A girl of about ten was sitting in the middle of her living room floor, looking through a photograph album, while an old man stood in front of a full-length mirror and tried to put on a bow tie.

'Madre mia...' he muttered irritably, as his fingers fumbled with the complicated thing.

'There are so many great pictures of Yaya Juanita,' said the girl. 'Help me pick, Abue.'

'Why does it matter?' said the old man. 'It won't make any difference to her now.'

'Papa!' said a woman, presumably the girl's mother, appearing in the doorway. 'Don't.'

The old man looked grumpy for a moment. Then his expression softened, and he made his way over to his granddaughter, saying, 'All right, Ana, let's see here. I'll tell you something, querida: you didn't really know your abuela if you didn't know her when she was young.'

'Don't say that,' said an adolescent boy who was mooching into the room. 'I knew her. You can't tell me I didn't.'

'I didn't mean that, Jandro,' said his grandfather.

'Why can't you cheer up, anyway?' said Ana. 'She'll come back tomorrow and see us.'

'Do you really believe that?' asked Jandro.

'Of course.' Ana looked appealingly at her mother. 'That's why we're going, isn't it? Because we believe she's still with us?'

'Of course, tesorita,' smiled her mother.

'We should go tomorrow, then,' said Jandro. 'That's the actual Day of the stupid Dead, isn't it?'

'Young man, you are going to school tomorrow,' his mother said. 'Now come on, let's go. Ana, honey, please just pick one. Where's your father?'

'Maybe he's hiding,' said Jandro. 'Maybe he knows it's a crock.'

'Alejandro!' snapped the mother. 'You can stop that, or you can stay behind.'

'Then I'll stay behind.'

'You will not,' said his grandfather, shepherding Jandro towards the door. 'We're going as a family, so get your ungrateful butt out that door, you hear?'

'Papa, be nice,' said the mother. 'Jandro, querido, I didn't mean that. You have to come.'

'I have to, do I?' said Jandro. 'All right, I will. If Ana can pick a stupid picture already!'

'It's important to pick the right one!' his sister protested.

'Any picture will do! Come on!'

So saying, Jandro marched over to Ana and made a grab at the photograph album. She pulled it out of his reach, hunched over it and plucked out a photograph. Then, with a dignified expression, she followed her mother and grandfather to the front door.

Jandro remained behind to give a lingering glance to the photograph album, then followed Ana with his hands in his pockets.

'Oh, hi,' said Garrett, as Kylie and Roland wandered into the firehouse lounge, both looking tired and disgruntled. 'How was Connecticut?'

'Dark,' said Kylie. 'Anyway, we spent the whole time in the police station waiting for them to let Roland have his sister back. It wasn't supposed to be a vacation, Garrett.'

'Too bad,' said Garrett. 'I thought you'd like it there, Ky. Aren't all those New England houses supposed to be haunted?'

'I'm not morbid,' Kylie snapped.

'Um, sorry,' said Garrett.

'Where's Eduardo?' asked Roland.

'I don't know,' said Garrett. 'Off somewhere avoiding Kylie, probably.'

Kylie glared at him a moment, then stalked off towards the kitchen. Roland stayed where he was, but he glared at Garrett all the same.

'What?' Garrett asked innocently. 'It's what we were all thinking, isn't it?'

'He probably just has a class,' said Roland.

'It's Sunday.'

'Oh... yeah.'

'Oh come on, Roland, spill! Something happened last night, didn't it? That's why Kylie wanted to go to Connecticut with you – to get away. What did she tell you?'

'She didn't tell me anything.'

'It has to have something to do with her being dressed as Buffy for Halloween,' Garrett persisted. 'That was obviously for Eduardo's benefit. I heard he was a werewolf for a few minutes, but I can't see the connection. Are you sure Kylie didn't tell you anything?'

'If she did,' said Roland, 'it would have been in confidence, wouldn't it?'

'Oh, come on!' said Garrett. 'You can't just –'

'Turn on Channel Eight!' Janine said urgently, appearing at the top of the stairs.

'Why?' asked Garrett.

'Because there's something you need to see, of course!'

