Retrieval Saga:

A Chance of a Ghost

Chapter 5: A Hairy Situation

The next morning, Sam and Tucker walked over to Danny's before school started. They brought Draco, Chip, and Contrinus with them. When they got to Danny's house, they knocked on the doors and Danny answered. "Hey guys," said Danny, "what are you doing here?" "We came to see how Jazz was," said Sam. "She's getting dressed right now, but she doesn't seem to be in bad shape," said Danny. "Mind if we stay here while you guys go to school?" asked Draco as he and the other two aliens squeezed in. "Fine with me," said Danny, "Mom and Dad had to go out of town to get some stuff for building ghost gear so I guess someone could housesit while we're gone. Besides, Jazz might need to be taken care of."

Suddenly Jazz, quite uncharacteristically, slid down the rail of the stairs. When she reached the end, she did a flip through the air and landed on her feet. Draco, Chip, and Contrinus each held up a card reading 9.0. "Wow, Jazz," said Tucker, "you look really chipper this morning?" "Are you kidding?" said Jazz, "I feel great, I'm just busting full of energy. How about we jog to school today?" "What? Shouldn't you stay here?" asked Danny. "Why should I?" said Jazz who was now doing stretches. "Uh, you were bitten by a dracopyre lich last night? Aren't you feeling even a little bit sick?" "Not in the least bit," said Jazz, now doing jumping jacks. "Well," said Danny, "I suppose we could go to school today if you're up to it, but don't act out or anything. We still don't know what that bite did to you." "Sure thing Danny," said Jazz. The four teenagers went out the door and Danny said to Draco, Chip, and Contrinus, "The Morphs are downstairs. Make sure they don't do anything stupid." "Don't worry," said Chip, "we're professionals at it now."

The three experiments went down to the lab to see what the Morphs were doing. They were playing video games on the Fenton computer. "Hey guys," said Contrinus, "how's it going?" "Fine," said the Morphs in unison. "Why are you playing down here?" asked Draco. "Bigger screen," said PlasMorph. "You sure you should be using that computer?" asked Chip. "Ah, what could happen?" asked EctoplasMorph.

Suddenly the screen briefly flashed "Open Portal" and the Fenton Portal started to open. "I hate it when someone invokes the probability jinx," said Draco. Then a ghost stepped through the portal wearing a black suit, a white cape, dark spectacles, and his hair in a mullet. "At last!" said the ghost, "I, Technus 2.0, am now free to roam the Earth once again. But first, I'll take care of that meddling boy, Danny." He looked around and said, "Say, where is Danny?" "He's not here," said Chip, "come back later." "Hmm, a creature made from both organic and cybernetic material," said Technus picking Chip up, "how interesting." Technus tried to open the door on Chip's chest, but Chip slammed it on his fingers. "Watch it pal," said Chip, "nobody messes with my insides, especially some megalomaniacal technopath who wants to take over the world." "Yeah, not after last time," said Draco. "You think you can defeat the Ghost of Electronics and Machinery?" said Technus. "I'm about to give you a run for you money," said Chip, his hands charging with viral energy.

That day at school proved to be an unusual one for Jazz. First, there was biology class. Professor Earwig was a short man who's a little bit nervous. Of course, anyone who was nearly speared by a giant ghost mosquito would be. "Class," he said, "today we'll be studying African invertebrates. First off, allow me to present an insect that is similar to one we are all familiar with: the tsetse fly." A picture of a tsetse fly appeared on the overview. "The tsetse fly, scientifically known as glossina austeni, is a parasitic insect similar to the mosquito that is native to Africa. Like the mosquito, only the female bites other creatures to ingest blood for reproduction. Also, its saliva carries bacteria that can cause the illness known as sleeping sickness. Note that the bacteria never affect the tsetse fly; it simply waits to be passed onto a new host before acting. Protecting yourself from its bite is harder than from a regular mosquito in that tsetse flies are much tougher than your average housefly, but the sickness can be treated if identified quickly enough.

