"Alright, this should be a piece of cake. All we have to do is stay on the cart until the ride ends, right?" There was a lot to do here at the fair, and when he caught wind that there was a prize for sitting through the 'haunted hayride', he was all in. He still had a few things left to collect before he could finish that special ring; maybe he could use whatever he got from this for it. To increase their chances, he hatched a plan to go with a friend of his brother–Nui, who was dating Tempest's twin. The rules for the challenge sounded simple enough. How bad could it be? The brunet boy and the fox girl walked up to the rickety uncovered wagon sitting at the edge of the carnival. The driver was a tall, gangly looking man with a nose that looked like a beak. The horses for the cart looked tired and the seats were vacant. The skinny man eyed them disinterestedly.

"We're here for the hayride!" Belen said, putting on his best smile. The man held out his hand expectantly. "….20 silver." Trying to clarify, he asked: "You mean for both of us or 20 silver each?" The man gave him a tired look. "10 silver per passenger." Nui narrowed her eyes and her ears twitched. "Hey I thought it was only a few silver! What gives?" The driver repeated in monotone. "10 silver–take it or leave it." The fox girl was getting annoyed, and her tails were completely puffed up. Balling her fists, she looked like she was getting ready to give the man a piece of her mind. "We'll take it!" The half-fey interjected, cutting Nui off before she could answer. She grumbled in Ataiyan under her breath, but they finally climbed up and settled in. Once they were seated, the driver slapped the reins and the gaunt horses began a slow trot. The wagon lurched as it began to move down the bumpy road. The whole cart felt like it was going to fall apart any second with all the creaking the wood was making. Definitely not the greatest riding experience.

She was planning to take a grand tour of the snack stalls then follow up with the trinkets, but the boyfriend of her boyfriend's sister needed somebody to go with him on a challenge. He said that there would be a prize at the end, which sounded pretty neat up until she saw the cart in person. The words decrepit and falling apart weren't enough to describe just how in bad shape the thing was. Being stuffed in a barrel would be much safer than this. If it weren't for her tails being tucked under, her legs would get splinters from the seat. After paying the skinny miserly old man the fare, the ride started slowly. There was nothing but the creaking of the wheels and the boards as the tired horse plodded on. The ride was bumpy, the cart shaking with each roll over uneven ground or a rock. The only scary thing about this whole thing was the awful noise.

"This bet better be worth it, or else you owe me." The fox girl crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the brunet boy sitting across from her. "How long is the ride supposed to be anyway?" She didn't think the driver would answer if she asked him, so that left Belen as the only person to do it. "No idea. I wasn't able to get a straight answer from the last people who rode it." Nui glared harder. "What do you mean you didn't get a straight answer?" He shrugged. "They said they were too freaked out to keep going, and jumped ship." Great, just great. That was the last thing she wanted to hear, especially since they probably overpaid to get on this rickety thing. What could possibly be so terrifying about a boring cart ride? As the fairgrounds grew further away, the commotion quieted down until only the squeaky wheels and groaning wooden boards were the sounds that were present. With how overcast the sky was, it was hard to tell if they had been sitting for half an hour or ten minutes. Bored and annoyed, Nui leaned on an elbow and zoned out with the constant noise blending into the background.

So maybe taking the bet wasn't such a great idea. Kite's girlfriend was mad for getting dragged onto a boring wagon ride, and he couldn't blame her. Still, wouldn't it be great if they could make it to the very end? They'd have bragging rights for sure! After what felt like an hour, nothing spooky or scary had happened. The fairgrounds were out of sight, and the only scenery was the same old dead scraggly trees. The Moritius Swamp wasn't exactly one of the top ten scenic locations in Canelux. There was mud, there was swamp. Nothing else. Soon enough–the creak of the old wooden boards, the rusty wheels, and the metronomic sound of the horse's hooves became the norm. People said that they'd seen stuff that made shivers run down their spine until they practically begged to get off. Was that just their imagination? Maybe Nui was right; what if this was some kind of scam? If the guy got ten silver out of every sucker who got on the ride, he'd be a modestly rich man. And the previous passengers could've lied about their experience to cover up the fact they were duped. If that was the case, then he'd have to make it up to Nui after this was over. She wouldn't let him off easy for interrupting her shopping plans.

More time passed, and the ride continued to be uneventful as ever. At this point they could've been riding for hours or just a few minutes with everything feeling and looking the same. Part of him wanted to get off, but that would mean he'd be giving up the bet. He told himself he'd stay just a little longer before calling it quits. The monotony was pretty tiring, and the gloomy atmosphere could put someone to sleep. Nui was practically falling asleep, only jolting awake when the wheels rolled over something or clattered into a pothole. His eyelids were getting heavy too, and it was hard to keep them open. Rubbing his eyes, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. "…Huh, just a wisp of fog." Right, wasn't it getting foggy now? It wasn't very thick, like a thin haze that would go in and out from the trees. Pretty normal for a place that held a cemetery, anyway. 

