Do you have a strange feeling that something especially awful might happen? You should, because things are about to get much, much worse…..
"What? You knew? Why didn't you tell me?" So many questions, so little time. "That's not important right now," Jaz said. "What is important is stopping the Phantom before he strikes again." Sudden, evil laughter rang throughout the room, cutting through the air like a knife, the teens looked around, nervous and scared. "Looking for me?" the voice from the auditorium said. The group looked up into the banisters and saw quite possibly the scariest person they had ever seen.
Standing there, clad in a white mask and black clothes was the Phantom. His black cape swept the floor, moving with every step he took. He jumped cat-like down from the banister, and slowly moved toward the frightened high schoolers. Danny was paralyzed with fear, something he had never felt before. The Phantom continued to approach menacingly. He stopped three steps in front of Danny and stared straight at him, the Phantom's cold, harsh brown gaze meeting Danny's icy blue one. Danny knew there was no escape now. No way out.
Jaz, Sam, and Tucker ran like mad. Danny tried to run, but felt as if his feet were glued to the floor. Danny didn't say a word. If this was what being paralyzed with fear felt like, it was the worst feeling in the world. The others ran behind a pair of double doors and shut them just as they saw the Phantom disappear, taking Danny with him.
"Guys, we have to stick together," Jaz announced, worried and terrified. "I mean, not only is this Phantom guy creepy, but he's got Danny! We've got to stand up to him before he gets someone else! Who's with me?"
Sam and Tucker were gone faster than you could say "Run".
Danny woke up. His head was pounding with pain. What exactly had that Phantom guy done to him? He tried to get up off the floor, but found that his hands had been tied behind his back. He sighed and surveyed his gloomy surroundings.
Cobwebs hung from the ceiling. Candles bathed the room in dim light, casting flickering shadows on the grey stone walls. A massive pipe organ dominated one corner of the room. Yup. All the things you would find in Dracula's castle amplified to the ten millionth power. Danny shuddered at the eerie silence. But wait. There was something else besides that.
Footsteps.
"Aw, man!" Tucker whined. "I told you that ditching Jaz was a bad idea!" "What do you mean? It was your retarded idea in the first place!" Sam shot back.
"S-s-s-s-sam?"
"What now?"
"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-sam?"
"W-what?"
"Sam...behind you..."
Tucker pointed behind her, sending icy waves of sheer terror running down Sam's back. Did she really want to see what was behind her?
She turned. Nothing. "Tucker, are you trying to scare me?" Tucker didn't reply. "Tucker?" She spun. Tucker was nowhere in sight. Sam cautiously stepped over to where Tucker had been. A raspy noise made her spin around yet again and look at the gaping black hole of the hallway ahead of her; watching the walls move in and out as if they were alive. To her horror, Sam realized what the rasping noise had been. Breathing. The hallway was breathing.
Sam knew that she had to get out of there, and fast. She ran away from the noise, but the breathing noise seemed to follow her wherever she went. She felt herself slow, as if she were stuck in mud, and glanced down. The floor had suddenly become squishy, like Jello. Sam screamed and ran faster, then felt the floor break away beneath her feet, sending her tumbling down into darkness.
Tucker ran faster than he had ever run before. He needed to get out, and he needed to get out now. Someone screamed, probably Sam. "Oh no, Sam!" Tucker panicked. Oh, great. Now the Phantom had Danny and Sam! He could be next! "Why, oh why did I think this was a good idea? Why didn't I just tell Jaz no when I had the chance?" Tucker stopped running for a second. "And why am I suddenly thinking about pie?"
Tucker quickly became tired, and so stopped to rest on a nearby bench. He figured that he had outrun the ghost, and was safe enough until he needed to run again. He sat back and turned on his PDA, calmly playing Pong.
Something brushed against his leg. Tucker reached down to brush away whatever it was, but felt the thing pull away. Thinking it had been a bug that had crawled onto his shoe, Tucker reached down to brush off the insect, but when his hand hit where his shoe should have been, he felt what seemed to be like a handful of beetles. Suddenly feeling sick, Tucker quit his game, turned on his PDA's built-in light, and screamed when he saw the floor.
The floor had become a swarm of cockroaches, scrambling all over the floor. Tucker, suddenly feeling like he was about to throw up, screamed and ran, the cockroaches crunching beneath his feet.
Jaz walked along the dark hallway by herself. The silence was eerie. She'd already seen her little brother get nabbed by that psychopath Phantom guy. What next? Was Jason going to pop out of the shadows and slice her to bits? Was some freaky alien going to suck out her brain? Was she going to suddenly start hearing that freaky noise from "The Grudge"?
Evil laughter filled the hall, echoing and bouncing off the walls. Jaz knew what that meant. It started with a 'P-H', and ended with an 'antom'. Jaz screamed and ran. She was about halfway down the hall when something caught her eye. Hallway doorsJaz's heart leapt. She was going to be out of this nightmarish place and running out the door to her house. She would get mom and dad, they would come and save Danny and his friends, and this whole nightmare would be over and done with before you could say "Apple Pie". Wait a second. Why was she thinking about pie? The doors she had opened suddenly shut and locked. Jaz screamed, wheeled, and ran the other way.
Footsteps. Getting closer by the second. Uh oh, Danny thought. Mr. creepy Phantom dude must be coming back! Danny couldn't help but yelp out in terror.
"Danny?" Sam's voice answered. "Danny, is that you waaaaaay over there?" "No, Sam, it's me waaaaay over there," Danny remarked. "Of course it's me, doofus! Who else has my voice, my shirt, and my incredibly shiny hair?"
