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Despite December traditionally being a month meant for miracles, Brighton had long since seen a very important miracle one spring day almost a couple years back. The ripple effects of that day were still felt in moments big and small, especially when it came to one of the two souls involved.

“We already met our goal for clothing donations!” Molly McGee smiled at the community club during school. As a Junior, she finally could hold the position of Vice President of said club (though attempts to run for the actual student council hadn’t been as successful) and had seen classmates come and go, but now there were more this year than before. “And of course, the toy bins are still filling up!” Molly added. “And after the theft incident from two years back, Ollie’s sister gave us a hand to ensure that the bins cannot be removed or broken into with her security systems in place!” She gestured to Ollie, who smiled with pride for the acknowledgement of his sister’s work.

“We still need to get the gym set up for the winter dance and for the final basketball tournament of the year!” Perla Dawson–a Senior who was also the club President–joined in with a smile. “Your group is still up for the tournament, Jamil?”

“On it!” Jamil and a couple kids saluted.

“And have you decided on what the final store you want to do a video on in Brighton will be?” Perla asked Molly, with grass green eyes in deep wonder.

“I think we should take a break,” Molly decided. “Finals are coming up and we don’t want to overwork anyone. When we come back on January, we can decide on a store to film and sponsor.”

By this point, Molly had accomplished her goal of showcasing local stores in Brighton via social media. With the club’s additional help, all the stores they had shown off saw a nice significant boost in sales through locals and tourists. Students and staff who had connections to those businesses were especially happy with this.

The bell rang and the club left the classroom, with Ollie and Molly holding hands as they walked the halls of their school. Both had gotten taller–more so in Ollie’s case–and Molly’s hair was so long that her signature pony tail went just past her neck. Both were also the envy of numerous students who couldn’t believe the two were still together, or else bemoaned their loss.

“I thought that went great!” Ollie beamed.

Molly smiled in agreement. “I did too–another enhappified meeting!”

“And I’m glad June’s security system works!”

Molly nervously laughed. “I hope Darryl didn’t pick anything up from her.”

****

Later that day, Molly and Libby met with Libby and Andrea in ‘Books mark the spot’ to do homework and catch up on things that were going on.

“Mom just finished her final edit of her book,” Libby happily revealed. While her current wardrobe lacked the hole-filled tights and pants, and too-long sweaters of her earlier years, she still dressed rather modestly.

“That’s the one about your grandparents and their move from Europe to here?” Molly asked.

“Oh that would be so cool!” Andrea–who was looking more like an aspiring businesswoman each year–gushed. “A non-fiction book by a local businesswoman, whose own daughter is an amazing writer? That would get her in lots of book clubs!”

“It’s not that easy,” Libby admitted. “Getting into publishing is a lot harder than you think–”

“It’s like dating!” Leah threw out from her counter. “Agents always look for specific writers and they always have specific tastes!”

“What Mom said,” Libby agreed. “I’m still trying to find an agent for my book, but Fantasy is a hard genre to get into.”

“I think you’ll make it work!” Molly confidently replied. “I still remember your first book that you showed me. The idea of riding turtles into battle feels original and you have a way of making a reader care about your characters, as well as raising stakes!”

“Well, I try,” Libby sighed. “I consider it a victory if you get an agent interested beyond a synopsis or the first five to ten pages that they ask for before they want more.”

“They only want the first five or ten pages?!” Ollie panicked. “You can’t get hooked on a story with just that many pages! Most stories don’t even really start until after the first chapter! The first Harry Potter book’s first chapter doesn’t even focus on–”

“Ollie,” Andrea suddenly interupted. “As Vice President of the LGBTQ club, and an aspiring businesswoman who values integrity, I insist that you never use that series for any kind of reference, literary or business wise.”

The room became dead silent.

“Anyway, how have sales been during the holiday season, Ollie?” Andrea asked Ollie as if he hadn’t committed any wrong doing.

“Well, selling gift cards for around this time have worked,” Ollie began. “But Dad’s idea of a ‘gingerbread-beer’ was a bust. Not even our best taste taster thought it was that great. So he just opted on a cherry flavor special for December instead.”

The others agreed that ‘gingerbread-beer’ didn’t sound good, while Molly smiled as she appreciated that her high school friends were all together, just talking and having fun.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Andrea snapped her fingers. “Our store is getting a new collection of prom dresses and tuxes. I promised Dad I’d help promote sales, but I need models to show off the clothes. Do any of you want to model for me?”

“I’ll see if I have time for it,” Ollie answered, though he wasn’t keen on it.

“I’d rather not, if that’s ok,” Libby answered as she pulled a face–she didn’t feel photogenic enough to put herself out in the open like that.

“I will!” Molly smiled. “It sounds like fun! Plus I owe you back for all the times you’ve helped.”

Andrea gave Molly a thankful smile. “Well, we won’t get our collection until the beginning of Spring in March. I promise that if there’s a dress you want, we can give you a discount in return for your services.”

“I can’t believe we’re getting close to that time!” Ollie grinned. “I wonder if it’ll be like in the movies.”

“Oh you never know!” Molly smiled.

****

The Chen family root beer pub was doing well, especially among the youth of Brighton. While Reuben’s ‘gingerbread-beer’ would never see the light of day this time around, the cherry root beer was a nice hit. The countless birthdays and business meetings held at the pub ensured that business would be steady, especially in the winter time when it otherwise would have been too cold for root beer.

That Saturday, Darryl and June were allowed to hold June’s group’s weekly Dungeons and Dragons campaign at the root beer pub while the local game and card shop (which Molly and her club helped do a video on back in September) was temporarily closed for the day. Darryl was still learning the ropes of the game and tried his best while June took to it like a pro. Esther and Reuben stayed out of the game out of respect for their daughter and her spending time with friends, though Reuben couldn’t help but nostalgically think back to college days when he and his buddies played a bit of Dungeons and Dragons on campus.

“So for today’s campaign, who are our brave adventurers in our daring quest against Darkstarian the Demented?” Miguel Flores–the dungeon master–asked as he surveyed the group of four.

“I’m Dai Lu, the Sorceress of the Golden City,” June introduced herself as she placed down her figurine on the board. “I will of course have my staff and magic, and I come with a bonus of two bags of medicine and one cloak of flight.”

“And you?” Miguel asked Darryl, who confidently smirked.

“Harry Grandstone the Third,” Darryl introduced himself. “I’m going to be the greatest business tycoon this side of the Four Realms. I got my battle axe, a sack of gold, and one mystery item that I can pawn off in exchange for some goods.”

The other players were banking on Darryl getting crushed.

“Ok, and–” Miguel started but stopped when the door opened. All eyes turned as a newcomer literally skated her way into the pub.

The teen girl stopped her skateboard and kicked it upward so that she could grab one end of it. She shook her short blonde bob with streaks of red in her bangs and her grayish-blue eyes looked around the room before noticing the players.

Darryl’s eyes widened in shock. “No… way…” he murmured.

Ariel D'Angelo–the coolest girl in his and June’s grade. What was she doing here?

“Ariel!” Miguel grinned and gestured to Ariel. “Come on over! We just got started!”

“You invited Ariel D'Angelo?!” Cassandra Farnsworth–one of the players–squeaked.

“The Ariel D'Angelo?!” Yousef Bakshi–the other player–gapped.

“‘Sup fellow nerds!” Ariel greeted with a smile as she headed over to the table. She pulled out an unused chair from another table and swung it over to a spot between Darryl and Cassandra and then plopped down into it. “It sure gets cold around this time!” she mused. “Almost makes me miss Echo Creek.”

“You get used to it,” Darryl said, although he wished he could have said something a lot wittier for someone as amazing as Ariel. Ever since Ariel came over in August all the way from Echo Creek, California, school suddenly became a tad more bearable then before. Though it also became harder to concentrate when Ariel would be sitting in English and Math with you and give off an air as if she didn’t care about school work and yet still managed to effortlessly get passing grades.

“We just got started with introducing our characters,” June began. “And Dad will come to take our orders in a couple minutes if you want a drink.”

Ariel pulled out her marker. “Vivi the Master Thief,” she began as she slung an arm over her chair. “No lock goes undefeated, and I never leave empty handed. Period. Will only respect the one true queen. I got my trusty dagger and a set of lock picking tools.” She then smiled at June. “And I’ll try that cherry root beer float special–I’ve been having a sweet tooth like crazy today!”

‘How is it that a girl could be this awesome?!’ Darryl wondered. ‘Well, I mean June too, but this?!’

Even when Ariel managed to steal more than half of his loot half an hour later into the game, Darryl could not stop finding her cool. In fact, the way her michevious eyes glinted when she struck was so captivating that he couldn’t even be mad that he’d lose a game he struggled with yet again.

Oblivious to the fact that her best friend was dealing with his first major crush (who wasn’t the lead of Atomic Pink), June casted a spell and, with a perfect roll of the die, the guardian of the treasure horde was struck down with one blow. She took a victory sip of her regular flavored root beer as everyone else congratulated her lucky toss of the dice.

“Nice luck there, Chen!” Ariel whistled in approval, to which June shyly smiled back.

Yeah, Darryl felt he was totally justified in finding Ariel D'Angelo cool.

****

Two weeks later–when finals hung over her head, and Christmas was coming very fast–Molly made sure that her note for the miracle box for Libby and Leah’s Hanukkah party read that her miracle was ‘That everyone I know is living their best life.’

“‘My miracle is that the family business is going well,’” Pete read one card before looking over everyone. “Well, I admit, that doesn’t help narrow down who it is!” He chuckled as he sat beside Sharon.

“‘My miracle is that my kid actually got a driver’s license, despite complaining that they might never own a car,’” June read the next card as she sat by Darryl.

Molly and Ollie nervously shifted in their spots as they felt their parents looking at them. While their parents understood that they didn’t need their own cars just yet, they were adamant that they would get their licenses, environmental concerns be damned, long before they were old enough to get permits. Both kids ended up with their own reasons as to why maybe having a license was actually necessary.

“Riding a bike won’t solve every emergency,” Esther reminded Ollie especially as Reuben grabbed the next card.

“‘My miracle is that my voice is finally dropping and I no longer sound like one of those Shonen protagonists who still sound like a woman after a time skip?’” Reuben was confused by this. “What’s ‘Shonen?’”

“As much as I like the old voice, I need to branch out if I got plans to fulfill as an adult,” Darryl replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

When the miracle box was done, Libby and Molly were getting the food ready until a familiar blue shark popped up beside the latkes and sufganyoits and happily chirped at them. Leah and Libby’s culinary skills were so perfect that not even the ghostly creature could resist.

