“Um...” Mia trailed off. “What in Frankenstein’s name are you WEARING?”

“What?” Ben smiled sheepishly. “I am quite clearly a ghost.”

“Clearly.” Mia raised her eyebrows.

Suddenly, a large black figure leapt from behind onto the white sheeted boy.

“OUCH!” the ghost yelped as the black blur knocked him to the ground.

Mia laughed as the two boys rolled around on the floor for a few seconds,; realising they were in severe danger of falling off the porch steps, she decided to break it up.

“Johnny! Get off Ben! NOW!”

Still laughing the two boys got to their feet and brushed off their Halloween costumes.

“And you are....?” Mia asked Johnny.

“Dracula?” Johnny said, bearing his white plastic fangs.

“Of course...”

“Well what about you? Where’s your costume?”

“Right here!” Mia exclaimed, twirling on the spot. She fluffed her bob tail, and reached behind the door for her rabbit ears. Plonking them on her head, she announced “I’m a bunny!”

Both boys burst out laughing. Mia pouted and shoved Johnny, who stood nearest to her.

“Where’s Danny?” Ben asked, recovering from his giggling fit.

“He said he might be a bit late,” Mia said, readjusting her bunny ears.

“HERE!” a voice came from up the street. Running toward them was a very strange sight.

An average sized boy was jogging in their direction, his face painted a lurid green and his matching dull brown trousers and shirt ripped at the cuffs. He had a coarse rope tied around his middle and an odd metal thing sticking from his neck.

“Frankenstein?” Mia asked.

“What!” Ben was infuriated. “You get HIS costume but you don’t get mine?”

Mia yanked the sheet down over the boys brown eyes. “Shut up Ben!” She giggled as the boy attempted to pull the sheet back into a place from where he could see.

“Well,” Mia announced. “Shall we...” She was cut off by a smooth voice from behind her.

“Miami.”

“Don’t call me...” Mia span around to face the cunningly handsome Jacob, and trailed off as she realised the proximity of the other boy.

“Piss off Jake.” Ben growled.

“Now now younger brother, there are ladies in our presence.”

Mia tried to scowl at the boy stood before her, but his deep blue eyes threatened to bring a smile to her face.

“Off ‘trick or treating’ are you?” he sneered.

“Yeah, so?” Johnny’s voice was defiant.

“Well, Kids stuff really, isn’t it?”

“And what are you doing? Where are your friends?”

Jacob glared at his younger brother.

“Oh, yeah!” Ben grinned, “All your friends are off at Uni aren’t they? And you were the only one thick enough to have to stay behind.”

Jake lunged for his brother but Mia stepped in the way.

“Stop it both of you!”

“Of course Miami, it would be an unfair fight wouldn’t it?”

Before another fight could break out, Mia said, “Are you coming with us or not Jake, because we’re going now.”

Secretly Mia hoped the older boy would agree to come with them, as he was so charming to her. Although she knew he was only doing it to wind up Ben, she still enjoyed the attention.

“Um...” said Jake, pretending to think about it, “No. But I can think of something much better we could do.”

“Oh yeah?” sneered Ben. “What would that be?”

“We could spend the night in a ruined castle.”

“Yeah,” said Danny sarcastically. “because there are loads of them around here!”

“Well actually... There is one up on the moor.”

“What?” Danny frowned. “No there isn’t.”

“Oh, there is,” insisted Jake. “Supposed to be really creepy, I dare you to go and stay in it.”

“There is no castle around here. There isn’t any on the maps of the area.”

Danny’s favourite subject at school was geography; he had a huge map of the surrounding area pinned to the ceiling in his bedroom. If anyone knew about a castle, it was Danny.

“Quit messing around Jake,” Johnny snarled. “We’re leaving.”

“I knew you would be too scared.” He looked at the blonde girl standing in front of him. “You’re not scared, are you, Miami?” His smile made the girl go weak at the knees; she shook her head so violently her bunny ears fell off.

Jake grinned; he bent to the floor of the porch and scooped up the white fluffy ears. Looking Mia straight in the eyes, he gently placed the headband back on her head, and flicked her fringe from her eyes.

Mia heard a scuffling sound as Johnny tried to hold Ben back. But right now, looking into those eyes, she couldn’t care. After what seemed like a lifetime, but was really only a few seconds, Jake looked away. “You’ll come with me, wont you?” Mia nodded, still dumbstruck.

“No, Mia come on!” Danny grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away.

