Stacey LoftonWell, he's not as hot as Danny (younger, not evil) but not bad either. Thankee for the review!
I Break For Ghosts: Of course I own a One Ring! And, just for you, I'm announcing that I have eleventy-one reviews as of now. Squee!
Inumaru12: I compliment you on having Danny as your chapter reviewer and the voices that live in my head approve of you!
cheetahs-sperit:I really don't mind the questions, but you have to read the story to get the answers! .
Riverfox237: Thanks so much and keep reviewing!
crazyvi: You rock! I am honored to be on your favorite list!
AvidReader123: I'mm glad you noticed the banshee, it's a tribute to my Irish heritage!
Phantom Darkness: Not with the threats! Here's your chapter!
CrazyCosmoFan: Yay! 100 reviews. (gives balloon) And I'll try and check those out ASAP!
Catnip070: Don't ya just love famous last words?
Mina-chan AMD: Thank you lots and please keep reading!
Spiffy McFloogan: And that's my first favorite literary technique!
Anomaly25: So happy you enjoy it!
crazybluephantom: This is a Sam chapter, you'll find out.
IwuvMyKenshyPoo: I'll let you in on a secret...The next chapter is aboutDanny and Vlad!
queen rat gurl: Are youu glad they're all captured/lost or are you just a normally happy person?
pottersparky: Thank you, keep reading to find the answers to thine questions.
the sleep warrior: Love the story, hate the cliffies, but they're are what keeps ya wanting more!
Chapter Eight
Sam continued down the stone walkway the same direction they had been headed before being separated, hoping against hope to find the others searching for her. It seemed luck was against her, though; she didn't see them anywhere.
A green specter shot past her, cackling and she jumped, her pulse racing. Being in the ghost zone with Danny and Tucker was one thing. Being alone was another: she was scared.
One of the doors, a portal to a ghost's lair, just ahead, opened up of its own accord. A moment later a ghost girl appeared and flew towards her. Sam's heart went to her throat as the ghost came to a stop in front of her, floating a few inches off the ground.
The girl looked to be about Sam's age with a face as pale as ashes and large, crimson eyes. Her hair was short, spiky and electric blue, with patches of purple color. She gave Sam a searching look, as if measuring her up, her eyes glowing like coals.
Sam involuntarily took a step backwards, a year of ghost hunting instincts screaming at her to run. She had never met a ghost with eyes like that who wasn't evil and she didn't expect that to change anytime soon.
"You're a human." It was a statement, not a question. "I saw other humans here a moment ago." Her voice was sad, with a musical lilt to it. Sam's fear diminished; her need to find the Fentons and Tucker more important than being scared.
"Where did they go?" she asked, silently praying that this ghost wouldn't react to a question the way the banshee had.
"Walker arrested them, he can do that now." Replied the ghost, seeming genuinely glad for someone to talk to. "Where they your friends?" Sam nodded distractedly; she was thinking.
"Can you take me to Walker's prison?" she queried, coming to a decision. The prison was on the map which meant they could find the Fright Knight's castle from there, once she broke the others out, of course.
"I don't know why you'd want to go there."' The girl said hesitantly. "But—I guess I could take you." She floated down the walkway, with Sam jogging behind her to keep up.
It seemed like hours had passed, and Sam began to lag, exhausted. They hadn't spoken since they set off; the ghost girl had obviously become less keen on Sam when she asked to be taken to the prison. Luckily, though, Sam had had plenty of time to look around as they walked, making notes on the uncharted part of the ghost zone. Of the prison or the Fright Knight's keep, she had seen nothing.
"Hurry up, we're almost there!" said the ghost as she dropped behind.
At long last, the prison came into view, looking more like a fortress than anything else. It was enormous, with metal walls the color of onyx and gigantic double doors. The island it sat on presented a problem; it was far off to the left of the walkway; over the bottomless pit.
"How am I supposed to get over there?" she demanded, felling slightly agitated.
"There is a hidden passage down there." The girl replied, pointing over the side of the walkway. "It was planned as a trap for the halfa, but they gave up on it and abandoned it. Now it's the fortresses only weak point.
"I have to jump into a pit with no bottom?" Sam asked nervously.
"It's not really bottomless, it just looks like it is."
Sam closed her eye and let out a shaky breath. She was terrified of heights, ever since she was little, but no one knew that, not even Danny. Her parents had taken her to a ski resort when she was six years old and she had almost fallen out of the ski lift. She had never told him, worried he would think she didn't like flying with him. That wasn't true; she wasn't afraid when she was with Danny; she trusted him with her life.
But this was a different scenario entirely, there was no Danny to save her. She was about to jump into a pit whose bottom she couldn't see and walk through places she'd never been to find and save her best friends family from a rule-obsessed ghost warden! Could her life get anymore insane?
Then a thought occurred to her: If she didn't jump, she wouldn't be able to rescue Danny. It was that single thought that helped her jump over the edge, leaving the ghost girl behind.
Falling wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. Instead of feeling like she was falling to unknown depths through midair, she felt like she was sinking gradually to the bottom of a swimming pool. She relaxed and floated slowly to the ground, landing on her feet; surprised it had taken so little time.
She looked up. The ghost girl was barely a speck, who waved and vanished.
Sam glanced across the barren landscape, looking for some clue as to where she needed to go. The ground was flat, dead and grey; it reminded her of a battlefield. A faint green fog hovered close to the ground, giving her legs a greenish tinge from the knees down. There were shadows lurking around her, flitting to and fro, but no other ghostly apparitions that she could see.
She started walking. The ghost girl obviously expected her to know the passage when she saw it, so that was the only way Sam knew to find it. After an hour of walking, according to her watch, there was no change whatsoever in the bland landscape and no sign of a passage anywhere.
Sam stopped; if she didn't rest for a minute, she wasn't going to be saving anyone. Almost immediately, the shadows starting creeping up her legs. At first, she didn't notice, but after a moment, she felt sharp pricks around her ankles, rather like being jabbed with a thousand thumbtacks all at the same time, and tiny droplets of red blood leaked through her purple tights, shining against the fabric. She jumped up and tried to fan the shadows away.
Once they were detected, the dark apparations moved much quicker. They wrapped around her, threatening to engulf her. Sam cried out in fear and pain, starting to feel suffocated.
She broke free and ran, full out. Looking back, she saw the shadows gaining, cresting like a huge black wave. She turned forward again and saw a rope ladder hanging in front of her that went out of her sight. Shadow monsters of heights? Hmm.
Sam grabbed the first rung and started to climb.
A/N: Well there you have it! Please R&R! But first, I am so sorry about the long wait for an update. We have reached dangerous territory: The part of the story where only brief sketches of each chapter are written, not the whole chapter, so feel free to send suggestions in reviews! Also, I have a lot on my plate right now, what with school and drama and violin lessons andvolunteer work. Plus, I want this story to be good, not just cobbled together junk. So there will probably be a little more time between updates, but not as much as between this chapter and the last, so please be patient with me, I'm working on it with every spare second.
PS: You guys rock my socks; we areto eleventy-one (111)reviews! Yay! Please keep reviewing, I love feedback!
