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“Like zoinks Scoob, I think we have a mystery to solve!” my roommate Stef teased as I came out of my bedroom.

“And what mystery is that?” I grinned, planting my hands on my hips.

“The mystery of why you look so fetching in purple!” Stef said in reply, her green eyes lighting up mischievously.

I fixed the purple headband in my long, auburn hair. “You don’t think Daphne’s a bit on the nose, do you?”

Stef snorted. “C’mon, it’s a part you were born to play!”

I darted over to the mirror hanging on the living room wall and checked myself. I was wearing a long-sleeved purple mini-dress with green scarf over lilac tights and purple close-toed heeled shoes I’d borrowed from my brother’s girlfriend. For Halloween this year, I was Daphne Blake.

I glanced over at my roommate. Stef had a green hooded sleeveless cloak over a white T-shirt and brown mini-skirt with black leather belt. She wore brown gloves, as well as brown knee high boots over nude nylons. Her long blonde hair was expertly styled in twin braids. My lovely roommate looked the spitting image of Linkle!

“You guys ready?” a male voice asked. I turned around to see my boyfriend Brian coming out of the bathroom. His green eyes, the same shade as Stef’s, matched the T-shirt he wore over brown slacks. Brian had shaved most of his beard except for his chin and had forewent a haircut for the last couple months.

Brian checked his watch. “When’s Nick getting here? I don’t want to be late.” Stef’s boyfriend Nick was picking us up so we could carpool and actually stand a chance of finding a parking spot on campus.

“You are so impatient!” I gently teased Brian.

“I can move faster than sound, it’s in my nature,” he replied dryly. I rolled my eyes and strolled over to the coffee table so I could pick up the newspaper. It was a few days old and the front page news concerned a jewelry store theft in Ocean City. The perps had all been wearing Halloween costumes according to witnesses: specifically a werewolf, a woman in red wearing a fox mask, and a large thug in a zombie costume. They’d made off with several valuables including an expensive emerald necklace. The thieves had not been caught yet.

The front door burst open and a tall figure in green coveralls leapt into view.

“It’s a me!” my friend Nick announced in a fake Italian accent. “Luigi!”

For the life of me, I have no idea why Nick and Stef decided to go as Luigi and Linkle rather than attempt to at least match franchises. But that’s my friends for you.

“Damn, I’m starving,” Brian grumbled, checking his watch again. “There’s food there, right?”

“Dude, you’re getting into character already!” Nick enthused, adjusting his fake mustache. “That’s totally a Shaggy thing to do!”

“Brian’s a speedster, he’s always hungry!” I argued. “The boy burns calories faster than he can consume them!”

“Speaking of which, can I leave my uniform in the car?” Brian asked Nick. “Just in case.”

“What are you worried about?” Stef retorted. “It’s just a Halloween play being put on for a fundraiser. For what reason would you need to go all hero mode?”

Brian counted the reasons on his fingers. “My sister’s Commencement. Last Christmas. SpringFest. That Black-and-White dinner Erin and I went to in May. Half the time we try to do something nice, something crazy happens instead.”

“If it makes you feel better,” I replied, knowing he made a good point. We did have a history of getting into some predicaments when we tried to enjoy a nice evening out. Hopefully, tonight would buck that trend.

***

The four and I arrived at the Performing Arts Center for our first activity of the evening. The Mystery Club, to which our friend Tori belonged, and the Theatre Club, were putting on a little whodunnit play titled the Phantom of the Manor as a joint fundraiser. For the ticket price plus an extra $2 you could wear a costume. While this might seem a deterrent, Lakeside College takes Halloween very seriously - the campus was crawling with all manner of colorful costume characters! So I imagined they would make some decent change on this. Plus, food and drinks were included with the ticket! No one can turn down food. Afterwards, we were going to a party with some of our other friends which was more of the booze-and-loud-music variety.

The show itself was being held in a small auditorium the music department used for recitals, but everybody congregated in a large rehearsal room across the hall. This was where we paid our tickets and costume fees, then grabbed some pizza, sandwiches, soft drinks, and apple cider.

“Seems like something we might have done back when I was in school,” Brian remarked before biting into a slice of pepperoni. Brian’s five years older than me, so he graduated college a few years ago. He sometimes feels out of place when I take him to college events, but surprisingly he’d been rather enthusiastic about doing this whole thing. The fact that I’d told him I was going as Daphne clearly had nothing to do with it, right?

“Oh Erin, there’s Abbie!” Stef pointed out to me. I peered across the somewhat crowded room and spotted a petite brunette sophomore dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, accompanied by her boyfriend Billy as the Cowardly Lion. The five of us headed over to them.

“Abbie, long time no see!” I waved. Abbie looked my way and her pretty blue eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Erin!” she gasped. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were coming! You look so cute!”

“Hi Erin!” Billy waved.

“Hey Billy.” I’d just seen him the other day in Newspaper Club, he was the staff photographer. Abbie, however, I hadn’t seen in what felt like forever.

“Who are you supposed to be Stef?” Abbie asked earnestly. “Like, an elf?”

“Linkle from the Zelda games,” Stef replied.

“We had to convince her not to take the duel crossbows onto campus,” Brian joked. Stef shot her cousin a glare.

“Sorry I haven’t hung out lately,” Abbie apologized to me. “I was so busy working this summer and I know you had your internship. And, um, other stuff...”

I blushed a little. I knew “other stuff” meant my frequent snooping activities that often ended with me bound and gagged by baddies.

“Well, we’re here now!” I managed a smile. “Let’s enjoy ourselves! Have you met Tori McIntyre? She’s a freshman, but she had the whole idea for this!”

“You give me too much credit!” a female voice rang out. I turned and smiled as I saw the lady in question. Tori McIntyre, a beautiful raven-haired young woman with lovely doe-like brown eyes, stood, dressed in a white blouse and grey skirt with nude nylons and black pumps, her hair styled like something out of a 1940’s film noir. Yowzers, she looked great!

“Looking amazing, girl!” I hugged my friend. Tori and I had hung out quite a bit since the start of fall term, despite the fact I’m a senior and she’s a freshman. We had bonded over a shared love of mystery and crime novels - and we’d even ended up in some pretty tight spots a couple times!

“Thanks!” Tori replied, her lips a bright crimson. “It’s for this little show, obviously. I should have known you’d be Daphne!”

I giggled nervously. “Guess I really am that obvious!”

“Oh god, Tor!” a young woman with strawberry blonde hair complained, pushing through the crowd to join my friend. I recognized her as Hayley Mitchell, a duel English / theatre major and fellow senior who was an aspiring playwright. She was in a slinky green dress and an appropriately gaudy costume necklace with fake baubles on it. Upon closer inspection, one of these pieces was bright emerald colored gem looked almost like the real thing! Hayley had her hair in a similar style as Tori, but appeared to more resemble a noir femme fatale. “I’m so nervous!” she murmured, biting a fingernail.

“Relax, it’s just a fundraising event!” Tori calmed her. She explained to me “Hayley wrote the play we’re doing. Hayley, you know Erin O’Malley?”

Hayley’s blue eyes lit up. “Lakeside’s own Nancy Drew! Who doesn’t? You’ve had enough adventures to write a novel about!”

I found myself blushing. “Well, I’ve gotten in a few scrapes here and there.” I quickly introduced her to the gang.

“Love that necklace, where’d you get it?” Stef asked.

“Same place I got the dress, that new costume place in North Hunting. It looks so real, right?” Hayley showed the “jewel” in the necklace. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn it was!

Tori was about to say something, but someone tapped her shoulder.

“We better get going. Show starts soon.”

“Ok! See you guys later!” Tori waved as she headed off. “The Mystery cards are on the table outside the recital hall, don’t forget to pick one up! Erin if you don’t solve this, I’ll never speak to you again!”

“Oh gee, thanks!” I retorted good-naturedly. “No pressure there!”

***

The story of the mystery theatre show was really cute! It was your basic whodunnit set at a New England manor house on a stormy evening. Of course, the plot involved a guest dying mysteriously. The phones are out, the roads are terrible because of the rain, and the characters had to figure out the identity of the mysterious masked killer was before it was too late!

“How dare you suggest I killed Mr. MacGuffin?” Hayley in character as the vampish Delilah Durham shrieked in outrage to Tori’s character, a mystery novel writer and amateur snoop named Dot Berkeley. “Just because he and I once had a torrid affair!”

I covered my mouth with my hand and stifled a giggle, watching with amusement as she tarted about onstage. She was really enjoying hamming it up!

The former lover angle was too obvious though, I thought, and quickly ruled Hayley’s character out. This idea was proven most probable in the last scene before intermission. Delilah is by herself in the bar, pouring herself a stiff drink to calm her nerves. Suddenly, a foreboding figure in a white mask, dark suit, and black gloves begins creeping up on her from behind. There were gasps in the audience...they know what’s going to happen...

The masked figure clamps a gloved hand over Hayley’s mouth, she lets out a muffled shriek and drops her drink. She tries to fight her attacker off, but is unable to as she is dragged away backstage.

That’s when the entire theatre went pitch black.

***

The emergency lights were quick to come on, and there was a smattering of gasps and nervous giggles. One of the cast stumbled out onstage and scurried over to the microphone.

“Um, we’re going to take an intermission now,” she said breathlessly, then hurried backstage again. I glanced over at Brian in the dark.

“I don’t think this was planned,” I murmured worriedly.

“There’s probably a power outage,” he suggested. I was about to add something, but felt someone tugging at my arm. I looked over to see it was Tori! Even in the dim light, I could see the panicked look on her face.

“Come quick!” she whispered. “It’s important!”

