Claudia froze. As the wind died down, she stared up in horror at Beetlejuice's life-sized figure, standing calmly in the center of the attic. He looked around at his own full-size limbs for a moment, hardly daring to believe he was free. When he had finally grasped that he was no longer the equivalent of an action figure, he grinned devilishly.

"Seems the tables have turned, huh babes?" he commented.

Oh, the tables hadn't turned; they had completely fallen apart at the joints and spontaneously combusted into little piles of ashes. The memory of the night in the model rushed back like a tsunami, totally destroying whatever composure Claudia had left and causing her to even whimper a tiny bit.

"Oh shit…" she cursed.

He chuckled. "Please, Clauds. You think I'm gonna waste my time playing with you when I can finally stretch my limbs?" His extremities elongated, curling around the room before retracting back to their usual length. He sighed contentedly and collapsed on the under-stuffed couch, appreciating its squishy comfort.

Claudia's mind was racing. Oh God…what am I gonna do? How do I put him back?

Meanwhile, she was inching closer and closer to the door, slowly but surely. Finally she reached it, and covering the knob with her body, she frantically fumbled with the handle.

Beetlejuice heard the noise and tensed up. "Jeez, babes. You're in such a rush to go. Why not sit down and take a load off?"

Suddenly, Claudia felt herself rise up off the floor. Hurriedly she grabbed the doorknob so she wouldn't go floating off into empty space. She held on for dear life, trying to pull herself back down, but her clammy fingers slipped and she lost her grip.

Now she was floating over to a three-legged moldy armchair, dropping down into it with a crash. She gave him the evilest eye she could and tried to get up, but some force held her down, pinned to the chair. It was as if she couldn't even lift her own weight.

As she struggled, Beetlejuice stood up and came over, placed his hands on the armrests and leaned over her with a wicked little grin. "I'm really not such a bad guy, I don't think. I like to have my fun, and if that means traumatizing the girl that's been keeping me prisoner for the past few days, well then it's all the more good times for me."

Claudia whimpered again out of animal instinct and tried to get up again. "You let me go now," she demanded, pulling against the invisible hand that kept her seated. "Or I swear to God, I'll-…"

"You'll what? Sit there and give me cold stares?" he laughed cruelly.

"I'll call Adam and Barbara!" she bluffed, knowing full well she had no idea how. He saw right through the maneuver and laughed again.

"Babes, you couldn't call for help on this plane of reality, much less the next world."

To prove him wrong, Claudia opened her mouth and tried to scream to the many people outside in the front lawn. But Beetlejuice had that move covered; with a flick of the wrist he conjured a nasty-looking snake to wrap itself around her mouth and hiss menacingly to keep her thoughts occupied. The reptile turned out to be a cobra, which spread its hood and bared its fangs, hovering just inches from her face.

Claudia's eyes went wide and narrowed on the snake, her voice gone and her body motionless. She went still and pale as a statue, her skin going white and all the nervous trembling that she had from the adrenaline just moments before stopped instantly.

Beetlejuice nodded, surprised he had been able to use his powers that soon after being reintroduced to the big world. He had suspected that being small for so long had dulled his methods, but was overjoyed to know that no such effect had affected him. Leaning one hand on the chair and putting the other on his hip, he loomed over her like some kind of devil, content to watch her keep both eyes on the cobra and completely ignore him, even when he reached out and touched her cold hand. Her fingers twitched a bit, then went still again as he picked up her wrist and kiss the back of her hand in the most twisted fashion he could manage.

"Babes, I have places to go and people to get revenge on. I hope my little buddy here can keep you company, but if you need me, just say the magic words and I'll be right back to give you another helping of fright." He put her hand back down and stepped back, laughing to himself and disappearing.