TITLE: The Ghost in the Dark  
AUTHOR:  Joyce 
E-Mail: mab49@earthlink.net
DATE: October 1998

DISTRIBUTION:  Gossamer.  Anyone else, please ask.
RATING: PG-13 (some profanity)
CLASSIFICATION: S
SUMMARY: Mulder celebrates his first Halloween as a ghost.
DISCLAIMER: Mulder, Scully and Skinner belong to Chris
            Carter and 1013 Productions.  I am only
            borrowing them and will return them more or
            less unscathed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to a very talented group of friends.

===========================
The Ghost in the Dark 


Perched on the printer table, his legs folded under him in
a lotus position, Mulder peered over Scully's shoulder to
read a file on a case that he hoped might be less obvious
than the district FBI office seemed to think it was.  He
was grasping at straws really, but the air of boredom in
the basement was thick enough to cut with a knife.  Chalk
up another fact I didn't know about ghosts, he thought
ruefully to himself, they get bored.

"Come on, Scully, turn the page already," he whispered
softly.  One of the many disadvantages to his new
existence was being forced to read files at Scully's
painstakingly thorough pace.  Unless Simon left the
office, he had to remain completely invisible.  Being a
ghost had its drawbacks.  It could be fun, on occasion,
but it was not a career he would have chosen if given half
a chance.

Special Agent Simon Ambercrombie, the newest member of the
X-Files team, stretched and rolled shoulders aching from
too much desk duty.  It had been nearly three weeks since
their last case and he was about ready to start browsing
'The Enquirer' in hopes of scaring up something that would
get them out of this office and away from paperwork.

"Scully, it's almost three, do you mind if I take off a
bit early?" Simon asked.  "If I have to look at another
expense report form, I will not be responsible for the
permanent damage to my psyche," he added with a smile.
"Besides, it's the big night tonight and I have got to get
ready."

"Aren't you a bit old for trick or treating?"

"You're never too old for chocolate," Simon retorted
slyly.

He was pleased to see his quip get a smile out of his
partner.  She had been very quiet lately.  It didn't take
a genius to realize that the anniversary of her joining
the X-Files and Agent Mulder might be part of the reason
for her silence.  He noted the date and managed to get
himself invited to a conference that week.  While he would
like to think she needed his support, he strongly
suspected that she might prefer to be alone.  She had not
said a word, but he felt the atmosphere lighten in the
office afterwards.

That reminded him, yet again, that he really needed to
talk to the building supervisor about the ventilation
system down here.  The cold drafts were not occurring as
often, but the other day he had walked through a cold zone
that set his teeth to chattering.  When he tried to find
it again, it wasn't there.  He had heard other agents in
other parts of the building complain as well so he
couldn't even pin his hopes on the idea that the office
was haunted.

"Seriously though, I have to get home and into costume
before the kids start swarming.  Two years ago we had a
real problem with vandalism and highway robbery of loaded
treat bags so the complex organized a watch patrol, in
full costume no less."

"Better get going then.  At least all I have to worry
about is making sure I have enough candy to last the
evening."

"What, no healthy candy alternatives?" Simon asked as he
shoved a file into his briefcase and grabbed his coat.

"I'm a forensic pathologist, not a dentist.  Halloween is
a time for gorging yourself sick on chocolate and sugar
candy," Scully replied with a reminiscent smile that
widened as she heard Mulder's laugh behind her.

"Well, good luck with the little monsters.  See you on
Monday."  Simon hurried out the door, his footsteps
echoing loudly as he sprinted for the elevator.

"Alone at last," Mulder sighed as he materialized as a
smoky shadow on the other side of Simon's desk.  He found
this almost there, but not quite form to be the most
comfortable and it gave Scully a definite physical
reference when talking to him.  He was discovering she
really preferred to see who she was talking to and he was
happy to oblige, usually.

Scully leaned back in her chair and contemplated her
transparent partner as he rifled through the files on
Simon's desk.  She was slowly getting used to this strange
relationship.  Mulder was doing far better than she ever
expected.  The reports of random cold spots appearing
throughout the building were diminishing.  Mulder was
behaving himself, for the most part.  Agent Tom Colton's
persistent bad luck might simply be karma catching up to
him.  What she didn't ask, she didn't have to feel guilty
about, she reminded herself.

"Hey, what do you say we blow this joint?" Mulder growled
in his best Bogart imitation.

He was feeling antsy.  The neatness of the office still
unsettled him.  Simon's desk was an oasis of
disorganization surrounded by an efficient arrangement of
resources and equipment.  He missed the comfortable
clutter he had spent years creating.  He also missed the
ability to sigh in resignation.  The best he could manage
was a sort of off-kilter wavering of his ectoplasm that
Scully said reminded her of shaking Jell-O.

This was Scully's office now.  The memory of a
particularly bitter exchange of words still haunted him.
He had vowed not to interfere, but that didn't stop fits
of nostalgia from striking at inconvenient moments.  Being
dead really sucked.

With her new-found sensitivity to Mulder's moods, helped
by the fact that he turned odd shades of gray according to
the prevailing emotion, Scully decided that she could
finish her quarterly expense report at home.  Death really
hadn't changed Mulder all that much.  As long as there was
a case to keep him occupied, he seemed to accept being a
ghostly appendage to her life.  He had been on his best
behavior despite the boredom of no new case in nearly
three weeks, but she was well aware of his growing
restlessness.  She had been bracing for an outbreak of
mischief in the upper levels of the FBI building for
nearly a week now; it was like waiting for the other shoe
to drop.  Mulder was going to get into mischief.  The only
question was how much chaos was he going to leave in his
wake.

