Chapter Twelve

I sidled up towards the wider main body of the Moon, away from the tip of the crescent, and cautiously looked down. Twinkling streamers of red were making their way to the ground, fanning out as they headed for different spots, leaving a trail across the landscape below.
Really far below.
I hurled myself away from the edge and pressed my back against the more vertical portion of the crescent Moon, eyes shut tightly, and for some reason breathing quickly.
After a moment, I could hear some faint voices, gradually getting closer and louder.
“That worked better than I’d expected.”
“Aye, those trails should be simple to follow, I’d think.”
“Did you know Jeff could do that?”
“I don’t think Jeff knew Jeff could do that; Not for certain, anyway.”
“Are we talking about the jumping thing, the throwing thing, or the talking to the Moon thing?”
“The throwing. It’s ridiculous. It shouldn’t have worked at all.”
“You’re just annoyed because we owe him a spa weekend.”
“Each!” Came a rasping voice from above me. “You each took the bet, so you each owe me a spa weekend.”
There were some noises of outrage as Jeff continued, somehow getting closer.
“Though I might give one of them away to someone who’s done a hell of a job.” A gentle poke on my arm. “How’re you doing there, Voodoo Dude? Voodude? Zomdoodle? … Nope, still got nothing … “
I opened my eyes. Jeff, impossibly, was hanging in the air a few metres away, positioned as though he was hanging onto a an invisible rope with a hand and a foot, like a furry swashbuckler in a very strange movie.
At my obviously confused look, he reached up and flicked the empty space just above his hand. A silvery shimmer travelled briefly out, revealing a thin strand tied around the top Cresent of the Moon.
On a hunch, I leaned out a little and looked down. Below him on the strand, just under the Moon, Yorick and Anj stood on Archie’s shoulders, or whatever passes for shoulders on a giant spider, rotating gently around the silvery line as he climbed upward.
“It seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up!” Anj commented, waving at me enthusiastically.
As they drew level, Anj and Yorick stepped off onto the lower crescent, then Jeff dropped, bounced off Archie, provoking an outraged squawk, and landed beside me.
“That was right beside my eye!” Archie complained, climbing to the top of the moon and then scuttling down to a point a bit above me. “Your paw hit right beside my eye!”
“Sorry, Archie.” Jeff looked embarrassed, but only for a moment. “Though in fairness you do have a lot of eyes; It’s kind of hard to avoid them.”
For a long moment, we all stared down. Red lines snaked across the boneyard, leading to glittering headstones or down into vaults. A broad avenue of red traced a path through the hedge maze, then broke off into a multitude of trails as it entered the Mansion.
A dim orange glow drifted up towards up, and Headcrow’s voice emerged.
“Are … Are you standing on the moon? The actual moon?”
“Yep!” Jeff somehow managed to sound smug. “It’s a werewolf thing.”
“Is it working?” Yorick asked.
“Oh Hell yes!” Headcrow replied, the orange glow brightening a bit and coalescing into a tiny translucent jack-o’-lantern. “It’s leading us right to everyone, though that sparkly stuff gets everywhere. It even went to James and the new guy we just found.”
“Who is it?” Anj and I asked simultaneously.
“We figured you’d found one of your own after the mime routine Yorick and … Uhhh …” Headcrow paused. “I’m sorry, but what’s your name? Guy we dug up first, with the stitches.”
Archie tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out towards the Mansion. Up on the roof, Headcrow and James the Morlock were waving at us, standing next to a gargoyle.
“We have no idea.” I replied, waving back. “I can’t remember, and when we got her out Anj couldn’t remember, though she knows she should know it.”
There was a brief huddle on the rooftop.
“James can’t remember either, and neither can Errol.” Headcrow continued as the gargoyle waved hesitantly. “The best they can do is ‘the guy in the analysis team who’s laptop crapped out on a Friday afternoon’ and ‘that one who helped move the sofas when we were saving the hidden breakout area’.”
There was another huddle.
Anj leaned past Yorick and tapped my arm.
“Didn’t know you were responsible for that area.”
“It was a group effort.” I replied. “They wanted to remove it, so we rearranged things, brought in some plants and bookshelves, made it look more deliberate.”
“And you’re also the one who kept playing Christmas videos on the big screen in the office? With a fireplace and cats and … A reindeer?” Headcrow asked. “I don’t understand any of that bit.”
Anj caught me making a rude gesture towards the rooftop and valiantly tried to change the subject.
“Erroll, yes?” She asked. “Building maintenance? Did the basement refit where none of the walls were square?”

A while later, we were all sitting with our feet hanging over the edge of the Moon, like a very strange version of that New York construction worker photo, watching the crews below dig up graves and guide people towards the Mansion.
Headcrow had made his way to the grave of the Spicy King, and was continuing the conversation from there.
“So, what was the key? What made it work?” He asked.
“Teamwork and luck, I think.” I replied. “Yorick and Jeff explained how things work, Anj and Archie helped figure out the ingredients and where to go, Jeff got us here, and … I guess the Moon made it possible?”
“What was the music video you mentioned?” Archie asked. “Anything I’d know?”
I shrugged.
“Don’t know what the actual song is, or who it’s by.” I admitted. “It’d sometimes be playing as part of a loop at this gym, but you needed to plug into the machines to hear the soundtrack, and I always had my own headphones linked to my phone, so I had my own tunes.”
Yorick looked baffled, raised a hand as though asking a question, then waved it away and gestured to me to continue.
“There were people in a jungle, being hunted by some kind of voodoo zombie guy and trying to get away. And there was a suitcase that someone cut their way out of, and I’m pretty sure a scarecrow in the middle of a road that turned into the zombie when it got hit by a jeep?”
Anj looked thoughtful.
“Did it start,” She asked. “With someone dangling by their feet from a rope, and ends on a beach?”
“Yeah, that’s the one!” I grinned. “And another person cuts them down, and one of the people on the beach is the zombie guy but not wearing the top hat!? Because he had a top hat for the rest of it.”
Archie made a thoughtful noise, and Anj looked annoyed, then they simultaneously slapped me across the back of the head.