Chapter 13
A Feast For Ghosts
A couple of months had passed since Hannukah. Ever since that night, Molly constantly thought about how Libby said she loved her. It made Molly wonder if she should tell Libby how she felt.
Unfortunately, Molly didn't have time to think about it too much as her grandma, Nin came over to her house while her parents were going on a vacation together. While her parents were away, Molly and the rest of her family were getting ready to celebrate Sart Duan Sib, a Thai holiday where they honor their ancestors by offering them food. That was a holiday that Scratch looked forward to every year. Every year, he would eat as much food as possible, much to Molly's amusement.
The holiday got even better for Molly when her grandma let her invite Libby over to the house for the day. Libby had just finished her preparations, and since she had some extra time to spare, she decided to write down a story in a book. As she wrote her story, Libby had the strange feeling that she wasn't alone. Before long, Libby turned around and was startled by a certain ghost.
"Boo!"
"Aaah!" Libby was startled off her seat as she fell to the floor.
Libby looked up to see Scratch laughing at her misfortune. Annoyed with the ghost, Libby stood up before she glared at Scratch.
"Scratch, what are you doing here?!" Libby yelled, not in the mood to put up with Scratch right now.
"Oh, you know! Just here to mess with you! What is that on your desk anyway? Your diary?" Scratch noticed the book Libby was writing in.
At that moment, Libby was shocked to see that Scratch was floating towards the book to grab it. Libby tried to stop him, but he was too fast for her as he already grabbed it.
"Aaah! Not my Y.A. novel!" Libby blushed as she desperately tried to reach out for it.
It ended up being pointless since Scratch was floating high above her, keeping the novel out of her reach. Scratch took the opportunity to read what Libby was writing.
The first thing he noticed was the title, which was called, "Mollibby". He began to read the story, where Libby wrote about her and Molly walking through the park, holding hands before sharing their first kiss. That was when Scratch began to burst into laughter.
"Oh, this is too good! Are you really shipping yourself with Molly?" Scratch laughed.
"Give it back!" Libby jumped to reach for her book, but Scratch still kept it away from her.
"I can't believe you are writing romantic fanfiction between you and a real person! I mean, sure! That's not creepy at all!" Scratch retorted.
Libby glared at Scratch. "Hey, writing fanfiction is a great way for me to express my feelings, and I will not apologize for that! Besides, you have no right to judge me after what you had done to Molly! You cursed her when she was just a child, you sicko!"
"That's still nothing compared to your creepy Y.A. novel! Maybe I should show it to Molly and see what she thinks of it!" Scratch teased, much to Libby's horror.
"Please don't show it her! Molly will know how I feel about her!" Libby begged.
"Relax!" Scratch said as he tossed the book back to her. "I'm not going to embarrass you like that. You still have to tell Molly how you feel at some point, and say it in English next time! Molly doesn't know Hebrew like you do!" Scratch said, revealing that he is already aware of what happened during Hannukah. "Anyway, I will see you at the McGee household."
With that, Scratch floated away, leaving Libby alone in her room. Before long, Libby was ready to head over to Molly's house. Once her mom dropped her off, Libby waved goodbye before she made her way to the house.
Once Libby entered the McGee household, Molly greeted her with a tight hug. This surprised Libby, but she soon smiled before she hugged Molly back.
"We are so glad you can make it, Libby!" Molly explained.
"Me too, Molly!" Libby smiled. "So, when is Sart Duan Sib going to be starting?"
"It will be starting soon!" Came the voice of Molly's grandma as she stepped in the room. "During the holiday, we honor ghosts by offering delicious food to them! We would appreciate it if you can help us too, Libby!"
"Of course! I would love to help!" Libby agreed. "What can I do to help?"
At that moment, Nin led Libby to the kitchen table with ingredients all over. Truthfully, the idea of cooking was intimidating to Libby since she had never cooked anything before.
"All you have to do is help us make dumplings! Just follow the recipe, and you should be fine!" Nin assured.
"I can't believe we are going to be cooking together for the first time! This is going to be so much fun, Libby!" Molly exclaimed.
"Now, Molly. I know you are excited to spend time with your girlfriend, but remember to focus on the holiday." Nin whispered to Molly.
