Morning came quickly after that. The rain stopped, but the sky was still bleak and gray and strewn with storm clouds.

More pucker bud soup was made, and everyone quickly ate their breakfast before setting out into the woods with axes. Peach helped cut down a couple more trees. The first one was chopped into firewood. Everyone had decided that the fireplace was from here on out be kept burning at all times. Everyone knew that light was the bane of ghosts, so Peach decided that they were going to light up the house however possible.

Ten toads set to work on the second tree, cutting it into tinier strips. They put these strips together in a box-like cradle shape and then nailed the flats of wood together. These made make-shift candle holders, which would now be placed on every single floor of the mansion. They made about seventy five of them, twenty-five for each floor. Armed with hammers and nails, Peach and the crew then proceeded in nailing them to the walls on each floor.

Outside, a couple of toads gathered up some more wood and turned them into torches. They would be kept ablaze at all times. The remaining strips of wood were thrown into two piles. If ghosts approached the house, two toads would throw matches from the second-floor bedroom onto the piles of sticks, setting them ablaze and hopefully fending off the phantoms.

After their work was done, the rest of the day was actually pretty relaxing. They had so many stacks of pucker buds that no one had to go out and look for more. Everyone sat around, talking and chatting and even reading some old books from the shelves in the bedrooms.

Others worked to keep the pile of firewood topped off as chunks were constantly added to the fireplace and torches burnt out. Peach took another lukewarm bath and afterwards scrubbed her ratty princess dress down with some hot water. The dirt stains didn't come off very well, but it looked much better than it'd originally had.

Night approached quickly. Even more storm clouds blew in, and a downpour beat the muddy earth as Toadonelly and Toader were collecting some more wood. Peach quickly ushered them inside and closed the door tightly behind her, barring it with the manual lock that Toadkins had built for the door earlier that day.

Dinner was served a little after that, and everyone complimented Toaddette on perfecting the pucker bud soup - with the salt and pucker bud juice, it tasted excellent.

After supper, everyone who needed a bath took one and then proceeded into bed. Toadonelly made some hot water for himself before heading for his cot - Peach'd heard that he was starting to get the chills at night.

Peach tucked Toaddette and Perry into bed as she undid her hair from its un-princess-like ponytail. She bit her lip as she gazed down at her Vibe Necklace. Her toads had worked hard to brighten the house so that no ghosts would dare come near. Yet...Peach vividly remembered her encounter with her ghostly look-alike previously that night. She had a gut feeling that something like that would happen again.

Suddenly, wind gusted through the open window and blew Peach's curly hair around. "Oooh!" Peach shivered. "No wonder Toadonelly's got the chills. This wind is horrid!" She crossed the room to close the window and froze. Turning slowly, she faced the door. Her look-alike stood in the entrance to the room, smiling darkly.

"You again," Peach spat, whirling around.

"Yes, me, witchy," the ghost sneered in its high, girly voice. The sound made Peach's skin crawl. She took a step closer, and Peach took a step back. "I've come for you, witch. You cannot possibly escape."

Peach frowned, wondering what in the world her ghost was talking about. Why had she come for Peach? "You trying to kill me again?" Peach asked sarcastically.

"Something like that," the Peach-ghost snickered. "And what could you possibly do to stop me?"

"How did you get in here?" Peach demanded, easing backwards again. She needed time. The ghost, no matter how girly she sounded, looked vicious. She needed to figure out a way to get rid of it before her toads awoke and started all sorts of chaos.

"It's called and open window," her look-alike answered smugly. "Thank you for providing a way for me to get inside."

"I'm not going with you," Peach growled. "We didn't do anything to any of you."

"Oh, you've actually done quite a lot," the ghost giggled. "The King Boo is going to be very unhappy when we tell him what you've done to his precious mansion...but very happy when he hears that we've eliminated you."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Peach hissed again.