A minute later, our entire crew was out in one of the lounge areas downstairs. The emergency lights were on out here too, adding weight to Brian’s theory. Standing there with us was Tori and a bespectacled young man dressed in black introduced to me as Garrett, the stage manager. He shared the uneasy look on Tori’s face.

“What’s wrong, Tori?” Stef asked. Before Tori could answer, a member of the maintenance staff passed by and got Garrett’s attention.

“We’ll have the lights back on in a jiffy. Probably blew a fuse.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said solemnly. I could tell by his grim countenance that something else was wrong.

“Okay. What is it you guys?” I wanted to know, frowning and folding my arms across my chest.

“We can’t find Hayley or the actor playing the Phantom,” Tori said in a low voice.

“I still don’t think we should be bothering them with that,” Garrett argued. “You said you just wanted to ask O’Malley for help, what’s with all these other people?”

“We’re kind of a package deal,” Nick joked.

“So, why do you think they’re missing?” Brian asked. “They could have gone for a restroom break or something. It hasn’t been that long.”

“The intermission wasn’t planned, was it?” I pressed for info. “And when the power went out, what happened exactly?”

Tori shuddered. “I was on stage right where he dragged her off, so I saw could kind of see what happened. They were supposed to just, you know, stop once they were behind the curtains, but then I heard her feet dragging on the floor and the door slam!”

“Come to think of it, Jason was acting weird,” Garrett recalled. “He was dead silent as he was waiting backstage. Usually, he’s a lot more relaxed, it wasn’t like him at all.”

“Any history between those two?” I inquired. Both shook their heads. Just then, the full lights came back on. Garrett was calling someone on his cell.

“Yeah lights are back...wait, what do you mean house lights aren’t back up yet? Someone get Katie!”

Quite strange...could this be connected?

“I’ll go!” Tori offered.

“Me too!” I chimed in. “Something’s odd about all this.”

“The rest of us will split up and see if we can kind your actors,” Stef decided. “I mean, they have to be around here somewhere, right?”

***

“I’ve thinking, that couldn’t have been the actor!” Tori exclaimed breathlessly as we hurried upstairs to the control room. “Jason would never have attacked Hayley like that! He kept apologizing during rehearsal whenever he had to grab her.”

“Let’s just check in here so we can get the lights back on!” I replied. We soon reached the door. I tried the handle. “Damn, locked!”

At the sound of my voice, we suddenly heard a chorus of muffled cries behind the door. Tori and I glanced at each other.

“Was that...” she murmured.

“Hhhlllppp! Mmmmff!” someone screamed.

Tori and I looked at each other again, eyes wide. Uh oh, I thought. I knew that sound all too well.

Brian and Nick suddenly came into view as they charged up the stairs.

“We have a problem!” Tori cried. “Someone’s in there, I think they might be in trouble! Door’s locked.”

Brian let out an audible groan. “Great. Where’s Div when you need her?”

Thankfully, a member of the maintenance staff was soon up there, also investigating the incident. They had a key and we were able to unlock the door. What I saw in the dark room made my heart leap into my throat and I clapped my hand over my mouth.

Hayley, and two other people, a young man and woman, were bound and gagged. Hayley was squirming for all it was worth against tight ropes around her arms and legs, and was mumbling frantically through the thick cleave gag in her mouth. The other two were bound back to back and gagged identically to Hayley. We rushed forward to untie them.

“Who did this to you guys?” I asked as I tried to untie Hayley.

“The same creep who stole my costume for the play!” the young man growled. I noticed he was only in a T-shirt and boxer shorts.

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Come again?” Before the young man could respond, there a scurrying of running footsteps coming up the stairs and we were soon joined by Abbie and Billy.

“Oh thank goodness you got your lights back on!” Abbie exclaimed breathlessly. “What happened - oh!” she squeaked, raising a hand to her mouth when her eyes clapped upon the scene.

I grimaced. “Looks like we have a real Phantom of the Performing Arts Center lurking around!”

***

“I still don’t know what happened!” Jason, the real actor for the Phantom, complained. We’d brought him his clothes so he could cover himself. The three freed captives were explaining what had happened to myself, Brian, Stef, and Abbie. “I was in the dressing room getting my costume on when I got a text from Katie to um, well...” He turned beet red.

“It wasn’t me, it was that fake Phantom using my phone!” Katie the lighting girl grumbled. “The creep! He snuck up behind me and put a hand over my mouth, then tied me up!”

“Which is how I found her,” Jason added. “The guy had a knife and threatened to hurt Katie if I made a sound.” Looking downcast, he muttered, “I couldn’t do anything to stop him.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Brian shrugged. “Not much you could have done. So I’m guessing that’s when he took your costume.”

“But why did he abduct you, Hayley?” I asked the third victim.

Hayley pointed to her neck. We collectively gasped when we saw the necklace was gone.

“But that was just some piece of costume jewelry, right?” Stef asked. “No offense, but who would steal that?”

“I liked it,” Abbie replied. “I thought it was very period appropriate.”

“Guys!” Tori cried. She came running over with Billy and Nick. Her face was white as a sheet.

“What happened now?” I asked, a nauseous feeling in my stomach.

“The cash box is gone!” Tori blurted. “All the money from tonight. We had it locked up, but someone broke into the room and took it!”

Abbie and Stef both gasped and clapped their hands over their mouths. Poor Hayley meanwhile looked like she was going to burst into tears.

“Could this get any worse?” she groaned.

I looked over to Brian, who had a curious look on his face.

“That can’t be coincidence,” he murmured. “We’d better call the police.”

I nodded, my stomach churning as I wondered who could be responsible.

***

“Right, so the campus police are going to check the building,” Brian said. It was several minutes later, and the three victims were off giving their statement to the cops.

“I’m sorry this happened,” Abbie said gently to Tori. We were all gathered in the student center across the street - myself, Brian, Abbie, Stef, Nick, and Billy. A handful of other mystery and theatre club folks, plus a couple audience members, had gathered there too after it had been announced what had happened. “You shouldn’t have to cut your show short like that, and the money...”

Tori set her jaw. “We’re getting that money back, not just for the fundraiser, but all these people paid to come out and support us tonight! What do you say Erin?”

I grinned. “Girl, I thought you’d never ask! Let’s take a look around.”

“You know, the campus is a big place,” Stef remarked. “And the guy probably slipped out while all the lights were out.”

“He could be miles away by now,” Nick pointed out.

“Maybe not,” Tori mused.

“What are you thinking?” I wondered, sensing the wheels turning in her head.

“Well, they have the cash box, but we locked it,” Tori explained. “And I...” she fished a keychain out of her purse. “I have the key!”

Brian nodded. “Bet they don’t know that.”

“So...do you think the thief might still be somewhere on campus?” I suggested. “If they’ve realized the box needs a key...”

“Maybe...” Tori replied, cupping her chin in her hand. “Depends on how smart the thief was.”

“Smart enough to plan this far,” I remarked. “He must have traced that necklace to Hayley somehow.”

“Still seems like looking for a needle in a haystack just to find the guy,” Billy muttered. “Maybe we ought to leave it to the police.”

“Too bad we don’t know any guys who, say, could cover the whole town really quickly,” Nick chimed in brightly. “Say, a guy with super speed? Huh? Huh?” I saw the gleam in his eye and the increasingly grumpy look on Brian’s face and knew what was being suggested.

“You, uh, you know anybody like that, Brian?” Nick continued to press the issue.

“Oh my god, shut up!” my boyfriend snapped. “I get the picture, I’ll go call the Agency!” He stormed out of the room. “And nobody get kidnapped while I’m gone!”

I crossed my arms and huffed. “Oh you always say that!”

“I’m confused,” Abbie shook her head in bewilderment. “What just happened?”

“Abbie, don’t you know that Bbrrrmmph!” Tori started to say, but I slapped a hand over her mouth. I shook my head and silently mouthed, “She doesn’t know.” There was also the fact that there were several other people in the room that didn’t know Brian’s secret identity and certainly didn’t need to!

“Brian knows some people, let’s just say,” Stef said diplomatically. “He works some desk jockey job for the Agency.” Whew, way to save the day Stef! I hated lying to Abbie and Billy, but now really wasn’t the time!

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Abbie recalled. “Oh that must be how those superpowered guys always come to Erin’s rescue!”

“Wow, he must owe them a lot of favors at the office,” Billy remarked.

“Anyway, we ought to get going while we can,” I said. I thought I noticed a young woman in a witch costume watching us intently, but when I glanced her way, she was busy texting. “Let’s split up and search for clues! And I cannot believe I just said that.”

“I know, that wasn’t even the right character!” Nick chuckled.

***

We broke off into pairs: myself and Tori, Stef and Abbie, and Nick and Billy; plus some more people from the theatre club offered to help. Made sense, it was their money missing after all. Away from prying eyes, I suggested to Tori that maybe she shouldn’t keep the key on her - just in case. Tori agreed and left the key with Garrett for safekeeping.

Tori then suggested we investigate the nearly Hamilton Hall first, which was used primarily by the music and theatre departments.

“There’s plenty of places to hide something in there, like the practice and rehearsal rooms,” Tori explained. She and I took that building, while Stef and Abbie investigated the area outside around Hamilton and the Performing Arts Center.

“Call if you guys see anything,” Stef advised. “I’m looking at you, Erin! No hero stuff!”

I sighed. “C’mon Stef...”

“Right, it’s decided then!” Tori enthused. “See you guys in a bit!” She and I headed over to Hamilton Hall; the darkened building loomed over us as we reached the entrance.

I shivered. “This place seems pretty creepy at night.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tori insisted almost impatiently. Wow, she really wanted to get started! Soon as we were inside, she turned to me, practically grinning. “I can’t believe I’m finally getting to snoop with you for real!”

I smiled weakly. “Hope you’re not too disappointed!”