Molly blushed at the mention of Libby being her girlfriend. "Grandma Nin, Libby is not my girlfriend." she whispered back.
"Not yet, at least." Darryl muttered under his breath.
It was hard for Libby to hear what Molly and her family was talking about, but decided not to question it. Everyone soon got started on making the dumplings for the ghosts. Even though, Libby didn't know too much about cooking, she was doing really well with helping out.
"You are doing great, Libby!" Molly complimented. "We are going to help out so many ghosts!"
Libby smiled. "Yes, I'm not used to helping so many ghosts at once though. I just hope I don't mess up."
"Don't be silly! You're a natural!" Molly suddenly let out an excited gasp. "This actually gives me an idea! Maybe someday, we can work together to enhappify everyone in Brighton!"
"I don't know, Molly. Enhappifying is more your thing. I don't think I would be that great at helping others." Libby explained.
That was when Molly thought for a moment in silence before she replied, "You love turtles, right? Maybe we can think of a way to help them, and in turn, help the citizens of Brighton!"
Libby actually liked the sound of that. "Do you mean like building a sanctuary for turtles?"
"Yeah! If anyone wants to come over, they can offer us money for charity!" Molly replied.
"And the turtles will still be safe and taken care of!" Libby added.
"At the same time we can offer the money to orphanages!" Molly exclaimed.
"And we can make the world a better place!" Molly and Libby both exclaimed in unison.
Upon realizing that they just finished each others sentence, they both smiled before they shyly looked away from each other as they blushed. Nin noticed this, and gave an amused smile as Molly and Libby's love for each other was pretty obvious by this point.
"Are you sure she's not your girlfriend?" Nin whispered to her granddaughter, much to Molly's embarrassment.
It wasn't long before everyone finished making the food for the ghosts. Scratch gazed at how delicious the food was before he was ready to dig in.
"Oh, this is going to be so delicious!" Scratch reached for the food before Molly stopped him.
"No, Scratch! You need to invite your ghost friends first! Maybe you should invite Geoff!" Molly suggested.
"Hm, Geoff. I can't place the name." Scratch pretended to have no idea who Molly was talking about.
"You know! G-E-O-"
Before Molly could say another word, Scratch interrupted her from spelling out more of his friend's name. "Okay, geez! He's got you doing the spelling thing too, huh? Fine! I'll invite Geoff!"
Reluctantly, Scratch opened a portal to the ghost world to tell Geoff about what is going on. Geoff agreed to come along, but only if he can bring his partner, Jeff along as well. The fact that another ghost would be coming along to eat the food only made Scratch even more reluctant. Not wanting anyone else to be invited, Scratch made Geoff promise not to tell anyone else about this.
A couple of hours had passed when everyone was ready to begin Sart Duan Sib. They just needed to wait for Geoff to arrive. However, Scratch was feeling impatient and just wanted to eat right now.
"Are Geoff and Jeff going to be here soon? This is getting boring!" Darryl complained.
"You know, maybe I should start without them! They would have wanted it that way!" Scratch spoke up.
"No! It is rude to eat before your guests!" Nin lectured.
Before long a portal appeared, and Geoff, along with Jeff floated through the portal to greet everyone.
Geoff greeted everyone with a friendly wave."Hey, everyone! Jeff and I are happy to spend the holiday with you!"
"Well, just to let you know, I am getting the first hundred bites!" said Scratch.
"Yeah, about that. There are actually others who are coming here too." Jeff explained.
"Others? What do you mean?" Libby asked.
Libby soon got her answer when a bunch of portals appeared out of nowhere, and hundreds of ghosts surrounded the table. This left Molly and the others surprised by how many ghosts have arrived. After getting over his surprised, Scratch floated over to Geoff, annoyed with his friend.
"Geoff, I thought you weren't going to tell anyone about this!"
"I didn't! It was actually Jeff with a J who invited everyone! J-E-"
"Okay! I get it!" Scratch interrupted Geoff.
"Look, I know that this seems like much, but this is a party! Wouldn't it make sense to invite our friends?" Jeff tried to reason with Scratch.
"He has a point, Scratch!" Molly agreed with Jeff. "After all, you know what they say! The more the merrier!"
