Hiya ladies and germs. I'd, again, like to thank you for being so cool and reading my little stories. I know this one hasn't gotten a hundred reviews, like The Boogeyman Tries To Understand Fanfiction, but It's on it's way up.

I'm especially thankful to Obi, another nice writer on here, who helped me to write this next chapter with her encouragement. So here is is and, by the way, I'd like to apologize for the last chapter. It was longer than the others and was actually a bit of filler to give me time to write this one. I hope you liked it. It kind of gave us a little insight on how idiotic Jack is at times and also summed everything up for us. Plus it's probably got you pissing your pants to find out what happens next, which was my goal. Now sit back and enjoy the next chapter.


"PIIIIIIIITCH!" she yelled one last time. The spiders were getting too close to him. She wasn't going to make it!

Then the spiders overtook her and, with one last look, Pitch stepped through the shadow-portal, leaving her alone.

"Pitch NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Pitch's black-crusted heart almost broke! She really thought he was leaving her. As if. She'd probably find a way to find him again anyway and haunt him for the rest of his life which, if he didn't work this little spark of magic soon, was going to be less than a couple hours.

Pitch rubbed his fingers together. Nightmare sand flowed from his fingertips and over to the portal-hold where the spiders were pouring in. it swept them back as easily as a wave pushing back sand on a beach. The spiders threshed and wiggled, biting at the sand too but they eventually fell unconscious as the nightmare sand engulfed them, sending them spinning back into the other world. Anna was even closer now and Pitch ordered the Nightmare sand to cover up the portal.

The sand obeyed and began circling the edges of the portal, filling in the width slowly, making the circle of light shrink and shrink until there was only a miniscule hole through which Pitch could hear Anna's screams quite clearly.

"PITCH! NO, PLEASE NO!"

"Calm down," Pitch whispered as he gathered all his strength. "Calm down Anna."

Pitch summoned every bit of power in his body, but instinctively he knew it wasn't enough. He needed more power! The portal was draining him! Pitch probed his surroundings for any living being on which he could feed from their fear, but there was nothing. Not even a rodent or a dog! Pitch groaned. He really didn't want to do this, but it was their only hope! He could only keep a shadow-portal open for so long!

Pitch closed his eyes and felt for the fear that was coming from Anna. He didn't have to probe hard. The sensation was everywhere, staining the air around her with a sour smell, like rotting grapes. Pitch had always found supernatural fear, fear experienced by other spirits such as the Guardians, to be much more powerful than regular old terror. Spiritual fear also came with a strange, unique scent for each person.

North's fear smelled like sharp peppermint, Bunny's smelled like sulfur. Toothian's was the awful odor of night breath, (when you sleep with your mouth open and your mouth feels all weird the next morning and your teeth smell like onions,) and Sanderson's was the unlikely scent of curdled milk. Jack's fear was a little harder to see than the others, but Pitch remembered the time he'd lured Jack into his caves with his memories and he'd smelled a scent. The scent of raw ice, the bite of cold, and the noxious, almost intoxicating smell of deep freshwater, turning to black ice.

Pitch pulled out of his own memories, opening his eyes with a sharp snap and remembered that I have to save her! And then I have to save myself!

He glanced up and he saw, with a jolt, that there was something poking through the hole. A finger. He could also hear crying and pounding. She is going to work herself up into a panic and I might not be able to calm her out of it! Pitch thought, trying to summon just a little bit more energy to complete what he was going to do.

Pitch cursed. "Anna, get away from the hole!" he yelled. The finger was pulled back and he continued to hear hysterical crying and pounding on the portal which was covered in black Nightmare sand.

"PITCH!" she screamed. "PLEASE!"

The fear in her voice was so overpowering that Pitch almost lost control right then and there, but he kept it together for her sake. He had to close his eyes before he burst with dark power, which he did. With his eyes closed, oblivious to all noise and colors, he realized he could think much more clearly. He also realized that he had enough magical energy inside him right now to power a small city for ten years!

"OK, it's showtime." he said. Then he thought, I really hope she doesn't smack me.

Pitch reached out and wrapped his thin fingers around the invisible chain around his wrist that connected him to Anna. The chain became visible for three seconds, then Pitch gave a mighty yank on the chain, using all of his strength to pull Anna through the portal and, just at the girl was squeezed through the hole like a salt-shaker through a rolled up napkin, the chain disappeared again. Completely vanished!

