"No kidding" mumbled Nick.  He tried to see where they possibly could stay for the night.

"Where did Arthur go?"  asked A.J. as he looked around.

"He's not here?" Howie said starting to get scared.

"He's working on the bus" said Brian "We're going to see if anyone lives here, okay?"

"Okay" Howie followed Kevin through the gate "But I don't like this."

The rain kept on pouring down and the cloud hidden most of the light from the full moon. As they kept on walking along the path they could see a building further along. The vegetation beside the path seemed to be dead for a long time and still they could hear animals walking in there somewhere.  Then, they heard the cry of a wolf.  All of them turned to see nothing.  They continued on their way.

"Okay." said Howie after a while "We've been walking for an eternity now! I swear that some creature is following us!"

"Maybe it's Arthur" said Kevin while looked back.

"No, it's not Arthur, he would have yelled to us to stop." Brian looked back also. "I'm not so sure that I want to stay out here, it's probably a five minutes walk and we can go in to that... castle?"

"What?" Nick asked.  He then looked up at the building.

It was a castle, big and black from what they could see.  The walls were stone and cracking with age.  The top looked almost purple in the dim moonlight.  Very creepy indeed.

"I got a strange feeling about this" said A.J.

"Let's go back to the bus! I don't want to be eaten by some wolves!"  Howie said quickly

"Howie, stop whining! There's no wolves around here."  said Kevin

"How would you know!"  he yelled

"Okay, maybe there are wolves here, but wolves aren't exactly known to attack human, so let's go." said Brian

"I still don't like this."  Howie whispered

"Then stay out here in the rain or go back to the bus that won't start and has a hole in the roof, or you could just come with us and get in to that castle."  said A..j

"Is it only me who has a problem with this?" Howie said as he went after the others.

Nobody answered him.

"What if that person who lives there don't approve with having us in. And how do we know that somebody lives there anyway?"  he said again

"Howie, shut up!"  snapped Nick

"I'm just saying..."  he started

" ... that you are scared as heck, let's go." Kevin finished for him

Howie muttered a few words under his breath but kept on walking.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A half-hour later they were standing outside the castle's door.

"Five minutes my behind!"  said A.j.

"I thought it would take that long." said Brian as he knocked on the gigantic black door.

"For what it seems a giant could live in here." muttered Howie, putting down his bag.

"I think Howie's right." said Nick. "I'm cold, wet, tired, it's dark, nobody seems to live here and I think that there IS something following us."

"Then it would have caught us by now." said Kevin.  He banged on the door.

"Okay." said Howie.  "There's no one here... what are we supposed to do now?"

"Is this locked?"  asked Nick.  He tried to open the door.

Even though the door was so big it opened very easily.  There was a soft creeking noise as the door swung open.  The five men peered inside.

"We can't just go in there." said Kevin.  " It's trespassing..."

"Well." said Nick.  "I don't care, I'm cold and tired. Maybe there's a bed somewhere here."

He walked along with Brian and A.J.

"It's nice." said A.J.. He looked around him.  "And somebody does live here... there's a fire burning somewhere."

"Nice." shuttered Howie as he stepped in.  "The place is probably burning down to the ground."

"Howie, shut up." muttered Kevin.  They all stepped inside.

"Why is everyone telling me to shut up?  I have good reasons to doubt this place."  said Howie

As the wind started blowing even harder, the door closed behind them.

"What was that?"   Howie turned around.

"The wind."  said A.J.. "It closed the door, nothing to be scared about."

"At least this place doesn't leak."  said Brian.  He took his bag and walked a bit further in.

"Somebody lives here and I don't think that this is a good idea."  said Howie

"There's a pattern on the floor." smiled A.J., looking at the purple spiral. "Can you say 'Backstreet's Back'?"

"It sure looks like the video, at least partly."  Brian looked around him.

"I'm tired." said Nick.  "There must be a bedroom somewhere."

"Nobody leaves the rest." said Kevin determend to keep them together.

"Okay, but can we check it out?" he asked

"Which way?" asked Brian

Brian went first to one of the many reddish-brown doors and opened it. A big room with a fireplace, three sofas, a table and two chairs met them. Big oil paintings was hanging on the walls and the room had a really nice atmosphere.

"This is somebody's living room." said Kevin.  "And we just can't..."

"So what Kev? This somebody isn't here right now."  laughed Nick

"Well, the fire is going." said A.J.  "And this person or persons are probably here somewhere. How would you like having some stranger walking into your house?"

"We knocked." said Howie

"So do the fans... never mind, we can just write a note, right?"  Brian looked at Kevin to see if he approved.

"Sure, do we have a pen and a paper?" he asked

" I got it." said Nick.  He started looking in his bag.

When they had put the note saying "We are five guys whose bus broke down outside the gate, we are hoping that you don't disagree that we spend the night here. /Nick, Kevin, Brian, A.J. and Howie" and the coffee table

"A.J.?" asked Brian

"What?" he answered

"You could have written Alexander instead." he said

"And Nick could have written Nicholas." A.j. snapped back.

"Whatever."  Brian rolled his eyes.

 "Where are we supposed to sleep?" Said Howie. "God knows what kind of animals live here."

"About the same that lives in your room" said Kevin.  He left the room with the others following him.

CHAPTER 2
"Okay, Nick you can stay here, but I really think this is looking more and more like 'Backstreet's Back'.  said Kevin

"I'm kind of hoping that those girls would come." smiled Nick. "Or maybe just a few of them."

"Thanks for that attempt to spare my feelings."  muttered Howie.