“Here for a special delivery?” Molly laughed as she made sure to toss a sufganyoit to Sharkie who gleefully devoured it in one gulp. Considering who created Sharkie, it seemed the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in this particular case.

“Here!” Libby held up a paper bag containing latkes and sufganyoits and made sure that Sharkie held it carefully between his teeth. “Make sure Scratch shares!” She cautioned as a ghost portal appeared behind Sharkie, who dove into it.

“Even miles away, Scratch can’t resist having latkes on Hanukkah from the best latke makers,” Molly chuckled. The man did not forget Hannukah and would make sure Sharkie would stay at the Hanukkah party until the ghost shark came back with the goods, starting with last year’s party.

“Hopefully he won’t overstuff himself,” Libby agreed before heading to the others, though Molly stayed behind as she became lost in thought.

Right–the one miracle she almost lost hope over.

A couple years back, Scratch had returned to human form, at the cost of losing his memories as a ghost, as well as everyone he knew during that time. After he left to see the world and finally live, Molly had tried to keep on living. At first it was a happy, if somewhat bittersweet time. But then a lot of her efforts to improve people’s lives kept failing, friends left (and in one case it would be forever), and she gradually lost all hope.

But right when she was about ready to give up and lose her soul, and leave everything behind after dealing with so much heartbreak, Scratch had come back right when she needed him the most. He finally started to remember at some point during his travels and took on another risk to save her from a fate worse than death, and in turn his memories had been fully restored.

And with Scratch’s return, everything that seemed to have gone wrong gradually was repaired in some way or another, alongside Molly’s shattered heart, which slowly healed with time.

Molly glanced back to see the Chen family chatting with Libby and the McGee family. She smiled as Ollie talked about something she couldn’t hear, but his smile meant the world to her. She thought she was going to lose Ollie too, during that terrible time when the Chens and Andrea’s family moved away, no thanks to Bizmart’s temporary reign of terror. But when Scratch came back, so did Ollie, and when the Chens and Davenports were able to move back to Brighton permanently, her world was right once more.

She had a lot of Hanukkah miracles, but the miracle of everyone coming back to her was one that would always mean the most to her for years to come.

*****

Some time around finals, another party was hosted by the Davenports in-store in honor of the end of the year and everyone’s hard work and loyalty. Of course, the idea was mainly Andrea’s.

The backrooms of the store had been artfully decorated in silver, gold, and green decor, thanks to Andrea’s watchful eye, and staff had been encouraged to bring food and beverages. Families were invited, including the Chens who had briefly worked for the Davenports when they moved alongside them. Maxwell Davenport was especially happy that Reuben brought some root beer over and they talked business together. Ollie brought along Molly as a plus one for the event.

“Our family is thankful to come back to our favorite town,” Andrea said to everyone during her speech. “It meant a lot that many of you wanted to come back to work with us, and we were happy to give you back your jobs. Its been another successful year and we couldn’t do it all without your help and loyalty! And with Brighton seeing a boost in economic success these last couple of years, our family store will still go strong for years to come.” She raised her cup of root beer. “We wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a happy, successful new year!”

“Merry Christmas!” Most excitedly cheered out, while a couple let out a “Happy Hannukah!”

“Now go party!” Andrea cheered.

“She’s getting better at working with others,” Molly noted as Andrea started taking pictures and videos for her social media platform.

“Yup,” Ollie nodded. “You can’t be a good businesswoman without having a way to boost morale amongst your workers. Andrea had the idea of throwing a Christmas party for the other store back when we moved away, and it helped keep spirits up.” He admitted “It made things feel a bit less lonely.”

****

That Christmas Eve, enough toys had been donated to ensure all the children of Brighton would have something under their tree the next morning. Everyone was delighted by this and Molly especially grinned beside Ollie as they celebrated with a round of hot chocolate during the festivities at the bandshell. It was yet another thing that finally went right in her life, though Molly knew she could not have ensured the accomplishment without the help of friends, family, and community.

“Nothing beats Christmas in Brighton,” Ollie smiled at the falling snow. “Everyone is happy, there’s snow falling–”

“I’m pretty sure that’s from Darryl and June’s snow machine,” Molly admitted.

Near the bandshell, Darryl yelled in triumph as June’s new machine sent up a powder of soft snow, via the large ice chunks that went into the contraption behind them.

The children hollered with delight as Darryl threw his fists in the air. “FREE SNOW BALL FIGHT!” he yelled.

“TAKE NO PRISONERS!” June yelled as she prepped a snowball of her own.

“Ah, true,” Ollie nervously laughed as a few adults approached him and Molly.

“Thanks for the clothing and toy donations this year!” one man thanked. “It’s been another great year, especially thanks to you!” He addressed Molly especially.

“You’re welcome!” Molly happily replied. “But it wasn’t just me–a lot of good people pitched in.”

“But you got everyone to have an interest in helping out,” the man replied. “You have the charisma to win a lot of folks over, kid.”

“If only every place in the world had a person like you helping their town out,” a woman sighed. “Think of how much good that would be. There’d be world peace in no time!”

“Well, I’m sure there’s others like me working just as hard to enhappify their communities,” Molly tried to reassure the woman.

“Yeah, it’d be world peace if we didn’t have so many crooks and awful politicians enabling all the bad in the world,” another man grumbled. “That and the wars.” Molly’s smile dropped a bit.

“Well, for now, let’s enjoy the holidays!” Ollie cut in as he took Molly’s hand. “Merry Christmas!” he greeted before leading Molly away.

“I guess some people can still be Scrooges tonight,” Ollie mused. “Maybe they need to see some ghosts too.”

Molly laughed at this. “Did I ever tell you about how we first tried to get Andrea’s dad to help on our first Christmas in Brighton?” She recounted the family’s attempt at pulling a Christmas Carol while Brighton’s ghosts happily flew overhead-invisible to all but those who knew they were there.

“Ah, nothing beats a Brighton Christmas!” Sally Tugbottom–who was taking a break from her Chairman duties–sighed and sipped her drink alongside her brother Ezekiel.

“And the snow is coming!” Sonya Davis cheered. “Not that man made snow, but real snow! I’ll perform an excellent routine in honor of it!”

“Oooooooooooooo!” Harriet howled with joy.

“What you said,” Ezekiel shrugged to Harriet as he took another sip of his drink.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!” Lord Doom–who was still bound to a doll and held by young Octavius–cheered in his usual growl as he celebrated alongside the gothic family who took him in. “MAY YOUR PASSION FOR PEACE AND JOY, AND THE CELEBRATIONS FOR THE CHRIST CHILD’S BIRTHDAY BURN ON IN YOUR FRAGILE HEARTS!”

****

Christmas morning at the McGee’s started off like normal–they opened presents while music played in the background, time would be spent trying said presents, and so forth. But recently there had been a crucial addition to the events. For this, the McGees, plus Grandma Nin, waited until a specific hour of the day as snow gently fell outside for a postcard perfect Midwestern Christmas.

“Almost time, almost time!” Molly chanted as she checked her phone for the time.

“We all feel the same,” Sharon agreed.

“The suspension is killing me!” Pete moaned.

“Eh, he’ll take his time,” Darryl shrugged.

“He’s probably lounging on a beach,” Grandma Nin guessed.

Finally the time struck. The family didn’t have to wait too long for the face time call to come in on Molly’s phone.

“It’s him!” Molly shrieked as she held out the phone and pressed the button to accept the call.

The screen changed to reveal Scratch. He was dressed in short sleeves, and the sunny beach behind him was drastically different from Brighton’s snowy landscape.

“Merry Christmas, McGees!” Scratch greeted with a wave and a huge smile. “Mele Kalikimaka!”

In turn the former ghost was greeted with a chorus of Christmas greetings from the family. Though none were more enthusiastic as Molly’s “Merry Christmas, Scratch!”

“So what’s it like celebrating Christmas in Hawaii?!” an envious Darryl wondered.

“Well, it’s weird not seeing the pine trees or the snow, but the weather is nice and I’m not complaining! They go all out for Christmas here like you wouldn’t believe!”

And so the family happily face timed with Scratch for a good hour. Everyone shared what they got for Christmas to Scratch, who was especially impressed when he heard some of the best gifts. They also updated Scratch on how things were–‘San Phra Food’ was doing well, Sharon was able to save up money to fix up some things around the house without something going wrong, Pete was assisting some builders with renovating some old buildings, Molly and Darryl moaned about how hard finals were, and while Darryl had no intention of revealing recent schemes (or thoughts of Ariel D'Angelo) in front of his family, Molly talked about a few projects that she had been able to do.

“Oh, and that reminds me!” Molly got up and went to the fireplace. There had once been a year where Scratch’s stocking didn’t hang–it had been a painful reminder of what no longer was at the time–but it was now restored to its original spot alongside the other stockings. Molly took out the blue papered gift inside and came back to show it to Scratch. “We have something for you if Sharkie is available to take it over!”

“Oh yeah, hang on!” Scratch answered and briefly went off camera. The family heard Scratch rummage around before a whistle was heard. Seconds later they could hear a ghost portal, followed by Sharkie’s cooing.

“Hey can you go to the McGee’s house and get me something from them?” Scratch was heard asking. “I’ll let you swim in the ocean with me.”

Sharkie let out a happy squeak and in record time the shark was right beside the McGees. A smiling Molly handed the gift to Sharkie, who went back through the portal. The family watched as Sharkie reappeared beside Scratch in Hawaii and handed him the gift.

Scratch unwrapped the paper and was surprised to see the blue journal, along with a new memory card for his phone tapped onto it.

“You said you wanted to be able to write about the places you went to, when you do your vlogs or think back on them years later, so I thought I’d get a special journal for those moments for you,” Molly explained.

“And the memory card is so you can save more pictures to upload, if you are in a tight spot,” Sharon added.

“Aw thanks!” Scratch smiled before he scratched his arm. “I wish I had something for you guys.”

“Just being able to talk to you on Christmas is already a huge gift, Scratch,” Molly reassured her friend. “It really means a lot to us.”

“And you should save your money for your travels,” Grandma Nin added.

“Unless you spot something we might want, like fireworks!” Darryl quickly added. His family shot him unamused looks, but Scratch cracked a grin and nodded.

“Only if you use them when I come back in the summer!” Scratch agreed. He then noticed the time and his grin faltered a bit. “Uh… I guess time is almost up–”

“It’s ok,” Pete understood. “You need to get back to Adia and go do whatever it is you will do for fun.”

“Lucky,” Sharon, who wanted to visit Hawaii, mumbled under her breath.

“Be sure to text us for New Years!” Molly pleaded. “I’m glad you’re having a good Christmas, Scratch!”

