To 8Ball3- She had to start swearing sooner or later, it's her thing :D And yeah, Harvey's great, even if I do say so myself... :3

To Anonymous Person Lucky 13- Huh. That sounds like my track record of tech issues too! :P And I guess she would be able to see through the Mist, but also Harvey's a son of Hecate, so he's quite good with it and maybe confused her too. Also, she just wants apples so she's going to ignore logic too :P

To An-Unnamed-Goose- umpteenth is totally a number (although you're making me question if it's a British thing now O.o )

To Guest- Hello! You might have to get in line for Jessica to be your mum, she's oddly popular :P And thank you! ^_^ Fingers crossed the test works out OK (but you're not the only one to randomly fill in the bubbles, been there, done that :D ) And nope, no more school for me! Been out for a few years now XD You're almost there! Staying home and eating ice-cream is the mark of adulthood, just do it :3 Mmmmm, Harvey was originally a bad guy, like yonks ago, but I honestly can't remember if I killed him off or not... O.o Don't worry though, this Harvey's good. I re-made his character! ^_^ Ah, another Leoisa fan, huh? XD They're chaoticness is so much fun to write XD

To propheciesandbluecookies- It was a hedgeyhog but yes ^_^ Kids come out with the darnedest things XP

Short chapter today, but there's a thing I'm doing, bear with me :I

"Hallo."

"No, it's not a greeting. It's Halloween." Louisa stared at her blankly. October had come around and Mr. Becks was planning a Halloween month for the kids- films and games and costumes and sweets. It had been the first question out of Louisa's mouth once they got home. "You get to dress up as a, uh… monster or a ghost or something scary and you can go trick or treating."

"Monster?"

"Not your kinds of monsters. Vampire. Frankenstein. Werewolf. That sort of thing."

"Mikey said he was gonna be a princess."

"Yes, you can be something fun too." Louisa frowned. "Look, we've got the whole month to figure out what you want to be. We can go costume-shopping at the weekend if you want." Louisa nodded vaguely, not a confirmation, but to show she had taken that idea into consideration. Jessica patted her on the head. "Here, I've got an idea. Why don't we go to the movie store? You can pick out some Halloween films."

"'N' sweets?"

"Yes and sweets." It had become a rule- rent a movie, get Louisa pick 'n' mix. "Get your coat back on then, let's go."

Louisa loved the movie store. She liked running down the aisles, jumping out on Jessica with a 'RAR!' She liked the pick 'n' mix stand, bright and colourful and full of sugar. She liked the slushie machine, staring at it as it churned, one side blue, one side red. Jessica had brought her one once, a combination of the flavours because Louisa couldn't decide. The brain freeze had been immediate, Louisa hopping from one foot to another, shoving the drink at Jessica to clutch her head.

The store was getting into the season, already throwing out some Halloween decorations- plastic jack-o-lanterns on and around the counter, the sweet stand and at the ends of the aisles, fake cobwebs and spiders strewn over the shelves, bloody handprint stickers and caution tape in the windows, ghosts and bats hanging from the ceiling. And there was a selection of Halloween films taking pride of place, first thing they saw walking in.

"Hello again!" The man at the till, Stuart, knew them quite well by now. He was in his mid-to-late sixties, a portly, kindly man with a warm smile and sparkling eyes. He leaned over the counter, handing Louisa a rubber, squeaky rat. "Find her a home for me, will you?"

"OK!" Louisa beamed, dashing off. Stuart laughed. Jessica leaned on the counter, eyeing the slushie machine.

"So, what are you after this time?"

"What films would you recommend for a nine-year-old who's never celebrated Halloween before?"

"How many are you after?"

"We'll go with three today." Jessica nodded, giving a sigh. "We'll be back."

"Oh, I'm sure." Stuart grinned. He noticed where she was looking. "Red or blue?"

"Both please. Largest one you've got. And a small one for Lou, I don't think she's over that brain freeze yet."

"Aww, bless her." Louisa sprinted back to them, jumping the last little bit to stop next to Jessica.

"Did it!" She declared.

"Thank you!" Stuart smiled. "Where did you put her?"

"No! Hide 'n' seek!"

"Oooh, OK." Stuart set the large slushie on the counter, quickly followed by the small one. Louisa stood on her toes, reaching up, hand grasping at air until Jessica pushed the drink into her hand.

"Thank you!"

"Here's what I'll do." Stuart said, folding his arms on the counter and looking down at the girl. "I'll find the rat and then I'll hide her for when you next come in. Yeah?"

"Yes! Ow! Cold! Cold cold cold!" Louisa whined, bouncing on the soles of her feet, eyes squeezed shut, fanning a hand at her head. Stuart raised an eyebrow at Jessica, who gave a small shake of her head.