Due to the building comprising of two floors, Tori and I split up to cover more ground. Yeah, I know, when has splitting up ever worked out? But the empty building was seriously creeping me out and I wanted to get through as quickly as possible.

I investigated the second floor, but failed to really find anything. There was no sign of life anywhere - the students and professors would have long left for the weekend, and even the most dedicated music major wouldn’t be practicing at this time when there were Halloween parties to get to.

At one point I sighed and rested my hands on my hips. “This is feeling like a wild goose chase,” I muttered. The fact that I was dressed as Daphne, investigating a spooky building at night looking for a guy in a Phantom costume, also made me feel rather silly.

I heard a distinct muffled thump downstairs. “Tori?” I murmured. I quickly texted her, but didn’t get a response right away. Frowning, I headed downstairs to check it out.

I crept carefully through the seemingly deserted first floor, my eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

“Tori, where are you?” I whispered. “If this is your idea of a joke, it isn’t funny!”

That’s when I heard footsteps echoing from an adjacent hall. My heart thumping, I darted off in that direction. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the area I found myself in was just as deserted. Opening the door to a small rehearsal room, I poked my head inside. Nothing, save a Jack-O-Lantern and some paper skull decorations hanging over the doorway.

“Geez, O’Malley, you’re getting paranoid!” I chided myself. “Tori’s got to be around here somewhere. It’s not like the Phantom is creeping around, getting ready to sneak up and grab mmmffff!!”

Then, just like with Hayley’s character in the play, a mysterious gloved hand was suddenly clapped over my mouth and I was seized from behind!

“Lllmmm gggmmm!!” I screamed, struggling in my assailant’s grasp. My right arm was trapped beneath his arm wrapped around my torso- I couldn’t break free! “Lllmmm gggmmm! Mmmph!!”

“Of course it would be Daphne to come meddling,” a low voice said. I managed to glance up in the midst of my struggling. Yep, it was the Phantom all right - or whichever creep was wearing his costume.

“Hhhmmmph!” I exclaimed indignantly, stomping my foot and just missing his shoe. The Phantom began dragging me away.

“And of course, Daphne was always the one to get captured,” he mused as he pulled my squirming figure along. “I know just the place to keep you out of the way.”

At that moment, I stomped viciously on his foot with my heel. He let out a pained yelp and I used his distraction as opportunity to slip out of his grasp and run for it. But not before giving him a swift kick in the groin.

I heard his agonized falsetto whine, but was already bolting for freedom.

“Help!” I cried. “It’s the Phan...”

I turned a corner and nearly plowed over a young woman in a witch costume, her face painted green. Hey I recognized her from the party! I had no idea what she was doing in here, but I sure was glad to see her!

“It’s the Phantom!” I told her breathlessly. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed he wasn’t following me. “He just tried to kidnap me, but I got away. We have to tell...”

A door opened and a large, muscular man dressed as a zombie stepped out. The grim look on his face gave me the creeps and I gulped nervously.

“Anyway, get campus security or somebody! I’m going to warn the - Hey!!”

I had started to walk away, but the zombie grabbed me round the waist and lifted me off the ground! The witch pulled what looked like a large black cloth from her dress.

“Stupid girl,” she sneered. “We’re working with him!”

My eyes widened. I tried to scream again, but that witch crudely shoved the entire cloth in my mouth!

“Hold her still!” the witch rasped as the zombie set me down. She yanked the green scarf from around my neck and proceeded to tie it tightly around my mouth.

“Mmmff!” I protested, but neither of them were listening to me.

My arms pinned behind me, I was dragged down the hall, struggling and mmphing for all it was worth. Of course, that Phantom was there to greet us, his eyes narrowed in cold fury.

“Get her in there!” he snapped, pointing to a practice room. “I have the other one already!”

The other one? I wondered as I was forced inside the room. No, could that be...

“Ermmmm!!” Tori screamed the second I was pulled inside. My raven haired friend was bound to a chair, a thick white cloth tightly gagging her mouth. Her eyes were practically saucers and she struggled fiercely against her bonds. I tried to mumble something in reply, but was yanked over to another chair.

I was shoved into the plastic chair, the witch and zombie quickly binding me to it - hands crossed over behind the back and tied together, rope pulled taut across my waist binding me to my seat, and ankles lashed together.

“Mmmmph!!” I screamed, squirming in my seat, my eyes blazing with fury.

“The original cartoon damsel and a wannabe sleuth,” the witch chuckled darkly as Tori and I glared daggers in her direction. “The perfect little captives, don’t you guys think?”

***

“Mmmp mmmfff mmmrrph...”

I mumbled into my gag as I continued to struggle in my chair. Damn, the ropes were pretty tight! I could hardly budge in my seat. Glancing over at Tori, I could see the look of concentration on her face as she shifted in her seat.

Our captors were pacing the room anxiously.

“We have to get that stuff out of here without anybody noticing,” the Phantom muttered. He pulled a shiny object out of his coat. I gave a muted gasp as it gleamed in the light - the emerald from the necklace. Now that I thought about it, I realized it really had to be the real thing!

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he mused.

“I don’t know what you were thinking hiding it in that costume necklace!” the witch retorted.

“What would you have had me do?” the Phantom shot back, marching angrily in her direction. “I had to hide it somewhere until our client got to town! The heat was on from the fuzz! I didn’t realize someone would actually buy that gaudy looking thing!”

I didn’t know Hayley well, but it seemed her offbeat sense of style coupled with the costume shop’s complete obliviousness to their own product, had contributed to this whole cock-up.

“Well we got it back now,” the zombie added gruffly. Pulling a coat off the desk, he revealed a locked cash box. Now it was Tori’s turn to gasp next to me. “And we got a little extra cash from this thing too.”

“And another thing!” the Phantom snapped. “Why did you have to take the cash box too? Now everyone’s looking for it!”

The money from the tickets! Of course! It all clicked in place now. It must not have been part of their original plan, which was to grab the necklace and leave. Sounds like somebody had gotten greedy. I could see Tori fuming next to me - she looked furious. I could understand why. It was one thing to steal some fancy jewel, but the money was a fundraiser for the mystery and drama clubs!

“Hey, I did your dirty work for you, tracking down the necklace!” the witch shot back. “It’s not my fault the idiots left it unattended. Which reminds me...”

She glided over to Tori and removed her gag.

“Where’s the key to the box? We have your little friend now so maybe you’ll be persuaded to talk.”

“I gave it to somebody else!” Tori scoffed. “My friend made sure it was kept in one of the theatre department lockers. I don’t know which one and I don’t have the combination. So there!”

“Hhmmmph!” I added, glaring daggers at the witch. The green-faced young woman sighed and roughly crammed the cloth all the way in Tori’s mouth, eliciting a muffled squeal from the raven-haired girl. The witch then unfolded a black-and-white checkered bandana from a bag and tied it snugly over her mouth and nose.

“Want to do it the hard way, huh?” she taunted my friend, who glared silently. “We’ll just break back in later when everything’s died down.”

The Phantom rubbed the underside of his chin, nodding.

“We’ll have to keep them here for now. If we...”

“Achoo!” a high-pitched sneeze was heard from out in the hall. The Phantom and the witch glared at each other.

“Zombie, go see to our visitor,” the witch said sweetly.

The zombie ran for the door - quite fast for a zombie, really.

“Abbie run!” I heard Stephanie scream as the door was yanked open.

“Mmm!” I cried, sharing a panicked look with Tori. I silently begged for my friends to get away, perhaps they could outrun the oaf...

The chorus of muffled shrieks from the hallway soon proved me wrong. A moment later, the burly zombie returned, dragging Stef and Abbie with him, his large hands clamped over both their mouths. The witch quickly shut the door behind him as he forced them inside.

“Well,” the Phantom growled, swooping over to the mumbling, struggling captives. Stef treated him to a look of frosty disdain. “Looks like we have a little party going on in here.”

***

So here’s a joke, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Daphne Blake, Dorothy Gale, Linkle, and a 40’s film noir heroine are bound and gagged in a music department rehearsal room at a medium-sized college and...Oh you’ve heard that one before? Damn.

Anyway, it was minutes later that Stef and Abbie joined Tori and I in being bound to chairs of their own. Their mouths were stuffed with rags and then tightly cleave-gagged with bandanas; a light blue one for Abbie and a red one for Stephanie. I saw the look of frustration on Stef’s face as she fought her bonds. Even the normally timid Abbie was mmphing and squirming feistily in her chair.

My jaw ached from the huge cloth still stuffed in my mouth, and with my green scarf fastened tight across my mouth, there was little hope of dislodging it on my own. And the ropes that bound me to my chair held firm - I was not slipping out of these anytime soon!

The Phantom checked his watch. “Let’s leave these girls here. I’ll change out of this stupid costume so we can actually slip out of here unnoticed.”

“What about the cash?” the witch wanted to know. “We risked getting caught so we could nab this dough! I’m not leaving this behind!”

“Yeah!” the zombie agreed, folding his thick arms across his barrel chest. “We earned this!”

“You idiots!” the Phantom snapped. “I keep telling you there was no need to take it in the first place! The jewel in the necklace is worth more!”

“And I don’t trust our client!” the witch retorted. “She’s bad news. Who’s to say she won’t screw us?”

I wonder who this client is, I thought curiously. Can’t be Maddie Midnight, she’d just steal the emerald herself and keep all the profits.

“Anyway, someone’s going to come looking for these girls,” the Phantom continued to argue. “It’s too risky to attempt a break in.”

“We can always use them as hostages,” the witch suggested, a gleam in her eyes. She strolled over first to Abbie, brushing the bound brunette’s cheek with her hand. Abbie pulled her head away and scowled at the woman. Then the bitch, I mean witch, came over to me, grabbing my chin and holding it in her hand.