Janine then carried on up to the top floor, and Roland turned on the television. The Channel Eight news was showing a lot of noise and ruckus that brought Kylie back into the room. In the background of the shot, people were running and screaming, while a bosomy reporter in the foreground said gravely, 'People were certainly not expecting this when they left their homes this afternoon to come here and celebrate their departed loved ones. Let's see if we can get some first-hand accounts of what is happening here, shall we? Excuse me, sir...'

'Get outta here, lady!' a terrified man cried, pushing the microphone away from his face and running out of shot.

'What's happening?' asked Egon, as he came down the stairs with Janine.

'We can't exactly tell,' said Roland.

'There's some kind of monster terrorising the Day of the Dead festival,' said Janine. 'Oh, look, there it is.'

On the television screen, a twenty-foot person hove into view. This person was clearly female, as she was wearing a long and elegant dress, and an ostentatious hat.

'I think this must be the monster everyone's talking about,' said the reporter, turning slightly away from the camera for a better look. 'Yes... yes, I think this is it.'

'What the heck is it – the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?' asked Garrett.

'No,' said Kylie, 'it's la Calavera Catrina.'

'La what?' asked Garrett.

'La Calavera Catrina. It means the Elegant Skull. Right, Egon?'

'I believe so,' said Egon.

'So who is she?' asked Garrett.

'No one,' said Kylie. 'She's just a symbol for the Day of the Dead... a memento mori.'

'A what?'

'A reminder of mortality,' said Egon, 'but let's not discuss that now. We'd better get to the festival and deal with her. I'll come along with you, as we're one short today. I don't suppose anyone knows where Eduardo is?'

Roland, Garrett and Kylie shook their heads.

'I do,' said Janine. 'He's at the festival.'

Egon looked surprised. 'Did he call and tell you that?'

'Yes.'

'When?'

'A few minutes ago. He was calling about the monster.'

'I see,' said Egon. 'That's odd. He told me he wanted tomorrow off, but not today.'

'It's because he's hiding,' said Garrett.

'Hardly,' said Kylie, 'since we know where he is. Now let's stop talking and get going, shall we?'

When the Ecto-1 arrived on the scene, things were a lot quieter than they had been when the news crew was filming.

'Looks like most people have left,' said Roland, who was driving.

'All except the idiots,' said Garrett. 'Why doesn't everyone just go home?'

People were valiantly defending their market stalls and bandstands as the gigantic, gowned skeleton lumbered down the street. These people were throwing things at her – anything they could lay their hands on – and they bounced off her without producing any reaction at all. She walked steadily on, looking searchingly around her, stopping when something caught her interest. At one point she stooped and picked up a marquee, examined it, then threw it away contemptuously.

The Ghostbusters piled out of the car, just in time to see Eduardo approaching them at a run.

'Egon!' he said, as he skidded to a halt. 'What's happening?'

'I don't know,' said Egon.

'Here, Eduardo,' said Roland, holding out a proton pack.

'Ugh.' Eduardo strapped the device onto his back with clear reluctance. 'I don't wanna shoot her.'

'Are you crazy?' said Garrett. 'This chick needs to be shot!'

'It seems like she's looking for something,' said Kylie, as the giant skeleton began rifling through a collection of paper craft items.

'Well, let's not give her a chance to find it,' said Garrett. 'On three.'

'THREE!' yelled everyone except Eduardo, and four proton guns fired. The skeleton's gown caught fire, just as if it were made of paper. Curling and blackening all over, she carried on down the street, not caring in the least that she was burning. People screamed and leapt out of her path.

'She's made out of paper, Egon!' said Eduardo. 'She's one of those arts and crafts ones that somebody's made!'

'They make 'em that big?' asked Garrett.

'Of course not, man!' Eduardo said shrilly.

'Fascinating,' said Egon. 'Well, first things first – we'd better try to put her out.'

'I'm calling the fire department,' said Roland, whipping out his cell phone. 'We can't put that out with our one little fire extinguisher.'

'How can she keep going?' asked Kylie, as the paper dress burned away to nothing, and the skeletal torso began to smoulder.

'She'll set the whole street alight!' said Garrett. 'Look, she's heading for that, um...'

'It's an altar,' said Eduardo. 'She's heading for the altar! Hey! Don't touch that! No toque que!'

Unsurprisingly, the creature took no notice whatsoever, but carried on her relentless march towards the altar. Eduardo ran out ahead of her and placed himself in front of the collection of pictures, flowers and food items, standing dead centre and spreading himself out as far as he could.