Propping his head up, he stared off to the side trying to wait things out. For split second, a face appeared between the trees. It was gone after a blink, but Belen was sure that it was there. Pale and gaunt, the hollow sunken visage lacked eyes and a nose–mouth open and toothless. Turning his attention to the front, he brushed it off. His brain was definitely playing tricks on him. He'd gotten so bored that he was trying to see things that weren't really there. Those testimonials from the previous batch of customers had planted suggestions into his mind and now he was trying to confirm their existence. Nui's head was hanging down and she was slumped over to one side, her tails spread out on the bench. He could tell she was asleep because they weren't moving, and they weren't as puffy as before.

She passed out. Getting some sleep wasn't the worst seeing it was between that and enduring complete monotony. A jarring bump woke her up with a start, and she found the area was getting dense with fog. "Hey Belen, you still there?" She called out. The wind was picking up, and it was getting hard to see. "Yeah, still here. You were out for a while." Realizing she hadn't missed much, she slumped in her seat crossing her arms. Looks like she woke up for nothing. "Ugh…I hope this ride ends soon. It's so boring here." Trying to go back to sleep, she felt something pulling at the tip of her tail. Nui tried to ignore it, and frowned. Turning her face to the other side, she tried to settle down when it happened–again. "Knock it off, Belen." There was a snicker, and she kicked in the noise's direction, the bottom of her shoe making contact with something. The laughing stopped, and she resumed her nap. She was still mad over missing out on her sightseeing, so she tried to take her mind off of the ride by imagining what she could've been doing instead of being here. Tasty caramel apples, sweet and salty popcorn, crepes filled with fruit and fresh cream… Her ears twitched as she started dreaming.

There was another tug at her tails, this time much harder than the first two. Her patience wearing thin, she got up and yelled. "Hey, cut it out! Quit pulling on my–" The last part of her rant was cut off by a gasp as she saw something retreat under the seat when she noticed. There was the same snickering as before, and it made her skin crawl. Quickly pulling up her feet, she grabbed all of her tails and held them away from the seat's edge. What was that?! The way it looked was weird and creepy, and she didn't get a good look at what it was. Freaked out, she tried to keep her cool by pretending she had seen something else. "It's just a bug. A really big bug. Yep, a really, really big bug…" She didn't trust leaving her feet hanging over the seat anymore. The fog had thinned out to where it wasn't obscuring her view, and she saw Belen had fallen asleep too. He was sleeping while sitting up. After what had just happened, the fox decided to switch seats and take the empty spot next to him. That way if that weird…thing came out again, she'd see it coming.

How long had the ride been running? Belen realized he had passed out too, and almost jumped off when somebody was suddenly next to him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was just Nui, who was staring a hole into the bench she had been previously sitting on. "Oh whew–almost made me freak out! When'd you switch seats?" He wasn't sure why she was staring so intently, but she looked pretty stressed. He could tell by the way her ears were standing straight up and the slight puffiness in her tail fur. The fox girl shifted around nervously and tried to act like nothing was wrong. "Um…just now? It was getting really cold over there so I thought maybe sitting here would be better! Yeah…" "So why are you looking at the bench?" She avoided making eye contact with him and her ears were flicking. "No reason…" He was about to let her suspicious behavior slide when he saw her tense up again. "Are you sure?" Nervously she tried to smile. "U-uh-huh! Yep!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw something wriggling under the seat opposite of them, and he caught her throwing nervous glances its way. 

Leaning slowly over towards Nui, the half-fey boy whispered to her. "There's something under the bench, isn't there?" She gulped. It was hard to make out, but it was squirming an awful lot. Trying hard to keep calm, he took out his sky-fishing rod and cast the ribboned lure over towards it. Carefully wiggling the bait, he saw something shift in the shadows, and then a prehensile like limb shot out to grab it. Seeing it take the bait, Nui started to panic. Pulling her feet up onto the bench they were sitting on, she grabbed his shoulder and started shaking him. "THERE! THERE IT IS!!! WHAT IS IT?!! IT'S SO WEIRD AND GROSS! AGHHH!!!" The jerking movement made the lure flail around and a second tendril like thing was trying to snatch it away. When both 'limbs' finally locked on, he was fighting for control of the fishing rod. "I GOT IT–I GOT IT! WAIT IT'S TRYING TO STEAL THE LURE!" The shadowy thing and the boy were locked in a struggle until Belen finally pulled it out of its hiding place. A weird arachnid creature with tentacles instead of jointed legs was hauled out, to which Nui started screaming. "KILL IT!!! THROW IT OFF, THROW IT OFF!!!" 

Grimacing at the weird disturbing wiggly…thing, he shook the sky-fishing rod violently, smacking the creature against the side of the cart. Finally, it loosened its grip and let go, falling to the ground as the cart's wheels clattered away. The two teens slumped in their seats with a big sigh of relief. "I don't think that thing'll be coming back–any time soon." He said between gasps for air.