"Howie, try your phone!"Kevin said frantically. Now all of them were at the door trying to push it open.

"It's not working, it's dead!"Howie was shrieking.

"We're trapped in here,"AJ breathed wrapping his arms around himself shivering.

"No way, there has gotta be another way outta here!"Brian was yelling. A disturbing howl came from somewhere near by.

"Oh please tell me that came from outside,"Nick moaned.

The howl came again, and this time it was even closer to them.

"OOOOH NOO!!"

"OH MAN! LETS GET OUT OF HERE!" Nick shouted getting up out of his crouch to run, and the others were ready to follow...

"No wait, we need weapons first,"Kevin stopped Nick's sprint,"Find something in here that you can use."

Everyone began rummaging through the kitchen for something to use as a weapon. Kevin had selected a broom from the closet. AJ snickered at that,"What are you gonna do, sweep the monster to death?"

"Well you didn't do much better, look at your weapon!"Howie pointed at AJ's weapon, a frying pan, and laughed. "You've got to be kidding me!

"Hey, you've got a rolling pin!"AJ pointed out.

Howie shrugged,"So, I've seen what happens in cartoons when you use these things, they're dangerous!"

"Frying pans are too! Especially number 9's,"AJ twitched one of his eyebrows up and down, looking sneaky.

Brian was holding a miniature pitch fork, he turned to see Nick wielding a large carving knife. He giggled maniacally.

"What?"Nick asked first not getting it, then he looked down at the knife and he smiled.

"And what are you gonna do with that?"asked Brian.

Nick made a face then shrugged,"I don't know... Hopefully I'll be able to use it for a bluff... Or I could hit someone with the blunt end.."

They both looked at each other and laughed.

AJ, Kevin, and Howie turned to look back at them,"What are you two snickering about?"

"Nuttin',"Nick and Brian said looking innocent, then they giggled softly.

"Ok.. Wait... who still has flashlights?"Kevin asked,"I've still got my bag, but I lost my flashlight."

"I lost my bag,"Nick said.

"I got my bag, but my flashlight is busted,"Howie said with a shrug.

"I got my light, but I don't have anymore batteries,"AJ said,"Howie, give me your batteries out of your flashlight."

"I got my stuff,"Brian said, he pulled out his flashlight.

"Ok, we'll use Brian's for now. AJ put yours away so we can save batteries,"Kevin picked up his broom weapon,"Lets get out of here."

The castle was even eerier than before. They traveled down the flashlight lit hallway with Kevin in the lead. They walked always looking behind them with their weapons ready. They had the feeling that the madman was not the only thing in the house with them. They were definitely not alone.

After a few minutes of walking Kevin came to a sudden halt and everyone rammed into him,"Hey Kev, what's the big idea.."

"Shhh... listen,"Kevin nodded his head into the ballroom. Strange up beat music was pouring out into the hallway. Everybody took a peep inside.

There were people in there dancing to the music. They were all doing the same group choreographed dance. Some of the people looked like the angry towns people straight out of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein! There were the farmers and dairy maids, then there were some pretty girls that looked like they were from the renaissance era. All of the dancers looked entranced as they kept repeating the same dance steps in perfect time to the music.

"How did they get in?"asked AJ.

"More important than that AJ- Is how they got in a way we can get out?"Brian said putting his hands on AJ's shoulders.

"Only one way to find out,"Kevin said looking out into the dancing crowd matter-of-factly,"Come on, we can blend in.. Maybe get a dance in."

"You're freakin' crazy! We can't go out there! What if there isn't a way out!"Howie said.

"Well, even if there isn't a way out through here... this is the only way we can get to the rest of the house,"Kevin said,"Come on. It can't hurt, we can get to the other side."

"You're freakin' crazy!"Howie yelled after Kevin after he slipped into the ballroom,"He's freakin' crazy!" he informed the others on Kevin's condition.

Brian shrugged he couldn't let his cuz go in alone, he followed after Kevin, and slowly AJ and Nick followed, and then Howie who muttered,"We're all freakin' crazy!"

Cutting into the dance was easy, the people seemed pretty much hypnotized. They wouldn't have noticed if a tornado had ripped through the room, they probably would have still been dancing until the tornado flipped them off to OZ.

The dance was fun, in fact, it was almost too fun, the Boys got caught up into the dance and forgot what they were supposed to have been doing for awhile.

Kevin whirled his dancing partner around past his cousin Brian, who was as entranced as his partner until he laid eyes on his cousin,"Kevin, what are you wearing?"

Kevin snapped out of his trance to stare at his cousin,"Huh?" He blinked then looked down at his clothes, he was wearing a white frilly opened shirt, bearing his bare chest. He had on black pants... Where had these came from, What happened to my Hilfiger jacket? He looked at Brian,"Look what you're wearing!"

Brian kept perfect beat with his dancing partner but did take the time to glance down at his new choice of dress,"What?" Brian was wearing a long, white, silk, shirt, with a brown vest over it. Half the shirt was unbuttoned, and he had on black pants,"What's going on? How long have we been here?"He broke from his partner who didn't care, she went on to a new partner. He walked to his cousin, who had lost his partner too. Kevin looked down at his wrist to find his watch missing.

