Elixir of Fear

The very next afternoon, there was a surprise phone call from his grandparents. They called on the landline, and Harrison heard his dad pick up in the hallway. At first it sounded like they were just calling to check in with his parents, but then he heard his dad say:

"Harrison? Sure, he's right here, let me get him..." Harrison's heart started to pound. Something must be up.

"Hey Harrison!" His dad called out, "Your Grampa wants to say hi..."

"Me too! Me too!" Jennie's voice screeched from her bedroom. She was still getting over her bout of Budgie Flu but was well enough to yell at the top of her lungs when she felt like it.

"Harrison first, honey, then you can talk to them."

"No, that's OK," Harrison called out, "let her talk first!" He had a feeling he'd want to have more time to talk with his Gramma and Grampa and he didn't want his little sister pestering him for the phone the whole time.

After Jennie had gotten on and said hi and told them about her new My Little Pony castle playset, and how she was almost over her cold but she still had a lot of sniffles, and she was going to have a big pink cake for her birthday which wasn't until June, then Harrison finally came to the phone.

Grampa's voice sounded distressed.

"Harrison, it's much worse than we imagined!" Harrison's felt a jolt of fear.

"Your Gramma and I were up all night looking through Old Wilfred's books, trying to find more information about the ceremony Dr. Fusty did with you. Well, we found it alright... and none of it's good!"

Harrison had pulled the phone into his room. He sat down on the floor now, his heart pounding.

"Go on," he managed to say.

"What you described," Grampa Lewis continued, "is no ordinary ceremony. And this Dr. Faustis is no ordinary wizard. What he had you do, with the robe, and the mask, and the flames and the chanting... it's only one part of a series of rituals, culminating in one final ritual... we think that's the one planned for Halloween!"

"The giveaway was the mask you described. The books are full of rituals and ceremonies involving circles and symbols painted on the ground, fire, cloaks and robes... even masks. But that specific mask, and the fact that you said you weren't able to move while you wore it and he was chanting... well, those are specific details that belong to only one kind of ceremony, for one particular spell. And it's not a pleasant one!"

Harrison felt himself shiver.

"The purpose of this spell, Harrison, the purpose of all of these ceremonies this 'doctor' is performing–some of which don't even involve you, by the way–the whole purpose is to give the wizard who performs them complete power over all of humanity!"

Harrison didn't mean to, but he laughed out loud. It sounded like Grampa was reading from an old comic book, talking about a supervillain who was about to get defeated by Superman or Aquaman or the Green Hornet or something.

"I know," said Grampa, "it sounds preposterous doesn't it? But that's what the books tell us. There's no mistake. The purpose of this spell is to give whoever casts it total power over every single person on earth. To have them under their control."

And when Harrison thought about it, it suddenly didn't seem so preposterous after all. Didn't the people around him already seem as if they were being controlled by some force outside of themselves? But no–the idea was absurd. How could anyone control all of humanity? For that matter, how could he be sitting here with his Grampa on the phone, talking about wizards and spells as if they were real?

And yet, when he had that mask on, and Dr. Faustis was chanting, he could not move a muscle. That had been real. He listened as Grampa Lewis continued.

"The way it works," he said, "is that each ritual or ceremony builds up fear. When you started taking the elixir, that started it. That was the first 'ritual', the first act that got the fear going. Then at some point, after you had taken a few doses I'd guess, Dr. Futzis launched a separate spell that got the mystery illness going."

"But when you met him for the second time, you were supposed to be deathly afraid–that was part of the magic–and you weren't. That's why he was so upset. If you weren't afraid at that point, it meant that his magic wasn't working as it was supposed to. That's why he got so upset with you. He was trying to make you be afraid!"

"And he did!" Said Harrison. "It was really scary Grampa!"

"Maybe so, Harrison, but as scared as you were in that moment, you didn't stop thinking. You didn't fall under his control in the same way so many of the other people in New Zebedee seemed to, did you?"

