The dirt crunched underneath their feet as they trekked through the pumpkin patch. It felt like ages ago when they were here earlier, arguing about whether monsters were real, and even longer still when Jesse and Siobhan first arrived, passing by without any clue what they were about to get themselves into.

  He wasn’t the only one reminiscing.

  “Hey, this is where we first met,” Brom said from where Bella was holding him in her arms. “Ah, memories.”

  “And you can stay here.” She set him down among the other pumpkins before turning back to them and nodding. “Okay, anytime you’re ready.”

  Jesse and the others stood at the edge of the patch, in front of where they remember the barrier being. He felt a little silly, just staring at nothing, but nevertheless, he took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  He expected to feel the barrier as they walked through, like some form of pushback. Heck, maybe it wouldn’t even let them through at all. Instead, he stepped effortlessly past the threshold of the neighborhood, almost as if there was nothing there at all.

  The others were standing beside him, anxiety melting from their faces. They were finally free from Gravewood.

  On the other side of the barrier, Bella let out a sigh of relief.

  Noah paused. “You didn’t think it would work, did you?”

  “Uh, yes I did,” she said quickly. “I had total faith the entire time.”

  “She’s lying,” Brom called. “While you were gone, she kept pacing, muttering, ‘this better work.’”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Hush.” She gave him a swift kick, causing him to roll across the field.

  “Thank you, Bella,” Jesse said. “For everything.”

  She smiled at him. “You’re welcome.” And with a wave goodbye, she turned and started walking back to Gravewood.

  Back to her own world. So Jesse and his friends did the same.

  There was a parked car on the side of the road leading to the neighborhood, a woman in scrubs leaning against the door, looking at something on her phone.

  “Mom!” Jesse called, running towards her.

  “Jesse, there you are.” She looked up when she heard his voice. “I was calling you, but you weren’t picking up. We agreed I’d take you home at midnight, remember?”

  “Sorry. Things, uh, got hectic and we lost track of time.”

  “We got a little carried away Dr. Carmen,” Siobhan backed him up.

  His mom sighed. “Did you at least have fun?”

  He exchanged a glance with Siobhan. “...Yeah, we did.”

  “And it looks like you made some new friends.” She glanced at Alicia, Ashton and Noah, who were standing awkwardly behind him. “Do you kids need a ride home?”

  “That would actually be great.” Alicia said, picking up Ashton to hold against her hip.

  “Well come on, then. There’s plenty of room.”

  The kids piled into his mom’s SUV one by one. When they were all seated and buckled, she turned the car around and drove off down the dark road.

  “I just realized,” Jesse whispered to Siobhan so his mom wouldn’t be able to hear. “We never finished the haunted house.”

  She flashed him a crooked grin. “Well, it’s not like we needed to anyway. You more than proved yourself tonight.”

  “I did?”

  “Are you kidding? You faced down vampires, scarecrows, not to mention the piranhas. I don’t think I could have done that,” she admitted.

  He hadn’t thought of it like that. This whole time, he had been so focused on making it through the night, bravery had been the farthest thing from his mind. But Siobhan was right, if he could survive all that, then maybe he wasn’t as cowardly as he thought.

  “And, hey,” she continued. “I think that whole neighborhood counts as one big haunted house.”

  “You’re right about that.”

  She laughed and as they drove further and further away, Jesse watched the lights of Gravewood start to disappear behind them, until the car rounded a corner and the neighborhood was gone from view.