Scratch’s smile returned. “Merry Christmas to you too, Molly!”

“MERRY CHRISTMAS, SCRATCH!” the McGee family happily greeted one last time.

*****

Todd ‘Scratch’ Mortenson sat on the rocks and had his feet deep in the Hawaiian sea while he admired the scenery. Sharkie was still out in the water happily chasing after some colorful fish, causing the man to smile. His Christmas gift from Molly and her family was safe at the hotel, along with a bottle of his favorite flavor of root beer from the Chen family after Sharkie ran one more errand in getting it for him.

“So, you had a good phone call?” Adia asked as she walked up to Scratch.

“Oh yeah!” Scratch beamed as Adia sat beside him. “Everyone is doing great! They even had Sharkie deliver a gift from back home to me!”

“Good boy,” Adia smiled at the ghost shark. “That little guy is quite the mail man, what with sending stuff to-and fro without having to pay for it all. Glad he’s getting to have fun in the ocean.”

“You can join us, you know. I’ll be going in, in a bit.”

Adia scanned the waters carefully, as if on the lookout for something dangerous.

“Ads?”

“Just being cautious,” Adia replied.

“For what? I’m pretty sure the only shark around here is Sharkie, and I doubt the coral is dangerous in this part. And I know we can’t pet any of the turtles if we spot any–oh, that reminds me, I need to make sure I take pictures if we see any! Libby would like to see them!”

“No, it’s…”

*****A couple springs ago****

“Is this yours?” Adia asked a woman hiding behind a couple large rocks. She gestured to the strange gray bundle that was just laying around on the shores of Ireland and looked like some kind of wet blanket. “I almost tripped on it.”

The middle aged woman with messy brown hair and gray eyes, who hid behind the rocks, looked from the bundle to Adia, and a huge smile formed on her face.

“Finally… a woman found my pelt,” she spoke in a musical Irish accent. “A pretty human woman.”

Adia’s face fell. “What?” She flatly asked.

Five minutes later, Adia found herself running for her life as the other woman–half naked except for the seal pelt wrapped modestly around her–laughed with joy as she chased after Adia.

“Come back, my bonny lass!” The woman sang out. “We shall be happy together alongside the shores, where no man may bother us!”

“No!” Adia swore as she ran for the mainland, and away from a strange woman who somehow decided that she was going to make Adia her wife over a damn seal pelt. “God, why does this keep happening to me?!”

***Present day***

“Nothing!” Adia quickly answered. Even to this day, she never told Scratch about her bizarre encounter with what may or may not have been an honest to god Selkie woman (as well as her bizzare track record of encountering very strange women on her travels) during his fateful trip back to Brighton. Or the fairy rings she narrowly avoided. “Anyway, how is Molly?”

“Well the donations were a success and she felt confident about her finals!” Scratch answered. “And she drove all by herself to pick up everyone’s gifts!” He fondly thought back to when he last visited Brighton that summer. “I can’t believe she got old enough to drive me to the taco stand. It was taking her all not to talk and drive the whole way through.”

Ok, he might have been a bit nervous, since Molly had their lives in her hands while behind the wheel (once upon a time, he had been in that same position, but that was only because he was possessing Weird Larry and trying his hardest to not crash the bike he and Molly rode). Also she nearly ran over another one of those damn raccoons, but he wasn’t complaining. She got them to the taco stand in one piece and they gleefully ate their tacos in the station wagon in celebration.

A lot of things seemed to have changed when Scratch last went to Brighton. The ghost friends were all high schoolers, a new spa replaced the old bath bomb store, Ollie was now officially taller than him–ok, he might have thrown a ‘little’ fit when he first realized he had to crane his neck up to look at the boy. The kid was going to be as tall as his dad at the rate things were going.

“She’s living her life as a high schooler,” Adia noted. “Shouldn’t she and the others be going to prom next spring?”

“Oh yeah!” Scratch nodded. “That’s the biggest event Molly is looking forward to helping out, in addition to going with Ollie, of course! Not sure if Libby will get a date in time, but I guess dating isn’t a huge concern for her.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe how fast time is going. Molly is halfway done with high school, she’s driving, and now prom?!”

“And how was everyone else?” Adia asked. After Scratch recounted what he remembered, she nodded. “Sounds like everyone had a good Christmas, just like us.”

“Yeah, I never thought I’d celebrate Christmas in Hawaii!” Scratch smiled as his mind began to wander. “Or go to a luau for dinner on Christmas… or eat the shaved ice and the haupia… or–” he had to stop himself before his food fixation got the best of him again.

“So do you know which Christmas has been the best one yet? You were with me in Mexico, and then we went to Germany again.”

Scratch hesitated. No, not because it was hard to choose which of those three Christmases were the most fun.

It was because of all the Christmases he ever experienced in his life that he could think of that he had the most fond memories of, he could only think of those two Christmases with the McGees. The kind where he got to experience celebrating Christmas with a family who cared and loved you, and had their traditions like helping the community out or drinking hot chocolate in front of the fireplace. It was an experience he had deeply missed when he forgot his time as a ghost back in Mexico, and he wasn’t even aware of it at the time.

Some part of him wished the conversation with Molly and the others lasted a bit longer. Another part of him had been staring at the ghost portal Sharkie created and wondered if–just for this one time–he could–

“Scratch?”

The man snapped out of it. “Sorry, I can’t decide!” Scratch laughed it off. He could not dare tell Adia that there were a couple of moments that he wished he could go back to Brighton for more than just one visit a year in the summer. But he knew that he owed Adia these adventures after making that promise to her as kids and then all those years when he kept brushing her off and making excuses.

Todd wanted to keep going. Scratch wanted to go back just a few more times. Yet his Todd side always won when he had to remind himself that he owed Adia, that there were still several things he had yet to do, and that Molly and the others needed to live their lives out too, and that he didn’t need to be there every day of her life. That was the curse of gaining his memories back, and yet he would not give those memories up again for anything. Even for the chance to attempt another gigantic deep fried creation at Brighton’s festival, no matter if it would give him an instant heart attack or not.

“Well, that’s alright,” Adia answered as Scratch got up to stretch out for a bit. A mischievous smile spread on the woman’s face when an idea struck. She got up when the much shorter man was distracted and slowly crept behind him.

“Think fast!”

“Wha–?!” Scratch found himself getting shoved off the rocks and he crashed into the water below.

Adia couldn’t stop laughing as her friend emerged from the water. Sharkie let out a delighted cry and swam toward an unamused Scratch. “Oh, I’m sorry, Scratch! But I had to!”

Scratch made a vow to himself to one day get back at Adia.

****

That evening, the McGee family and the Chen family ate Christmas dinner together. They shared stories, showed off gifts (June and Darryl were quickly at work on a new scheme thanks to their own new gifts in June’s room) and watched a couple classic Christmas films. As it turned out, they all enjoyed ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’

Molly in particular admired George Bailey as he tried so hard to provide for friends and family, even at the great cost of many personal sacrifices. However, when George was at his lowest and getting closer to meeting Clarance, Molly thought back to what that woman said yesterday–if every person in the world had someone like her helping their town–and she frowned.

George went above and beyond to help others out, but he had to help so many people, and a stroke of bad luck drove him to a despair of utter failure. If she had given into her own despair and become a wraith, she would have had the power to help so many others. It would have come at a huge cost, but was it selfish to be happy with her life as a normal human, knowing that she could have done far more for others?

Molly reached for the heart pendant Scratch gave her and held it. She wore it tonight so that he’d be with them for Christmas and for the moments he couldn’t be a part of.

‘I can’t be a Goddess of Joy,’ Molly reminded herself. ‘I am Molly McGee. I have people here who need me. My angel already came for me and I wouldn’t still be here without him.’

Molly smiled. Yes, perhaps Scratch had been the Clearance to her George that day. Molly rested against Ollie, who wrapped an arm over her shoulders. She was living a happy life and could not dare ask for more. Soon a new year would begin, and Molly would have lots to look forward to that would need her attention, like prom.

Oh, she was looking forward to prom so much. She would make sure it would be perfect for everyone, and it would be one of the best times of her life she’d ever have.

Little did Molly know, the past had ways of coming back, and sometimes not for the best.

Fate was not done with Molly McGee just yet.

Chapter Text

With the new year came new goals. The community club and the student council met together to discuss prom on the first week back from winter break.

Ironically, one of Molly’s friends from middle school managed to get the position of School Secretary, and it was none other than Sheela, who was quietly taking note of all that was going on. Molly remembered how Sheela was part of the fateful camping trip and the school newspaper, though she seemed more at home in a professional setting.

“As you know, our theme for this year is ‘Sparkling Celebrations’ inspired by fireworks in the night sky,” Kevin Arnold–the school’s president–addressed everyone. “We made sure to secure a location back in the first half of the school year.”

“The Grand Brighton Hotel!” Perla recounted. “It was recently renovated back to its original look, and their ballroom is free for our scheduled day in May.”

Molly smiled–that renovation was thanks to her dad’s hard work a couple years back, during the days Scratch had been a ghost, and it was only recently finished last July.

“We are working to secure a DJ and the catering,” Kiyoko Mizuno–the school’s treasurer–added. “We are hoping that the community club can find someone who can help with the decorations.”

“‘Emily’s Party City!’” Molly chimed in at this. “We are going to be doing a video for them! We can probably make a deal!”

“I don’t know,” Hillary Stillwell–the Vice President–worried. “That place tends to be pricy. We never reached out to them before.”

“We can afford it,” Kiyoko said. “We don’t need it to be too fancy, but we need to make it memorable. As long as we visualize the fireworks theme, we can have an idea on where to go.”

“We will get local support regardless,” Sheela finally spoke up. “Proms in Brighton are one of our many local sacred school traditions, alongside the sports games.”

“Plus we don’t want a repeat of the ‘Under the Ocean’ let down from three years ago that we were all warned about,” Kevin agreed with a shudder. “Super cheap, tacky decor, a DJ that played way too much pop music for everyone’s liking, and a disco ball that crashed to the floor–no thanks.”

“And I know we think glitter when it comes to fireworks, but let's do more than just dumping glitter on everything,” Kiyoko added.

Molly–well known by many for her love of glitter–pouted a little at this. Still, she knew this was going to be a great year. Nothing would get in her way.

****

Molly especially was happy to talk to her family about prom plans.

“Oh I can’t believe it’s almost that time!” Pete was teary eyed. “My daughter is already getting close to to going to prom! Where has the time flown?! I think I’m going to cry!”

“I would like it if you helped me pick out a prom dress, Mom,” Molly told Sharon. “I’m sure Davenports will have a good selection, but I want the dress to be perfect, so I’m open to any place around here.”

