Gh Gh Gh, Gh Gh Gh, Ghost

"Trick-Or-Treat!" the three kids said in unison as I opened the door, all of them eagerly proffering their candy bags. 
"Oh, that's a lot of weed and incense," the boy who I think was supposed to be Homelander (which hardly seemed like an age-appropriate costume to me) said with a disdainful shake of his head. While I didn't appreciate the comment, since I was handing out candy at Eve's Eden, I couldn't honestly tell him he was wrong. 
"This is a Witch House, Caden. That's what Witches smell like. At least the ones that I know," my niece Lorelyn told him. She was in a black and purple costume that was somewhere between Batgirl and a generic superheroine. "Happy Halloween, Aunt Samantha!"
"Happy Halloween, Lori! I'm glad you and your friends could make it into town for trick-or-treating," I said. 
"Caden's mom drove us. This is his cousin, Macy," she said, gesturing at the girl beside her who was either a Mogwai, a Furby, Baby Yoda, or an adorable amalgamation of all three. 
"I'm visiting from Michigan, so if you have any Canada-only candy I'd like those, please," she requested politely. "Aeros, Coffee Crisps, Chocolate Smarties; anything like that." 
"Just don't give her any Kinder Eggs. Those are illegal over there," Caden remarked. 
"Well, I don't have any of those, but I do have full-sized chocolate bars from a Canadian workers' owned co-op!" I said excitedly as I held out an assortment for them to choose from. "Their cocoa is all ethically and sustainably sourced, and these bars are all vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free so none of you need to worry about which ones you can pick."
"Thank you!" Lorelyn and Macy said as they each made their selection. 
"Yay, woke candy," Caden said flatly, though his precocious stance on culture war issues didn't stop him from taking a chocolate bar.
"Well if you decide you like it, remember that we sell them here," I teased him gently. "Lori, you be sure to share that with your little sister, alright?" 
"I will," she promised. "Oh! Aunt Samantha, can you summon Elam for us, please? Caden doesn't believe me that you have a Spirit Familiar."
"Of course I don't believe she has a ghost she stole from Hades! Do you honestly just believe everything your lesbian pagan wine aunt tells you?" he asked. 
"Excuse me young man, but I am a bisexual pagan wine aunt," I corrected him with exaggerated indignation. "It's very rude to refer to people by terms they don't self-identify with, you know." 
"So, you're saying that you do have a ghost, then?" he asked incredulously. "Can we see him?"
"Yeah, I want to see the ghost too!" Macy added.
"Please, Aunt Samantha! Can we see him?" Lorelyn pleaded. 
"Well, it is Halloween. The Veil's the thinnest it will be all year, so it is unusually easy for him to manifest a visible form," I mused theatrically. 
"So summon him then, if it's so easy," Caden challenged me. 
"I would honestly love to show you how I summon my Spirit Familiar, but I'm afraid that in this case, it wouldn't be strictly appropriate," I explained gently. 
"And why is that?" Caden asked, eager to hear my excuse for not being able to demonstrate my alleged supernatural powers.
"Because he's already here," I smiled, my eyes glancing up from the kids to look behind them.
They all spun around at once, and there was Elam. 
A mist had condensed around his astral form, a pale and diffuse blue light illuminating him from within. He wasn't quite dense enough or bright enough to be noticed from a distance, but he was undeniably humanoid when viewed up close. He loomed over them, his long coat billowing about him, sternly glaring down at them with his beryl-green, wolf-like eyes. 
Lorelyn was delighted, but Caden and Macy just stared up at him in stunned silence. 
"Gh-gh-gh, gh-gh-gh," Caden stammered in the most cliched way imaginable. 
"Ghost!" Elam screamed in an inhuman and unearthly wail, throwing out his arms as he swooped down upon them. 
Caden and Macy screamed in terror, dropping their candy bags and running away from the house as fast as they could. Laughing gleefully, Lorelyn courteously picked up their candy and chased after them.
"Thanks, Aunt Samantha!" she called back to me. "And thanks, Elam! Happy Halloween!" 
"Thank you, Elam," I said, closing the door and turning to go back inside.
I was stopped by Genevieve standing directly in my path, her arms crossed as she stared at me in mild annoyance. 
"Sweetie, please tell me you weren't using your necromancy to prank the local kids," she sighed in slight exasperation. 
"Oh, come on, Evie," I pouted, making the best puppy dog eyes I could. "It's Halloween." 
Category:HWC23
Category:Halloween
Category:The Vesper's Bell
Category:Ghosts