I used to be a Uni. My hooves made the sound of treasure box clasps being flicked opened when I walked across autumn-dry cobbles in Neopia Central, and life was whole; my hair shone in the sun and danced in the wind. That was nearly six decades ago.

Time does become much less fixating when you're a ghost. I find it holds little effect on me. Its direction of the orchestra that is life, however, is one thing that sometimes creates incidences between the years that I remember well, and I had a feeling that this Halloween was going to be one of them. Those episodes often do fall on that time of year.

You see, every year on the final day of the month of Collecting, something extraordinary happens: I turn corporeal. Gone is the shadow of a Uni left lingering in a world past her time. For eighty-six thousand seconds, I live again and breathe the crisp morning air. I was going to make the most of it.

The rustic door of the coffee shop opened easily, and Safra found herself almost immediately taking a step back: the aroma of brewing and baking was too much. It was pungent, unmistakable, and wonderful... one of the many senses the 'pets coming and going simply took for granted.

She took a deep breath, smiling slightly, and strode to the counter. "One cappuccino and shortbread, please."

It was only a quarter past eight when she made her way out and across the stone bridge to the market, the beverage enjoyed and half the shortbread held between her teeth. She paid appreciation to the community-purchased pumpkins decorating the road and the piles of neatly-raked leaves -- all the little details that, when returning to the ordinary world for one short day, one simply does not afford or wish to miss.

The houses on this side of the bridge were quaint and decorated for the upcoming holiday, and in fact, it was probably due to this heightened observance that Safra even caught the first sign that something was amiss. It could have been an illusion of the morning light or dust in her eye... but she could have sworn one of the pumpkins on a small porch, a Jack-O-Lantern, had winked at her.

Safra turned her head, bemused. The pumpkin was in exactly the same position as before. Both triangular eyes were open, and very ordinarily so.

She blinked, one hoof raised to be on her way, and that was when the other pumpkin made a move. Its carved expression, pleasant before, was suddenly scowling, and seemingly directly at her.

Safra gave a short laugh of incredulousness. She was not a Uni easily spooked -- being a full-time ghost did tend to have that effect. Mumbling into her shortbread and more out of a spirit of interest than anything, she made her way toward the porch.

As she did so, her attention once again diverted from the pumpkins, and when next she turned...

"I know, but it's always fun to play tricks on everyone today. This is the only day of the year that Neopians think that I am actually a Jack-O-Lantern and not a Halloween JubJub," the pumpkin explained.

"I'm sorry if I scared you ma'am," Conner said to Safra.

Safra should have known that the Jack-O-Lanterns were Halloween JubJubs. She sees them every year, but she always becomes so caught up in the excitement that she forgets.

"Oh, that is quite alright. I'm just admiring your decorations. Do you do this to your house every year?" Safra asked the Acara and two Jack-O-Lanterns while pointing to the a very big and scary looking house.

"Oh, yes. Halloween is our family's favorite time of year. Each of us is painted Halloween, but folks tend to forget that throughout the year because they are so used to us. However, on this day we set up a haunted house for all of the kids in the neighborhood. We could use your help if you'd like to pitch in..." the Halloween Acara said.

Safra thought about it and came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to spend the one day of the year she has to not be a ghost with Neopians who really enjoy Halloween.

"I would love to help with your haunted house. I'm Safra, by the way." Safra held out her hand to the Halloween Acara, who shook it.

"My name is Patrick," the Halloween Acara said, "and these two JubJubs are Conner and Ferguson," he continued, introducing his two brothers.

"We have set up most of the back garden, but we will need to go up to the attic and get a few things for the front yard." Conner explained, motioning for Safra to follow him.

"Just a heads up -- the attic in this house really is haunted!" Patrick yelled as Safra and Conner walked into the house...

Being a ghost herself, Safra had never found it amusing or entertaining to lurk in the same dark crevasse day after day and rattle things around to scare the living. It got old fast. Nonetheless, she supposed some ghosts might feel the urge to spend their afterlife creating minor terrors.

She had a feeling, though, that this house did not hold one of those ghosts.

The attic creaked above them as Conner led Safra upstairs. Patrick had beat them there, presumably to tell their friend that it was showtime. Safra had to remember to act startled so as not to discourage the brothers; it really was a good idea, even though it would not work on her.

The attic continued to creak and groan around them, like someone was methodically stepping on only the loose floorboards. A few boxes in a corner toppled over. Safra let herself jump a little.