"Okay, there's a room next here, who's going to take it?"  asked Kevin

" I will." said A.J..  He took his bags and went in to the room.

It was almost empty, but it had a bed, a table and a chair, a couple of books and a candle by the bed. The window didn't have any glass though, which made the wind blow right through.

"That's odd." he mumbled putting his bag down on the bed.

He went over to the window and looked out. There was nothing to save his fall if he would have leaned out too much, it was a ravine of some kind right beneath the window and nobody had even thought about safety.

"That's great." he growled and went back to the bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kevin stepped in to his room, a room filled with guns and traps on the green walls.  The room was very dim so everything had a huge shadow cast upon it.  Definatley a screwed up person lived here.

"That's kind of creepy."  he mumbled.

He stepped over the bed.

"Normal, thank god" he thought as he took of his wet jersey.

There was a window without any glass and the wind was blowing right in. He went over to it and looked down. There was a building down there, and from what he could see there were a couple of pastures that stretched as far as the eye could see.

"Horses." he whispered as he stepped back.

It was freezing cold so he went back and took of the rest of the we clothes and took on some try ones. As he looked for someplace to put the wet ones in the room he started to wonder who in their right mind would decorate a room like this.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian looked around in his room, it remembered him about the room he had had in the "Backstreet's Back" video. The bed didn't look exactly the same and it was clean but otherwise it was pretty much the same. He quickly changes clothes and went over to the window.

"No glass" he thought "how strange..." Outside he saw a forest, more dead than alive in this light, he could see the path they had walked on and now he could see it. It was a white, no more gray, animal of some kind. It wasn't too big but he could see it from the height anyway. He stepped away form the window, it was really a long way down to the ground...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick shivered and started putting on some dry clothes. Even though he didn't have a window in his room it was very cold and that fireplace didn't do so much when he didn't know how to start it, or if it would be so clever to even try.

He looked around in his room, it was beige and not really the nicest he'd seen.  In fact, it was kind of ugly.  The only thing decent to look had was all the eygption artifacts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Howie looked around in his mostly black room, the only light was from the window that was covered by black blankets. He pulled them aside, the storm outside wasn't going to be kind to poor Arthur... Something... something was flying out there... something big...

"Probably an eagle, or some big bird." he he told himself as he reached out his hand through the window.

The raindrops were cold and his own clothes was already wet. Down there somewhere was that something that had followed them, he knew it.

While changing into dry clothes he kept on looking down at the path, nothing moved but he knew that something had been following them.

CHAPTER 3
Brian opened his eyes. Someone was looking at him... He turned around and looked in to two yellow eyes. The dog, or no it was a wolf, looked at him as if it wondered what he was doing there. Brian slowly backed away and sat up in the bed.  The wolf kept it's eyes on him.  It's fur was as white as the first snow in December.  It was very large and very intimadating

"And who are you?" he said to the wolf.

It didn't answer him, not that he'd expect it to do that. It looked at him and sat down.

"How did you get in here?" Brian got up and opened the door. "Go on."

The wolf left the room but sat down outside the door. Brian slowly closed the door. A wolf in his room... what kind of people lived here anyway?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 

Nick starred up at the roof. There was some spider-web hanging there... He was thinking of getting up and talk to A.J. but then A.J. would get angry for waking him up... Nick got up anyway.  Though he was afraid to blink.  This place could not be trusted.

"I'll just check this place out" he thought and left the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Turns out, A.j. couldn't sleep either.  He had been walking the halls of the castle for a while when he came to a small room.  It was filled with different books, all bound in gold.  He pulled one of them out in curiousity.

"Hello, what do we have here?"  he asked himself as he sat down in one of the chairs

A.J. opened the first book. There was something about a couple of vampires... Probably fantasy books he thought and started reading it. It was about three guys and one girl who had entered a castle when a storm had forced them to leave the road. The girl had fallen out the window... A.J. looked at the letters, they were handwritten.

"Somebody's got a wild imagination." he smiled and put the book away.

The other book was about a couple, the man had turned in to a wolf and killed his wife...

"A lot of girls dying." he mumbled and opened the next book.

After looking through the first eight books he sat down. Every single girl had died while the men had turned in to monsters... He opened the last book, it was empty exept for the date and...

"Five guys being forced in to a castle to seek shelter from the storm, followed by the white wolf one of them falls asleep.."  he read.

That's where it stopped.

"Followed by."  he sat up, this was written today, he could see that and...

He put it down next to the other books. In the same second he felt that somebody was watching him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kevin opened his eyes again... he could swear that he heard somebody screaming... a girl... He got up and hurried out of the room. There was nobody there but he knew it had come from... he went over to the window... maybe she'd fallen out the window... If she wouldn't be alive now anyway, it was about 20 meters down...

As he turned around he saw a ghostlike couple. Two girls, the blond one backed away from the one with black hair. He noticed that he was standing in the way but didn't move. As the blond stepped through him the one with the black hair went closer and the only thing he could tell was that he was falling out the window.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Howie opened his eyes, he wasn't alone... he looked at his right, a girl was laying there... she had brown beautiful eyes and long black hair. He got up and starred at her, in the same second nail's fell down at her. He starred at her as she screamed and died, then her body slowly fated away... He starred at the bed, it was completely pierced.

"What is happening." he mumbled as he backed away from the bed.

CHAPTER 4
As Brian turned around he saw something in the window, something pretty big... like a big eagle or something. He went closer but stopped as soon as he saw its face. It had a human face and a bird's body. It looked at him with a grin and flew out again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A.J. looked at her, she was really beautiful. She had long black hair and green eyes. She smiled and looked at him.

