The high pitched shriek and the girl's terrifying aspect were enough to warn Don and Casey that Ruth was no longer worried about being outed. That could only mean one thing; her bones had been found.
Ruth lifted the croquet mallet menacingly and Don immediately dropped his to draw his bō staff in response, preferring the longer reach.
"You can't keep that body," Don said calmly, despite how hard his heart was hammering inside his chest. "It belongs to our friend."
"Oh but I am going to keep it," Ruth said with a scowl. "I've waited a very long time for a host and this is an excellent one. April is young, pretty, and most importantly, very powerful."
"She won't let you hurt us," Casey said. "Can you hear me April? Fight that ghost and kick her out!"
Throwing her head back to laugh, Ruth said, "How pitiful. She hasn't had control of this body since I possessed it. If you two were half as smart as you think you are, you wouldn't have crossed me. Or is it that deranged turtle? Is he the one trying to interfere with my plans?"
Don moved to the side, his weapon pointed directly at Ruth. Just as he'd hoped, she turned with him, keeping him in her sights. With any luck, Casey would understand what he was trying to do and take advantage of the distraction Don was providing him.
The key now was to hold Ruth's attention while the other turtles transported her bones to the cemetery and buried them. Don had no idea if Ruth had yet tried to access April's powers or if April had any command over herself at all.
"What happened to you?" Don asked, stalling for time. "How did you come to be . . . killed?"
"Murdered you mean," Ruth said acidly. "Leopold. I didn't think he had it in him, he always seemed the weaker of the two. Everything would have be so perfect if he had simply married me. Jonathan would have died at sea, he didn't have the fortitude to handle hard labor, and then all of the family money would have gone to Leopold. To me."
From the corner of his eye, Don saw Casey slowly sliding backwards, away from Ruth and towards the van. To keep him covered, Don shifted again, forcing Ruth to move too.
"Was that your plan all along? To have one of the cousins kill the other and then you'd marry the one who was left standing? Wasn't that taking a big chance that the living one wouldn't be tried and convicted of murder?" Don asked.
"It wouldn't have mattered either way," Ruth said. "I was pregnant with a Fenwick grandchild. If the one I married wasn't convicted of murder, I'd still have a hold over him and the money would be completely under my control. If both Leopold and Jonathan died, then my child would be the heir apparent. I'd still be set for life. The elder Fenwicks would never have soiled the family honor by disinheriting either their son or their grandchild."
"Cruel," Don muttered, staring at Ruth in disbelief. In a stronger voice he repeated himself. "That was just cruel."
"Do you want to know what cruel is?" Ruth asked with a short laugh. "Cruel is strangling a pregnant woman to death after promising to make an honest woman of her. Cruel is rolling her dead body inside an expensive rug, rowing her out to the middle of a pond, and dumping her overboard."
"Murder is never right!" Don exclaimed. "Not what was done to you and not what you planned to do to those cousins. Look, I can understand your wanting another body, your own life was cut off before you had the chance to fully live it, but why behave so vindictively towards us?"
He was careful not to mention Casey and was relieved when her attention remained solely on him.
"Why not?" Ruth countered. "Your little April was in the same situation that I had been in with two young men panting after her."
"But we're not rich," Don said. "We don't even have a real home at the moment."
"I want revenge!" Ruth screamed, turning red in the face. "I was going to start small by having you two fools kill each other and then I'd move on. With April's gifts no man will ever shun me again. But now you've spoiled my fun. I shall have to remove you myself and then go after your brothers. They can't be allowed to tamper with my bones."
Dropping the mallet on the ground, Ruth placed her fingertips against her temples. Almost at once the air around her seemed charged with static electricity, her hair lifting from her shoulders to form a halo of sorts behind her head.
Don felt a tingling sensation in his hands as April's power emanated outwards to run along the length of his bō staff. Hanging on tightly, he prepared to charge her, meaning to use incapacitating strikes to immobilize rather than injure.
Before he could move, Donnie saw the wickets and wooden stakes from the croquet game begin to wiggle in the ground. Eyes wide with fear, Don watched as they worked themselves loose and rose into the air.
Then the wooden stakes flipped over, sharp points aiming right at Donatello.