“Such cuties. No one in their right mind would want to see them get hurt.”

Suddenly there was a loud crash out in the hallway, followed by a male voice muttering an obscenity. Our three captors snapped to attention, glaring through their Halloween makeup.

“Stay here and watch them!” the Phantom ordered the witch before he and Zombie raced out into the hallway to find who the intruder was. “Show yourself, asshole!”

I glanced over at Stef. She and I appeared to be thinking the same thing - the voice in the hall had sounded really familiar.

The witch crossed her arms and sighed. “Great, another one. How do you dumb kids keep finding us?”

“To be fair,” a masked figure said, who’d just appeared behind her. “You guys suck at this.” The witch tried to whirl around to see who it was, but he was much faster, grabbing her from behind and clamping a hand over her mouth.

“Mmmph!” she cried furiously, struggling to break out of the grip of her black-clad masked attacker.

Yeah, not so fun now, huh bitch? I smirked behind my gag.

It was Brian, in the outfit he usually wore when we was doing his hero thing: this all black body suit thing, gloves, and a black full mask that concealed his entire face, with only two green lenses where the eyes should be. He must have used his super speed to slip into the room without anybody noticing.

Quick as a flash, Brian had the witch’s wrists ziptied behind her back, her ankles cuffed together, and a large cloth stuffed in her mouth like she’d done to me.

“Ggrrrrmmmmph!!” the witch growled furiously as she squirmed around on the floor. Brian zipped forward to me, first tugging the scarf down from my lips and then pulling the cloth out of my mouth.

“Wow, guess Daphne really does...” he started to remark, but I cut him off with a pointed glare.

“Don’t. You. Dare,” I said through gritted teeth. “Whatever it was you were going to say, stuff it!” I love my boyfriend, but I did not need any smart ass remarks from him right now.

“You’re going to stuff it alright!” a voice growled. I looked up to see the Phantom and the Zombie fuming in the doorway. The Zombie barreled forward at Brian, clearly unaware of his abilities. Brian easily evaded his assault and decked him. The Zombie stumbled woozily, then Brian in an instant flew in and out of the room just in time to crack the thug in the head with a music stand. It all happened so quickly I didn’t even fully realize what had happened until the Zombie hit the floor, barely conscious and groaning like, well, an actual zombie!

The Phantom surveyed his, the fear in his eyes evident even behind his mask.

“Yeah, I’m just gonna leave...” he started to mutter, turning on his heel to leave. He got about six feet before he ran into an absolutely furious looking Hayley.

“This is for tying me up!” she bellowed, punching him square in the face. He staggered backwards and was soon overpowered by Brian, who ziptied his arms behind him and set him down on the floor.

“I was kind of look in forward to beating him up with the music stand,” Brian remarked breezily. “But oh well. Next time I guess.”

I don’t know what it was, but Abbie gave a muffled gasp behind her gag, her eyes widening.

“Bbrrrrmmm?”

Uh-oh, looks like she’d finally recognized his voice. I smiled reassuringly at my friend.

“I’ll explain later, promise. Now can somebody please untie us!”

“Mmmmhmfff!” Tori and Stef chorused in turn.

***

We were soon untied and the police arrived not long after to arrest the three thieves. Brian quickly made himself scarce, as he generally did once the cops showed up. As the perps were taken into custody, however, there was still one thing I wanted to do.

“Can I unmask him?” I asked the police officer cuffing the Phantom. Everyone looked at me like I was nuts, but I persisted. “Oh come on, I got kidnapped in this damn costume, I might as well do a Scooby-Doo style unmasking!” I muttered.

The cop shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

I grinned. “Alright, let’s see who the Phantom really is!” I yanked off his mask, revealing...a young man with dirty-blond hair and hazel eyes that I didn’t recognize in the slightest.

“Um...this guy!” I offered lamely. The rest of the room half-heartedly murmured in response. The young man, however, glared at me as he was led away.

“You’re going to pay for meddling. Next time that freak won’t save you.” His eyes lingered first on me, then on Hayley.

“Hey, what did I say about remaining silent?” his arresting officer snapped, pushing the young man through the doorway and out of sight.

“He won’t bother you, Miss O’Malley, Miss Mitchell,” one of the other officers tried to assure us. I wasn’t worried though.

“Guys like that don’t scare me,” I sniffed. “I’ve been through way worse than him.”

As soon as the cops left, Stef went straight over to Hayley.

“You really decked that guy!” she marveled. “Way to go!”

Hayley smiled and shrugged. “I was just so pissed at the guy for what he and his buddies did.”

“How’d you find us?” Tori asked. Abbie nodded wordlessly, clearly wondering the same thing.

“Well, there was the fact that somebody was making a lot of noise over here, I guess that masked hero guy fighting the thieves?” Hayley replied. “And there was the little fact that wherever Erin O’Malley goes, trouble usually follows.”

I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. “I don’t know about that,” I mumbled.

“That’s kind of why Stef and I came looking for you two,” Abbie chimed in. She then treated me to a serious look. “By the way...”

Stef hugged her from behind. “Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in.”

Hayley looked confused, but was interrupted by a smattering of loud voices outside.

I smiled and nodded at Stef. “Our boys are here.”

“Hey, there you guys are!” Nick exclaimed as he, Billy, and Brian (inconspicuously changed back into his Halloween costume) came in.

“We saw the cop cars, and those guys being arrested!” Billy added. “Are you alright?”

“We’re okay, I think,” Abbie replied sweetly, going over to hug her boyfriend.

“I’ll be good if you got a picture for the school newspaper,” I responded with a crooked grin.

Billy returned my grin. “Managed to get a few on my phone.”

“So...” Nick mused as he sidled up to Stef. “We’re only like an hour late for Bridget’s party. Who wants to go there and get our booze on?”

Stef chuckled. “Babe, you know me so well. I need a drink or three after this one!”

“Well, you guys got the cash box back,” Brian said to Tori and Hayley. “What about the show?”

Hayley sighed. “I guess it’s a bust. Those damn thieves ruined everything!”

“It’s not for nothing,” Tori assured her, patting her on the shoulder. “We can have a rain check next week. People who bought tickets can get in for free.”

“Yeah!” I enthused. “I’ll be there for sure! Besides, you’ve got to get another necklace!”

Hayley rolled her eyes self-effacingly. “Think I’ll borrow one of my mom’s for next time.”

***

“Man, jewel thieves, huh?” our friend Fulton guffawed. It was a couple hours later, well after midnight, and we’d finally made to the party at Brian’s sister’s Bridget’s place. The tall handsome African-American young man was dressed as Jimi Hendrix, with Afro wig and everything. Brian and I were relaying the events of the evening with him over cups of the very boozy punch someone had concocted.

“No lie, that was one of the dumbest schemes we’d ever dealt with,” Brian shook his head. “Hide an expensive gem in a gaudy piece of costume jewelry at a Halloween store, then act surprised when someone buys it! And that’s not even going into the whole charade of trying to get it back!”

“Well, you had Daphne here on the case!” Fulton chortled, patting me on the shoulders. “Those baddies didn’t stand a chance!”

“Why thank you Fulton!” I replied, hugging him around the waist. “That’s very sweet of you! Truth is, it was just dumb luck we stumbled across them where they were hiding out. But something’s still fishy about the whole thing.”

“What’s that?” Brian asked.

I frowned and glanced across the room where Stephanie and Nick, both a bit tipsy, were holding court telling Abbie, Billy, and Tori the story about their trip to New York. Abbie looked quite scandalized by something, so I assumed it was the part involving their run-in with the Metalworker. I’d given her and Billy the crash course and promised to tell her the whole story the next day.

“Wait, so Brian...” Billy had stammered, pointing to my boyfriend while his eyes bugged almost out of his head. “He was the guy from the Expo? Dude, you saved us!” He had given Brian a big bear hug, much to Brian’s surprise.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I did!” Brian had chuckled, lamely patting Billy on the back. “I more remember beating up the Red Mask Gang while having walking pneumonia. I was on so many drugs after that I kinda forgot some of the details!”

“Brian’s just being modest as always,” I had said, kissing him on the cheek.

“Thank you,” Abbie had said gently to him, smiling sweetly. It was all that needed to be said, because Brian had smiled in turn.

“Anytime, kid.”

Of course, after all that had happened, it only made sense to bring Abbie and Billy to the party with us. Elsewhere at the party, my older brother Colin was cuddling in the corner with his girlfriend Divya; the couple was dressed as Batman and Catwoman.

In the kitchen, Brian’s sister Bridget (as D.Va) was having an animated discussion with their friend Ben, in rumpled Afghan and bushy beard as Frank Serpico. Those two, I swear. They were like an old married couple sometimes.

“Wait, he’s how fast?” Abbie gasped suddenly, looking Brian’s way.

“My skin can deflect bullets,” Fulton said rather matter-of-factly. “True story.”

“I can show you how fast, but I shouldn’t run while I’ve been drinking,” Brian joked. He nodded over to my brother. “Don’t need the copper over there to arrest me. Or Batman me.”

“Maybe I should for dereliction of boyfriend duties,” Colin replied in a lofty tone that suggested he was taking the piss. He and Div came over to join us. “You two can’t even have an evening out without my sister and her friends getting kidnapped.”

“Have you met Erin?” Brian scoffed.

Colin grinned. “Good point.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed indignantly.

“Behave, boys!” Divya admonished, shaking her head. Then she broke into a giggle. “Though you have to admit Erin...”

“Oh not you too!” I groaned. “By the way, thank you for the shoes!”

“You’re welcome!” Div replied. “I can’t think of anyone who plays the part of Daphne as well as you!”

I giggled. “That’s true in more ways than one!”

