It was near dawn when Lydia woke up in the bedroom of the hotel suite. She didn't question her way of moving here, or even her wearing beetle patterned pajamas. What really interested her was what happened during the kiss. Why did it affect her that way? Why was Beetlejuice moving away from her? Was he disgusted by the mere thought of kissing her? But he did it when he transferred his juice into her, so… But that was only out of necessity… 'Damn, he is so confusing, if only I could look into his mind… Wait a minute! I can go into his mind. The previous time I ended up there because of BJ's words, but now I can control his transformations too, so maybe…' "I want to be in Beetlejuice's mind."

Lydia felt an extremely strong pull somewhere to the right and a moment later she found herself in darkness. "It must be dark because he is sleeping," Lydia concluded while looking around. The previous time she had BJ's conscious as her guide, but now she was on her own. There was a small lit up opening to her left so she headed there. Halfway to her destination, Lydia was thrown to the side and then tumbled downwards and then upwards again. 'Is BJ turning in his sleep? Or maybe he is having a nightmare? Being here I could see it and maybe understand his disposition towards me. But firstly, get some steady ground under my feet.'

Luck seemed to be on her side here too, so the darkness threw her out near the place she wanted to see most – her shrine. But by the looks of it, it could be freely named Lydia's former shrine. The stairs were half crumbled, but Lydia still managed to get up to the top where her portrait was supposed to be. It was there, but a huge crack run across it. Over it ran a waterfall with no river in sight. "Strange. I understand that the shrine was destroyed because of Kevin's appearance, but what is with this waterfall? It just flows with no further destination." But then Lydia glanced at the portrait again and gasped – the waterfall was erasing the colors! Little by little, by half of the portrait has already been turned into a blank canvas.

"Is this the reason why BJ doesn't remember our time together? But the half of the picture is still intact, he must remember at least half of eight years, but he doesn't remember the basic stuff! So this is not the reason then. And what's with this strange smell?" Lydia neared the waterfall and put her hand into the water. The fluid resembled water, but it was not. She took a handful and tasted it: it was salty. "Do nature laws apply here and that means that the waterfall can be only on rivers? Or they don't and the salt's presence can have whatever possible reason?" Lydia signed and went downstairs. Beetlejuice seemed to be even more a mystery from the inside than he was on the outside.

Lydia managed to catch BJ's train of thought and travelled further. She didn't see Kevin's shrine, but what she saw were completely white places scattered all around the mind. As if someone just cut out pieces of BJ's mind. The train had no definite direction since Beetlejuice was sleeping, but Lydia still hoped that she could catch a glimpse of Beetlejuice's dream. And she did. The next moment a huge screen appeared above her. The moment she saw the dream, a wave of nostalgia hit her. It was the dream about Lydia and the gang travelling to the Wizard of Ooze. She recalled how disgusted Beetlejuice was that it happened to be his dream and not hers. But why was he having it now? And more importantly, why did he treat it as a nightmare?

"Is it that painful for him to remember me? But why? We had so much fun together. He could remember me and spend time with Kevin just the same. Maybe he didn't want to compare? It could make Kevin jealous, I suppose, but still it is too cruel. To him, to me. Why was he so certain that I would never come back? He was and is my closest friend. Why lose faith in me to such degree? I must go to BJ's memory bank, maybe there I will know why he doesn't remember me."

As easy done as said. The next moment she was in the white room where two lines of creatures in white stood handing memories to the 'bank' workers. Everything looked totally normal except for one of the safes. It was securely shut and had yellow police 'do not cross' lines all over the door. There was a small crack in the door however and pictures seemed to be slipping out of it. Lydia picked one of the pictures: it had Lydia on it when she was fifteen, at her birthday party in the Neitherworld. There was no doubt anymore – the closed safe had all Beetlejuice's memories about their years of their friendship. Her reappearance must've made the safe crack. So if she opens the safe, BJ will remember her and be the same friend she had before! Lydia touched the yellow line to remove it, but stopped. "There must be a reason for it. Beetlejuice must release these memories himself. I don't have any right to push him like this." She stepped from the safe, noticing threatening glances from the white creatures, Beetlejuice protected his secrets with vigilance. "Out of sight, out of mind."

