Leila awoke to the golden sun peaking over the horizon. Sunlight streamed through her window, and for a second she wondered if everything she had experienced yesterday was a dream.

That fantasy was rudely shattered by a loud crashing noise coming from downstairs.

The girl looked at her clock. 7:45. She'd overslept.

Throwing off the covers, she looked out her window, which was facing the front of the house. She saw Paul…or rather, George…had accidentally hit her garbage cans with Paul's car, and was now trying to put them back where they were. She smiled, thankful that her mother had already left for work, and quickly got dressed.

Leila, a brilliant multitasker, grabbed a pop-tart, her purse and schoolbag, and put her hair up in a ponytail all at the same time. As she closed the front door with her foot, pop-tart in her mouth, hands preoccupied with her hair, George finished with the garbage.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, exasperated, "I was watching the glowing box last night, and I wasn't used to sleeping-" Leila interrupted him.

"It's fine…I'm not exactly Ms. Punctuality myself," she said with the pastry still in her mouth.

Paul and Leila managed to get to school on time, and the day began. George was fascinated at how times had changed; when he was in school, he would've gotten a slap on the wrist with a ruler for misbehaving. Kids these days just got something called 'de-ten-shun.' Leila was thankful that she and Paul had practically every class together, so she could control him and make sure he didn't act too weird.

But when history rolled around again, the happenings of yesterday afternoon flooded back to Leila. She hastily walked into history with Paul, and they took seats in the back. This turned out to be a bad mood though; many kids joked loudly about how they wanted to 'be alone' and things like that. The teasing subsided, however, when Mr. Coats passed back the tests.

"Very good, Paul," the teacher said, with a hint of surprise in his voice, "98 percent. You would've gotten them all correct, had you not answered 'it's still going on' for the question asking when slavery ended." George blushed.

"Thank you," he said, taking the test with pride. Leila gawked at him.

"How did you do so well?" she whispered after Mr. Coats had passed. The boy shrugged.

"All of this was happening when I was alive," he said simply.

As Leila and George left school, she suddenly realized something.

"It's Halloween."

George checked Paul's watch, which had one of those date counters in it.

"Well what do you know? It is."

"Do you like, get to fly around and scare people on Halloween? Or is that a stereotype?"

"Well, actually," George said thoughtfully, "We do get more visitors around Halloween…and of course, Madame Leota's powers increase…" George stopped walking and sat on a bench on the school grounds. Leila joined him, putting her stuff on the ground.

"Each year during Halloween, Leota would always grow stronger. Probably because of the magical connections with the holiday. She would be able to cast a spell to let us leave the mansion…you see, normally we can't go past the grounds."

"Some of us would go off and 'haunt' people, just for fun. But others would return to their homes, and see family…or rather, what was left of their family. Relatives, cherished ones, long dead, able to move on to heaven or to hell, while we were stuck here in between."

George sighed.

"I remember the time on one Halloween when I went back to where my father lived…he was the captain of a ship, the 'Magnolia.' Died at sea. His mansion in New Orleans was taken over by pirates, and I couldn't bear to see it treated that way. I moved here and built my manor, with the money my father left me."

"The one time I went to see his grave…so many years after his death…I broke down. I knew that he had moved on, was in a better place, while I was still stuck here, an anomaly, a being that shouldn't be. Since that day, I've never left the mansion…until now, that is," he added.

Leila stared at George sadly. She couldn't imagine what it must be like…trapped here, without being able to see your friends, without moving on…

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

The two sat on the bench in silence as the autumn leaves slowly fell to the ground.

The wraiths flew into the ballroom and spotted George. He seemed to be talking to three other ghosts in a corner, trying to appear inconspicuous.

"Secrets don't make friends!" Felicia shrieked to her two companions.

"I agree!" Silas said, "We better go make sure that they're not plotting anything dangerous."

"Oh no! What if they're planning to kill me!?" Emmet gasped, "Everyone's out to get me, I just know it!" His huge eyes stared shiftily at the ghosts.

The three became invisible and silently floated down to overhear the conversation.

"What's wrong? Can't I play Star Wars?" George asked the others, confused.

"Not if you want to be found out," Ezra said in a hushed voice.

"Yeah…if the ghosts…or even worse, Atticus…finds out that you're not really George, we're in trouble."

"Yeah, we're all…" Gus said, pausing to find the right word, "as you mortals say, bolted!"

Paul stared at the ghost.

"You mean screwed."

"That too!"

The poltergeists above them gasped.

"On a side note, if your friend doesn't come help us soon, we're DEFINITELY screwed," Ezra added.

"Don't worry…I'm sure Leila's coming…she wouldn't just leave me here," Paul said reassuringly, more to himself than the others. They continued to chat, but the three evil spooks flew away with excitement.

"So…it's a fake George, eh?" Silas mused as they found a safe place to talk without being heard.

