Original subtitles

- Previously on "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"...

- These are flashbacks. She's not telling us

what happened. She's showing us.

- "The Book of Shadows" is what created him,

so maybe...

- That's what we use to break them out.

- Found it--"protect us in your hallowed light."

It's you. It's really you.

? ?

I know you're out there.

I'm not afraid of you--

? ?

- Hello. -

I can't see you.

Who are you?

- I'm Zoey.

- What is this place?

- You're in the dark house.

? ?

- What happened to me?

- You were taken by the Shadowman.

We all were.

- Are we dead?

- We don't know.

- How long of you all been in here for?

- None of us can remember.

The longer you're in the dark house,

the more things you forget.

? ?

- Hey. I know you.

You're that missing kid.

I recognize you from all those old posters by the marina.

And you.

You went camping in the woods with your family.

Two days later, you vanished.

Everyone thought you ran away.

- How do you know all that?

- When I was looking into the curse, I Googled you guys.

You've all been missing for years.

- What's Googled?

? ?

- You've been here in the dark all this time, trapped.

- That's how the legend goes.

Once you go into the Haunted Woods, you're cursed.

The Shadowman can only come for you at night.

But when he finally gets you,

you belong to the dark.

Forever.

Unless the curse is broken.

- Found it.

? ?

- Jai! - Jai, no, Jai!

- That's Luke!

- Jai! - Jai!

- What are you waiting for? Break the curse, come on!

- Guys! Help us!

- Um... Okay, wait.

- You guys, this is them. These are my friends.

Luke! Gabby!

Help us, we're here!

- Got it!

"Drive away our heart in fear."

- Oh, hi, Mom.

- "Only goodness walking here."

- No! No!

Guys! Help us! Help us!

We're trapped in here!

- "Spell magic pure and bright.

Protect us in your hallowed light."

- What's happening?

- What's happening to me?

? ?

- It's you. It's really you.

- Yeah.

It's really me.

? ?

- Luke! Luke!

No! No!

No, I'm in here!

I'm in here! Luke, help us!

That's not me!

No!

? ?

? ?

- His pupils are dilated. - How can you tell?

- Because they're dilated. - Not good.

Gammy hurt her kidney when she got dilated.

- That's dialysis.

Okay, look here.

See the black parts of his eyes?

Those are supposed to get smaller

when light shines into them, but his are getting bigger.

- So what does that mean? - He has a brain injury.

Or a seizure.

Or it could be acute food poisoning.

- Hey, what are you reading? - Phone Doctor.

- That's not helpful. - Excuse me, this has access

to over 27 doctors across the nation, so, I mean--

- Okay, he needs a real doctor, guys.

Not an app. Not Hanna.

We have to take him to the hospital.

Connor, are you okay?

We're gonna get you some help.

- I mean, he talked earlier.

- I don't think he's blinked yet.

- Telling you, he looks just like Gammy

when she got dilapidated.

- Maybe he's been in the dark

so long that he's just in shock.

- Maybe he's been in the dark so long that he can't see.

? ?

He can see.

- Hey, Connor, it's me, Luke.

- Luke?

We're in the light.

- Yeah.

I brought you into the light. You're safe now.

- How?

- We broke the curse.

The Shadowman's gone. We can go home now.

- Gotta say, I'm getting pretty good

at navigating these Haunted Woods.

Maybe I'll get one of those flannel shirts, you know,

some puffy vests,

be, like, an outdoorsy man in the wilderness, you know?

- Yeah, totally. Which way is south again?

Maybe just stick to the comic books.

- Wait a sec. The Shadowman's dead.

- Right.

- So, these woods aren't haunted anymore.

Now we can meet here at midnight.

I mean, how amazing would it be to tell scary stories

around a real campfire?

- How do you know there aren't other monsters in these woods?

- Other monsters? - My friend Jeremy Sepowicz

told me about a guy named the Bunny Man,

who lives under an old bridge,

and every Halloween,

he comes out and hunts kids with a giant axe.

- Okay, is this the one who smells like maple syrup

and eats paper? - No, that's Jeremy K.

I'm talking about Jeremy S.

And he swears the Bunny Man's real.

- Well I'm sure he just made it up.

- How are you so sure?

None of you thought the Shadowman was real,

and we all know how that turned out.

