The Spirits of Summerween are walking through mist in a forest, Dipper attempting to be a cool narrator, but failing miserably. As he walks off in a huff, he passes a young man typing on a laptop. EZB tells the spirits to keep going, Mabel, Soos and Ford welcoming the readers to the Halloween special, explaining that they will each tell one story related to their time period. Mabel, or the Spirit of Summerween Past, begins telling her story, entitled Not the End.
Halloween night, 2012, Wendy is at Tambry's Halloween party, chugging apple cider against football players and utterly creaming them. Passing the possibly spiked drinks in the kitchen, she walks past the costumed people eating and stands in front of the food table, getting flashbacks to the events of the Summer.
Getting herself together, an annoyed Tambry comes up to her and asks if anyone spiked the punch yet. Wendy admits she doesn't know as Tambry pulls a bottle of alcohol out from under the table, spiking the punch and taking a swig herself. Wendy pulls the bottle of strong alcohol away from her friend and asks to know what set her off.
Tambry tells her that Robbie was being stupid and the two got in a fight, and eventually broke up. Taking a swig of the spiked punch, Tambry pulls out her phone, intending to change her relationship status. Wendy, knowing Tambry doing that would mean she and Robbie were really over, takes her phone and demands to know what the fight was about. Tambry says that she and Robbie talked about their future together, and they broke up after Robbie said he wanted to join some rock band, Tambry not wanting to get dragged across the country after him.
A voice from across the room calls Tambry's name, Robbie running up to the girls, giving Tambry the chance to take her phone back from Wendy. She starts typing as Robbie begs her to talk to him, but she refuses to stop as people start noticing the argument. Wendy tries to convince Tambry to talk to Robbie later, but Robbie insists they talk now, telling a tearful Tambry that she never listens to him. Tambry's response is to hit one last botton and put her phone away, the phones of the party-goers sounding at the same time with the updated status: Single.
Tambry walks away, and the party begins to disperse. Wendy meets up with Lee, Nate and Thompson outside and informs them that is wasn't an accident or something, they really broke up. She says she's going to head to the cemetery for a bit, the guys planning on getting some drinks and meeting up with her later. Wishing life could be as simple as the people who live in town as she walks to the cemetery, she remembers the final battle with Bill Cipher from two months ago, and how everyone, herself included, moved on quickly following the gravity fluctuations.
A car horn blares behind her and Robbie pulls up in his van, keeping pace with her as she walks along the road, the two talking through the opened passenger window. Robbie asks Wendy to talk to Tambry for him, but Wendy refuses, saying her, being his ex, getting involved in their issues won't help anyone. Robbie says they were just a fling, and while Wendy agrees with him, hearing him say it makes her mad.
She turns a corner, ignoring Robbie calling after her, but she turns around at the sound of a car horn. Then comes the scream of bending steel and shattering of glass, then screaming, from her and others. On the ground, Wendy is unable to breathe as the weight of something heavy pushes her against the grass. The weight and pain getting worse and the world getting darker, Wendy is unable to respond to someone calling to her from what she believes to be a great distance.
Wendy jolts awake, wondering if it was all a dream as she slowly processes the situation- she is lying on metal, entirely nude save for a sheet over her body, and there is someone standing next to her. Floating purple lights die out as she stares at a bruised Robbie, a thick old book in his hands. Looking around herself, she quickly realizes she is in the morgue, x-rays of her body as well as sharp instruments nearby.
Panicked, Wendy wraps the sheet around herself as she runs out of the morgue, Robbie dropping the book as he begins to follow her. She runs past a janitor, who runs away from his mopping bucket upon seeing her, and slips on the wet floor. She gets to her feet quicker than expected, not feeling a lot of pain, and continues running. Outside what is confirmed to be the morgue, she runs into the woods and continues running, the normal pains of speeding through the woods barefoot in the cold night surprisingly not present.
Running out of the woods, Wendy trips over the edge of the sidewalk, hitting the ground hard. Again, there is a surprising lack of pain, especially in the foot that stubbed the sidewalk. Fearing the worst, Wendy looks to see her foot is completely fine despite hitting the sidewalk at full speed. She stands up and looks around the cemetery she now feels connected to, rotting pumpkins everywhere.
She begins walking to where her mother's grave is, noticing that there are more lights than her Dad would normally put up. And there is a new tombstone present- hers. On her knees in shock, Robbie finally catches up, passing her a bag as he sits down. Wendy pulls out the clothes she wore to Tambry's party, grass, mud, and blood stains on the fabric. He tells her that her Dad hit the side of his van and she was run over, dying at the scene.
