Chapter 4: Close Up

The next morning, Peter Venkman slid out of bed, showing all the energy of a zombie with an asthma problem. He threw on his clothes, and traipsed down the stairs to the breakfast room, where his three teammates were already in the middle of their morning meal.

"I'm pleased to see you have deigned to join us, Peter," said Egon with that twinkle in his eye that Peter had seen all too often.

Peter pointed at Ray. "There's the bad guy," Peter accused. "He woke me while I was in the middle of a very satisfying dream involving a couple of local maidens."

"I guessed as much even before you threw that empty glass of water at me, Peter," Ray smiled. "You were speaking German in your sleep."

"Weird, I don't speak German," protested Peter.

Ray looked at Winston. Winston pointed his finger at his head and did a looping motion with it.

"Well, now that we're all here, let me just go over the basic plan. Going by what Anton has told me from his and his father's diaries, peak time for Lorelei's appearances seems to be around four o'clock. Therefore, we should aim to be in position by half-past three. The town has arranged for the state forestry commission to clear the area of sightseers, so we'll be undisturbed."

"Great, Egon. I'll go over the equipment and check that it's all in order. I heard the FedEx flight over here was pretty bumpy."

"That's good, Ray." said Egon.

"Yeah, don't want anything to go wrong this far from home," agreed Winston.

Peter held up a finger. "Will there be any time for fun on this trip, Egon?"

"All in due time, Peter. Business before pleasure."

Peter turned to Ray and Winston. "And he wonders why he's still single..."

Three o'clock came and it was time to set out along the path that would lead them through the undergrowth to the Rock of Lorelei. Egon led the way, his PKE meter held out in front of him. Then followed Peter, Winston and Ray, in that order. The path they were following was a dirt one, and winded between huge, formless bushes. They could distantly hear the river seething past the rocks from a point in front of them. There were a few trees as well standing as if to attention beside the path, and the effect reminded them somewhat of walking through the jungle. There was a fair amount of incline as well. Soon, the PKE meter started to react slightly.

"We're getting close," said Egon.

"About time," replied Peter.

About twenty meters ahead, the vegetation gave way to daylight. As it was March, the light was already starting to dim a little. Right in front of them was Lorelei Rock, jutting out over the cliff. The lights on the meter started to flash. The other three took it as their signal to draw their particle throwers. Ray leaned over to get a look at the PKE meter.

"OK, Egon, what are you getting?"

"Definite Class 3 overlays. Nothing out of the ordinary so far."

"There's a whole village who'd care to disagree with you on the 'nothing out of the ordinary' bit, Spengs," cracked Peter. "What's the course of action?"

"She could appear any minute," said Ray. "We've gotta be ready."

"Well, we've got protons on tap, Tex. You think we should hide?"

"Yep. Best she doesn't see us straightaway." Winston, practical as ever. "There's plenty of undergrowth here. That's our hiding place."

"And get myself dirty?" complained Peter. "The things I do for my profession..."

They staked out positions in the bushes, crouching low amid the bracken so they were mostly hidden from the rock, whilst having a decent view of Lorelei when she materialised. Now it was just a question of waiting.

This is gonna be a snap job, thought Peter.

I've a feeling this isn't gonna be a snap job, thought Winston at the same time.

As it turned out, they didn't have long to wait. The first glimpse they got of the siren was a shower of silvery-white sparks, not dissimilar to fairy dust, materialising in the air right over the rock. Egon turned down the volume on the PKE meter as it started to beep furiously. The sparks thinned out and at the same time, a human shape started to phase into being. The shape of a woman, a very beautiful woman. She was naked, and she had golden hair of an exceptionally rich and bright shade, which cascaded down over the shoulders and over her body like some sort of golden waterfall. If any of the Ghostbusters had ever felt a certain antipathy towards any of the wrecked sailors for being drawn in by the siren, then those feelings would certainly abate now. Her face was the last part of her to come into focus. It bore no hint of malice or contempt; instead, it held sadness, enhanced by a very final solemnity.

Ray was drawn out of his reverie by Egon's bass. "Wait a minute. This is odd."

"What's odd?"

"These sub-readings are abnormal." Egon tweaked his glasses and turned a knob on the device.

"That's Peter's signal, Egon."

The four moved out and cautiously approached the enchanting spirit in front of them. If Lorelei was the not the most powerful ghost they had encountered, then she was certainly the most striking. Consistent with the folklore, she was sitting cross-legged, combing her hair. The only man not taken in by the sight was Egon, who was still buried in his PKE readings. He hadn't even drawn his thrower yet.

