Pumpkins and Popstars recap

When Omensford's pumpkins vanish and two men are found decapitated, Magical Liaison Office agent Fi follows the evidence from a farm and florist to a haunted attraction and nearby woods. A suspected vampire proves to be a frightened witness. The real culprit is a sentient giant pumpkin accidentally created by Fi and Agatha's combined magic the previous Halloween. It has stolen pumpkins as kin, murdered Nigel and the Pumpkin King actor, and abducted an elf pop star. Fi and Agatha rescue the performer, then contain their creation rather than kill it. The creature is transferred to a protected reserve. Effie's cafe successfully reopens, the concert goes ahead, and Effie shelters Valentine after anti-vampire arson destroys his home. Fi and Mort become a committed couple, while Mort's hidden nature and world remain unresolved.

Previously: Fi serves as the Magical Liaison Office community agent in Omensford, where her powerful electrical magic is useful but difficult to control. Her household includes her mother Nell, her sister Agatha, and her dragon-like familiar Cressida. A demon that once opened a gateway and caused deaths is now confined at the house in donkey form, still hostile to Fi. Fi has also begun seeing Mort, a doctor with sword training and a mysterious connection to death. Those powers and their purpose have not been explained.

Harris summons Fi after his whole pumpkin crop disappears overnight. Cressida finds Harris's foreman Nigel dead in a drainage ditch, his head missing. The autopsy shows that Nigel was strangled, pinned by immense hands, and violently decapitated without a blade. Tracks and traces at the farm offer no clear culprit, although Cressida notices a lightning scent associated with Fi's own magic. Meanwhile, Effie sends a cryptic message from Europe telling Fi to look to her past for the solution. She then returns in a younger body with an elf pop star who is due to perform in Omensford. Steve, Glenn, and Fi work toward reopening Effie's cafe, but its coffee machine remains troublesome. A second pumpkin theft strikes a florist protected by magical wards. The intruder ignores money and valuable plants, taking only pumpkins and decorative squashes.

Pumpkins continue to vanish from shops, homes, and Omensford's Halloween display, while security footage initially provides no usable lead. Fi builds a private case board connecting the thefts, Nigel's murder, and the unexplained tracks. Her attempts to identify a pumpkin-eating creature go nowhere. She also struggles to contain electrical discharges, especially when distressed, though she deliberately recommits to avoiding harm to people. Fi and Mort attend a haunted-house attraction for a date. Her reflexive attack on a fake spider sets off the fire alarm, but they continue their evening near the venue's pumpkin patch. Mort senses that something is wrong there, and Fi discovers another headless body by the trees. The second victim turns the inquiry into a serial murder case and strengthens the apparent connection between the killings and the stolen pumpkins.

Police tentatively believe the second victim was scheduled to perform as the Pumpkin King, and every pumpkin at the haunted attraction is missing. Fi considers an anti-supernatural protester but finds no evidence connecting him to the extreme force used in either death. A lengthy ward list also fails to identify the intruder. Pressed by Agent Jones for an overdue report, Fi bargains with the demon donkey for help. Its scans find no demonic influence at the farm or florist. At the haunted-house scene, however, it detects a vampire presence. Fi checks staff records and finds that Valentine Lapel, a vampire performer, neither signed out nor spoke to police. She obtains his contact details and confirms that he is due back at the attraction that night. Valentine becomes her leading suspect, although his involvement in the murders is not yet established.

Valentine says he fled the second killing after hearing slithering, a shout, and a struggle. He argues that a vampire would not leave so much blood behind and explains that he ran to escape its pull. Fi treats him as a witness rather than a proven murderer and protects him when protesters publicly expose him as a vampire. She links the two deaths with the missing pumpkins and learns that the elf pop star heard thumping and slithering near the concert site before its pumpkin decorations vanished. The cafe's coffee machine remains broken despite Fi's efforts. Fresh surveillance footage finally shows a huge vine-like or tentacled shape moving through Omensford and obscuring the florist's camera. Mapping the farm, florist, haunted attraction, and concert grounds points Fi toward the nearby woods. She now has visual evidence of a large unknown creature and a likely area in which to search for it.

Fi borrows Agatha's giant prize pumpkin as bait, with Agatha insisting on joining the search. They place it in the woods and follow the huge slithering creature that takes it. During the pursuit, Effie reports that the elf pop star has also disappeared after apparently entering the woods. Fi and Agatha reach a clearing filled with stolen and rotting pumpkins, along with the heads of both murder victims. There they discover that the supposed tentacles are vines attached to an enormous animated pumpkin. It appears to be Agatha's prize pumpkin from the previous Halloween, brought to life when Agatha's nature magic combined with Fi's electricity. The creature is holding the missing performer and striking him because he cannot restore damaged pumpkins. It calls Fi its mother. Fi requests police backup and attempts to confront the creature, now identified as the apparent killer behind the thefts, decapitations, and abduction.

The animated pumpkin explains that it woke alone, learned by watching people, and came to regard harvested, carved, and displayed pumpkins as abused members of its family. Fi and Agatha pursue it, but its vines seize Fi and it uses a severed head as a distraction. Cressida's fire frees Fi, while Agatha's growth magic accidentally makes the creature larger. Injured and repeatedly captured, Fi develops a new outward electrical shield that burns back the vines. Her broader magical pulse forces the pumpkin to retreat. Agatha argues against killing a sentient being that their combined magic created. When armed support arrives, Fi electrifies nearby wire and contains the pumpkin instead of destroying it. The Magical Liaison Office transfers the two-time killer to a warded reserve where it can maintain its own pumpkin patch. The elf pop star is safe, the murder case is closed, and Effie turns everyone's attention back to the cafe reopening and concert.

Fi gets the cafe's coffee machine working, allowing Effie to reopen to a large crowd before the concert. Mort invites Fi to attend the performance with him. As they leave, Valentine arrives with news that someone exposed him as a vampire and burned down his home. Effie offers him shelter in the cafe's back room and possible work there, while Fi agrees to document the arson the next day. At the concert, Fi tells Mort about the danger and past harm associated with her electrical magic. Mort cannot yet explain his own powers, purpose, or hidden world, but promises to show her when he is ready. They agree to pursue a committed relationship without concealing important truths from each other. The rescued elf pop star performs and publicly dedicates a song to Fi. The pumpkin murders are resolved and their perpetrator remains securely confined, but the arson investigation, Mort's promised disclosure, Fi's developing magical control, and the hostile demon donkey remain open.

Fi and Agatha rescue the elf pop star and confront the animated pumpkin they accidentally created. Although it killed Nigel and the Pumpkin King actor while trying to protect other pumpkins, Fi chooses not to destroy it. She develops an electrical shield, drives it back, and holds it behind electrified wire until the Magical Liaison Office can move it to a warded reserve with a pumpkin patch. Effie's cafe reopens after Fi restores the coffee machine, and the rescued performer completes his concert. Valentine, cleared in the murder case, loses his home to anti-vampire arson but gains shelter and possible work at the cafe. Fi still needs to report that attack. She and Mort commit to a relationship based on honesty. Mort promises to reveal his concealed powers, purpose, and wider world when he is ready, leaving that disclosure open. The hostile demon in donkey form also remains confined at Fi's home.