- All right, touch�. - I say we look for him.

- Great idea.

Why don't you come back here on Halloween,

find that old bridge, and wait for the Easter Bunny?

- Will you come with me? - No.

'Cause either he's not real and it's a waste of time,

or he is real and we get chased with an axe.

- We'd run. He wouldn't catch me.

- You can't outrun a monster, kid.

- I don't have to outrun a monster.

I'd just have to outrun you.

- True.

- Connor, you okay?

? ?

- I'm fine. I just--

I'm a little weak.

Come on, dude. Let's keep moving.

Everything okay?

- Yeah, it's nothing. Come on.

Sorry about the mess.

We broke in when you went missing

'cause we were worried about you.

And then we broke in again

because we needed a place to hide.

Oh, and then that broke when we were fighting the Shadowman.

? ?

Oh, and that too.

- They also broke into your laptop as well.

- Seth.

- We gotta get back home

before our parents realize we're gone.

But we'll see you at school?

Maybe we should skip school.

- Why? - Keep an eye on him.

It's obvious something's wrong.

Can't you see that he's acting weird?

- So we take him to school, where we can see him.

People are already starting to ask questions.

- Dude, people are gonna ask way more questions

if he shows up acting like that.

? ?

- Yeah, I see your point.

- Can't leave him alone like this.

- Well, I can't skip school.

- Maybe we take shifts.

- Take shifts? What are we, babysitters?

- I'll do it.

- You?

You're okay with skipping school?

- It's like you said.

There are more important things than school.

- Thanks, Gabby. - But I need a favor.

The PSATs are tomorrow.

Any chance one of you can swing back by here before school

and bring me back my book?

- Yeah.

- I have to return a book.

- Why does he always leave like that?

So dramatic.

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Thank you for calling Sardo's Magic Mansion.

This is Sardo. Accent on the Do.

How can I help you? What?

Absolutely not.

We don't sell that here. This is a lawful business.

And you-- you got my name from whom?

Pink? Mm-hmm.

And this is a secure line? Okay.

Be at the shop in 20. Come around back, bring cash.

Thank you.

Magic word? - Let me in, Sardo.

- I hate that kid.

The young lad lives to see another day.

I figured you'd be a goner by now.

- A deal's a deal.

We're even.

- You didn't open it, did you?

- No.

- Oh.

I know why Connor stole it.

- Why? Because he's awful?

- No.

Because it's what created the Shadowman in the first place.

The lighthouse keeper cast a spell

to try to save his daughter, and it backfired.

He became the Shadowman.

- How could you possibly know that?

- Let's just say that the s�ance worked.

- It appears so. And what about the Shadowman?

Did this ghost girl tell you how to get rid of him?

- Yeah. She did.

And we broke the curse last night.

- How? - I'll tell you.

For $5,000. -

- - Very clever.

Well, in the end, it seems

we both got what we were looking for.

I suspect this means goodbye.

50 bucks for a shrunken head.

I'm losing on the deal. Come on.

- No thanks.

- Fine. Very well.

It was nice to meet you, Luke.

Promise me.

Promise you didn't open "The Book of Shadows."

No good can come from that book.

Only evil.

- Promise. -

- You have nothing to worry about.

? ?

- Dude, we got a huge problem. - What's wrong?

- The Glow Dance, it's tonight. We completely forgot about it.

- You scared me. I thought it was something bad.

- This is bad. I mean,

we're gonna be the only guys in school without dates.

Our lives are over.

We might as well have been taken by the Shadowman.

- I mean, there's still time to get a date.

- So you're gonna ask Hanna? - Wait, what?

Did she say something to you?

She wants to go out with me? She told you that?

- Yeah, no, she told me, right before

we braided each other's hair and did our nails and--

- Yeah, whatever.

- But seriously, man, I need your help.

- Well, I gotta go to class.

So I'd say just, like, find a girl and ask her.

- What does that mean?

- We went to school together.

? ?

- Oh--hey, Toni, I didn't see you there.

Out of all the places you could have run into me.

- You ran into me. - Listen.

I know we've known each other since, like, second grade,

and I don't want this to affect our friendship, but--

- I'm sorry, what's your name again?

- Jai Malya!

- Well, do we see the problem here?

- Uh...

