Tucker was munching on a jumbo cup of onion rings, wondering whether or not he should call Sam and Danny. It was 10 minutes after the agreed meet time, and both were no-shows. "Why am I the only one on time around here," he muttered.
"Because you're the only one who still owns a palmpilot," Danny answered, suddenly sitting on the other side of the booth. Tucker jumped, hitting his knees against the table and knocking over his cola.
"Geezes, gave me a heart attack." Then Tucker noticed the soda syrup. It was dripping down the tabletop and onto his lap. "Woah, no!" he yelped, sliding out of the way. He gave Danny a look. "You totally own me a soda."
"Who owes who a soda?" asked Sam, also appearing unexpectedly. Grabbing a handful of napkins from the dispenser, she tossed them over the spilled soda, then made Tucker slide over. He grumbled a bit, but relented. There was no way she was gonna sit next to Danny. It would have violated one of the unspoken rules. The rules that kept everything strictly platonic between her and Danny. Tucker wished they'd get it over with-break the rules and just start making out over the table. He'd have to make a quick exit. But it'd be worth it to get rid of all those sullen, moony looks the two gave one another.
Danny was laughing now. "Oh, he's just mad 'cause I accidentally made him knock over his soda."
"No, you just like doing that disappear/reappear thing to mess with me."
"Oh come on. It was an accident."
"Suuurre…" But Tucker wasn't so sure Danny did do it on purpose. Sometimes his friend was so quiet, even when he wasn't trying to be noticed. Not in a "doesn't talk", shy way. Danny talked all the time. (Except when Mr. Lancer or one of the teachers called his name.) But he could be hard to notice. Even Tucker, Danny's best friend, took a few minutes to see him come into a room.
Tucker suspected it was a ghost thing. It was a little spooky now that he thought about it, though Danny either didn't notice or didn't care.
Sam was smirking and already insulting him. "Yeah, but it is kind of funny."
"You only say that because he doesn't do it to you." Tucker countered.
"Doesn't make it not funny."
"Ha, ha, Sam. Let's talk about something else-distract me from my wet pants."
"Sure. We can talk about why we're here in the first place."
"Yeah Danny," Tucker added, wiping off his soda-soaked cargos. "You were trying to tell us something at lunch."
"And the bell interrupted, yeah, yeah. Well I was actually gonna tell you about last night."
"You mean when you dropped of the map?" Sam leaned back and folded her arms, going from smirking to looking irked.
"Yes. Sorry. But I have a good reason."
Mirroring Sam, Tucker also leaned back. Tucking his hands underneath his armpits, he also tried to look angry. He wasn't very good at it, and he half-smiled as he asked, "What was it this time? A purple gorilla? Another Skulker attack?"
"Isn't that what we're here for? The emergencies?That's just like you-" Sam was jumping to conclusions already, working herself up. Danny knew he had to stop her before she got any angrier.
"Hey, the GOOD reason I was AWOL was that I had to deal with non-ghost trouble." He leaned over the table. "Ghost hunters" he whispered. And before either of his friends could interrupt, he added in a normal voice. "And not Valerie or those bozos in white."
"Well, who are we dealing with here?" Sam looked serious, well more serious than usual. "They have anything to do with Vlad?"
"Probably not. These two were carrying shotguns and waving around salt. Seemed a little low-tech for Vlad." He stole a couple of onion rings from Tucker's tray. "And," he mouthed around them, "they had no idea what the thermos was. Their eyes popped out of their heads when they saw me use it."
Tucker was nodding his head, leaning in and listening. "So we've got two guys-"
"Nice to assume they're guys." Sam added. She was teasing, less angry now.
Danny gave a sigh of relief inside his head, glad he'd been able to avoid yet another lecture. "They were." he confirmed. "Out of towners too."
"Well," Sam waved towards Tucker. "Go on, Tucker."
He continued. "Two random guys, coming to Amytville. Can't be that hard to find..."
"Not sure we want to find them. Seemed pretty set on putting a hole through my-" Danny stopped suddenly. He stared intently at something behind his two friends.
Both Tucker and Sam had failed to notice the restaurant door open and close behind them. They had also both failed to notice the two men, who had just come through said door, take a booth behind them. What they did notice was Danny take a nosedive for the table.
"It's them," he hissed. With a full view of the front door, Danny had watched the two brothers enter, horror slowing dawning on him as he recognized them, even without their firearms.
Tucker ducked down underneath the table. Sam pulled him back up, hissing "Don't draw their attention. Relax. Talk about something."
"Like what?" he was trying not to eye the strangers at the next booth, nervously adjusting his hat so it slid over one eye.
Sam pulled Tucker's hat off. "Something normal." Across from them, Danny was slouching so much his eyes were level with the table. He glared at the two heads as the sat down in the next door booth.