The apparition frowned - then gave her a sharp smile. "Fine, then." She strode over to Peach's bed, to where Toaddette and Perry were lying, fast asleep. She reached into her cloak and - with a sickening shing - pulled out a tongue of steel that she aimed right down at Toaddette's face. A sword!

Peach lurched forward, and the Ghost of Peach grinned. "I see. We seem to be on the same page now. I mean no harm for any of your friends...but the King Boo says that you must be eliminated, and that is why I, Booella, and my fiancé, Baxter Boo, are going to see that by the end of this night, you are as silent as the grave."

"Don't hurt her!" Peach said.

"Oh, I won't. As long as you comply." Booella thrust the sword over so that the tip was directly beneath Peach's chin. It was such fast movement that Peach had no time to react. She gulped as the tip of the sword edged steadily closer to her neck. "Witch, come with me. Don't worry, this won't take long. You are weaker than I'd expected you to be."

Peach glanced worriedly down at the sword. It was a ghostly white, and faint light scattered across the blade. She couldn't tell if the sword was as transparent as her apparition or if it was the real deal. She wasn't going to take any chances. "Fine," she said with gritted teeth. "I'll go with you. Just don't hurt any of the toads."

Booella smiled and lowered the rapier. "That's more like it," she said. She lowered the sword and then snapped her transparent fingers. A thick rope wrapped around Peach's wrists, binding her hands together. Peach tugged, but the ropes just tightened around her hands.

"Good then," Booella sneered. "This way, Witch." She turned and walked right through the bedroom door. With some difficulty, Peach opened the door and then stepped into the hallway. The torches mounted on the wall cast circles of light all around, but Booella seemed to have no problem shying away from the light. As she approached one, she disappeared in a wisp of smoke and then reappeared in the shadows cast by the torches farther down the hall. Peach reluctantly followed behind.

At the top of the stairs, Booella turned. "I see you've posted some toads down here," she snickered. "Don't even think about waking them. The only thing they'll see is your head rolling on the floor."

"You - " Peach started, but then she stopped. She noticed something peculiar. When the ghost had turned and spoken to her, she hadn't really been looking at her...Booella had faced Peach's direction, but she hadn't looked Peach directly in the eye. In fact, from where Peach was standing, she deduced that Booella had been aiming at a spot on Peach's cheeks, directly beside her eyes. Why had she done that?

Peach suddenly wanted to slap herself. Of course! How could she have been so foolish? Boos were naturally shy creatures. Their one fatal weakness was eye contact. If someone looked a Boo directly in the eye, the Boo could become very weak and powerless. That's why Booella hadn't looked Peach in the eye!

Booella turned back and proceeded down the stairs. Peach tailed close behind, being careful not to step on the creaky stair near the bottom. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Peach leapt forward, right towards Booella. Being a ghost, Peach tumbled right through her, but while the she-Boo was surprised, Peach whirled around and glared directly in the eyes.

The effect was instantaneous. Booella blushed a deep red and was suddenly surrounded by hissing white fog, almost like steam. "Wh-What have you done?" Booella cried, holding up her hands.

Two toads that were lying near the front windows of the house, snoozing, suddenly woke up from their sleep. "Princess...?" the first asked.

Booella's guise of Peach suddenly dissolved, revealing very feeble little round ghost behind. The she-Boo had sharp teeth and a long red tongue, and a cute little pink bow adorned her head.

"You...you little wretch!" the she-Boo squeaked. Still blushing, she turned tail and fled out of the room, flying right through the door. The toads started awake at this sight.

"Princess!" the second toad cried. He caught sight of Booella and almost fainted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I may have a few screws loose. Was that...a ghost?"

"Yes!" Peach dashed towards one of them, holding out her bound hands. "Cut me loose!" The toad obediently drew his dagger and sliced through the rope tying Peach's hands together. She then thrust open the door and was almost immediately blasted in the face with wind and rain. Another storm was erupting outside. Peach groaned inwardly. Why were there always so many storms at night?