"Aw sewer apples!" Don blurted out as the stakes suddenly flew at him.
At the same moment Casey dove past him, tore the top from a canister of salt, and threw the contents right into April/Ruth's face.
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Three turtles broke the pond's surface at the same time, all of them tossing their heads back to gasp for air. A water laden burden hung between them, their hands strategically placed beneath it due to its fragile nature.
"Okay . . . let's get this . . . to shore," Leo said as he tried to catch his breath. "Ready? Go."
They all began kicking their feet to propel themselves through the water. The rug roll they'd salvaged from the pond's bottom wasn't nearly as buoyant as they would have hoped. Its drag made swimming both difficult and tiring.
Finally their toes began to touch down and the brothers leaned forward, each seeking a solid foothold. The higher they moved out of the water, the heavier their load became, until they were straining against its weight.
Water poured from the underside of the rug and took small chunks of wool with it. Afraid that they'd lose some of its contents, Leo told his brothers, "When I count three, toss it on the shore. One . . . two . . . three!"
Grunting loudly, they flung the rug roll as hard as they could. It cleared the water and landed on dry ground with a solid thump.
Dragging their feet, the brothers walked up next to it, still breathing hard. Hands on knees, they took a couple of minutes to slow their heart rate.
Shaking himself like a puppy, Michelangelo retrieved his nunchucks. Raph and Leo wrung the water from their mask tails and then picked up their weapons as well.
"How much did Ruth weigh? That thing was so heavy!" Mikey complained.
Raph glared at him. "I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that it's been soaking in water for eighty years."
Ignoring them, Leo said, "Let's make sure the bones are in here."
Lifting one of his swords, Leo deftly sliced the rug roll clean through from end to end. The already compromised fabric fell apart easily, with only the inner most layer remaining semi-intact.
Inside were the skeletal remains of a woman. The skin and clothing had long ago melted into the wool of the rug, but there were a few wisps of long hair clinging to the skull. Bracelets, rings, and a necklace were still undamaged on the bones.
There was silence in the face of death as the three brothers stared at the remains. "I guess that's Ruth," Raph said in a low voice.
"Not a pretty way to go," Leo responded.
Raph glanced up at him. "Not too many ways are."
Mikey brought the duffel bag close to the skeleton and pulled the opening wide. "Let's stuff her in here."
Mouth wrinkling in distaste, Raph kneeled next to the skeleton and Leo took the opposite side. Mikey gripped the lower legs and as one they lifted it, the surviving joints holding it together.
Depositing the head and upper body into the bag, Leo told Mikey, "Bring the legs in, we'll have to fold it up to make it fit."
"Okey dokey," Mikey said.
The integrity of the skeleton couldn't survive that treatment and the legs came loose from the torso. Mikey shuddered and quickly pushed them into the bag.
Everything was inside except the arms, which dangled over the sides of the duffel. Leo pushed the left arm in but when Raph went to do the same to the right, the hand broke off and landed in one of his.
"Oh yuck!" Raph exclaimed, tossing the hand on top of rest of the skeleton.
Standing, Mikey zipped up the bag and lifted it, sliding into the strap so that it was tight against his plastron and carapace. This placed the duffel against his hip and Mikey grasped one of the connecting ends to keep the bag flush against his body.
"Ready to go," Mikey announced. "We'd better hurry, Ruth's probably attacking Donnie and Casey right now."
He jogged out ahead of his brothers who quickly caught up to him. "How do you know that? Did you see it on TV?" Raph asked sarcastically.
With a straight face, Mikey said, "Nope, I read it in a comic book. She'll come after us next 'cause we've got her bones."
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Ruth's shrill scream was part rage, part pain as the entire canister of salt hit her. As she fell to her knees and began pawing at her face, the wickets and stakes, no longer under her control, dropped to the ground.
Casey turned almost as soon as he threw the salt and grabbed Don's shoulder, spinning the turtle away from Ruth. "Run!" Casey yelled in his face and then took off without waiting to see if Don would follow.
Donatello did not need to be told twice. The two long-legged leg teens sprinted side by side towards the van and then Casey kept going, right towards the barn.