'EDUARDO!' Kylie screamed, as one of the skeleton's legs suddenly burned away from her body, and she collapsed in a fiery heap.

Eduardo caught a mouthful of smoke, but jumped aside in time to avoid an onslaught of flames. Even so, he didn't go far, but instead stood coughing into his jacket and asking through smoke-induced tears, 'What's gotten into you?'

'What's gotten into you?' said Kylie, appearing through the smoke and grabbing Eduardo's arm. She dragged him away from the danger zone.

'You're an idiot!' she said, once they were back with the other Ghostbusters.

'Kylie has a point there, Eduardo,' said Egon. 'Don't do that again, please.'

'Just what is happening here?' Eduardo demanded. 'Why is a paper Calavera Catrina destroying the festival?'

'The paper is almost certainly protecting some kind of supernatural entity,' said Egon. 'I should think a fire caused by our proton streams would cause it some distress, but it seems to be persevering, doesn't it?'

At that point a couple of fire engines screeched round the corner; some fire fighters jumped out and started fighting the fire, which had spread incredibly quickly.

'Why would she do that to the altar?' Eduardo asked weakly.

'Did she want to light it on fire?' asked Garrett.

'Who knows?' said Egon. 'Let's see if we can trap the entity before it escapes. Then whatever it was trying to do won't matter in the slightest.'

The five Ghostbusters started making their way towards the altar, but Eduardo only managed to take one step before he felt himself pulled back by a strong hand on his shoulder. He turned round, and didn't look at all surprised to see his brother.

'What have you done now?' Carl demanded.

'I didn't do that,' Eduardo said petulantly, jerking out of his brother's grip and gesturing at the altar.

'Are you sure about that? I heard on the police radio that you people started the fire.'

'Yeah, well, if you really wanna know, I was the only one not firing.'

Carl's scowl deepened. 'Why the heck not?'

'I can't win with you, can I?'

As Eduardo said this, the other Ghostbusters reappeared at his side. Eduardo looked at them, and then at the trap hanging limply from Kylie's left hand.

'Trap's empty,' he remarked.

'Yeah,' said Garrett. 'It's gone, and the fire chief wouldn't let us get close enough to start tracking it.'

'What do you mean it's gone?' barked Carl. 'What is it, anyway? What's it doing here?'

'Lay off, Carlos,' said Eduardo, stepping between his brother and Garrett. 'We'll handle it.'

'I'm sorry about the altar, Eduardo,' said Egon.

'Not your fault, man,' said Eduardo. 'Anyway, it's just an altar. It's not alive or anything.'

'What are you people going to do now?' Carl demanded.

'Well,' said Egon, 'we'll just have to try to track the entity without the cooperation of the fire department.'

It was dark when the Ecto-1 pulled into the firehouse. Janine was locking up a filing cabinet while Slimer tidied papers on her desk, humming and dripping as he worked.

'Hi,' Janine said. 'I was starting to worry about you. Roland, someone dropped off your car while you were out – I'm supposed to tell you he wants paying by Wednesday. So what took you guys so long?'

'Nothing,' Garrett said irritably. 'We spent the whole afternoon on a wild goose chase. Whatever that was, it's just... gone home.'

'Where's home?' asked Janine.

'I don't know,' said Garrett. 'Another dimension, probably.'

'I don't know about that, Garrett,' said Egon. 'Why would it come here for one afternoon just to disrupt the Day of the Dead festival? That does seem to be all it's achieved so far.'

'The festival will carry on tomorrow,' said Kylie. 'Maybe it'll show up again.'

'Perhaps,' said Egon, 'and perhaps not. I think I'll go up to the lab to see if I can come up with a more educated guess.'

'Egon,' said Janine, 'you're not staying up all night working. If it's gone, at least for the time being, what's the rush? Come home with me and have some dinner.'

'I just want to make a start,' said Egon. 'You go now, Janine, and I'll join you in an hour or so.'

'No,' said Janine. 'If you're staying, I'm staying. I'll go get us some Chinese food or something.'

'What are you gonna be looking for?' Eduardo asked, not sounding particularly interested.

'Any history of similar events,' said Egon, 'and obviously I'll run our readings through the system.'