- You were in charge of decorating for the dance.

But the dance is in a few hours,

and I see no decorations. Where are my stars?

What have you been doing all week?

Stuff. Can't explain.

- Yeah, okay. - Yeah.

- So I suggest, sir, that you get to work very, very quickly,

or you can explain to the whole student body

why the dance has been canceled.

And you can do it from detention.

Start with these. I got you streamers.

And I wanna see more paper stars.

Twinkle, twinkle, sir.

Stars!

- After two to three weeks, you'll start to see

long vines with green leaves. And if you'd like to,

you can transplant it into a pot with soil

so it becomes a pretty, leafy house plant.

And there you go.

That's how you grow a potato using nothing

but water, a jar, and egg shells.

- Well done, Ava.

Um, Luke?

- Huh? - You're up.

Come present your project.

? ?

- Oh, yeah. About that, I--

- This accounts for 10% of your grade, Mr. McCoy.

Do you have something to show us?

- Uh... I, uh...

- I'll go.

- Thank you, Hanna,

but I asked Luke to present. It's his turn.

- See, that's the thing.

Luke and I worked on our project together.

- But this was not a group project.

- I know, but...

well, what we want to do requires two people.

I mean, it's like you always say,

teamwork divides a task and multiplies the success.

? ?

Yes.

Okay, right now.

We're going right now. Cool.

Okay. Um...

Our project is on...

Ava, can I borrow your potato?

- What? - Thanks.

Women supporting women. Right?

Okay, now Luke is gonna grab some wires

from the project over there.

- Um, I'm sorry, what's the project?

- Okay, you're about to see. So, using this potato,

metal, and some wires... - Sorry.

- Luke and I are making a light bulb.

- Using a potato?

? ?

Oh, yeah, a potato-- we're using.

? ?

- Connor? Lucas?

- I'm fine. I just wanna be alone.

- Oh, okay.

? ?

? ?

- Conductors allow electricity to flow through them, right?

Even humans-- we conduct electricity.

That's what we're about to show you.

So basically-- - Am I gonna get shocked?

- No, you're not gonna get shocked.

Can I just go back to it?

Okay, so I am going to grab the first metal plate,

and then Luke is gonna grab the second.

Yep. Right there.

And right now it's an open circuit.

See? Right? There's no light.

But when Luke and touch our hands together,

the circuit will close, and the light will turn on.

So...

Okay, let's just--

- Talk about electricity.

Really well done, Hanna.

- Thanks.

- Luke, you barely did any of that.

You owe me a new project on Monday.

- Got it. - I have something to say.

- No, no. Not during class.

You can fight for social justice later.

- Okay, it's not really that.

It's not even really an announcement.

It's more of a question.

So Luke...

uh...

Will you be my date to the dance?

- Say yes. This is awkward.

- Yes.

? ?

- Okay. Okay.

I'm--

You can do the next project now.

'Cause it's over, so...

? ?

- Connor?

What are you doing?

- I just--I wanted to say that I was sorry.

I didn't mean to be rude before.

- It's okay. You've been through a lot.

- I think we should do something tonight.

All of us. Together.

- What?

- You, me, the others, tonight.

After sunset.

- Tonight. - Yes.

- I can't. I have to study.

And the others are going to the Glow Dance.

- The what?

- You know, the Glow Dance?

School does it every year. Black lights.

You wear neon. They turn off all the lights.

- Right.

Turn off all the lights.

- Just like that?

She asked you point blank?

In environmental science?

- Well, yeah. - That's great, man.

I know you've been in love with her for, like, ever.

- No, I haven't.

- Coolest kid in Shadow Bay High, man.

- I don't know about that.

- No, I'm serious. You do it.

You do all the things. You face your fears.

You fight for what you want, and you get them.

And I think that's really cool.

I wish I was like that.

- You are. I think you're cool.

- Of course I'm cool.

But, okay, I love scary stories,

but the idea of actually going on an adventure terrifies me.

Not you--I mean, look what we just went through.

You literally kill monsters.

If we were in a comic book,

I'm the sidekick who cracks jokes when he gets scared.

You're the guy who fights the villain,

gets the girl, and becomes a hero.

- Maybe in my story.

But you can be the hero in yours.

? ?

Uh, so, this is the comic book you say is cursed, right?