“You can count on my help!” Sharon promised. “We will search high and low!”

“You should make sure you got an exit plan, in case someone spills pig’s blood on the prom queen!” Darryl warned.

“I don’t think that will happen, Darryl,” an unamused Molly frowned.

“You never know! If ghosts are real, girls with psychic powers might be!”

Pete and Sharon gave Darryl suspicious glances.

“What?” Darryl asked.

“You better not do any pranks when it’s your turn to do prom,” Sharon warned. “We want you to at least try to behave long enough to graduate with a high school degree.”

“Some folks don’t graduate high school and they still turn out fine!” Darryl shot.

“It will make finding jobs a lot harder if you don’t have even so much as the equivalent of a high school diploma,” Pete warned. “And we want the both of you to at least graduate before you make your decisions for your future.”

******

Meanwhile, Reuben and Esther were also happy for their son.

“Our baby boy is all grown up and taking a girl to prom!” Esther squealed and hugged Ollie. “Oh we will make sure you have the perfect tux and that you’ll take Molly to prom in style! We could even splurge a bit on a limo ride if you want!”

“Ollie didn’t say for sure that he’d be taking Molly,” June pointed out.

“Of course I will!” Ollie huffed. “Who else?!”

June shrugged. “Consider yourself lucky that Derrick guy wasn’t around to try to steal Molly from you.”

Ollie’s face darkened. “I don’t want to be reminded of him.”

Ah yes, Derrick–Ollie remembered that boy who kept mocking him and his family in the short time he was a Freshman in Brighton. He was also aware that Derrick had his eyes on Molly despite that she was dating Ollie, and had attempted to approach her during the time Ollie was gone, only to be shut down. Thanks to school gossip and Libby’s recount of the incident, Ollie learned that said attempt involved Molly punching Derrick in the face. Derrick was one of the few people in Brighton Ollie was not happy to see again.

Back in Ollie’s Sophomore year, Derrick was expelled from school due to getting into a fight with a teacher when they confiscated his phone when it wasn’t supposed to be out in class, only for him to physically attack the teacher. The boy was sent to a continuation school and no one heard from him since.

“Well, all is good on your end,” Reuben smiled at his son before he sighed. “Unfortunately…”

“What?” Ollie asked.

“Ernie is returning to Brighton’s necronomi-con this year,” Reuben spat.

The Chens winced–Ernie Fudderson was their rival ghost hunter from their ghost hunting days. Despite that their being a family ensured that they got decent ratings, the hat-wearing man always outdid them and got all the sponsors. Even if they put their ghost hunting days behind them, the resentment toward their rival still lingered.

“It was all in the advertisement,” Reuben sighed. “He did a big trip out of the states not that long ago and wants to premiere his best experience live to an audience. He probably came back here just to rub it in our faces.”

“Well, then let’s not go,” June suggested.

“Oh, he’ll see our change in professions as ‘civilian’ knowing him,” Reuben scowled. “He’ll look for us, make that smug smile, and boast about how he’s doing so well without a desk job, and–!”

“Ah, sweetie?” Esther grabbed Reuben’s hand. “Remember that little hitch in Ernie’s plans that we heard about? His attempt at a ‘big crossover?’”

*****Last October****

“So just to clarify,” Ernie recounted with a smile as if he knew things would be going his way. “You both come with me to explore a few haunted locations, and then you guys get a new audience, and I get a new audience. Everyone wins, and more sponsors will come. You in?”

Now Ernie would have probably secured the deal via FaceTime no problem if it was just any influencer or internet celebrity. Except the person he called was none other than Scratch, who once had an unpleasant run-in with the influencer during his ghost days. Naturally, Ernie did not realize that the man he contact was the same individual who attempted a ghost quiz game with him in front of the Necronomi-con attendees.

Scratch’s scowl deepened as he remembered that experience all too well and there was a lot he wished he could say to the jerk.

“Uh, buddy? What do you–?”

“The Chens are more entertaining than your show,” Scratch bluntly replied before adding “And your facts about ghosts are wrong and will always be wrong until you become one and see for yourself!”

The smug smile left Ernie’s face. “The Chens?!” he demanded. “Those guys haven’t–!”

Scratch pressed a button and ended the call. He grumbled out a “That guy is such a total d–”

****present***

“Whoa! Language!” Reuben protested, but he was so happy recounting that tale that Scratch had been oh-so-happy to tell his family that he couldn’t help but gleefully smile.

“So, anything planned for prom night with Molly?” June asked Ollie.

“I don’t know yet,” Ollie admitted. “But I want it to be special. I want it to go off without a hitch, and not even a raccoon will ruin it!” He smiled. “There’s nothing that will get in the way if I have a say in it!”

*****

Somewhere on a Miami beach, Geoff and Jeff were taking a well earned vacation. They hid from the humans, alongside a group of ghosts, and enjoyed the weather and scenery.

“Remember our fiftieth anniversary where we vacationed in the Bahamas?” Jeff asked as he kept an arm around his beloved. “And how we accidentally scared a few locals?”

“I remember!” Geoff exclaimed. “And we celebrated with some drinks afterward!”

“Hmm, would you like to go back in a couple months? With the Chairman gone, we can spend as much time as we want there.”

“Can we swim with the marine life?!”

“Whatever you want, my sweet Geoff,” Jeff purred before kissing Geoff on the cheek, causing the balding ghost to giggle and blush.

“You know a way to a ghost’s heart, my brilliant Jeff!” Geoff purred back before kissing Jeff on the cheek in exchange.

After a few sickeningly sweet, private minutes on the beach, the two decided to head into the city.

“Say, are there any gay bars still left?” Geoff wondered.

“If there aren’t, I’m going to go on an epic scaring spree,” Jeff swore. “I swear, people just can’t accept that times are always changing.”

As the two made their way through the city, they passed by many city folks. Some pleasant, some questionable, some unsavory.

“Oh I can’t wait to go back to Disney World!”

“The Miami Dolphins are going to crush it this year! I can feel it in my bones!”

“Why do prices keep going up?!”

“I knew moving to Florida for our retirement years was a mistake, George! We can’t afford the house with those damn hurricane taxes!”

Geoff sighed in contentment. Ah, people going about, living their lives, and nothing would go–

“Euphrosyne will come upon you all!”

Geoff came to an abrupt stop as an oblivious Jeff continued on.

He heard that name before…

Geoff turned to see one of those unsavory characters–a man with a sign that said ‘The song of glory will come!’ He was yet another one of those doomsday folk yelling at passerbys who ignored him or else gave him a major stink eye.

“She will burn you,” the man laughed. “Your luck is running out! She will pass judgement on you all for all your wrong doings and reshape the world into a true utopia free off the hypocrites and the corrupted!”

“Geoff?” Jeff hurried back to Geoff as he kept staring at the doomsday speaker. “Geoff, what’s wrong?”

There was only one person that came to mind when it came to the name ‘Euphrosyne.’

“I don’t understand,” Geoff spoke. “Molly didn’t become a doomsday goddess. Why are there still people calling out for her?”

This wasn’t good.

*****

As much as Geoff wanted to tell his human friends, Jeff decided to approach the ghost council first, before Geoff could cause any panic. Geoff relayed everything to the council back in the Ghost World at the dark dais–what Scratch had once told him, Libby, and Molly, what fate Molly almost succumbed to, and the doomsday speaker he spotted.

“Oh not again,” Bartholomew groaned as the council grew concerned.

“What do you mean ‘again?’” Jeff wondered.

“Well, we don’t have a guarantee that it’s anything similar,” Sir Alister began.

“But this wouldn’t be the first time a young girl played a part in causing an apocalypse,” Grimbella answered. “There was an incident in Gravity Falls awhile back, but thankfully it was contained within the town.”

“Not to mention what might as well have happened in Echo Creek,” Lucretia added.

“We heard word of something potentially happening in Oceanside, but I honestly have no clue if that issue was ever resolved,” Sir Alister huffed.

“Wait, are there any other near apocalyptic incidents that happened in the last century that we should be aware of?!” Bartholomew panicked.

“No, the only other ones we are aware of were either undone, stopped in the nick of time or else happened elsewhere beyond Earth,” Sir Alister confirmed before adding “Thank God.”

“But in this case, Miss McGee would have only become a doomsday goddess if she had succumbed to her despair and become a corrupted ghost, which did not happen,” Lucretia pointed out. “Something that we have Scratch to thank for.”

“But there are humans that still insist that there is going to be a goddess coming!” Bartholomew pointed out. “These idiots were proven wrong and yet are still insisting on something that will not happen!”

“Said idiots aren’t much of a threat if they are all talk,” Grimbella also pointed out. “Thank Heavens the original Chairman saw it fit to keep the worst of the cults and their leaders away from the Ghost World and sent nearly all of them…” she glanced downward for a brief moment “elsewhere.”

All the ghosts shuddered at the mention of that particular afterlife.

“Have either of you heard of any other folks talking about this Euphrosyne prophecy?” Sally–dressed in the chairman’s robe–asked the ghost couple. “In any other parts of the world?”

“Uh, no,” Geoff admitted.

“I have,” a new voice spoke.

The council stiffened up in alarm while Sally and the ghost couple turned to see a new ghost that apparently had been with them a few minutes ago and overheard everything. She was a light pastel blue soul, with blue eyes and stylish short hair, and even as a ghost she retained the grace and beauty she was known for in life.

“When I visited my home country, I heard a woman on the streets speaking that very name and making a threat about a ‘song of glory,’” she spoke in a clear, British accent. “And when I paid a recent visit to the states, I heard a man who made similar threats. Both these incidents were about a few weeks ago, and at the time I thought it to be a coincidence.”

Everyone silently pondered these new reveals.

“Still, we don’t know for sure that these misguided humans are aware of Molly McGee,” Grimbella noted.

“But caution must always be taken,” Bartholomew added. “We have seen first hand just how powerful Miss McGee is as a wraith. I dread to know what could happen if she was corrupted or what humans with ill intentions could do with those powers.”

“I trust you two will tell our human friends,” Sally turned to Geoff and Jeff as she addressed them. “Once you do, you need to immediately tell all of the ghosts of Brighton to keep an eye out for anyone who is suspicious or who brings up Euphrosyne.”

“Should we let the rest of the Ghost World know?” Sir Alister asked.

“We need to limit how many ghosts know about this,” Sally answered. “Some might be all for having an apocalypse, and our world is already too much of a mess to have one now.” She then turned to the blue ghost. “Thank you for informing us of what you know, Your Highness,” Sally thanked.