The End

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

“Like zoinks Scoob, I think we have a mystery to solve!” my roommate Stef teased as I came out of my bedroom.

“And what mystery is that?” I grinned, planting my hands on my hips.

“The mystery of why you look so fetching in purple!” Stef said in reply, her green eyes lighting up mischievously.

I fixed the purple headband in my long, auburn hair. “You don’t think Daphne’s a bit on the nose, do you?”

Stef snorted. “C’mon, it’s a part you were born to play!”

I darted over to the mirror hanging on the living room wall and checked myself. I was wearing a long-sleeved purple mini-dress with green scarf over lilac tights and purple close-toed heeled shoes I’d borrowed from my brother’s girlfriend. For Halloween this year, I was Daphne Blake.

I glanced over at my roommate. Stef had a green hooded sleeveless cloak over a white T-shirt and brown mini-skirt with black leather belt. She wore brown gloves, as well as brown knee high boots over nude nylons. Her long blonde hair was expertly styled in twin braids. My lovely roommate looked the spitting image of Linkle!

“You guys ready?” a male voice asked. I turned around to see my boyfriend Brian coming out of the bathroom. His green eyes, the same shade as Stef’s, matched the T-shirt he wore over brown slacks. Brian had shaved most of his beard except for his chin and had forewent a haircut for the last couple months.

Brian checked his watch. “When’s Nick getting here? I don’t want to be late.” Stef’s boyfriend Nick was picking us up so we could carpool and actually stand a chance of finding a parking spot on campus.

“You are so impatient!” I gently teased Brian.

“I can move faster than sound, it’s in my nature,” he replied dryly. I rolled my eyes and strolled over to the coffee table so I could pick up the newspaper. It was a few days old and the front page news concerned a jewelry store theft in Ocean City. The perps had all been wearing Halloween costumes according to witnesses: specifically a werewolf, a woman in red wearing a fox mask, and a large thug in a zombie costume. They’d made off with several valuables including an expensive emerald necklace. The thieves had not been caught yet.

The front door burst open and a tall figure in green coveralls leapt into view.

“It’s a me!” my friend Nick announced in a fake Italian accent. “Luigi!”

For the life of me, I have no idea why Nick and Stef decided to go as Luigi and Linkle rather than attempt to at least match franchises. But that’s my friends for you.

“Damn, I’m starving,” Brian grumbled, checking his watch again. “There’s food there, right?”

“Dude, you’re getting into character already!” Nick enthused, adjusting his fake mustache. “That’s totally a Shaggy thing to do!”

“Brian’s a speedster, he’s always hungry!” I argued. “The boy burns calories faster than he can consume them!”

“Speaking of which, can I leave my uniform in the car?” Brian asked Nick. “Just in case.”

“What are you worried about?” Stef retorted. “It’s just a Halloween play being put on for a fundraiser. For what reason would you need to go all hero mode?”

Brian counted the reasons on his fingers. “My sister’s Commencement. Last Christmas. SpringFest. That Black-and-White dinner Erin and I went to in May. Half the time we try to do something nice, something crazy happens instead.”

“If it makes you feel better,” I replied, knowing he made a good point. We did have a history of getting into some predicaments when we tried to enjoy a nice evening out. Hopefully, tonight would buck that trend.

***

The four and I arrived at the Performing Arts Center for our first activity of the evening. The Mystery Club, to which our friend Tori belonged, and the Theatre Club, were putting on a little whodunnit play titled the Phantom of the Manor as a joint fundraiser. For the ticket price plus an extra $2 you could wear a costume. While this might seem a deterrent, Lakeside College takes Halloween very seriously - the campus was crawling with all manner of colorful costume characters! So I imagined they would make some decent change on this. Plus, food and drinks were included with the ticket! No one can turn down food. Afterwards, we were going to a party with some of our other friends which was more of the booze-and-loud-music variety.

The show itself was being held in a small auditorium the music department used for recitals, but everybody congregated in a large rehearsal room across the hall. This was where we paid our tickets and costume fees, then grabbed some pizza, sandwiches, soft drinks, and apple cider.

“Seems like something we might have done back when I was in school,” Brian remarked before biting into a slice of pepperoni. Brian’s five years older than me, so he graduated college a few years ago. He sometimes feels out of place when I take him to college events, but surprisingly he’d been rather enthusiastic about doing this whole thing. The fact that I’d told him I was going as Daphne clearly had nothing to do with it, right?

“Oh Erin, there’s Abbie!” Stef pointed out to me. I peered across the somewhat crowded room and spotted a petite brunette sophomore dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, accompanied by her boyfriend Billy as the Cowardly Lion. The five of us headed over to them.

“Abbie, long time no see!” I waved. Abbie looked my way and her pretty blue eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Erin!” she gasped. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were coming! You look so cute!”

“Hi Erin!” Billy waved.

“Hey Billy.” I’d just seen him the other day in Newspaper Club, he was the staff photographer. Abbie, however, I hadn’t seen in what felt like forever.

“Who are you supposed to be Stef?” Abbie asked earnestly. “Like, an elf?”

“Linkle from the Zelda games,” Stef replied.

“We had to convince her not to take the duel crossbows onto campus,” Brian joked. Stef shot her cousin a glare.

“Sorry I haven’t hung out lately,” Abbie apologized to me. “I was so busy working this summer and I know you had your internship. And, um, other stuff...”

I blushed a little. I knew “other stuff” meant my frequent snooping activities that often ended with me bound and gagged by baddies.

“Well, we’re here now!” I managed a smile. “Let’s enjoy ourselves! Have you met Tori McIntyre? She’s a freshman, but she had the whole idea for this!”

“You give me too much credit!” a female voice rang out. I turned and smiled as I saw the lady in question. Tori McIntyre, a beautiful raven-haired young woman with lovely doe-like brown eyes, stood, dressed in a white blouse and grey skirt with nude nylons and black pumps, her hair styled like something out of a 1940’s film noir. Yowzers, she looked great!

“Looking amazing, girl!” I hugged my friend. Tori and I had hung out quite a bit since the start of fall term, despite the fact I’m a senior and she’s a freshman. We had bonded over a shared love of mystery and crime novels - and we’d even ended up in some pretty tight spots a couple times!

“Thanks!” Tori replied, her lips a bright crimson. “It’s for this little show, obviously. I should have known you’d be Daphne!”

I giggled nervously. “Guess I really am that obvious!”

“Oh god, Tor!” a young woman with strawberry blonde hair complained, pushing through the crowd to join my friend. I recognized her as Hayley Mitchell, a duel English / theatre major and fellow senior who was an aspiring playwright. She was in a slinky green dress and an appropriately gaudy costume necklace with fake baubles on it. Upon closer inspection, one of these pieces was bright emerald colored gem looked almost like the real thing! Hayley had her hair in a similar style as Tori, but appeared to more resemble a noir femme fatale. “I’m so nervous!” she murmured, biting a fingernail.

“Relax, it’s just a fundraising event!” Tori calmed her. She explained to me “Hayley wrote the play we’re doing. Hayley, you know Erin O’Malley?”

Hayley’s blue eyes lit up. “Lakeside’s own Nancy Drew! Who doesn’t? You’ve had enough adventures to write a novel about!”

I found myself blushing. “Well, I’ve gotten in a few scrapes here and there.” I quickly introduced her to the gang.

“Love that necklace, where’d you get it?” Stef asked.

“Same place I got the dress, that new costume place in North Hunting. It looks so real, right?” Hayley showed the “jewel” in the necklace. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn it was!

Tori was about to say something, but someone tapped her shoulder.

“We better get going. Show starts soon.”

“Ok! See you guys later!” Tori waved as she headed off. “The Mystery cards are on the table outside the recital hall, don’t forget to pick one up! Erin if you don’t solve this, I’ll never speak to you again!”

“Oh gee, thanks!” I retorted good-naturedly. “No pressure there!”

***

The story of the mystery theatre show was really cute! It was your basic whodunnit set at a New England manor house on a stormy evening. Of course, the plot involved a guest dying mysteriously. The phones are out, the roads are terrible because of the rain, and the characters had to figure out the identity of the mysterious masked killer was before it was too late!

“How dare you suggest I killed Mr. MacGuffin?” Hayley in character as the vampish Delilah Durham shrieked in outrage to Tori’s character, a mystery novel writer and amateur snoop named Dot Berkeley. “Just because he and I once had a torrid affair!”

I covered my mouth with my hand and stifled a giggle, watching with amusement as she tarted about onstage. She was really enjoying hamming it up!

The former lover angle was too obvious though, I thought, and quickly ruled Hayley’s character out. This idea was proven most probable in the last scene before intermission. Delilah is by herself in the bar, pouring herself a stiff drink to calm her nerves. Suddenly, a foreboding figure in a white mask, dark suit, and black gloves begins creeping up on her from behind. There were gasps in the audience...they know what’s going to happen...

The masked figure clamps a gloved hand over Hayley’s mouth, she lets out a muffled shriek and drops her drink. She tries to fight her attacker off, but is unable to as she is dragged away backstage.

That’s when the entire theatre went pitch black.

***

The emergency lights were quick to come on, and there was a smattering of gasps and nervous giggles. One of the cast stumbled out onstage and scurried over to the microphone.

“Um, we’re going to take an intermission now,” she said breathlessly, then hurried backstage again. I glanced over at Brian in the dark.

“I don’t think this was planned,” I murmured worriedly.

“There’s probably a power outage,” he suggested. I was about to add something, but felt someone tugging at my arm. I looked over to see it was Tori! Even in the dim light, I could see the panicked look on her face.

“Come quick!” she whispered. “It’s important!”

A minute later, our entire crew was out in one of the lounge areas downstairs. The emergency lights were on out here too, adding weight to Brian’s theory. Standing there with us was Tori and a bespectacled young man dressed in black introduced to me as Garrett, the stage manager. He shared the uneasy look on Tori’s face.

