I am so sorry for making you all wait! School had just recently caught up with me, and man am I flustered. All this standerized testing isn't good for me.
Anyway, I finally got Chapter 4 up after about a month of procrastinating. This chapter was originally supposed to be longer, but I split it because there simply was no time.
Enough talking! Let's get on with the much anticipated Chapter 4!
"Why is it doing that? Is it supposed to do that? Eli!"
"I need more time!"
Steve glanced frightfully at his bespectacled classsamate, who was currently skimming through the Internet with a search of, 'glowing green goo'. Earlier Eli had tried, 'supernatural green goo', and 'what creature has green goo for blood', and so on. Steve twiddled his thumbs impatiently; it had been some time since they started researching the strange substance they were coated in the other day. The green goo had not done anything out of the ordinary while they were researching… until now. This is what had Steve so nervous.
"I want to find out more about this goo as much as you, but this is SERIOUSLY FREAKING ME OUT!"
Eli slammed his hands on his keyboard, disrupting the tab in which he searched on. He spun around in his black swivel chair so he could face Steve, who was whimpering in the corner. Eli adjusted his glasses.
"Get a grip on yourself, Steve! We are the Creepslayerz! We hunt down creepers! That is why we have these meetings, Steve. To research and take down those creeps!" Eli exclaimed in his nasal voice, stumbling as he walked over to Steve. Eli slapped Steve hard on the face, who rubbed his cheek.
"I know! But is the goo supposed to be doing that?" Steve yelled back, annoyed. This received a complaint from Eli's mother. Eli quickly apologized as Steve dusted himself off from nonexistent dust. After all this, Steve directed his gaze to the vial that had him spooked.
There, on the bed, was not a vial of green goo, but instead, a vial of thick, red blood.
"What?" Eli shrieked. He stumbled over to his bed as quick as he could, and scooped up the vial. Reluctantly, Steve trailed behind.
Turning over the vial in his hand, Eli examined the contents. He sputtered, stumped, because Steve was right. It wasn't supposed to do that.
"How?" Eli cried out, startling Steve behind him. Steve quickly regained his composure.
"I… I don't know! Eli, please tell me you know!"
Eli glanced at Steve with wide eyes.
"It's blood, Steve. Blood! Only humans have blood. And that Creeper was clearly not human!" Eli took rapid, shaky breaths. Dazed, Eli slumped on his bed, shoving the vial into Steve's burly hands. Steve clasped the vial to his chest, staring at Eli with concern.
Well. There goes their lead. The only evidence they got from this mysterious creeper is now gone. Maybe because it was in the presence of humans for so long, it converted, or something. It's not like this creeper can be both human and creature.
Steve's eyes instantly lit up, when a new thought dawned on him:
Maybe, just maybe, this creeper was both.
Staring at his downcast friend, Steve smiled slightly, showing off his big front teeth. He sat down next to Eli, and handed him back the vial, which almost slid out of his hand when Steve put it in it. Eli glanced at him.
"You know, this might not be over just yet," Steve said, "Look over to the wall over there. What do you see?"
With a sullen expression, Eli looked over at the further most wall from his bed, which was covered from head to toe in comic book posters. Steve pointed to one that was hung in the middle of this mess: a long poster of a giant lizard-man hybrid, and behind it, a 35 year old man with tattered overalls and dopey expression.
"The Murkling? What does this have to do with this?" Eli asked, exasperated. Steve merely scoffed.
"You know how the Murkling was just a human, but when he was injected with dinosaur germs and became this monster?" Steve replied.
"Yeah, I guess so," Eli said, squinting his large eyes to see the poster clearly. "But what does a comic book character have to do with this?" Steve huffed.
"I'm getting to that, Pepperjack! Jeez," Steve muttered under his breath. He had grabbed Eli's shoulders out of instinct, but as soon as he saw the confusion in his face, he sighed and let go. Eli massaged his shoulders, with a faint resemblance of a glare on his face. "Okay, remember how in issue #25, we discover the Murkling has a different type of blood than in his human form?"