In a whirl of wind she reappeared in the bedroom. She had no choice but to return to bed, her questions remaining with question marks.

…………...

"Where are we going?"

"Don't you remember? I told you that if you'd be a good lucky girl, you'll complete your outfit."

"So I brought you enough luck?" Lydia asked doubtful. She certainly did nothing special the previous night.

"Yes, I doubled my money. If kisses could be converted into money it would've been even more, but unfortunately…"

Lydia waited for an awkward silence, but none came. The kiss seemed to mean nothing to Beetlejuice. Just a matter of payment. Lydia couldn't even start to think about it being a good or a bad thing. "Did I… faint last night?"

"Pretty much."

"Why?"

"How should I know? It was you who fainted!"

'But it was you who had that effect on me.' "So where are we going again?"

"To buy something for your today's dress."

"Which will be?.." Lydia asked offhandedly, looking into the shops they were speedily passing. Beetlejuice seemed to have an exact shop in mind.

"Black, I think. Not to stand out that much. If you don't want the repetition of the last night, that is."

"Meaning? You think it was the red dress that affected the bull?" Lydia asked, slightly offended. She thought that it was her attractiveness that was the reason.

"What else? But if you want to bet your kisses left and right, I don't mind." Lydia's heart leaped at the thought that he didn't mind her kissing him, but he spoiled everything by saying, "But you better bet them on your own cards. Oh, here we are."

Lydia was not exactly surprised when they entered a jewelry store. Diamonds were not her friends and she didn't like jewelry in a conventional way, only if it was something really unusual. So she informed Beetlejuice of the fact.

"If you don't want anything then I'll just save some good money."

'How typical of him.'

"But since you put a record, you deserve some knick-knacks."

Lydia looked around the store. It was clearly not an ordinary jewelry store. There were all possible kinds of jewelry from not only all centuries but all possible eras. Cleopatra's tiara? Maria Antoinette's necklace? Earrings of Elizabeth I? No problem. And there were no price tags on the pieces. Lydia spent two hours choosing one piece and not a whole box of jewelry while Beetlejuice floated around looking totally bored. Finally she had chosen a sapphire necklace and a silver hair pin which she felt in love with the moment she saw it. The seller wrapped the pieces after Beetlejuice wordlessly paid not even looking at what he was buying.

"I hope you will come again sometime," the seller said when they were leaving.

"I hope not," Beetlejuice grunted under his breath.

"Why, BJ? It's a wonderful shop."

"The prices are as if he is selling the world's wonders."

"I am sorry if I inconvienced you."

"No matter." Beetlejuice made a dismissing gesture, closing the topic.

"You know, I was wondering… You are pretty famous around the Neitherworld, right?"

"Of course I am! How can you even doubt it?!"

"So the casino owners asked you to remove your feet on the very first visit?" The sharky smirk was the answer she needed. "So I can assume that you juiced your way to winning in every way and place possible? And when the casinos discovered that you actually cheated, they demanded the money back, and you gave it back but in the way of investing into their businesses?"

"Scamming, you know I love it. But I didn't juice my way to winning, I juiced others' to lose."

"Smart move."

"Of course it was. It was my idea after all!"

The day unfolded pretty much the same as the previous one. They dined in one of the restaurants, changed (even if in a black and very covering dress, Lydia was a head turner wherever they went) and hit the casinos. This time Beetlejuice let her play a bit, but no kisses were betted. There were a lot of those who desired, but their pleads were ignored. Luck worked well for both of them.

"My back aches from all this sitting," Lydia complained in the morning of the third day. "Can we, for example, go dancing in the evening and stay in the casinos only during the day hours?"

Beetlejuice looked deep in thought, considering her proposal, the same as he looked when Kevin suggested her coming with him to Las Vigorous.

"I don't see why not," he drawled, but Lydia could clearly see doubt and even fear in his eyes.

'What is he always afraid of?' "Can I choose the color today?"

"Whatever."

"White then."

"White?!"

"Yeah. It is not exactly my color, but I want to have something white today, I don't know why."

"Is your clock ticking?" Beetlejuice asked with a smirk.

"It's nothing like that!" Lydia protested. "I don't want to marry right now."

"You were engaged."

"Well, we've never made it to the altar, so it was not meant to be."

