Super Princess Peach

Ch. 18

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.