“What’s wrong, Tori?” Stef asked. Before Tori could answer, a member of the maintenance staff passed by and got Garrett’s attention.

“We’ll have the lights back on in a jiffy. Probably blew a fuse.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said solemnly. I could tell by his grim countenance that something else was wrong.

“Okay. What is it you guys?” I wanted to know, frowning and folding my arms across my chest.

“We can’t find Hayley or the actor playing the Phantom,” Tori said in a low voice.

“I still don’t think we should be bothering them with that,” Garrett argued. “You said you just wanted to ask O’Malley for help, what’s with all these other people?”

“We’re kind of a package deal,” Nick joked.

“So, why do you think they’re missing?” Brian asked. “They could have gone for a restroom break or something. It hasn’t been that long.”

“The intermission wasn’t planned, was it?” I pressed for info. “And when the power went out, what happened exactly?”

Tori shuddered. “I was on stage right where he dragged her off, so I saw could kind of see what happened. They were supposed to just, you know, stop once they were behind the curtains, but then I heard her feet dragging on the floor and the door slam!”

“Come to think of it, Jason was acting weird,” Garrett recalled. “He was dead silent as he was waiting backstage. Usually, he’s a lot more relaxed, it wasn’t like him at all.”

“Any history between those two?” I inquired. Both shook their heads. Just then, the full lights came back on. Garrett was calling someone on his cell.

“Yeah lights are back...wait, what do you mean house lights aren’t back up yet? Someone get Katie!”

Quite strange...could this be connected?

“I’ll go!” Tori offered.

“Me too!” I chimed in. “Something’s odd about all this.”

“The rest of us will split up and see if we can kind your actors,” Stef decided. “I mean, they have to be around here somewhere, right?”

***

“I’ve thinking, that couldn’t have been the actor!” Tori exclaimed breathlessly as we hurried upstairs to the control room. “Jason would never have attacked Hayley like that! He kept apologizing during rehearsal whenever he had to grab her.”

“Let’s just check in here so we can get the lights back on!” I replied. We soon reached the door. I tried the handle. “Damn, locked!”

At the sound of my voice, we suddenly heard a chorus of muffled cries behind the door. Tori and I glanced at each other.

“Was that...” she murmured.

“Hhhlllppp! Mmmmff!” someone screamed.

Tori and I looked at each other again, eyes wide. Uh oh, I thought. I knew that sound all too well.

Brian and Nick suddenly came into view as they charged up the stairs.

“We have a problem!” Tori cried. “Someone’s in there, I think they might be in trouble! Door’s locked.”

Brian let out an audible groan. “Great. Where’s Div when you need her?”

Thankfully, a member of the maintenance staff was soon up there, also investigating the incident. They had a key and we were able to unlock the door. What I saw in the dark room made my heart leap into my throat and I clapped my hand over my mouth.

Hayley, and two other people, a young man and woman, were bound and gagged. Hayley was squirming for all it was worth against tight ropes around her arms and legs, and was mumbling frantically through the thick cleave gag in her mouth. The other two were bound back to back and gagged identically to Hayley. We rushed forward to untie them.

“Who did this to you guys?” I asked as I tried to untie Hayley.

“The same creep who stole my costume for the play!” the young man growled. I noticed he was only in a T-shirt and boxer shorts.

Brian raised an eyebrow. “Come again?” Before the young man could respond, there a scurrying of running footsteps coming up the stairs and we were soon joined by Abbie and Billy.

“Oh thank goodness you got your lights back on!” Abbie exclaimed breathlessly. “What happened - oh!” she squeaked, raising a hand to her mouth when her eyes clapped upon the scene.

I grimaced. “Looks like we have a real Phantom of the Performing Arts Center lurking around!”

***

“I still don’t know what happened!” Jason, the real actor for the Phantom, complained. We’d brought him his clothes so he could cover himself. The three freed captives were explaining what had happened to myself, Brian, Stef, and Abbie. “I was in the dressing room getting my costume on when I got a text from Katie to um, well...” He turned beet red.

“It wasn’t me, it was that fake Phantom using my phone!” Katie the lighting girl grumbled. “The creep! He snuck up behind me and put a hand over my mouth, then tied me up!”

“Which is how I found her,” Jason added. “The guy had a knife and threatened to hurt Katie if I made a sound.” Looking downcast, he muttered, “I couldn’t do anything to stop him.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Brian shrugged. “Not much you could have done. So I’m guessing that’s when he took your costume.”

“But why did he abduct you, Hayley?” I asked the third victim.

Hayley pointed to her neck. We collectively gasped when we saw the necklace was gone.

“But that was just some piece of costume jewelry, right?” Stef asked. “No offense, but who would steal that?”

“I liked it,” Abbie replied. “I thought it was very period appropriate.”

“Guys!” Tori cried. She came running over with Billy and Nick. Her face was white as a sheet.

“What happened now?” I asked, a nauseous feeling in my stomach.

“The cash box is gone!” Tori blurted. “All the money from tonight. We had it locked up, but someone broke into the room and took it!”

Abbie and Stef both gasped and clapped their hands over their mouths. Poor Hayley meanwhile looked like she was going to burst into tears.

“Could this get any worse?” she groaned.

I looked over to Brian, who had a curious look on his face.

“That can’t be coincidence,” he murmured. “We’d better call the police.”

I nodded, my stomach churning as I wondered who could be responsible.

***

“Right, so the campus police are going to check the building,” Brian said. It was several minutes later, and the three victims were off giving their statement to the cops.

“I’m sorry this happened,” Abbie said gently to Tori. We were all gathered in the student center across the street - myself, Brian, Abbie, Stef, Nick, and Billy. A handful of other mystery and theatre club folks, plus a couple audience members, had gathered there too after it had been announced what had happened. “You shouldn’t have to cut your show short like that, and the money...”

Tori set her jaw. “We’re getting that money back, not just for the fundraiser, but all these people paid to come out and support us tonight! What do you say Erin?”

I grinned. “Girl, I thought you’d never ask! Let’s take a look around.”

“You know, the campus is a big place,” Stef remarked. “And the guy probably slipped out while all the lights were out.”

“He could be miles away by now,” Nick pointed out.

“Maybe not,” Tori mused.

“What are you thinking?” I wondered, sensing the wheels turning in her head.

“Well, they have the cash box, but we locked it,” Tori explained. “And I...” she fished a keychain out of her purse. “I have the key!”

Brian nodded. “Bet they don’t know that.”

“So...do you think the thief might still be somewhere on campus?” I suggested. “If they’ve realized the box needs a key...”

“Maybe...” Tori replied, cupping her chin in her hand. “Depends on how smart the thief was.”

“Smart enough to plan this far,” I remarked. “He must have traced that necklace to Hayley somehow.”

“Still seems like looking for a needle in a haystack just to find the guy,” Billy muttered. “Maybe we ought to leave it to the police.”

“Too bad we don’t know any guys who, say, could cover the whole town really quickly,” Nick chimed in brightly. “Say, a guy with super speed? Huh? Huh?” I saw the gleam in his eye and the increasingly grumpy look on Brian’s face and knew what was being suggested.

“You, uh, you know anybody like that, Brian?” Nick continued to press the issue.

“Oh my god, shut up!” my boyfriend snapped. “I get the picture, I’ll go call the Agency!” He stormed out of the room. “And nobody get kidnapped while I’m gone!”

I crossed my arms and huffed. “Oh you always say that!”

“I’m confused,” Abbie shook her head in bewilderment. “What just happened?”

“Abbie, don’t you know that Bbrrrmmph!” Tori started to say, but I slapped a hand over her mouth. I shook my head and silently mouthed, “She doesn’t know.” There was also the fact that there were several other people in the room that didn’t know Brian’s secret identity and certainly didn’t need to!

“Brian knows some people, let’s just say,” Stef said diplomatically. “He works some desk jockey job for the Agency.” Whew, way to save the day Stef! I hated lying to Abbie and Billy, but now really wasn’t the time!

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Abbie recalled. “Oh that must be how those superpowered guys always come to Erin’s rescue!”

“Wow, he must owe them a lot of favors at the office,” Billy remarked.

“Anyway, we ought to get going while we can,” I said. I thought I noticed a young woman in a witch costume watching us intently, but when I glanced her way, she was busy texting. “Let’s split up and search for clues! And I cannot believe I just said that.”

“I know, that wasn’t even the right character!” Nick chuckled.

***

We broke off into pairs: myself and Tori, Stef and Abbie, and Nick and Billy; plus some more people from the theatre club offered to help. Made sense, it was their money missing after all. Away from prying eyes, I suggested to Tori that maybe she shouldn’t keep the key on her - just in case. Tori agreed and left the key with Garrett for safekeeping.

Tori then suggested we investigate the nearly Hamilton Hall first, which was used primarily by the music and theatre departments.

“There’s plenty of places to hide something in there, like the practice and rehearsal rooms,” Tori explained. She and I took that building, while Stef and Abbie investigated the area outside around Hamilton and the Performing Arts Center.

“Call if you guys see anything,” Stef advised. “I’m looking at you, Erin! No hero stuff!”

I sighed. “C’mon Stef...”

“Right, it’s decided then!” Tori enthused. “See you guys in a bit!” She and I headed over to Hamilton Hall; the darkened building loomed over us as we reached the entrance.

I shivered. “This place seems pretty creepy at night.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tori insisted almost impatiently. Wow, she really wanted to get started! Soon as we were inside, she turned to me, practically grinning. “I can’t believe I’m finally getting to snoop with you for real!”

I smiled weakly. “Hope you’re not too disappointed!”