Anna came flying out of the tiny hole, screaming, crying and waving her arms. Her spectral body had been compacted into a long thin tube so that she could pass through the hole and when she shot out, her body realigned itself into it's proper size and shape. Automatically Pitch moved to catch her, reaching out his arms and a relieved look in his eyes, but she flew right through him, screaming and thrashing.

As the girl passed through him Pitch felt enough pain to make his mind spin and sent him careering backwards against a wall. The only thing that stopped Anna from flying through the same wall was Pitch's deadweight that stopped her like an anchor and she felt herself being pulled downwards and Pitch fell down too, landing hard on his rear. Pitch let out a cry of anguish, not because of the pain of being passed through but because he could see Anna behind him and she was almost entirely submerged in concrete. Only the top of her head and her thrashing left leg were visible.

"Anna!" Pitch yelled, twisting around just in time to see Anna's absolutely terrified eyes disappearing into the concrete. Pitch yelled her name again and lunged for her flailing arm, which passed right through his and he cursed richly, tugging on the invisible chain. "Dammit! Anna, fight! Come on!"

He tried to get to his feet to pull her up but his energy was completely tapped out and he could barely crawl to his knees, which he did and raised both arms as high as they could go, lifting Anna up out of the ground by her arm. He could only lift her about a foot out of the concrete, but that foot was enough to lift her head out and when he did lift her head out, she started cussing up a storm.

"Damn you Pitch Black when I get out of here I'm gonna pound you like there's no tomorrow! I'll beat your grimy F**ing teeth out and string them us as a gift to the Tooth Fairy! I'll cut all your damn hair off and shred your F***ing man-dress to feed to the yetis! DAMN YOU DAMN YOU DAMN YOU!"

Pitch found himself smirking, despite the massive amount of pain he was in. "Anna, there will be plenty of time to curse at me later. Right now..." he paused as a wave of dizziness hit him like a punch in the gut. "I've... got... to... out- you... get." his mind was muddled and he heard the words spill out of his mouth in the wrong order and he tried to blink to keep himself awake.

Anna stopped her tirade of cussing long enough to notice his slurred speech. "Pitch? What-"

"Gottaaaaaaaaa," Pitch moaned, letting his arm without the ring around it drop. "Gotta geeeeet yooooou oooooout."

Anna's eyes widened as she felt her head begin to sink beneath the concrete again. "Pitch! What the F***?! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

Pitch stirred himself enough to blink blearily at her and mutter one more word before he fell sideways onto the concrete. "Sooooooorrrryyyyyyyyyy."

"DAMN YOU PITCH BLACK!"

XXXXXXXXX

When Pitch woke up next, it was to someone slapping him hard across the face.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" a voice said over again, punctuating each sentence with a slap. His face hurt, but body hurt, his brain hurt and virtually everything else of his hurt.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" the voice said again, delivering four more slaps to his cheeks.

Pitch moaned something unprintable and tried to raise his arm to smack the hand away, but all of his limbs felt like rubber and he couldn't move them at all. He couldn't feel his toes or his fingers and he couldn't feel much of his face. His legs and arms were numb, completely numb, and he couldn't move them at all. His chest hurt like a wild horse had tromped all over it and, for some bizarre reason, his mouth was really really dry.

His eyes were closed and he couldn't open them. Something was covering them.

"DAMN-blast you Pitch Black why won't you wake up?!" The voice finally shouted after slapping him extra-hard on the right cheek.

Now that woke him up and, despite how numb his arms and legs felt and the covers over his eyes, he jerked upright and yelled something that sounded like, "Don't warn the horses!"

Whoever was with him grabbed him by the shoulder and started shaking him sharply. "Pitch, Pitch you gotta snap out of it!"

Pitch did snap out of it long enough to realize that he recognized the voice! It was-

"Anna?" he rasped. Then he realized that his voice sounded like a broken hair-dryer and he closed his mouth and wet it with his also dry tongue. "Anna?" he repeated with less rasp.

"Ha! You remembered me!" Anna said, then Pitch felt two strong arms wrap around his shoulders and he groaned.

"Anna!" he grunted. If he didn't know better, he'd say there was a yeti hugging him instead of a girl.

"Oh, sorry." she said, releasing him. "I'm just glad you're awake."

