✨Boo-rownies 🍫👻

The Reunion

Opal Mae nearly tripped on the rug’s corner while trying to put on her boots and scarf in a hurry. She rushed out the door, heading towards Bela's house. Moments before, she had received a cryptic phone call that had left her worried. 

Now, most residents of Harvest Hollow know that ghosts have trouble with the phone lines, especially with the corded phones that Ma was able to bring to The Thicket. 

Even so, this call was abnormal. It had the usual bumbling static, but the tone of Bela's voice was what was most disconcerting. The words were garbled and impossible to decipher, all before being cut off completely in a ghostly wail. 

Bela and Opal had become close enough that she was free to enter Bela's house whenever she needed to. She didn't even bother to knock before letting herself inside.

“Bela?” she called tentatively.

She heard them upstairs. 

“Lenore!” Bela cried out. She ran up the stairs, only slowing her pace when she got closer to the door. 

As she approached, she saw Bela as close to the glass as they were able to get without phasing through it completely, shouting out the window. 

“What's going on?” Opal said, rushing to Bela's side to peer out with them.

“Over there! Do you see it?” Bela shouted, pointing to the graveyard in the distance.

Opal squinted her eyes and looked into the setting sunlight. She saw the visage of a wandering spirit… the same one that broke into Bela’s house only weeks before! 

“Oh boy, not this again,” Opal muttered, remembering the way the spirit shrieked.

“No, no, this is different,” Bela said with a whimper. “I know who she is.”

Opal was shocked. Most of the wandering spirits were residents of The Thicket, and Bela had come from the Readers' Realm, brought by Ma Violett after their untimely demise hadn't allowed them to finish their business. Ma Violett brought Bela over to the Thicket in order to live out the rest of their days and make peace with the things that hadn't happened in life. 

For Bela to know who the spirit was could only mean...

“She’s from the Readers' Realm?” Opal said with a gasp.

“Yes, yes, I think that's my sister,” Bela stuttered. “That's Lenore.”

“How did you know?” Opal responded.

“The perfume. I remember. I remember her perfume. I’d know her perfume anywhere.”

They looked out sadly into the graveyard. The wandering spirit had now taken root near a gravestone, sobbing into her hands. Bela let out a gasp.

“That one! Look at the grave!”

Opal looked closely.

“That's your grave,” she said sadly.

There was a moment when you could feel the air. A certain static electricity, and not just because of the poltergeist outside.

“How did she die?” Opal asked.

“She drowned just before I died. It was a rainy night close to Halloween, and the dock broke by the lake. After that I changed… it was probably the reason I-”

“I understand,” Opal said quietly. Digging up the past would be a task for another day. It's better to let spirits only open up when they're ready. 

After a moment staring at Lenore, Opal suddenly remembered something from Ma’s library. 

“Wait! I know Ma Violett had mentioned that wandering spirits can be brought inside if only they can remember who they were. Is there something that she can remember?”

Bela let out a gasp, then a laugh, and tried to hug Opal before phasing straight through her. This made Opal laugh, too.

“Yes, I have just the thing. Let's go to the kitchen. I will need your help and your hands, though… I'm phasing through everything today.”

“Can do,” Opal said with determination. “What are we making?”

“A favorite of ours that we'd always want to bake before watching Halloween movies. We'd go to the couch, building the biggest fort out of all the blankets and pillows. She'll smell this, and she'll remember.”

✨Boo-rownies 🍫👻

Sweets good enough to wake the dead

Recipe

Recipe Information

Total Time: ~35 minutes
Skill Level: Beginner-Friendly
Category: Celestial Confections — Bakery Treats

🥗 Dietary Information
✅ Customizable (dairy-free brownie mix and chocolate alternatives can be used)
⚠ Contains Gluten (depending on brownie mix)
❌ Contains Dairy
⚠ Contains Eggs (depending on brownie mix)
⚠ Contains Refined Sugar

Ingredients

🍫 Brownie mix – For comfort, nostalgia, emotional balance, and ooey-gooey chocolate smiles
🤍 White chocolate melting wafers – For self-love, nourishment, friendship, and spectral visitors as the veil thins
🍫 Dark chocolate – For grounding, passion, and prosperity
🎃 Optional: Halloween sprinkles – For sweetening the situation and speeding up manifestations. Orange for joy, purple for intuition, black for banishment of negative energy, and white for purification, peace, and clarity.

Instructions

1. Bake the Brownies
   Prepare your favorite brownie mix according to the package instructions.
   When there are about 3 minutes left on the baking time, remove the brownies from the oven and place white chocolate melting wafers on top.

2. Shape Your Ghosts
   While the wafers are still hot and soft, carefully manipulate their edges into little ghost shapes using a toothpick or chopstick.
   Gently point different ends to create flowing, ghostly visages.

3. Give Them Faces
   – ✨ A Little Kitchen Magic: Dulce Frutta white chocolate melting wafers are an affordable, accessible option for creating your ghostly decorations.

   While the chocolate is still warm enough to work with, use a toothpick or chopstick to apply tiny dots of melted dark chocolate for the eyes and mouths.
   Let the chocolate set before serving.

4. Add Some Halloween Sparkle
   If you want to decorate with Halloween sprinkles, add them carefully with your fingers rather than shaking them straight from the container. This gives you more control and helps keep your little ghosts intact.

✨ Best Enjoyed…

• Late at night while watching Halloween movies
• Shared with friends or family for a sweet seasonal treat
• Packed in a lunchbox to impress schoolmates or coworkers in the days leading up to Halloween
• Whenever you want a little spooky sweetness without a complicated recipe