"Yeah," Eli whispered, his eyes losing its defeated look. He glanced at Steve, then back at the poster. He jumped off of his bed and pulled Steve's arm with him, who stumbled with the sudden movement. Eli dragged him over to the poster, gaining confidence with each step. Clutching the vial and staring at the poster, Eli nodded in understanding.
This creeper could be like him! He could be human and monster! Steve, your a genius!" Eli exclaimed.
"I know, I know," Steve replied, smugly. However, Eli didn't notice.
"But if its human, then we could find it in human form. Didn't you say that it looked around our age. I thought you were crazy, but that might just be it!"
Wow, Eli was on a roll.
"It can't be anyone from our school, because we would've found it sooner," Eli pondered, "So it has to be—"
"The exchange students!" Eli and Steve yelled, Eli bouncing up and down and yelling with excitement. Steve was about to celebrate as well, but a troubling thought crossed his mind.
"But how will we know who it is, and if it is evil or not? We don't want to make the same mistake again!" Steve squealed. Eli glanced at him and replied, very sure of himself now that they had cracked the case about the goo.
"It has to be a boy, right? That makes sense considering the creeper we saw looked like one. And to find who it actually is, we just have to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior and whatnot,"
"But—"
"It'll be fine, Steve! There's nothing to worry about. We're professionals!"
Eli looked at Steve with pleading eyes, though Steve could not yet place why he was so skeptical about this mission. Maybe it was because it had been a while since they did something like this? Truly, he didn't know. Steve dismissed this feeling and gave a crooked smile to Eli.
"Eli," Steve replied, Eli sucking in a breath. With a hard, yet determined expression, he punched his fist in the air and shouted, "We have a creeper to catch!"
Pushing his spectacles higher on his face, Eli joined in Steve's enthusiasm. In his nasal voice, he rung out:
"Watch out creeper, 'cause the Creepslayerz are out to get ya!"
Wow.
Wow.
All the thoughts that filled Danny's head were ones of awe, as he was now floating invisibly through an underground civilization, unbeknownst to the residents of Arcadia. As he flew, he noticed stony creatures walking around, chatting and conversing with other creatures, or yelling at little garden gnomes with pointy teeth. He flew past shops of all kinds, which sold crystals, food, and the occasional horseshoe. (Though Danny couldn't find a reason why these living stones would sell or buy them)
The roads were illuminated with bioluminescent mosses of all different colors and species. All these roads led to the center of this town, which consisted of one, ginormous, orange crystal. As Danny inched closer, he could feel the life and warmth emitting from it.
Reaching the crystal, Danny plopped himself on the ground, and touched the crystal with one finger. It radiated power, Danny realized. But befell he could inch any closer, a voice rung out on the other side. (other side?) of this massive rock.
"I want the Trollhunter. Here. Now! We have put this off long enough! That human let Gunmar out, yet instead of taking action, we are laying around like an old sack potatoes!"
Trollhunter? Gunmar? What the heck?
"Ursurna—"
"That human has committed treason against Trollmarket! He should be arrested immediately!"
"You're yelling, Ursurna. Be reasonable. He is merely a child."
"A child that endangered all of troll kind!"
Human? Danny shook his head. He must be imagining this. Curious, but wary, Danny continued to eavesdrop this strange conversation.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
Danny whipped around his head as fast as he could, instinctively shifting into a defensive position. His hands blocked his face, while his feet were bent, ready to spring away as soon as trouble came his way. When he looked upward, he noticed a blue, rock-like creature with four arms and six eyes, glaring at him with a raging fury.
"I repeat, who are you?"
Run. Run!
"Uh…" Danny replied unintelligently. Every bone in his body was screaming at him to fly away, to phase through the walls, and return to the feta that was the surface. However, as stupid as this may sound, Danny was rooted to the stone ground.
"How did you get in here? Answer me!" The creature snarled, walking ever so slowly towards Danny.
"Umm, uh… I…"
"Yes?" The monster inquired, urging him to continue. The scowl never left his face.
"...gotta go!"