"No thanks to you," Pitch muttered. "That slapping hurt!"

"Oh hush up, you big baby," Anna reprimanded, but there was a note of amusement in her voice. Pitch felt something touch the back of his head and he heard the sound of Velcro ripping. "Well, you're awake. That's a good sign."

Velcro? he wondered as he felt the thing covering his eyes loosen.

"I'm warning you, you might want to keep your eyes shut." Anna warned as Pitch felt the material pull away. "You've been out for a whi-"

But Pitch didn't listen and his eyes shot open as soon at the thing covering his eyes was lifted off. They opened to blinding white light and Pitch closed them almost immediately with a hiss.

Anna tutted. "Tut tut Pitch, I warned you."

Pitch hissed again and shielded his eyes from whatever was blinding him. "What's wrong with you?!" he spat, keeping his head bowed. "Don't you know that I'm a creature of the night?! I do... not... like... the... sun!"

Anna laughed. "Pitch, it's not sunlight." she said. "It's a neon light!"

Pitch would've blinked with confusion if he'd had his eyes open in the first place. "A what light?"

"A neon light, Pitch. It's electricity. You do know what electricity is, don't you?" Anna asked, smirking.

Pitch hissed a third time. "Don't be stupid, of course I know what electricity is!"

Anna laughed. "Ah, so you are inhabiting the twenty-first century. That's good to know."

Pitch, again, found himself with to come comeback and he decided to say the first response that came to mind.

"Where am I?" he asked.

Anna laughed and Pitch felt a blow land on his shoulder. He winced.

"And could you not do that, please? It hurts."

"Firstly, I have no freaking clue where we are. Secondly, I'm gonna punch you all I want because you know what?"

Pitch winced. "What?" he croaked.

"I CAN!" she yelled triumphantly and punched him again.

"You-" Pitch started to curse her out for punching an already injured man, then he blinked. Memories began flooding back to him.

"Wait, you're DEAD! You can't touch-"

"Not anymore!" Anna said happily, punching him again on the other shoulder.

Pitch's eyes shot open. "WHAT?!"

And then he got blinded again by the damn neon light.

"ANNA!" he bellowed, shielding his poor eyes with a forearm once more and scrambling back. "PUT THAT DAMN LIGHT OUT!"

"Righto Pitch!" the girl said. Pitch heard the click of a switch and he assumed the lights were out but he didn't want to take the chance that Anna still had the lights on or was going to turn them on when he opened his eyes, as punishment for pretending to leave her.

"And for future instances, KEEP them off!" Pitch growled, opening his eyes a crack. The lack of light soothed his eyes and he opened them all the way, scanning the area around him.

They were in a big room, most likely underground where no natural light reached, and there were things, dark shadows and indefinable lumps that Pitch assumed were crates and boxes, power tools hung on the walls and wires hung from broken fixtures. Pitch assumed they were either in a basement or someone's really dirty garage.

"Anna," he said slowly. "I'm going to ask again, where am I?"

Anna smiled. "You're in my basement." she said. "I hope you like it. It was the closest place I could find."

Pitch blinked. Anna's words took a long time to process and then they did, Pitch just stared at her blankly. "We were in Paris last I checked." he said slowly.

"Yes," Anna said, inviting him to go on.

"And you thought the closest safe place would be all the way back in the states?" Pitch was incredulous- no, he was more than that. He was downright confused at Anna's either bad sense of direction or idiocy. (He bet a little bit of both.)

"Meh. It's kind of more complicated than that," Anna said.

Pitch cocked his head and regarded her. His expressions changed rapidly, switching from annoyance, anger, amusement, irritation, worry, apprehension and finally, a small smile settle upon his lips.

"Well, you'd better tell me everything then." he said. "First off, why the heck are you glowing?"

Anna looked down at herself. She was indeed glowing. "Oh, this? Oh that's just something cool I recently learned how to do. Gives me more of a ghostly impression, don't you think?"

Pitch remained staring at the girl.

"And as for why I dragged you back here- and I can tell you it wasn't fun," she added, glaring down her nose at him. "I figured that they wouldn't look in a human's house. No one ever comes down here, except my brother. And last I checked, he'd grounded and doesn't believe in the Boogeyman any more."

Pitch nodded. "Fabulous." he said, with just a hint of sarcasm.

"It is, really," Anna said mildly. "We won't be bothered and, now that you're awake, we can get moving."

