Toward the end of the third night of Harvestfest—hours before daybreak—the citizens of Greenlake and the Trash Pandas gathered near the Trash Panda hideout. Not a single soul remained in the forest nor in the town. Outside the lair, everyone played games, enjoying the Harvestfest festivities.

Of these games, the most popular proved to be ring toss. Townspeople and Trash Pandas lined up to compete against each other in friendly matches. To play, they’d line up with rings of plastic. Event organizers had set cones shaped like witch hats ten paces away, twenty paces away, thirty, forty, and fifty paces away. The objective of the game was simple enough. They’d toss the ring and try to land it on one of the hats. The further away the hat, the more points they’d earn.

The mayor and Rosie were in the middle of a friendly ring toss match. As Rosie tossed, she spoke. “And the soul eater chased us. I don’t know for how long. After about fifteen minutes, we looked back, and it was gone.”

“When Nick shows up,” The mayor took her turn to toss. “I’ll have to send him to investigate. We can’t leave any soul eaters in the forest. It wouldn’t be safe for anyone.”

A grumble sounded behind the pair, and they turned to see Nick.

“Oh, Nick, I’m glad to see you here.” The mayor told him. “Are you growling about the soul eater? There is no need to get huffy about it. If you don’t want to go by yourself, I’m sure Rumpke will send some of the Trash Pandas with you. Together, the soul eater shouldn’t be a problem.

Nick grumbled, causing his mustache to vibrate like an angry caterpillar.

Next to Nick, Rosie, and the mayor, the triplets played their own game of ring toss. “Tornado,” Tornado said, throwing a ring. While the ring was midflight, Tornado used magic to manipulate wind currents. It caused the ring to land on the furthest away hat every throw.

“That’s cheating,” Skye said, keeping an even voice. He was making an observation more than complaining.

“We can play again after,” Hope suggested. “This round, we can cheat. Next match, we will play without cheating. It will be fair for us to do one of each.”

“That does sound fair.” Skye agreed.

“Tornado,” Tornado added.

In one part of the field, Roger played pin the snake on the chimera with the rest of the Escaron family. They didn’t let anyone else play with them; they said it was a family contest…no outsiders allowed. Some talked about what they’d do with Roger’s soul-catching prize. They were sure he’d win again. Afterall, he won every year.

A wide—but short—round barrel rested on the ground, filled with water. Atop the water’s surface, apples bobbed up and down. They drifted around each other…sometimes bumping into one another. Pete watched them and said, “it reminds me of when I went to a dance in elementary school.”

“Apples remind you of an elementary school dance?” Zoey smiled. “How do apples remind you of a dance?”

“The apples are like the students,” Pete explained. “The apples are awkward students trying to dance and interact…and be cool.”

“Apples are students?” Zoey repeated.

“Yup,” Pete nodded.

“You’re weird.” Zoey took his arm in hers. “But it’s a good weird.”

“Thanks,” Pete smiled.

Rumpke’s amplified voice began to speak, and everyone stopped playing their games to listen. It took Pete a second to identify the spot from where Rumpke spoke. It was at the entrance to the Trash Panda’s cave. “Along with Nick, the Trash Pandas have swept the forest and town. We’ve done three passes over every inch of territory. After this, we are happy to report that not a single spirit has escaped capture. So far as I know, this is the first time that has happened in the history of Greenlake.

“I’m proud of everyone. You did a great job. I want you all to feel proud. Some of these spirits have been waiting for years for us to help them find final rest. As such, if you win…or if you lose…know that you helped these souls find peace.

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“With that, it is time to announce the winner of the soul-capturing contest. Everyone who has captured souls, please bring them to the shrine.” Rumpke pointed at the makeshift shrine—the one with metal poles that looked like someone wrapped them in tinfoil—in the center of the field. As Rumpke pointed, the tinfoil of the shrine began to reshape itself, creating a basket. “Once everyone has placed their orbs into the basket, the shrine will determine a winner. After, it will assign prizes.”

“Well,” Zoey said, “let’s go see how we did.”

All the teams made their way toward the shrine. The first teams to the shrine began to form a line. They took turns submitting their orbs to the basket and then stepping away.

Pete was never one to race to a line. If he got there first, he’d still end up waiting. Zoey knew Pete was like this. She was too. As such, they began walking—but not hurrying—toward the line.

