The Wrong Ghost

The cover for story five.

**The Wrong Ghost** is the fifth story of Valewood Tales, and the first to be released in the new format. It will be available on the 31st of October 2019, as Valewood Tales' first Halloween special.

## Synopsis

It’s Halloween in Valewood, and Moe’s manor party is besieged by strange ghost hunters as Darwin puts his studies in black magic to the test at a haunted stone circle, with Andrew’s help.

## Plot

A long time ago, a witch named Tuesday flees from an angry mob of villagers. She joins her sisters in hiding, using a magical incantation to seal themselves within a stone circle at the edge of the town.

In the present day, May, Elizabeth and Andrew are playing video games at Glass Cottage as part of a self-described Halloween tradition. Andrew is forced to duck out after a phone call from Darwin, who has picked a spot to experiment with the dark magical forces he is trying to master. May and Elizabeth head to the Agency, where Moe and Nate are trying to decorate it for Halloween. They break the news to the Americans that Valewood has very little interest in the holiday, so Moe decides to throw a party to celebrate.

Meanwhile, Darwin leads Andrew to the stone circle at the edge of town, the Standing Daughters, to recite an incantation using the Artrakanian Staff and an old magical tome. The spell backfires and frees the imprisoned witches from the stone circle, and they surround the two detectives.

At Darkstone Manor, Moe and Kentworth finish the emergency preparations for the party - but nobody arrives, despite invitations being sent out all over town. Eventually, however, two ghost hunters show up at the front door, a sinister pair in sunglasses and trenchcoats whose names are Penemue Robin and Lucas Luton. They carry complicated-looking ghost hunting equipment, and explain that they have come to Darkstone Manor to investigate ghosts, and actually did not receive the invitation. Elizabeth and Nate become suspicious, wondering why nobody, not even Andrew or Darwin, replied to the party invitations.

Darwin and Andrew wake up at the bottom of a hill, and feel unaccountably sick as they discover that a second moon is hovering over Valewood. The witches are nowhere in sight. Andrew realises that the second moon is acting as the focal point for the magic spell that Darwin performed, and the Reloovian inventor theorises that it may be draining their life force. They make their way back towards the Agency, and discover that Valewood is strangely empty as they take refuge in the Longstreet Shopping Centre. A witch named Wednesday appears and cryptically threatens them, giving the two detectives one hour to "Free them."

While Nate and Elizabeth come up with a plan to confront the suspicious ghost hunters, believing that they might be ghosts or vampires, Moe and May join them on their paranormal mission and venture into the hallowed halls of Darkstone Manor. May tries to make conversation with Lucas, who is evasive about his own history and can only talk about the mansion. He refuses to take off his sunglasses, so May knocks them off and discovers that both Lucas and Penemue are alien invaders hiding their insectoid eyes behind the sunglasses. They reveal that they are searching for an ultimate power beneath Darkstone Manor, which the two detectives mistake for Darwin. The invaders take this at face value and plot to hunt him down. May uses her powers to attack them, but Lucas manages to deflect her first attack and uses the ghost-hunting equipment as a counter-attack, which turns out to be an alien weapon called a stasis generator. They use the generator to knock out both Moe and May.

In the town below, Darwin and Andrew reach the Valewood Public Library, where they begin their search for books of occult magic that might help them bring back the missing townsfolk. Working together to figure out why the witches might be after them, Darwin realises that they were hiding inside the stone circle and were waiting for somebody with magic like theirs to use the incantation that would free them. However, before either of them can use this information, the witches arrive in the library and begin hunting them down.

Meanwhile, having found the right weapons, Nate and Elizabeth set out to find Penemue and Lucas and eavesdrop on them plotting to hunt down Darwin. Elizabeth knocks out Lucas with a baseball bat, and with Nate's help manages to steal Penemue's laser blaster. She holds the invader at gunpoint and agree to trade answers for answers. Elizabeth and Nate discover that the invaders from an alien race known as the Mocariemme, and in turn they tell Penemue where Darwin is. Lucas reappears and uses the stasis generator to knock out Nate, then Penemue takes the blaster back from Elizabeth, having gotten the information that they needed.

Andrew and Darwin attempt to hide from the witches in the library, but are quickly caught. The leader of the daughters, Wednesday, explains that they were testing the two detectives to see if they were worthy of further magical tuition. They hid the townsfolk to prevent them being affected by the second moon curse, and were waiting for Darwin to reverse the spell and bring the people of Valewood back. However, they failed, and the witches decide instead to drain Darwin of his burgeoning magical skills. Andrew manages to change their mind just in time, and they agree to let Darwin help them dispel the second moon curse.

Back at Darkstone Manor, the detectives and Nate attempt to stop the Mocariemme as they escape, and catch sight of the second moon curse for the first time. Believing it to be the Mocariemme mothership of the solar empress come to complete their mission for them, the invaders take off and head for the ship before the detectives, who are also none the wiser, can stop them.

In the library, Darwin completes the spell circle and discusses with Andrew the various forms of magic that they have encountered in Valewood. The witches explain that the completion of the spell will open a gateway to another world made entirely of magic, into which they will escape. Darwin and Andrew bid them goodbye as the spell is completed, and the second moon curse explodes - taking with it Penemue and Lucas, who are killed in the explosion. Moe, confused, attempts to resume the party but nobody is really in the mood. The townsfolk are returned to Valewood, having all believed that they had just fallen asleep. A few hours later, Andrew and Darwin help them take down the decorations as they explain what happened with the standing daughters and the second moon curse. In Earth's orbit, the solar empress' mothership arrives, fails to receive a report from its advance scouts, and decides instead to go back home.

## Appearances

* Elizabeth Glass
* May Winter
* Andrew Wheatley
* Moe Frankfort
* Nate Grant
* Darwin Archimedes
* The Standing Daughters
* Penemue Robin
* Lucas Luton
* Monothiel Blackwill (cameo)
* DI Perkins (cameo)

## Credits

**Written by:**

* Alex Donald

**Cover by:**

* Dawn Cooper