"Did you like the books?"  She said with the sweetest voice he'd ever heard.

"They are... different."  he said.

"Do you like different?" she asked

"Yeah, but... why did all the girls die?" he asked with wonder

"Because they had to." she smiled and stepped closer to him.

"And why did all the guys turned in to monsters?" he asked, backing up a bit.

"I wouldn't call them monsters." she said and stopped a few feet away from him.

"Griffins and wolves?" he said with one eyebrow raised.

"Only fantasy creatures, but not monsters..." she tried to explain.

"Harpies and gargoyles? It sounds like monsters to me." he snapped

"I wouldn't call them that, they could hear you." she whispered

"What?"  He starred at her.

"You shouldn't be the one asking the questions, you were the one reading my diaries." she said, lowering her tone.

"Your diaries?"  A.j.'s eyes widened

"What do you think about this castle's history?"  she asked nicely

"It's something in it's own kind." He started to get scared of this girl.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
 

Nick walked through some other rooms until he was standing in a cave. It was warm and really enormous and he could hear that he wasn't alone, something big was breathing in here. He froze when he saw it.

"A big lizard, nothing else" he thought "but it got wings, no lizard got wings..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Howie turned around and opened the door, he couldn't stay there. When he looked up in another girl's face... She was a brunette with blue eyes, really pretty too, she looked confused at him and stepped through him. He turned around, that was not real, nothing that had happened in here was... She looked around in the room and out of nowhere another girl with black hair and green eyes stepped forward. She held a big knife and stabbed the brunette until she was clearly dead. He starred at her, so beautiful and so deadly... He suddenly noticed that he had blood on himself...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kevin tumbled and tried to grab something but didn't succeed and he could feel how the wind blew around him. He yelled and tried to find some way out of a certain death when he landed on something soft and warm...

CHAPTER 5
Nick looked at that thing. It was alive, and it was huge. It just couldn't be a lizard, not a lizard with wings and in that size, it had to be something else.  Something deadly.

"A dragon, it just has to be a dragon" he thought "A big dragon that will eat me if he wakes up. I gotta get out of here." He slowly stepped back and tripped over something. He caught the end of the wall but started slipping. It was dark below him and he couldn't hear the tiny rocks landing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian just starred as the monster flew off. That was something okay, he was dreaming, that had to be it,  right? But dreams weren't that real and he couldn't feel different materials in his dreams, and everything used to be a bit blurry.  Okay it wasn't a dream. Maybe he was hallucinating, yeah, that was it, he was tired and cold, and still wet.  He looked at his clothes, great, the rain was blowing in through the glass-less window and right at him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What do you want to be." she asked A.j..  "You are an earth sign."

"What are you going to do?"  He starred at her.

"Maybe a centaur." she said, circling her as she did.  "Or an elf."

"Centaur, elf? What are you talking about?"  A.J. asked her.

"Your future." she smiled as she looked at him.  "I could enjoy a pegasus or a unicorn but... you are to good-looking to wast it like that.  Something that's mainly human."

"How about human?"  He felt his voice getting weaker.

"A harpy wouldn't be good, since you are an earth sign."  she pondered

"What are you talking about!?"  he yelled in her face.

"You are a Capricorn, an earth sign."  she answered

"How did you know?" he said in shock.

"I know many things, but that you can tell from your aura. Elf probably would be the best, or centaur, what do you think? I think centaur."  she began again.  A.j. was getting really weirded out by all of this

"I think human." he disagreed

"You are stubborn, why do you want to stay human when you can become something better?" she said.  A.j. pretended to think about it.

"Cause I am born human?"  he said sarcastically.

"Not a good answer, I think centaur."  she answered

"But I..."  he started.

"No but's."  she said grimly.

She smiled as she disappeared.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kevin slowly turned around and noticed that he was flying, on a beast of some sort. It had big brown-white wings and mostly a big eagle but way too big. He could see that it had a lion's tail, it's behind belonged to a lion.  It was a very beautiful, yet powerful creature indeed.   It slowly started to head down to the path where he hade came from together with the rest of the Boys. The rain made him wet in to the skin and he started to become really cold. He had his underwear on, nothing else, and he was flying in a storm...

"If I get out of this with a cold I'm lucky" he thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Howie turned around and ran out from the room, he couldn't stay there. It wasn't real, that room, or maybe the whole castle was haunted. The blood, he could feel how it smelled, a strange, almost sweet smell. Still, it made him feel sick...

He stopped and looked around himself, there was a door.  He opened it and went up through the stairs.

CHAPTER 6
Brian looked around him, he had to find the others. One last look at the window and he saw something flying past it. He hurried out of the room, he didn't want to meet that monster that he probably just had hallucinated about but still it had seemed very real. He opened the door and saw the wolf, still sitting outside.

"What are you doing here?"  he asked it.  He then slammed the door in case he pissed it off.  He opened the door once more.  It was still there and was very calm.  Brian made up his mind to leave the room and trust the creature.  He closed the door behind him.  He began to speak to it again.

Of couse it didn't answer him, Brian would probably freaked out if it had.

