Mistica Chronicles


Welcome to Issue 47

Seme Winning Entry

A set of keys jangled as a lone Quari hustled and bustled around the empty store, making her way through the maze of books and tables. Lissa was closing up shop, and though the library was rarely anything but open, today was a special day. It was Lanturnacht finally, her favorite time of year.

Suddenly, a soft thump pulled Lissa from her thoughts. She looked around, and found the source of the noise to be a book left haphazardly on the floor. ‘Strange,’ she thought as she went to pick it up and set it back in position. There was no draft around to have blown the book from its resting place. Not to mention, she had already flipped the sign to say Closed, and nobody should have been in there.

Another noise, faint shuffling this time, brought her suspicions to rise. Who could that be, was someone trying to rob her? Lissa’s mind raced and her heart pounded at the thoughts. Acting quickly, she looked around for a weapon of some sort. Nothing but books in every direction. However, some of them were fairly heavy… She furtively picked up a rather large and hefty book, determined to protect her dear library.

“BOO!”

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Lissa’s shriek was heard through the whole swamp, and passers-by looked up as birds took off in a frenzy, disturbed by all the commotion. Though she could not help herself from making such a noise, she had not yet lost all of her wits, and with a dull WHACK! the heavy tome connected, and the perpetrator was sent flying into a bookshelf. The shelf toppled over, leaving the mysterious visitor to disappear under a pile of old books and a fair amount of dust.

“Grrhmph.” The intruder was saying something underneath the chaotic stack of books, and Lissa could hardly make out what it was. Then, a hand shot up through the books. A familiar one, at that.

“Clayton!” Lissa let out in surprise. She helped her neighbor get to his feet, and helped pat some of the dust off his costume. He was decked out in full array as a mad scientist this year, and his natural Terror scars only served to further accent the outfit.

“You scared me, goodness,” Lissa pouted, mildly angry at the Haruba, but relieved it hadn’t been a real break-in.

“I was just having some fun!”

“At my expense.”

He waved it off, continuing, “Yes, yes. But that’s what this day is about, after all. Good ol’ fashioned spooky fun!” Clayton turned, indicating the pile of books still on the floor. “Besides, you hit me with that giant book, I think we’re even.”

“I suppose we are,” the Quari relented. Then, laughing at herself for getting so scared on this holiday in particular, admitted, “You got me good!”

“Well, come on then. We still have time to go scare the feathers off Zaffy at his store!” Clayton motioned across the swamp, in the direction of Creepy Critters.

With a sigh of exasperation she replied, “Fine, I’m right behind you.”

What Clayton couldn’t see as he started walking away was the mischievous smile that had crept onto Lissa’s face. This was going to be a fun night after all!