Tucker lit the candle at the center of the circle and used it to light the candles around the edges. "Alright," he said, out loud, as he checked the antique book next to him.
As the only one of their trio not currently under the effects of a mind/body affecting ancient spell, it fell to Tucker to try and break it. Even if this was really, really not his thing.
"You'd better say what Google Translate says you say," he said to the book.
His phone alarm started beeping.
"Okay. Okay." He nudged the bowls with Sam and Danny's hair… and signatures… and blood… that had sure been a weird ask, especially since he had to keep the exact reason he was asking secret… into alignment. "Here goes nothing."
He started chanting.
.
Danny startled awake and blinked sleepily at his ceiling. Something was happening, he could tell. Something… nice? He hoped so.
He rolled over, hugging his quilt like a stuffed animal. Lately, he'd been a lot less stressed. Probably because of the familiar spell Vivian had made them cast. It was nice to know what was going on with at least one of the people he cared about all the time.
Of course, if he saw Vivian again, he'd beat her into the ground. She'd melted him, and Sam didn't like her. That definitely left him with a grudge to hold.
Well. If he could beat her into the ground. He usually did better the second time around when facing ghosts, so he thought his chances were fifty-fifty or thereabouts.
It sort of felt like the something that was happening had to do with Tucker. That was nice.
He dozed off.
.
For all that Sam claimed to be a creature of the night, this week had been one that left her with a dearth of beauty sleep. So, when she woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, she was more than a little annoyed.
"What," she growled, sleepily, at the air. Nothing answered. "Tucker?" Danny was the more likely nighttime visitor, what with midnight ghost fights being a thing, but she was pretty sure he wasn't here. "C'mon in'r whatev'r," she mumbled, pressing her face back into her pillow.
No one came in. She forced herself, in the name of not regretting stuff later, to look first at her window (empty) and then at her phone (no notifications). Bereft of stimulation, she went back to sleep.
.
Tucker, panicked and cursing under his breath, sprayed the burning floor with the fire extinguisher. That. Had not gone as planned.
In the dark, he stumbled over to the wall and fumbled for the light switch. He blinked against the sudden brightness and glared at his arms. The fire had burned right through his sleeves. He pushed them up.
Those weren't burns, though. Tucker's cursing became notably more vehement. He prodded one of the markings with a finger. It didn't hurt.
All he could think was that if his mom saw these, she'd kill him for getting a tattoo. Heck, he was about to kill him for getting these.
In any case, the ritual had not worked as advertised.
He picked up his phone and dialed first Danny, then Sam.
.
Danny's deliriously happy expression boded ill for Tucker, in his experience opinion. Yes, he was almost always happy to see them, but this was above and beyond, especially given the late hour.
"What did you do?" demanded Sam, swinging down from Danny's arms. Danny, meanwhile, practically jumped Tucker, hugging him tightly.
"Uh," said Tucker. "Honestly, I don't know." He waved his free arm, the one Danny wasn't pinning to his body. "I was trying to break the, uh, you know."
"Awww," said Danny, "whyyyyy?"
"Because you aren't being rational about this, Danny," said Tucker, pushing at him, slightly.
"But I'm okay with it!" said Danny. "I told you."
"Okay, right, yeah," said Sam. "Thank you for still trying." She swept a hand through her hair. "But when you called us, you were all upset, and Danny is still…" She gestured at Danny, who was now trying to pull her into the hug. "Like this."
"I'm always like this."
"Yes, but not so much." She evaded his grasp and, finally, Danny let go of Tucker, pouting. "I feel like you've been bitten by a cuddle bug."
"Haha, that could be the name of a ghost," said Danny. He poked Tucker. "You put yourself in, somehow. I can tell."
Well. Tucker's stomach had just dropped through the floor. "What do you mean? Put myself into what?"
"Into the, you know." He waved a finger between himself and Sam.
"Aw, man," said Tucker. He pushed up they sleeves of his PJ shirt, which he had hastily thrown on after calling Sam and Danny. "Anyway, I did the thing, which, uh. Had to do with all the stuff I asked you for last week, and… These happened."
"Ah," said Sam.
"Ooh," said Danny. "Do they hurt?"
"No," said Tucker. "They're just… there." He rubbed at one of them.
Danny poked one of the lines and traced it up to the crease of Tucker's elbow. "They look like tattoos," he said.
"I know," said Tucker.
"They kind of look like bracers," said Sam, tilting her head. "Or a net."
"Yeah," said Tucker. "Not what was on my mind, actually."
"Oh," said Sam.
"If I walked into some kind of magical slavery booby trap, I'm going to be so mad," said Tucker, slumping down on his bed. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Can you show me the book? The spell you used?" asked Danny. "Maybe Sam and I can figure out what happened."
Tucker pointed at the corner he had thrown the book during his several minute long tantrum.
Danny floated over and picked it up. He paged through it. "The one with the bookmark?"
"The one with the bookmark," agreed Tucker, despondently.
"Oh," said Danny, after a few minutes. "Hm," he said.
"What?" demanded Sam and Tucker, all at once.
"Well, I might be misinterpreting this, because old languages and all that, but… We saw something that looked just like this in another book, but it said that it would do something completely different."
"Oh, gosh, it was booby trapped," said Tucker, flinging an arm over his eyes.
"Yeah," said Danny, agreeably.
"So, what does it actually do?" asked Sam, peeking over Danny's shoulder.
"Oh, it's a request to be added to the, um, familiar contract," said Danny.
"I am not a familiar."
"Yeah, yeah, no, I think this is strictly for humans," said Danny. "So… You're kind of part of it, but junior to Sam? And sort of probationary, from what remember. We'd need to find it, but… I didn't one hundred percent get it the first time around, and… well… yeah."
Sam dragged her hands down her face. "We're going to have to talk to Vivian again, aren't we?"
"Wait, wait, if it's probationary—"
"That's only the feeling I got from it," said Danny.
"—doesn't that mean there's a way to undo this?"
Danny shrugged, his brow pinched. "I'm sorry… I know you guys don't particularly like this. It's just… Nice. To know that this way I can help you guys with things, even if I'm not there."
"We know, man. We just feel like we're taking advantage," said Tucker.
"Okay," said Danny. He sighed. "If it's really that important to you guys, I'll try and take finding a… a fix more seriously."
"Thanks, Danny," said Sam. She yawned. "Can we talk about this more tomorrow? I'm exhausted."
"Yeah," said Tucker. He glared at his arms. "I'll just… Yeah."
"Don't worry, Tucker," said Danny. "Everything will be fine."