“Aww come on! Come and find this castle with me, don’t tell me you’re all chicken?”

Ben growled angrily. Mia smiled up at Jake, “I don’t see why we couldn’t... it would be fun. Trick or treating is getting a little boring don’t you think?”

“Well you can go if you want Mia,” Danny said. “but we’re going trick or treating.”

“No way.” Ben ground his teeth. “Mia is not going anywhere with him alone.”

“Aww come on bro’! Don’t you trust me?” He pretended to pout at his brother. “I promise I won’t hurt your little girlfriend!”

Both Mia and Ben blushed furiously. Jake laughed at the reaction he had managed to provoke from his younger brother.

Jake jumped from the porch and landed on the gravel with a ‘crunch’, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and began walking down the drive. Without looking back he called, “Are you chickens coming or what?”

“Come one guys,” Mia encouraged. “It’s just a bit of fun!” And with that, she too leapt from the porch and walked after Jake, her bob-tail waggling as she went.

Ben sighed angrily. “I. hate. my. brother!” he snapped through clenched teeth. Pulling the sheet angrily from his face, and throwing it over his shoulder he jogged after his brother and the girl he had had a crush on for the past year and a half. There was no way he was letting them spend any time alone together.

“Well...” Johnny sighed. “This could be fun...not.”

~~

“We’ve been wandering around on these stupid moors for two hours! Can we leave now? There is obviously NO castle here!”

“Patience little brother! We will find it...I know we will be there soon.”

Jake continued up the steep moor hill, Mia by his side and the other three boys not far behind.

“You know do you? How could you POSSIBLY know? This ‘castle’ isn’t even on a map! It clearly DOESN’T EXIST!”

“Really Benjamin?”

“YES REALLY!” Ben yelled.

“What’s that then?” Jake smiled smugly and pointed toward a huge grey building in the distance.

The party froze on top of the hill; Jake smiled as his brother’s mouth fell open in shock.

“Looks quite like a castle to me, little brother. What do you reckon Mia?”

Mia grinned; she turned to the gobsmacked boys behind her. “COME ON THEN!” she cried and half ran, half fell, down the hill, her bunny tail bouncing as she went.

Jake laughed his deep, cheerful laugh. “Tough luck mate!” he said to his brother before taking off after Mia.

Ben growled again and threw himself after his brother.

“Like I said,” Johnny began. “Fun.” And he sprinted after his friends, Danny close behind him.


Mia stopped running when she was about two hundred metres from the ruined castle. A heavy chain ran through the main entrance and a large sign read in bright red letters

“DANGER- DO NOT ENTER. STRUCTURE UN-SAFE”

Jake stopped next to Mia. “Now, you’ve come this far, and you’re going to let a sign stop you?”

“Nah, I’m waiting for those slow-pokes to catch up!”

When the whole group was together again, Mia edged forward. She stepped cautiously over chunks of rock that had fallen from the castles ruins. After a few hesitant steps, Jake over took her. Mia was glad, she had had enough of leading, this place gave her the creeps. She felt like they had no business nosing around. Jake however, seemed to have no such feeling, he ploughed on through the ruins, kicking aside any rocks or rubble that lay in his way, until he reached the chained off main entrance.

“I... I still don’t understand what this isn’t on any of my maps!” Danny said, he sounded hurt that his geography skills seemed wrong. “It should be on my map!”

“Oh, who cares!” called Mia. “It’s obviously here! You can see it can’t you?”

Danny frowned.

“Ladies first,” Jake exclaimed. “Would you like to go over or under the chain, Miami?”

“Um...” Mia looked up at Jake. “Could you go first?”

Jake laughed. “Sure!” And with that, he was gone.

“Mia!” Ben called, taking advantage of the momentary absence of his brother. “What are you playing at?”

“What?” Mia asked innocently.

“Letting him call you ‘Miami’ you never let anyone call you Miami! Jake’s a git, I don’t know why you made us come here with you!”

“I didn’t make you do anything!”

“Well we weren’t about to let you come out here on your own were we?”

“I can look after myself you know! I don’t need you following me everywhere trying to ‘protect’ me, I can do fine by myself!” And with that, she stepped defiantly over the chain and disappeared inside the building.

“Girls...are... so... FRUSTRATING!” Ben fumed. “Why is my brother such a git?”

“Ben...” Danny began, “I don’t like this place.”