"I told you it was haunted up here," the Acara whispered conspiratorially in her ear. "Don't worry, though -- the ghost has never hurt anyone. We think he's just bored." His voice returned to a conversational pitch. "Anyway, if you could get that box over there, that'd be great."

Coincidentally, it happened to be the box that had been toppled over by the ghost in the corner. It was tied together with a string, but did not look too heavy. Safra lifted it with her teeth and found it to be quite easy to lift.

It was lucky that this box was light and presumably full of plastic trinkets because, at that moment, something did startle the Uni enough to drop it.

"What are you doing here?!?" a harsh, grating voice that could only have belonged to the most unfortunate of living Neopets barked from the corner...

"Did the ghost spook you? Did he?" Conner teased. Patrick shot him a look.

"I'm sure he didn't... what really caused you to drop that box?" Safra looked downward sheepishly before answering.

"Oh, I just thought that I saw a Spyder in the corner." A cough caused her to avert her attention back to the Uni.

"I said, what are you doing here?" he growled, giving Safra a stare so cold that it sent shivers down her spine.

"I, umm..." she stuttered.

"You what?" Patrick asked. Safra turned to face him.

"Can't you two see the Uni behind me?" Safra questioned, a twinge of fear tingling in the pit of her stomach. The two 'pets turned their heads to the side in confusion.

"Safra, don't be silly! There's only one Uni in here, and that's you! Now c'mon, Ferguson is probably wondering where we are by now," Patrick said, turning toward the stairs. Conner glanced thoughtfully at Safra for a moment before speaking.

"You can stay up here for a few minutes more, but Patrick and I are gonna take the rest of the decorations down to Ferguson." Safra nodded quickly as she watched the two disappear down the stairs. She then quickly turned to the Uni.

"For the last time, please tell me what you're doing here! What does a ghost have to do to get some attention these days..." he said, his voice trailing off. Safra stared in astonishment at the ghost for a moment.

"Are you... the ghost Conner was talking about? The one haunting the attic?" the Uni snorted.

"Me? Haunting this dump?" Safra stepped back in shock. Judging from her expression, he decided to explain a bit more.

"I'm not haunting this place... I'm just trapped here. You're a lucky ghost, Safra. Not all of us get a day in a mortal body." Safra immediately felt a twinge of guilt.

"There must be some way to help you!" she said, glancing around the attic. The Uni released a drawn out sigh.

"Maybe, but your... friend down there is the one who keeps me trapped here."

"Patrick?" Safra questioned.

"Yes, yes. The Acara," the Uni mused. "You see, he doesn't believe in me... I know, impossible, but somehow, he just won't believe. And until he does--"

"You're trapped as a ghost," Safra finished.

"On the dot. You see," he began, stretching out his wings, "every Halloween, all the other ghosts get to leave their afterlife. Meanwhile, I watch... and wait for the Acara to believe." Safra couldn't help but feel saddened by the Uni's tale.

"You know," she began, a smile spreading over her face. "I can help..."

Safra rejoined the brothers in the back of the hard. They had already hung Spyder webs from most of the trees and were placing what appeared to be giant cornstalks in a strange pattern through the yard. Safra watched them for a moment and realized they were marking the outline of what was going to turn into a giant maze.

"It's not as good as a corn maze that's grown in place," Conner explained when he caught sight of Safra, "but the soil back here doesn't really support that. We tried it one year. At least this takes less work. Here, come hold this," he said, indicating the corn stalk he was holding.

Safra trotted the distance between them and held the stalk up while the JubJub wrapped a few lengths of twine around the middle.

"Can I ask you something? Something that struck me about Patrick."

"Shoot," Conner said.

"He was the one who said your house was haunted, but he doesn't seem to believe in ghosts, not really. He loves Halloween, but he doesn't seem to believe in any of it, not really."

"Oh. Um..."

"I'm sorry," Safra said quickly. "I didn't mean to probe into anything uncomfortable."

"It's all right. Patrick just -- he goes through the motions around Halloween, puts on a smile, pretends to have fun, for our sakes. Mine, and Ferguson's, and all the kids who enjoy our haunted house... everyone, really. It's expected of him, he's painted Halloween. But... I shouldn't gossip. I don't know the whole story. Here, grab the other end of this." He passed Safra a length of twine, binding the first cornstalk he tied up to the one next to it.