Due to the building comprising of two floors, Tori and I split up to cover more ground. Yeah, I know, when has splitting up ever worked out? But the empty building was seriously creeping me out and I wanted to get through as quickly as possible.

I investigated the second floor, but failed to really find anything. There was no sign of life anywhere - the students and professors would have long left for the weekend, and even the most dedicated music major wouldn’t be practicing at this time when there were Halloween parties to get to.

At one point I sighed and rested my hands on my hips. “This is feeling like a wild goose chase,” I muttered. The fact that I was dressed as Daphne, investigating a spooky building at night looking for a guy in a Phantom costume, also made me feel rather silly.

I heard a distinct muffled thump downstairs. “Tori?” I murmured. I quickly texted her, but didn’t get a response right away. Frowning, I headed downstairs to check it out.

I crept carefully through the seemingly deserted first floor, my eyes peeled for any sign of movement.

“Tori, where are you?” I whispered. “If this is your idea of a joke, it isn’t funny!”

That’s when I heard footsteps echoing from an adjacent hall. My heart thumping, I darted off in that direction. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the area I found myself in was just as deserted. Opening the door to a small rehearsal room, I poked my head inside. Nothing, save a Jack-O-Lantern and some paper skull decorations hanging over the doorway.

“Geez, O’Malley, you’re getting paranoid!” I chided myself. “Tori’s got to be around here somewhere. It’s not like the Phantom is creeping around, getting ready to sneak up and grab mmmffff!!”

Then, just like with Hayley’s character in the play, a mysterious gloved hand was suddenly clapped over my mouth and I was seized from behind!

“Lllmmm gggmmm!!” I screamed, struggling in my assailant’s grasp. My right arm was trapped beneath his arm wrapped around my torso- I couldn’t break free! “Lllmmm gggmmm! Mmmph!!”

“Of course it would be Daphne to come meddling,” a low voice said. I managed to glance up in the midst of my struggling. Yep, it was the Phantom all right - or whichever creep was wearing his costume.

“Hhhmmmph!” I exclaimed indignantly, stomping my foot and just missing his shoe. The Phantom began dragging me away.

“And of course, Daphne was always the one to get captured,” he mused as he pulled my squirming figure along. “I know just the place to keep you out of the way.”

At that moment, I stomped viciously on his foot with my heel. He let out a pained yelp and I used his distraction as opportunity to slip out of his grasp and run for it. But not before giving him a swift kick in the groin.

I heard his agonized falsetto whine, but was already bolting for freedom.

“Help!” I cried. “It’s the Phan...”

I turned a corner and nearly plowed over a young woman in a witch costume, her face painted green. Hey I recognized her from the party! I had no idea what she was doing in here, but I sure was glad to see her!

“It’s the Phantom!” I told her breathlessly. Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed he wasn’t following me. “He just tried to kidnap me, but I got away. We have to tell...”

A door opened and a large, muscular man dressed as a zombie stepped out. The grim look on his face gave me the creeps and I gulped nervously.

“Anyway, get campus security or somebody! I’m going to warn the - Hey!!”

I had started to walk away, but the zombie grabbed me round the waist and lifted me off the ground! The witch pulled what looked like a large black cloth from her dress.

“Stupid girl,” she sneered. “We’re working with him!”

My eyes widened. I tried to scream again, but that witch crudely shoved the entire cloth in my mouth!

“Hold her still!” the witch rasped as the zombie set me down. She yanked the green scarf from around my neck and proceeded to tie it tightly around my mouth.

“Mmmff!” I protested, but neither of them were listening to me.

My arms pinned behind me, I was dragged down the hall, struggling and mmphing for all it was worth. Of course, that Phantom was there to greet us, his eyes narrowed in cold fury.

“Get her in there!” he snapped, pointing to a practice room. “I have the other one already!”

The other one? I wondered as I was forced inside the room. No, could that be...

“Ermmmm!!” Tori screamed the second I was pulled inside. My raven haired friend was bound to a chair, a thick white cloth tightly gagging her mouth. Her eyes were practically saucers and she struggled fiercely against her bonds. I tried to mumble something in reply, but was yanked over to another chair.

I was shoved into the plastic chair, the witch and zombie quickly binding me to it - hands crossed over behind the back and tied together, rope pulled taut across my waist binding me to my seat, and ankles lashed together.

“Mmmmph!!” I screamed, squirming in my seat, my eyes blazing with fury.

“The original cartoon damsel and a wannabe sleuth,” the witch chuckled darkly as Tori and I glared daggers in her direction. “The perfect little captives, don’t you guys think?”

***

“Mmmp mmmfff mmmrrph...”

I mumbled into my gag as I continued to struggle in my chair. Damn, the ropes were pretty tight! I could hardly budge in my seat. Glancing over at Tori, I could see the look of concentration on her face as she shifted in her seat.

Our captors were pacing the room anxiously.

“We have to get that stuff out of here without anybody noticing,” the Phantom muttered. He pulled a shiny object out of his coat. I gave a muted gasp as it gleamed in the light - the emerald from the necklace. Now that I thought about it, I realized it really had to be the real thing!

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he mused.

“I don’t know what you were thinking hiding it in that costume necklace!” the witch retorted.

“What would you have had me do?” the Phantom shot back, marching angrily in her direction. “I had to hide it somewhere until our client got to town! The heat was on from the fuzz! I didn’t realize someone would actually buy that gaudy looking thing!”

I didn’t know Hayley well, but it seemed her offbeat sense of style coupled with the costume shop’s complete obliviousness to their own product, had contributed to this whole cock-up.

“Well we got it back now,” the zombie added gruffly. Pulling a coat off the desk, he revealed a locked cash box. Now it was Tori’s turn to gasp next to me. “And we got a little extra cash from this thing too.”

“And another thing!” the Phantom snapped. “Why did you have to take the cash box too? Now everyone’s looking for it!”

The money from the tickets! Of course! It all clicked in place now. It must not have been part of their original plan, which was to grab the necklace and leave. Sounds like somebody had gotten greedy. I could see Tori fuming next to me - she looked furious. I could understand why. It was one thing to steal some fancy jewel, but the money was a fundraiser for the mystery and drama clubs!

“Hey, I did your dirty work for you, tracking down the necklace!” the witch shot back. “It’s not my fault the idiots left it unattended. Which reminds me...”

She glided over to Tori and removed her gag.

“Where’s the key to the box? We have your little friend now so maybe you’ll be persuaded to talk.”

“I gave it to somebody else!” Tori scoffed. “My friend made sure it was kept in one of the theatre department lockers. I don’t know which one and I don’t have the combination. So there!”

“Hhmmmph!” I added, glaring daggers at the witch. The green-faced young woman sighed and roughly crammed the cloth all the way in Tori’s mouth, eliciting a muffled squeal from the raven-haired girl. The witch then unfolded a black-and-white checkered bandana from a bag and tied it snugly over her mouth and nose.

“Want to do it the hard way, huh?” she taunted my friend, who glared silently. “We’ll just break back in later when everything’s died down.”

The Phantom rubbed the underside of his chin, nodding.

“We’ll have to keep them here for now. If we...”

“Achoo!” a high-pitched sneeze was heard from out in the hall. The Phantom and the witch glared at each other.

“Zombie, go see to our visitor,” the witch said sweetly.

The zombie ran for the door - quite fast for a zombie, really.

“Abbie run!” I heard Stephanie scream as the door was yanked open.

“Mmm!” I cried, sharing a panicked look with Tori. I silently begged for my friends to get away, perhaps they could outrun the oaf...

The chorus of muffled shrieks from the hallway soon proved me wrong. A moment later, the burly zombie returned, dragging Stef and Abbie with him, his large hands clamped over both their mouths. The witch quickly shut the door behind him as he forced them inside.

“Well,” the Phantom growled, swooping over to the mumbling, struggling captives. Stef treated him to a look of frosty disdain. “Looks like we have a little party going on in here.”

***

So here’s a joke, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Daphne Blake, Dorothy Gale, Linkle, and a 40’s film noir heroine are bound and gagged in a music department rehearsal room at a medium-sized college and...Oh you’ve heard that one before? Damn.

Anyway, it was minutes later that Stef and Abbie joined Tori and I in being bound to chairs of their own. Their mouths were stuffed with rags and then tightly cleave-gagged with bandanas; a light blue one for Abbie and a red one for Stephanie. I saw the look of frustration on Stef’s face as she fought her bonds. Even the normally timid Abbie was mmphing and squirming feistily in her chair.

My jaw ached from the huge cloth still stuffed in my mouth, and with my green scarf fastened tight across my mouth, there was little hope of dislodging it on my own. And the ropes that bound me to my chair held firm - I was not slipping out of these anytime soon!

The Phantom checked his watch. “Let’s leave these girls here. I’ll change out of this stupid costume so we can actually slip out of here unnoticed.”

“What about the cash?” the witch wanted to know. “We risked getting caught so we could nab this dough! I’m not leaving this behind!”

“Yeah!” the zombie agreed, folding his thick arms across his barrel chest. “We earned this!”

“You idiots!” the Phantom snapped. “I keep telling you there was no need to take it in the first place! The jewel in the necklace is worth more!”

“And I don’t trust our client!” the witch retorted. “She’s bad news. Who’s to say she won’t screw us?”

I wonder who this client is, I thought curiously. Can’t be Maddie Midnight, she’d just steal the emerald herself and keep all the profits.

“Anyway, someone’s going to come looking for these girls,” the Phantom continued to argue. “It’s too risky to attempt a break in.”

“We can always use them as hostages,” the witch suggested, a gleam in her eyes. She strolled over first to Abbie, brushing the bound brunette’s cheek with her hand. Abbie pulled her head away and scowled at the woman. Then the bitch, I mean witch, came over to me, grabbing my chin and holding it in her hand.