“I have long owed Miss McGee and Scratch a favor for freeing me from the Flow of Failed Phantoms,” the blue ghost replied with a smile. “I will help keep an eye on things.” She drifted away, but not before sharing a smile with Geoff and Jeff.

“How was it that Scratch was allowed in her social circle?!” Lucretia demanded. “Even when he acted like a slob, she just smiled and chatted with him about food!”

****

The high school held their usual candy-grams around Valentine’s Day, which of course the community club took charge of. On that day, there were some last minute candy-grams that students who procrastinated (much like they did on their school work) tried to buy.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Molly waved with a smile as she sold one student a candy-gram during lunch.

Meanwhile, Darryl and June were working on the boy’s latest scheme.

“Once we unleash the bouncy balls, we will set off the heart confetti and streamer canons upon the cafeteria!” Darryl instructed as he filled up the canons in a hidden spot in the cafeteria away from prying eyes.

“Why are we doing this again?” June asked.

Because Ariel always ate lunch in the cafeteria with her friends, and Darryl wanted a prank worthy enough to get her attention. But of course he wouldn’t tell June that. He wasn’t sure June–who was never one for romance–would understand, and a part of him was worried she would think he was abandoning her.

“Because not everyone likes Valentine’s Day and we got to give those guys something besides heartache and stomachs that don’t have chocolate in them from their crushes!” Darryl instead answered, though it was something he did believe in.

“Yes, Valentines can be a bit much,” June agreed.

Unbenowngst to the duo, the sliding door to the box for the bouncy balls wasn’t closing all the way and was stuck by a few inches.

“Anything special for Molly for Valentine’s?” Libby asked as she followed Ollie.

“Just some homemade chocolate,” Ollie blushed. “I messed up the first attempt, and the second attempt doesn’t look super pretty, but I’m sure she’d appreciate it, right?”

“I think that’s very sweet to do,” Libby replied. “And as long as it came from you, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.” Though she was thankful Scratch wasn’t currently a ghost because otherwise he would have stolen the chocolates.

“Are you doing anything special for anyone?” Ollie wondered.

“Not really. I haven’t met someone special yet to be honest. I’m either a late bloomer, or I might not be–”

“LIBBY! OLLIE!”

The two turned to see an invisible Geoff.

“I was going to talk to Molly first but she’s busy and I don’t want to interrupt her!” Geoff explained. “Can I talk to you guys?! It’s urgent!”

The two friends looked at each other in confusion. “Ok,” Ollie nodded.

Meanwhile, June and Darryl began to dump the bouncy balls into the box–only for them to realize too late the big mistake.

“Oh crap!” Darryl cursed when all the balls escaped through the open gap and bounced right into the cafeteria, to the confusion of the nearby students who saw them.

“Oh sweet!” Ariel exclaimed with a grin as she quickly took a couple bouncy balls that came near her table. “This is better than candy!”

*****

Libby and Ollie were shocked when Geoff recounted everything to them in a hidden spot away from every human’s eyes.

“I don’t understand!” Ollie shook his head. “Molly didn’t lose her soul and become corrupted! Why are they still thinking she’ll cause an apocalypse?!”

Libby frowned as she thought back to that Spring break a couple years ago. “I remember Molly worried about this happening. I tried to tell her if it did, she could try to work fate in her favor–”

“What do you mean ‘fate?!’” Ollie panicked. “It was supposed to happen?! We have to accept this?! Let Molly turn into a random doomsday goddess?! We can’t do that! She’s living her life like she should!”

“I didn’t say it was guaranteed to happen. If we knew for sure, we could do something so that–”

“Then we don’t let it happen! We can stop fate–!”

“You can’t ever stop fate, Ollie,” Libby countered. “As old as time, there’s always a prophecy that always comes true one way or another. And every attempt to fight it never ends well.”

“So let those creeps get her?!”

“I’m not saying that! I’m trying to say that we don’t have a guarantee if its fate or if its just ramblings of people who don’t realize Molly already made her choice and are just wasting their time! We could be overthinking this!”

The boy held his face in his hands. He did not like any of this one bit.

“The council and the chairwoman don’t want it to happen either,” Geoff informed the boy. “After we tell the others, we will tell the Brighton ghosts to be on high alert for anyone who comes into town and says one word about doomsdays or songs of glory or Euphrosyne for awhile!” Geoff promised.

Ollie let go of his face and looked Geoff in the eye. “You cannot tell Molly or her family,” he stated.

“Ollie?” Libby worried.

“We all know how Molly acts! I know it's not what she wants, but she’ll be pressured into it eventually if she gets wind of this, because she cares that much!”

“She needs to know!” Libby pressed. “Her whole family does!”

“I don’t want them to panic!” Ollie countered. “Look, we just need to keep this a secret until things die down and we know for sure no one will try to come to Brighton and do something crazy!”

“Ollie, you are forgetting something,” Libby countered. “In order for Molly to become ‘Euphrosyne,’ she needs to become a corrupted ghost first. It takes years for a ghost to become corrupted if they obsess over their unfinished business for too long. Blair was dead for around thirty years, but she was on her way to it, and Harriet’s unfinished business went unchecked for more than a hundred years, and that was when she became fully corrupted. Scratch couldn’t be corrupted if he didn’t even remember what his unfinished business even was for all those ten years. Molly’s not dying or becoming a wraith any time soon, and whatever her unfinished business is at the moment, it’s not trying to fix the whole world.”

Ollie realized Libby had a point.

“We just need to make sure nothing bad happens to Molly and try to keep her happy for a bit,” Ollie decided. He then turned to Geoff. “Two last things, Geoff–don’t let Molly become a wraith for any reason if she ever calls you, and don’t ever tell Scratch about this.”

“Why?!” Geoff gasped. “He should be one of the first to–!”

“He’s not going to wait for the next flight back to Brighton. He’s going to turn himself back into a ghost, and Molly will blame herself for it, and she could easily lose her soul over it. We can’t have that. Can you promise me that you won’t say a word to him, as his ghost bestie?”

Geoff bit his lip. He knew Scratch of all people should be on alert–and in his heart, he knew that Scratch would find out eventually if he was traveling the world–but Ollie had a point, and there was no telling how Scratch would try to become a ghost again. He didn’t want his best buddy to lose the rest of his living years or his memory again all too soon. “I will,” Geoff sighed in reluctant agreement.

“Thank you,” Ollie thanked as several nearby students played with the bouncy balls.

“Oh, bouncy ball!” a nearby student grinned upon finding one of the bouncy balls. In his amusement, he bounced the ball as hard as he could against a wall, only for him to miscalculate his aim as it bounced away to another direction.

Geoff created another ghost portal as Libby and Ollie walked away. Little did he know that the bouncy ball rocketed through the portal before he could go through it himself.

****

The bouncy ball soared into the Ghost World, went toward the council, and struck Sir Alister in the head.

“Ow!” The green ghost yelped, startling the others. “What the devil?!” he yelled as he looked around while the ball rolled across the floor, out of sight. “Which one of you hit me?! I know it was payback for going to that restaurant that I picked!”

“It wasn’t us!” Grimbella huffed.

“Though it was a terrible restaurant!” Bartholomew admitted. “That was the worst chicken alfredo I ever had!”

“Yes, I am taking us all out for Valentines this time!” Lucretia reminded Sir Alister.

The bouncy ball rolled to the edge of the floating island and dropped downward toward the ghost city below.

****

“I’m pretty sure everyone got their candy-grams!” Molly happily declared after school as she and Ollie began to head outside.

“Oh!” Ollie was reminded of that and took out the box of homemade chocolates. “Here!” he handed it to Molly. “I made them myself!”

“Aww!” Molly was delighted to see the homemade chocolates. “So sweet!” She then let out a dismayed moan. “I should have made homemade candy too!”

“No, the gummy hearts you gave me were perfect, Molly. And you were busy, so it’s ok.”

Molly gave Ollie an appreciative kiss on the check. “Next year I’ll try my hand at it!” she promised. She took one of the chocolates and ate it. Her eyes lit up in delight. “Oh! You made a cherry flavored center!”

Once the two had to part ways, they waved to each other and Ollie watched as Molly went down the street.

He already nearly lost Molly once, and he wasn’t there to stop it. He still never forgave himself for that. He would not make that mistake again. He could not let any doomsday obsessed people know or even suspect his girlfriend was their supposed ‘savior.’

Meanwhile, Darryl whined as he and June left the school.

“We didn’t even get to shoot the canons!” Darryl grumbled. He didn’t even get the consolation prize of knowing if Ariel liked the bouncy balls or not because he and June had to quickly hide their equipment before they got caught. For all he knew, Ariel got a bunch of candy-grams from admirers who were just as cool as her. Like Johnny Wilson–stupid Johnny Wilson with his good grades, being the star player of the baseball team, and his great hair.

“Maybe next time,” June offered.

“You know, I think I now have my own reasons for not liking those three words,” Darryl grumbled.

****

The following weekend, Molly was at ‘Emily’s Party City,’ alongside a couple classmates. Andrea came along to provide her business skills for one of the tasks at hand.

“Just let me work my business magic and I should be able to strike a deal with the owner!” Andrea assured Molly as one of the community club members recorded footage of the displays.

“Thank you, Andrea,” Molly smiled as Ollie came into the store. “And I promise I’ll do the photoshoot next month.” She noticed Ollie and her smile widened. “Ollie!” She greeted with a wave. “Did you decide to help out today?”

Ollie glanced at the students recording the store. “Uh, Molly, are you going to be in this video by any chance?”

“I try to be in it as little as I can,” Molly reminded Ollie. “I’m not the main focus, but I always need to introduce the store and the owners.”

Ollie couldn’t help but worry about that. Yes, Molly did have a bit of a social media platform, and most of the videos were intended for Brighton, but what were the odds that someone would see the videos and think that she was Euphrosyne? He had done his own research on the mythological goddess, and Molly certainly fit the bill, no matter how much Libby tried to tell Ollie that Euphrosyne wasn’t that well known compared to other Greek gods and goddesses.

Ok, maybe no one would even know who Euphrosyne is unless they were told about her, but still, what were the chances someone horrible would see Molly’s videos and see that she was still active?

“Well, I was thinking that what if you gave yourself a break from doing these videos for a bit?” Ollie suggested. “Let someone else take over? You’re already busy with school work, the club, planning the prom, helping at your grandmother’s restaurant the musical, choir, prepping for AP tests, and homework.”

Molly was confused. “Uh, Ollie? I appreciate that, but I am handling things just fine. I was able to get a balance down, Grandma Nin is giving me a break from helping until Summer, and I need to do this video if we want a chance to get decorations for prom at a reasonable price.”