“Just because it isn’t on your map doesn’t mean you have to be scared of it!” Ben was in a really bad mood now. He had been looking forward to Halloween night for ages, looking forward to being able to spend all night with Mia eating sweets. But his brother had to go and ruin it all. He hated his brother so much. He really wasn’t in the mood to listen to his friends whining.

Together, all three boys ducked under the chain and entered the castle.
~~

The boys crashed headfirst into Mia and Jake. Even though they had apparently stepped into an empty space, they now found themselves on top of the friends who they assumed had walked deeper into the castle.

Ben swore and got angrily to his feet, about to demand an explanation for why his brother and Mia had been standing just inside the door and hadn’t made any effort to move, when he noticed his surroundings.

He should be standing in the dark, in a ruined castle, soft green grass beneath his feet and the October breeze on his face. But he felt none of that.

The entire party of people were stood in what appeared to be the entrance hall of a grand castle. The floor was flag-stoned and there was a huge flight of marble stairs leading away from them. As they looked up the stairs, they saw a huge cavern of a room. Each wall was coated in portraits, some pictures as large as Jake, others only small headshots. The walls were covered so thickly with this patchwork, that the group couldn’t see the stone wall beneath it. The room was lit by flickering candles, more and more on each level. Mia jumped as one of the stone staircases moved from one landing to another. The rest of the party stood dumbstruck. On each hallway stood three or four suits of armour, carrying various battle axes and swords. Statues dotted the corridors, though they were unlike any statues the group had ever seen; they were twisted in odd shapes, and some were of creatures Johnny had never seen before, hideous winged beasts with evil grins.

It was obviously still Halloween in the castle. To Ben’s left was a huge pair of double doors, and hundreds and hundreds of voices could be heard chattering through the thick wood. Two giant pumpkins were positioned outside of the doors, their faces carved into haunting leers. The candle lights from within flickered.

The four boys and girl stood frozen by amazement.

Danny was the first to regain the power of speech.

“Are... are we back in time?”

“I... I don’t know.” said Ben helplessly.

Suddenly the huge wooden doors to their right seemed to shimmer, and through the door came a misty silver shape.

Mia screamed. Jake clamped his hand over her mouth. The ghost didn’t seem to have seen them yet, and he didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention from inside the room on the right.

The ghost floated about two feet off the ground. She was tall with flowing hair that was such a dark shade of silver, Jake imagined it had, at one point, been brown. She wore a dark cloak that she had drawn around herself.

Just as Jake had thought they had got away without being noticed, the ghost turned slowly in mid air and blinked at the intruders.

“We... erm... we were just leaving.” Danny’s voice squeaked in fear as he tried to back out of the door in which they had come.

“May I help you?” The Grey Lady addressed Jake, who was stood at the front of the party, and looked him up and down disapprovingly.

“You should be at the feast. You might want to change into your robes before going in though, what are you wearing?”

Jake pulled his hoodie closer around himself and frowned.

“We don’t want to go to any feast thanks, we’re just leaving.”

“Leaving? You can’t leave after hours.”

“After hours of what?” Johnny asked, stepping closer to the ghost.

“Hours of school of course.”

“This place is a school?” Jake shifted his weight to his other foot.

“Should you be here?” The Grey Lady peered closer at the motley crew, frowning as she neared Mia.

“Seriously, we’re leaving.” Mia’s voice shook as she stepped away from the ghostly woman.

“Well you won’t get out of there now,” the ghost said, gesturing toward the door they had entered through.

“Wh... what do you mean?” stammered Mia as the woman came still closer.

“It just locked itself.”

“Well can’t it just unlock itself?” Jake said looking suspiciously at the ghostly lady.

“No. It won’t unlock until tomorrow morning, so you may as well stop playing your games and just go to the feast.”

She turned from the children and began to float away.

“No! You don’t understand.” Ben ran after the Grey Lady, she turned back to him and started icily at him

“Exactly what do I not understand?”

“We’re not supposed to be here!”

She glared at him. “I know that, you should be at the feast.”

“No, what I mean is...” he trailed off, knowing this next bit was going to sound stupid. “We’re from the future.”

The Grey Lady frowned. “So you’re not from the year 2009?”

“This is the year 2009?” Jake sounded incredulous as he stepped onto a level with his younger brother.

“Yes.” The Grey Lady looked at him as though he was stupid.

“Look... we’re from the nearby village, and we just want to go home.”

The ghosts face froze. “You’re Muggles?

“What’s a Muggle?” Jake frowned at the odd word.