"I guess not," said Harrison, remembering some of the things he had seen people around him doing. "But why?"

"That I don't know, Harrison," said his Grampa. "But I'm just glad you didn't. We'd be dealing with a much different problem if you had."

"So," Grampa continued, "each stage of this spell, each piece, it's supposed to build the fear up, until it consumes a whole bunch of people. And then, when the final ceremony is completed, then the spell is complete. The fear spreads out from this first group, and latches hold of everyone on earth! Once that happens, there is no stopping it. There's no turning it around! Every single person on earth will be consumed with fear, and will do whatever the wizard who cast the spell asks of them!"

Harrison remembered back to the ceremony, with the mask and the robe. He remembered how helpless he felt and how afraid. But he also remembered just wanting to get out of there. Wanting to run and get as far away from Dr. Faustis as he could.

"But Grampa," He said, "when he did that ceremony on me... I mean, I was afraid, but I couldn't wait to get away from the guy!"

"Yes," said Grampa, "as I said, you reacted a little differently to the spell from how everyone else did. It's true. But ask yourself this: Were you prepared to cut off your dealings with Dr. Fusty at that point? Or were you still going to come back for more of the elixir?"

Harrison had to admit that up until he first spoke with his grandparents about this, he had had every intention of going back to see the doctor on Halloween night, to get the rest of the elixir. So he would have enough for his parents and his sister and his grandparents.

"I guess I was going to go back," Harrison admitted.

"You wanted to help your family," said Grampa gently. "I understand that. But imagine how much worse it would have been, how much stronger his hold on you might have been, if you had been as frightened as all the others were."

Harrison tried to imagine that.

"When the spell is complete," Grampa continued, "all of those under it–everyone on earth, is what the books say–will be under the sway of the wizard who cast it. They will do whatever he asks of them, even things they would never before have done, things that go against their own sense of right and wrong. And why?"

Harrison did not know.

"Because of the elixir. Because he has the magical potion that can protect them from all that they fear. That's why."

Harrison felt a little ashamed. That was why he had wanted the elixir too.

"And for that, they will give up everything else," said Grampa. "They will do absolutely anything, all because they are afraid."

"Of course," he continued, "what they really ought to be afraid of is Dr. Fuss-bus himself!"

Harrison sat silently. Well at least he had gotten that part right, he thought to himself. He was now terrified of that man.

"Oh and there's one more thing," said Grampa Lewis. "The final ceremony?"

"Yes?"

"It requires a blood sacrifice."

Harrison swallowed hard.

"I don't want to say too much over the phone Harrison, but I'm concerned. I'm very concerned. You stay put! We're coming back!"

"But Grampa, what if the spell takes you and Gramma Rose over too?"

"Don't you worry about that!"

"You hang tight! We're coming back! Your Gramma is packing our things now."

"What will I tell my mom and dad?"

"We'll just say we decided to come back a little early. That's all."

That night after dinner, Harrison was playing Minecraft. CubeSquared was online and they started chatting.

CS: "You seem kind of distracted. Everything OK?"

H: "Yeah, all OK."

CS: 👍

H: "I mean..."

CS: ???

H: "Well, my mom has been sick, and also my sister. And I might have done something kind of stupid and now it looks like..."

CS: ???

H: "Maybe we should go into a private chat."

Harrison told CubeSquared that he knew this was going to sound crazy, and then he told the story of the poster and the meeting with Dr. Faustis and the elixir... and once he had said everything, he did feel a little foolish. Both because he knew that it did all sound a little crazy, and maybe now CubeSquared wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore, but also because he felt that he had been foolish to have trusted Dr. Faustis, and that his foolishness was the cause of this whole problem for everyone else.

He bit his lip and waited for CubeSquared to reply. After waiting a few moments, he typed:

H: "I know, it sounds crazy."

CS: "Yeah, it kinda does. But I'm glad you told me."

And then...

CS: "I've had some crazy things happen in my life too you know. I don't think you're making it up."