"Mister, are you trying to suborn the misconduct of a FBI
agent?" she asked with mock sternness.

"All the time," Mulder retorted with a wicked grin as he
walked over to the door and waited while Scully packed up
her briefcase.

He was restless, but more than that, he felt ... well,
twitchy.  This was his first Halloween as a ghost.  Maybe
that was what was making him uneasy.  Legends said that
the dead walked the earth tonight.  He really wasn't in
the mood to encounter hoards of other ghosts on holiday in
the land of the living while he wasn't allowed to pass
into heaven or hell or whatever waited on the other side
of that damn gray fog bank.

Part of him wanted to give the kids out trick or treating
the thrill of a lifetime.  The other part wanted to go
hide somewhere very dark until the whole thing was over
with.  At least he had a third option, and the one he'd
probably end up choosing - spend the evening with Scully.
Maybe she'd let him hand out some of the candy if he
promised to conceal his identity and not scare the real
little ones.  If not, well there were always a few smart-
aleck teenage boys who might benefit from a good hair-
raising scare, he thought with a mischievous smile.

He followed Scully down the short hallway to the elevator,
his hand resting lightly on the small of her back.  Almost
like old times.  Mulder stayed in his quasi-cohesive state
until the elevator hit the first floor.  As the elevator
settled and the doors began to open, he faded into the
ether.

"See you at home," he whispered to her as she maneuvered
her way past the influx of agents.  She gave him a brief
nod before heading out across the lobby.  Unless she
needed him, Mulder rarely rode home with her.  He had a
tendency to distract her and Washington traffic needed her
full and complete attention.  One close call was all it
took for him to decide Scully was safer without him as a
passenger.

By the time he heard Scully's footsteps outside her door,
he could feel the lengthening shadows herald twilight.
Scully did not need to know that he had spent the past
hour pacing restlessly through her apartment, into the
common area outside and even down the street a ways.  He
felt cooped up, almost cramped as the day slid into
evening.  The urge to roam was growing stronger.
Hopefully it was not the urge to appear over his grave and
boo at passing children.  Maybe it was just the wind.
Maybe it was just his over-active imagination.  Maybe he
was simply fucked.

With that comforting thought he conjured up a smile to
greet Scully.

"I put the candy out in the baskets and there's tea
brewing.  I thought you might like a chance to sit down
and relax before the invasion begins," Mulder said as he
drifted over to perch on the edge of the couch, making
sure he was solid enough to stay on top of the armrest.

"Thanks."  Scully carefully put her briefcase away, then
sank into her favorite chair and kicked off her shoes.
"It's going to be a classic Halloween night out there.
The wind is picking up and that cold front they predicted
is right on schedule."

Mulder remained silent, preoccupied with listening to the
wind rattle around the windows.  Something was coming.
With every second the earth moved closer to sundown, it,
whatever 'it' was, drew closer.

"You OK?" Scully asked concerned by Mulder's silence.

"Sorry," Mulder said as he jerked his attention back to
Scully.  He wasn't sure talking with her would do much
good - their frames of reference were light years apart,
but brooding hadn't done much good so what the hell.

"You ever get the feeling that someone is dancing on your
grave?" he asked seriously then sputtered as he realized
exactly how that must have sounded.  Scully looked aghast
and amused at the same time.  Mulder could practically
hear the chuckle she was trying to suppress.

"OK, that didn't come out quite the way I intended,"
Mulder acknowledged with a rueful grin and a shrug.  "I
just have the feeling that I'm not alone and, quite
frankly, the idea of coping with a lot of wandering ghosts
scares me," he confessed shyly.  He could tell that Scully
was having a hard time imagining why he was scared, but
she was trying to understand.

"Are you telling me that ghosts really do wander around on
Halloween?"  Scully's patented 'you-have-got-to-be-
kidding-me stare was on in full force.  "Ghosts don't ...
well, they ... uh ... damn it," she ended, flustered and
stammering.

"Ghosts don't exist?" Mulder quipped, letting himself fade
until the lamp behind him was clearly visible through the
hazy outline of his body.  Just as Scully's stare began to
slide into a glare, he materialized back to his usual
smoky shadow.  "Normally, I think they don't," he conceded
with a smile.  "Yours truly being an exception to the
rule, as usual.  However, tonight feels different somehow.
Maybe there are some sort of union rules about me going
out and spooking someone," Mulder flashed a big grin this
time that sparked a smile from Scully.  "Got any
candidates?" he asked hopefully.

"Stay away from Skinner," Scully ordered firmly.  Skinner
had already experienced a few accidental encounters with
Mulder and the last thing she needed were some direct
questions.

"Wasn't thinking of it.  Colton is no challenge any more
and Simon is way too close to figuring out he is not alone
for me to even go near him," Mulder said with a frustrated
look on his face.

Mulder pondered the problem.  Even if he wasn't required
to go out and spook someone, it might be fun to be a
misbehaving ghost for one night during the year.

"Just promise me that I won't have a howling mob waving
torches show up on my front doorstep," Scully said.  She
gave Mulder one of her don't-mess-with-me looks to
emphasize her extreme reluctance to cope with anything
more stressful than an empty candy bowl.

