I screamed as the flames on the candles burst up into the tubes of the ceiling, sending a wave of heart swarming around us. A harsh wind blew from nowhere and knocked me off my feet. I felt a hand grab my shoulder and hoist me behind the sofa. It was calmer back here and I saw that Dib and Zim were also crouched behind here. Next to me, GIR was staring wide-eyed in awe at the scene before us. Then, everything when deadly quiet. One by one, we all stood up to peek our eyes over the back of the sofa. All of the candles had been blown out and the only light was from the neon blue of GIR's eyes.

"GIR," Zim whispered, "Defensive mode."

I flinched as the calm blue melted into a flaming scarlet. I was never comfortable when GIR turned into his original setting, it disturbed me. GIR jumped out from behind the sofa and opened the curtains flooding the room with light, surveying the room with careful eyes. That is until her caught sight of something behind us. He turned back to blue and giggled, pointing. We all turned and sighed with relief that he was just looking at the monkey poster above the sofa. We all got to out feet and emerged from out hiding place.

"Well that was a big build up for nothing…" Zim snapped.

I shrugged, "Sorry, guys."

"No, it's not your fault, we just need the full chant maybe…" Dib pondered.

I noticed that GIR was still looking at the monkey poster. I turned and had a good look at it too, a chill ran down my spine and I swallowed hard.

"Uh, Zim, wasn't that monkey yellow?"

"Yes, what's you point?" he asked, arching a brow.

"It's black, white and stripy now."

GIR bounced up onto the sofa and peered closely into it's hollow eyes. There was a pause. The colours of the monkey drained and a humanoid face pounced out of the poster, inches away from GIR.

"AGH!" GIR screamed.

"AGH!" the creature cried in return.

"AGH!" the rest of us chorused as GIR ran in fear, leaping into my arms and knocking me over.

Whatever this thing was, it was laughing now. He pulled the rest of his body out from the poster and landed lightly on his feet in his black boots. He wore a black and white striped suit, his eyes ere hollow and sallow while his hair lay in an untidy mop of white-blonde hair. His crooked, wry grin revealed a row of yellow, uneven teeth.

"Oh yeah, I still got it!" he clapped his hands, he examined us frozen in place, "Hey, you're Lydia's new buddies, right? The big head, the alien and the Britt!"

No one spoke, our mouths had run dry and I was sure I could hear all of our hearts beating. Zim made me jump be jumping forward and pointing accusingly in his signature stance.

"Identify yourself!"

The stranger tilted his head, "Okay, don't get a bee in your bonnet!"

In a puff of smoke, a frilly white bonnet appeared on Zims head, followed by a faint buzzing from inside. Zim jolted in surprise and then froze. He leapt into the air, arms swatting at his head.

"BEE!" he screamed, running in circles.

"Never get's old," he snapped his red tipped fingers and the bonnet vanished, "Well you clearly know me, you called me after all."

"Called you? You mean, you're Beetlejuice?" Dib asked, taking a cautious step forwards.

"Yep, BJ for short. Once, twice, three times the charm and here I am. Aren't you a bright spark?"

There was a spark or light and the tip of Dib's long black lock of hair developed a flame at the end. He yelped in horror and I jumped to my feet and extinguished it with my jacket. Zim allowed himself a chuckle. Whatever this thing was, he had a lot of power, and a thing for visual puns unfortunately for us.

"So where's Lydia? She must like you to tell you about me, but then again, after meeting an alien, I'm not much of a surprise, eh?"

I cleared my throat, heart pounding, "Uh, actually, Lydia didn't tell us. We found out on our own. Sorry." I realised how weak I was sounding, but if something scares you, being nice to it will keep you safe for a while.

BJ smirked, "No sweat, babes, Lydia might be able to loosen up a bit now. She's been a bit high strung, you know?" to prove his point he transformed into a violin hovering in the air and having each of his strings snap with a twang.

"So what are you?" Dib asked, narrowing his eyes, "A demon? A witch's servant?"

"Witch?" BJ questioned, "Nah big head, I'm the ghost with the most!"

"My head's not big!"

"A ghost?" Zim sneered, "Ghost's don't exist!"

"Like aliens don't exist?" I challenged.