Wendy mentions that she can't be dead considering what she just did. Robbie tells her he found a book in the library that had a spell to bring people back to life, and he did what he could to complete the spell, although it wasn't perfect. Thinking she was brought back fully, she starts thinking about the possibilities, especially considering she's been dead for a week already.
Robbie tells her that the spell never fully revived her, Wendy realizing that the lack of pain when she was running means she's not human. Robbie tells her that, if had he done the spell completely correctly, she would be under his control, but as it wasn't done properly, she is a wraith. Wendy realizes 'wraith' is just another word for undead, and she can't go anywhere local as everyone believes her to be dead. Robbie promises to find a cure, the two agreeing to meet up at the same spot tomorrow to start working on fixing everything. Robbie heads into town as Wendy, with an unexplainable feeling of dread, heads into the woods, commenting to herself that Death isn't the end.
An emotional Soos is comforted by the other Spirits, who assure him things work out for Wendy in the end. Soos starts introducing his story, one taking place in the timeline of the show. After EZB makes him admit the story isn't entirely original, he begins telling Monstrous Mistakes.
The 12-year old twins are channel-flipping, nothing fun for them to do. Wendy comes in and tells them that she and Soos are both bored as well, Soos even intentionally breaking things so he can do something. Just after Soos breaks the toaster, Stan returns from a yard sale he went to, calling everyone into the living room to see what he found.
Stan tells the four of them that the salesman turned out to be an old wizard, and he actually had some cool stuff. Putting on a bejeweled belt, Stan hits one of the jewels and turns into a lizard creature. Stan admits that he stole the belt and the wizard threw books at him as a result before telling the twins that he wants them to wear it while he's doing a tour. The pain of being hit with books setting in, he tells them to put the belt in the museum while he takes a shower.
The four of them decide to test out the belt, running into the Gift Shop. Mabel tries it on first and turns into a cat. Dipper then turns invisible, and the four of them continue to pass it back and forth, never becoming the same thing twice. Eventually, the twins get into an argument about who's turn it is, and start playing tug-of-war with the belt. In the chaos, it drops to the ground, the gems falling out and steam poofing out.
The belt then explodes in a wave of magic energy, passing through everyone. Mabel turns into a mermaid creature, unable to breathe air. Dipper, now with the body of a deer, tries to carry her to the bathroom, but Wendy, as a dog, and Soos, as some sort of melting clay/mud monster, quickly bring a bucket of water to them instead. Stan, now in the form of a gargoyle, comes downstairs and demands answers.
Dipper explains about the energy in the belt exploding out, collecting the gems and the belt itself. Stan, then Mabel, attempt to place the gems back in their sockets, but their attempts fail. Conceding defeat, Stan grudgingly agrees to take the belt back to the wizard and have him fix everything.
That night, they get into Soos' truck, Mabel in a tub in the back, and head into town, discovering that the residents have also been effected by the belt exploding. Arriving at the house of the wizard, the four that can walk head up to the door, passing enchanted items still left out for the yard sale.
A book is hurled at the group from a window, hitting Stan in the face. Dipper apologizes to the old Wizard for Stan taking the belt, and the Wizard agrees to help them. He tries to say that they need to go on a quest first, but everyone sees through the bluff. The Wizard takes the belt from Stan and quickly places all the gem in their proper places, informing the group the effects should wear off in a few hours.
Bored again, the group heads back to the Shack to wait to return to normal. Rather than just sit around, Mabel suggests they play Strongholds and Serpents: Real Life Edition. However, Soos' mud form swallows his dice when he tries to roll, and Wendy is unable to stop herself from stealing Stan's dice after he rolls them. With Stan's character potentially dead, Dipper sighs and bangs his head on the ground.
With the emotional and funny stories out of the way, it is time for scary. Ford, AKA: the Master of Fright, starts introducing his story as the other Spirits settle in around him, darkness closing in. Setting the scene as a night in the Manor just before Summerween, Ford begins telling The Prowling Darkness.
Rain pounding outside, Yuki walks the halls of the Manor, alone with his thoughts. Alternating between thinking about a book the twins found at a burned down village in the woods, and the advanced scientific knowledge he is waiting to release to the world, he is pulled out of these thoughts upon discovering water on the floor. A trail of water, mud and dirt leads from an open window at the end of the hallway.
Closing the window, Yuki freezes at the sound of slithering, more fabric-y than the snake sounds he's used to. Trying to get himself together as he passes the stairs, he hears a door close above, immediately concerned for the twins. Rushing up the stairs and over the water that leads to the twins' room, he bursts through the cracked door, scanning the room for anything dangerous.