Stuart came around the counter, directing Louisa kindly to the Halloween film display. Jessica stayed put, mixing her slushie up, peering into the box of Halloween decorations. A few more spiders, some tiny plastic pumpkins, some string lights.

"Three today, missy. Mama's orders." Louisa nodded, peering at the films closely. "Try this one." Stuart suggested, passing one to her. Louisa stared at the cover, frowning as the letters wriggled around. "Hocus Pocus." Stuart told her. "My kids love that one; it's not Halloween if we don't watch it."

The next one was Dracula, of course. Stuart managed to replace Chucky with The Addams Family, much to Jessica's relief- even with all the monsters and gods and whatever else was out there, she really did not want Louisa watching some demonic little doll running around with a knife. It might give her ideas.

And then it was sweet time.

Louisa gave her half-drunken slushie to Jessica, who put it on the counter for her. Then she grabbed Jessica's hand, tug-tug-tugging her over to the pick 'n' mix.

Gummy bears, chocolate fudge pieces, jelly beans, white mice- Louisa was restricted to five different types of sweets. "Save some for everyone else." Jessica had told her, but it was really a case of You are bad enough, you do not need all that sugar too.

Louisa was just debating between the banana sweets and rainbow stripes when the bell tinkled, door opening. Jessica didn't look round, busy holding the bag of sweets open, waiting for her charming little delight to make a decision. Stuart bustled off though, calling out a cheery greeting.

"You said you didn't like bananas." Jessica prompted.

"But I like those ones."

"Get those ones then."

"But those are cool." Louisa pointed at the rainbow stripes. "Colours."

"Do eeny meeny, my slushie is melting."

"Eeny meeny minie mo…" Louisa froze. "Um…"

"Catch the tiger by his toe."

"I thought it was a monkey?"

"No, it's a tiger."

"I like monkeys." She protested. Jessica raised an eyebrow and she pouted. "Fine. Eeny meeny minie mo, catch the tiger by his toe… why his toe?"

"I don't know. Pick the bananas."

"Why?"

"Because I said so." She knew better than to argue with that. Louisa found the little pink plastic trowel and scooped banana sweets into the bag. Jessica smiled once done, rolling the top of the bag closed. "Right, let's g- Harvey? What are you doing here?" Jessica stared at him as if he just dropped in from another planet. Stuart looked from her to the new arrival and back again. He nodded, having come to some silent conclusion, and moved back behind his counter, rummaging in his decorations box.

Harvey waved at them, smiling with an anxious laugh. Louisa clapped twice, bringing his attention to her.

"Did you do it?"

"Do what?" Jessica demanded.

"I did."

"Did what?" Jessica closed her hand around her necklace charm. Harvey startled, standing straighter, eyes widening slightly with innocence. Louisa was bouncing on the soles of her feet next to her, leaning this way and that to peer around Harvey.

"OK, um…" Harvey held his hands up. "This was Lou's idea. But we… did a thing. And please don't kill us, it's a good thing."

"I'll be the judge of that." Jessica decided. Harvey nodded. He held a finger up and turned back to the door. "Lou, what is this?" Jessica hissed. "Did you… do one of your weird things again?"

"No. Uh… no, not normal weird."

"What does that mean?" In response, Louisa simply pointed. Harvey was holding the door open for someone, nodding and smiling encouragingly. A young woman, maybe sixteen or seventeen came in, wringing her hands. She was blonde, her shoulder-length hair pinned back from her face with a floral headband. Quite tanned, wearing a white knee-length dress under a denim jacket and black, well-worn combat boots.

She stopped where Harvey had stood, tucking her hands in the pockets of her jacket. Her gaze darted about the store, flicking back to Jessica and Louisa every couple of seconds and then away again.

The door clicked shut, jingling the bell again. Harvey stopped next to her, patting her on the shoulder.

"It's alright." He soothed. She smiled nervously, shifting on her feet. "Jessica. We," he gestured at himself and Louisa, "have a confession to make."

"We stole your hairbrush!" Louisa beamed.

"What?" Jessica had a million questions, but none of them could compete with that simple one.

"Jessica." Harvey called, holding his hands up, gentle calm down motions. "Long story short, we found her." He turned his head, smiling kindly at his companion. Jessica stared at her, brain catching up with her. Her hand fell away from her necklace, shaking. "Introduce yourself." Harvey urged. The young woman nodded, swallowing nervously.

"Um… hi." She waved timidly, giving a small laugh to match. There was a lilt to her voice, something Australian. "I- I'm… I'm Lizzie. And, err, this random man who kind of turned up on my doorstep… he said you're… you're my mom?"