"Say what you wish."

Lydia felt she was very near to losing her temper, but she got a hold of herself. "I want to ask you something."

"Shot."

"Have you ever considered me to be your Nexty?" Lydia asked, dodging a rubber bullet.

"Never."

"Why?"

"You are a girl."

"And have disadvantages?"

"Only boys can be Juice Wielders."

"And why this discrimination?"

"The tradition is eternity old."

"As if someone like you will stick to an old tradition."

Beetlejuice bowed thanking for the compliment. "You are right, but there were a lot of crazy ones before me. So they tried. The original wielder plants his juice into his successor who is usually very young, could be even a toddler. If the girl was only a kid she just blew up to smithereens, if she was already a woman then the planted juice didn't go into contact with her body and developed as an independent entity and that didn't end good either – the mother usually died."

"Mother? You mean, women become pregnant?"

"Sort of. The juice can't exist without a body, so the baby disappeared the moment it was 'born' taking the mother with it."

Lydia paled. "Then I am-"

"Of course not! The amount of juice inside you is a drop in the ocean comparing to what even Kevin has right now."

She sighed with relief. "So I am not pregnant?"

"Of course not. There can be only one Ghost with the Most."

"Another eternal tradition?"

"Exactly. The stuck ups in administration want the Neitherworld to exist. In one piece too."

"With two Beetlejuice's it would be double trouble."

"Sounds good but I prefer no competition. So is it still white?"

"Yes."

The day passed in a fantastic swirl. They played and danced and then played some more, and danced some more. In the late evening they checked out of the hotel and went to the parking lot to get into Doomie and get back. Near the car a frog-looking ghoul was waiting for them, he pushed envelopes into their hands and departed chuckling all the way.

"Oh how thoughtful!" Lydia exclaimed looking into the envelopes. There were photos of their outings, even several from their dancing and of course 'the kiss' was also fixed in history.

"Of course he is, put the bill in here too!"

"How can you think about the money in the moments like this? Here, take my share."

"Moments like what?" Beetlejuice asked, accepting her money and shoving it deep into his suit pocket.

'Intimate ones.' "Let's just get home."

"You can go right from here. You don't need to ride all the way to the Road House."

"I want to say good bye to Kevin." In truth, she wanted to spend some more time with Beetlejuice. She didn't know when would be another opportunity to visit the Neitherworld. These three days were not picnic, but they were fun. They argued and the usual banter was present half of the time, but when they danced or simply walked, it was like they were friends again. Like they were close again.

Upon their arrival, Beetlejuice and Lydia found Kevin and the Sappy Face Ghouls deep in a game of Monopoly despite the late hour. Kevin was winning, the girl of the trio was on the last place. But it was mostly because she was staring glaze eyed at Kevin half of the playing time, if not all of it. Beetlejuice noticed it and stormed off cursing on his way. Lydia ran after him.

"Is it what you mean by girls' disadvantages? That they fall in love? But boys do the same."

"That's the bloody problem," Beetlejuice spat, all his relaxed composure gone in a moment.

"I don't understand-"

But Lydia was interrupted by Kevin, who flew into the room, his spirits unshakably high. "I was thinking, BJ- Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"No, Kevin, go on," Lydia said, coming to conclusion, that Beetlejuice won't explain his way of thinking. Simply on principle of hating the L-word.

"So I was thinking, can I and Sappy Faces go to Grislyland amusement park tomorrow? Just for a day. We'll pay you back."

Beetlejuice tossed Kevin a roll of bills. "Consider me generous today, but only for a day and no love tunnel rides."

"Yuck! Why should we go there?" Kevin asked with disgust and run away to tell his future companions about the great news.

"So there is still hope," Beetlejuice breathed out, falling onto the sofa in the living room.

"You want to break them up? But she is a… well, good girl, you created her yourself."

"How can't you see? It doesn't matter. We don't do this lovey-dovey, huggie-wuggie, kissy-wissy stuff. We are here to turn this world upside down and inside out!"

"If this is also an eternal tradition then Kevin should break it, damn the consequences," Lydia stated, indignant by his statement. He was going way overboard. She stormed out of the Road House, one thought buzzing at the back of her mind: Kevin shouldn't be the only one.