As he started going down the stairs he stopped, the wolf ran past him and stopped in the middle of the floor. Then he saw it, a pentacle on the floor, that was the pattern in purple that A.J. had said reminded him about the "Backstreet's Back" video pattern.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Howie hurried up the stairs, he didn't know why, but he felt that he had to go up to the top. He stopped after a couple of minutes, it seemed like it kept on for an eternity. The windows at the side had no glass but was covered with bars. He went closer to the wall, the stairs was just holding on to the wall, in the middle there was a whole that seemed to go on down for at least 30 meters. He shook his head and went on.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

A.J. took a step after her but she was gone.

Clap, clap.  He stopped. What had that been? It had sounded so strange. He took another step and one more. Clap, clap.  He looked down. All he could see was hooves and dark brown horse legs.

"What's this?"  he asked himself.

He lifted what would have been his right leg. The horse's right leg lifted. He looked back, he could see a horse body but not a horse head... a centaur.

In panic he raised up on his back legs, almost falling on his butt.  Then he calmed down and began to give his legs another chance. When he got down he couldn't help dancing a few steps over the floor. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.  He stopped, that was him now, everything below his waist was gone.  In that moment he got really worried. Everything below his waist was replaced with a horse-body. He did a try to walk slowly without stepping on his own feet, or hooves as he had to see them as from now on. He got over to the door and opened it and walked out from his room. Nick was in the room next door, maybe he could help him, or something...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~
 

Nick tried to get up but he couldn't get a grip on the wall and suddenly felt how something above him was moving. He struggled to stay where he was. As the creature above him came closer. A huge head and red eyes that reminded him mostly of cat-eyes looked down at him.  Smoke was billowing out everywhere

"Aaaahhhh!"  He finally screamed. Thats when he lost the grip of the edge and fell down...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The creature landed close to the castle and let Kevin get off. He saw it clearly now, it was a griffin. A big eagle like head but teeth in its beak, and a lion's body, but the back was covered with feathers. The claws looked like they could rip him in tiny little pieces in any second. He took a step back as the griffin took of again. Suddenly he was cold again. He was outside in nothing but his underwear and the storm was still going on.

"This isn't real." he said to himself as he started back for the castle.

He probably could have left the whole circus by leaving the grounds but he had to find the rest of the Boys. He couldn't leave his "brothers" there alone.

CHAPTER 7
He was ready to collapse in any minute, he couldn't go any further, he was so tired. Howie looked up, the door, it was three meters ahead of him. Slowly he struggled to make it up there, he didn't even know why he wanted to get up there, he just had to.

When he finally got up, he leaned against the door and felt how it's black surface had become smooth through the years by wind and probably rain too. He slowly opened it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A.J. saw the wolf sitting in the middle of the room, looking up at someone or something in the stairs. He wasn't sure if he should go closer, it was a wolf. It might just would want to eat him, he was partly horse now and...

"Never mind that" he thought.  He stepped out of his corner and opened the door to Nick's room.

All that he could see was an empty room with some of Nick's stuff in it. He turned around, he started to get annoyed by the sound of his feet, hooves he reminded himself, hooves against the floor.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick landed softly in a stack of hay. He looked up, he had fallen about two meters or so, nothing serious thanks to the hay. The dragon was gone but there was no way that he'd be able to get up there again. He felt that it was actually pretty comfortable here, nice temperature and a nice soft light came from the fire on the other side of the room. He got up and looked around him. The room were filled with brown and dark brown dogs.  All of them looking pretty dangerous.

"As long as they don't attack me and I'll find my way out of here I'll be fine" he thought. When he carefully looked at one dog he noticed that it had three heads.

"Aaahh!" He screamed.

When he looked at them they all had three heads. Most of them looked at him and just let him be where he was.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kevin tried to open the door, it was locked.

"Crap." he muttered and took a step back.  "Hello? Can somebody hear me?"

In the same second a lightning lit the sky.

"Of course they can't." he laughed.  "And I'm so going to get a cold, at least."

He started to look at another path that went beside the castle, maybe it would lead to the stable that he had seen so he at least could have a roof over his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian went down the stairs.

"Wow!"  He exclaimed

He looked at the creature that were standing beside Nick's door. Partly a bay horse but it didn't have the neck of a horse.  Thats when it had heard him and turned around.

CHAPTER 8
Nick went closer to the wall and tried to find a way out of there. There was no door that he could see. He looked at a whole, it seemed to lead outside. What if he saw more monsters while he went in there, or what if the three headed dogs attacked him... He just knew he had to get out of there no matter how nice the warmth was. He got down and started crawl through the tunnel hoping that he wasn't going to meet something in there.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A.J. turned around.

"Brian!"  he said and tried to run over to him.

He couldn't help almost tripping over his own hooves again when he started trotting. He had never been so happy to see Brian, or anyone, as he was now. The wolf looked at him with his yellow eyes without moving when A.J. did his best to not fall, it really would have been a nasty fall if he would have tripped.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Howie stepped in to the room. She was sitting there, the black haired girl with the green eyes that had stabbed that girl to death.

"I thought it was here you were going." she said.  She then turned around and looked at him.

"Who are you?"  he asked, gazing at her beauty.

"My name is Belladonna." she smiled. "And what do you want to become?"

"What?"  he questioned

"I think that you, who is a fire sign, really should fit as a dragon, or maybe an imp. No not an imp, they are so ugly. You are really good looking, so the face have to stay, and that chest I'd like to stay too. But you can't be a centaur you too..."

"I'm really happy with how I look thank you, no changes needed."  he said in a proud voice.

"What do you want to be, if you could be something else than a human?" she asked again.

"I don't know, a vampire? No, I'm really happy as a human thanks."  he answered.