That made Harrison feel better. And then:

CS: "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Harrison thought about it for a moment, and then wrote back:

H: "No, I don't think so. But thanks for asking!"

***

Grampa Lewis and Gramma Rose were about a day's drive away from New Zebedee. They didn't want to drive at nighttime, because they were worried about falling asleep at the wheel. So they got a good night's sleep and started out first thing in the morning. They had told Harrison they should be there by dinner time.

In fact, because they were both so concerned about what Dr. Faustis might be getting up to, neither of them wanted to stop even for lunch. They did make a few bathroom stops, and filled up the car with gas. But they just ate sandwiches in the car, and ended up getting into New Zebedee just after four O'clock in the afternoon.

As soon as they were at home, they gave Harrison a call.

"So... the spell's not affecting you guys?" Harrison asked cautiously.

"Not at all, Harrison," Gramma Rose said. "You see, we found a few protection spells in some of the books we were looking through–we brought a lot of them back, by the way–and we've also got an odd trinket or two here at the house that just might protect us!"

"Um... Gramma Rose?" Harrison figured now was as good a time as any to tell them about the umbrella. "There's... there's something I should tell you..."

Harrison told them about sneaking into their house to steal the umbrella, that Dr. Faustis had demanded that he bring an "object of great value" to the last ceremony, and that he must still have it.

Gramma Rose and Grampa Lewis were very understanding, but they were also concerned.

"If he has your magic umbrella," said Grampa Lewis to Gramma Rose, "that could help to give him power over you!"

"Fiddlesticks!" Said Gramma Rose. "I've got other charms to protect me, and we've already laid those new spells. I'll be fine!"

From the way she was talking, Harrison got the idea that she and Grampa Lewis were more familiar with casting spells and doing magic than either of them had let on. But he didn't say anything.

"Even so," said Grampa Lewis, "we really should get it back. If it was important for him to have for the ceremony, that tells us that it's likely an important piece of his power now. And it would sure be good to have its powers to help us... on Halloween!"

Harrison realized that he didn't really have a clear idea of what was going to happen now on Halloween, now that he wasn't going to meet the doctor for the ceremony, or of how his grandparents planned to defeat him.

"So," he asked over the phone, "what is the plan for Halloween?"

"Let's go over that tomorrow," said Grampa Lewis. "Your Gramma and I have a lot of unpacking to do, and we're pretty tired from driving all day. Why don't you plan to come over in the morning for breakfast and we'll fix you up some blueberry buckwheat pancakes and we can go over everything then?"

That sounded good to Harrison. With school still closed, he didn't have to be anywhere in the morning, all he had to do was send his homework in to his teacher by the end of the day. So he said yes, and hung up the phone.

***

The next morning, Harrison sat before a huge pile of blueberry-buckwheat pancakes smothered in butter and maple syrup. Privately, he asked himself why he didn't come over to his grandparents' for breakfast more often.

"You see, Harrison," Grampa Lewis was saying, "we don't think Dr. Fuzz-toss was just angry at you when he saw that you weren't adequately fearful–we think he was afraid."

Harrison frowned.

"Harrison," said Gramma Rose, "Whatever it is he seeks to accomplish with this spell of his, it seems to depend on everyone being very afraid–and that includes you. In fact, maybe especially you!"

Harrison frowned some more.

"It's possible that he needs you to be afraid more than he needs anyone else to," continued Gramma Rose, "because you were the one who–unwittingly, of course–brought him back. I suspect that it is more important to him that you be under his spell than that anyone else is. You are his connection to all the rest! You're the one who started all of this! If he has no control over you, then he can never be really confident in his control of everyone else."

Harrison took a big bite of blueberry-buckweat pancakes and thought about that.

"So it's a very good thing, Harrison," said Grampa Lewis, "that for whatever reason, you weren't affected the same way as everyone else was by the spell."

"So why wasn't I?"

