AN: Woo, chapter 8! Unfortunately, it's another short one. I like not having school today. Oh, and thanks to those who review. It makes me happy :)
"A what?" I asked, my disbelief evident. He had made it this far without anything; why did he need a password now?
"If my software could have broken it, then it would have already. This seems to be the last thing I have to get through. But we only have one shot. If we get it wrong the first time, I'm locked out."
We were so close! I huffed angrily, sitting back down on the bed with a sigh.
"I take it you have no idea what his password could be?"
"I know next to nothing about this guy, Tuck. His password could be anything." I'm not sure if I was more angry with Plasmius or with myself for not being able to come up with a password, but I knew that I was angry, and that was that.
I probably would have forgotten that Phantom was beside me if he hadn't said something at that very moment.
"Try 'Maddie.'"
I gave him the strangest look, before repeating it to Tucker.
"Humor me. Try Maddie," I asked him, and I could hear him typing in the background.
"Oh my God. Sam, you're a genius!"
I gave Phantom another look, and he held a smug smirk on his face. He had been right; apparently, he had been listening really well.
"Whoa. There's a bunch of crap in here. More death documents galore. Here, I should probably send all of these to your computer. I'll copy everything and keep them on my PDA too, in case something happens. I haven't seen anything like a private journal, though. It's probably hidden deep."
"Hey, wait a minute. I'm at my old house, Tuck. I've got to see if I can get my old computer to run."
This was easier said than done. The thing was old, a Windows 98, and it took about five minutes before I even got a home screen.
"Okay, I've got it on, but I'm not sure if I have internet."
"It's cool, I'll hack into your computer and put the files there."
"Great. You just made me realize I can't keep anything private on any of my computers." Tucker laughed as he hit buttons on his PDA, and it wasn't but a minute before I could hear the familiar sound of a new file being uploaded.
"Done. I'll dig around on this guys' computer while you check out all the files I've put on your computer all ready."
There were a bunch, all of them mainly certificates of death. I pulled out the first and read it aloud.
"Annaliese McLain, born 1954, died 1969 by fire. Was a part of a high school band called 'Ember.' Ironic," I added, laughing slightly. I could hear Tucker snort, telling me that he picked up on it. Phantom just stared at me blankly, and I rolled my eyes before pulling out another file.
"William 'Billy' Franco, born 1972, died 1982 by serious illness. Animal person, loved to play dress-up, constantly played 'pirates.' Poor kid, he was only ten."
"You know, these ghosts were in that line that tried to stop us. Analee or whatever her name was is now Ember, and she was that ghost with the blue flames for hair. Explains where she got her powers from…" Phantom's voice had interrupted me, and I turned to look at him.
"So, that probably means that the rest of these documents are the death certificates of all the ghosts Plasmius is using."
I had forgotten that Tucker couldn't hear Phantom's comment, but he didn't really pick up on the fact that what I said was a reply.
"Wait-all of those documents are all of the ghosts he now has working for him?"
I could hear the panic in Tucker's voice, and that could only mean one thing: there was a hell of a lot of them. At that moment I realized we were likely dealing with an apocalyptic sort of situation, one that could end in an all-out war between Earth and this ghost realm.
"Yeah, I recognize these people. They attacked me, that's why I'm now hiding out in my old house."
"That's not good. There are a lot of them-it'll take a lot to bring them down, Sam. You can't do this alone."
"I wasn't planning on it, Tucker. I know I'm not the most responsible person, but I'm not stupid!" The grunt of disagree from Phantom earned him the middle finger, which he returned with a rather profane phrase.
"I think I found something…"
I could tell Tucker was trying to change the subject, but I didn't object to it.
"Whoa-man, this guy is definitely not doing legal things. All of these files are about experiments he ran, most of them on ghosts."
That was it. He had found them. He had found the files that I wanted.
"Put them on my computer, Tuck!" The anticipation was evident, but I don't think he was paying much attention to me, because I heard a low whistle, something Tucker did whenever he was really surprised or taken back.
"All right. They're pretty detailed, though, Sam. And a lot of it doesn't sound like it's harmless."
"Tuck, I'm an Animal Activist. Not ghost," I reminded him dully. I thought that I would be able to read the experiments with apathy. After all, ghosts didn't mean anything to me.
Boy, was I wrong.
The first entered file was dated May 17, 1995. But that wasn't what made my stomach hit the floor.
No, it was the first sentence: "I successfully took number 1007 away from the Manson house in Amity Park today.