarmed down, hovering over her head, its tentacles crawling into her ears.

  “Josslyn!”

  “And then, there was only one.” The evil witch smiled, leaning on her cauldron. Her black nail polish gleamed under the glistening water gushing above and around them. She glanced above her, grinning, as white bulbs glowed above them. “Oh, the power. The power!”

  “What are those?” Julie asked, glancing above her.

  “Your sister’s powers. And they shall be mine!” She lunged forward.

  “No!” Julie shoved her out of the way, and the white bulbs rushed through her body. She gasped, falling to the ground. She clutched her stomach, feeling a surge inside her. “Wh-what’s happening?”

  “No!” The evil witch swung around, from where she was lying on the floor. “No! The power is mine! Mine!”

  “I… have my sister’s powers?” Julie raised her hand, feeling suddenly stronger. Stronger than she had felt in a very, very long time.

  “Yes,” the evil witch said, narrowing her eyes. “You stole them from me, but you won’t have them for long.” She lifted her hands, the water splashing downward. Julie screamed, ducking, the water rushing over her in one, huge, cold splash. She glanced around her, watching as the water rose in one, large wave. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, stumbling backward. “You’re a witch, just like us? You could do good with your powers! Look at what you can do!”

  “Except, I am nothing like you,” the evil witch said. “Growing up, Gary and I were always at each other’s throats, arguing about something or another. And of course, they always sided with Gary. He was the good one. The stronger one. The one, who would lead the underworld one day.” She narrowed her eyes. “I was so filled with fury, that the power I had inherited from my mother changed. My hair, changed to black, and tentacles started growing up from my head.” She touched a hand to the tentacles hanging from her black hair. “And I soon realized that I could control any aspect of the sea. I could make tidal waves. I could control Jellyfish. I could create monsoons, hurricanes. Really, the realm of what I could do was limitless. But my mother, she was jealous of me. Jealous of what I could do so she banished me, but not before casting a curse on me. A curse, that would keep me banished to this castle, my face crinkled, eyes bulging, so ugly that no one would ever want to be with me. But then, I met Brandon. He came to the castle, one day, pretty much a dare from one of his college friends. But when he saw me, he wasn’t afraid like all the other boys who had come inside. He was kind, he was gentle, and he was so funny! My cold heart, melted, and when we kissed…” She sighed, holding a hand to her heart. “The curse was lifted. We traveled all over the world, and then, we were engaged. That is, until he met that damned wolf.” She clenched her fist. “Bastards, sneaking behind my back. Sneaking around. They ruined everything! They ruined me, and from that moment on I promised that no one would ever have a happy ending. No one!”

  “You’re… Gary’s sister?” Julie’s eyes widened. “Your brother killed my sister!”

  “I know,” the evil witch said, smiling. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am, Marlena. Ruler of all things of the sea, and the destroyer of happy endings.”

  “Except, you didn’t ruin the happy endings. They’re safe. We fixed them.”

  “Yes. I know. But with the demise of you and your sisters, they will crumble. Everything you’ve touched, all the good you’ve done, will be undone. And I, will be leader of the underworld… and I’ll finally be able to show my mother that she chose the wrong child!” She lifted her hands, the waves coming closer. “I just have to kill you!”

  “That might be easier said than done,” Julie said, grinning as another white orb hovered above them. “Because, I now have the power to freeze,” she said, the white bulb showering over her. She lifted her hands, freezing the waves around her. “Which means I have the power to defeat you!” She flung her hands forward, fire spewing from her hands, and lasing toward Marlena.

  Marlena ducked, and she turned. She opened her mouth, giving another y
ell. The air rushed from her lips, and Julie stumbled back. Jellyfish slung down from the roof, and she narrowed her eyes. Electricity shot from her eyes, frying them to a crisp.

  “What? No! That’s not possible!” Marlena screamed, stumbling back. “Those Jellyfish are supposed to subdue your powers!”

  “Maybe with each of us having our powers individually, but I have all four powers now,” Julie said. “And that, I’m willing to bet, is stronger than anything.” She flung her hand forward, electrical cuffs wrapping around Marlena’s wrists. “And I, am going to defeat you.”

