New Kid in the Ghost Zone

Chapter 1

Emma Martinez stared out the tinted black windows of her moms' car, trying to ignore the incessant noise of her family. Living with four siblings took its toll on a 14-year-old, especially if your siblings are either older or younger than you.

Lisa, the oldest at 17, had her nose buried in a veterinary book; Amy, age 16, was talking nonstop to a friend on the phone; Jason was playing a hand-held video game and occasionally shouting out "Die, alien scum!"; and then Alice was playing with a patched up, rag doll Pegasus.

"Mine is a family of multiple psychological problems." Emma stated, resting her elbow on her knee. Amy put her hand over the mouth piece of her cell phone and responded snidely,

"This coming from the girl with the you-know-what powers . . . "

"Shut up, Amy, before I bust up your overly done face." Emma threatened, her fists clenching.

"Knock it off, you two!" Lisa yelled from the front seat. Emma stuck her tongue out at her older sister, still fuming that she had to be dragged along to drop off her siblings at their new schools. In Emma's opinion, being homeschooled rocked.

Not having to deal with annoying older kids for 8 hours or the horror of trying to make new friends. Emma had always been branded as a rebel by adults, and treated like a little kid because of it. It had been awhile since Emma did anything rebellious: the last time had been at her boarding school in California.

Emma's friend Jane had been all for the "Dye my hair black, and mess around with the uniform" look, but after what had happened…

"Em? You okay?" Mrs. Martinez asked her daughter. Emma shook herself out of her reverie as the minivan pulled into the driveway.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go walk around okay?" Emma replied, slinging her backpack over one shoulder and climbing out of the car. Emma wasn't sure where she was going to go, just as long as she could keep a low profile around the public eye.

It was a mildly windy day, and said wind kept Emma's curly blonde hair out of her face and "hypnotizing" green eyes. After finding a secluded and shady tree to sit by, Emma pulled out her laptop, to finish up her last session of online school before summer. Emma put in her iPod earphones, and began lip-syncing to "Hot and Cold" by Katy Perry just as a chat box opened up on her computer screen.

From Blue-EyedBabe918:

Hey Em! How's the new place treatin' ya?

That's the screen name of Emma's best friend and "partner in crime", Jane Lantis. She was very mild-mannered, with short brown hair and took an active part in several environmentalist groups.

Emma typed in,

From BlondeRebelRocker76:

I will never get used to living in a small town. With everything so close together, I'm coming down with claustrophobia.

Emma and Jane talked like this for several minutes, each telling the other about life in Amity Park or life at St. John's School for Troubled Teens. Emma had had to move for a couple of reasons: 1) her mother and father both agreed that it would be good for Emma, and 2) because the police had suggested that they should start over somewhere new.

Anyway, Emma suddenly felt a spark down her spine, and a transparent shape flew overhead. Slamming her laptop and shoving it into her backpack, Emma took off running in the direction of the ghost almost getting run into by another transparent shape.

"There are two of you now, huh? When in this gonna get easy?" Emma thought to herself as she ducked behind a tree. Two rings of red energy separated around her, and the t-shirt and sweatpants she'd been wearing were replaced by: white ripped jeans, a black shirt with gold skull and crossbones, a white vest, black skater shoes, and a chain belt and necklace. Emma's blonde hair turned black, and her green eyes turned glowing Gatorade blue.

"Now…it gets interesting." Emma crouched down and sprang into the air, not noticing the tracking device phase into her skin, and not even knowing who it belonged to.