The circus tent rippled and shimmered, dissolving into smoke. “What… how…?”, Phoebe could only look on in confusion as the fairgrounds faded away. An illusion? Or… her mind turned back to the performance, and that strange ghost that could paint anything to life. Did it do all of this?

  Hex looked around. “No clues as to where Jingle Jack might be headed. Still, it’s not exactly the mystery of the century. He’s not afraid of us, so chances are he’s setting up his circus in another city not too far from here”.

  Phoebe slowly nodded. “He’s already skipped over Mechadream. In which case, he could only be headed for… Autumnfold”. She held her sword up, watching the light reflect off it. If Lucina were here, she could do this all by herself. But just her? Against Jingle Jack and all his ghosts, and now also her captured friend?

  She glanced over at Hex, hesitating. Yes, she needed an ally, but wasn’t it too risky? No, if her friend was in danger, she had no choice. “It seems we have a common enemy”.

  Hex’s eyes fixed on her. “Yes. But you should know that I want to kill that man. He deserves nothing less for what he’s done”. Even though slimes were expressionless, his anger was clear.

  “We can’t do that, we’re not vigilantes here. Besides, he’s only doing this for money. If we free all the ghosts and wreck his business, that should be enough”.

  Hex hopped closer. “If Jack were enslaving humans, your justice system would have no problem with lifetime imprisonment or worse. I’m simply petitioning for equal treatment here”.

  Was she really about to make a deal with this ghost? He’d been sealed away for good reason, after all. ‘End of humanity’ good. He was far worse than Jingle Jack.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  And yet it was Jack who had just abducted her friend. Count Boogula would be trapped forever in a jar, turned into some wretched circus act, forced to do who knows what…

  Her friend, or the world? Maybe she was evil. Because this wasn’t a question for her at all. Phoebe has already lost her sister, and there was no way she was losing Count Boogula too.

  “Let me be crystal clear on this, Hex”, she began. “Our top priority will be to rescue the ghosts Jack has captured. Your desire for revenge must come as a distant second”.

  “Of course”, he replied. “I have never put revenge over helping my kind. Or did you forget how our last battle ended?”.

  Phoebe nodded. “Very well. Then I will partially release your seal. [Holy Beam]”.

  Hex bathed in the holy light. His slime body remained unchanged, but his two eyes shifted and merged together into one.

  “Uh…”, Phoebe snorted at his new appearance. “What?”, Hex blinked. “Is there something on my face?”. She offered him a view of his reflection in her sword.

  “What the heck?!”, he glared at himself. Globert peeked out from her sack and quickly retreated. Hex quickly turned to Phoebe. “Change me back! I can’t look like this!”.

  “Sorry!”, Phoebe shook her head, smiling. “A deal’s a deal, you know? Don’t worry. If you heroically save all those ghosts, they can’t laugh at you too much. I’m sure even Count Boogula would be charitable”.

  And thus the god who nearly wiped out humanity was now rolling around on the ground as a cyclopean slime. “UUAAAGHH… This is terrible. What did you even give me, anyway?”.

  “Your ‘I can’t believe it’s not Spooky Maze’ spell, and some of your telekinesis. I thought those powers would be most helpful”.

  Hex blinked. “But not my holy magic?”.

  “No”, she raised her sword. “That’ll be my department”.