"Fortunately, the tsetse fly has many insectivorous predators. One example is the common African bat. It can pick up the tsetse fly's small body by using a shrill cry for echolocation. Here is a sample of what that would sound like." Professor Earwig held up a tape recorder and pressed the play button. A high-pitched shrieking sound emitted from the player. Then something odd happened. Jazz winced in pain and covered her ears. "Is something wrong, Ms. Fenton?" asked Professor Earwig. "Yeah, can you turn it off? It's giving me a headache." Professor Earwig turned off the tape recorder and said, "You must have very sensitive hearing. Not many humans can hear that clearly. Anyways, onto our next insect: the scarab, also known as, the dung beetle."

The next incident took place during gym class. "Alright, bone-bags," said Mrs. Tetslaff, "today, you'll be using your dexterity and upper body strength to climb up that rope. I don't want to hear any complaints about rope burn. Fenton, Gray, get over there." Jazz and Valerie walked over to the ropes. "Me against you?" said Valerie, "this will be a piece of cake." "That's what you think," said Jazz, unaware of her eyes glowing slightly. "And… start!" yelled Mrs. Tetslaff. Jazz and Valerie started up the ropes. Valerie was fast, but Jazz went up like a monkey. Jazz made it to the top of the rope before Valerie was halfway there. "Very impressive, Fenton, you manage to set a new record for your… Are you hanging by your feet?" Jazz looked around and realized that everything was upside down and noticed her legs were wrapped around the rafters. "Huh," she said, "guess I'm more energetic that I thought."

But the most bizarre thing happened in astronomy class. Mr. Lancer taught that class as well as English. "Class," said Mr. Lancer, "there will be an astrological event happening in three days. This is called lunar perigee, when the moon is closest to the Earth every lunar month. Another fact is that this event almost invariably happens during a full moon. So while this event is occurring, we will be able to see more of the moon's surface than any other time of the lunar month. For example, let me show you this picture taken during the last lunar perigee." He turned on the overview and a picture of the full moon appeared. "Note the clear detail of the Sea of Rains."

While the other students were jotting down notes, Jazz had quite another reaction. The sight of the full moon, even a picture of one, sent a sensation through her body. It wasn't a seizure, rather she felt like every part of her was coming to life. Then something deep inside her started to force its way to the surface. Jazz tried to hold it in, but it was way too powerful. Then she lost her self-control and threw back her head to howl. Of course, this wasn't any regular imitation of a wolf's howl. The howl created soundwaves that shook the whole room and upset everything. No one was hurt, but everyone was knocked off their seat.

"The Modern Prometheus!" cried Mr. Lancer, "what in the world was that?" "Uh, that was me, sir," said Jazz. "Now Ms. Fenton," said Mr. Lancer getting up, "I know you come from a family of ghost-hunters, but there is no excuse for disrupting my class. I'm afraid I have to call your parents so they can…" At that moment, he turned the lights back on and looked at Jazz. He abruptly changed tones and finished, "So they can take you home." "What?" said Jazz, "I'm in that much trouble?" "Well, you might be," said Mr. Lancer, "but you don't quite look like yourself." "What do you mean?" asked Jazz and she looked at a nearby cabinet and gasped. Her reflection in the glass door showed that she had suddenly grown sideburns on her cheeks and pointed ears were sticking out of her hair near the top of her head.

Meanwhile at the Fenton house, Draco and Contrinus were currently watching TV. "Can we watch something else?" asked Draco, "we've been watching the Romance Channel for 2 hours and it's starting to get boring. I mean, who could stomach watching a marathon of 'Heart-Seekers'?" "Alright," said Contrinus, "what do you want to watch? Monster trucks?" "Perish the thought," said Draco, "there's a documentary on Chinese culture. I thought I'd check how accurately their facts are about dragons and phoenixes." Just then PlasMorph walked over, his body had several ping-pong balls imbedded in it. "I'm not playing table tennis with EctoplasMorph anymore," he said, "none of the balls hit him and leans too far over the table." "Doesn't he hover?" asked Contrinus. "Hover?" PlasMorph thought for a second and said, "Darn it, first he calculates, now he tricks, how can he be smarter than me?"

