Hello, dearest daydreamer, today we have a special story for you. A spooky tale from Travelling Ava’s journal. So why not take a moment, grab your favourite hot drink and cosy blanket, and join us for another trip to the Isle of Neverwas.

All of a sudden, it’s autumn. When I wake up in the morning, the sun is still sleeping. I don’t mind getting up when it is still dark. I like watching the world wake up around me and seeing the sunrise. The autumn sunrise illuminates the trees’ vivid red and gold leaves and takes my breath away. The wild wind rustling through the crunchy leaves is one of my favourite sounds in the whole world. It’s also the season of one of my favourite smells. The smell of petrichor. Petrichor is also a good word. It means the earthy smell after rain falls on dry earth. After a long, hot summer, autumn rain leaves behind a rich, earthy aroma hanging in the air. I am still far from home on the Isle of Neverwas, but the familiar sights, sounds, and smells make me feel a little less homesick.

This time of year is exciting because it is almost Halloween. I’ve been spending lots of time at Castle Nod helping King Otto decorate for the Halloween Ball; this is the third most important ball of the year after the Yule Ball and the Summer Ball. King Otto has decided to end the party with a big fireworks display. I have been given the particular task of adding Halloween decorations to the garden, so it looks just as spooky outside as it does inside. I have spent the week helping my friends wrestle giant cobwebs onto the trees and shrubs around the Castle gardens. As a finishing touch, I have added bat-shaped fairy lights to the ornamental shrubs. Decorating the gardens was more challenging than I expected and took longer than I thought, or maybe it’s just that it gets dark earlier now too and the days are shorter.

It was my last day of decorating the gardens, and if I must say so myself, it looked spooktacular. I was hanging the last string of bat lights when I suddenly realised I’d never seen a bat. Do you know that a fifth of all mammals living on Earth are bats? I find this fact astonishing. That’s when I decided to go bat watching. Bats like to nest in the hollows of old trees and sleep in the roofs of old buildings. Castle Nod is surrounded by ancient, magical woodlands with giant oak trees, ash trees, and silver birch. This has got to be the best place to spot a bat, but was it best to stay close to the castle or move closer to the trees?

I was pondering this decision when something caught my eye. Whatever it was, crossed the leaf-strewn lawn towards the tree line. Light from the castle windows illuminated a small section of lawn; the nearer the tree line, the garden was all darkness and shadows. The form was a hazy, fuzzy shape, too difficult to make out clearly. I forgot about the bats for a moment.

“Hello,” I called out loudly.

The blurred shape paused a moment, then glided away. Butterfly wings began beating rapidly in my tummy. A mixture of nerves and excitement. People don’t glide! Had I just caught a glimpse of a ghost? I thought ghosts were just characters in stories, which now seems silly. The world is full of amazing things that can’t be explained. I should know; I’m a magical travelling doll that discovered portals to places most people wouldn’t have the imagination to dream about.

I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me across the terrace towards the trees.
I called out again, “Hello”.
This time I got a reply. I couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like a whisper shushing me.
“Be quiet, you will frighten them.”
My heart hammered loudly in my chest. I couldn’t believe my eyes! In front of me was a ghost, almost invisible in the dimming twilight, but still, she shimmered. The air in front of me rippled, a little like on a hot day when you can see the heat rising off the road. Also, nothing like that at all.
“Be quiet and make yourself useful,” the little ghost instructed.
“Excuse me,” I replied. I was a little startled by the ghost speaking to me in such a bossy tone.
“I’m trying to count the bats living in that tree. It’s hard to count them, not because I can’t count, but because they leave the tree so quickly. With all their wings flapping, it all becomes a bit of a blur. Well, you will see it in a moment. Don’t just stand there with your mouth hanging open,” said the little ghost.

As I stood under one of the ancient oaks, her shimmer started to shift. Like glitter swirling in a globe, the ghost took a more solid form. I followed her instructions, closed my mouth, and prepared (as best I could) to start counting bats. Suddenly, the fluttering motion of many pairs of wings filled the air around us. The little ghost had been right. I tried to count as fast as I could, but it was impossible to tell one bat from another. The bats moved quickly. In the next moment, they were gone.

“How many did you count?” the little ghost asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe 15. Is that right?” I replied hesitantly.
“I don’t know. I do this almost every night; I’m no closer to an accurate answer,” she exclaimed disappointedly.
“Can’t ghosts see in the dark?” I asked.
“Being a ghost doesn’t mean you have better night vision. We sort of see in the dark. Well, sort of, but just the way most people can see in the dark. That’s why ghosts bump around so much; we knock into furniture, especially if you keep moving it.” She explained.
I thought about it for a moment. Her explanation made sense. That must be where the saying comes from: “things that go bump in the night.” They need torches.
The little ghost had started to shimmer again; she was almost invisible.
“Wait, don’t go, I’ve never met a ghost before.” I pleaded to no one.
Then I felt a prickly sensation on my skin, not cold but more like static electricity.
“Boo, I’m behind you,” the little ghost laughed. It wasn’t a scary, spooky, ghostly laugh; it was a cheerful, sing-song laugh. Not what I had imagined a ghost’s laugh would sound like.

I still jumped a little. I wasn’t expecting her to loudly whisper “boo” in my ear. The little ghost held out her hand and introduced herself. She is called Dotty. I went to shake her hand, and of course, it went straight through hers. I don’t know what I was expecting; it just felt a bit cold and tingly, but only for a second. She laughed much louder this time. I know that ghosts have a reputation for being scary; Dotty is an adorable ghost, and she has so many stories.

We started walking back across the grass together; I walked, and Dotty just glided. She explained that autumn is her favourite season. Not for the reasons that I like autumn. Dotty likes autumn because of the dark evenings and gloomy rainy days. Apparently, these are the perfect conditions for scaring people. That is her favourite thing to do as a ghost. Not big scares, just little scares. She’s not an unfriendly ghost. On gloomy days, she makes herself just visible enough so visitors and guests at the castle might think they’ve seen something. Dotty doesn’t make herself fully visible, just a glimmer so people don’t know what they are seeing. Most people don’t see her at all. She likes to get really close to them so their skin goes all goosebumpy. Dotty especially loves autumn because she loves Halloween. It takes her a lot of energy to appear solid, but it is always much easier on All Hallows’ Eve. Like me, she has been looking forward to King Otto’s Halloween Ball. Her favourite thing about haunting Castle Nod, besides scaring the visitors, is all the parties. She even loves the party preparations. It is the perfect opportunity to get up to some mischief. The reason that I hadn’t seen Dotty out in the garden until my final day decorating is that she had been inside the castle hiding things and finding fun ways to spook my friends. Whispering hello in their ears had some funny results. Dotty isn’t the only ghost; she is the most mischievous ghost living at Castle Nod.

Dotty has promised to introduce me to some of her ghost friends at the Halloween Ball. Her top tip for telling a real ghost from someone wearing a costume is to look at their feet. Even though Halloween makes it easier for ghosts to appear solid, it is difficult to maintain that form for long. If you can’t see their feet, they are a ghost, or they might be wearing a long dress. It’s not an exact science.

So this is how I met my first ghost and saw my first bat. Now I need to pick my costume for the ball. I went as a witch last year. Maybe I’ll go as a ghost or a vampire. I haven’t decided yet.

Happy Halloween.

For my daydreamers, mischief-makers, and restless souls. Welcome to the Isle of Neverwas; you are home.