"It's strange, with him," Conner continued. "I think he knows that ghosts are real. He definitely has reasons to. At the same time, though... I don't think he believes in them. He doesn't want to. He's afraid to believe in them because of what he has to accept first."

"Safra, over here!" Ferguson called from the other side of the garden.

"I'm good for now. Thanks!" Conner said.

"Thanks for sharing that with me. I'm sorry if it brought up anything--"

"It didn't," Conner said, smiling.

Safra crossed the garden to where Ferguson was standing over a cauldron of spaghetti noodles. "Can you do me a huge favor? Can you run into the kitchen and grab the food coloring from the cabinet over the stove?"

"Yeah, of course," Safra said and started for the house, but then turned around. Once upon a time, she wouldn't have dreamed of probing further into the Acara's past, but years as a ghost had taught her to follow her heart. Besides, the Uni in the attic needed her help. "Why is Patrick afraid to believe in ghosts?"

Ferguson paused, watching her, then slowly answered. "We used to have a sister..."

"Her name was Priscilla. She and Patrick were twins, the same way Conner and I are identical. They were practically inseparable, did everything together. Then, one day, she said she was going for a walk in the woods around Neopia Central and she just... disappeared," he finished, stirring the noodles.

"Disappeared?" Safra asked. "No one ever found her?"

"Not so much as a whisper," Conner said, making Safra jump. The JubJub had come up behind them, trailing a string of candy corn lights to see what they were doing, and had evidently heard their conversation.

"But," Safra said, knitting her brow. "That still doesn't explain why Patrick doesn’t believe in ghosts."

The two brothers exchanged a glance before Conner shrugged. "Some of the villagers on the outskirts claimed to have seen a Halloween Acara walking around, so Patrick went there to try and seek her. He ended up coming to the conclusion that they were just playing a trick on him, since he didn't see his sister."

Ferguson nodded, adding, "I think he figured that, if she was a ghost, there was no way she wouldn't try to make contact with him... so he just stopped believing."

Safra was heart-stricken by the story, and felt helpless about their situation.

Forgetting completely about the food-coloring task, Safra sighed. "How awful to disappear all alone in the woods..."

Conner frowned. "She wasn't alone, though. Her friend Joseph was with her."

"Oh yeah, he disappeared, too," Ferguson added, nodding again. "He was Halloween-painted, too! A Uni like you, Safra..."

"A Uni?" she questioned, looking at the twins with bewildered eyes.

"Yeah. Does that mean anything to you in particular?" Ferguson asked, gazing at the Uni thoughtfully.

"Umm... no, no. I just--" She glanced around the yard, suddenly remembering the food coloring. "I'll be right back." Ignoring the quizzical expressions on the twins' faces, she ran into the house. However, instead of grabbing the food coloring, she skipped the kitchen entirely. Running up the stairs two at a time, she burst in on the Uni. He looked up at her with a sullen expression.

"Has the Acara changed?" His question was barely a whisper, but it echoed throughout the attic.

Sandra shook her head sadly, but she then said to him, "I know about Priscilla, Joseph."

The Uni before her gasped. "How would you know that?" he questioned, glaring at Safra.

"Ferguson told me."

"It figures. That little pumpkin never keeps his trap shut."

Safra cast a questioning glance at Joseph. "I came up here to ask you two things -- one, do you know anything about Priscilla, and two, do you know where to find her?"

The Uni nodded as he walked toward Safra. "Yes, I do. The answer to your first question is quite long, so I will answer the second before it." He paused and inhaled deeply before continuing. "Yes, I know where to find Priscilla, but only those who truly believe in me -- or are ghosts themselves -- can see me. I'll lead you to where she is, but you must ensure me that the Acara will believe once she is found."

"Why do you say 'when she's found,' like it's such a horrible thing?"

Joseph glared at Safra. "Because... I can't promise you that she won't be a ghost herself..."

Joseph laughed derisively. Safra felt a tad hurt. "I can't lead her to you," he said in a stately yet solemn manner. "I'm trapped here, remember?"

She frowned. "Oh, that's right."

"I can tell you where she'll be, though."

Safra grinned.

The corporeal Uni ran down the stairs, where she was promptly met by Patrick. "Where are you going?" he inquired playfully. Frowning, he added, "And why were you upstairs?"