A half-asleep Mabel tells Dipper to go to bed, a trembling Waddles at her feet. Yuki wakes Mabel up, telling her it's after midnight and Dipper is not in the room. Putting on slippers, Mabel tells Yuki that at nine, Dipper left to do research in the storage room on the book they found in the burned village. The two go to the storage closest to see Dipper isn't present, a lamp, the open book, and a turf of hair next to more water/mud the only things left.
Flashlight in hand, Stan walks up, Yuki explaining to him and Mabel about the sound he heard earlier. Concerned about Dipper's disappearance and Yuki's mysterious noises, the three turn to the book on the ground, a tarot card with a snarling tiger on it staring back at them. Mabel says a Latin phrase, Coram Paesense, venit creaturae, venator properant, aloud, concerning Yuki, as Latin is one of the most common languages for a spell.
Stan's flashlight flickers as the slithering sound returns, everyone on edge. A drip of warm water falls onto Mabel from the ceiling, the three looking up to the source of the water and the smell of rot. A black mist with red and yellow eyes is clinging to the ceiling, staring down at them. Before anyone can move, the mist surrounds Mabel, causing her to disappear.
Yuki, realizing the twins' disappearances must be connected to the book, starts looking through it as Stan gets a number of his guns out. Yuki explains to the armed Stan that the book, the journal of a priest from long ago, described how the priest trapped a creature in a certain object, but if summoned, the creature could devour a certain target. Yuki tries to convince Stan to not kill the creature, but Stan says that all bets are off since the creature messed with the twins. Yuki then tries to stop him from summoning the creature again, as they don't know if they would be able to fight a mist, but Stan insists on bringing it, and the twins, back as soon as possible.
Stan repeats the Latin phrase Mabel said earlier, wind blowing through the building as the light start flickering. Yuki hears the fabric/slither sound again, the mist coming around a corner. Stan fires at the mist, the sound of a big cat hissing reaching their ears. Behind them, Yuki hears the sound again, but the mist disappears before Stan can fire again. The sound returns yet again, loud enough now for both to hear it, the sound of heavy footstep now coming from the approaching mist. Stan tells Yuki to run as the eyes open and the mist attacks, gun shots and screams audible through the door to the room Stan shoved Yuki into.
Silence prevails for several seconds as the mist disappears and the lights stop flickering. Gathering his courage, Yuki wrenches the door open, empty rounds, the book and the tarot card the only things left on the now-clawed hallway floor. Yuki considers calling Soos and/or Wendy to help, but not wanting anyone else to get hurt, he picks up the book and begins looking for a fix himself.
He eventually discovers that the priest trapped the monster in the tarot card instead of the book, and Dipper accidentally freed it, as the spell and tarot card were never supposed to be near one another. A plan in mind, Yuki repeats the Latin phrase again, summoning the creature, known as Rakshasa, to him, a figure similar to the Toldori visible.
The Rakshasa conjures a bubble, showing Stan and the twins chains to walls and screaming. Yuki, who had been trying to get his friends back peacefully until now, grabs the Rakshasa's whiskers and punches it backwards, the whiskers tearing out of the cat's face. Yuki step forward and punches again, throwing the cat backwards down the hall. The Rakshasa stands up and Yuki punches again, the process repeating until Yuki is too tired to punch effectively.
The Rakshasa claws at Yuki and throws him back the way they had come, Yuki collapsing against the wall. The Rakshasa picks Yuki up and begins threatening him, until Yuki tells him to shut up. Holding up the Tarot card, Yuki says the Latin words Vindex Vinctos, Daemonium Devorabitur, pervinco pravus and traps the Rakshasa back in the card, the cat swearing revenge before he disappears.
Yuki, Stan, and the twins all collapse to the ground, the twins rushing to the injured Yuki as Stan examines the damage caused to the hallway. Yuki explains how he trapped the Rakshasa in the card, Dipper agreeing to dispose of it tomorrow as he puts it in his pocket. Mabel grabs Wendy's First Aid kit and starts getting Yuki patched up as Dipper heads upstairs, Yuki seeing red and yellow in Dipper's eyes for half a second before Dipper turns away.
Ford explains to Mabel and Soos that not giving the story an entirely conclusive ending opens it up for a possibility of continuing, although Yuki would win in the end. The three Spirits begin to leave the scene, but EZB comes up and tries to get them to stay. The Spirits leave anyway, leaving EZB the only one visible. He tells the readers that the Hiatus is still coming, and that he maybe wants to turn the story into audio at some point or another. He then presses a button on his watch and a large jack-o-lantern crushes him with a squash, leaving us with the Cryptogram:
Rg xlfow szev yvvm dlihv. VAY xlfow szev yvvm 'tlfiw'! It could have been worse. EZB could have been 'gourd'!