She turned back to the toads. "I've got to chase after her! Wake everyone up and fill the house with light as best you can!" Then, for the second time since she'd arrived in the region, Peach dashed out of the house in her bare feet, sloshing through the mud and getting her dress dirty.

Booella was right up ahead, sobbing as she darted deeper into the scraggly forest. Peach shielded her eyes and ran after her, slopping through the slippery grass.

Booella turned and saw her following and glared. "You idiot witch!!" she screeched. "Stop following me!" She began to weave in and out of the trees, hoping to throw Peach off, but the princess refused to give up.

Booella worked hard to get rid of Peach. She was probably severely embarrassed that Peach had managed to expose her and probably wanted to go and regroup somewhere so that she could think up of a better plan for action. She flew here, there, everywhere, backtracked, and even walked right through trees to try and shake off Peach. But the princess didn't give up, and managed to keep up with Booella as she finally broke out into a circular clearing.

The area was pounded and muddy from the torrential rain and was spookily encircled with towering leafless trees. As Booella and Peach entered the clearing, Peach spied a glowing light hovering in the center of the area - another Boo!

"Baxter!" Booella squealed, flying towards him. Peach stopped under the trees, struggling to see through the rain, and rested. That run had totally wiped her!

"Ella? What's going on? Isn't that...the Witch?" Baxter Boo narrowed his eyes at Peach suspiciously.

"Yes," Booella admitted. "That's the Witch."

Baxter Boo glared at her, and the poor she-Boo flinched. "Why haven't you eliminated her yet?"

Booella squirmed. "I tried, Baxter...on the first night, I almost drowned her, I swear! But she somehow ended up alive..."

"Excuses! Booella, I will not marry a she-Boo as incompetent as you! Until this Witch is gone, the wedding's off!"

Booella looked close to tears. "Please, my love! Give me one last chance! I lured her out here tonight so that you and I could take her out together! As...a sort of wedding gift or something!"

"Nonsense. A lone Boo couldn't take her out. What could two possibly do?"

"Not two, dear - an army of Boos. Even if they all couldn't defeat her, they'd be enough to hold her off while you and I summoned the KING!"

Peach's breath caught in her throat. The...king?

Baxter Boo looked thoughtful. "It's a thought."

"Let us do it then! Together!"

"Hush, Booella, with all of that dramatic nonsense. It's embarrassing me. Now then..." Baxter Boo cleared his throat. "Booella! Let's eliminate this threat! Together!"

"Together!" Booella screeched. She raised her flimsy little arms. "Rise, Boos! The time has come to eliminate the Witch who came with the intent of seizing this island! Distract her while we summon the King Boo, who will defeat her once and for all!!"

The muddy earth below Peach's feet began to quake, and Boos began to rise out of the ground like mummies. About a foot away from her, a Momma Boo and her son popped out of the ground. The son looked towards Peach and gave her a wide-toothed grin. "Let's play!" he said, running towards Peach.

Peach screamed and ran off. In due time, the Boos were right behind her, laughing and screeching with mirth as she struggled to keep ahead of them. She didn't know where she was going. She could hardly remember which direction the house was in. She chose a direction and ran that way. The Boos followed closely behind.

This isn't working, Peach realized, wheezing as the ghosts giggled behind her. She had vivid memories of how the Goombas had chased her down on Ladida Plains, waiting for her to give up in exhaustion. She had a destination this time, but it was hardly different other than that. She was already tiring.

Peach reached into her collar and pulled out her Vibe Necklace. She chose the blue one and squeezed it in her hands. Make me run faster!! She thought fervently. The Gloom Stone flashed brightly, and soon tears sprang to Peach's eyes, impairing her already bad vision.

But her speed increased, and before she knew it, she was hurtling through the trees, faster than a comet and weaving in and out through their naked trunks. The Boos began to lag behind. Ahead, Peach could see specks of light through the sheets of rain. The house!

Peach burst through the trees and headed for the front door as the haunted trees reached down with their bare branches and tried to snag her as she raced past.