  “By locking me up?” Marlena laughed. “Where? No prison could hold me, and you can’t cast a spell to send me away, you need your sisters to do that. There’s only one way to get rid of me, Julie. By killing me.”

  Julie raised her hand, staring at the woman in front of her. Was she right? Was there only one way to get rid of her? “I don’t kill.”

  “Sure you do,” Marlena said, grinning. “I know your secret, Julie.”

  “What secret?”

  “About the man who ran you down. Your sisters don’t know, but I know. I know what you did.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “So we’re going to do this the hard way, huh?” Marlena smiled. “You’re not so innocent, Julie. There’s a darkness inside of you, just like there’s a darkness inside of me. You may not want to think about it, you might not want to remember it, but it’s there. Tempting you every time you use your powers.”

  “You know nothing about me!”

  “I know plenty. I’ve done my research. Spent my time studying you, and I want you to join me, Julie. Join me and together we can rule the underworld.”

  “I’ll never join you.”

  “Then I guess you’ll never know how strong you really are,” Marlena said, breaking the cuffs from her wrists. “Nice try, Julie. But even those can’t hold me. Now, show me what you got! Show me the power! Show me how much you’re like me!”

  “I’m nothing like you!” Julie screamed, striking her arms out. White light suddenly sprung from her hands, fire following, followed by ice and electricity. Hitting Marlena in the chest.

  Marlena gasped, lowering her eyes, staring at the hole in her chest. “There it is,” she said, softly. “The darkness. I knew you had it inside of you.” She fell to the ground, her body turning into a puddle of black mush.

  “The hell I do!” Julie snapped, as the water around her faded away. She jerked her head around, staring at Josslyn lying, motionless on the floor. “Sky!” she suddenly shouted, racing across the room and crouching next to her sister’s prone body. “Sky! Sky! Help! We need you!”

  “Julie?” Sky appeared next to her, in a reign of light. “Oh my God! What happened?”

  “Monster Jellyfish!” Julie cried. “It was this sea witch! Marlena! She killed them! Their powers…”

  “Are in you. I know.” Sky laid a hand on her shoulder. “Come on.” He lifted Josslyn in his arms, and they hurried across the room.

  “Sky! The stairs! They’re not there!”

  “You can make a slide, Julie,” Josslyn said, gasping for breath. “You have my powers.”

  “Josslyn! You’re alive!”

  “For now.”

  Julie nodded, sliding to a stop in front of where the stairs had been. She lifted her hands, and focused.

  “It’s not working!” she cried. “Josslyn!”

  “You’re overthinking it, Julie,” Josslyn gasped out. “Close your eyes. Feel the power rush through you and let go.”

  Julie nodded, closing her eyes. She felt the power rise inside of her. Her eyes snapped open, and she flung her hands forward. Ice spewed from her fingers, a slide spraying down, where the stairs had been. “Holy crap! It worked!” She jerked her had toward Joss. “Your trigger… is freedom?”

  Josslyn nodded. “Good thing I was a wild child, huh? Now, can you please get me to the hospital!”

  “Let’s go!”

  They slid down the slide, jumping off and racing across to where Jade and Jasmine were laying, motionless.

  “Jasmine!” Sky hunkered down next to her, feeing for a pulse. “It’s faint, but it’s still there.”

  “Same with Jade,” Julie said, staring down at her. “God, I thought she was dead, the way she fell from up there.” She pointed upward. “How the hell did she survive?”

  “Your sister’s a strong one, Julie.”

  “I know, but we have to get them to a hospital, Sky!”

  “We’re going. Give me your hand.”

  Julie nodded, taking his hand. She laid her other hand on Jade’s body and closed her eyes as they were whisked away in a reign of light.

  “Julie?”

  Jade creaked an eye open, blinking at the bright, white lights above her. “Am I… alive?”

  “Not only are you alive, you also have your powers back,” Josslyn said, from where she was sitting in the chair on the other side of the room. She held an icepack to the side of her head, wincing. “We all do.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, long story short, Julie kicked some ass!” Jasmine cried. “She killed the evil witch! Now, all the happy endings are safe.”