"Bad idea, bad idea!" Don called to him, but Casey didn't listen. He slid through the open barn door and then as Don came through, slammed it shut behind them.
Yanking another canister of salt from his waistband, Casey began sprinkling it in front of the door. "This should keep her out," Casey said with a grin.
"What are you doing?" Don demanded sharply.
Straightening up, Casey tossed the empty canister aside and said, "We can just stay in here away from her until the guys bury her bones."
"That won't work," Don said in frustration. "She's tapped into April's powers."
"So? We can still hide," Casey said without concern.
"Are you crazy?" Don asked. "We can't hide in here. She doesn't need to come in to get us, she has psychic access to all the weapons she needs."
He pointed at the walls, indicating the sharp implements hanging on them.
"Yeah, I see your point," Casey said, looking disconcerted.
"Point is right," Don said, striding past a pair of pitchforks to reach the peep hole Mikey had used earlier.
"What's she doing?" Casey asked when Don leaned down to peer through. "Is she after us?"
"No, she's just standing there where we left her," Don answered. "Her eyes are closed, maybe the salt got in them and they sting too much for her to have seen where we went."
"Could we be that lucky?" Casey asked hopefully.
Don watched Ruth lift her fingers to her temples. "I don't think so. She's about to use April's powers again!"
Turning his head, Don looked around the barn, waiting for something to move. When nothing happened after a full minute, he returned to the peep hole.
"Maybe the salt stole her power," Casey offered.
April/Ruth's brow was furrowed, as if she was in deep concentration. Another minute passed without her making a move on the two teens trapped in the barn and then Don realized what she was doing.
"She's after my brothers!" Don shouted. "We have to keep her busy!"
"By doing what, becoming targets?" Casey asked. "We can't hit her, that's April!"
Don whirled around, his eyes raking over the barn. "Okay, okay, salt slows her down but the rest of it's out there," Don muttered, thinking aloud. "Hmm, got to be something else. Iron! Iron is supposed to drain a ghost's energy."
Casey snatched up an iron pry bar. "Got some!"
Shaking his head, Don said, "If we can't hit her what makes you think it's okay to stake her?" His eyes fell on the metal chain which was still on the ground where Mikey had left it. "This is better." Grabbing an end, Don quickly coiled it in loops over one shoulder.
"I'm still bringing this," Casey told him.
"Fine, but bring the salt canister too. We'll charge her together," Don said.
"But it's empty," Casey pointed out.
"She won't know that," Don said. "Just make her think you're going to throw it at her."
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Leo took the lead as the trio jogged for the cemetery, making sure they were taking the most direct route. Not far from the pond the Fenwick property began to look much like the O'Neill farm; heavily wooded and dark, even during the daytime.
They hadn't gone far when a strange sound caught their attention. It was if something was moaning in the tree tops.
Raph caught up to Leo and asked, "The wind maybe?"
He didn't sound much convinced. Leo did not break stride as he looked up and so did Raph.
Overhead the tree limbs were shaking violently, the leaves rustling hard enough to pull loose and fall. Only there was no wind.
"It's the ghost, she's using April's powers!" Mikey yelled as leaves began to rain down on them. "Run!"
The turtles broke into a dead run, hearing loud snapping sounds coming from all around them. Something whizzed past Mikey's shoulder before the whistle of another object made him dart aside.
Raph spun out of the way when he heard something coming at him and a backward glance showed him a tree branch embedding itself in the ground.
"She's using branches like spears!" Leo shouted. "Keep moving!"
Suddenly the air around them was filled with dangerously sharp missiles. Dodging, leaping, and flipping, the trio used all of their ninja training to listen for and avoid being stabbed.
A smaller branch hit Leo's shell and bounced off. Another pierced the duffel bag. The brothers didn't slow down, knowing they had to escape the woods with its abundance of weaponry.
Up ahead Leo saw the clearing and put on a burst of speed to get there. Slowing at the edge of the woods, he looked back to check on his brothers.
Mikey raced past him, wide eyed and running like squirrelanoids were on his heels. Just behind him, Raph grinned, sensing freedom.
A nearby branch snapped loose and shot straight at Raph's head. Swiftly unsheathing his sword, Leo leaped into the air and sliced it in half.