"Why Scully, I never knew you were into B horror movies,"
Mulder responded with a delighted lilt to his voice.

"Let's just say I was into Boris Karloff and Peter Cushing
and leave it at that," Scully retorted.  Her secret
passion for cheesy horror movies was going to come out
eventually, she knew that.  Mulder had been very good
about staying out of her things, but she wasn't going to
let Halloween go by without watching some of her favorite
monster movies.  Besides, the idea of watching them in the
company of her very own ghost, sounded delightfully
decadent.

"Well, if I run into either of them tonight, I'll bring
them back with me," Mulder promised.  His expression
clearly betrayed his efforts not to laugh at the notion of
his scientifically rational partner indulging in
clandestine monster films.

"Come back without a mob on your tail and you can help me
celebrate Halloween with a Karloff marathon," she offered.

"It's a date," Mulder agreed.  Maybe once he shook off
some of this sense of impending doom, he could sit down
with Scully and pretend they were just two friends kicking
back and having a quiet date.

For the next hour, as twilight settled into early evening,
Scully was kept busy passing out candy to a steady stream
of toddlers learning the ropes of this strange holiday.
Most were struck dumb by the notion of going up to a
complete stranger and asking for candy.

After one unfortunate encounter with a husky pulling a
wagon with a pair of twins dressed as Mounties, Mulder
stayed well in the background.  He hoped the little boys
weren't traumatized for life, but they seemed to recover
once the dog had been persuaded to come out of the bushes
and the wagon set back upright.  Scully gave each of the
boys a large chocolate bar which seemed to reassure them
that this was all part of the game.  They left with their
flustered father giving the poor dog a scathing scolding.

Around six, things slowed down to just an occasional eager
youngster.  The little ones were hustled home to dinner.
The older kids were probably just starting out.  For a
moment, Scully could sit down and relax while Mulder
refilled the candy bowls and brought her a fresh cup of
tea.  This was a side of Scully he had never seen.  She
had a rapport with the little kids.  By some magic she
could lure a smile out of even the shyest ones along with
a barely audible 'tic ur teet.'

"You're pacing again, Mulder," Scully commented as she
watched Mulder's transparent form restlessly walk through
furniture and walls with a casualness that still
disconcerted her.

"Sorry," he apologized as he looked around for a place to
perch.

"I've got everything under control here.  Why don't you go
out for awhile?" she suggested firmly.  Mulder's
restlessness was contagious.  She actually felt as if the
walls were beginning to close in on her.

Mulder recognized the tone.  It was one half-step below a
direct order.

"Your wish is my command," he offered as he bowed
gallantly.

"I may hold you to that," she replied with a suggestive
smile.

Mulder turned a peculiar dusky shade that was the ghostly
equivalent of blushing and disappeared.  Scully took great
delight in turning the tables on him; after for years of
listening to his innuendoes.  Thinking herself safe and
him beyond acting on the suggestions she made, she
revealed a streak of sexual humor he wished he had
suspected existed when he was alive.  He enjoyed hearing
her joke with him too much to ever tell her that, for a
ghost, thought was also action.

Mulder stayed invisible long enough to regain control.
This had to be a curse.  He had no defenses to hide behind
in this state.  His emotions were broadcast in the texture
and color of his ectoplasm.  Maybe this was payback for
all the years he shoved his emotions into a box and kept
them locked up lest anyone discover how vulnerable he was.

Scully was hauling herself to her feet to answer the door
when Mulder appeared briefly to grin and wave before
calmly walking through the front wall of her apartment
into the night.  She was chuckling as she dropped candy
bars into a half dozen bags.  It was good to see Mulder
having fun.  Even if he got in trouble, she suspected it
would be worth it to him.

===========================


Once outside, Mulder stood and watched the activity.
Bands of children were running through the complex
shrieking with excitement as they were caught up in the
frenzy.  Flashlights cast serpentine lines of light in the
darkness.

Memories of Halloweens long past made him smile.  He had
forgotten so many things in his headlong pursuit of the
truth.  Now, being dead, but not gone, he had the leisure
to recall those forgotten moments, the quiet times that
slipped away under the deluge of the single agony of
Samantha's abduction.

To his disgust, there were still black holes in his
memory.  Whatever or whoever had erased those memories
left him with a perplexing gap that even death hadn't
unlocked.  He remembered one frustrating evening, not too
long ago, when he and Scully had tried to unlock his past
only to reluctantly concede that the belief in the all-
knowing dead was a highly exaggerated bit of PR.  He knew
what he had known when he was alive and that wasn't much.

The urge to roam shook him out of his melancholy
reflections.  With a thought, he was standing in the
hallway of his old apartment building.  There were few
children here in a building occupied mainly by older
couples or bachelors.  Maybe that's why Halloween never
evoked the fond memories of taking Samantha trick or
treating.  Halloween was just one more night like any
other in his narrow world.  He stood outside the door to
his apartment.  Somebody had finally nailed the numbers
firmly to the door.  A young couple, just starting out,
were living there now.  The place held no claim on him and
he turned away.

Another thought took him to a rainy Chilmark where kids
scurried from house to house under giant umbrellas held by
patient, soggy parents.  Strange, the Halloweens in his
memory were always windy and clear with just a hint of
frost in the air.

