All ghosts love Halloween. On the night between the last day of October and the first day of November, ghosts can walk among the people without having to worry about being recognized. And they don’t even have to dress up like humans to do it. Although Chupchip and Toothy Boo did dress up this time.
“I’m going to dress up as a witch,” Toothy Boo boasted of her costume.
“I’m going to dress up as a pirate,” boasted Chupchip.
“People are so stupid anyway,” Toothy Boo mused aloud. “They dress up as us so we won’t recognize them. But we spot the difference at first sight.”
“Yeah, and they smell different, too. But it’s great because we get to get out of the Haunted House at least one day a year. Plus the candy and chocolates are yummy!”
And so, on the All Hallows’ Eve, Chupchip and Toothy Boo went caroling while Mommy was still carving turnips. Daddy had already carved the pumpkins, but Mommy insisted that turnips were more traditional. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy to make a lantern out of it as she had originally thought.
“All Saints’ Day, which is now more commonly known as Halloween, used to be the original Celtic New Year,” Mommy said as she was fighting the turnips. Instead, she bent the spoon. “That’s why they make these lanterns. The New Year marked the transition of light and dark, summer and winter, and just as the realms of the living and the dead could meet. To do this, people made lanterns to protect them from evil spirits, and they also dressed up as them so that the true spirits wouldn’t recognize them and harm them.”
Mommy then went on to explain to the children that with the arrival of Christianity, the Feast of All Saints was established on this day to honor all those saints who did and did not fit in the calendar. Then she bent the fifth spoon, wished the children good luck with the caroling and went in search of a more suitable tool for turnip-carving
And so the children finally set off. On the way, Aegon, the son of the water goblin, dressed as a vampire, and Mirelle Shadowbloom, a year younger than him, dressed as a bat, joined Toothy Boo and Chupchip.
The children started trick-or-treating, knocking on doors, sometimes reciting a poem, but mostly it was enough to say, “Trick-or-treat.”
Their baskets were slowly filling up, but Chupchip still wasn’t satisfied. He still didn’t get the chocolate he liked best. On the way to the next house he kicked the stones angrily and swore loudly.
“I hear someone needs chocolate,” came a voice behind the children.
Behind them stood an old man dressed as a hunter, but his horns peeked out from under his little hat. The children had certainly never seen such a devilish disguise before.
“I am Balthar, the devil. I have the chocolate you want.”
“Trick-or-treat,” Chupchip said.
“I’ll be happy to give you the chocolate without the carol. But be careful you don’t turn into real ghosts, kids.”
Chupchip laughed amusedly. People are so stupid. Maybe the old man thinks they’re just kids in disguise.
“Thank you,” Mirelle turned to say, but the only thing she saw was darkness . No one was standing there anymore. “Where did he go?”
“I think he’s gone,” Chupchip waved his hand, already stuffing his mouth with the chocolate.
“Something about this doesn’t look right to me,” Toothy Boo hesitated, but the others had already eaten their chocolate.
At that moment something changed.
“Now put your hands up and give me your basket, because I’m a terrible pirate Buboosh,” shouted Chupchip, waiting for them to give him their baskets. He was serious.
“Chupchip, don’t be silly,” Toothy Boo scolded him, but by then Aegon had already jumped up and was sucking on her neck.
“Show me your neck so I can drink your blood!” he whispered.
“What’s wrong with you guys?”
Toothy Boo looked at Mirelle. Mirelle flapped her bat wings, took to the air, and flew off into the darkness. Toothy Boo started running from the vampire and the pirate. She had almost caught up with Aegon when Buboosh the pirate noticed that Aegon had a basket full of sweets and attacked him in the pirate way. Zubomila watched them argue over the basket, wondering how to get out of this mess.
Balthar was the real devil, that was clear, and he certainly wasn’t lying when he warned them that they could become ghosts. But not real ones. They became what they were dressed up as. And Toothy Boo was dressed up as a witch. She’s the only one who could cast a spell on them! She reached for her chocolate from Balthar and took a bite.
“Here I come,” she laughed witchily, drawing her wand and pointing it at Chupchip. “I’m breaking the chocolate spell so you can be a toothy ghost again!”
A flash of light shot out of the wand and Chupchip stopped.
“I’m breaking the chocolate spell so you’ll be water goblin again!”
A flash of light came from the wand and Aegon stopped. He and Chupchip stared at each other.
“What happened?” both boys wondered. “And where is Mirelle?”
“I’m breaking the chocolate spell.. But wait, what if Mirelle is flying somewhere? If I break the spell, she might fall to the ground and hurt herself.”
“Then sit on your broom and find her,” Chupchip advised, handing her the broom she dropped while running away from the pirate and the vampire.
“Thanks, bro. I might not turn you into a toad for that.”
“Very funny,” Chupchip grinned.
Toothy Boo mounted her broom and floated into the air. She circled over the city for a moment before she spotted Mirelle.
“Mirelle, look what I got,” she said, tossing a handful of candy on the ground below her.
Mirelle the bat immediately swooped down to the ground below. Toothy Boo landed and immediately cast a spell on Mirelle. Mirelle turned back into a fairy.
“And now for me,” Toothy Boo said, pointing her wand at herself and saying, “I’m breaking the chocolate spell so I can be a toothy ghost again.”
And so Toothy Boo, too, turned back to a ghost. But it was a close call, because it was starting to dawn. What if they didn’t have time to change back before the day started? Would they stay that way forever? Fortunately, they didn’t have to find out.
They all returned home after eating the candy and were glad that the spooky night was over.