“Not to mention that next month Molly will be doing a video on ‘Ever After Boutique,’ which I must be a part of!” Andrea jumped in. “I’ve always wanted to be involved with that store, and not just because of the wedding dresses.

The two girls glanced to the store right across from the party store. The boutique specialized in wedding attire–tuxedos, dresses, wedding gowns, accessories, and everything else one would want for their big day. Andrea and Molly sighed longingly at the store.

“Oh, to wear a wedding dress someday!” Andrea smiled.

“To see all the beautiful dresses and plan for the future!” Molly agreed.

“I can see Alina wearing a nice wedding tux since she’s not a fan of dresses, so I’ll wear something that will compliment her that says ‘we are a future power couple!’”

“Whatever I wear, it’ll be something perfect, and I’ll look picture perfect walking down that aisle and standing before my forever love of my life and afterlife!”

“Oh, that sounds so romantic!” Andrea swooned.

Ollie was only momentarily distracted with imagining his own wedding, as well as observing Molly’s happy longing for her own future big day. He blushed for a few seconds before he shook his head.

“Just consider it, ok?” Ollie pleaded. “If not this time, then maybe next time? There’s going to be a lot coming up.”

Molly winced–not just because Ollie said the three words that once damned Scratch.

“I can’t make any false promises, Ollie,” Molly said as she turned back to her boyfriend. “I’m sure I will be ok. And we need to make a deal for decor as soon as possible or else the prom we waited for our whole lives will be a let down.”

All Ollie had to do was say the word and Molly would understand. But on the other hand, he didn’t want to scare Molly and risk letting her do something he didn’t want her to do.

“I’m just keeping an eye out for you,” Ollie could only say. “Any way, I better leave you to it. We got another birthday party at the pub and Dad will need my help.”

Ollie left, and Molly went back to check on the recording, but Andrea couldn’t help but give Ollie a suspicious look.

Andrea had learned to be more aware of people’s behavior and reactions for quite some time–it was a skill set she knew she would need for her future, and it wasn’t one her past videos in middle school nurtured when she was too concerned with herself.

Ollie Chen was hiding something from Molly yet again.

****

Meanwhile, Libby was doing her own research at the bookstore. She combed through the internet for anything about ‘Euphrosyne,’ though there wasn’t as much she could find, besides from artwork that no high school art teacher would dare show their students.

“The Three Charites or Three Graces,’” Libby read. “Aglaia, the goddess of elegance and brightness. Euphrosyne, the goddess of joy and good cheer. Thalia, the goddess of festivity and abundance. They also symbolize the arts, creativity, youth…’” she frowned and rested back in her seat. “But why would those people only care about one goddess? Why would they think a goddess of joy would burn the world?”

Song of glory… did that have anything to do with creativity and the arts?

She wished she could ask Scratch for more details, but that was too risky. If there was one thing she could at least agree on with Ollie, it was that Scratch would do anything to become a ghost again and go to Molly if he got wind of this.

Libby closed her laptop and got up to stretch and walk around the store. As she did, she noticed her mother looking at her own computer behind the counter with an unhappy frown.

“Everything ok, Mom?” Libby asked.

“Another letter of rejection,” Leah sighed. “It’s the fifth one.”

“Maybe take a break for a bit?” Libby asked. “You sent out two more before the deadlines. After awhile, you could try again. You only just started and most agents have to deal with the submissions they got before January.”

“I have a feeling no one wants to hear about krystallnacht survivors who just escape to America and settle down,” Leah shook her head. “Maybe it’s not exciting enough. And to think most of these agents want to hear ‘under-represented voices.’”

“Not everyone wants a story where it's all horror and too much suspense,” Libby assured her mom. “I know that time in history was awful for our people and many others, but I’m sure a nice ‘feel good’ story where your grandparents escaped before things got worse would be a nice change.”

Leah sighed. “Sometimes I wonder how your father managed to get an agent and get published. Why did everything go so easy for him?”

Libby frowned at the mention of Matias. Ever since the day she was forced to accept that he was not going to be the father she wanted, she had seen more and more of his imperfections. He had managed to finish and publish his second book, and Leah had no choice but to sell it in the store if it was selling like hot cakes in other stores. She could tell it made her mom angry to have to rely on him in such a way. Leah couldn’t even crack a joke about how he was finally paying child support, and he wasn’t even aware of it.

Libby hugged her mom. “Even if you don’t get an agent, you’ll always be my number one storyteller,” she assured Leah, who managed a small smile.

Libby almost wished the Three Charites were real, just so that they could bless her mom with a bit of good luck if they were truly goddesses of the arts. Her mom deserved success more than anyone Libby knew, for all her hard work and for being there for her. When she’d finally publish her first book, it would always be dedicated to Leah–the best mom anyone could ask for.

Chapter Text

Molly continued on with helping prepare for prom, amongst school work and everything else, while both her boyfriend and Libby were on alert for any suspicious activity or people who would so much as mention the name ‘Euphrosyne.’ Fortunately nothing too out of the ordinary happened in Brighton for quite some time to cause any alarm. However there was a very crucial event that came up–the infamous turnipball sport.

Which meant a majority of Brighton and their rival team’s town were at the field to watch it all. Despite Brighton’s infamous losing streak with the sport, people still came out in hopes that ‘this will finally be the year.’

“I’m glad the highschoolers have their version too!” Molly cheered as she surveyed the full stands from the dug out where the Brighton players waited. She was surprised to see that her brother was amongst the crowd cheering for Brighton. “Why didn’t you join too, Ollie?” She asked as she turned to Ollie. “With how tall you are, you would have been great at running big distances!”

Ollie’s eyes twitched as he experienced bad flashbacks from when he was last dragged into the sport under a delusion by the whole town that he’d be a secret ace in the hole for the team. Yes, he did promise Molly that he’d try to understand the game, but it was like trying to understand rocket science.

“You know what?” Ollie nervously asked. “Why not let someone else have a go? Someone who knows this game better than me. I was gone for a year and–”

“Eh, doesn’t seem that hard,” a nearby Ariel, who was one of the players, commented as she observed her team. “No different from the kind of games we had back home.”

“They had this in Echo Creek too?!” Ollie demanded.

Ariel was about to answer Ollie when the last person Molly wanted to see came strutting over. Even a peacock or supermodel would be embarrassed as to how much the prideful girl strutted.

“Long time, no see McGee,” sneered none other than Tammy Myers. She may have grown and ditched her usual hairstyle for shorter hair, but that smugness was ever present.

“Tammy,” Molly hissed in annoyance.

“You may have won the softball game that one year, but I know Brighton never won a single win in all the history of turnipball,” the girl boasted. “Mewline is going to make sure that record doesn’t change today.”

“I’m not playing this year,” Molly countered. (Which was true, as she already had enough things on her metaphorical plate as is.)

“All the more reason our team will win.”

An amused Ariel let out a snort. “Heh, cute.”

Tammy’s eyes narrowed at Ariel. “What did you say?” she demanded in a low voice.

“Oh, it’s cute that you are so confident that a string of losses will guarantee that your team will win,” Ariel shrugged. “A lot of people tend to make that mistake, but I do hope you’ll still keep your guard up and give me a challenge worth remembering.”

Tammy was now scowling. “Oh, I’ll give you a challenge, blondie!” She spat and with that, she rejoined her team.

“Uh, what exactly are you doing this time?” Ollie asked Molly.

“Oh, just help sell refreshments, that’s all!” Molly beamed. “It’ll give me a chance to enjoy the game! I’ll go through the stands and sometimes stand off to the side!”

Ollie panicked. What if someone took advantage of that and filmed Molly or–?!

Ollie then noticed a turniphead mask on top of the large orange container of gatorade that could easily fit over Molly’s head. “Here!” Ollie reached over, grabbed the mask, and showed Molly. “Why don’t you wear this to make it more memorable? People might be more tempted to buy from a mascot!” He was fully prepared for Molly to protest after what happened at ‘Emily’s Party City.’

Instead, Molly stared at the mask with great familiarity. She gently smiled as she took the mask as a wave of pleasant memories came to her. “Hello, you,” she greeted. She wasn’t sure, but she was sure she knew this mask and who wore it that one fateful day of heartbreak and joy.

Molly put the mask on and headed to the concession stand to grab what she needed. Ollie sighed in relief.

****

Even as a mere spectator, Ollie still couldn’t understand the game. People would toss the turnip one minute and then the next an instrument would blow and everyone would stop as if the world was on pause. And then there’d be juggling, someone would have to kick the turnip, unicycles were brought out–he was so lost and confused that he couldn’t even know where to begin to explain the game.

(And to be honest, neither could the writer of this story because turnipball is too random to comprehend without all the exact rules or goals, and she’s not going to pretend that she knows.)

However, this time there was indeed a secret weapon on Brighton’s side, and that was Ariel D’Angelo. She hadn’t been around as long as Ollie, but she took to the game like breathing water. Her balance, her stillness, her batting average, her speed, her pitching–she had everything a coach would want in a star player.

“How?!” Ollie demanded as he sat with Libby and Darryl while watching Ariel score fifty points by simply avoiding getting caught for thirty seconds by the Mewline team while running around with the turnip over her head.

Darryl was too transfixed on the utter perfection out on the field to reply.

Meanwhile Tammy was getting increasingly furious. With every fumble her own team made, Ariel’s words kept ringing in her head, and the younger girl just nonchalantly watched it all like it was a day at the park. She just wanted to prove her wrong!

It got to a point where the teams were neck and neck and perfectly tied. Brighton was on the edge of their seats–could this finally be the year they waited for?! Even Molly–who made decent sales–couldn’t keep her eyes off the event.

“Could this be it?!” Bobby–who kept his position as announcer–asked into the microphone. “Can the losing streak finally end for Brighton?! Or will Mewline claim victory?!”

Tammy was tasked to pitch the turnip to Ariel, who held the wooden bat. The girl calmly gripped the bat as she eyed the turnip as if it weren’t a matter of win-or-lose in the big moment.

Tammy gritted her teeth and threw the turnip in such a way, that there was no way that Ariel could possibly hit it hard enough to–

CRACK!

Ariel swung the bat with just enough force to ensure that the turnip wouldn’t break, but hard enough for it to go flying right out of the field.

All eyes stared and all jaws dropped.

Molly briefly took the mask off to make sure what she was seeing was right.

Ollie and Libby were stunned.

Darryl let out a longing sigh of admiration.

Tammy’s furious eyes were bulging in disbelief.

Elsewhere, the turnip flew right into a bird and the deadly collision literally knocked its spirit out of its body.

“Huh,” Ariel smirked.

“A HUNDRED POINTS TO BRIGHTON!” Bobby roared. “BRIGHTON FINALLY WINS!”