'Who needs a lift home?' asked Roland, who was already climbing into his newly repaired car.

'I do,' said Garrett.

'Is it okay if I stay?' asked Eduardo. 'I'll go get the Chinese food if you want.'

'You don't have to do that, Eduardo,' said Egon.

'I don't mind,' said Eduardo.

'Well, if you insist,' Janine said, rummaging around in one of the filing cabinets. 'Just let me see how much petty cash is left.'

'Enough for four?' asked Kylie.

The clock showed that it was coming up to midnight. Egon was still in his lab, tapping away at his computer keyboard, when Janine came in looking grumpy.

'Egon,' she said, 'you've been at this all night. If you were going to find something, you would have by now.'

'As it happens,' said Egon, 'I might have found something just now. Then again, I might not have.'

'What is it?' asked Janine.

'It's a record of a similar disturbance, referenced in the writings of an obscure Roman scribe living in Alexandria, Egypt in the late First Century AD. Egypt was a Roman province then, as you may know. The event occurred during Lemuria, when the Roman people used to hold a feast and observe rituals to appease the spirits of their ancestors. It's said that Romulus started the tradition to appease Remus's spirit, but we can't be sure about that. It was an idea born of fear rather than celebration, but you can see the similarities between this ritual and the Day of the Dead, can't you?'

'Sure I can,' said Janine. 'What happened?'

'The ceremony was disturbed by a stone she-wolf growing to a very large size and terrorising the people,' Egon went on. 'The she-wolf was held in high esteem by the Romans, and their Etruscan ancestors before them, hence her part in the Romulus and Remus legend, most likely. The statue depicted a Roman symbol in Egyptian granite. Perhaps it was made specifically for the festival.'

'Like that Catrina person this afternoon.'

'Precisely. According to my source, the wolf ended up eating all of the black beans that people scattered throughout their houses in order to appease the spirits. And our Calavera Catrina, if you remember, burned down the altar. That was largely our fault, I do admit, but if she intended to destroy it all along then perhaps we needn't blame ourselves too much.'

'So what now?' asked Janine. 'You think the same thing'll happen as when the wolf ate the beans?'

Egon, adjusting his glasses and frowning at the computer screen, said, 'I certainly hope not.'

Kylie was sitting on the couch with a pile of books beside her, and one in her lap, when Eduardo came down the spiral staircase. He tried to sneak into the kitchen without her noticing him, but he didn't manage it.

'There you are,' Kylie said. 'I was hoping I could tell you I'd found something, but I don't think any of this stuff is really useful. I've just been reading about this Aztec goddess of death called Mic... um...' She squinted at the text. 'Mic...tec...aci...huatl. She's sometimes associated with la Calavera Catrina these days, right?'

'You can't blame la Calavera Catrina,' said Eduardo, pronouncing the phrase much more elegantly than Kylie had done. 'She's just a symbol. She started out as a political cartoon or something, only about eighty years ago. She's not anybody... just a memento mori. And it's not the death goddess either. The Aztecs were worshipping her and honouring their ancestors for thousands of years before the Spanish came along, and she's still supposed to preside over the festival. Without destroying anything. It's supposed to be a celebration.'

'Yeah, I know. I don't think it's actually her or anything, but it's worth knowing all the background.'

'Okay, well, the modern-day festival is a hybrid of the Aztec stuff and All Souls' Day. The two were combined when the Spanish showed up, so the natives could still have their customs without them being too pagan and giving the Catholics a problem. Now it's mostly about death being a natural part of life. La Calavera Catrina doesn't have to look like she did at the festival today, but she always has a stupid hat on to symbolise how death doesn't care if you're rich or poor. It's all just symbolic, and it's an important tradition. Whatever happened today, it was somebody or something that has nothing to with Día de Muertos. That's all I know.'

'You know everything, it sounds like,' said Kylie. 'I'm impressed. So how does the symbolism work for you, anyway, with your death phobia?'

'I'm gonna heat up some of those leftovers,' said Eduardo. 'You want any?'

'Okay, sure.' Kylie closed the book in her lap. 'Listen, Eduardo... can we talk about last night?'

'What? Why? There's nothing to talk about.'