  “As are we,” Julie said, walking in and setting the roses in the vase next to Jade’s bed. “Because the evil witch, was actually Gary’s sister.”

  “What!”

  “You guys missed a lot, while you were almost dead,” Julie said, laughing. “Like, how I got your powers. I still don’t understand that, considering you weren’t dead.”

  “Because we gave them to you,” Jasmine said, closing her eyes and leaning back. “God, my head hurts.”

  “An after effect of the Jellyfish sting,” Sky said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Give it a couple of days.”

  “What do you mean you gave them to me?” Julie asked. “What did you do? Say a spell? You were all unconscious!”

  “We had a little spell up our sleeves,” Josslyn said. “Just in case. A spell, to read each other’s minds.”

  “What? What about me? What if I had been the one knocked unconscious, nearly dead?”

  “We had faith,” Jasmine said. “But that spell we said, relinquished our powers. We need to get rid of it. If a demon ever got its hands on it…”

  “It could do some very, serious damage,” Jade finished for her. “So what do you have in mind? Are we supposed to erase our minds?”

  “Maybe.” Josslyn tapped a finger against her head. “If memory serves, there’s a cleansing spell in the book. I think we can re-word it to erase the spell from our minds.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jasmine said, yawning. She glanced at Jade laying in the bed. “By the way. How are you feeling Jade? After everything that happened. You know, with Dracula and everything.”

  “Dracula?” Sky glanced at her. “You guys met Dracula?”

  “Yup.” Jasmine laughed, patting Sky on the arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you about everything later.”

  “You’d better.”

  “I’m doing just fine, Jasmine,” Jade said, interrupting them. “In fact, I’m amazed that the only thing I came away with was a broken leg after that fall!” She pointed to the cast on her leg. “I could have broken every bone in my body!”

  “Been there. Done that,” Julie said, sighing, thinking about what the evil witch had said. What the fisherman had said. Was it true? Did she have evil inside of her?

  “But you guys are right,” Jade said, breaking into her thoughts. “I do need to talk to someone. Sky.” She glanced at him. “Do you by any chance know someone I can talk to? Someone magical, who I can spill my guts to? I’m getting a little overwhelmed with all this magical stuff.”

  “Actually, I do,” Sky said. “Up there.” He pointed to the skies, and his eyes suddenly widened. “Oh no.”

  “Sky?” Jasmine reached a hand out, touching his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”


  “Everything,” Sky said, dropping to the ground. “My heart… it’s…” He trailed off, his body suddenly shaking with such force.

  “Sky!” Jasmine screamed, falling to the ground next to him. “Julie! Get a doctor!”

  “No.” Sky grabbed her hand, shaking his head. “No doctor can help me, Jasmine.”

  “What are you talking about? This is what they get paid to do!”

  “Not for me,” Sky said, his eyes rolling up in his head. His body going lax.

  “Sky!” Jasmine screamed, pressing her fingers to his throat. “He has no pulse!” she cried, staring at her sisters. “And his heart! It’s not beating! What do I do? I don’t want to lose him! I just found him!”

  “I would never dream of leaving you,” Sky whispered, creaking an eye open.

  “Sky! How is this possible? Your heart’s not beating! You have no pulse! How are you still alive?”

  “Because I’m not like you, Jasmine,” Sky said, squeezing her hand. “There’s something you need to know about me, and we don’t have a lot of time. Death is coming for me, and there’s only one thing we can do to stop it.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Get my heart back.”

  Born and raised in the Midwest, Nicole Coverdale writes in several different genres: Mystery, suspense, romance, fantasy, and the paranormal. She is the writer of the urban fantasy series, The Wiccan Way, and the thriller/mystery series, The Randolph Saga.

  With several books already mapped out, Nicole spends most of her days on the computer, letting the words flow, but when she's not writing she loves to shop, binge on Netflix or Hulu, cook, bake, and in the fall loves nothing more than a good football game. Go Pack Go!

  Currently, Nicole lives in Sothern Minnesota with her boyfriend of four years, her black lab, Hunter, her gray and white tabby cat, Felix, and her calico tabby cat, Lucy.

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