Danny bolted as fast as he could past the monster, startling him so bad he fell to the ground with a hard bump. As Danny rushed away from the crystal, the monster yelled at him to return. Danny, knowing this is a command he can ignore, ran out of the monster's eyesight, and phased through the gray wall.
After about a couple minute of flying upward, (Danny was frightened very badly, so it took awhile for him to regain his composure) he emerged on the surface of the canals. He had been so immersed in his new discovery, he hadn't noticed how truly tired he was. Stifling a yawn, Danny rubbed his eyes. Blinking away the sunlight, Danny noted that it was morning, which meant that school started soon.
Oh crap. School.
As quickly as he could, Danny used his ghost ray to mark the wall in which he merged, hoping that he could return to explore more of what he believed to be called, Trollmarket. He concluded that the inhabitants were, in fact, trolls, meaning he could be easily hurt by them. That blue troll showed him that.
Happy with his mark, Danny sprinted off the canals.
Still adjusting to the harsh morning sunlight, (it was directed right to his face) he didn't see the bicycle right in front of him in time.
"Look who I found on the canals this morning!" Jim said, dragging a limp body into the front doors of the school. He had yelled to Claire and Toby, who rushed as fast as they could towards him. Toby, panting slightly, was the first to ask about the body.
"Who is that? Jim, you do realize you are carrying a dead body around school!" Toby whispered urgently, poking the lump Jim carried.
"He's not dead, Tobes! But he was in a nasty accident. Come on, help me carry him," Jim replied, pointing towards the direction that led to the nurse's office. "He needs serious help!"
"Danny?" Claire shrieked, making Jim and Toby wince. She stared at the body. "Oh no…. what in the world happened to him?"
"Looks like she found herself another loooove—"
"Shut up!"
Toby winced, clutching his leg. He had received a hard blow from Jim, and it was painful. Toby whined softly.
"We haven't got the time for this!" Jim replied, annoyed at Toby's remark.
Claire cleared her throat loudly, drawing the boys attention back to her.
"So… what's the plan now? When he wakes up he's going to want to know what we were doing in the canals in the first place." Claire said, waving off her earlier outburst with her nonchalant tone. ""Obviously we can't tell him anything about trolls or Trollmarket—"
Jim's eyes widened in realization.
Oh man.
"What if Danny found Trollmarket?! That would explain why he was missing last night and why he was at the canals this morning! It all makes sense!"
"He went missing—?"
Jim grabbed Toby by the shoulders and pulled Claire's arm in one swift motion, accidentally dropping Danny's limp body to the school floor. Claire and Toby cringed as it made a soft thump on the tile. Jim ignored it.
"Don't you see? Danny obviously—"
"Obviously what?"
Jim, Claire, and Toby froze in their spots. Not wanting to look down, he prayed that the voice didn't belong to who he think it belonged to.
"Hello? You care to explain how I ended up unconscious, in school, and underneath your bickering butts?"
"Well… um…" Toby began, laughing nervously and stealing glances at a wide-eyed Jim. Jim urged him on. "You see…" a sweat. "...Jim...accidentally crashed into you…. at the canals…" Danny raised one of his eyebrows. "...and we had to drag your….body….here?"
Danny stared at their emotionless faces from the floor for a full minute. Jim could feel his gaze on him.
"Makes sense." Danny replied, blissfully ignorant to the shocked faces The three gave him. Toby gaped at Danny, who stared back, annoyed. "Can you help me get off the floor, please?"
Toby was the first to breath.
"What a relief!" Toby sighed, grabbing Danny's extended hand. He hoisted Danny up, who regained his balance and brushed himself off. "I thought we really killed you, man!"
Danny laughed casually, "You can't kill someone who is already dead."
Claire and Jim, still dumbstruck, just gazed emotionless at Danny's receding silhouette as he walked away into the crowd of students.
Jim picked at his food a bit more while waiting for Claire and Toby to get theirs at lunch that same day. They had told Jim to sit down, since he had his food, and wait for them, which was what he was doing. While waiting alone at a table for them, Jim felt his thoughts drift from school to Danny.
