Skulker was actually out of his ecto-skeleton, apparently making repairs to it. Danni had forgotten how tiny he really was; he was almost adorable. She mentally smacked herself for thinking that before calling out to him. Like Technus, he took one look at her and fell over laughing.
After a few moments, she huffed angrily. "Are you finished?"
"Yeah, yeah," the little ghost squeaked, still snickering. He climbed back onto his suit from where he had tumbled off. "But I'm too busy to hunt you, right now. I'm not sure I want you looking like that, anyway."
Danni folded her arms in an attempt to look like she was biting off a scathing remark, although it was actually dejection that ran through her mind. Fortunately, she managed to keep it out of her voice. "I'm looking for Kat. Technus said she came this way."
Satisfied that a fight was not about to occur, Skulker turned back to his work. "She was here a few days ago to spread the word about you. I tried to go see for myself, but Walker wouldn't let me through, of course."
"Yeah, that's why I'm trying to find her. You wouldn't know where she went, would you?"
He waved vaguely. "She was heading towards Ghost Writer's place." He chuckled. "I would pay to see everyone's faces when they see you, now."
Something grabbed him. There were a dizzying and disorienting few seconds during which he realized that he should have paid more attention to his usual quarry. Suddenly, he was looking at the world through a set of bars. "Hey! Whelp!" he yelled, grasping the door of the cage. "Let me out!"
"You're the Ghost Zone's greater hunter," Danni mocked. "Get yourself out." She flew away, laughing at his continued shouting.
The lonely, swirling dreamscape finally gave way to a huge gothic-style building, reminiscent of a library with good reason. The huge double doors were closed, allowing no sound to emanate from within. Danni was half-tempted to give up and go somewhere else, but dealing with the Ghost Writer was still preferable to dealing with Walker.
Theoretically…
Maybe…
She eased the door open and crept inside. A rustling noise drew her attention upward, where flying books shelved and re-shelved themselves in some strange dance. The tomes closer to ground level seemed more content to remain in their places, perhaps because of their master's presence.
He strode across the floor, hands behind his back and staring at his feet. After a moment, he stopped, turned the opposite direction, and resumed walking. Behind him sat the ominous Quantum Keyboard, which he had used to throw the ghost child into a nightmarish Christmas tale. Well, maybe nightmarish wasn't the right word. As much as she would have liked to apply it to the constant rhyming, it had really been more annoying than anything.
Danni crept into view. "Uh, excuse me?"
The Ghost Writer, upon noticing who it was, stopped almost protectively in front of his favored apparatus. "Back to destroy my keyboard, again?" he asked. "Or maybe you'd just like to burn all my work!"
"I'm just looking for Kat," the girl tried to placate.
The author narrowed his eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "It's true?" he asked.
Danni yelled wordlessly, having finally had enough. "Yes! Yes, it's true! I'm a girl! Can you please just tell me where Kat is, so I can go home now?"
"I haven't seen her since she told me about…well…" He trailed off, almost embarrassed to talk about it. "She was heading off that way, I believe." He gestured off toward the right.
The girl rolled her eyes and, absently thanking the Ghost Writer for his time, trudged back out. "This is just great," she grumbled. "Bad enough I had to deal with Technus, Skulker, and Ghost Writer. All I need is Plasmius to show up, and my humiliation will be complete."
She stopped, fists clenched, and yelled into the void, "Is that what you wanted, Nocturne? To humiliate me? Well, fine! I don't even care anymore! Just send Vlad over, so I can-"
She broke off at the sound of quiet laughter. "Friend?" asked a familiar, and for once, not unwelcome, voice.
"Wulf!" Danni exclaimed happily.
The big werewolf ghost bounded out from behind a door to give the girl a welcoming lick. He chattered on in Esperanto for a while before remembering that his friend didn't speak that language. After a moment, he satisfied himself with another exuberant, "Friend!"
"How are you?" Danni asked. "Walker hasn't been giving you too much trouble has he?"
Wulf shook his head and grinned, his tongue lolling out like a very large puppy's. He tilted his head questioningly and pointed at the girl's…self. "Kio fariĝis al vi?"
The girl sighed, correctly guessing that he had just asked what happened. "It's a long story. Hey, can you get me back home?" Wulf whined slightly, clearly wanting her to stay longer. "You can come, too, if you want."
With a joyous howl, he turned to rake his claws through the empty space. The resulting tear in reality opened onto the Amity Park City Zoo, and Danni fled gratefully through. Wulf bounded after her before the tear could seal itself up again and promptly raised his nose to take in all the smells. "Friend, stay?" he asked.
Danni shook her head, to the werewolf's dismay. "I have to go home; it's getting late," she explained. "I'll come by later tonight. You just try to stay out of sight." Wulf nodded and gave her a parting slurp before going off to investigate the tiger pens.
The house was empty when Danni got home, and probably for the best. Maybe they wouldn't realize she was an hour late for curfew. Unless, of course, they had gone out looking for her. Even though she had her cell phone, there was no service in the Ghost Zone.
"Mom?" she called, knowing there would be no response. "Dad? Jazz?" After a moment, she shrugged and flopped down on the couch to watch television. While she could call them, she didn't think it would be a good idea. They would show up eventually, and she'd probably be grounded. She wanted to put off that moment for as long as possible.
She flipped past some cartoons and an episode of Full House. The Sci-Fi Channel was playing a Ghost Hunters marathon; she stopped briefly to laugh at their excitement when "spirit orbs" flitted across the screen. Reality show, the news, game show, sitcom…she flipped back to the news. "Hey! I'm on TV!" she exclaimed, pretending to be astounded even though she'd been on the news before.
Apparently, someone at the station had gotten the idea for a new segment entitled the Phantom Report. A bunch of "experts" sat around a table to discuss her motives and behaviors. It was actually rather humorous.
The segment finally ended with three of the five aging scientists in a heated debate over whether or not ghosts mated, and the other two a little too red-faced and embarrassed by the subject matter to say anything. Danni laughed gleefully; it was nice to see someone else's face that red for a change.
She wandered into the kitchen to locate dinner and stopped short at the sight of Nocturne perched on the counter. Without actually looking up, the being tilted her head mockingly and continued to scribble into her notebook. "What are you doing here?" Danni asked cautiously.
"Filler," she replied, to the ghost girl's confusion. "I was wondering, actually, what would be worse for you: somebody finding Wulf, Walker conveniently appearing, or Kat becoming evil?"
That was, quite possibly, the least mocking tone the creature had ever used. Well, obviously, she didn't want to say what would be worse. Wulf probably wouldn't hurt anyone if he were found. Walker might be a problem, especially if he came with a legion of his guards. She didn't much want to fight Kat, but she was relatively certain she could. The only problem there would be that she caused ghost hunting equipment, like the Fenton Thermos, to malfunction in her presence, which made catching her very difficult.
Nocturne grinned and leaned back. "You know, you're right. And frankly, I can't resist it any longer." She vanished to her unfortunate victim's further bewilderment.
What did that mean? What couldn't she resist? And why did Danni suddenly feel fear tightening around her heart?
Hello, amante. Have you missed me?
A/N: Dear Queen of Criticism,
In the time it took you to prove that you were a lazy coward, you could have clicked on my profile and seen that this is th fourteenth story in an ongoing series. I think, by now, I shouldn't have to announce that this fic comes after Dance of Bone, especially since it's not really a sequel. Please think before you post. It makes you sound more intelligent.
No love,
Elegy