BJ laughed and held his hand up to me for a high five, I hesitated but returned the gesture all the same. I was starting to like this guy.

"Uh, sorry, I'm Amy, that's Dib, Zim and that little guy is GIR."

"What's going on in here?" Gaz snarled from the doorway, "Dib, are you raising the dead again?"

"That was you?" BJ asked, amusingly at Dib, who chuckled nervously and shrugged, BJ looked at Gaz, "She must be the scary one."

"Gaz, this is BJ, he's a… ghost." I explained, not really believing my own words.

Gaz eyed him suspiciously and shrugged, sitting herself on the sofa and going back to her game. In turn, we all started asking questions. BJ explained that he was a ghost form the Neitherworld and had befriended Lydia, (who as it turns out was not a witch) back when she lived in her old house and had been her friend in secret for a few years. He's insisted on going to skool with her and he apologised for the tricks he played, gaining a deadly glare from Zim and a nod of approval from Dib. It was strange, talking to a dead person, he was so lively and loud. Apart from the smell of decaying leaves and damp, and the occasional sight of an insects wing stuck in his teeth, I wouldn't have guessed. Thought the questioning, Dib had been taking notes. BJ laughed.

"Awe look at him, wide-eyed in wonder, those eyes could suck you in! Whoa!"

BJ vanished and Dib let out a cry in surprise. Me and Zim leaned in and saw the just behind Dibs glasses, BJ could be seen hovering inside the white of his right eye. The chocolate brown of Dibs iris darting trying to focus on him, BJ somersaulted into the left eye before vanishing and reappearing on the sofa next to Gaz. Dib swayed dizzily and clutched my arm for support.

"Hey, why not find Lydia, tell her the good news? Oh, space-kid," BJ morphed into a taller version of Zim with yellow eyes, he held up a three fingered hand, "I'll take you to my leader!"

Zim growled in annoyance and BJ turned back into himself. I laughed and made my way to the door when I was stopped.

"We can just teleport there, just say the magic words, babes!" he noticed my hesitation, "It's easy, don't get your head in a spin!"

I felt my neck click as the room starting spinning wildly out of control, yet my feet were glued to the floor. A cry of confusion escaped me and I reached up and clutched my head in my hands and waited for my vision to clear. Talk about a head-rush. Oh no, now I was making puns!

"Gaz-human! Are you accompanying us?" Zim asked.

She sighed and closed her game, glaring at us in turn, "I suppose, but if you raise one more dead person, you'll have to find a way to raise yourself from the dead."

I smiled, if there was something I admired about Gaz, and that was that she knew how to control the atmosphere perfectly. My eyebrow raised knowingly at Zim. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I just don't want to snooping about my base when no one's here!" he insisted.

BJ winked at me and I nodded in return, "Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice!"

The room began to spin under us, sending us swaying into darkness. I couldn't see anything, I could hear the other yelling around me, but where they were, I couldn't tell. In the background, BJ was laughing manically, along with GIR who sounded like he was having the time of his life. Just then, as quickly as it started, it was over. Out feet hit a soft carpet and I lost my balance. I looked up at the ceiling, trying to settle my stomach, when a figure leaned over me.

"Uh… Hi Lydia, mind if we drop in?" I grinned nervously.

BJ cackled, "Ah nice to see my humour is rubbing off on people!"

"BJ! I told you we needed to keep you a secret!" Lydia groaned, helping us to out feet.

"I know babes, but they called me!"

I started to apologise, but Zim interrupted, "Nothing can be kept secret from the amazing ZIM!"

"Sorry Lydia, we kind of found out for ourselves, it wasn't his fault." I offered.

"That and Dib's fascination with the dead." Gaz spat, brushing herself down.

Lydia was surprisingly okay with everything. In fact, she found it funny. She admitted that she knew it was a matter of time before Dib let his paranormal instinct get the better of him. GIR, who had never met Lydia before, instantly took a liking to her and scrambled up into her shoulder, playing with the hair that was pulled into a ponytail at the top of her head.

"That's GIR, Zims minion." Gaz explained, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Cute little guy." Lydia commented.

"You're taking all of this very well." Dib noted aloud.

"I could say the same for you." She challenged.

A smile quirked the side of my mouth, Zim folded his arms, "Humans…"