"Get moving?" Pitch repeated.

"Yes. Those demon-spiders won't be fooled for long. I led them back to your caves and a bunch of them are still there, waiting to ambush you." she paused and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "How're you feeling?"

Pitch rubbed his head. "Ugh. I feel like I've just eaten a barrel of rusty nails." he muttered.

"That'll go away in a day or so." Ana said dismissively.

"My arms hurt, my legs hurt," Pitch continued.

"That's because I had to drag you across three states." Anna said matteroffactly. "Now, I need you to quit groaning for a minute and listen. There are a fewvery important things I've got to tell you."

Pitch nodded and raised his head, ready to listen.

Without warning, Anna hauled back and smacked him across the cheek once again and he was thrown backwards into a wall. Pitch felt his cheek burn and he raised his head with an amazed look on his face.

"You hit me!" he said, more out of surprise than outrage.

"Yes." Anna replied flatly.

"For moon's sake, why?!"

"That was for making me think you were going to leave me." she said.

Pitch sighed. "I guess I had that-"

Then Anna lunged towards him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly once more. At this point, Pitch was too tired and confused to even object and he just sat there on a lumpy cot with Anna's arms around him, thinking, I will never understand this girl.

Then, as if Anna hadn't already driven him half-mad with confusion and surprise, she decided to step it up a notch and leaned in to give him a small peck on the gray cheek.

"And that's for coming back."

Pitch closed his eyes. Anna frowned. There was a weird look on his face, like he'd just found a single seed in the last section of a tangerine. Sour. She wondered what he was thinking. Probably something she wouldn't understand. She didn't have long to wait and find out though.

"Oh gods, this is a nightmare isn't it?" he moaned. "I'm asleep and I'm dreaming some weird and hellish dream, given to me by Sanderson as punishment for killing you. Yes," he said, nodding. "That explains it all. You're being solid, us being so far from Paris, you glowing," he cracked a grin. "You kissing me.

"You wish." Anna said, smirking. "One, that was a peck, not a kiss. That'd be extremely creepy. Two, I have a feeling you're going to conk back out again, so you probably won't remember this anyway."

Pitch cracked another grin and both eyes opened half-way. "I sure hope so."

Anna snorted. "Oh, thanks Pitch." she said sarcastically. "You sure know how to talk to a girl."

Pitch leaned back against the pillow that had been placed under his head very gently, no doubt also by Anna. "I do indeed." he muttered, closing his eyes again.

Anna chuckled. "Not one for humility, huh Pitch?"

"No point in being humble if this is a dream." Pitch mumbled. He was tired and he wanted to rest again and try to end this weird dream.

"No, I suppose you're right."

Anna paused, watching the Boogeyman laying peacefully on the cot. She smiled, putting a hand on Pitch's forehead, just in case spirits could get fevers. His head was neutral-temperature. Not too cold, not too warm. Good.

Pitch didn't object to her hand except to lean his head to the left a little bit, towards her. Anna wished she had a cameras to capture this moment forever. The Boogeyman, curled up like a baby on a cot and her, caring for him like a nursemaid.

She sniggered. "Good night Pitch."

"G'night Annnnnnnnnaaaaaaaa." Pitch said, speaking half in a moan and half like normal. "Seeeeeeeeee ya tomorroooooooooooowwwww."

Anna smiled. "You're delirious." she said matter-of-factly. "Go to sleep. Your senses will probably return when you wake up again. Until then, I'll keep an eye on you."

Pitch nodded. Sleep, even though he didn't need it, began to take him in once more. He only had enough consciousness to say, "Thank you," before he dropped off once more.

Anna smiled. "This has got to be the weirdest night of my entire life." she said, smiling to herself.

XXXXXXXXX

When Pitch opened his eyes again, the first thing he thought was, I'm glad I'm not getting slapped this time.

Pitch had definitely had better days, even though he was feeling much better since his first awakening.

Yes, he was firmly convinced that there had been a first awakening. Not that he knew for certain what had happened during that first awakening. All he remembered was waking up getting slapped and a glowing figure. Anna. He remembered Anna and a bright, glowing light that had blinded him for a few seconds. He remembered how much it had hurt.

And he also remembered Anna hugging him.