“You’re not wizards?”

Jake laughed uncertainly. “No...?”

The Grey Lady floated swiftly back toward the huge wooden doors, muttering something about “headmistress”. Just as she was about to float back through the door, she turned her head. “Don’t go anywhere.” And with that she was gone.

“What the hell was that?” Mia looked frightened; she shivered and hugged herself.

“I don’t know...” Ben sounded dazed. “I think it was some kind of ghost?”

“Don’t be stupid, Ben,” Jake scolded. “Ghosts don’t exist.”

“Well, whatever, we should get out of here.”

Mia pushed the heavy door. “She was telling the truth. It’s locked.” Her face was as white as a sheet and she was shivering continually now. Ben put his arm around her. Jake sneered over at him, and Ben glared back.

Jake strode over to the door and pushed hard against it. It wouldn’t budge.

A loud creaking sound came from behind Jake’s shoulder; he spun around to see the door on the right opening.

The noise from the room had stopped. The entrance hall was silent. In the doorframe stood three figures. One, a tall old man, was stood slightly more forwards than the other two, he was clearly the authority.

“Well then,” the old man said kindly. “what have we here?”

“We...we don’t want any trouble.” Ben took a step backwards, pulling a shivering Mia with him.

The old man smiled kindly. “Now, now, none of that, nobody is in any trouble here. Let’s see, where do you all come from?”

“Puddleton,” Jake said. “It’s just over the moor.”

“Right then. If you two,” he gestured toward Ben and Mia, “would kindly come over here. And you two,” he pointed at Johnny and Danny, “go to Professor Sinistra over there, then that leaves you,” he looked over at Jake, “to go with Professor Docherty.”

“We don’t want to be split up,” Jake said. “we want to all go together.”

“Well now,” chuckled the old man. “One person can’t possible take five people by broomstick all by themselves!”

“By what?”

“Now, now, that really doesn’t matter. There will be people waiting for us when we get to Puddleton, professor Ferguson has gone to contact the proper authority.”

“Proper authority?” Mia squeaked.

“Nothing to worry about my dear,” the old man assured. “Right,” he said, leading Ben and Mia out of the front door, which he had opened by use of what apparently was a magical wand. The view that faced the five children was majorly different to the view on the way in. Spread out in front of the castle were rolling lawns; the grass was silver in the moonlight, every strand cut to the exact same level as the one next to it. Lying on the perfectly manicured lawns were five broomsticks, two of them already hovering a good two feet from the ground and with people astride them. The man who had hold of Mia and Ben directed Ben to one of the already hovering broomsticks before bringing one of the other broomsticks to his hand with a flick of his wrist. Mia started open mouthed as the man climbed onto the broom and it rose slowly into the air. He gestured for her to climb on behind him, but she couldn’t move. He gently lowered the broom until it was almost touching the silvery grass. Taking her by both arms, he pulled her onto the broom and sent it hovering toward the sky again. Mia began to wobble and grabbed desperately to the older man’s sides. To her right she could see Ben clutching tightly to a young woman as she steered her broom westwards.

They were flying for what felt like an hour, but was really probably only a few minutes. Mia never let go of the man’s sides. They flew higher and higher across the moor and the trees, until lights were visible far below, and then they began to descend. Mia couldn’t get her thoughts straight in her head. Supposedly she was sitting on a flying broomstick with a real wizard who could do real magic? She was terrified; they seemed to speed up as they neared the ground. She opened her mouth ready to scream as they hit the ground... And then it was over. They were out of the crushing darkness, and into a brightly lit street. Mia instantly recognised it as Puddleton’s high street.

Stood before the party of five children and three adults, was a collection of men dressed in odd clothes. Ben now realised that the man holding his arm was wearing clothes quite like the new comers. All the adults were wearing long flowing robes on varying shades of colour.

The largest of the new men strode toward the man holding Mia and Ben. “Just these five?” he asked.

“Yes, yes, just these five”

“Any idea how they managed to get in?”

“Just walked through the front door as far as I can tell, we really must tighten security.”

“Right, well, best get this over and done with.”

“OBLIVIATE!”
~~
Mia awoke the next morning; her neck was stiff from the awkward angle in which she had fallen asleep. Climbing out of bed, she stretched her arms above her head and, yawning, walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Morning Mia,” her mum said cheerfully. “Where are all the sweets from last night? Did you have a good time?”

Mia shrugged. To tell the truth, she couldn’t remember very much about it.