“Such cuties. No one in their right mind would want to see them get hurt.”

Suddenly there was a loud crash out in the hallway, followed by a male voice muttering an obscenity. Our three captors snapped to attention, glaring through their Halloween makeup.

“Stay here and watch them!” the Phantom ordered the witch before he and Zombie raced out into the hallway to find who the intruder was. “Show yourself, asshole!”

I glanced over at Stef. She and I appeared to be thinking the same thing - the voice in the hall had sounded really familiar.

The witch crossed her arms and sighed. “Great, another one. How do you dumb kids keep finding us?”

“To be fair,” a masked figure said, who’d just appeared behind her. “You guys suck at this.” The witch tried to whirl around to see who it was, but he was much faster, grabbing her from behind and clamping a hand over her mouth.

“Mmmph!” she cried furiously, struggling to break out of the grip of her black-clad masked attacker.

Yeah, not so fun now, huh bitch? I smirked behind my gag.

It was Brian, in the outfit he usually wore when we was doing his hero thing: this all black body suit thing, gloves, and a black full mask that concealed his entire face, with only two green lenses where the eyes should be. He must have used his super speed to slip into the room without anybody noticing.

Quick as a flash, Brian had the witch’s wrists ziptied behind her back, her ankles cuffed together, and a large cloth stuffed in her mouth like she’d done to me.

“Ggrrrrmmmmph!!” the witch growled furiously as she squirmed around on the floor. Brian zipped forward to me, first tugging the scarf down from my lips and then pulling the cloth out of my mouth.

“Wow, guess Daphne really does...” he started to remark, but I cut him off with a pointed glare.

“Don’t. You. Dare,” I said through gritted teeth. “Whatever it was you were going to say, stuff it!” I love my boyfriend, but I did not need any smart ass remarks from him right now.

“You’re going to stuff it alright!” a voice growled. I looked up to see the Phantom and the Zombie fuming in the doorway. The Zombie barreled forward at Brian, clearly unaware of his abilities. Brian easily evaded his assault and decked him. The Zombie stumbled woozily, then Brian in an instant flew in and out of the room just in time to crack the thug in the head with a music stand. It all happened so quickly I didn’t even fully realize what had happened until the Zombie hit the floor, barely conscious and groaning like, well, an actual zombie!

The Phantom surveyed his, the fear in his eyes evident even behind his mask.

“Yeah, I’m just gonna leave...” he started to mutter, turning on his heel to leave. He got about six feet before he ran into an absolutely furious looking Hayley.

“This is for tying me up!” she bellowed, punching him square in the face. He staggered backwards and was soon overpowered by Brian, who ziptied his arms behind him and set him down on the floor.

“I was kind of look in forward to beating him up with the music stand,” Brian remarked breezily. “But oh well. Next time I guess.”

I don’t know what it was, but Abbie gave a muffled gasp behind her gag, her eyes widening.

“Bbrrrrmmm?”

Uh-oh, looks like she’d finally recognized his voice. I smiled reassuringly at my friend.

“I’ll explain later, promise. Now can somebody please untie us!”

“Mmmmhmfff!” Tori and Stef chorused in turn.

***

We were soon untied and the police arrived not long after to arrest the three thieves. Brian quickly made himself scarce, as he generally did once the cops showed up. As the perps were taken into custody, however, there was still one thing I wanted to do.

“Can I unmask him?” I asked the police officer cuffing the Phantom. Everyone looked at me like I was nuts, but I persisted. “Oh come on, I got kidnapped in this damn costume, I might as well do a Scooby-Doo style unmasking!” I muttered.

The cop shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

I grinned. “Alright, let’s see who the Phantom really is!” I yanked off his mask, revealing...a young man with dirty-blond hair and hazel eyes that I didn’t recognize in the slightest.

“Um...this guy!” I offered lamely. The rest of the room half-heartedly murmured in response. The young man, however, glared at me as he was led away.

“You’re going to pay for meddling. Next time that freak won’t save you.” His eyes lingered first on me, then on Hayley.

“Hey, what did I say about remaining silent?” his arresting officer snapped, pushing the young man through the doorway and out of sight.

“He won’t bother you, Miss O’Malley, Miss Mitchell,” one of the other officers tried to assure us. I wasn’t worried though.

“Guys like that don’t scare me,” I sniffed. “I’ve been through way worse than him.”

As soon as the cops left, Stef went straight over to Hayley.

“You really decked that guy!” she marveled. “Way to go!”

Hayley smiled and shrugged. “I was just so pissed at the guy for what he and his buddies did.”

“How’d you find us?” Tori asked. Abbie nodded wordlessly, clearly wondering the same thing.

“Well, there was the fact that somebody was making a lot of noise over here, I guess that masked hero guy fighting the thieves?” Hayley replied. “And there was the little fact that wherever Erin O’Malley goes, trouble usually follows.”

I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. “I don’t know about that,” I mumbled.

“That’s kind of why Stef and I came looking for you two,” Abbie chimed in. She then treated me to a serious look. “By the way...”

Stef hugged her from behind. “Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in.”

Hayley looked confused, but was interrupted by a smattering of loud voices outside.

I smiled and nodded at Stef. “Our boys are here.”

“Hey, there you guys are!” Nick exclaimed as he, Billy, and Brian (inconspicuously changed back into his Halloween costume) came in.

“We saw the cop cars, and those guys being arrested!” Billy added. “Are you alright?”

“We’re okay, I think,” Abbie replied sweetly, going over to hug her boyfriend.

“I’ll be good if you got a picture for the school newspaper,” I responded with a crooked grin.

Billy returned my grin. “Managed to get a few on my phone.”

“So...” Nick mused as he sidled up to Stef. “We’re only like an hour late for Bridget’s party. Who wants to go there and get our booze on?”

Stef chuckled. “Babe, you know me so well. I need a drink or three after this one!”

“Well, you guys got the cash box back,” Brian said to Tori and Hayley. “What about the show?”

Hayley sighed. “I guess it’s a bust. Those damn thieves ruined everything!”

“It’s not for nothing,” Tori assured her, patting her on the shoulder. “We can have a rain check next week. People who bought tickets can get in for free.”

“Yeah!” I enthused. “I’ll be there for sure! Besides, you’ve got to get another necklace!”

Hayley rolled her eyes self-effacingly. “Think I’ll borrow one of my mom’s for next time.”

***

“Man, jewel thieves, huh?” our friend Fulton guffawed. It was a couple hours later, well after midnight, and we’d finally made to the party at Brian’s sister’s Bridget’s place. The tall handsome African-American young man was dressed as Jimi Hendrix, with Afro wig and everything. Brian and I were relaying the events of the evening with him over cups of the very boozy punch someone had concocted.

“No lie, that was one of the dumbest schemes we’d ever dealt with,” Brian shook his head. “Hide an expensive gem in a gaudy piece of costume jewelry at a Halloween store, then act surprised when someone buys it! And that’s not even going into the whole charade of trying to get it back!”

“Well, you had Daphne here on the case!” Fulton chortled, patting me on the shoulders. “Those baddies didn’t stand a chance!”

“Why thank you Fulton!” I replied, hugging him around the waist. “That’s very sweet of you! Truth is, it was just dumb luck we stumbled across them where they were hiding out. But something’s still fishy about the whole thing.”

“What’s that?” Brian asked.

I frowned and glanced across the room where Stephanie and Nick, both a bit tipsy, were holding court telling Abbie, Billy, and Tori the story about their trip to New York. Abbie looked quite scandalized by something, so I assumed it was the part involving their run-in with the Metalworker. I’d given her and Billy the crash course and promised to tell her the whole story the next day.

“Wait, so Brian...” Billy had stammered, pointing to my boyfriend while his eyes bugged almost out of his head. “He was the guy from the Expo? Dude, you saved us!” He had given Brian a big bear hug, much to Brian’s surprise.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I did!” Brian had chuckled, lamely patting Billy on the back. “I more remember beating up the Red Mask Gang while having walking pneumonia. I was on so many drugs after that I kinda forgot some of the details!”

“Brian’s just being modest as always,” I had said, kissing him on the cheek.

“Thank you,” Abbie had said gently to him, smiling sweetly. It was all that needed to be said, because Brian had smiled in turn.

“Anytime, kid.”

Of course, after all that had happened, it only made sense to bring Abbie and Billy to the party with us. Elsewhere at the party, my older brother Colin was cuddling in the corner with his girlfriend Divya; the couple was dressed as Batman and Catwoman.

In the kitchen, Brian’s sister Bridget (as D.Va) was having an animated discussion with their friend Ben, in rumpled Afghan and bushy beard as Frank Serpico. Those two, I swear. They were like an old married couple sometimes.

“Wait, he’s how fast?” Abbie gasped suddenly, looking Brian’s way.

“My skin can deflect bullets,” Fulton said rather matter-of-factly. “True story.”

“I can show you how fast, but I shouldn’t run while I’ve been drinking,” Brian joked. He nodded over to my brother. “Don’t need the copper over there to arrest me. Or Batman me.”

“Maybe I should for dereliction of boyfriend duties,” Colin replied in a lofty tone that suggested he was taking the piss. He and Div came over to join us. “You two can’t even have an evening out without my sister and her friends getting kidnapped.”

“Have you met Erin?” Brian scoffed.

Colin grinned. “Good point.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed indignantly.

“Behave, boys!” Divya admonished, shaking her head. Then she broke into a giggle. “Though you have to admit Erin...”

“Oh not you too!” I groaned. “By the way, thank you for the shoes!”

“You’re welcome!” Div replied. “I can’t think of anyone who plays the part of Daphne as well as you!”

I giggled. “That’s true in more ways than one!”

The End