Pitch's body hurt less than when he'd first woken and he could even talk, though he didn't. There was no point talking to yourself, even if he'd done it every single night since he'd been turned into the Boogeyman. No one else to talk to. Pitch sighed. His mind was more relaxed than it had ever been and his limbs were all somewhere in between numb and tingly. They didn't hurt at all.

Pitch stretched his arms. The cot was comfortable, though lumpy, and he was in complete stillness and darkness. Everything was calm and wonderful. Pitch sighed again. Oh, how blissful this was! All he wanted to do was lay there for an eternity, be damn all the spirits that were after him! He would be safe here.

Pitch flexed his fingers and toes, then he cracked his neck slowly and carefully. Everything in good, working order. Perfect. Pitch sat up slowly, swinging his legs off of the cot and sitting there, trying to make everything come into focus. Pitch kneaded his eyes, trying to rub the sleep from them and when he lowered his knuckles he was pleased that his eyes easily picking out shapes in the dark shadows. Boxes and crates.

He scanned the room once again, then he frowned. Where was Anna? Unless she had learned to turn her glow off as well as on, she wasn't in the room with him. The room was completely black.

"I thought she said she'd stay with me," he muttered, unable to keep a note of reproachfulness out of his voice.

"I did stay with you!" Anna said behind him.

Pitch- to his eternal shame- jumped up off of his cot only to trip and fall, tangled in the blankets that Anna had placed over him. He swore and twisted, ripping at the blankets, trying to free himself.

"Where are you?" he asked, wildly looking around.

Anna's voice came form him behind him again. "I'm right here, you goober." she said. Then, a bright silvery glow filled the room and Pitch raised one hand to shield his eyes from the bright glow.

"Anna!" he yelled, cringing from the hated light.

Silence.

"Anna?" he said again, a little quieter and there was a hint of nervousness in it. Pitch felt a hand fall on his shoulder.

"Pitch," Anna's voice said right in his ear. "Calm down. I'm right here."

Pitch lowered his arm slowly, his eyes still closed. "Is the light gone?"

"Yes Pitch. I'm sorry about that." and she sounded sincere. "I forgot about your vampiric aversion to light."

"I'm not a vampire." Pitch said sullenly, accepting her outstretched hand. "I'm a shadow."

Anna smirked. "A dark shadow?"

"Yes. The darkest." Pitch replied without missing a beat.

Anna sniggered. "Man, I can have a lot of fun with you and modern movie-quotes." she said, smiling wickedly.

Pitch sighed. "I have no idea what you're talking about and I have a feeling I'll find out later anyway, so can you just explain to me the events that occurred after my incapacitation? I think that's all my mind can handle right now."

Anna smiled. "I don't know about-"

"Just. . . tell me." Pitch said, rubbing his right hand over his face.

Anna shrugged. "OK. Well, after you conked out-"

"Wait just a minute!" Pitch interrupted, holding out his hand. "Conked out? I did not conk out! I was exhausted from keeping that portal open! Exhausted from KEEPING YOU ALIVE!"

five. . . four. . . three. . .two. . .

Anna started to laugh. She laughed and laughed, holding her stomach and trying not to hiccup.

"Alright, alright." Pitch grumbled. "You had your fun."

"I'm still having it!" Anna said between laughs.

Pitch glowered. "I do not enjoy being laughed-"

"THEN QUIT SAYING FUNNY STUFF!" Anna yelled, nearly blowing Pitch's ears out and then lapsing back into giggles once more.

Pitch rubbed his temples with the heel of his hands. "Anna," he said in a voice of determined calm. "I just woke up and now I have a splitting headache."

Silence.

"Anna?" Pitch asked. Had she gone? Pitch raised his head and his vision was immediately obscured by Anna's black hair.

"ANNA!" Pitch exclaimed, then some of Anna's hair flew into his mouth and up his nose and he choked.

"A- *cough* ANNA! what the-"

Anna paid him no heed and wrapped her arms around him once more.

Pitch sighed. He assumed that not being able to touch another being, even if it were only for a few hours, was freaking her out and she was randomly hugging him because of it.

"Pitch," Anna said, "I'm really sorry about your headache. I hope this helps."

Pitch's eyes widened. Hope what helps?

And then Pitch felt it.

The feeling spread from where Anna' pale hands touched his back all through his body, up his spinal column and down his nerves. It was a sensation Pitch could only describe as magical.

