A spooky orange fog rolled through Spore Valley for Halloween, making the glowing windows of the mushroom houses look like watching eyes. Pumpkin vines curled around the chimneys, and the turtles hung spiderwebs made of silver silk on their front doors.
Leo wanted to be the fastest creature in the forest, so he taped long, fuzzy pink ears to his red bicycle helmet to look like a hare. Mom and Dad painted their shells bright yellow and wore green leafy collars to dress up as giant sunflowers.
Leo pedaled his bike slowly next to his parents as they visited the neighbors, shouting "Trick or Treat!" at every round wooden door. His basket was getting heavy with candied clover and sugar-coated pebbles.
When they returned to their tiny gray mushroom house at the edge of the woods, they saw something strange. A white, floating shape was hovering right in front of their little door, making a low, moaning sound.
Mom gasped and Dad stopped in his tracks, but Leo felt brave in his fast hare costume. He rolled his bicycle forward and rang his shiny bell loudly. "Ding-ding! Go away, ghost!" he shouted.
The ghost chuckled, and the white sheet slowly lifted up to reveal the Blue Snail Butler underneath! "I am just guarding the entrance, Master Leo," the snail said with a slow, slimy smile.
They all squeezed into the tiny house and slid down the slide to their secret underground home. The Snail had turned the crystal cave into a glow-in-the-dark dance floor for the best Halloween party ever.