- Not anymore--it was only good for Shadowman fights,

but now that he's gone, it's not so special.

- Yeah.

? ?

- I can feel you standing there.

What do you want, Seth?

- I wanna fight another monster.

- We barely escaped the Shadowman.

Why do you want to find another?

- I want us to get cursed again.

Now that the curse is broken,

you guys have no reason to hang out with me.

And I don't want us to stop being friends.

- We can still be friends.

- I wanna join The Midnight Society.

I've earned it. - No, you haven't.

But you can, if you tell us a really scary story.

I'm giving you an audition.

- Really? - Really.

But you only have one shot. Impress us, and you're in.

- Okay.

? ?

- How do you calculate force?

- Easy--force is equal to mass multiplied by acceleration,

and acceleration is measured in meters per second squared, so--

- Okay, okay, cool. Got it.

- Let's go to the dance now.

- What--no, I have to study. - Come on.

Think of how much fun it'll be,

all of us hanging out together.

It's just one night.

When's the last time you've had any fun?

- Connor, I've been preparing for this for months,

and this is important. - So what?

You take the next test!

- Don't raise your voice to me like that, ever.

? ?

- Gabby! Gabby, come here!

Gabby!

- Connor?

Connor!

? ?

Are you here?

Connor?

? ?

- Gabby? -

- You okay? - I just saw the Shadowman.

He was there.

- I know, I saw him too. - What?

- Yeah, I got away, right before he grabbed me.

- But we broke the curse.

And the sun is still up. He can't get us.

- I know, I know, I know. - This doesn't make any sense.

- Hey. We have to go warn the others.

? ?

? ?

- ? Shout it loud ? - Whoa.

We actually pulled it off.

- Just in time, too. It's officially party o' clock.

- I need help writing a scary story.

How's this?

A magician pulls vampire rabbit out of a top hat.

- That's the whole plot?

- What's a plot?

Are you on hold?

- Pardon me?

- This bad music.

- This is "The Danse Macabre" in G Minor.

It's a masterpiece.

- But it has no words.

- Music doesn't need words to tell a story.

Listen for yourself.

"Danse Macabre" means "the dance of death."

Every year, Death walks the earth at night

to play his fiddle for the skeletons,

tricking them into a dance.

Oh, oh. Hear the violins?

And the rattling bones in the percussion.

This song reminds us all that no one

escapes the dance of death.

Pbbt.

- Hey, that's "The Book of Shadows."

- Mm-hmm.

- Did Luke tell you about how he used it to save Connor?

- What?

- Wait, wait, stop. We can't go in yet.

- We have to warn them. - First, we need more lights.

Here.

I can't see. Can give me your phone light?

- There's nothing over here. - Wait--just, wait.

Look over in that corner.

Maybe we'll find something else

to fight the Shadowman with.

like that yoyo you used as a morningstar.

- I never told you about that.

? ?

- Uh...

oh, yeah. Luke told me.

- Right.

Know what we haven't tried?

Cutting off the Shadowman's head.

You know, like in that zombie movie you love so much.

What's the name? "Night of the Living Dead"?

- Yes. I love that one.

? ?

- Connor hates movies with zombies.

He likes werewolves.

I really wish you wouldn't have done that.

- Where's Connor?

- Connor's mine now. - Stay away from me.

- Fine.

I'll be back at sunset.

And please, don't ruin the surprise.

- No, no! Please!

No, no, no! Please help!

No, no, no, please! No, no!

No!

No, anybody there? Anybody out there?

? ?

- I think this is it.

I found my calling. Dance decoration.

That's a thing, right? Luke?

Lucas?

- ? La la la la la la la ?

? La la la la la la la ?

? La la la la la la la ?

- Hey.

- Hi.

- Hey-oh. What are we doing, guys?

We make a great tricycle, don't we?

- What? - What is that?

- What? - Toni.

She's here with Gerald Parsons.

She told me her grandmother's funeral was tonight.

What the--

- You look...yeah.

- Thanks.

You look "yeah" too.

Yeah.

- Well, Luke cast the spell,

and then the Shadowman went away,

and Connor came back. The end.

- That's impossible.

A spell cannot simply cast away the Shadowman,

let alone undo what happened to Connor.

- I swear that's what happened.

- Seth, this is very, very important.

