It’s been some time since I have rambled here – autumn being the season of all-out-witchery and assorted Weiser mayhem … all good, mind you. As a result, Ankhie finds that her brain is full, her imagination fuller, and her schedule easing up somewhat to allow for expansion of both.

Which brings me to a little non-sense that, were it any other time of year, I would probably just ignore.

One of the results of working for an occult publisher (and having occult interests) is that whenever something weird happens, I immediately start thinking about possible paranormal explanations. I would make a terrible ghost hunter for that very reason. Yet I’m not unreasonable. Although spirit-doings may be my knee-jerk reaction, I do seek (and usually find) some perfectly logical cause for the anomaly.

Scratching in the ceiling? Noisy Ninja Mice.

Candles relighting after they have been blown out? Hot wax pooling and a still-smouldering wick.

Dog acting weird and hiding under the sofa? A missing stick of butter from the kitchen counter and an unspeakable mess in the living room.

But every once in a while things happen that defy logic – every investigative turn a dead end. Like the mist that occasionally appears late at night, moving through the first floor rooms of the house. Or the recent disappearance of sweet and shiny things; chocolates, pastries, silver rings, a hand-beaded keychain. The members of Chez Ankhie have been fully interrogated and all proclaim their innocence. Although I am reluctant to give them the benefit of the doubt on the sweet-related front, there was, just yesterday, a donut that disappeared from a closed bag while the whole family was out. Now, said Ninja Mice are very, very clever (I have previously griped about their super-mousam skills of evasion) but I seriously doubt that they could open a bag, remove the donut, re-close the bag and leave not a trace of crumb or poo.  Seems silly, I know. But it’s something new every day, and I’m scouring my brain and my library for information on nefarious otherkin who steal donuts and shiny accessories.  So far I have come up with nothing, although I am inclined to think it’s house fairies.

What say you, learned readers. If it’s not sneaky critters or fibbing family members, then who or what?