Draco and Contrinus were spared from a pointless explanation when the front door opened. "Hi guys," said Danny as he, Sam, and Tucker walked in, "how'd things go?" "We were just fine," said Draco, "we short-circuited Technus, bottled up Desiree, cut Undergrowth down to size, and Chip's in the parlor with Kitty and Johnny 13 trying to work out their relationship problems." "He can do that?" asked Sam. "I wouldn't doubt it; he's extremely smart," said Contrinus "what happened with your day?" "It was okay for us," said Danny, "but I think something's wrong with Jazz. She's been acting weird today." "Uh, what's her last name again?" said Draco. "Not that kind of weird. I mean she's been acting a bit more feral. She even looks feral." "How bad could it be?" asked PlasMorph.

"This bad," said a voice. Draco, Contrinus, and Morph looked towards the door and got a rather big shock. In fact, the shock actually caused the ping-pong balls in Morph to pop out. Jazz's sideburns were even more pronounced and her ears seemed a bit larger. Her nose was a bit more upturned and closer to her mouth. Not to mention her fingernails were much longer and she had hairs on her knuckles. "Whoa!" said Draco, "have you been neglecting yourself?" "No," said Jazz, "my bad hair days are nowhere near as bad as this." "Well," said Contrinus, "it could be worse." To prove her wrong, Jazz turned around and lifted the back of her shirt up. There were several hairs on her back and what looked like the beginnings of a tail showing. "Okay, maybe it is."

Just then, Chip came back upstairs. "Thanks for the help, dude," came Johnny 13's voice from the basement. "Don't mention it," called Chip, "just remember my advice, go back to what brought you two together, that'll bring your passion for each other back." He closed the door behind him and said, "Hey guys, have a fun day at…" Chip suddenly noticed Jazz and his eye literally bugged out of his head in a cartoon-like fashion. He put his hands over his eye and said, "You have any idea how painful with two eyes, let alone one?"

"What could have caused this?" asked Contrinus. "My money's on that bite Ghoulwyrm gave her," said Sam. "I don't think so," said Draco, "I've done a bit of research on the dracopyres of Mysticos. Apparently, Ghoulwyrm was from a test batch that died because the different essences rejected each other and he was brought back to life as a dracolich. Any curse from him couldn't be stable. Maybe Jack and Maddie will know." "I wouldn't count on that," said Jazz, "Dad can't even remember that he shouldn't eat white chili. It goes right through him every time."

She paused and said, "Goes right through, of course! EctoplasMorph's ectoplasm must carried the curse through when Ghoulwyrm tried to bite me. Like the bacteria the tsetse fly carries." "So you're not just cursed," said Tucker, "you're infected with cursed ectoplasm?" "It does make sense," said Chip, "Ghosts can't contract vampirism or lycanthropy, so EctoplasMorph must have passed it through to you." "So she's becoming a werepyre?" asked Contrinus. "No," said Danny, "she's not becoming half-vampire/half-werewolf, she's becoming half-ghost!" "First off, that's three halves," said Jazz, "second off, if I was becoming half-ghost, wouldn't I be showing symptoms of it?"

Suddenly the bottom half of Jazz's body turned slightly translucent and she started to sink through the floor. Danny and Sam quickly grabbed her before she went right through. They pulled her up and her legs became solid again. "How long do I have?" asked Jazz nervously. "I wouldn't say any longer than the next full moon," said Draco, "good thing your parents are coming home." "But what are we going to do?" asked Sam. "I'm not exactly sure how, but the best place to look for a cure is with its source: Ghoulwyrm. That means we'll have to go the Ghost Zone as soon as the Specter Speeder is rebuilt." "You'd think they'd have gotten ghost insurance for that," said Tucker, "everyone else in this town has."

There's another chapter. Looks like Jazz is in for some monsterous changes. (canned laughter) In case you're wondering about the book title Mr. Lancer mentioned, it's the alternative title for Frankenstein. Anyways, the next chapter will be taken at another point of view. My co-author, largefish8, has contributed a filler chapter while we wait for the Specter Speeder to be rebuilt. It will be really interesting, so keep an eye out for it. Please review.