"Who knows?" Gramma Rose shrugged. "Maybe it's just something about your particular makeup. We may never know. But let's just be glad you weren't!"

They then explained to Harrison the plan that they had come up with.

"His power comes from fear," said Grampa Lewis, "so we fight him with the opposite of fear."

"With courage?" Harrison wondered aloud.

"Well, yes," said Grampa, "it will require courage. But our thinking was that the opposite of fear... is love."

Harrison wondered if he was right about that.

"And no, before you ask, I wasn't about to suggest that we all run up and shower old Fusty-Pants with hugs and kisses," Grampa added.

"What then?"

"Only that, in addition to the counter spell we will be casting, that we remember who we are, and that we remember who the people around us are. That as frightened and irrational as they may be now, they are still our neighbors and our friends... and that we love them. That's all."

"Lewis, you surprise me!" Harrison thought that Gramma Rose did look genuinely surprised.

"Now part of our spell," Grampa Lewis continued, "will be a bonfire, into which, at the appropriate time of course, we throw a few meaningful objects: The poster, from the room upstairs, that started all of this; the bottle of elixir, of course; and one other object, something with a personal connection to Dr. Futzit. That's where you come in." He looked at Harrison.

"I don't know what that would be, Grampa!"

"Well, we don't need to know right now," said Grampa Lewis. "We've still got another twelve days before Halloween. But we should all be thinking very carefully about this. And of course..." he hesitated, "...there's the matter of Gramma Rose Rita's umbrella."

"I need to get it back, don't I?"

"Well, someone does," said Grampa. "We're really going to need its protection, and on top of that, we just don't know what old Fuss-Budget might do with it. We can't take the chance that it might actually give him more power."

Harrison suddenly felt awful.

"This is all my fault," he said glumly.

"No Harrison, this was not your fault!" Grampa Lewis exploded. "This was the fault of a dark, evil force that took advantage of your fears and your weakness. None of this was your fault! Only a diabolical and deranged person would have put you in a position where you had to choose between protecting your family and stealing from your grandparents! And look around you–all these people–look at how easily they've been overcome by his spell! They've behaved even more shamefully than you have! This was not your fault."

Harrison knew inside that he should not have taken the umbrella. Still, he appreciated his Grampa's words.

The three sat silently for a moment, and then Gramma Rose pushed her chair back from the table, stood up, and announced:

"Lewis, you and Harrison go over the rest of the plan–I'm going to go down in the basement and dig out all of our Halloween decorations so we can get them up before the end of the day!"

"That's my Rose Rita!" Exclaimed Grampa.

Then, he and Harrison sat down at the table and he started to explain the plan to him.

"First, we need to go and retrieve that poster you found. And anything else in that trunk. In fact, we might as well just bring the whole trunk on down here."

Harrison nodded.

"Destroying that poster is going to be one of the most important pieces," said Grampa Lewis. "That's what started the whole thing, after all. It had a spell on it alright. Remember how you said that you were surprised to see the next day's date on the poster?"

"Yes," said Harrison.

"Well that was no accident," said Grampa. "That was part of the spell. Whoever would have picked up that poster, and whenever they picked it up, they would have seen the next day's date printed as the date of the doctor's appearance."

Harrison nodded again.

"When we destroy it," said Grampa, "I expect that some measure of the wizard Fat-cheeks' power will go with it!"

"I sure hope so," said Harrison. But he wasn't so sure.

"Remember Harrison, Halloween night is when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. So while that will undoubtedly give him more power, it is also our opportunity to strike at him! And that's exactly what we're going to do. You know, you can't spend your whole life playing defense. Sometimes you have to go on the offense!"

At that moment, Gramma Rose came up the basement steps, her arms loaded with big plastic jack-o-lanterns.

"Look at you," she laughed, "talking like you know anything at all about sports!"

The following days were filled with preparations for the casting of the spell. The big questions that remained were: What object belonging to Dr. Faustis could they procure... and how was Harrison going to get that umbrella back?