I need to know exactly what spell Luke used from this book.

- I don't remember. I think it rhymed, though.

- They're spells. They all rhyme.

- Um...

Something about hollowed light, I think.

- Hallowed light.

Hmm.

Was this the spell he used?

- Yeah, that's the one.

- Do you have any idea what you've done?

- We made a light that protects us from the Shadowman.

- No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You cast a spell that protects the Shadowman in the light.

- ? Heart is pounding on away ?

? Stop and notice calling me ?

? Body's frozen, out of control ?

? Falling in the shadows ?

- We have to hurry.

Your sister and friends are in grave danger.

- I don't get it.

- The Connor that you thought was your friend

is actually the Shadowman in disguise.

Don't you see? He tricked you.

- Okay, well, if he is the Shadowman,

then why hasn't he taken us?

- Because... because...

He can only take you when it's dark.

He's waiting for the sun to set.

Let's go. Move your little legs.

- My legs are not little.

- Help, please! Come on!

Somebody!

Okay, Gabby, think.

First we solve...

Force.

- Favorite guilty pleasure song.

- I'm really starting to dig that one about the sign.

- That one's all pleasure, no guilt.

- Most embarrassing secret.

- Okay, from time to time,

I may play with some of Seth's magic tricks.

- No way. - Hey, some of them are cool.

They are.

Biggest fear.

- Um...

Not being brave.

- You mean the same thing as fear?

- I guess so.

Biggest dream.

- Dream?

- Yeah, if you could do anything.

- I wanna make a difference in this world.

I know it sounds stupid.

I just-- - Good dream.

It's pretty cool.

I think you're pretty cool.

- Wanna dance?

- ? If you're feeling like you're nervous ?

? If you feel like you're afraid ?

? If the old way isn't working ?

? We can take a turn to better days ?

- Jai.

- Connor. I didn't know you were coming.

- Thought I'd come join the party.

- Is Gabby here?

- No. She--she went home to study.

- The acceleration of-- proportional to the mass.

Using tension to increase net force.

Here goes nothing.

- You don't understand. We have to get inside.

It's an urgent matter.

- He looks way too young to be in high school,

and you look way too old.

Sorry, mister.

- No mister.

- Okay, fine, we're not in high school.

But...

here's $1.

- Sorry. Not on the list.

- But... that's not fair.

- I'll find another way in. -

We're running out of time. Look.

Once the sun sets,

he'll be able to transform back into the Shadowman.

- - Yeah.

- You better get in there.

That's where all the fun is happening.

- No, I'm fine.

I don't have anyone to dance with, anyway.

- Come on, pal. Seriously.

Enough with these stupid comics.

Get up. Let's go find Luke.

- ? Never go back in time ?

? Here I am ?

? Wishing that you were here ?

- Yeah, I gotta use the boys' room.

- No, you'll miss all the fun.

- Let me go.

Luke!

- Is it sunset yet? - I don't know!

- ? But I was wrong ?

? Maybe deep down I've been running ?

? Within you ?

- No!

- - What happened?

- Stop, stop. Stop the music.

Good evening, Shadow Bay High. How's everybody doing tonight?

- Seth? - Ladies and gentlemen,

jocks and nerds, GenZ-ers and old people.

- Jai, are you okay?

- Tonight, you are in for a treat.

- Why's Gabby here? - And it is my pleasure

to introduce to you

a man you've probably never heard of before.

- Gabby, it's Connor, he's-- - Gabby.

- Hanna, it's Connor. - Where's Connor?

- Luke. - Jai.

- Ms. Shaffner? - What is going on?

And who is this?

- The Legendary Sardo.

- Sourdough? Why would--?

- Ha-ha!

Thank you, Seth, for whatever that was.

And good evening, everyone.

My name is Sardo. Accent on the Do.

And I am here tonight for the surprise entertainment.

- Jai. What did you do?

- But first, let's bring back the music.

Yes, stick around, and tonight you will see magic

in front of your very eyes.

So, what do you say, Shadow Bay High?

Are you ready for the show?

- Ooh!

Hey, where did you find this guy?

He is fantastic.

Okay, but we're not paying for this, right?

- First things first, I'll need some volunteers.

Yes, yes, yes.

Hmm, hmm, hmm.

