"Piece of cake?"
"Shut up," Tucker grumbled. "How was I supposed to know karma can strike twice in the same place?"
"Tucker, I think you're confusing karma with lightning."
Coraline sighed, running a hand through her hair. Amity Park was a lot bigger than she'd thought it would be. "This is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"Tell me about it. This is the fourth time we've ended up back at the park." By the note of accusation in his voice, Coraline guessed that Danny was right back to not trusting her. "If you have any more information, it'd be really helpful to know right about now."
"I already told you, I told you everything I know!" Coraline managed, through gritted teeth. She didn't want to shout, but she might have raised her voice. Just a teensy-tiny little bit. "If I knew something that could stop us running around in circles, I think I would have mentioned it the third time we wound up in the park!"
"The door was definitely in your house?"
"Yes," Coraline sighed, for what felt like the three thousandth time. "But I don't know if it has to be. The Beldam built a whole world, and the people in it. I think she can pretty much do whatever she wants."
"So what now?"
Coraline sat down heavily on the closest bench, glaring at an innocent shrub. "I don't know. If we even had just one clue..."
As excellent narrative timing would have it, it was then Danny shivered, breathing out a puff of blue mist. Coraline stared for a moment before deciding it was just one more little weirdness in a night of lots and lots of weirdness, and not really worth focusing on.
The shout of "BEWARE!" from the trees behind them helped make that decision a really easy one.
Danny relaxed visibly as the mysterious rings of lights flashed over him. Coraline wondered if she was going to get used to that, ever. The fact that Tucker didn't even bat an eyelash seemed to be a vote for yes, but she couldn't be sure.
"Great," Danny groaned, floating nonchalantly into the air as the trees rustled and an unfortunately very familiar blue face in a knit hat poked out of the cover of the leaves. "You are the last person I wanted to see tonight. Tucker, thermos?"
Tucker rummaged around in his backpack, pulling out something that looked like the love child of a soup container and a laser gun. "Catch!"
"No! Wait!" The Box Ghost held up both hands. "Do not seal me in your cylindrical container!"
Tucker tossed the thermos-looking thing up to Danny, who grabbed it out of the air easily. "You have five seconds to give me one good reason why I shouldn't." He unscrewed the cap, and Coraline heard a faint whine, like something charging. "One…"
"You cannot send me back to the Ghost Zone!" the Box Ghost shouted, backing into the trees, and Coraline felt a twinge of sympathy for him for the first time. He sounded genuinely scared.
"Oh yeah? Just watch me."
Coraline flashed back to Danny and Tucker laughing about having to toss him back once a day. If he were this scared of Danny, then why would he keep coming back? "Wait a second," she called out, just as Danny pressed a button on the side of the thermos.
The white light that flashed out of the mouth of the device made Coraline blink, and half a second later, the Box Ghost was gone and Danny was screwing the lid back onto the thermos, floating down back down to the bench with a smile on his face. "At least this didn't take an hour. Come on, let's get back to the portal and drop this guy off."
...
If her parents knew what was in the basement of the house right next door to them, Coraline decided, they would never have moved in. This was, if possible, even weirder than the contraption on the roof. It looked like they'd converted the basement into a cross between a research lab and a nuclear power plant. The whole room was panelled in steel like some kind of underground bunker, and full of things her fingers just itched to poke, pick up, and play with. But the thing on the far wall really took the cake. A pair of giant, yellow-and-black striped blast doors set in an octagonal frame loomed over them, twice as tall as she was and (Coraline had to admit) far more intimidating. She didn't have to ask to know that this had to be the infamous ghost portal.
And just like that, she knew where the door was.
"I really wish I knew how he keeps getting out," Danny commented, walking over to the portal and uncapping the thermos.
"Hang on," Coraline interjected, reaching for Danny's arm without thinking. She had to admit, it was pretty funny to watch him jump backwards, trying to avoid her grip. "Oh, sorry. Is he usually that scared to go back?"
"I don't know, and I don't really care."
"No, she's got a point, dude. Usually he pops up shouting about how you can't defeat him, not hiding in bushes." Tucker stuck his hands in his pockets.
"It's the Box Ghost. Why are we even having this conversation?"
"Because we're looking for a door to another world." Coraline gestured to the portal. "And guess what we're standing right in front of?"
"Hate to break it to you, but this portal only goes to the Ghost Zone."
"Oh," Coraline said, after a moment, feeling rather stupid. "Well, what's in the Ghost Zone?"
"Ghosts," both Tucker and Danny answered, in unison.
"I figured." Coraline couldn't help but roll her eyes. "So what, do they just float around randomly? Or is there an actual world in there?"
The boys looked at each other, and Tucker shrugged. "You're the ghost kid."
Danny sighed. "I don't know. And, once again, I don't really care! This isn't getting us anywhere."
"Neither of you know what's on the other side of the portal." Coraline shook her head. "Well, why don't we ask somebody who does know?"
"No way. I am not letting the Box Ghost out again." Danny pulled the thermos away from her, unscrewing the cap as he did so. "You have no idea how much of a pain this guy is to catch every five minutes."
"Okay, then. Let's hear your brilliant idea." Coraline crossed her arms and settled in to wait.
A few seconds later, Tucker pulled out his PDA and started to fiddle with it. "You guys mind if I time this standoff?"
"Tucker!"