"Hollis, I don't think anyone's home," said Filiberto. "We should keep go-AGH! WHAT WAS THAT?!"

The Quiggle jumped twice his height before landing back on the ground, shaking, as his Uni friend laughed. She gestured to the webs surrounding the old door frame with her hoof.

"Relax, Fili, it was just a Spyderweb. The breeze must have blown it into you."

"O-ok, if you s-say so," he stammered, glancing around as the wind rippled both of their costumes. "Just the b-breeze..."

"Shhh! Did you hear that?" Hollis whispered, craning her neck to peek inside the house. "I think someone is inside!"

A creak came from the house, then another. The low groans of aging floorboards were unmistakable: someone, or something, was moving around in there. Filiberto gulped and turned to the street, ready to drag his friend along to the next house, and dropped his candy bucket. He couldn't see down the road, or even to the end of the broken fencing surrounding the old house. All he could see was thick, swirling fog.

He whimpered.

Hollis looked back at her friend and rolled her eyes. Then she realized he couldn't see her eyes under her sheet, so she knelt down and picked up his candy bucket, speaking gently to her nervous buddy.

"Come on, it's just fog! Let's see if there are any candles inside."

She put the handle of the bucket into his hands and stepped through the doorway before Filiberto could stop her. He took a deep breath and wiped his palms on his cape. Super Quiggle wouldn't be scared of an old house, so neither would he, right? That's what he told himself as he followed her inside...

A single candle on a crooked table coughed to life with a green flame, spilling spastic shadows over a dusty candy bowl that read “TAKE ONE”. Hollis reached for the bowl, which suddenly read “TAKE NONE." She blinked furiously, rubbed her eyes, and opened them to see the sign had reverted back to its original listing. Filiberto clutched his bucket, while Hollis blamed the apparition on the dim lighting.

“Uh... trick or treat?” she implored.

The floorboards quickly responded with a slow creak, as if footsteps circled them from the walls themselves. The candle drifted off the table and bobbed down a hallway like it wanted to be followed. A lantern blinked awake along the wall, then another, until wisps of witch fire dotted the hallway in a path like breadcrumbs. Hollis nervously nudged Filiberto forward. He gulped, squared his cape like a real superhero, and took a step. A tiny voice from down the hallways dark piped up, cheerful and close: “Step forward if you will, but first..."

"A riddle?" Filiberto blurted out without thinking. He tensed, as though expecting the little voice to retaliate. He looked at the path of fire marked before them, but didn't take another step.

"Every day, my outside is thrown away, while my inside is used. But on one night, my outside is used. What am I?"

Hollis blinked and tilted her head toward the Quiggle.

"Every day the inside is used, but on one night, it's the outside? What is it?"

"I don't know!" said Filiberto, twiddling his fingers. "I was thinking maybe something you peel or you unwrap, but when do you use the wrapper or the peel?" He paused and stared at the Uni. "Hollis...what do you think will happen if we get it wrong?"

"What, indeed?" the little disembodied voice interjected as though able to listen in to their conversation. "I guess you'll have to find out if you'll get a treat...or a trick." The last word seemed to end on a mischievous grin.

"The inside...the outside...the inside..." Hollis glanced at the wisps of fire, which continued to crackle merrily in front of them. She started to pace, stroking her chin. "The outside..."

Filiberto gasped. "A pumpkin!"

Hollis halted in her tracks. "A pumpkin? The insides of a pumpkin...but on Halloween night the outside is used for jack-o-lanterns...Filiberto, you're a genius!" The Uni jumped up and down in excitement.

"Very good," said the voice. "You solved the riddle. And now..."

The witch fire lanterns brightened, illuminating more of the hallway ahead. Filiberto clutched his candy bucket tighter, his earlier triumph fading as uncertainty crept back in. The voice continued, still playful but with a hint of something else…

"I'm wrapped in green from head to toe, in Haunted Woods I make my home, I'm known by name but rarely seen, I tend the wild and growing things. Who am I?"

Hollis tilted her head, thinking hard. She glanced at Filiberto, who had gone very still, his eyes widening with realization.