He let his memories take him to his childhood haunts,
drifting with the rain and the wind, aimlessly trying to
feel some connection with either the living present or the
dead past.  At last he realized that the memories here
couldn't help him.  They were dry bones, gnawed over
until nothing was left but dust and ashes.

The thread connecting him to his mother was frayed and
fragile, but enough to draw him to her. A small gesture,
but one which paid tribute to the ancient tradition which
spawned this holiday.  He rather hoped his father's
spirit, if roaming wasn't inspired by the same notion.

Her cheery, well-lit house did not betray the dark secrets
she carried concealed in her heart.  Mulder watched as she
gave each child a gold-foil wrapped chocolate treat
ordered especially for this occasion from a shop in
Boston.

Another memory from his childhood.  These treats were for
their visitors; not for him or even Sam who could usually
cajole treats out of their parents.  He remembered Sam's
wistful longing to taste one and was glad he had finally
purloined one to give to Sam the last Halloween they had
together.

The look on her face as she nibbled the imported chocolate
was worth the eight hard licks with a belt his father gave
him when the theft was discovered.  For that one night, he
had been Samantha's knight, bravely risking danger to
fetch her the dragon's treasure.  The next Halloween he
ran off and hid from the sounds of children laughing and
the smell of the Swiss chocolate that reminded him of Sam.

His mother closed the door and then he realized that under
the outer shell of a contented elderly woman, she looked
frail, even a bit lost.  A mother should not outlive her
children, even a mother whose devotion to preserving the
secrets of her youth was more intense than her commitment
to those children.  Whatever secrets she held were poison
to her now.  Mulder could offer her no comfort; he had
none to give her.

Fleeing his mother's living grave, Mulder drifted
aimlessly, letting his memories carry him from place to
place.  His restless continued, unabated, but with no
further clues as to what he was supposed to be doing.

"Damn it, Gordon.  Can't you at least give me a fucking
hint?" Mulder cried out to the doorkeeper of the afterlife
who had firmly refused to grant him passage.  As he
expected, there was no answer.  Obviously this was
something he had to figure out for himself.

Suddenly the restlessness coalesced into a tug that yanked
him from his idle meandering through the ether.  The beat
of a small drum dragged him headlong towards its source.
He recognized a summons and railed at his helplessness to
resist the call.  Nobody had warned him about this, but he
supposed he should have paid a bit more attention to some
of his research material.

Finally his journey was over and he materialized in a haze
of incense and foul-smelling herbs smoldering in a copper-
bottomed pot set atop a small grill.  A small woman
sitting in an awkward cross-legged position beside the
brazier was almost obscured by the smoke.  Mulder caught a
flash of gray hair and small hands as the smoke eddied and
swirled around her.

"There you are," the woman exclaimed in a mix of
exasperation and relief.  "What did you do?  Get lost or
something?"

Mulder bristled at the indignant tone.  This woman had
summoned him like a wayward dog and now wanted to
complain.

"Listen, lady, I don't know who or what you think you are,
but I am not your personal servant," Mulder replied as
calmly as his rising anger would allow.  Looking around
the room, he recognized an eclectic mix of early Celtic
Christian symbolism, Wiccan ritual magic wardings, and a
few other symbols he vaguely remembered from a hogan in
New Mexico.

He was standing in a circle drawn with some sort of ash
surrounded by various symbols.  He supposed they and the
circle were designed to exert control over him, but there
were so many that the end effect was that they canceled
each other out.  There was only the slightest tingling
shock as he tested the barrier circle.

Mulder's anger now veered in a different direction.  This
woman had no inkling of the danger she was in.  A less
scrupulous ghost would already be exacting a heavy price
for her summons.  His own anger was apparently an
instinctive response to being summoned and contained.
Mulder filed that bit of information away for later
consideration.

"I'm the one who summoned you.  By the symbols of earth,
fire, air and water, I command you until the moon sets,"
she replied in a deep rich alto voice that sounded more
than a little pompous.  More herbs were flung in the
brazier, reducing the oxygen level even further.  Mulder
wasn't sure how the woman managed to keep breathing in
this noxious cloud.

Finally, he felt his patience snap.  The smoke was making
him nauseous; something he didn't think was possible.
This woman was playing with matters beyond her
comprehension.  If she kept this up, she was going to
learn the hard way that ghosts do *not* like being
summoned and tend to get violent.

"No, you're the rude, incompetent wanna-be who interrupted
my quiet evening with a friend," Mulder snapped as he
surged through the confines of the circle.  He felt a
moment of searing pain, then he was free.

"No!  You can't.  Go back!"  The woman tried to untangle
her legs, but ended up scooting backwards on her plump
rump until her back hit the wall.

Mulder advanced slowly on this erstwhile conjurer.  He had
to give her credit.  She was afraid.  Only a fool wouldn't
be afraid of a six-foot-tall, extremely irritated ghost,
but she hadn't fainted and the fear was mixed with a
strong sense of aggravation.

As he loomed over her, oozing menace, he had to restrain
an urge to chuckle and blow the effect he was trying to
create.  Despite her attempts to become one with the wall,
she was muttering something about this just not being her
day.

"OK, now that we've settled the little matter of who's in
control here, why don't you tell me why you tried to
coerce a ghost, on Halloween, no less," Mulder ordered
sternly as he stepped back and allowed his body to
dematerialize until it was a traditional ghostly shadow.

"You're going to be reasonable about this?" she asked in
an unsteady voice as she scrambled to her feet.  "Thank
you, Lord," she muttered with a relieved sigh and a brief
heavenward glance.

