The day went by, and soon night came; we sat in Near's room in a circle on the floor. We were all wondering the same thing: How can we save Kai?

"Kai?" I called after a long time of waiting.

Suddenly, L's eyes widened with realization. "He's gone."

"What?" Fae exclaimed.

"Gone!" I echoed, as I remembered Kai's words, "I'm only let free from the prison of death every Halloween 'till sunrise of the next day."

"Then what are we going to do?" Matt asked bewildered.

"There's nothing we can do other than attempt to figure out a way to help him by next Halloween. I don't know what to do other than that, it's not as if we have the resources to find much about such a touchy subject," L explained, looking at Fae with a waiting expression.

"I'm not the paranormal encyclopedia, L. It's not like I know things that even experts don't." Fae put her hands on her hips as L sighed.

"I suppose you're right," L said sadly. "So, we must think of a way to save Kai by next year."

--

A year passed, taking us into L's seventeenth year, Fae's sixteenth, my seventh, Matt's sixth, and Near's fifth.

The year went by quickly, and I looked back on the day we met Kai so long ago. In the year since last Halloween, we had spent most of our time together, working to find an answer to an unsolvable problem. Fae worked the hardest, researching on the internet and in books, some of the time with L by her side. Usually, she would just report back to him, since he was so busy being trained as a detective. Matt and I looked at comic books with ghosts in them, but the paranormal books didn't interest either of us very much. Near did his best by asking Roger for money whenever we needed it for books and for the fees when we visited psychics.

Near, Matt, and I did our best to understand the paranormal world, but it was confusing even for geniuses. We would listen to the conversations Fae and L held, and added our own thoughts here and there, but we weren't always a big help. Although we tried our best, we had nothing between the five of us.

"D'you think he'll come back?" I wondered as I fidgeted anxiously on L's bed. Matt sat next to me and Near was sprawled on his stomach at the end of the large mattress. Fae sat in a chair and L was on the floor.

"He has every year," Near said monotonously. Wasn't he even excited at all?

No, he couldn't be. Not even I was excited. All year, we tried to find a way to help him, and each theory seemed to have a loophole somewhere, and in the end they were all just guesses. We had no way to be sure and-

"What do you mean 'every year'?" I yelled as Near's words sunk in. "You've met him more than once?"

"Yes," the younger boy answered, playing with a lock of short, white hair. I fumed, but said nothing more as the Halloween sun progressed in setting.

"I wonder where he is?" Fae asked, looking around the room.

Near yawned and his eyes drooped. Even though he was now five, he still acted very young when it came to sleep. He closed his eyes gently and began snoring lightly. I was surprised that he had fallen asleep so easily.

"Should we wake him up?" Matt asked, beginning to poke the sleeping child.

"No, Matt," L answered, reaching over to slap Matt's hand away. "Let him sleep."

The gamer pouted. "Fine," he whined.

"Everyone. Hi."

We all turned to the doorway, where Kai stood. He looked the exact same as last year, although my young memory wasn't exactly perfect. I had forgotten his hair color, but I hadn't forgotten his eyes. They were shining light blue light bulbs, and I couldn't look away.

Matt and I waved. "Hi, Kai!" we exclaimed at the same time, loud enough to wake Near. He looked up at Kai sleepily and his head immediately hit the bed again as he fell back into sleep.

"You're back! That's good. We were worried," Fae said, motioning for him to come inside.

"Kai, we have good news and bad news," L stated, getting right into business. Before Kai could say anything, L continued, "The bad news is: we couldn't think of a sure way to help you. The good news is: we think we have a few theories."

Kai nodded. "Nothing more was expected." He seemed happy to not waste any time. That had been the cause of our failure last time.

"Fae has no idea what to do," L went on.

"Process of elimination, L? So I'm the weakest link now? I'll just leave!" the girl exclaimed as she began to walk away. She picked up Near up off the bed and left, headed towards the stairs that would bring the boy to his room.

"Good job," Kai said sarcastically with a smirk as he watched her leave. "Two down, two to go?" He turned to Matt and I.

"I didn't expect her to react that way," L confessed as he took a candy out of his pocket and popped it into his mouth. "She must be spending too much time with Mello."

Matt giggled, but I frowned. "So now what are we going to do? She was the only thing we had."

L frowned. "I know that."

"If you ask nicely, I bet she'll come back," Kai suggested.

"I'll do it!" I yelled. I hopped off the bed and ran to the stairs. I climbed them two at a time until I got to the children's floor. Then I ran to Near's room.

Fae wasn't there, but Near was tucked in and sleeping. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I twirled around.

"She probably went to her room," Matt said, as if he read my mind.

"No, she wouldn't have made it in that time," I answered.

"Oh. Maybe she went to talk to Roger. Or she went outside to think, since she seemed pretty mad."

"Let's go check!"

"Okay!"

We walked to the door. Through the glass, we saw a strange blob on the ground.

"What's that?" Matt asked nervously.

"I don't know. You wanna stay here?"

"Kinda," he answered as I opened the door. I walked outside alone, my knees shaking as my seven year old mind conjured up all sorts of terrible things. I made my way over to the blob, then fell to the ground.

I backed away on my hands and feet, my bum scraping against the ground. My voice was pitched six octaves higher than my normal voice as I stuttered, "F-Fae?" Then, I screamed.