Filiberto swallowed hard, his mind working through the clues. Wrapped in green... known by name but rarely seen... His mouth went dry as the pieces clicked into place. He'd heard stories whispered around Neopia about someone who lived hidden somewhere in these very woods. A mysterious Earth Faerie dressed in green who never left the forest. His voice came out as barely a whisper: "I-Ilere?"

The shadows at the end of the hallway shifted, and a figure began to materialize in the flickering green light. Large, glowing green eyes appeared first, followed by the silhouette of delicate, leaf-like wings. "Very good, little Quiggle," the voice said warmly. "You know your legends well."

She stepped fully into the light of the witch fire, and they could see her more clearly now; wild green hair, those luminous eyes studying them from within her dark green cloak with what seemed like genuine interest rather than menace. "Most who stumble upon my home flee the moment they realize who I am. But you two..." A small smile played at her lips. "You answered my riddles. You showed courage and wit." She paused, as if considering something. "For that, you deserve more than ordinary candy. Follow me, young ones, and I will give you treats worthy of this night, and perhaps a memory you'll carry far longer than any sweet…"

"Certainly, that's my name. You're not thinking of running now, are you?" she asked, her voice turning ice cold.

"N-no, we'll follow you. J-just don't t-turn us into anything..." Filliberto stammered.

The earth faerie shook her head and beckoned them to follow. Ilere took them up a rickety old staircase that seemed to go on endlessly until they finally reached the top. Exhausted from the climb, Hollis and Filliberto nearly collapsed before Ilere took them both by their paws and led them into a room.

Inside, there were a few bubbling cauldrons, but rather than full of anything foul-smelling, there was a sweet scent in the air.

"What is all this?" Hollis exclaimed.

"Oh you'll find out soon enough. Now let's go to the storeroom for some special ingredients."

They followed Ilere as she slid open another door in the back. It was at that point that the two Neopets' faces suddenly turned very white as they peered into the room and found...

The house itself only seemed to be two floors from the outside, after all. There was maybe room for a small attic, but this? The only explanation was magic.

“Oh my!” the Uni gasped, startled. A hoof flew up to cover her mouth as a Ghost Kacheek materialized in front of her, stocking the shelf directly above her head. It floated away with an apathetic look on its face, not giving Hollis even a momentary glance or reaction.

“Don’t mind them,” Ilere said with a chuckle, motioning to other Ghost Neopets that were teleporting in and out of the storeroom with items in tow. “They’re just my indebted volunteers.”

Ilere’s pale green, leaf-like wings flapped silently behind her as she flew up to a high shelf and grabbed a few items before making her descent back to Hollis and Filiberto.

“W-What do you have there?” the Quiggle asked nervously, shifting uncomfortably as a Ghost Draik floated past him.

“Let me show you, my friend,” the unusually-coloured Earth Faerie said with a grin.

In Ilere’s hands was…

Hollis extended her hoof to take some, but Ilere snapped them back. "Ah-ah, not for you," she said calmly before her dark green lips curled into a hint of a smirk. "Not yet."

The Faerie motioned for the disappointed pair to follow her back to her cauldron. Reciting some incantation, she dropped the candies in the bubbling mixture.

So that must be the cause of the sweet scent, thought Filiberto as he took a large whiff of the saccharine air.

The mixture in the cauldron changed to a dark, magical, rust-red colour. Ilere grabbed two solo cups and filled them with her brew before handing them to her guests. "Trick... or treat," she breathily spoke to them, her expression unreadable.

After a pause, Hollis raised her glass. "Well... bottoms up," she said with more confidence than she felt. Filiberto clinked his cup against hers, and they downed the viscous liquid. It was pleasant, sugary... and satisfying. The two couldn't help contain their mutual grins. They wanted, needed more. They dipped their cups in and took another drink... and another, as Ilere just watched on, a pleasant smile on her lips.

But after their third (or was it fourth or fifth?) cup, a simultaneous chill spread through the friends as they realized something was amiss. Indeed, Hollis and Filiberto looked at each other, and then down at themselves, and with growing trepidation realized...

Hollis gasped; she could see the floor through her ghost costume. Filiberto stared into his reflection in the liquid in his cup; his eyes had become red, and his face under his superhero mask had taken on an entirely different colour.