"Well you do have something vampire-attic around you but no, you are a fire sign not a wind sign. You know I'd like a phoenix, but then you wouldn't have your face or your chest left."  she said

"You are kind of scaring me now." he said and sat down.

"You are tired." she said. "Well, that's because of the stairs... well a phoenix you can't be and not a fire-breathing dragon... okay, I know!"  she nearly shouted

"What?"  he said quickly

She just smiled and disappeared again, as ghost-like that she'd done before.

"Oh boy, this can not be good."  Howie whispered
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brian just starred at him. That was A.J., at least his face and his voice. Brian went down the stairs and looked at him.

"What happen to you?" he said after looking at him.

"It was a girl."  he said. "A very pretty girl, some kind of magic I guess. She turned me in to a centaur!"

"I can see that, but why?"  Brina asked again

"Come, there's something you have to see."  A.j. said.  He began to turn around

"You aren't going to kick me are you?"  Brian said, backing up a bit.

"I really don't know how I'm supposed to handle this body, so if you don't want me to kick your butt then keep your distance." he warned

Brian nodded and walked after his friend while the wolf sat in the middle of the floor.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

Kevin walked slowly along the path. He was soaking wet and he was all alone with practically no clothes at all on him. It was freezing cold, when he opened the stable it seemed to be empty but he didn't care.

He went in and closed the door behind him, when he looked in through the stable again he was meet by something big and white.

CHAPTER 9
A.J. handed Brian one of the books.

"These are written by her, every single girl dies and the men are turned in to different beasts... like me..."  he said sadly

"You, man?" Smiled Brian.

"Cut it out, it's not a good time to joke about that, I feel enough ridiculous as it is." he said, looking down at himself.  Definatley not attractive.

"She just turned you into that?"  he asked

"No, she was thinking about turning me in to an elf too, because I'm an earth sign. She's really frightening, she got this tone in her voice." he shuddered

He looked in the ninth book.

"Great." he muttered.  She's written more in it.  Listen to this:

Brian looked at his friend and concentrated on what he started saying.

"He later sees a harpy in the window while the white wolf waits outside his room for it's mission. One of the others hears a girl scream, as he hurries out from his room to save her, a ghost pushes him out the window, he becomes rescued by a griffin, one of the men who's never going to leave his new body. When he tries to come back in to the castle it's locked. While walking around in the castle the youngest one..."  he said

"Why did that in the beginning sound so familiar?"  asked Brian

"Because it's about us! This is about Nick okay... walks in to the dragon cave, falling down a whole to the hell hounds, he tries to escape through a tunnel. The second youngest are given his new body, a bay centaur because of his dark hair and brown eyes. One of them escapes his death without knowing it, seeing a girl's ghost getting killed and getting her blood on him he run up the stairs to the tower..."  he babbled

"Yes?"  asked Brian.

"That's were it ends. I'm probably trapped in this body, I can't live like this!"  he said in frustration.

"It's okay Bone, this is just hallucinations, I think."  Brian said, trying to comfort his friend.

"Then is it hallucinations when you hear your hooves clap against the floor? Is it hallucinations when Nick is missing when it says so in this book? God knows what have happen to Kevin and Howie."  he said, raking fingers through his hair.

"I'd say one of them have taken a ride on a griffin and the other one is heading for a tower right now."said Brian

"Who's sleeping close to a tower?"  asked A.j.

"Well, Howie... He is staying in the end and there was a door longer down the hallway that only had a long stair upwards."  He answered

"Okay, then it's Kevin who is outside right now.  Are we going to split up?" he said

"I don't know. Can you handle that body?"  Brian said, looking down at A.j.'s new legs.

"Not very well.  It's a bit hard with two arms and four legs."  he answered, still in a sad voice.

"Okay, but horses can't walk in stairs, so do you think you can look for Kevin outside?"  Brian suggested.

"Okay, but that wolf, be careful."  A.j. warned.

"Promise, it hasn't done anything else than following and starring at me."  he reassured.

"Yet."  A.J. gave Brian the book and pulled on a jersey.  "I'm going to freeze to death outside."

"Good luck."  he said

"And you should get on some clothes when you've found Howie." A.J. left Brian with the book in his hand and walked over to the front door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kevin starred at it, a unicorn.  He had never seen anything like it.  It was a little smaller than a horse, but had a long horn protruding from it's forhead.  It had the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen.

"Hi there."  he said without moving.

It just looked at him with its sad blue eyes, then it pushed him outside again.

"Hey!"  he cried out.

Kevin was standing outside in the rain again and the door in to the stables was... locked?

"That's great." he growled  "Now where am I supposed to go?"  Suddenly, he felt as though there was someone behind him.  He whipped around to see a young girl standing in the rain.  She looked very happy.

"An air sign." she smiled.

He looked at her, the rain didn't touch her at all and she had a certain glow around her.

"Who are you?"  he yelled to her

"Belladonna." she smiled.  "And this is interesting. What do you want to be?"

"A singer, I'm happy with it."  he said, trying to keep as much pride as a man standing ouside in his underwear can have.

"No, not like that, what kind of creature do you want to be? I don't think that an angel would be you."  she began.

"What are you talking about?"  he said, giving her a funny look.

"But I do want the body to stay, all of it. But I can't let you bee human."  she answered

"I like being human." he said.

"Maybe just simply an air... no! You are going to become a fairy!"  she laughed

"What!  No, my mistake!  Anything but that!"  he yelled

She just smiled and disappeared.

"I am so screwed."  he whispered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

Nick smiled when he felt the rain dripping down at him. Finally out again. He got up and looked around him. He was at a beach... the waves were big but smoothed out as soon as they came close to the beach. He walked along the beach for a while.