This was not how Scratch wanted to spend Sart Duan Sib. He only wanted the food all to himself, but now he has to share it with hundreds of other ghosts. Since there were now more ghosts than they expected, Molly, Libby, and Darryl decided to go back inside to make some more food.
Meanwhile, Scratch floated through the crowd of ghosts in search of at least one dumpling to eat. In the midst of the crowd, Scratch managed to grab on to a plate of food. He was about ready to reach for a dumpling and eat it when a portal to the ghost world appeared behind him.
At that moment, Scratch was dragged through the portal before he was face to face with the Ghost Council once again. Thinking fast, Scratch hid the plate of food behind his back before the Ghost Council could see it.
"Scratch, I'm sure you know why you're here!" Sir Alister was the first to speak.
This caused Scratch to gulp. Judging from their strict expression, Scratch had a feeling that the Ghost Council finally found out about Molly and Libby's love for each other.
"A certain inconsistency in your scare report!" Lucretia answered.
"Or as you have written, your scar report!" Grimbella added as she and the rest of the Ghost Council laughed from Scratch's spelling mistake.
"He forgot the e!" Sir Alister mocked.
Now that he knew that the Ghost Council didn't suspect anything, Scratch started to calm down as he let out a relieved sigh.
"Phew! So glad you caught that! Okay, now I'm not going to waste anymore of your precious time! I'm just gonna go! See ya! Thank you!"
Scratch was about to leave, but the Ghost Council stopped him when they realized he was hiding something behind his back.
"Wait! What are you attempting to hide behind your back, Scratch?" Lucretia asked in suspicion.
"Nothing!" Scratch lied. "Just a little snack! You know Scratch! Always eating some kind of garbage!"
Not believing him for a second, the Ghost Council surrounded him before levitating the food out of his hands.
"Yes, but this doesn't seem to be the usual refuse you shove down your gullet." Sir Alister noticed.
It was at that point when Scratch knew that he can no longer keep the feast a secret anymore. "Yeah. Okay, look. I got these humans so scared, that they through me my own feast! A Sart Duan Sib!"
This got the Ghost Council intrigued by the feast, each of them wanting to join. At that moment, the Chairman stood up from his seat as he seemed to want to join in on the feast as well.
"Very well! We shall deign to attend!" Lucretia said, as she and the rest of the Ghost Council made their way to the human world, much to Scratch's dismay.
Back at the McGee's backyard, all of the ghosts continued to eat as they all had a fun time together. Unfortunately, the fun soon ended when a portal appeared and the Chairman along with the Ghost Council made their presence known.
Seeing the Chairman left the ghosts speechless. Too scared to be in the presence of the Chairman, the ghosts flew away, leaving Scratch, the Ghost Council, and the Chairman the only ghosts left. They soon sat down at the table, ready to eat.
"Humans, we demand our offering now!" Sir Alister demanded.
The door to the house opened, and Molly and Libby stepped out, ready to greet the ghosts. Just when Scratch thought things couldn't get any worse, the Ghost Council was about to meet the two humans that they have been searching for this whole time.
"I'm pretty nervous, Molly. Making food is one thing, but actually interacting with the guests is pretty intimidating." Libby admitted.
"Don't worry, Libby! You will do great!" Molly assured.
Upon noticing that the humans didn't seem that frightened, the Ghost Council stared at them in suspicion.
"Who are they?" Bartholomew asked.
"Oh, them? They are my servants! I scared both of their families into doing what I say!" Scratch lied.
Libby raised a confused eyebrow at what Scratch just said. "Servants? What are you-"
Before Libby could say another word, Scratch placed a ghostly hand over her mouth. "Just play along!" Scratch whispered with a forced grin.
Even though Molly and Libby were confused with what was going on, they had a feeling that they were in trouble. They found the new ghosts to be intimidating looking. Especially the Chairman, who continued to glare at the girls in silence.
"Anyway, go inside and make us something to eat!" Scratch ordered Molly and Libby. Seeing that they were confused, Scratch floated over towards them and whispered, "Pretend to be scared!"
Picking on on the hint, Molly pretended to be frightened by Scratch, "Aah! A ghost!"
"We are so frightened!" Libby followed Molly's lead as the girls went inside with Scratch.
Once they were inside, Scratch let out a sigh. He didn't know how things got from bad to worse so quickly, but knew that he needed to find a way to get the Ghost Council to leave.