The woman couldn't be more than five feet tall, but gave
the impression of a feisty terrier backed into a corner
and prepared to fight if it had to.  Despite his outrage
at the conjuring trick, he was beginning to like this
insane lady who summoned ghosts.

"Are you going to promise me to lay off the conjuring
attempts?" Mulder demanded sternly.

"Oh, yeah.  Actually, you were more or less a court of
last resort.  I've run out of other options.  It seemed
like a reasonable idea at the time," the woman confessed
with a rueful smile and a self-depreciating chuckle.

Damn it, he really didn't want to get caught up in this
lady's problems, but he couldn't begin to imagine what was
so bad that she felt summoning up a ghost was her only
solution.  He felt the old familiar urge to get involved
and help someone no one else would help.

"You mind telling me who are you and what on earth could
be so bad that you think a ghost is the best solution?"
Mulder asked incredulously.

"Could we sit down?  Let me open a window and get some
fresh air in here before I suffocate.  Sheesh, no one ever
mentioned that I should wear an aqua-lung when performing
this ceremony."  The woman carefully removed the pot from
the grill, dumping the contents down the toilet, and
covering the grill.  The wind blowing in from the open
windows cleared out the remaining haze quickly revealing a
rather sparsely furnished living-room.  She sat down in a
comfortable-looking rocker and gestured for him to find
someplace to sit or stand.  Mulder chose to remain
standing; it gave him the feeling that he was actually in
control of this conversation which was beginning to seem
less likely by the moment.

"Guess I should introduce myself.  My name is Anna.  I own
a small bookstore down the street, but I suppose that's
neither here nor there," she added contritely.

Mulder dithered for a moment then decided that Anna really
didn't need to know his name.  Knowing her, she might
decide to start experimenting with name magic and he had
no intention of making a return visit here every time she
got the urge to play with magic.

"OK, that answers who.  Now, why?" he prompted.

"I was afraid you'd ask that," Anna sighed.  "You wouldn't
just settle for I'm a crazy old lady, and leave it at
that, would you?"  She looked hopefully at him then sighed
again.  "Didn't think so.  Just my luck to get an
intelligent ghost."

Mulder couldn't help it, he chuckled.  Anna smiled and he
found himself smiling back at her.  This was definitely
turning into a very strange Halloween.

"It's the gang bangers in the neighborhood, actually four
wanna-bes right here on this block.  They've threatened to
cripple anyone daring to go trick or treating on their
turf unless they're paid protection money.  They hustle
the kids and terrorize the little ones until everyone is
afraid to go out.  I promised the families in this
building that I would see to it that their kids would be
safe.  What better protection than a ghost?"

Why me, I ask a very unresponsive heaven.  Even dead, I
manage to run into these people.  The lady wants to
conjure a ghost to guard kids while they are out trick or
treating.

"Lady, you are either insane or ... "  Mulder paused
trying to think of a way to express his amazement that
anyone would resort to scavenging the afterworld for a
bodyguard.

"Insane, probably, but actually more desperate than
crazy.  The longer we knuckle under to these juvenile
terrorists, the less resistance we're inclined to put up
to them taking over our lives."  Anna looked angry and
frustrated.  Mulder understood, but wondered why on earth
she didn't contact the police.

"Oh, and in case you're wondering about the police; don't.
Been there, tried that and now have a reputation as a
crank down at the local precinct.  Seems our local bad
boys have an early warning system and are always perfect
little angels with the police happen by.  No one else is
willing to complain, so the nice men in blue think I'm a
paranoid nutcase," Anna fumed.

Ouch, that hit too damn close to home, Mulder thought.  He
was finding it hard to resist Anna's dilemma.  It might be
fun, scaring a bunch of juvenile delinquents.  Who knows,
maybe a breath of cold air from the world of the dead
might make them reconsider their career choice.

"OK, you've got yourself a ghost."

Anna grinned and sat up straight, almost quivering with
excitement.  Before Mulder could say another word, she was
up and out of the apartment.  He could hear her banging on
a neighbor's door and yelling something about get the kids
ready.  He briefly considered bolting, but suspected that
having gotten this far, Anna would just try to conjure up
a replacement.  He didn't want to think about who or what
might show up next time.

When Anna returned, she plunged into a closet and hauled
out a huge black cloak and a staff that looked heavy
enough to cold-cock an ox.  What in hell did she need a
ghost for when she carried that thing?

"Let's go.  I'll herd the kids.  You watch out for the
junior terrorists.  This is going to be FUN," Anna
chortled as she flew out the door and began collecting
small children as she hustled down the hallway.

Mulder figuratively took a deep breath and hurried after
his charges.  He considered the merits of various bloody
apparition appearances and finally settled on the
decomposing body.  It was just the sort of thing you don't
expect to materialize under your nose on a dark and windy
night.  Anna was right, this just might be fun, Mulder
thought as he scanned the sidewalk for thugs.

===========================


Gliding along behind the group of children following in
Anna's wake, Mulder couldn't help but notice that unlike
all the other children he'd seen tonight, these children
were subdued, almost tentative.  They bunched together and
stayed right on Anna's heels, as if she had some magical
power to protect them.  He wasn't sure if it was the
notion that Anna might have actually succeeded in
summoning up a ghost or whether the kids were frightened
of more mundane terrors, like older kids bent on hurting
them.

