Notes

Hello, my name is Luna and I’m going to tell you about something that happened to me two years ago.

For centuries my family had helped keep watch over Jorvik. My parents were druids, and when I had finished my training I would become one, too. Until then, I rode all around Jorvik on my horse Pumpkin.
I had been out riding him more than usual, because I had been told to keep an extra eye out for danger. Halloween was only a few days past, and every year around Halloween, something bad happened. It had happened every year for as long as Halloween had been celebrated. That year, the druids were prepared, but nothing happened.
They feared something even worse than usual may happen. Therefore, I had been sent out to keep a lookout for strange things, especially in Golden Hills Valley, because that was the place most dangers had showed up in the past.

For weeks, I rode in the forest. Nothing showed up, but the druids were convinced that Halloween had something in store for us this year, like all other years.
The day something actually happened, I was following my normal routine, starting in Valedale and making my way toward Golden Hills. Pumpkin was acting up more than usual, and I prepared myself for this year’s Halloween trick. He could often sense things, and I trusted him fully.

We arrived at Golden Hills. I asked Jasper at the pumpkin farm if he had seen anything unusual today. I asked him this almost every day, so he looked quite fed up with it when he shook his head.
“Nothing unusual has happened today, nor will it happen tomorrow,” he said. “You may tell the druids that this year, we seem to be in for a treat rather than a trick.”
“A treat?” I asked.
“A big Halloween festival is going to take place next week, you haven’t heard?” Jasper said, surprised.
In my opinion, it was far too late for Halloween festivals, it was the end of November! But I just nodded and moved on.

When we entered the forest, I searched carefully for anything creepy. I expected to find something, because of Pumpkin’s strange behavior, but I didn’t.
We came back out again and Pumpkin seemed strangely drawn to the road toward the swamp of the witch Pi. I decided to trust him and go there.
In front of the entrance to the swamp, I started feeling cold and dizzy, and I heard strange, whispering voices inside my head. They were telling me to join them.
“We should get away from here, Pumpkin,” I said urgently.
But for once, Pumpkin did not obey me. When I turned around, I spotted a strange, whirring portal. The voices were definitely coming from there!

Pumpkin suddenly started to walk toward the portal.
“No, Pumpkin, no!” I told him sharply, trying to turn him around, but he wasn’t listening to me.
He took me right into the portal. I felt the world twist and turn around me, and finally, I was set down in a very strange place.
It felt as though it was floating in the sky. This was no place on Jorvik, probably not even on Earth. It was like a dark and scary island and nothing seemed to be supporting it.
Riders cloaked in black were riding around on strange horses. Pumpkin backed away from them when they approached.
“Oh Pumpkin, where have you taken us?” I whispered.

After a few minutes of sitting there, paralyzed in terror, I finally decided to check what kind of place this was. I walked over a bridge, and came to a larger part of the island. In the middle of a circular area stood a big cauldron with some sort of green liquid in it.

And then I saw him, standing above a flight of stairs.
Galloper Thompson.