"I KNEW he was an imposter! He had that look in his eye!" Emmet bellowed loudly.

"Let's go find this girl, pay her a visit," Felicia suggested, "And maybe we can convince her to stay away from our new home."

The other ghosts nodded in agreement, and flew out the large ballroom windows. They, unlike the other ghosts, were not under the mansion's curse, and could go anywhere they desired.

George and Leila were just about to leave the school when Leila got that all too familiar chill.

"Do you feel that?" she asked George, goose bumps appearing on her arms.

"What?" George asked, curious.

"That unmistakable feeling that something bad is going to happen," Leila said, shivering.

Suddenly, the wind started to blow. Trees gently swayed and a few leaves started to fall off and blow away. The clouds overhead became darker, and the sun was soon covered by thick dark clouds.

"Feel it now?" Leila asked George sarcastically.

The wind began to whistle, and Leila could swear it sounded like a low moan…one that was getting louder.

She suddenly turned with catlike reflexes, her gray and green eyes glittering, looking at the sky. She saw three gray transparent things rushing towards them…

"Look out!" Leila screamed, and she and George jumped to the ground as the specters swooped and missed.

"That's her! I can feel it!" Felicia said proudly, and the other two nodded.

"Friends of yours?" Leila asked with panic in her voice. George shook his head. "They must be minions of Atticus!"

They ghosts swooped again, and this time they went low enough to grab Leila. With unnatural strength the three lifted her into the air, Leila screaming and flailing in vain.

"Let her go!" George yelled, unsure of what to do. If he was a ghost, he could go up there and fight them…

"No! And we know your secret…Georgie!" Silas said, and they went higher into the sky. They lifted Leila through the clouds, until she could no longer see the ground below. There wasn't much oxygen up here, and the ghosts knew it.

They were going to suffocate her.

George screamed in frustration, and continued to curse at the ghosts, even though they couldn't hear him.

Leila was getting dizzy…the ghosts were flying into space at an amazing speed…her oxygen was running out…

"Here's your stop! Have a nice fall!" Emmet said cheerfully as the ghosts reached the last layer of atmosphere. They all let go of her at the same time.

The girl fell to earth, half unconscious. She was picking up speed; if she didn't die from the lack of air, the fall would surely kill her.

Leila dreamily opened her eyes. What was going on? Where was she? What was all that blue?...

Clouds rushed by her, and George could now see her as a speck in the sky. His eyes widened in horror, and he was rooted to the spot.

"Leila!" he rasped, his throat dry.

Meanwhile, the girl was still very confused. Was she falling? Why did she have such a big headache?

And why was the sky turning green?...

The three ghosts, still at the border between earth and space, started to cackle and give each other hi-fives. With this girl out of the way, they could easily take over the mansion now…

They started to fly back to the mansion, when Silas stopped them. He was staring down through the sky at something.

"What's that?" he asked his companions, and the other two looked.

"Don't know," Emmet said.

"Beats me," Felicia said.

"It looks like a big green comet," Silas said, "Ever seen one 'o those?"

"Can't say I have," Emmet said.

"I sure as hell haven't," Felicia said.

"Shall we go investigate?" Silas said.

"Let's," Emmet said.

"Should be fun," Felicia said.

And with that, the dim-witted trio flew down to see just what was happening.

In an instant, Leila knew what was going on. At first she had been dizzy, but now she felt alert and worried.

Okay, worried might be an understatement.

"OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Leila screamed as she fell, completely oblivious to the green glow that was slowly surrounding her.

The ground was rushing towards her…she could see George coming closer and closer…

And then…

She stopped.

A mere two feet away from the grass. She was still facing the ground, and saw George staring at her in amazement.

The girl was hovering.

"Bloody hell," gasped George, backing up.

Leila awkwardly twisted herself upright, and saw that she was indeed floating. And there was an eerie green glow surrounding her.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished. Leila fell to the ground, unharmed, and sat there shaking.

"Oh. My. God. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod."

George rushed to her side, and put a reassuring arm around her.

"It's okay…you're safe," he said to the terrified teen.

But their troubles weren't over yet.

The three evil ghosts had seen this too, and they were just as shocked as George and Leila.

"How'd she do that?!" Silas barked angrily.

"I KNEW there were aliens among us!" Emmet cheered.

"She's a better witch than ME!" Felicia said, her mouth agape.

Leila and George heard these loud ghosts, and turned to them. Leila glared at them angrily.

"Just leave us alone! Go away!" She yelled at them.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a portal similar to the one they had come from appeared below them. A large skeletal hand reached out of it and grabbed all three ghosts at once. With a yelp, they were sucked back into the Underworld.

Leila blinked.

"Well…that was unexpected," George quipped.

"I think," Leila said slowly, "That it's time to go to the mansion."