Eduardo disappeared into the kitchen. Kylie sighed, stood up and began replacing the books on the shelves. When she heard the microwave ping, she went into the kitchen and accepted the Chinese takeaway carton that Eduardo was holding out to her.

'Y'know,' said Kylie, 'that just now was the first time you looked at me or talked to me since the altar fire. I don't want it to be awkward between us forever. I know the way last night turned out was kind of embarrassing... for both of us... but the whole costume thing –'

'That's why I never dress up as somebody else,' said Eduardo. 'Even if there's no magic spell or whatever, it still makes you drop your guard.'

'Well, what's wrong with dropping your guard every once in a while?'

'Look, can we just forget about it?'

'Really?' said Kylie. 'All of it?'

'We haven't all been to Connecticut to clear our heads, you know,' Eduardo mumbled, concentrating very hard on his food. 'You're the one who got out of here as fast as you could straight after.'

'I guess I was. So was there, um... something you wanted to say to me?'

'Not really,' said Eduardo, as the phones started ringing elsewhere in the building. 'Sounds like we'll have to go out in a minute. It won't be a personal call at this time.'

'Midnight,' said Kylie, glancing at the clock. 'November second. The Day of the Dead.'

The phone had stopped ringing. Kylie and Eduardo left the kitchen, and they met Egon coming down the stairs.

'Anything?' asked Kylie.

'It's too early to tell whether it's relevant,' said Egon, 'but I did find a reference to one similar incident. It happened in Egypt in the First Century AD. The occupying Romans were observing their own festival of the dead, when it was sabotaged by a symbolic artefact come to life.'

'That's not similar – it's exactly the same,' said Eduardo. 'What happened?'

Upstairs, the phone started ringing again.

'It was something bad,' said Egon. 'But there is absolutely no guarantee this is the same situation.'

'Egon,' said Eduardo. 'What happened?'

'Well,' Egon began, but then Janine appeared on the stairs.

'Egon,' she said, as the phone started ringing yet again. 'It's happening.'

Jandro was lying in bed in a darkened room, and Ana was sitting at his feet, flicking through the channels on a small television.

'Give it up, Ana,' Jandro said sleepily. 'You're not gonna find out anything.'

'Maybe you should let me have the TV in my room,' said Ana.

'Fine,' said Jandro, turning over and putting the pillow over his head. 'Take it.'

'How come no one can explain what happened today?' asked Ana. 'Why doesn't somebody ask the Ghostbusters?'

'It doesn't matter,' Jandro's muffled voice came back to her. 'They dealt with it, didn't they?'

'Um.' Ana's expression had changed from irritation to blank amazement. 'Maybe not. Look at this!'

'Ugh.'

'I'm serious – look! Is that what I think it is?'

Jandro tossed the pillow away from him, sat up and looked blearily at the TV. Then suddenly he was wide awake. He stared at the screen, which was showing footage of a graveyard lit for television, and several people crawling across the ground.

'Oh no,' said Ana. 'It's that moron reporter again.'

'I can't quite believe what I'm seeing!' the moron reporter was saying. 'The reports of people rising from the grave appear to be true, at least here in this charming little Staten Island churchyard.'

'Get outta there, lady,' Jandro whispered, crawling to the end of the bed for a closer look.

'It appears,' the reporter's voice went on, 'that only some of the graves –'

Suddenly she stopped. Sounds of struggle came from the television. Ana gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth. Jandro looked away. Then there came a rapping sound at the window.

'Jandro, what's that?' Ana whispered.

'I can't look,' Jandro whispered back, so Ana looked instead. Then she screamed.

'It's Yaya Juanita!' she said shrilly.

'You can't be serious,' said Jandro, looking at last, and seeing two deathly white hands clawing at the window.

'Yaya...' Jandro said, and he made a movement towards the window.

'Are you crazy?' screeched Ana, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the door. 'You saw what that zombie did to the reporter!'

'Did I?' said Jandro, glancing at the screen. The shot was now at an angle, and the reporter was lurching towards the horizon, her microphone trailing from her hand. 'Whoa. She's one of them!'

'Well, duh!' said Ana. 'We have to make sure there's no way they can get in.' Then she ran to the bedroom door, yelling, 'Mom! Dad! Abue!'

'What are calling them for?' said Jandro, following his sister out of the room at a more sedate pace. 'They won't know what to do in a zombie apocalypse!'