"Anna," Pitch gasped. The feeling was so wonderful, so intense, that he couldn't say anything else. Instead he just sat there, trying to contain the joy that was blooming inside his chest. It was hard. The magical feeling was spreading through his body, covering every inch of his being in happiness and released a humming sensation that traveled over his skin, rippling it. It was such a wondrous feeling that he did not ever want to move.

The feeling spread, faster and faster, instantly healing all of his many cuts, bruises and other injuries sustained while he was unconscious, most likely from being dragged across three states- if Anna's word could be trusted. The power coursed through his legs and down to the edges of his toes, to his fingers and finally up, up, up through the base of his neck and to the crown of his head. Instantly Pitch's headache went away.

Anna released him, smiling. "Better?"

He nodded mutely.

"Little trick I perfected a few days ago." she replied smugly.

Pitch continued to stare blankly at her. His body was almost completely numb and he was too shocked, amazed and. . . was happy the word? Maybe it was.

Or, maybe the word for the feeling that was enveloping him in it's soft blanket of peace was content.

Yes, for the first time in his life, Pitch Black was content.

And then Anna slapped him gently across the left cheek.

THAT certainly broke the spell of peace that had been cast over the Boogeyman.

"Ow." Pitch said, rubbing his cheek. Then the full effect of her slap- (plus the other slaps Anna had given him,) hit him and he said, "OW!" A little bit louder and a lot more indignantly.

"Hey, you were spacing out." Anna said, by way of an explanation. "Plus, I've learned that slapping you is very therapeutic for working out my inner anger."

Pitch was still staring at her with a look mixed with outrage and surprise on his grey -and now slightly pink- face.

"Aaaaaaand now we're back to you staring at me. That's getting very creepy, by the way."

He continued to stare at her.

"Shall I slap you again?" Anna asked sweetly, raising her and.

Pitch visibly blanched and Anna lowered her hand, laughing. "Don't worry Pitch, I'm not gonna slap you again."

Pitch let out a sigh of relief.

"Until you annoy me."

Pitch shot her a look and Anna laughed again. "Then I'll try to avoid that."

"And so you should." Anna said, smiling down at him."

Pitch nodded. "While we're on the subject, would you finally care to tell me how this miraculous change of state," he gestured to Anna's body. "came about?"

She looked down at herself. "Huh? Oh, you mean the being-able-to-touch-you-thing, right?"

Pitch nodded. "Yes Anna."

"Oh, pfft! This is nothing!" Anna said, laughing and waving her hand dismissively. "When we're up and running I'll show you my glow-girl stuff."

Pitch didn't even want to know. "Anna, your solidity?"

"Ah, yes. Well, it was actually really simple after I got over the shock of being dead. Once I realized that this was not a freaky dream and I really was dead, random abilities began to open up for me." she laughed. "He he. I actually took off flying about a day ago, and I couldn't stop myself for a few hours." she raised a finger to Pitch's face and traced a cut over his right eyebrow. "That's how you got this."

Pitch raised his hand to the cut, which wad healing quickly, and blinked. "What, did you drag me along like an anchor?"

"A delightful image," Anna said, smirking. "And almost accurate. I was actually holding onto you, but I was flying most of the time."

She didn't tell him that she'd been carrying him like a baby almost the entire time she'd been running. She hadn't had the luxury of shadow-traveling, so she'd had to run, walk and yes, fly, across the Atlantic and plenty of land to get back to Burgess. It had taken a week to get from Paris, France to Burgess, Pennsylvania.

"So you can fly now?" Pitch asked, smiling.

"Oh yes. A week of practice and I'm already out-stripping cars."

Pitch's eyes widened. "A week?!"

"Yes. It's been a week since you saved my afterlife from those demonic spiders." Anna said. "You were completely unconscious the whole time, until three hours ago. And you're really lucky that you don't weigh much, or else you'd have dragged me down."

Pitch had no comeback, once again.

"In that time, I learned how to fly, fade, hover, spook, glow, make things fly around and a bunch of other things that I don't know the names for.

Pitch was astounded. He'd always assumed that ghosts learn their powers in time. He'd never heard of one gaining access, let alone control, over their powers so quickly!

He was silent for another minute, then he smiled. "Well, since you're so proud of your talent, why don't you show me?"

Anna's face split into a wide smile and she jumped up from her seated position in front of Pitch. She jumped a bit too high, actually, and ended up floating six and a half inches above the floor, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Yes yes YES!" she squealed, jumping up and down in mid air.