Everything felt off about Danny.
His personality, his disappearances, even his existence were all a mystery to Jim.
He waved off their "slip up" as nonchalantly as a normal kid would do when his friend used up all the toilet paper in his house.
He told them he was literally dead and then just walked away.
It was all the symptoms of an angsty teen, but he certainly doesn't look like one. Minus a few eye bags.
He's hiding something, but what?
"Hey buttsnack!"
Ugh. Steve.
Jim glanced up briefly, where he saw a confident Steve towering over the table. Eli was nowhere to be found, which was weird. Steve interrupted his thoughts.
"We need to talk."
Steve now sat down across from Jim at the lunch table. Steve scanned the room cautiously, checking for eavesdroppers. He motioned for Jim to lean forward. Curious, Jim obliged. Steve did the same, and lifted his mouth to Jim's ear.
"You, me, canals. 6 pm sharp. Bring them too,"
"Them" must've meant his friends, so no doubt Eli would be there too. Though, what does Steve want from them?
With one more glance at Jim, he vanished almost as quickly as he had come.
"What's up with him?"
Jim swiveled his head to where the voice came from, and standing there was Toby, carrying his lunch tray. Claire wasn't with him for some reason. Jim shook his head.
"It's not typical Steve behavior, but hey, I'm not complaining!" Jim replied sheepishly. Toby grinned, flashing his braces, and sat down next to him.
"Where's Claire?" Jim asked, glancing at the lunch line.
Toby shrugged. "Beats me. She's probably going full detective-mode with Danny now that he is awake." He took a bite out of his sandwich. "She will be a while."
Jim nodded, and continued picking at his food.
"You know, Steve told me to go to the canals tonight. He sounded serious." Jim explained, eyes still fixed on his meatloaf. "Could it be something about Gunmar?"
"Highly doubt it! They would be dead if they did happen to meet him." Toby said, licking his fingers in the process. Jim stared at him in shock. Toby stuttered.
"It sounds bad but it's true!"
Sighing, Jim replied, "I guess you're right. If it doesn't have anything to do with Gunmar, what could it be?"
"I have absolutely no ide- look there's Claire!"
Claire was, in fact, walking towards them, but the expression on her face was anything but pleasant. She appeared frazzled, eyes distant in thought. Jim noticed her disgruntled expression, and decided it was best not to say anything. He couldn't say the same about Toby, though.
"What happened? You look terrible!"
Jim kicked Toby with his legs underneath tent table, receiving a pained yelp from him.
In a harsh whisper, Jim said, "Do you want to live, or do you want 'He never learned to keep his mouth shut and now he's dead because of that' on your tombstone?"
Toby gulped.
"I'm not in one of those moods." Claire said, rolling her eyes. Hse sat down across from where Toby and Jim sat, successfully claiming their undivided attention.
"I just finished interrogating Danny, and there were some… interesting things I managed to weasel out of him." Claire said in a hushed tone. Jim had to lean in closer to be able to understand her. He noticed that Toby did the same.
"You know the sample Eli and Steve told us about? I know what it is,"
Oh my gosh.
The sample Steve and Eli had… could the meeting later be about that?
"What, what!" Toby exclaimed, losing control of his voice with the suspense. Both Jim and Claire began shushing him, getting a few weird looks from their classmates. Toby smiled sheepishly.
With a much more hushed voice, Toby repeated, "What is it?"
Claire took a deep breath. "Ectoplasm," she said.
Jim couldn't help but stare.
"Wait, what?"
Claire didn't seem to hear him, because she was now rummaging through her book bag with an excited look on her face. She pulled out a small laptop, customized with stickers, and set it on the table. Opening it up, Claire swiftly typed on the keyboard with a her brow furrowed to a point where Jim couldn't even see her eyes. All brow, he thought stupidly.
After what seemed like an eternity, Claire looked up from her screen.
"Here, it's all in here."
She spun the laptop to where it was facing Jim and Toby. (Who, miraculously, hadn't talked the whole time) Jim squinted at the screen because, for some reason, Claire had put it unusually bright.
