King Julien couldn't sleep that night. He had told the other lemurs what had happened. They believed him, but they didn't know what they could do.

"We'll help in any way we can," Maurice had said.

"He's right, King Julien. We'll do anything to keep the spirit away," Tasha had added.

"Bad ghost! No being mean to King Julien!" Mort snapped.

It didn't sound too promising.

Even looking in Tasha's lavender eyes didn't help. He knew he loved her, but what could she do to keep a ghost away?

If this ghost starts to haunt her, King Julien thought angrily. I will beat it up somehow!

When the sun began to rise over the horizon, King Julien was sitting in his chair. His eyelids were sagging, but he couldn't sleep. He wouldn't sleep. What if the ghost killed him when he was sleeping? He couldn't take the risk.

An hour later, the zoo started to wake up. Tasha and Maurice started to stir. Mort hopped to his feet.

"Hey King Julien," Tasha yawned. Small snowflakes clung to her fur. There was snow scattered across the ground. King Julien hadn't noticed it had snowed last night. He was too busy thinking.

"Did the ghost haunt you last night?" Maurice asked. King Julien shrugged.

"He didn't bother me, but I could feel someone next to me…" his voice trailed off, and his whole body shook before he could start another sentence. "It was full of hatred and wanted to kill!"

"Oh, King Julien, you need some sleep," Tasha noted. King Julien crossed his arms and turned away.

"That's what the falcon told me last night," he sneered under his breath.

"Ghost, the royal feet mine!" Mort yelled at nothing before cuddling with King Julien's feet.

"Mort, can't you see I'm trying to think?" King Julien furiously shook Mort off his feet. Mort screamed before hitting the icy ground.

"Your Majesty… I suggest talking to the animals of the zoo, or any animals we know. They might've played a prank on you," Maurice suggested. Rage smoldered inside King Julien. Why did everyone think it was a prank?

"The penguins said that already," King Julien sighed. Suddenly, his rage broke loose. "Why can't you tell me something useful, or, even better, do something useful?"

"King Julien, look, we just want to find out whether or not someone did this! If they did, problem solved! If they didn't, we'll go farther into the investigation." Tasha let her irritation show. King Julien didn't like her tone, but he decided to give it a try.

"Fine," he muttered. Tasha smiled and hugged King Julien. The ring-tailed lemur breathed in her warm, familiar scent. He was happy he had her.

She hopped back onto the ground. He stared at his girlfriend. Her black and white fur had just been groomed. Her eyes flashed with determination, and she had a smile that said, "We can do this!" The ruffed lemur was magnificent.

The four lemurs started their trip around the zoo. It was early. The sun peeked out behind some clouds. The zoo was going to open in four hours.

They started at the Penguins' HQ. They had taken the fishbowl entrance. Once the penguins had found out they were there, they weren't too happy.

"What do you want?" Skipper snapped. "Let me guess, is the ghost haunting you again?" Kitka rested her wing on Skipper's shoulder. He reluctantly stopped talking. Kitka took a step forward.

"Ghosts aren't real, Julien," she whispered urgently. King Julien could tell that Kitka wanted them out of there, but she was showing it a lot nicer than Skipper had. "It's all in your head."

"That's not why we're here," King Julien spat. Kitka frowned and stepped back. She put her wing on Skipper's back, but his angry expression did not change. He tapped his foot. He was clearly getting impatient. "Did any of you last night play a prank on me?"

"We have better things to do than play pranks, Ring-tail," Skipper replied. King Julien thrashed his tail.

"Besides, we're only on step three of our 'prank King Julien device'." Kowalski pointed at a paper that showed a drawing of King Julien rubbing his temples. His face looked extremely annoyed, and a small bird was behind him. Kowalski frowned. "Now that thing is in the trash…" Kowalski sadly pushed a bird-like machine off of the table. It hit the ground with a crack and tiny parts scattered across the ground.

"Nvmm," Rico growled.

"We don't have time to prank you anyway," Private said. King Julien furrowed his eyebrows.

"So if you didn't prank me, who did?" King Julien queried. Skipper shrugged.

"Go find that out on your own," Skipper demanded. King Julien flattened his ears and the four lemurs walked out of the HQ and over to the next habitat.

The bells rang. The lemurs were sitting in their habitat, confused. They had checked every habitat in the zoo, and no one had played a prank. King Julien was devastated. There was a ghost after him. The ghost wanted to hurt him, or worse, kill him.

"Maybe someone's just being stubborn," Tasha murmured. "If they play a prank, you do know that they won't say they did it." King Julien sighed. He was lying with his head on one of the armrests of his throne, his legs on the other. His tail dangled over the edge.

"No one could have pranked me. Why would they prank me? I am their king. There would be some terrible consequences." King Julien stared at the sky. Were the Sky Spirits protecting him? "Sky Spirits, please protect me from this creature from the other world!"

Tasha glanced at him. Her eyes were filled with hurt and worry. King Julien felt her gaze burn into his fur.

"I wish I could do something," she whispered. Her voice sounded really distraught. "If only I could make this ghost stop haunting you. You know I would. I would do anything to make you happy." King Julien was not comforted by her words. Words couldn't solve this problem. Words couldn't solve anything. They needed to make the ghost go away with physical contact. "What's that one thing called?" Maurice asked. He was looking at King Julien, and he, too, was affected by his odd behavior. "You use it to talk to spirits? Um… wigi… Ouija board?" Tasha grinned.

"That's it! We need to talk to the penguins and see if they have a Ouija board that we can borrow!" Tasha yelled. King Julien turned to face her. He didn't feel as if the Ouija board would work. Also, it just scared him.

"Ouija sounds fun!" Mort squealed, hopping up and down on his tiny feet. "Can I play it too?"

"Ouija isn't a game, Mort, it's the real thing! People use it to talk to spirits and the spirits talk back!" Tasha told Mort. Her eyes clouded, as if unsure if they should do it, but she looked so eager. Ghosts had always fascinated her, and just the thought of talking to one excited her.

"That sounds scary… but fun!" Mort exclaimed. Tasha palmed her face. It wouldn't be worth the explaining. Mort would still think it was a game.

"Why should we bother? The penguins don't believe in ghosts, why would they have one?" King Julien asked. His voice sounded flat and sorrowful, but deep down he was interested and wanted to use it.

"Oh, they'll have one, and if they don't, we'll make them give one to us!" Tasha said in a hushed whisper. King Julien sat up. He was wondering what his girlfriend was getting at.

"How?" He asked.

"You'll see," she whispered. King Julien froze. She seemed so dark and mysterious. King Julien smirked. He liked the idea. In fact, he liked the mysterious Tasha even more.