"I don't know, my watch is gone,"Kevin said,"I think we may have been here for a while, I don't remember... I think we were hypnotized or something..."

"Yeah, like these people... I wonder what's doing it?"Brian wondered.

Kevin reached in and pulled Howie out of a dance with a girl. His partner didn't mind she just danced on like Howie was never there. Howie still looked entranced; he tried to turn and get back into the dance, but Kevin held him in place.

"D, snap out of it!"Brian clapped his hands in Howie's face. Howie blinked, then looked angry,"Man, what's the big idea! What happened to you guys!"Howie began to laugh at Kevin and Brian's choice of dress.

"Us? Look at you! You look like a reject grape from Fruit-of-The Loom!"Brian cracked. Brian and Kevin laughed at Howie's expense. Howie gasped and looked down at himself. He was wearing a purple silk shirt with black pants, his brown curly locks fell freely into his face,.

"Whaa...? Who put us in these goofy clothes? How long have we been here?"Howie was asking.

Brian and Kevin snagged AJ and Nick from their dances. They were very grouchy as they watched their pretty partners dance away with other guys.

"Man, what'd you guys do that for? And what's with the crazy getups?"AJ and Nick laughed.

"Look at yourselves!"Howie raised his arms.

"Huh? Hey! Who took my clothes man!"Nick demanded angrily looking to see himself in a long sleeved, white, silk, shirt with a long gold vest over it, and black pants.

"Man, who took mine?- that was my Tommy!"AJ griped. He was now sporting a sleeveless, white, silk, shirt topped with a black vest, he wore tight black pants.

"How long have we been in there?"asked Nick.

"I don't know,"Kevin said,"But we still gotta cut through there."

"Go through that again?"Howie asked incredulously.

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"We have to get to the other side,"Kevin said,"and this is the only way I can see. Come on, we'll run this time!".

They took a breath and ran through the dance, they ran into numerous amounts of people. The people noticed nothing , they kept dancing.

"Whew!"Brian exhaled,"Hey, our clothes are back!"

"Weird!"Nick exclaimed,"Brian, your backpack's even back!"

"So's my watch,"said Kevin,"We been dancing for two hours straight!"

"No wonder why my feet hurt,"Howie said,"Anybody mind if I take off my.."

"Keep your shoes on D!!"Everybody yelled at once.

"Fine.."Howie muttered,"So, now where do we try??"

"WHY DON'T YOU BOYS TRY GIVING UP!! YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME!!"

"IT'S THAT CRAZY BUS- DRIVER- ZOMBIE- MONSTER THINGY!!"Nick shrieked,"Lets get the hell out of here!!"

"Whoa Nicky, we don't where he is, we can just be running into him!"AJ held Nick down as he tried to scamper away.

"I DON'T CARE! I'm not waiting around here!"Nick's voice was cracking hysterically,"Let me go! When I get out, I'll send someone back for you guys."

"Now that's cold man,"AJ said, still holding him down.

"Man Nick calm down!"Brian slapped Nick across the face.

"Ow!"Nick yelled, he stopped fighting AJ,"What'd you do that for?"

"Sorry, but that's the way they always get people to calm down in the movies,"Brian smiled sheepishly.

Nick looked at Brian darkly and rubbed his cheek,"Sorry, but I wanna go."

"We all wanna go Nick. We'll find a way out. Come on,"Kevin said. They traveled down the hall in a close clump, stepping on each others feet. After about fifteen minutes of traveling that way...

"Um guys, not to be rude or anything.. BUT I NEED MY PERSONAL SPACE!!"AJ burst out.

"Oh, sorry,"everybody moved apart a little bit.

"Hey what's that?"Nick asked walking over to a table against the wall. On it was an old fashioned looking lantern.

"Nick don't... touch it,"Howie began in vain,"Well it didn't hurt you. Does it work?"

Nick ran his hands along the lantern and found the screw. He turned it a few times and a bright glow came from the lantern,"Yup, it works..."Nick said shielding his eyes from the light.

"Good,"Kevin said,"You come walk up front now."

They traveled down they hall bumping into each other, letting out startled little yelps, then shushing each other again.

"Hey,"AJ paused,"Did you guys hear something?"

"Oh man, AJ, don't start that again! It's not funny!"Howie complained rolling his eyes at AJ.

"I'm not being funny, I really did hear something!"AJ argued.

"Oh yeah AJ, what was it, a......"

"A what Howie?"AJ asked rolling his eyes waiting to hear the stupid joke Howie was going to make,"A what Howie? Howie?"

"Howie?"asked Kevin.

"Howie?"called Brian looking around.

"Man, Howie, this ain't funny,"Nick said beginning to sound hysterical again,"Come on out Howie..."

"Howie!"called Kevin and AJ,"He was standing right here!"

"Howie!!"Brian yelled.

"We all think you're funny Howie,"Nick said beginning to laugh,"Joke's over, come out."

"He's gone,"AJ said in a daze.