As he watched the children slowly begin to relax and enjoy
the thrill of wheedling candy out of near strangers,
Mulder decided that whoever the thugs were who had reduced
children to timid, wary creatures was going to remember
this night in their nightmares for years to come.

It was still twilight here, where-ever here was.  He could
still see the dying reflection of the sunset against a
clear sky.  It didn't take a crack FBI profiler to deduce
that he wasn't on the East Coast anymore.  That must have
been one very powerful summons if it pulled him halfway
across the country.  He couldn't help but wonder if Gordon
might have had a hand in latching the summons on to him.
It gave him something to ponder as he scanned the area for
predatory teenagers.  Anna struck him as the type who
probably had a very experienced and battle-scarred
guardian angel who knew when to call in reinforcements.

As soon as he realized just how far from home he'd been
dragged, he hastily checked on the link connecting him to
Scully.  It was stretched thin, but viable.  With a little
effort, he could feel her life-force vibrate along the
thread that bound him to her.  That was interesting,
however.  Distance thinned, but did not break the
connection.  He would have been happier being a little
closer to her, but this was useful information to have if
they ever did have to go in totally different directions
on a case.

As he followed Anna and the kids past the turn-of-the-
century buildings dwindling in disrepair, Mulder felt a
crowd of memories clustering around them.  Not quite
ghosts; these were shadows of people long past who had
left the impression of their lives on bricks and mortar.
As he moved, he waded through the hopes and dreams of the
generations who had made these buildings their home.  Some
might call these shadows ghosts, but Mulder sensed no
intelligence, only memories trapped in time.

"They're pressing in close tonight.  It must be sad to be
a memory that no one remembers," Anna whispered softly as
she dropped back to watch the children swarm a laughing
woman showering gumballs into open bags.

Mulder didn't know whether he was supposed to overhear her
comments or not.  He didn't answer her; he didn't have an
answer to give her.  Anna, for lack of a better word, was
spooky.  Her calm acceptance of his existence, not to
mention her sheer audacity in shanghaiing a ghost to act
as guard dog to a bunch of children on Halloween, made him
nervous.  She walked calmly amid paranormal phenomena as
if ghosts and shadows of memories were an everyday
occurrence.

By the time it was full dark, the children were beginning
to relax.  Giggles and squeals of delight began to sound
as they began the return trip back to their apartments.
Several of the children seemed awestruck by the candy
weighing down their bags.

Despite the neighborhood's decaying faade, the residents
were generous with candy, even an occasional apple or
orange.  Mulder began to realize why Anna had been willing
to take extreme measures to keep her word to her
neighbors.  He understood the weight of trust and the
extremes someone would go to not to betray that trust.

So far, there had been no sign of the gang, but Mulder
sensed that confrontation was not far off.  A brief flash
of memory came back to him and for an instant he was ten-
years-old again, facing off with a bully who was demanding
Samantha's and his candy.  Only the appearance of his
father had prevented an unpleasant debacle.  This time,
however, the advantages were all his.  These young thugs
were about to get payback with twenty-seven-year's
accumulated interest.

The scent of raw violence was startlingly sharp in the
evening air.  It was coming and he still had no firm idea
how he was going to handle the thugs.  He was tempted to
run on ahead and keep the children shielded from the
confrontation, but perhaps it would be better to humiliate
the thugs in front of their intended victims.  Terror was
their weapon.  Making them look ridiculous and then
scaring the hell out of them might convince them to find
other neighborhoods to intimidate.

"On guard," he whispered to Anna who looked startled, but
nodded.

"OK, kids, let's keep together now.  Jaimie, don't
straggle."  Anna managed to make herself heard over the
giggling and the children hushed as they bunched up.  The
sparkling laughter was gone, replaced by cautious, almost
fearful glances at the shadows.

Mulder was reminded of deer startled by some unknown
noise, poised between calm and flight.  No one should be
able to make children start in fear.  He clamped down on
his anger.  Time enough, later on, for allowing that
manifestation to appear.

At last he heard the thugs leave their alley hiding place
and march out to confidently block the sidewalk.  The
children froze in their tracks, too frightened to move,
even afraid to scatter.  Hypnotized by the threat of their
tormenters, they waited forlornly for the theft of their
treasures.

Anna moved out to stand in front of the children, her
heavy staff held out like a shepherd's crook.  The toughs,
in their mid-teens by the look of them, were dressed in
brand new leather jackets that looked incongruous over
faded jeans and T-shirts.  Mulder suspected that some
store owner was going to wake up tomorrow to find his
inventory four jackets short.  Instead of the guns and
knives, he expected to see, Mulder noted that three of the
boys held a length of heavy chain in their hands.  The
leader was coolly slapping a four-foot length of steel
pipe in his hand.  Formidable weapons for inflicting pain,
yet ones that could be easily ditched if the police
interrupted the party.  Good, this was going to make his
job a whole lot easier, he thought with a smile.  In fact,
this was shaping up to be more fun than he'd had since he
died.

"Hand over the loot," the leader growled in what was
obviously meant to be a menacing bass voice.

Anna looked around, as if she expected to see Mulder,
before shaking her head.  "No.  We're under the protection
of the spirits, tonight.  You can't hurt us," she intoned.