Skidding to a stop, Raph watched the pieces hit the ground. With a puff of relief, he told Leo, "Thanks bro'."
"Don't mention it," Leo said, smiling at him. "Come on, Mikey's halfway to Japan by now."
They headed out into a large field, happy to put the woods behind them. The sun was on its downward swing and since they were moving towards it, the light was bright in their eyes.
"Think we're out of her reach?" Raph asked as the brothers slowed back down to a jog.
"I don't know," Leo said. "Stay sharp."
Before they'd gone much farther, another strange sound reached their ears. It was as if something was cracking
The tall grass began to ripple around them and in a quivering voice, Mikey said, "We'd better get out of here."
Those words were barely out of his mouth when roots began to shoot up out of the dirt to grab at their legs. Once again the trio began to run all out, keeping their eyes on the ground.
Suddenly a giant root snatched at Mikey from behind, catching hold of his ankle and yanking him down.
"Ah, ah, ah! It's got me!" Mikey yelled, kicking at it with his free foot.
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Taking a deep breath, Don yanked the barn door open and rushed through, followed closely by Casey. Ruth's eyes were closed and the teens made as little noise as possible, hoping to get near her before she was alerted.
They were within a few feet of Ruth when her eyes popped open. Face twisting in anger, Ruth quickly lifted a hand away from her temple and pointed at the pair. Simultaneously, a pink glow radiated out from her head, ran along her arm and passed through her fingertips.
It suddenly felt as if Don was running against a gale force wind. His forward momentum slowed and then stopped altogether just before his feet lost contact with the ground. Glancing over at Casey, he saw that the boy was also caught by April's powers, both of them being bodily lifted skyward.
Hanging in mid-air, Don and Casey flailed about, unable to move or continue their attack.
"Ahh!" Casey yelled, kicking his feet ineffectively.
"Oh~oh oh!" Don cried out, trying to swim against the current holding them and going nowhere.
Ruth laughed as she watched their antics, amused at how easily she'd subdued them. "Did you honestly think it would be that easy? You can't get at me, you can't escape, and neither can the other three freaks. I know exactly where they are and I'm going to take great pleasure in destroying them. I'll start with Michelangelo. Ripping him limb from limb will be highly satisfying."
"No! You leave my brothers alone!" Don shouted.
Continuing to laugh, Ruth closed her eyes once more, ignoring the helpless duo as she returned to her pursuit of the remaining turtles.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At his brother's cry, Raph turned and pulled his sai simultaneously. Rushing back to Mikey, he stuck both of his weapons into the root and then continued to jab it until it released his brother and sank back into the ground.
Grabbing Mikey's hand, Raph pulled him to his feet. Leo ran up to them and asked, "You guys okay?"
Mikey lifted a thumb and Raph said, "Yeah." Looking around them he saw that all movement had stopped. "What gives?" he asked.
"Donnie and Casey must be distracting April," Leo answered. "Move it before they lose her again."
Leo and Raph fanned out to either side of Mikey to protect both him and the bones and the group once more started off. The way to town was an uphill climb and Leo kept them on the correct heading, knowing they'd find the cemetery at the top of that hill.
There were no more attacks as they traversed the remaining few miles. Remembering exactly where the cemetery was located, the turtles made straight for it, seeing the large gated entrance first.
Though the gate was closed and locked, the brothers dropped to the ground and surveyed the property before making an approach. There were no cars to be seen nor any groundskeepers, so they dashed across to the rock wall and leaped over into the graveyard.
It was a fairly large cemetery, with many family plots and mausoleums dotted about. Moving away from the gate and road, the trio made sure they were out of sight of both before looking for a place to bury Ruth's bones.
"Okay, here's an empty section," Raph said, pointing at an area between two graves. "Let's get rid of her."
"No," Mikey said adamantly.
Raph looked at him. "No? What do you mean no? The whole point of this exercise is to bury those bones."
"In consecrated ground," Mikey said. "This is plain cemetery. We have to be inside the iron fence."
He turned to lead the way and Raph muttered, "Oh great, we had to meet up with a picky ghost."
In a few more yards it became clear that they were entering a very old part of the cemetery. Leo glanced at a few of the headstones, noting that they dated into the eighteen hundreds.