"We're..." The Quiggle dropped his cup onto the floor, the thick drink spilling onto the floor. "Did we...we're..."

"We're ghosts!" Hollis cried. She whirled around to look at Ilere, whose expression remained unreadable. "You...you said you wouldn't turn us into anything!"

"I didn't, did I?" said Ilere, raising an eyebrow. "You're still a Uni, and he's still a Quiggle. But I certainly promised you an unforgettable memory, and treats worthy of this night. Speaking of which, the night is still young, and I need two more pairs of hands - or hooves - to help me with my work." The earth faerie gestured toward the door to the room full of shelves. "Now, shall we?"

But the two friends remained where they were, their drinks forgotten, their feet already beginning to levitate a few inches from the floor. Hollis and Filiberto screamed.

"P-Please, change us back!" Hollis flailed as she tried to descend back down onto the ground. "Why...why are you..."

"What, can't I celebrate Halloween too? I gave you both a delicious treat...and a little trick." Ilere just smiled as she turned away and headed for her stock room. "Now, come on."

Filiberto turned to Hollis and asked, "What do we do now?"

The Uni looked around at the room - filled with the heady, sweet smell of the strange potion and bubbling cauldrons, and saw something that might help them...

How will this story end?

All around them, cauldrons continued to bubble with that same viscous mixture...all except one. On the far side of the room, one cauldron emitted an eerie silver glow. Though they weren’t sure what it would do, something told them it wasn’t a coincidence that it was there.

Darting over to it, the two friends looked into its depth. Their frightened red eyes and silver-blue reflections stared up at them. From the other side of the room, Ilere watched as the same small smile played on her lips.

“Your cup!” Filiberto quickly grabbed the cauldron’s ladle and filled Hollis’s cup then his own with the liquid silver. A hiss of white mist wafted up when silver met red before the liquid turned as clear as water. The sweet aroma of candies and chocolate had disappeared, and in its place was a far more refreshing scent that reminded them of forest walks.

“I hope that’s a good sign,” Hollis said, swallowing a lump in her throat. “Here goes nothing...”

In the same fashion as earlier, the friends tilted their cups and downed the liquid inside. It tasted just like it smelled, as if they’d swallowed the essence of a lush forest. As the liquid flowed into their bodies, they felt something else escape.

“Fili, your ears!” Hollis exclaimed. Filiberto didn’t have to ask to understand what was happening. He watched as the same white mist flowed out from the openings of Hollis’s ghost costume, and with each passing second, her form began to solidify and stop its levitation. Filiberto looked down at his own hands as the ghostly pale skin began to fade into a bright red. He opened his mouth to speak, only to see more white mist escape, as if he’d just breathed into cold winter air. He imagined he probably looked like a Neopet chimney! And as the last whiffs of the mist dissipated, Filiberto felt himself land with a light thump, back onto solid ground.

Ilere gazed at them, amusement danced in her green eyes. “Clever little Neopets,” she said, her tone playful. “You figured it out.”

“W-we’ll just...be on our way,” Filiberto stammered, edging toward the door.

The Earth Faerie gave a small smile. “Go, then. You’ve had your trick and your treat. But remember, not every house is full of candy, and not every riddle in the Woods is meant to be solved.”

Hollis and Filiberto bolted down the stairs and out into the night. The thick fog that had blanketed the house had disappeared, and now bright moonlight shone through thin passing clouds. Without a backward glance, they rushed off the porch. As they reached the walking path, Hollis looked back — but where the decrepit mansion had stood, there was only an empty clearing and a single jack-o-lantern on the ground.

“Was it all...a dream?” Filiberto pinched himself and winced. “No, definitely not.”

“Well, I always knew Halloween was magical,” Hollis grinned under her sheet costume. In true Hollis fashion, she had already recovered from their brief stint as ghosts. “Come on, the night’s still young! Onwards, more candy awaits!”

Hollis dashed down the path and Filiberto sighed, but smiled and chased after his friend none the less.

“Fine but I’m picking the next house!”

As Hollis and Filiberto ran off, filling the air with their laughter, the openings of the jack-o-lantern glowed a bright green. From somewhere deeper in the woods, a soft voice whispered into the breeze.

“Happy Halloween...”

The End.