The leader laughed and his followers began to jeer Anna
while spreading out to encircle the children.  Two kids
bolted for home, but the rest simply bunched up tighter,
trying to keep an eye on all four bullies at once.  The
boys began swinging the chains dangerously close to the
children, keeping up a spinning arc of steel that flashed
in the light of the streetlights.

Mulder glided over to the boy who seemed to be taking the
greatest pleasure in seeing how close his chain could come
to a terrified girl dressed as a mushroom in brown paper
bags taped together.  Up until a moment ago, she had been
the proudest mushroom Mulder had ever seen.  Now, her eyes
were scrunched shut in terror as the chain whipped by her,
ripping her costume.

Mulder had had enough.  Keeping rigid control of his
anger, he stepped in between the chain and the terrified
girl.  He waited until the chain reached the farthermost
end of its arc, then materialized just enough to grab hold
of it without becoming visible, except as a hazy shadow.

The effect was instantaneous.  The chain stopped as Mulder
grabbed it.  All the power the boy had put behind the
swing traveled back up the chain.  When it reached the
other end, the boy was slammed back against the brick wall
with a most satisfying thud.  For a moment, the chain hung
suspended in mid air until the boy let go of his end.
Very slowly Mulder lowered his end of the chain to the
ground, coiling it neatly at the stunned boy's feet.

Mulder turned to see the children's eyes as big as
saucers.  He sensed a mix of fear and awe at seeing one of
their tormenters taken down by an unseen hand.  The other
toughs looked wildly at their fallen comrade.  One of them
cleared his throat nervously, but they all held their
ground.  Apparently they were more afraid of their leader
than whatever manifestation just wandered into their
midst.  That would change, Mulder promised them silently.

"What's going on here, old woman," the leader demanded
angrily.  Anna didn't reply, but kept a wary eye on him as
he muttered curses under his breath.  The other boys were
dangerous as long as they were a pack.  Alton was just
pure meanness wrapped up in a boy's hide.

Glancing back at Anna to make sure she was alright, Mulder
chose as his next victim the nervous throat clearer.  The
boy's eyes were darting around, trying to see into
shadows, paying little attention to the children in front
of him.  Gliding quietly behind the boy, Mulder tapped him
on the shoulder with a hard, bony finger.  The boy spun
around, whipping his chain out with enough force to gouge
a hole in the brick wall behind Mulder.  The feel of the
chain moving through his ectoplasm tickled.  Allowing his
voice to project to the boy alone, Mulder chuckled.

From the expression on the boy's face, Mulder guessed that
he had just peed in his pants.  Hearing one of the kids
giggle behind him, the boy whipped his chain out in a
vicious swipe.  The kids were too frightened to move as
the chain hurtled in their direction.  Abruptly the chain
stopped as a hazy figure appeared in front of them.  The
figure yanked the chain out of the tough's hands and threw
it into the street before advancing on the stunned boy.

Mulder had had enough.  That chain would have crushed the
head of anyone unlucky enough to be in its path.  He was
through playing games with this youngster.  Drawing on all
his considerable imagination, Mulder transformed himself
into a rotting hulk of flesh and bone with an extra added
dimension of smell thrown in on the spur of the moment.
Mulder wasn't sure if that part would work, but it was
worth a try.

As he stalked towards the boy, who was slowly backing up
until his back was against the wall, Mulder began to
change from a hazy ghostly figure to a full-blown
manifestation of a four-month-old decomposing corpse.  He
took care to ensure that the only one who could actually
see him was his victim.  Seeing a nightmare coming after
him the boy tried to scream, batting at Mulder with his
hands, until he collapsed in a crying, pleading heap on
the ground.  Still angry, Mulder lifted his head and
leaned in close to whisper, "Leave these kids alone or
I'll be your constant companion.  Waking or sleeping, I'll
be right at your side.  Understand?"

The boy whimpered and fainted.  Whether the lesson had
sunk in was uncertain, but Mulder felt reasonably sure
that the boy wasn't going to look at shadows the same way
ever again.

The remaining boy looked at his fallen companions, looked
at his fuming leader and decided that maybe being a member
of the Bay Street Raptors wasn't such a good idea after
all.  This decision was confirmed when he saw the ghost of
a horribly mutilated man appear over Torry's body and turn
towards him with shreds of rotting flesh hanging off his
skull and bony hands reaching out for him.  He screamed
and fled, dropping his chain in an effort to run faster.

"Damn you, Lowry, get your ass back here!" Alton raged as
his last follower bolted for safety.  Stupid wimp, to be
afraid of some magic tricks.

Anna looked at Alton and tried to feel some pity for him.
She knew all the reasons she should feel pity, but he had
chosen this path.

"He's the dangerous one," Mulder said as he moved in to
stand beside her.  Gone was the horrific image of a
rotting corpse.  Instead, he materialized as himself,
dressed in black sweater and jeans.  Alton had gone too
far into evil to be impressed by a ghost's parlor tricks.
Besides, the children had reached the end of their ropes.
Mulder could sense the hysteria building up and hoped that
his ordinary-looking appearance would soothe their fears.

"Give me a command.  It will reassure the children that
you're in control and I'm just some sort of trick you're
pulling on the bad guys," Mulder whispered to Anna softly.

"Alton, back off before I ask the spirit I have summoned
to protect us to chase you out of this neighborhood."
Anna drew herself up to her full five-foot height and
intoned the words with impressive depth and pomp.  Mulder
had to fight not to smile and wreck the effect.  He
concentrated very hard on keeping a grim expression on his
face.

