MK snuck the red dress and the bear clip into her room at Sarah May's apartment, she couldn't wait to see her friend's face on seeing the dress, much less seeing her in the dress. She went about fixing dinner, wanting Sarah May to get some rest before taking the children around the next day for trick-or-treating. That got her to thinking about Jamie, she hadn't yet told him her plans, though she was curious as to what his costume would be. Letting out a sigh, she figured on going to see Mavis after lunch the next day and letting her know first what was going to happen before breaking the news to Jamie. When Sarah May came home, she was exhausted, and was quite thankful that MK had made dinner.

"Oh, thank you so much, MK, I've been so swamped today, I clean forgot about dinner!"

MK chuckled, "Then it's a good thing I accepted your invitation to stay with you until I leave, otherwise, you might not get anything done!"

Sarah May laughed, "That's certainly true. This is the first year since I started teaching that I've been able to eat something for dinner before Halloween!"

"Really? Every single year?"

Sarah May nodded as she dove into her chicken, "Every single year, sometimes I come home so late that I just head off to bed."

"Wow, that must be hard."

Sarah May shrugged, "I'm used to it, so it's not that big of a deal. Not only that, it's just one night out of the year, and Halloween does bring its tasty treats, after all."

MK chuckled, "I guess that's so."

"Oh, um, are you going to talk to Jamie about your plans?"

MK bit her lip, nodding, "Yeah, I will, I was thinking about that as I fixed dinner. I'm thinking of letting Mavis know before spilling it to Jamie, so I'll visit her tomorrow before school is out, around lunchtime, maybe."

"That sounds like a good idea. Oh, um, while you're out, could you pick up some party favors at Sandy's? I completely forgot to do that this year. I'll pay you back later, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, I'll be happy to help. Where do you want me to take them?"

"Oh, thanks so much! Well, some is supposed to go to the hospital, I promised I would bring ten for this year, and then I would need fifteen for my classroom."

"Oh, OK. Any particular theme?"

"Well, the hospital would take anything, really, but for my classroom, I tend to go with ghosts."

"Really? Why?"

Sarah May shrugged, "Oh, I guess I've always been fascinated by the will-o-the-wisps of Celtic mythology, stories my mother used to tell me, to continue our Celtic heritage."

"Huh, that's interesting. Well, I'll keep that in mind then, ghosts for you, whatever's left for the hospital."

Sarah May chuckled, "Pretty much. Thanks for dinner, it was great!"

"Oh, it was my pleasure, figured you might come in exhausted."

Sarah May let out a huff, "No kidding." She rose from the table, and the two took their conversation into the kitchen, where they proceeded to clean up. "So, you have your costume all set up and ready?"

"Yup, Jamie was going to let me borrow his dog, and Jason was going to let me borrow his cat Bootsie, but I thought it best that I either leave that out or use stuffed animals. I wouldn't be sure if the two would get along together, much less how to control a greyhound if she goes all haywire."

Sarah May chuckled, "That's true, though it would have been a pretty funny sight."

MK snorted, "Of course it would, and I wouldn't be able to expect any help from you because you'd be on the ground laughing till your sides split."

Sarah May snickered, "You bet I would."

MK rolled her eyes, "Go figure. What about your costume? You haven't said anything at all about it to me."

"Of course not, I want it to be a surprise," Sarah May winked.

MK grinned, "Go figure, again. Then can you at least tell me about your ball gown? Or is that going to be a surprise too?"

A hint of sorrow entered Sarah May's smiling eyes, "No, I'm just not going. I haven't gone for the past few years, I don't see the point of going now."

"Even to just keep me company?"

Sarah May glanced at MK before sighing, "Well, there's also the fact that I don't have time to get a dress."

"What about Overland's Antiques and Oddities? He has several old dresses in the back that he's shown me."

Sarah May shook her head, "Too expensive, though they are very pretty."

"You've seen them?"

Sarah May nodded, "Yeah, a few years ago when I tried to go the first time. They were far too expensive for me, and I've been volunteering at the hospital's party ever since."