Everyone in the Brighton stands screamed with joy so loudly that it could be heard for miles.

“WOO WHOO!” Molly cheered as she pumped her fists in the air.

Meanwhile, the players gathered around Ariel and lifted her into the air as they screamed for joy. Ariel couldn’t help but cheer alongside them.

“THIS IS ONE OF THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!” Mayor Brunson was literally crying with joy in the stands. “BRIGHTON FINALLY WINS AND IT HAPPENED IN MY LIFETIME!”

*****

Of course, the big victory made news–locally, county, and statewide. The locals and county were excited, while statewide wondered what the heck was ‘turnipball.’ The majority of the state found the whole thing to be stupid. For Brighton, it was like second and third Christmas came early.

Well, at least until people remembered that Brighton still had yet to beat Perfektborg, and that the middle school had yet to win a victory as well. But still, a victory was something to be happy for.

“Oh, I can’t wait to tell Scratch!” Molly exclaimed the following Monday between classes.

“I’m sure he’ll like to see the videos!” Libby grinned.

Ollie nervously looked through his phone on the articles and videos about the big victory. Something like this would put attention on Brighton and if Molly appeared in any photos or videos–

“I bet he’ll wish he was mainly there to eat the food, knowing him!” Molly laughed.

“Didn’t he antagonize the mascot for Perfektborg last time?” Libby asked. “The giant meatball?”

“He had a weird impulse to antagonize meatballs before eating them, for some reason,” Molly thought. “But then again, he has a lot of weird habits with certain foods.”

Ollie became absorbed in trying to find something–anything–that could put Molly at risk. He already neglected his homework over searching and combing through the news report last night.

Later in the cafeteria, Molly found Ariel and gave her a huge hug.

“Oh my gosh, thank you so much!” Molly thanked as the younger girl laughed.

“Alright, Huggin’ Molly!” Ariel laughed and patted Molly on the back. “Just don’t come after me at night!”

Molly let go of Ariel in confusion. “Come again? ‘Huggin Molly?’”

“Oh, as in the cryptid from Alabama,” Ariel explained. “You know? The tall woman who snatches up folks in the night with a tight hug and screams in their ears? She was in a video game and there was a song about her.” Then Ariel recited “Oh, Molly, Molly keep your hands away, “Hold and crush you” is the game she play. Molly, Molly, all in white, her grip is fast and much too tight.”

Molly felt a slight chill down her spine hearing that song as Ariel nervously laughed. “My dad’s a representative for his business, and he heard about her during a visit near there.”

“Ah, no that song is not me!” Molly laughed and forced a smile. “Hugging yes, but no to everything else!”

A distant Darryl sat with June and stared in horror as Molly talked to Ariel. He was scared that Molly would drive Ariel away with her usual over-optimism and need to help others. If Ariel thought Molly was lame, then there was no way she’d want to hang with Darryl.

****

That following night, Ollie got to the point where he asked June if she could hack into the security footage yet again.

“What are you looking for?” June asked as Ollie combed through every second of the game.

As far as Ollie had seen, Molly was either out of sight or wearing that mask. No focus had been on the stands when the strike was made, and when the crowd was cheering there was so much going on that it was impossible to find Molly in the crowd.

“Just trying to be safe,” Ollie replied.

June frowned. “You don’t look too good,” she noted. Her brother seemed more distracted and on edge than usual. True, her autism meant that she could hyperfix on her work and miss some details outside her area of focus at times, but she was more perceptive than most people realized. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Everything’s fine,” Ollie sighed.

“You know you can tell me if something is wrong, right? I know you kept Scratch a secret from us, but I don’t want you to feel like you need to hide anything from me.”

Ollie didn’t dare tell his family about ‘Euphrosyne.’ That was too risky, and he couldn’t trust June to keep herself from telling Darryl, who would tell Molly. Heck the Chens and the McGees were so close that telling any member of his family was too risky. “If I think things will get worse, I’ll let you know,” Ollie promised.

*****

On Friday evening, Libby was tasked with babysitting for Gertrude and Hidalgo’s children. She was lucky Lord Doom served as back up, but he was certainly an interesting case of help.

“THE STEPMOTHER DECLARED ‘YOU’RE FOOT WILL FIT THE SLIPPER IF YOU RIP YOUR TOES OUT!’” Lord Doom roared with his usual lack of an indoor voice as he told the Grimm's version of Cinderella to Octavius and Emily. “‘YOU WON’T NEED TO WALK SO MUCH IF YOU ARE A QUEEN!’”

Libby grimaced as Lord Doom gleefully went into full gorey detail. Octavius listened attentively, but Emily was gleefully smiling as if she liked the macabre tale. It was very fitting, considering who she was reincarnated from.

‘Not much changed with you, Blair,’ Libby thought as Emily shrieked in delight over an especially messy part.

Eventually the story ended, and it was at that point Jeff appeared in the house via ghost portal.

“JEFF!” Lord Doom greeted. “WE MUST SET UP A CHARCUTERIE DAY FOR OUR BOOK CLUB! I HEAR MARIE MAKES EXCELLENT FRUIT SPREADS WHICH I WOULD KILL TO TRY!”

“I agree!” Jeff agreed.

Libby turned her attention to the purple-blue ghost. “Anything new?” she asked. She had taken on the role of the human that all Brighton ghosts–and other ghostly allies–would report to.

“There was a person in Nevada that yelled about the song of glory,” Jeff began. “Another was in Georgia. I got word about someone mentioning Euphrosyne in Australia, Chile, and Russia. I reached out to friends and heard that Gravesfield and even the Tri-State area had someone yelling about Euphrosyne.” His face darkened.“And we got a report about a US politician secretly believing in her.”

“That’s not good,” Libby frowned. She turned to Lord Doom. “Speaking of, anything new in Brighton?”

“There is no discussion of any apocalypse,” Lord Doom calmly spoke as the nearby Octavius and Emily played with their toys. “The others haven’t heard anything either.”

“And nothing outside, within the county?”

“No. Even Sven in Perfektborg was on the lookout and he didn’t see anything.”

“That’s good,” Libby sighed in relief.

“How is Ollie?” Jeff asked.

“The turnipball game put him on edge,” Libby answered. “He’s lost sleep over making sure Molly didn’t appear in the media over it, and he skipped on his homework.”

“He should let us take care of things,” Jeff offered. “We have all the time in the world, and he doesn’t.”

Libby shook her head. “No, he’ll do anything to make sure Molly is safe. He’s just as stubborn as her sometimes. But I’m worried he’ll go too far and accidentally push Molly away.” That was one of Libby’s biggest concerns. Whatever happened, she didn’t want her friends to split apart due to big secrets or someone being overprotective.

Jeff thought for a bit. “I’ll see around for anything else that could be done,” he offered.

****

Ollie stayed up overnight double checking his research for any mention of Euphrosyne or cults for her. He had seen one video where a fed-up man attacked one of the doomsday people holding a sign in Texas, but nothing else. He ended up oversleeping and was forced to spend his Sunday catching up on homework he had missed.

“I’m going to my next Dungeons and Dragons meet-up if you want a break,” June offered as she passed by Ollie’s room. “Darryl is helping out at the restaraunt, and my friends don’t mind if you come.”

“I don’t think I’m in the right frame of mind, June,” Ollie sighed as he rubbed his eyes. “That’s a lot of strategic planning for me to handle. But I hope you and your band mates enjoy themselves.”

June left and Ollie let his mind wander for a bit. Darryl working at the restaurant… Molly didn’t have to help if her grandma gave her a break…

Wait, wasn’t Molly supposed to do her next video at the bridal store today?

Ollie let out an epic curse. How could he have forgotten about that?! Why hadn’t he heard Molly say anything, especially during club? Oh yeah, he was going over videos and articles and opted to skip out that day. But still!

Ollie grabbed his bag and ran out.

*****

Molly, Andrea, and even Libby were close to being done with creating the video for the wedding boutique. A few young women were asked to help show off some wedding dresses and bridesmaids outfits and Andrea was all too happy to use her influencer skills to take the best shots of the models, and not just because it was a warm up to the prom photoshoots. Molly and Andrea couldn’t help but stare longingly at the outfits.

“I hope for a nice outdoor wedding,” Molly sighed.

“Mine will be fancy with the best of the best,” Andrea agreed.

Libby was only inspired to create a wedding scene for one of her stories and jotted down some quick notes in a notebook.

Marissa–the store owner–watched on with pride. “Oh you girls, you spoil me with your free advertising and perfect pictures!”

“And now for the interview!” Molly exclaimed as she pulled out a paper with questions on it. “Just a bit about the history of the store, what you love about your job, and an example of one bride who found her dream wedding dress.”

Moments later, Molly stood with Marissa, with mikes in hand, courtesy of Andrea, who was filming.

“Well, my great-grandmother sewed my grandmother’s wedding dress when she was young,” Marissa recounted, not knowing that the ghost of said great-grandmother was invisible and happily listening in as she reflected on those times. “Grandma said Great-Grandma knew how to make even the humblest designs look so beautiful. After a bit of a career struggle, I wanted to provide that same experience to soon-to-be brides who can’t afford designer dresses or need to manage their budgets.”

“And you are doing so well, my dear Marissa!” Marissa’s Great-Grandma complimented her.

“I’m sure your Great-Grandma would be proud of you,” Molly couldn’t help but tell the business owner upon overhearing the ghost.

It was around that time that Ollie came upon the store and skidded to a halt in front of it. He peaked through the window and could see the backside of Molly as she talked with the owner, who was barely in sight, but could not see him. He couldn’t see who else was in the store.

He could see the mic in Molly’s hand, which could only mean she was being filmed. If the video went up online–especially right after Brighton’s big win at turnipball–there was even more of a chance that someone would be watching that would be after Molly. No, he had yet to see anything that proved those doomsday people knew that Molly was who they are looking for, but he couldn’t take risks.

However, he could not risk going in and stopping Molly–he didn’t want to explain to Molly why she couldn’t upload that video. Fortunately, he had long been prepared for this. Ollie reached into his backpack and pulled out a canister that he secretly took from June’s lab–it was a smoke bomb that she had created for Darryl for a prank, and he knew from experience to recognize it.

An inner voice was screaming at the boy to not do this-this was a very bad idea. The other side rationalized that if it was just smoke, no one would get hurt and no damage could be done. The guilt was already eating at Ollie, but he had no choice.

“I’m really sorry,” he whispered before taking a deep breath.

Ollie slowly opened the door to avoid the bell attached from ringing, undid the tab on the canister, and tossed it into the store as hard as he could.