"Er..." she began, hesitating. "Making sure... things are ready for the haunted house tonight?" She smiled sheepishly.

Patrick glared at her. He then laughed a dry, forced chuckle. "That's great, and I'm glad you brought that up -- the kids will be arriving soon."

Safra smiled, feigning enjoyment. "Excellent!"

Once the Acara had departed, she left the premises.

Ferguson stopped her. "Hey!" he greeted. "You disappeared there, for some reason." He smiled at her. A tiny Usul crept out from behind him. "This is Lisa -- she's one of the neighborhood kids."

Safra extended her arm to shake. "Nice to meet you," she said genuinely.

Lisa, upon accepting Safra's hand, drew back instantly. "She's... so cold," the Usul commented.

The Uni smiled sheepishly. "Well... I have to run to the Neohome Superstore," she lied. "Patrick... told me to grab some things."

"Well, hurry back," the JubJub shouted as she dashed away.

I'm getting cold to touch, she thought. Halloween must be nearing a close, soon.

She was right -- the sun was setting. It must have been around 6:30.

She galloped quickly toward the place Joseph claimed Priscilla would be... the outskirts of the Neopian Woods.

She arrived as dusk set in.

"Hello!" she called. "Priscilla!" There was no answer. "If you're here, please answer me!"

Safra walked a little further into the brush. "I'm a ghost, too," she said in a voice hardly above a whisper.

A twig snapped behind her.

Safra froze and spun around.

It was an Acara. "Hello," the Neopet greeted...

Patrick shook his head and chuckled. "You silly Uni, how can Priscilla be here?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly at the mention of her name.

"I... I should be asking you the same thing!" Safra replied, astonished. She took a step backward.

The Acara put a paw on Safra's shoulder. "You're feeling a little chilly. That could explain it. The weather must have gotten to you. Come on, you've been working so hard lately. I'm escorting you to the hospital right this minute. That perfectly explains how you've been babbling about ghosts and whatnot..." he said, beginning to mumble toward the end, as if he was trying to convince himself that Safra had fallen ill.

Safra snorted and took another step back. "How dare you brush aside the truth!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Joseph said this is where she'd be..." she trailed off, frantically searching among the shadowy bare trees for a sign of another Halloween Acara.

Sure enough, two eyes peeked out from behind a nearby tree, intrigued. The accompanying paw made a circular gesture, as though telling her, "Go on."

Safra continued. "Look at me." She gestured to herself. Already her mane was becoming more wispier than its thick, fluffy state of an hour ago. "Do you know what this means?"

Patrick frowned. "Yes. You had one of our balloons come too close to your mane."

"Stop it!" the Uni shrieked, not knowing where the added emphasis was coming from within her. "I'm not sick! I'm not unwell! If anything, you are..." She then hesitated.

Another twig had snapped.

Patrick heard it as well. "What was that?" he inquired, seemingly without fear.

Another skeleton Acara emerged from behind the tree. Patrick seemed unable to notice it.

The Acara whispered into the Uni's ear. "It's okay," she said. "I'm trapped here... until he believes, even a little bit."

Slowly, the Acara walked over to him. Safra seemed mesmerized by her grace.

"What was that?" Patrick reiterated, trepidation now in his tone.

"It's your sister, Patrick," Safra said soothingly.

The corporeal Acara became enraged. "You..." he trailed. "You take that back! She's not here, she doesn't exist! You haven't the right--"

Delicately, Priscilla touched his shoulder.

A wind blew by.

Patrick froze and his face went pale. "I... I have to go tend to the haunted house."

He ran off, out of the woods.

"Patrick, wait!" Safra called out, holding out a hoof in the direction of his retreating form. She turned to Priscilla. "That didn't go very well, did it?" Safra sighed. Her entire day to herself, which she had used to help him, had been wasted...

"Well," Priscilla said, shrugging, "I wouldn't say that." She patted Safra's mane, which by now was completely wispy and a pale shade of blue. "Give him time. That's all he needs. My little brother always had a tough time getting used to what he couldn’t see." She smiled sorrowfully.

Safra could accept this. After all, not many Neopians believed in her either, not unless--

Believing in?

Joseph.

Safra sprang up as if jolted by a Lightning Beam. "Joseph! Is he still in the attic?"