"I wonder."  he said.

Nick looked up against the cliffs, there it was, the castle. "It must be cursed ground or something, all those monsters... or well I have seen one dragon and about ten, maybe twelve three-headed dogs, but still monsters. Wonder if the guys know" he thought "I have to get in again, this rain isn't exactly the softest I've been in" He started walk along the beach trying to find a way back to the castle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

Howie opened his eyes again, the room was empty. He just had to get down again, down that long stair back to his room and to the other guys... He tried to get up again, he couldn't.

"What is happening." he asked and looked at himself through a mirror.

He almost lost it when he saw it.

He was... he was some kind of beast... a lion body and a human face.  With tan, almost golden fur and paws the size of dinner plates.  Just like a lion.  The only difference was that he looked like someone had chopped his head off and glued it on this new body.  He had to run.  Just get away from this. He hurried down the stairs as fast as his four legs could carry him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian looked at A.J., he really felt sorry for him. What if they weren't hallucinating? What if it wasn't a dream? What if this was reality and poor A.J. would be trapped in a centaur-body for the rest of his life. Then he'd probably kill himself. Brian looked one last time at his friend that was trotting over the floor. If that was how it was supposed to be he knew he was going to go insane because of that sound A.J.'s hooves made against the floor.

He went against Howie's room followed by the white wolf.

CHAPTER 10
Kevin stood in the rain without knowing what to do, he suddenly felt that he wasn't the same as before.

"And what does fairies have that humans don't." he asked himself.

He did his best to look at himself, he didn't see any different until he tried to look behind him. He had wings!

"What the heck! Wings! I don't want to be a fairy! I don't want a pair of wings! Belladonna, where are you? Turn me back to myself again." he screamed.

The only thing he could hear was the rain.

"And how am I supposed to use them then." he muttered and tried to think of a way.

Finally when he gave up and was about to walk away from the stable he started flying instead of walking.

"So that's how simple it was." he snickered and flew on in the storm.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nick walked beside the beach, he had nothing else to do. He didn't know how to get back to the castle and his friends, he didn't know what he should do about his we clothes, he didn't know how he would tell the guys about the monsters in the castle, or if he really should tell them. He knew it wasn't his imagination, not this time... he had felt the heat in the cave where the dragon had been, he had felt the hay that he had landed on in that home for the three-headed dogs, he had felt the dirt when he had crawled through that tunnel, he had felt the rain drop on him when he had got out, just like now...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A.J. opened the door and trotted out in the rain.

"Really nice."  he said sarcastically.  He then tried to think of where the others could be.

He took a path that seemed to head around the castle's right side. Galloping down the path he noticed that there was others that lived there, strange creatures that looked at him with sad eyes. He knew that they were others, trapped in strange unnatural body's. Sure, now the speed of a horse came handy but he didn't want to say like this for the rest of his life. And how long would that be then? As long as he as a human would live? Forever? As long as a horse? As long as a centaur? How long lived a centaur anyway?

"Such a silly question" he thought "Centaurs doesn't exist, except for me that is..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Brian slowly walked through the castle's tunnels, he was really worried about the rest of the guys, especially A.J. who'd turned in to a centaur... He felt sorry for him too, A.J. had always thought that he was completely okay when it came to looks, or well, he had a complex about his nose but that was nothing. Now he had lost half his body, and somebody had kind of glued on a horse's body instead.

He looked around, the wolf had stopped a few meters away.

"What's the matter?" Brian asked it as if it would answer him.

"She doesn't like me." said a soft voice behind him.

Brian turned around and saw her, that beautiful girl... it must be the same that A.J. had told him about, she who turned him in to a centaur.

"Why did you turn my friend in to a centaur?"  He said and tried not to let his voice die away.

"Because I liked his face and well actually his whole body but a centaur... I don't have any other centaurs so I just thought why not. He looks good now, you know."  she smiled

"I thought he was fine the way he was before."  Brian answered, anger flashing in his eyes.

"Well, you water sign."  she smiled.  "What do you think about becoming a merman?"

"I prefer staying human. How would you feel if somebody turned you into some monster?"  he hissed

"They aren't monsters."  She said calmly.  "They are mythological creatures, and they are beautiful."

"I didn't exactly think that when I saw that harpy."  his tone raise a notch.

"Oh, what was his name." she thought about it for a second, Thomas! He had a nice face but that body... no, no, no... you on the other hand..."

"Prefer to be human." he said.  At this point, he could have knocked her out if he had the chance.

"Sorry, no can't do... Maybe a merman, or a water spirit... maybe a... no a merman." she decided

"I don't want to become a merman."  he yelled

She just smiled and disappeared without a single word to explain why she turned them in to beasts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Howie ran down the stairs he had to get down, as fast as possible. It was somebody who needed his help down there...

"Faster, faster" he thought "I have to run faster"

CHAPTER 11
Nick stopped as soon as he saw her, she was standing a few meters away watching him. He hurried over.

"What are you doing here?"  he asked.

"I live here." she smiled.  "And I got a question for you."

" My friends and I are staying in your castle, just until the storm is over, I hope you aren't mad."  he explained

"No." she smiled.  "It was a long time ago I had somebody visiting me."

"How can that be?" he said, looking into her eyes

"I guess that I'm odd." she smiled.  "My question for you is, what would you like to be if you weren't human?"