"This is just one of your tricks, old woman.  I'm not
sniveling little kid who can be frightened by some
illusion," Alton retorted.  He began moving forward,
swinging the heavy pipe in a dangerous arc that forced
Anna to retreat.  Alton smiled, enjoying the rush of
making someone else afraid.

"Not this time," Mulder said as he stepped between Anna
and Alton.  Alton took a vicious swing at him and nearly
dropped the pipe when it sailed right through the figure
standing in front of him.  Another swing and another and
still the figure stood there unharmed and unaffected.
Alton began to tremble.  Mulder reached out and pulled the
pipe out of his hands and threw it into the alley.
Slowly, he raised his hands until they cupped the sides of
Alton's face and let Alton have the full force of his
icy aura.

"Leave the people here alone.  I don't want to have to
come back and make this point again," Mulder said with
deadly calm.  Steeling himself for the feel of flesh
intermingling with his ectoplasm, Mulder reached one hand
into Alton's chest and let him feel his hand wiggling
inside of his body.

Alton screamed.  Releasing him, Mulder stepped back and
let him flee down the street.  From the look in Alton's
eyes, he was going to be running for quite some time.

Turning back to Anna, Mulder nodded.  The children were
clinging to her cape, hiding.

"Children, is that anyway to thank our ghost?" Anna chided
with a chuckle.  She was smiling benevolently at Mulder
who had obviously exceeded her wildest expectations.

Gradually, Anna persuaded one older girl to pry her face
out of the cape and glance at Mulder who was squatting
down about five feet away smiling.  He was in a semi-
transparent form, looking ghostly, but not threatening.
It was Halloween, after all.  Not many kids could boast of
having their very own ghost take them trick or treating.
Once they got over their fear, this would be a story to
tell their grandchildren.

The girl gave him a teary, wavering smile.  Mulder gave
her one of his rare full grins.  Her eyes lit up and she
began to smile in earnest.  It was nice to know he could
still turn on the charm, Mulder thought as he began to
lure the children out of their fright.  The girl got a
determined look in her eyes and walked over to him.

"Tesa," Anna whispered fearfully.

Mulder froze, afraid to make a move.  She touched him,
looking awed as her hand passed through him.  Mulder
repressed a shudder and let her explore this strange
manifestation in her own way.  Dark brown eyes looked up
at him.

"He's so sad.  He's not mean at all," the girl said
solemnly.  The other children looked up at this and began
to crowd around Mulder, some nervously, some boldly
touching him, others hanging back on the fringes.

Their hands tickled and Mulder laughed which set off
laughter until most of the children had garnered up enough
courage to touch him at least once.  He even ventured to
dematerialize completely, then slowly rematerialize to the
children's squeals of delighted fear.

"OK, children, it's getting late.  I think our ghost has
things he has to do tonight.  Remember, it's Halloween.
Ghosts have a lot of responsibility this night.  Tell him
thank you," Anna instructed.  Mulder listened to the
chorus of thank-you's and turned a deep smoky haze.

"Albert, you and Tesa keep everyone together.  I'll be
along in just a moment or two."

"Bye, Mr. Ghost.  Happy Halloween," Tesa said as she
proudly took her place in front of the group and began
walking down the street towards home.

Mulder and Anna watched them march proudly down the
street, giggling and comparing stories about touching a
real ghost.

"Thank you," Anna said simply.  "I haven't seen them so
happy in months.  If you're ever back this way, drop in
and say hello."

"Considering that I don't even know where 'here' is, that
might be a bit difficult," Mulder replied absently, his
attention still focused on Tesa who had looked inside a
ghost and seen the sadness without running in fear.

"St. Louis.  Just look for the Ravensloft Book Store and
Coffee Shop.  You'll be welcome any time."  Anna smiled
and held out her hand.  "I think I lucked out when you
showed up.  I really must remember to do something very
nice for my guardian angel."

"Just lay off the ghost summoning and I think he'll be
very happy," Mulder replied as he solidified enough to
take her hand.  She shivered as she felt his icy touch,
but didn't flinch.

"Go on, now.  Get back to whatever it was that you were
doing before I shanghaied you," Anna scolded as she turned
to head down the street with her cape flying in the wind.

"Take care, Anna," Mulder whispered after her.  She was a
Halloween experience all by herself.  Somehow, the night
suited her.

Mulder sensed that it was getting late.  Scully was
probably finished with the candy detail and might be
wondering what on earth he was doing.  He wasn't sure he
could explain Anna, but he thought she'd get a kick out of
his adventure.  No one got hurt and the bad guys got
properly thumped and children got bags full of candy.
Sounded like a good night's work.

A few moment's later, Mulder appeared in Scully's kitchen
watching her finish popping a giant bowl of popcorn.  He
had been aiming for the living room, but apparently had
been thinking so hard about Scully that he simply zeroed
in on her.  He gave the peculiar minor-key whistle to warn
her of an impending materialization.  Her smile welcomed
him home.

"Hey, Scully, you'll never believe what happened to me
tonight," Mulder said as he grabbed the bowl of popcorn
and floated it in midair to the living room.  He settled
in on the floor beside the couch letting his head lean
against the armrest at Scully's side.  This position was
close enough for conversation and kept his hands away from
tempting targets. It was turning into a decent Halloween,
after all, he thought as he settled in and relaxed to the
feel of Scully's fingers ruffling through his hair.

The End


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