Claire noticed the squints, so she continued with her discovery.
"I found this blog online that was all about paranormal activity in Amity Park, where the exchange students are from." She narrowed her eyes. "More specifically, Danny."
Jim could faintly see where she was going with this. Though, he was more confused than enlightened, and his expression showed that. Claire continued.
"It has some scientific tests included as well as personal experiences. By the sound of it, I'm guessing the author is in high school." She said, gaining more confidence of the matter by the second. "The information is completely accurate and broken down to the nub of the matter."
"Which is…" Toby began, completely confused by the blog posts. Claire paused.
"So?"
She took a deep breath and said:
"Ghosts."
Jim noticed that she expected a shocked reaction from both him and Toby, (after all, she did pause for effect) but none came. Toby was more confused than ever. The blank stare he gave them just proved that. However, Jim sparked, his eyes widening in realization.
The book that Blinky showed them before was about ghosts. (Or so he believed) Jim seemed to know that the substance that Eli had glued to his shoulders connected with the book. Which means that whatever they had fought had been a ghost. It was so incredibly simple, Jim facepalmed himself for not noticing it earlier.
Claire sensed an understanding, so she waved at him half heartedly to explain the rest. Jim replayed his thoughts to Toby.
"I get it now!" Toby exclaimed. He frowned slightly. "I think."
Claire sighed in defeat. "Anyway, remember Steve and Eli's description of the ghost they had fought?"
Jim and Toby nodded.
"Well," She said, while pointing at the screen of the laptop. "It seems awfully similar to one in this blog…"
Claire turned her laptop again to where it was facing her, and typed a few keys. She spun it around after a few minutes.
Jim gasped, bringing his hands to his face, and almost knocked over his lunch.
On the screen, a white-haired Danny smiled back at him.
Jim rubbed his temples, contemplating the whole ordeal. That ghost could not have been Danny! He was hallucinating… yeah, that's right. It was just a mere hallucination.
"Master Jim, are you alright?"
Jim looked up to see a concerned Blinky staring right at him. Claire, and Toby had quit talking and were now looking at him. (Arrrgh was missing once again to spy in Trollmarket) He laughed nervously.
"I'm fine," Jim said, not believing himself. Claire shot him a 'don't lie to me' look, and Jim recoiled slightly. Faintly perspiring, he added, "Let's get back to work."
Before Jim had drifted off into his own mind, he, Claire, and Toby had been conversing with Blinky and Arrrgh about ghosts. They had already gone through all the basic tales about them, including tales from mythology and Harry Potter. They had even gone through the whole blog, (which sparked interest in Blinky) and even attempted to decipher the book on ghosts Binky had mentioned. So far, they had no such luck.
By the time they had settled down into their research again, Jim's watch chimed.
Jim groaned. "It's time."
Blinky nodded, (as he had been told about the meeting hours prior) and handed him the book with the green lettering. Jim grabbed it without a thought.
"Be mindful, Master Jim. This book is extremely delicate and valuable. If I see as much as a scratch on it—"
"Don't worry, Blink!" Jim cut in just as Toby's and Claire's feet had disappeared from the steps. "We'll be careful."
Jim climbed the steps and met with his friends outside, who were waiting for him. He noticed the sun set around them, soothing Jim's uneasiness slightly. All Together, they began walking to the canals.
Jim couldn't help but think:
What had he gotten himself into?
So, can you guess who the blog belonged to? I promise, that whole ordeal wasn't a plot device to keep the story going, it actually is meaningful later on! If you caught the forshadowing, (which i believe most of you did) then congrats! You now know what's planned for the succeeding chapters.
I've recently have gotten several PMs about the continuity in my fic. If you happen to have questions about the plot, but are afraid to hurt me feelings, ask anyway! With this being my first fic and all, I know things may appear awkward, so your questions and constructive crtisim will only help me in my writing.
And that's all I have to say! As always, review and hang on tight for the next chapter!
-TheZanyMaker