No, not in a million years.

Definitely not, definitely not.

Aha!

You four.

- You heard the man. Come on, necktie.

And you, girl, in the ugly jacket.

Come on. You too, shield boy.

Come on.

- Round of applause for my lovely volunteers.

- Yes. Go.

- Sardo, what are you doing? - Helping you.

Yes, come on, come on.

The water's warm. There's no water.

They're just chairs.

And...

Young man, give us your name.

- Uh, Luke.

- Got it, "Uh-Luke."

Okay, Uh-Luke, have you ever performed magic?

? ?

- No, I don't think so.

- Really?

So you've never done a trick, sprinkled fairy dust,

waved a magic wand, that kind of thing?

- No.

- Have you ever cast a dark spell?

Hmm? Hmm?

Mm, that's great news. Casting spells is easy.

Uncasting can be tricky.

And sometimes it can even be a real curse.

? ?

- Connor. Shadowman.

- There are many people out there claiming to be magicians,

when in fact... - What?

- They are imposters in disguise.

Anywho, let's begin.

Seth, if you'd please, the sheets.

These are just your average, normal, everyday sheets.

- He's not Connor. He's Shadowman.

- I brought all these sheets from home.

They're all from my linen closet.

My grandfather used to say, never have too many sheets.

And last but certainly least, my assistant.

Could have done that a little bit better.

Tucked in, nice and snug.

Hello, people.

It is important for you to understand.

What you are about to see is not actually magic.

What you are about to see is an illusion.

If you don't know the difference,

an illusion means deception.

Now, I must ask everyone to count to three.

One. One.

Two. Three!

- Et voil�!

No one under here! No one under here!

No one there! No one under there!

And no one under there! Ha-ha!

There you have it.

The surprise disappearing act.

- Where are they?

- Hello, Shadowman.

- Someone, please explain what's going on.

- Later. Now, we have to move.

- No, no, no. Not without Connor.

- Oh, shut up, Luke. - Dude.

- That's what we've been trying to tell you.

That thing that we brought back is not Connor.

- When you cast the spell, you didn't protect us

from the Shadowman. You only made him stronger.

- No, you're wrong.

- Oh. Oh.

- It's not Connor.

What's the matter, Luke?

- Go, go, go, go, go!

? ?

- Hit the lights.

- Doesn't matter, it won't work--we've already tried.

- No, Sardo said when he looks like Connor, lights won't work.

But when it's after sundown

and he's the Shadowman, lights will hurt him.

- Yeah, that's why he disappeared in the spotlight.

- Okay, so we're good.

Not good. - He must have hit the circuit.

- He's breaking in. - We're gonna die.

We're gonna die. We're gonna die.

- We're not gonna die.

? ?

- Hanna, your light.

The potato bulb.

Hold my hand.

- The light's not strong enough.

It won't hold him for long. We need to go.

- Um... Jai.

You said your book predicts the Shadowman frights.

Please tell me it shows us how to get out of here.

? ?

Jai. Jai, come on.

- Jai.

- What does it say? Jai.

- Yeah, it's fine. We go out through--

- The window. Help me.

- Gabby, you're first. You're the tallest.

Take Seth. - I--I...

- Hanna, go. Hanna, go.

Pull up Gabby. Go, go.

? ?

- Now you. - No, my arms are longer.

I can close the circuit myself and keep the light on.

Go.

Come on, Luke, come on. - Jai, come on.

- Jai! Jai!

- What are we gonna do now?

There's no way we can outrun him.

- You don't have to outrun the monster.

You just have to outrun me.

- Wait! - Jai, Jai!

- What are you doing?

? ?

- Jai, please. - No.

- We have to run. - No.

We can't leave without him. - Luke, it's too late.

- Let's go.

? ?

- You know what?

You're not that scary.

? ?

? ?

- Next, on "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"...

- We don't have to destroy the book.

We just have to destroy the Shadowman.

I have an idea.

- This is where the Midnight Society meets.

- We'll lure him in while he's still Connor,

and we'll hit him with every light we've got.

- How do you know he's gonna show up?

- 'Cause Shadowman always shows up.

- Gabby, stop!

- I know you're in here.

- Now. - Huh?

? ?

- Bring us back!

- No, no, no!

Midnight clock strike.

Dark night...