"Scratch, what's going on? Who are those guys?" Molly asked.
"They're the Ghost Council!"
"The Ghost Council?" Libby repeated. "The same Ghost Council you work for?"
Scratch nodded. "Yes! And that big scary ghost over there is the ruler of the ghost world, the Chairman! We can't let them know that I am friends with a couple of humans! We need to figure out how to get them to leave."
While everyone was thinking of a plan, Libby noticed one more portal appear outside. Her eyes soon widened in horror when she took notice of an all too familiar purple ghost.
"Molly, it's Jinx!"
Surprised by what she just heard, Molly rushed over to Libby's side to see that she was right. Jinx sat down right next to the Ghost Council, but didn't seem to be in the mood to relax. She kept her eyes on her joy tracker in another attempt to find Molly and Libby.
"What is Jinx doing here?" Molly asked in shock.
"This isn't good! I don't think we can keep the Ghost Council waiting anymore." Scratch started to panic.
"Not to worry! You keep those ghosts distracted while Darryl and I make the rest of the food." said Nin.
"Oh boy. My hands are really going to cramp from all the food I have to make." Darryl sighed as he reluctantly walked into the kitchen with his grandma.
Back outside, the Ghost Council was starting to get impatient when Molly, Libby, and Scratch made their way outside.
"So sorry for the wait!" Molly apologized. "We will have your food ready shortly!"
"Then you'd better prepare an extra meal for Jinx here as well!" Sir Alister gestured towards Jinx.
Said ghost sat quietly as she kept an eye on her joy scanner. She soon briefly looked up and locked eyes with Molly and Libby. Thankfully, Jinx didn't recognize Molly or Libby since they were wearing costumes the last time they met on Halloween. However there was something about them that seemed familiar to her. She briefly rose from her seat and squinted at them.
"There is something familiar about you two! Have we met before?" Jinx asked as she floated around Molly and Libby.
"Sorry. I don't think so! Scratch is the only ghost we know! He is so scary he made us his servants!" Molly lied.
"Y-Yeah! Scratch is so terrifying!" Libby pretended to be scared.
It wasn't long before the rest of the family stepped outside to serve food for the ghosts. They set the food on the table before the ghosts began to eat. Jinx was the only one who didn't care too much about eating. She only took a few bites of her food before occasionally glancing at her joy tracker.
This caused Libby to get worried. "Molly, I'm scared. What if Jinx eventually remembers us from Halloween."
"It's going to be okay, Libby! I promise I won't let any of them hurt you!" Molly promised before Libby gave her a grateful smile.
That was when the joy tracker began to detect joy, coming from Molly and Libby. Upon hearing the noise emitting from her tracker, Jinx took her attention away from her food to take a look at the tracker. Thankfully, Scratch thought fast as he spilled a glass of water on the tracker, causing it to malfunction.
"Hey!" Jinx yelled at Scratch. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to make this joy tracker?!"
"Oops! Sorry!" Scratch apologized, secretly relieved that he dodged another bullet.
Before long, all of the food was gone. Satisfied from their feast, the ghosts decided to return to the ghost world.
"Mmm! Most satisfying!" Sir Alister smiled.
"You have risen to our esteem, Scratch!" Lucretia complimented as she and the rest of the ghosts started to leave.
"Unless you intend to 'scar' us with your poor spelling again!" Grimbella joked.
Once they were ready to leave, a portal appeared before the ghosts returned to the ghost world. As soon as the Chairman, Jinx, and the Ghost Council left, Molly and the others sighed, relieved that they were safe once more.
"Whew! That was a close one!" said Libby.
"It sure was! At least the Ghost Council didn't find out about us being friends with Scratch!" Molly replied.
"That still doesn't change the fact that there is nothing left to eat!" Scratch complained, noticing that there was not a crumb of food left. "Afterlife is so unfair!"
To make it up to Scratch, everyone decided to make a little more Thai food for him to eat. As Scratch was satisfied with his meal, it was starting to get late, so Libby decided to return home. She hugged Molly goodbye before getting picked up by her mom. Once Leah drove back home, Libby thought back to the crazy day she just had. Despite the unexpected events that took place today, Libby was relieved that she and Molly won't have to worry about the Ghost Council for awhile.