"Which ones did you like?"

"Don't even think about getting me one."

"But I'll be swamped tomorrow! Or did you forget that I have to storm Sandy's for party favors and visit Mavis?"

Sarah May laughed, "Oh, right, sorry. Well, there was really only one I really liked, it was this apple red dress with brown bears along the hem. I really liked that one."

"Oh, I liked that one too! Though I think I like that one only because mine is pretty similar." The two giggled at the idea. MK turned back to washing dishes before dropping the next hint. "Though, I also liked the green one with the black dragons. I had only seen it after I bought my dress, so I couldn't exactly get it when I already had one. But I thought it might look nice with my green eyes. What do you think?" MK was startled by Sarah May's sudden movement as she turned MK around and backed up, her hands set up like a picture frame. She moved a little closer before speaking.

"Well, maybe. I'd have to see you in it, I don't remember the shade."

"Oh, well, if you don't mind my saying this, my first thought was of Richard's eyes. The shade looked pretty similar."

Sarah May turned her head, "I see."

MK sighed, "Sarah May, really, truly, he does care for you, Jack said so himself, Richard and Esther are just friends."

Sarah May finished drying off the dish and put it away, "Right, if you don't mind, I'm feeling kinda sleepy. I'm going to bed." MK sighed as Sarah May walked out the room, so much for that. Jack's plan had better work, and only if Richard was planning something to thank his friends via his idea.

MK woke the next morning to find Sarah May gone, a note from her apologising for the night before and for leaving so early as she had some things to take care of before the children got to school, ending with a 'see you soon', MK sighed as she crumbled up the note and threw it away. Richard, those invites better arrive soon, she thought grumpily. She had a quick breakfast before heading to her room and pulled out both red dresses, laying them gently side by side on her bed. Sarah May's dress was a brighter red than MK's, the brown bears a stark contrast to the bright red. MK blinked, she had seen that style of bear somewhere. Her widened as she remembered, the tapestries! Two of the tapestries had bears in the same style as the bears on the dress, kind of odd, but if the dress was as old as the tapestries, then it kind of made sense. They all might have belonged to the same woman, or a family. Taking a breath, MK went about changing into her costume. She had a pale red, almost pink, medieval dress with an off white apron and a cloak the in the same color as her favorite jacket. She placed a pomegranate, a peanut, and a smelling bottle in the pockets of the apron before letting out her hair. It felt weird having her hair down, but in a way, it felt good. To top it off, she placed a flower crown on her head. Once she was done, she grabbed her wallet and keys and set off to see Mavis. The illustrious mayor was certainly surprised to see her guest, even more so in her outfit.

"What are you dressing as?" asked Mavis when she opened the door.

"Fairer-than-a-Fairy," smiled MK. "May I come in? I need to talk to you about something, particularly Jamie."

Mavis opened the door wider, letting her in, "What about him?"

MK sighed as she walked into the house, "About how he's going to take my departure. I have to leave no later than the 2nd. I have a couple of cases I have to take care of, and I don't know when I'll be back, or if."

Mavis blinked, "You don't know if you'll be back?" MK nodded slowly and sadly. "Oh, that, that won't go over too well with him. And he was getting so used to having you around. Come on into the kitchen, we'll talk more there." MK followed her hostess into the kitchen, where dozens of pies lay cooling, more apparently in the oven.

"You're making pies for the ball?" MK asked incredulously.

Mavis shot her a smile, "Yes, I'm trying a variety this year. Every year I've done a different kind, but this year, I've decided to several of each kind. We'll see how this will turn out."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's a hit."

"Oh, thanks. But, about your departure, and Jamie . . ."

"Oh, right, about that. I haven't told him yet, but I wanted to let you know first so you could be prepared to help him when I'm gone."

"Can you tell me about your cases?"

MK shook her head, "I'm sorry, I can't, my clients want secrecy until they have been solved."

Mavis let out a sigh, "Well, that's too bad, about you leaving, and we were all just getting to know you, even me. I do want to apologise for my unsightly behavior upon your arrival, I love Jamie, and I was afraid you would take him away from me."