Pitch smiled. Inside he felt happy that Anna was getting used to being a spirit. He knew that, in some cases, humans who had been turned into spirits didn't want to accept the change and had gone insane because of it. Others had been so scared by their powers that they'd locked themselves away and died of disbelief. Still others had decided to use their gifts to try and do more than they were supposed to, like changing wars and things like that. Things that were not supposed to be done.

The Moon and Father Time had had to spend a hundred years fixing the mistakes of one rogue spirit, Black Annis- his female counterpart. She'd once been the spirit of lost children, referred to in some of the highland countries as a Wisp or Will, of the Wisps. She helped lost children, both mentally and physically, get back to their homes and, if they didn't have a standing home, she took them to her giant mansion in the middle of the earth.

The Mansion was huge enough for a million children, the food never ran out, neither did the water, there were beautiful forests to explore and mountains to climb, but the children never fell when they climbed the mountains and they never died. They lived there, forever, in happiness and joy. This was were some of those Science-Fiction novels got the paradise-in-the-middle-of-the-earth-idea from.

That had gone on for a few hundred years, then something had happened to Black Annis. Pitch had no idea what, as he'd been in a different part of the galaxy at the time and no one had told him. All he knew, from tales and ghost stories, was that Black Annis had gone insane and massacred every single child she'd taken in and ate them. Then she'd become so warped and twisted that she was no longer a spirit any more.

She was a dark being, with no rules or restraints. Eventually, she'd had to be killed. Thanatos, Father Time, Gaia and even the Man in the Moon himself had personally taken her down and her ashes had been scattered across the worlds in hopes that she would never return.

Pitch sighed. Black Annis. She'd been the only spirit that could, by record, be classified as a child-killer. There was a longstanding debate, however, that claimed Black Annis had been corrupted into something horrible and far beyond spirit before she'd eaten the children. It was just a technicality, Pitch knew. She'd been a spirit alright. A dark spirit.

"OK," Anna said, shaking Pitch out of his musings. "What do you want to see first?"

"Well, you're already flying." Pitch said, smiling.

Anna looked down. "So I am." she said.

Pitch's smile a fraction of an inch and the corners of his eyes crinkled. "I assume you've gotten farther than hovering," he said.

"I have indeed." Anna said proudly, puffing out her chest. And then she began to rise.

First it was a foot, then it was two, then she was bobbing seven feet above the floor. Her head nearly touched the ceiling.

"Impressive." Pitch said, cocking his head and clapping gently.

Anna smirked. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Pitch showed her his sharp, yellow teeth in an amused smile. "Please, continue."

Anna nodded and raised her right hand with her fingers splayed, then swung her left hand out behind her, superman-style. Then she raised her right leg and folded it up against her right thigh. Pitch smiled. She looked like a comic book hero. Ghost Girl. He chuckled.

And then Anna did something that surprised even Pitch.

She completely disappeared.

Pitch blinked, wondering if this was just a trick of the lack-of-light.

No. It wasn't. Anna was gone.

"Anna?" Pitch said, standing shakily to his feet. He wasn't used to people just going *pop*. Although, he reflected, this was probably how every child he'd ever scared felt when he disappeared into the shadows and then popped up right-

RIGHT BEHIND HIM!

"BOO!"

Pitch jumped at least three feet off the ground, screaming rather shrilly and then spewing a very long string of curse words as he whirled around and stared wildly at the small area behind him.

"ANNA!" Pitch bellowed, a snarl forming on his face.

"Yeeeeees?"

Pitch whirled around again and, to his utter surprise, saw Anna floating in midair, with her chin propped up on her fists and her elbows were propped on the empty air. Her feet were swinging up and down, up and down, then side to side. Her feet were almost hypnotizing. She had a very wide smile on her face and her eyes were alight with mischief.

"ANNA!" Pitch groaned, glaring at the floating girl.

"Yeeeeeeees?" she said again, sliding her hand out from under her chin and cocking her head.

"You-! What-" he spluttered, his face shifting from emotion to emotion too fast for his mind to keep up.

"Yeeeeeeees."

Pitch sighed. "Oh darkness." he muttered. "I have a feeling I'm never going to get a moment's peace after this moment."

Anna appeared behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. He jumped.

"Nope." she said, popping the P.