As teams added orbs to the basket, the orbs began to stack. When the stack reached the brim of the basket, the basket expanded. So many teams had caught so many spirits that the basket grew over and over. When Pete and Zoey put their orbs in, the basket had extended to be taller and wider than they were.

Pete materialized his orbs one at a time; he had to reach up to drop them in. Zoey did the same, only she’d materialize two orbs at a time, one in each hand. When they finished, they moved out of the way.

After Pete and Zoey finished, two more teams added orbs to the basket, and Rumpke began to speak. “Has everyone added their orbs to the shrine?”

“No,” Roger spoke from where his family continued to play pin the snake on the chimera. “I haven’t added mine yet.” With that phrase, Roger made a show of strutting by everyone as he moved toward the shrine. He winked at Zoey as he passed her.

“Yuck,” she glared.

“Yuck,” Pete agreed. No doubt, Roger was yuck.

When Roger reached the basket, he took his time: removing each orb from his inventory one at a time, explaining where he caught the soul held within the orb, and dropping it into the basket. Then he’d count. “This is the first orb…that’s twenty spirits…I’ve put thirty-two spirits in, now.”

When he reached orb number fifty, everyone stopped paying attention to him. When he realized he no longer had an audience, he stopped making a show and hurried to finish. Then he returned to his family.

“Okay,” Rumpke spoke again. “Now, has everyone placed their orbs in the basket?” He waited, and when no one answered, he went on. “Great, we will now activate the shrine.”

When he finished saying this, Trash Pandas wearing little white robes stepped up to the basket with orbs and shouted at the basket. “Hey, we’re done now.”

In response to their voices, the metal poles and tinfoil basket began to buzz. The bars shook the ground, causing loose earth to bounce like jumping beans. The metal started to light up, flashing in a rainbow pattern. Then all at once, the orbs within the basket disappeared, releasing every spirit into the air.

Every soul the town had caught over the last three days danced above the field. They flowed with a reverent grace like the current of a river. When a departed neared a loved one, they smiled a goodbye. Only seconds went by—no longer than a minute—but to the people below and the spirits above, it seemed longer.

Even the Turkey Titan’s spirit had humble respect for the townspeople. It smiled at Pete as it floated by him.

Then the spirits began to flow in a circular pattern toward the shrine. When they reached the metal, they absorbed into it, using its posts to move into the earth.

One by one, every soul found peace in the afterlife. One by one, every living person found peace in knowing they’d done a good thing.

After the last soul disappeared, the metal returned to its natural grey, and a voice began to speak. “I am a reaper. For this year’s Harvestfest, my kin have assigned me this shrine. In the history of Greenlake, no group of citizens has ever brought peace to that many souls during one Harvestfest. Do not forget them; they will not forget you. Someday you will meet again, and they will thank you for your efforts on their behalf.

“Due to the extreme nature of your success, the prizes this year will be of an extreme nature. They are prizes greater than any granted before. We will begin by granting the Third-place prize. Ragoon, Rosie, and Cedric, this is your team. Please, accept these gifts with the same gratitude with which I give them.”

Pete wondered what prizes they received. He’d ask them later.

The reaper of the shrine continued to speak. “Second place is Pete and Zoey. Please accept these gifts with the gratitude in which I give them.”

A prompt appeared for Pete:

You received ghost-slapping glove inserts. Wear these inserts under any pair of gloves. They will grant the gloves the ability to damage incorporeal beings with physical attacks.

“What did you get?” Zoey asked.

“Ghost-slapping glove inserts,” Pete answered. “What did you get?”

“I got a ghost-stabbing pizza fork wrap,” Zoey answered. “When I put it on my pizza fork, I can hurt ghosts by attacking them with my fork.”

“Cool,” Pete said.

“Not as cool as my first-place prize will be,” Roger forced himself between them. “I’ll make sure to tell you what it is.

“And in first place,” the voice continued. “We have the triplets. You saved more spirits than anyone else. Large and small, you saved them all.

A stunned silence came over the crowd as people realized the triplets had won the contest.

“For your prize,” the voice explained. “I will grant you something I’ve never given before..” the voice paused as the crowd waited to hear the prize. “Each of you—Skye, Hope, and Tornado—will receive an adventurer’s pass. Please, accept this gift with the gratitude with which we give it.”

An excited trio of triplets began to celebrate as the whole town began to cheer for them. Almost the entire town cheered for them, anyway.

The Escarons did not.

Next to Pete and Zoey, Roger’s mouth hung open in shock.