Approaching another gated area, Mikey said, "In here."
He pushed open the creaking old iron gate and waited until both Leo and Raph were inside the weed filled plot before carefully closing it again. This part of the cemetery wasn't huge, but it was surrounded by an iron fence.
"At least no one will notice someone's dug a new grave in here," Leo said as he and his brothers dodged bind weed and small shrubs. "I don't think anyone's set foot in here for over a hundred years."
Mikey suddenly stopped and dropped the bag from his shoulder. Posing dramatically, he pointed at the ground and announced, "This is the spot."
Leo and Raph joined him. The place he'd chosen was free of heavy vegetation, but that was mainly because the ground was compacted and hard.
Shooting a sour look at Mikey, Raph asked, "You didn't happen to bring a shovel, did you?"
"Shovel?" Mikey repeated. "Um, that's on Donnie. He was in charge of tools."
"Lame brain," Raph said, crossing his arms.
"Let's see if we can find something," Leo said.
Though they looked all over the area and even inside the ancient mausoleum in that section of the cemetery, the turtles couldn't find any sign of a tool. With a resigned sigh, Raph pulled his sai and began stabbing the soil to loosen it. Mikey joined him, using the curved blade on his kusarigama to dig at the ground.
As they broke up the dirt, Leo removed it with his hands and piled it far to one side so it wouldn't fall back into the hole they were trying to dig.
After a few minutes of that, Leo sat back on his heels and said, "This is too slow; it's going to take forever. There has to be a better way. We need something to scoop out the dirt."
In almost slow motion, Leo and Raph both looked over at their younger brother. Mikey stared back at them. "What?" he asked warily.
Rising to their feet, the larger turtles loomed over him and Raph said, "Come on Mikey, retract."
Standing, Mikey moaned, "I do this for April."
Leo and Raph held their hands out as Mikey swiftly pulled his arms, legs, and head into his shell. His brothers caught him and began using the hard edges of his shell to dig the hole.
Huffing and puffing with the effort, the pair worked as fast as they could. "How far down do we need to go?" Raph asked.
"I'm guessing that deeper is better," Leo said, "but we may not have too much time."
"What do you mean? We're surrounded by an iron fence. I thought ghosts didn't like iron," Raph said.
"I doubt iron is going to stop April's powers," Leo told him.
They had worked in relative quiet up until that point but then an odd whistling sound started to reach their ears. The brothers glanced at each other before doubling their efforts.
"You just had to say that didn't you?" Raph shook his head as he dug. "It's like you were calling to her 'come and get me'."
"Totally not my fault Raph," Leo said. "I have no control over ghosts."
"Just shut up and dig," Raph snapped as a rumbling noise and then a noticeable clatter from nearby joined the mix.
"What was that?" Leo asked, looking over his shoulder.
Behind them the old mausoleum had begun to shake. Stones bigger than the turtle's feet crumbled from its walls, hitting the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Aw crud!" Raph exclaimed, ducking when a stone the size of his fist went whizzing past his head.
"I think she's getting stronger!" Leo shouted.
"No, really?" Raph asked caustically.
Leo calculated that their hole was nearly four feet deep and just wide and long enough for the bones. "This is will do," he announced, twisting aside to avoid a stone.
"Good, let's bury this hag," Raph said.
They set Mikey to the side and he popped out of his shell coughing. "Whoa, nice hole," he said as he got to his feet and then "Yow!" as a stone nearly flattened his face.
"Bones, Mikey, bones," Raph said, kneeling next to the bag and fighting with the zipper.
As abruptly as it had begun, the whistling and clattering stopped. Cautiously peering around them, the trio saw that the stones were no longer moving, though the mausoleum now had a dangerous tilt.
There was still a faint rumbling reaching their hearing, something they could feel in the soles of their feet.
"Forget opening the bag," Leo said. "Let's get her in the ground before Don and Casey lose control of April again."
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There was a distinctly sinking feeling in Don's gut as he watched Ruth use April's powers, seemingly getting better by the minute and subsequently stronger. They could yell at her, but she certainly wouldn't be distracted by that. She knew they were helpless.