Marissa was in the middle of answering Molly’s final question when a burst of thick white smoke filled the room and she let out a scream. Molly, Libby, and Andrea were horrified and Andrea stopped filming as the other two girls raced into action to help out.

“SOMEONE GET A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!” Molly yelled, though she went to look for one herself, just in case.

Ollie ran from the store as fast as he could. There was too much of a commotion going on in the boutique for anyone inside to see him.

But someone did–someone who literally floated through the store’s walls to see the boy running away. The ghost of the boutique owner narrowed her eyes in anger when she recognized who it was.

*****

Ollie was not proud of what he did. Even if it was to save Molly, he was going to have to live with this. He stayed locked up in his room and tried to calm himself down.

His phone rang with a text alert. Two alerts.

Ollie grabbed the phone and read the message. It was from Libby.

His stomach dropped when he saw that it was a picture of the canister, displayed in Libby’s room.

“Oh crap,” he gulped. He forgot that the canister would easily be used as evidence against him. How stupid could he be?!

‘Do something like this again and I will tell her,’ the following text warned.

His stomach dropped even further as a series of dots warned him something was coming.

‘The ghost of the store owner’s great-grandmother saw you. She will no longer help keep an eye on things until you apologize to the owner.’

*****

Libby was angry. And it took a lot to make her angry.

“I’m glad everyone is ok,” Molly sighed the next day in class. “Unfortunately, we can’t finish the video until after Andrea’s photoshoot.”

“I’m sure Andrea will figure a way to squeeze in time for you,” Libby tried to reassure Molly.

Libby found the canister before anyone else could and she had her suspicions, so she quickly hit it in her bag in the boutique. But when a very furious ghost told her who was responsible, Libby couldn’t help but join in the anger.

She didn’t want to tell Molly. She knew Ollie was better than this, and wouldn’t normally pull this kind of stunt. She didn’t want to have a hand in ruining an otherwise sweet romance.

But Molly was also her best friend, and Libby had seen Molly’s gradual descent into despair. What if the canister triggered a bad flashback to when the retirement home was on fire? Ollie had unwittingly nearly pulled Molly into that descent once more, and Libby had no desire to repeat that ever again.

Ollie’s actions also lost them an additional set of eyes who could help survey Brighton. Libby would not be surprised if other ghosts caught wind of this, and she was lucky they answered to her during this time, and not Ollie.

Ollie was also lucky that Libby found the canister, because the blame could have been easily placed on Darryl. Everyone knew that Darryl had a limit on how far his pranks could go, and he would never put June in this kind of trouble, who’d instantly know who got her canister. Not to mention Ollie probably left fingerprints on the canister.

Meanwhile, Molly tried her hardest to put the video mishap out of mind. She would get to continue filming later so all would still go well. She almost succeeded in going about her day with a positive attitude for a time.

It was after school that Molly narrowly missed a familiar shade of pink. She turned to see Kat sitting on a bench and comforting a freshman girl who was huddled into a tight ball and holding her arms around her knees. She had a terrified, far off look in her eyes.

“Everything ok?” Molly asked Kat as she approached her and the girl.

Kat looked at the girl. “Is it ok if–?” she began to ask and the girl nodded. Kat made a gesture for Molly to come close and when Molly sat beside Kat, the girl leaned in and whispered–

“Her cousins and aunt and uncle left to go to another town last month. There were a bunch of forced deportations in their old town that they barely avoided, and Lucía just found out about it.”

Molly’s heart stopped.

“I won’t say anything about this to anyone,” Molly promised.

Molly got up and left as Kat continued to comfort Lucía.

Sometimes it was easy to forget life outside of Brighton. But once in awhile, Molly would be reminded that there were terrible things happening around her. Things that couldn’t be solved so easily with a fundraiser or by spreading awareness. They were things that made her wonder why there was so much bad in the world.

War, poverty, cruelty, racism… the list went on.

They were things that made Molly wonder if she made the right choice in staying human, or if she could have done more if she went back to being a wraith, even for a brief moment, just to change things.

***

It was not a fun week for Ollie.

He just smiled and listened to whatever Molly said, while Libby constantly had a knowing look whenever they crossed paths. He was lucky that Molly was busy with so much stuff, though he felt the weight of his guilt when Molly had to tell the community club why the wedding boutique video wouldn’t arrive on schedule.

He didn’t realize how easily he could have been caught with that stunt. He was now at a point where one wrong move would bring about severe consequences. His guilt while pretending he was innocent was already too much of a punishment to carry.

Friday eventually came, and Ollie just wanted something to take his mind off things. He barely listened as Molly talked with Andrea over some school work during lunch time. That was, until–

“By the way, I’m having the photoshoot at our house,” Andrea told Molly. “After what happened with the video, I don’t want to take any risks. Security will be better in the house. I talked with Dad and he agreed to bring the collection over. I kept your sizes in mind beforehand.”

“Oh thanks!” Molly beamed as Ollie stiffened.

How could he have forgotten about that?!

“I also invited Kat and Sheela, Jasmine and Michaela from the LGBTQ club, Sapphire from your club, and Gwen from the musical. With us included, that would be eight girls.”

“I can’t wait to see what you’ll have for me to try on!” Molly grew excited. After what happened at the boutique, she needed a bit of fun that also involved helping others out. She wanted to do something that was within her control.

Ollie could barely take it anymore. “Molly, can I talk to you?” he asked. “In private?”

“Is everything ok?” Molly wondered.

“No, everything is fine!” Ollie protested. “It’s just–!” He glanced at Andrea before he took Molly by the hand and led her outside.

Once the young couple were outside, Ollie faced Molly. “I don’t think you should do the photoshoot tomorrow,” he began.

“Why?” A confused Molly asked.

“Because I don’t think it’s a good idea!”

“Why?” Molly was further confused.

“You’ve done a lot already Molly. You deserve a break.”

“Not really,” Molly shook her head. “The boutique video can’t be finished until I finish the interview on Sunday. That already sets me back!”

“Then have someone else finish it!”

“People will wonder why I’m suddenly swapped with someone else, and I don’t want to force Marissa to do the whole interview all over again.”

“Then re-do it! And give yourself a break and don’t do the photoshoot!”

“Ollie, I owe Andrea big time!” Molly protested. “After all she’s done for me, you, and everyone else, I can’t say no! And it’s not just her I’m helping–it’ll be a lot of other girls who will need to get a heads-up about prom dresses and how to prepare for it.”

“She has a lot of other girls to help her!”

“I still owe her! I wouldn’t still be living in Brighton if it hadn’t been for Andrea rallying the town to help my family buy our house back! And if I had left, Scratch would still have been a wraith and the Flow of Failed Phantoms would have still been around! If it wasn’t for her, your family wouldn’t of had jobs, and your dad wouldn’t of had his root beer pub! Don’t you understand?!”

It was like a huge slap in the face for Ollie. He heard some things about life in Brighton before he came here, but he never considered how much Andrea’s life intertwined with Molly or Scratch’s. Unfortunately for him, Molly was right on several points.

Molly tried to take a deep breath and calm down. “Ollie, I appreciate that you care about me, but I have obligations. I don’t want to let anyone down.”

That’s what Ollie was afraid of. There was just no telling what would happen while there were still people unworthy of Molly’s help who kept claiming she would somehow destroy or reshape the world.

“Is something going on?” Molly asked. “You’ve been acting really weird lately.”

“What? No!” Ollie laughed it off. “What do you–?”

“First there’s you being so against me doing videos. Then you barely seem here these days, and half the time you look like you are tired out. Are you ok?” Molly frowned. “You aren’t turning into a wraith for any reason, are–?”

“No!” Ollie protested. “Absolutely not!”

“Then what is it?!” Molly cried. “I don’t keep secrets from you anymore! I want us to be a couple who supports each other and can be honest if something is wrong! If there’s a problem, I want to help! Just tell me the truth, Ollie! What is going on?!”

Ollie didn’t want to lose Molly. If he refused to say anything, it would make things worse. But if he told her the truth, she would be paranoid and think the world was out to get her. She’d either live in fear or give in to the twisted views of the doomsday people and be lost to him and everyone else forever.

“I–” Ollie hesitated.

Molly waited.

“I–”

He did enough damage as is.

Ollie took a deep breath.

Molly waited.

“I can’t tell you right now,” Ollie gave in with a sigh as his protective side kicked in once more.

Molly could only stare at Ollie. She was angry and she wanted to just grab him by the shoulders and demand the truth. She wanted him to stop beating around the bush, but he couldn’t stop lying to her–she had no proof but she could sense it and it was making her angrier.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it–this whole thing was exhausting her when it was combined with the bad luck and everything else she was trying to take care of. Instead, Molly shook her head. “When you are ready to talk, I’ll listen,” Molly spoke as she tried to stay reasonable, despite her frustrations. “But I want you to be honest with me when that happens, because I can’t do whatever this is right now.”

Ollie could only watch as Molly went back to the cafeteria.

The rest of the day seemed to slog on as Ollie couldn’t help but replay the argument over and over in his head. What classes he had left with Molly were spent in silence as the girl focused solely on classwork. He thought he could handle Molly’s anger, but he couldn’t.

He wondered if this was what every superhero felt like when they couldn’t tell their loved ones their secret of being a superhero, because they feared that they would get hurt by their enemies. Except he wasn’t the superhero in this story.

The couple didn’t even walk side by side when it was time to leave. Ollie could only give Molly space and watch her go as Darryl followed after her.

“Ollie?”

Ollie turned to see Andrea. She was frowning at him.

Andrea had secretly followed Ollie and Molly since she had some suspicions and had gone though this all too familiar secrecy before. She listened in on their argument, and while there was some things she didn’t understand–like ‘wraith’ and ‘Flow of Failed Phantoms’–those suspicions increased when Ollie refused to be honest with Molly.

“There’s a reason you don’t want Molly to do those videos, isn’t there?” Andrea asked. When Ollie flinched, she continued “I find it weird how against it you are, and I’m worried it wasn’t a coincidence that the boutique got gassed with whatever that smoke was.”

Ollie was shocked.

“I know your tells, Chen,” Andrea explained. “You kept Molly from knowing about the move until it was almost too late and I’m seeing a repeat of this. I get it if you won’t tell me what is going on, but I will say this.” She looked Ollie in the eye. “I better not see you near my house tomorrow. Not for any reason. If there’s an emergency, I expect it to come from Molly’s family or Libby. Our family and our employees need the profits that we will make for the prom outfits, and a lot of girls will need our help. My family has been there for yours, and I want us to still be friends. This is the only way you can still keep my trust.”

Andrea walked away as Ollie stared after her.

How many friends and allies was he at risk of losing over this nightmare?