"If I weren't human? Well, um... I don't know... An elf?" he joked

"Maybe..." she looked at him.  "but you are an soul sign, elf's are more earth signs."

"Okay, then a superhero."  he laughed

"That I think is impossible, I like you're arms and your face though." she said

"Well that's nice, I guess..."  he shrugged

"But I don't think that you would fit as a pegasus... and not one more griffin..."  she pondered

Nick looked at her. Maybe she was insane, or just had a strange humor.

"You know, I think I'll just let you become an elf, or... maybe a giant, you are really tall... Maybe a titan! No..."  she said

"Do you mind?" he asked

"What?"  she snapped

"That I rather be human?" he answered

"Yeah, okay, I'll settle for elf." she finally said.

She smiled and disappeared. Nick stood there really confused without really understanding what was happening.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Brian had almost no time at all to save himself from falling against the floor.

"What the heck? he asked.

When he saw that he had no legs anymore, just a big fishtail he started screaming.

The wolf left, running away from him with the book in his mouth.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kevin flew down the cliffs, he saw Nick, or somebody who looked a lot like Nick, down there. With a single thought in mind he jumped of the cliffs and hoped for the best.

"I have to get to him before she does" he landed right beside Nick and realized that he was too late.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A.J. ran as fast as his four legs could carry him, he could see the ocean, he should stop but his body didn't want to, there was something behind him that his new legs didn't want to be close to. They kept running without his agreement. When he got out from the practically dead forest he saw someone, or maybe something, throwing itself from the cliffs down heading to the beach.

"Who's that insane" he thought as his hooves touched sand. It kind of tickled and made him gallop even faster.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Howie jumped down the last step and ran through the hallway until he saw where the screaming came from.

"Brian!"  he shouted

"What?"  Brian turned around and saw Howie in his new body. "AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

"Yeah, she turned me in to a sphinx, you're a merman!"  Howie said

"Well, just state the odvious.  I know, I don't have any legs." he said and slowly tried to get up on his hands. "How am I supposed to get away from this place now?"

"Maybe you aren't."  Howie said grimly

"Great, I'm going to die here now? I'd like to change body with you."  he said

"Sorry, no can do. This one got a lot of energy and I like it, though I'd like my old body back."  Howie answered, looking down.

"Can you help me out of here?"  Brian snapped in fear

"I can do my best." Howie answered

CHAPTER 12
"Nick!"  Kevin starred at him. "What did she do to you?"

"What? I'm just shorter than usual, that's all, right?" he asked

"No, you got cat-eyes and strange pointy ears, you look like Spock."  Kevin answered, holding back a laughing

"Well you aren't that perfect either, you got dark blue wings, pointy ears, and wearing nothing but your underwear."  said Nick, who was also trying to hold back from laughing.

"And you have dark green pupils."  he pointed out.

"I got what?"  He stopped laughing

"Your eyes are it's normal blue exept the pupils, they are dark green. And you are so much shorter than usual."  Kevin explained

"She turned me into an elf."  he said.

"And me into a fairy.  If there are any wise cracks about it, i'm going to have to kill someone."  Kevin said, pointing at his wings.

"Hope that won't change to much with you."  Nick said, heeding Kevin's word.

"Don't be silly, but it's nice to be able to fly like this." he answered

"Not fair! I want to fly!"  Nick whined.

"You so don't want to fly and you know it, you hate planes so why would you like wings?" he asked

"At least you got something better than this! I can see and hear better but that's it!"  he said, still whineing.

"Oh, I kind of hoped that you would have something in your head for once."  Kevin smiled.  We have to find the..."

He was interrupted by a wave of sand.

"I'm sorry."  said A.J..  "I haven't learned how to control the legs yet... what happen to you Spock?"

"Hey!" Nick turned around.  "I'm not the one with a horse body or the one with wings!"

"No, you're the one who's shrunk... and has cat-eyes and pointy ears..."  A.j. laughed.

"Well that's nice, do you think that you could give me a ride Bone?"  Nick asked  A.j. thought for a few moments.

"Sure, I guess..."  he shrugged.

Nick got up and felt really silly sitting there on a centaur... that also was A.J.

Kevin smirked and started flying ahead.

"Coming? We have to find Brian and Howie, not to mention Arthur."  he said

"I doubt that Arthur came in here, he don't like to walk when it rains."  Nick answered

"Brian is searching for Howie." said A.J..  "Come on Kev, don't be so slow now."

"Hey, these wings are new!"  he yelled down.

"And these legs are too, besides I got Nick on my back, or my second back."  he answered

He started to gallop again with Nick sitting on his back as if he never had done anything else in his whole life and Kevin flying behind them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 

"Brian." complained Howie. "You're heavy."

"But since I don't have any legs and you have four, this is the only way I can get away from this place."  he said

"Can I carry you to the ocean and let you drown?"  Howie groaned

"I'll probably be able to breath underwater too."  he said.  Brian was doing his best not to fall of Howie's back.

"You are smelling very good."  Howie suddenly said

"Don't you even think about it.  Not even a little bit." warned Brian.  "I still have arms to hit you with."

"Like you would be able to hit me hard when I have claws."  Howie said

"We can see how that works out." Brian challenged.

CHAPTER 13
They stopped outside the door.

"When I tried to get in it was locked." said Kevin and sat down.  "I'm so tired."

"I know what you mean." said A.J., letting Nick get off of him.  "But when I went out, it was open."

"I came through a tunnel." said Nick.  "But A.J. wouldn't be able to get in there. Besides, there were these three-headed dogs and this dragon."