Priscilla gasped. "I do hope he’s left the attic by now! We've got to see!" Her ethereal body began to float, very slowly, toward the house. "

Safra rolled her eyes. "Let me," she persuaded, flapping her wings and catching the Acara from underneath. Priscilla sniffed. "I can float, you know."

Although there was no wind by which to carry the pair, Safra's wings were enough to speed the two along. Feeling an absence of the wind in her mane only made the Uni regret not flying more during her day of life, but there was no time for reminiscing.

Slipping through the walls of the attic, the pair looked around. "I don't see him anywhere, do you?" Safra shook her head no.

"I am telling you, that's a lie! I could be dreaming right now!" A shout could be heard from the direction of the corn maze. Safra and Priscilla exchanged glances. They didn't need to seek him further.

They ran to the window and gazed down upon the labyrinth. "The twins did a great job," Safra mused.

Priscilla smiled.

"What are you talking about, Patrick?" Ferguson inquired.

"It's a lie that my sister is a ghost! It's all a lie! It can't be real!"

Priscilla floated through the window while Safra raced down the stairs. They met at the conversation near the maze.

"Why not?" Conner rebutted.

"Yeah," Safra stated, "why not?"

"You again," Patrick started, his tension building as he pointed to the Uni. "You and your tricks in the forest."

Joseph appeared beside Priscilla and Safra. "I'm still confined to the yard," he told the Uni mediator, "but Patrick believes enough, now, to have me released from the attic." He smiled. "Keep going."

"I wish you never would have come down this road," the Acara continued. "We should have never involved you."

The twins gaped. "You don't mean that, do you?"

"Quiet!" he hissed at them before turning his attention back toward Safra.

Before he could speak, she cut him off. "Look -- as hard as it is to believe, Priscilla is right here, with us."

His eye twitched, and he paused. "No. No, it can't be," he replied, less angry and more doubtful. "It's impossible, I already told you."

"Tell him about the great times we had as kids -- about the forest."

"She told me to talk about the forest," Safra commented.

Patrick froze. "What about it?"

"We got lost, and he fell and broke his leg. I cared for him and told him not to worry."

"You got lost and broke your leg. She cared for you."

The corporeal Acara looked emotionless. "Yeah," he whispered. "So what?"

Priscilla continued. "I told him to remember this, and always look after our younger family members should something happen to us."

"She said... she told you to care for the family should something happen to her," the Uni stated. "Like she cared for you," Safra added.

"Then there was the night when I decided to go into the woods with my neighbor friend, Joseph. He was so worried."

"You were so worried about her going into the woods that night," Safra echoed.

Patrick was almost in tears. "Yes," he whispered. "She did anyway, though... and I never saw her again."

"I love you, Patrick."

"Your sister loves you, Patrick," Safra finished, smiling. "She... wants you to know that."

Priscilla smiled. Moving slowly toward her brother, she gave him a big hug.

A wind blew by.

"I love you too, Priscilla."

Patrick’s paw tentatively, then firmly, grasped her back, his face buried into her shoulder.

Safra turned away out of respect, smiling, but stopped when she saw Conner tapping his foot at her, an expression of mock annoyance on his face.

"It would have saved us a lot of time and effort had you mentioned that you were a ghost, too, you know," he teased.

Safra shrugged her wings. "You probably wouldn't believe it, anyway," she teased right back, tossing her ethereal mane.

A flurry of wingbeats echoed through the labyrinth. Safra looked up to see Joseph, beating his wings and blending in perfectly with the night sky. "Thank yoooou..." he called out as he climbed, savoring his first taste of freedom -- but not his last.

The siblings split apart, still grinning, still tearful. Ferguson looked uneasily at the two, but all of a sudden, his eye holes lit up. "Hey! We could use real ghosts in the haunted house! What do you say you two hide in the shadows and spring up when someone comes by?" Ferguson positively glowed with his idea.

Safra put a hoof to her chin. Scaring Neopets like she used to? Not a bad idea. Something was different about setting up her scare spot in a haunted house, though... she grinned, swishing her tail. "Let’s do it!"

The house of the four Halloween siblings quickly gained a reputation for being the most haunted house along Market Street -- with real ghosts! The haunters had a glorious time, and the hauntees as well, only their experiences differed somewhat.

As for Safra, she didn't mind waiting until next Halloween to be seen by everyone. Her new friends could talk with her, and she could respond without a problem. Sometimes, she even forgot about her incorporeal state.

After all, being seen by those she loved was all that really mattered.

The End