"Careful, Danny, your ego is showing."
"What? It is? Don't look at me, I'm not decent!"
"Danny, lighten up. It's a joke."
"Oh."
Sam walked over to Danny and untied him, then lifted him off of the floor and hugged him tightly. "Too...much...HUGGING!" "Oh, Sorry, Danny," Sam said, letting go. For the first time since she had barged in, Sam got a real good look at the room she and Danny were in.
"Wow, this place is amazing!" Sam marveled. "No, it's not," Danny remarked. "It's just really creepy!" "Man, this is just like in book five of the 'String of Misfortunate Happenings' series, The Ominous Opera House!" Sam said as she strided over to the gigantic pipe organ in the corner. "Oh, you mean those books with the three kids whose parents died in a car accident?" Danny said.
"Yes, but actually their parents died in a flood that destroyed their house as well."
"That's terrible! Man, the guy who wrote those books has a really twisted imagination!"
"The author's name is Orangey Setnick, Danny, and having a twisted imagination is actually kinda fun. You should try it sometime."
"You're a good friend, Sam, but sometimes you seriously scare me, and I hunt ghosts!"
Sam examined the massive instrument. She ran her fingers over the cold brass pipes and smooth, bone-white keys. "Don't press any keys!" Danny warned. Too late. Sam had already pressed down the A flat key, producing a low, frightening note. She screamed and stepped back, nearly tripping down the steps as she did. "Well, did you learn anything?" Danny remarked. "Yes," Sam said, "If you're going to touch an instrument that isn't yours to be messing with, try not to scream and fall backwards."
Tucker ran, hoping he had outrun the swarm of disgusting insects. He had to save his friends before it was too late. But, in order to do that, he had to become the bait, something he really didn't want to do. Well, tough toenails. Geez, what was with him tonight? First he starts thinking about pie, and now he was thinking about toenails! Where did he get all this stuff? Well, no time to think about that. He was nearing the end of the hallway.
"Yo, Mr. Phantom dude", Tucker called. "Uh, I'd like to have a word with you, 'cause you know, you're so funky fresh and all." 'Funky fresh'? Geez, Tucker thought, get it together! You're starting to sound like Technus! Danny had faced Technus about a million times before. One time he built this robo-suit out of Dash's stuff and stuff, and another time he tried to use Tucker's favorite online game, "Doomed", to take over the world, constantly remarking that he was 'hip' and 'funky fresh' the whole time. 'Funky fresh'? Who used that descriptor anymore? Oh, that's right; Tucker just did five seconds ago.
"Helloooooo, Phantom dude? You're really creeping me o-out..." Tucker didn't blame him. Of course the Phantom wasn't going to appear now. How would he like it if someone said he was 'funky fresh'?
The door in front of him slammed shut. Tucker backed away from it slowly and straight into a trap...
Jaz knew it was too late for Sam and Tucker as soon as she heard the Phantom's menacing laughter echoing through the halls. She was all alone, racing down the labyrinth of hallways she was trapped in. She felt as helpless as a newborn kitten with no mother. "Come now, Jazmine, you know you cannot run forever"', the Phantom's voice said in a way that was undoubtedly meant to be soothing. "I already have your brother and his friends, and once you can't run any farther, you are next..." Jaz screamed. "How do you know my name?" she shrieked. "I've surveyed what has been going on tonight, Jazmine", the Phantom answered evilly. The hall stopped at a dead end. A pair of double doors shut and locked behind her. She was trapped like a rat.
The walls seemed to close in on Jaz. She had read about this kind of thing happening to people who were trapped in enclosed spaces and were already frightened to death by something. Sometimes they even became claustrophobic. Jaz screamed. She was so good at hide and seek, and all of her favorite hiding spots were small, tight spaces. She was not going to lose that ability because of some stupid fear. No way.
"Ah, how the mighty have fallen. You knew I would eventually catch you. You knew you never had a chance," the voice echoed. "Go away. Leave me alone!" Jaz pleaded, knowing that if she didn't the voice would continuously torment her, eventually driving her to insanity if the owner didn't get his way.
"Now, Jazmine, be reasonable," the Phantom replied, stepping out of the darkness. "There is no way out now. There never was a way out. You entered this theater tonight on your own free will, and now you are trapped. You had a chance to escape the fear, but you didn't take it." "You'll never take me," Jaz spat back. "I won't let you!" "It is too late for that now," the Phantom replied, who was now standing directly in front of Jaz and was calmly stroking her hair. "Think of it as a game. You made all the wrong moves, and now you are going to suffer the same fate as your brother..."
"Where is he? Where is Danny?" Jaz said severely.
"Let's just say that he's all tied up at the moment," the Phantom replied coolly.
"What did you do to my brother?"
"I'm not finished with him or his friends yet."
"What did you DO?" Jazscreamed, fearing the worst.
"You will see soon enough."
The Phantom grabbed Jaz's wrist. Jaz threw a punch, missing by a long shot. She had never had a very good aim, but now that she feared for Danny's safety, she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The Phantom dodged it and conveniently grabbed her other wrist. He threw Jaz with great force, sending her flying into the wall. Jaz stared at the Phantom for a few moments, dizzy with fear and pain, as everything blacked out.
Jaz is unconscious, Sam has heard the hallways breathe, Danny and Sam are trapped in the Phantom's lair, Tucker has just had a very frightening run-in with some nasty insects and has also been kidnapped, and everyone is majorly freaked out! What will happen next? Stay tuned!