"Tell us later Nick." said A.J., doing his best to lay down.  "I'm so tired."

"We still have to get Howie and Brian out of there."  said Nick.

In the same second the door opened with a sphinx carrying a merman over his back coming out to the rain.

"Brian!"  Nick starred at his best friend.  "Howie!"

"That witch turned me in to a merman!"  yelled Brian.  "I have no legs!"

"I got four."  smiled A.J.  "Plus two arms."

"You look like Spock." said Howie to Nick.  "And there's something really wrong with your eyes."

"I know, she turned me in to an elf."  he said through his teeth.

"I want to get out of here."  said Kevin. "But I would like some clothes."

"You can get that later."  said A.J..  "I'm so tired that I think that I could fall asleep right here."

"I think that we should just leave right now." said Howie.

"In this shape! " Brian starred at him.  "I can't even walk!"

"A.J. could carry you, or Kevin and Nick, they still got arms and A.J. got a horseback, I'm a poor sphinx, I got a lion's body, the back isn't made to be carrying mermen."  Howie said, putting on a pity act.

"A.J. get up." said Kevin and got up himself.  "We are leaving now!"
1
"And if somebody sees us they'll shoot us right on the spot." he said, glaring at Kevin.

"Very possible, but we can't stay." said Nick.

"That's coming from the one who looks the most normal of course." muttered A.J.. He got up.  "A little surgery and those ears would be history, a pair of sunglasses and those eyes wouldn't show, then nobody care if you are short. How do you think you could make this normal again?"

"Maybe so." said Brian.  "But I don't want to stay here and I demand that somebody carry me to the bus!"

"Fine."  grumbled A.J., but I'm not carrying Nick again, he might have got shorter but he sure as heck hasn't got any easier."

They started walking - or in Kevin's case flying - down the path.

When they saw the gate they could only hope that things would work out.  Thats when they took their first steps out of the compound.

CHAPTER 14
"Get off me!" Said A.J., putting Brian back on the ground. "Your legs are back."

"I'm normal!" He smiled and looked at the others.  "I'm me again!"

"Well you are the only one". groaned Nick.  Thats when he felt as though someone had picked him up.  He touched his ears and found they were normal.

"My wings!"  Kevin said sadly when they fell to the ground.  "My wings are falling off! I liked them!"

It took a while but suddenly they were standing out there, in not too much clothing but with their normal body's, while the storm still went on.

"The bus." said Keivn as he started walking in that direction.

"Coming." said A.J. and noticed how nice it was to feel his feet against the dead grass.

When they got back to the bus Arthur was waiting for them.

"Where's your bags?" he asked, puffing on a cigar.

"Never mind that."  said Kevin.  "Let's just get out of here now!"

"Can't do that, the bus won't start, I think we got water in the engine, we have to wait until the storm is over."  he answered

"I don't want to stay here." said Nick with a hint of fright in his voice.

"Sorry, you have to stay, and get some clothes on, check your other bags okay? You are going to get a cold in those wet clothes."  Arthur suggested.

"Right." said A.J. and went in to the bus.  "It isn't leaking anymore."

Arthur smiled at the guys.  "I fixed the roof."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning the sun was shining and the Boys stepped out form the bus one last time. By the gate she was standing, smiling.

"Who are you?"  Said A.J. irritated.  "And what are you?"

"Belladonna Brick."  she smiled.  "Don't say that you didn't like your body's."

"I HATED IT!" Yelled Brian   "I COULDN'T WALK!"

"Mermen usually don't walk, you should have been close to the beach, I'll remember that next time. But I think you were cute."  she said

"I HAD A FISHTAIL! IT WAS AWFUL!" he kept yelling.

"Well, the others doesn't complain."  she said

"I couldn't control my legs."  A.j. spoke up.  "They had a life of their own."

"Now the didn't, they followed your reaction part of thinking.  Just like regular walking." she smiled.

"I kind of liked my wings." smiled Kevin.  "Not like I'd want them back but... it was nice to be able to fly."

"Sombody had fun anyway."  she smiled and opened the gate.

They all stepped back, as if she was going to attack them. The white wolf came out and walked over to Brian.

"Why is this wolf following me?" He asked.

"She likes you." she said a bit sad as the wolf left her side.  "But that's not why."

The wolf gave Brian a book and disappeared like a ghost.  A moment later, there was another young girl standing there in a light blue dress.  Her hair was light blond and her eyes were as blue as the sea.  Brian took a step back.

"Hello."  she spoke.

"Who are you?"  A.j. asked.

"My name is Fury.  I am Belladonna's sister.  Thats is, until she trapped me in that body."  she answered.  Belladonna looked a bit angry.

"Well, you wouldn't have been if you would have gone along with me."  she hissed.  The guys all looked at them.

"Why were you following me?"  Brian asked.  Fury smiled.

"I knew that if I could help one soul get out of the castle and back into human form, I myself would be released."  she answered.

"So what happens now?"  asked Nick.

"I am the new guardian of the castle, and my sister is banned to haunt the dungon.  And thanks you you, most of those trapped shall be released."  she answered.  All of the sudden, Arthur called for the guys to get on the bus.

"Well, thank you for helping us."  said Howie.  Fury nodded.  All of them began to enter the bus when Kevin stopped and turned around.

"Do me a favor.  Start with the one in the stable."  he said.  Fury nodded again.

"I shall do that.  Take care now."  she said.  The guys got on the bus and the doors closed behind them.  As they began to pull out into the road to leave, Fury and Belladonna disappeared.  As ghost like as they were.