"What are we gonna do, Donnie?" Casey asked. He was panting from his exertions, continuing to try to escape the psychic hold that had them in its grip. "I can't move from here!"
Don's mind was a whirl, examining and discarding ideas in rapid fire succession. He finally hit on an idea, the only idea that he thought might work.
"I'm going to talk to April," Don said.
Casey stared at him. "I've been trying to talk to her. I don't know if she's even there."
"She's there and she can hear us," Don assured him. "I just have to say the one thing that will really reach her; the one thing she never wanted to hear from either of us."
Frowning, Casey asked, "What are you talking about?"
"April!" Don called as loudly as he could. "Choose! Either me or Casey. You have to do it now! Save one of us!"
Casey's mouth dropped open and then his eyes widened as he caught on. "Yes! Come on Red, pick Donnie! He's smart, he deserves to live!"
"No, go with Casey!" Don shouted. "He's a better choice! Casey's human and he's . . . uh, human!"
Casey looked over at him. "Really? That the best you can do?"
"Give me a break, I'm under pressure here," Don replied. Returning to the girl, he yelled, "No more hiding from it, you have to pick one of us April!"
Don saw that when he first called out to April to choose, her forehead crinkled before smoothing out. After Casey told her who she should pick, the furrow in her forehead returned, and then deepened with each subsequent appeal.
Now it appeared as if Ruth was straining to maintain control. She was bent forward, her entire face wrinkled in pain.
Then suddenly they heard April's voice. "No, I won't do that!"
In a second the accent was back. "Stay down girl!"
"She won't!" Don yelled. "April will fight you!"
April/Ruth let out an agonized grunt and then fell to one knee, her uplifted arm starting to quiver. When she went down her eyes opened and for a brief moment, locked with Don's.
The whirlwind that was trapping Don and Casey began to lessen in strength. There was a minute shift in their position as the pair felt themselves going down.
"The ground's getting closer," Don said. "Come on April, you can do it!"
Ruth abruptly slapped both palms to her temples, her body rocking from side to side before she once more started to rise.
"That ghost is gaining control again!" Casey warned.
"April's been trapped in her own body for two days," Don said. "She's too exhausted to fight."
Her eyes closed again and the ghost hummed in satisfaction though her mouth was still pressed into a thin line.
Knowing he had maybe a millisecond to act, Don whipped the chain loose from his body. Grabbing it in the middle he spun the chain until half of it was twirling next to him. And then Don flung the chain directly at April.
The chain snapped across the intervening space and then its center curved back towards the girl, catching her around her waist. Momentum kept it moving as it wrapped around her in tight coils.
Ruth screamed in anguish as the iron rings locked her in their cold grip. Everything that had been suspended in the air dropped to the ground, including Don and Casey.
"Woof!" Casey landed hard on his backside and then scrambled to get up when he saw that Don had kept his balance and come down on his feet.
Keeping a tight grip on the chain, Donnie dug in his heels as Ruth began wriggling against his hold, thrashing about like a captured tiger. Casey ran up next to him and grabbed onto the chain as well, surprised at how much strength Ruth was exhibiting.
"Hold on!" Don yelled. "The iron's draining Ruth's energy and giving April a fighting chance!"
Ruth's struggles began to slow and in another minute they heard April. "Get out, get out, get out!"
"Kick her butt Red!" Casey called in encouragement.
"Get out of my body!" April shouted and then her head jerked back, open mouth wide as a stream of white mist spiraled out of her.
April collapsed, falling on her side. Releasing the chain, both teens ran to her, kneeling protectively over her body.
Looking up, they could see Ruth's ghost hovering nearby, her ghoulish face twisted in rage.
"I'll destroy you both and retake that body!" Ruth shrieked at them.
"No ghost messes with Casey Jones!" the boy yelled back at her.
"Don't take the chain off of April," Don told him. "No matter what happens, we can't let that ghost get back into her."
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Leo, Mikey, and Raph all pushed the duffel bag containing Ruth's bones into the hole they'd dug. It made a satisfying thump when it landed and then all three used their hands to shovel dirt on top of the bag.
The hole was half filled when the rumbling sound ceased. The trio did not slow down, each determined to finish the job.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I hate you all!" Ruth screamed, diving at the duo protecting April.