"Oh no, I can't take him back, and being a detective, well, it's no life for a nine-year old, no matter how many mysteries he enjoys."

"Well, thank you for letting me know about this, I'll try to help Jamie understand that your departure was important. Would you like to share a pie with me? I was trying out two different apples, and, well, as you can see, it didn't turn out that nice, though it doesn't taste bad." Mavis showed her a pie that had a bite already taken out of it, and it looked rather interesting, one side looked kind of pale and underdone, but the other looked golden. "Apparently the times vary on the apples, I'm glad I had only tried out one or this would have been a disaster."

MK grinned, "That it would, and so many delicious pies would have gone to waste. However, I have to go run a few errands for Sarah May real quick before school's out. I'm afraid I can't stay long."

"Oh no, that's perfectly alright. Here, you can have this half for the road, my pies have a nice shelf life of four days, so you can eat it at your leisure." Mavis quickly packed the better-looking half into a ziplock bag.

"Oh, thank you so much! And thank you for understanding."

"Not at all! Thank you for coming by and letting me know! I hope you enjoy yourself at the ball! Oh, and could you bring Jamie to the ball? I still have to finish up a few things here!" Mavis waved as MK walked out the door.

"Sure! I'll see you there!" MK waved and smiled back before getting into her car and driving off, not noticing the change in Mavis' expression as she took off for Sandy's.

"Mom!" Jamie nearly tackled MK when she walked into Sarah May's classroom with the goodies.

"OK! Glad to see you too, kid, but I've got my arms full. And you dressed up as Peter Pan?"

Jamie grinned as he took a couple of bags from her, "Yup, it was classified as a fairy tale, so I decided to use it. No one else has dressed up as Peter Pan before, so here I am." Jamie tilted his head back and let out a crow, a group of boys answered in a chorus of crows. Jamie laughed as they approached, "And I guess you could say these are my Lost Boys. Could you take these to Mrs. Bernards, please?"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" MK held back the bags as they grabbed for them.

"Only if you get them to Mrs. Bernards without touching anything in here, got it?"

The boys moaned, "Oh, alright."

"OK, but remember, I'm watching you." The boys whooped when MK finally let go of the bags and they tore off towards their teacher to deliver the packages.

"Um, Jamie? I thought Peter Pan had six Lost Boys, not four."

"Oh, the numbers actually varied, so I asked my friends if anyone wanted to be a Lost Boy, and these four are it."

MK chuckled, "Looks like a good bunch, nonetheless."

"Alright everybody! Come get your candy!" Fifteen children's voices went up in whoops and cheers as they crowded around their teacher handing out the ghost-bagged candy. Jamie went and got his bag before returning to his mother's side.

"Want some?" he asked before popping a candy corn in his mouth.

MK shook her head, "No thanks, I've got something in the car."

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure, let your teacher know first."

"Right." Jamie bounded over to Sarah May and told her where he was going before bouncing back to his mother.

"She said it's alright! There's not much going on today anyway for school."

"Alright, let's go then." MK led the way to the car, jingling the keys on the way. She unlocked the car and Jamie climbed in, pausing when he noticed the apple pie.

"Mom, where did you get this?" he asked, holding up the pie.

"Your mom, she was real sweet giving me a piece. We had a little chat before I came here, something I have to talk to you about, actually. Jamie what are you doing?" Jamie was starting to get out of the car.

"You can't eat it, mom!"

"What? Why not?"

"It's apple! It's probably the poisoned apple that Sarah May ate!"

"Jamie! Give it back!" MK reached for it, but Jamie kept it out of her reach.

Jamie sighed, "I know you don't believe anything about A Faraway Land, but maybe this will convince you." He took a big bite out of the pie, chewed, and swallowed.

"Oh come on kid, why did you do that? Jamie!" she shrieked as the pie fell from Jamie's hand onto the driveway, Jamie's eyes had closed, and unresponsive to his mother's screams.