A Haunted Christmas/Part 4

"So how are we enjoying the Christmas dinner tonight, my friends?" Vino said as he interrupted the story Smurfette was telling Empath and Smurfette.

"Everything's just like it was last Christmas, except that it's a little better, Vino," Empath said. "You should ask Polaris, since this is his first actual Christmas dinner he is eating."

"Very well, then," Vino said. "Is everything smurfed to your satisfaction, Polaris?"

"This one appreciates the effort you have put into preparing the dinner, and has found everything in it to be satisfactory, fellow Vino," Polaris said.

"More smurfberry wine to make the meal more enjoyable?" Vino asked.

"This one would prefer more seltzer, if it's available, but this one appreciates the offer," Polaris answered.

"This smurf and Smurfette would like another glass of wine, please," Empath said, as he and Smurfette produced their empty glasses.

Vino took an opened bottle and poured the smurfberry wine into the glasses. "I shall return promptly with Polaris' glass of seltzer," he promised before he moved on.

"Now let's get back to the story," Empath said after he took a sip of his wine. "Smurfette and the other Smurfs were just encountering what they thought was a ghost, and so they headed off in another direction inside the castle. What else happens?"

"We started to hear music smurfing nearby in the direction we were smurfing, so Papa Smurf decided that we should investigate for ourselves and see what was smurfing the music," Smurfette said.

And as Smurfette continued the story, Empath and Polaris saw the Smurfs walking down another corridor, trying to be as quiet as possible. All the while, though, they couldn't escape the feeling like they were being watched by somebody.

"If Papa Smurf says that there's no ghost, then it must be true that there isn't a ghost in here, because Papa Smurf would never lie when it smurfs to...," Brainy began to babble, before he heard a loud growling noise behind him.

Smurfette found Brainy leaping into her arms, scared by the loud growling noise. "Brainy, what are you smurfing?" she asked, not liking having to hold Brainy in her arms like that.

"I...I thought I heard a loud growling noise...right from behind us," Brainy said, sounding all fearful.

And then they saw Greedy and Nabby passing by them, clutching their stomachs, feeling how empty they were without food. They could hear the low growling of the stomachs, which must mean it was just the hallway making the faint sounds echo off the walls.

Brainy laughed nervously. "Say, Smurfette, did anyone tell you that you're beautiful when you're mad?" he said to her.

Then as the Smurfs reached a corner, Papa Smurf saw a light coming from a door at the end of an adjoining passageway and heard music coming from behind the door. "Shhh...quiet, my little Smurfs...I'm hearing music," Papa Smurf said as he kept them from proceeding any further.

"Sounds like somebody in here likes music," Harmony said after listening to the tune being played.

"Let's hope that he also likes food, because I'm hungry," Greedy said.

"Well, if it's really a ghost playing the music, I'd like to smurf a few words with him about haunting the place," Hefty said, sounding like he was raring for a fight with somebody.

"Yeah, let's go bust some ghosts before they bust us, Hefty," Tuffy said.

"Careful now, laddies, we still don't know what exactly we're smurfing with here in this castle," Duncan said.

Papa Smurf led the Smurfs toward the lighted door and opened it together. They all saw that there was a harpsichord and a candelabra in the next room, with the harpsichord playing itself and the candelabra floating in midair right next to the harpsichord.

The Smurfs screamed as they saw these things and ran away from the room, feeling that there really was a ghost in the castle. But Papa Smurf didn't run away, having a feeling that everything is not what it really seems. He then noticed a piece of fine string that was tied to a post on one of the walls. He gave the string a tug, and sure enough he found that it was attached to the candelabra.

"I was right...there are no ghosts in this castle," Papa Smurf said, sounding a bit relieved. "I must tell my little Smurfs about this as soon as possible."

But as he looked back out into the hallways, he saw that his little Smurfs have disappeared. That means he has to find them again before whoever resides in the castle finds them first.

To be expanded on.