Clutching the chain, Don and Casey ducked down and closed their eyes.
The strong smell of decay and stagnant water hit them, making the pair gag before they held their breath. And then almost on top of them, they heard Ruth howl, "No! No!"
Their eyes snapped open and both teens looked up. Ruth's ghost was flying backwards, her body spinning and arms flailing. After a second she began to elongate and then pieces peeled off of her, little wisps of body parts that faded away as soon as they left her.
The ghost disintegrated in front of them and the final thing to fade was her wide open maw in a fashion reminiscent of the Cheshire cat. Only Ruth's ghost wasn't smiling.
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With all of the dirt finally back in the hole, the turtles stamped on it to pack it down. For good measure, they rolled a few good sized rocks on top of it and then covered the area with fallen leaves.
Breathing deeply, the brothers looked around at each other and then all three began to whoop in triumph.
"We did it!" Leo exclaimed.
"Took that ghost down!" Raph shouted, clapping Mikey on the shell. "You were amazing, Mikey."
"That's how I roll," Mikey said complacently and then his expression changed to one of discomfort as he started shifting his shoulders and twisting his hips.
"What's wrong bro'?" Leo asked.
"I've got dirt in my shell," Mikey complained. "Dudes, it's itching me!"
"Let's get you home to a nice, warm bath," Leo said, laughing.
"Unless you can't wait that long," Raph said mischievously. "You can always go for another swim in the pond."
"I'll wait," Mikey said, grinning at him. "You know what this calls for? A high three!"
Coming together, the brothers raised their arms and slapped their hands together, yelling, "Turtles rule!"
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A little while later the group of six were back together again and gathered in the kitchen. Mikey had settled for a quick wash with the water hose because he declared he was too hungry to stop for a bath and both Leo and Raph had availed themselves of the hose as well.
Mikey was busily preparing pizzas, humming to himself as he worked. Raph stood next to him at the range, watching to make sure his little brother didn't add any suspicious ingredients.
Leo and Casey sat at the kitchen table with cold drinks. Casey had the last four canisters of salt in front of him and was trying ever ingenious ways to stack them.
Don was telling their side of the tale as he stood at the kitchen sink with April. Her head was down near the faucet, eyes open as Don rinsed them with cold water.
"Gosh, did you have to throw the salt in my face?" April asked. "It still stings."
"I was kinda freaking out at the time Red," Casey said. "Next ghost we hunt, I'll be ready."
"There better not be a next time," Raph said. "I'm sick of ghosts."
A small smile had lifted one corner of Leo's mouth and he asked, "So Donnie, you finally asked April the question. Did you ever get an answer?"
"No he didn't," April answered for him as she straightened and accepted a towel from Don. "He only asked it to help me fight the ghost and no one is going to ask it again."
She glanced meaningfully around the kitchen, collecting only impish grins and cocky looks, except from Mikey who was focused on pizza. When she looked up at Don she saw only an open and cute countenance covered in a blush, and her gaze softened.
"Pizza in twenty minutes!" Mikey called out.
April sat down at the table and after Don got drinks for both of them, he sat next to her. Mikey was working on another batch of pizzas and Raph leaned comfortably against the counter, a bag of jelly beans tucked safely into his belt and away from the chef.
"Do you know the main difference between Don and Casey and the Fenwick cousins?" Leo asked, following a train of thought aloud.
"There's a lot of them," Casey said, eyeing his turtle rival.
"There's only one big one," Leo asserted. "When the situation is dire, you two can put your arguments aside and work together."
"Too bad Jonathan and Leopold didn't sit down and compare notes," April said. "They would have seen right off that Ruth Haverstock was bad news."
"How about we don't say that name anymore?" Raph asked.
Mikey turned to him. "What's the matter, afraid she'll come back?"
"The only thing I'm afraid of is your face," Raph told him.
"It is all kinds of awesome," Mikey glibly returned. Walking over to the table, Mikey addressed the occupants. "I only have one question."
Leo gave him a puzzled look. "What's that Mikey?"
Pointing at the canisters, Mikey asked, "What are we gonna do with all this salt?"
The End