"Egon...put that thing away," shot Peter under his breath.

Egon tucked it into his belt without switching it off and hefted his thrower.

"Heat 'em up!" instructed Peter. A dull electronic clunk followed by a rising hum went up as the Ghostbusters powered up their weapons, and that was what brought Lorelei's attention onto them.

She turned her head and fixed the four mortal strangers with a distant gaze. Her aquiline features and small blue eyes only accentuated her beauty. Her expression was one of vague melancholy, until she fixed her sight on Ray. Ray looked right back at her and then the maiden's expression changed. First she looked confused for a brief second, and then something which looked like recognition flashed in her eyes...followed by a look of deep sadness. Ray didn't think he'd ever seen such sadness in the eyes of a another human being, or a ghost of one. It touched Ray deep inside. What was going on here?

"Ready..." came Peter's voice.

Ray looked into the eyes of Lorelei. Her eyes went wide, and then she shook her head, as if trying to remember something....

"...aim..."

Lorelei opened her lips slightly. To Ray it looked like she was going to say something...

...FIR - "

"No...wait!" Ray yelled. That got the other guys attention sure enough.

"What is it, Ray?" said Egon.

"We can't blast her. I think she really needs our help. Look...she's terrified!"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Look, Ray, this is no time to get sentimental. She's probably bluffing."

"Ray may be right. The PKE readings are abnormal. I'm getting noticeable Class 7 overlays."

"Class 7 overlays," said Winston, and his voice was now foreboding. "Oh...you mean..."

Egon nodded at Winston.

Ray moved forward. He was too certain of his feeling to get into an argument with Peter, or for that matter Egon or Winston. He approached the beautiful spectre. The other three maintained a ready-to-fire stance, but it would be difficult for them to hit her without hitting Ray. His thrower was safely stowed. He maintained the friendliest and most understanding expression he could muster, which for Ray was very.

"Lorelei," he addressed the ghost maiden. Her eyes were burning with something – a mixture of sadness and...fear? "We don't want to capture you. We think you need our help." Ray didn't know if she could understand him. He hoped his body language would somehow give it away.

Lorelei opened her lips. "Hilf...mir..." Her voice was smooth, possessing a slight echo, and laced with desperation. It also sounded like she was struggling to talk.

The other three Ghostbusters now approached, their throwers stowed. Egon, who had a decent, though not fluent command of German, understood. "Help me, she says."

"Karl...muss ihn finden.."

"She has to find someone called Karl," said Egon.

"Lorelei, can you tell us more," implored Ray. "We can help you."

Lorelei looked panicked. "Nein..." she spoke, but was unable to utter another word as then she started fading out.

"She's fading!" yelled Winston. Barely two seconds later she was gone, replaced for a moment by a cluster of silver-white sparks, which a second later also faded out.

"Blast." Ray put a hand to his head. "Just when we were getting through to her."

Egon's eyes narrowed. "Or, when she was getting through to us. She was trying to tell us something."

"Yeah. And you can bet the house that it's bad news." Peter said,

"Well, we got one name. Some guy called Karl." Winston thought out loud.

"Not much to go on." said Ray, furrowing his forehead in thought.

"OK, Egon, about those PKE readings. You said they were abnormal."

Egon nodded. "Her readings were combined with some odd overlays. Class 7 overlays."

"Class 7 overlays? But that would normally signify...demonic possession." Ray looked confused.

"I should have guessed earlier. She would have needed some sort of additional power boost to produce such a strong attraction for the boat captains, even taking into account her pre-existing, uh, attributes. However, the readings in question are different from what would I would normally expect...they're not as strong, for one thing."

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Additional power boost? From who? You suggesting there's someone pulling the strings, Egon?"

"Not at this moment, Peter, but it's a possibility. It could also be that Lorelei is masking her power, but, considering that she tried to communicate with us, that's implausible." He whipped out his meter again and started taking readings, again.

"I don't like this, guys." said Winston. "I vote we check out this whole stretch of the river."

"Do we have to?" drawled Peter in protest.

"Yeah, Peter. Winston's right." Ray now had his hands on his hips. "You heard what Josef said. There's all sorts of weird stuff that's supposed to be associated with the river. Could be we've only just touched the tip of the iceberg?"

"You mean more naked ghost ladies? Y'know, a couple of days I would have jumped at the chance, but now, I'm not sure. Another certainty in my life has been cruelly ripped up."

"No, Peter. I mean dangerous stuff. Demons and what-have-you."

That didn't please Peter at all.

"Anyone know when the next flight home is?"