I knocked heavily on Dib's front door until someone finally answered. Although to my surprise, it was Zim. I paused in confusion before snapping myself back to reality and rushed inside. Zim flinched away from me as my clothes were still damp from the light rain. Dib sat on the sofa, looking irritated and glaring at Zim.
"Your equipment wasn't working but you'll never believe what I saw! And, why is Zim here?"
Dib folded his arms, "He followed me and Gaz home and forced himself in here demanding he be included in our witch hunt. As for the camera and microphone, you left before I could turn them on."
I blushed, "Sorry, but it was amazing! She had all candles in her room and was talking to someone called 'BJ', but I couldn't see them and they were talking about a 'Neitherworld'! Then she was chanting and then there was this cloak and flames and…"
I trailed off because I noticed that they were looking at me like I was insane. Thinking about it, it did sound insane, total off the rocker! However, Dib, despite his wide-eyed disbelief, had a slight smug quirk in the corner of his mouth.
"Okay, I believe you now…" I mumbled.
"So a human with power? Surely the idea is just absurd!" Zim snapped.
I rolled my eyes, "Seriously Zim, you didn't see it! Dib, what do you know about a Neitherworld or a Beetlejuice?"
Dib folded his arms and scratched his chin in thought, "I think a Neitherworld is like the in-between, a realm for restless spirits, but as for a -"
"A Betelgeuse is a star consolation," Zim interrupted, not wanting to miss out on an opportunity to upstage Dib, "I flew past it many a time! One of my fellow invaders conquered a planet just to the right of there. Maybe you misheard them and they were talking about the star?"
It was possible, but I was positive about what I heard, "I don't know... There was a chant to go with it, but she said that name three times, really loudly, I don't think I misheard her…"
Dib smirked, "Sound's like me need to carry out a little… experiment."
I swallowed heavily as me and Zim exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"What if we were to research this tonight, and then tomorrow after skool, we try a chant of out own, see if we can summon this being and maybe even find out what's going on with Lydia! Amy, you'll have to chant because maybe it'll recognise a girl voice and link it to the witch, then we could capture that invisible friend of hers and -"
"Or… we could research it, and then ask her in skool?" I offered, feeling a bit guilty for being so sneaky around Lydia when she really was a nice girl.
Zim poked me playfully in the shoulder, "Whatever happened to the Amy-worm who was in it for the adventure?"
A blush descended over me as Dib nodded in agreement. Well, I was well and truly stuck now, I spent most of my time trying to get these two to get along, and now they were both agreeing with each other about something. Sure it was at my expense, but… I sighed and stuck my tongue out and the pair of them and folded my arms childishly.
"Fine, we'll do it."
Our research that night pretty much went no-where. Dib ended up kicking Zim out after an hour when he caught him digging through his paranormal files. Not the he went quietly mind you, it took a fight which involved me diving in to separate them just as Gaz stormed in, grabbing Zim by the neck and dragging him backwards and out of sight. We heard the front door slam and then a cry of agony in the rain.
"Why doesn't he just use the umbrella I gave him?" I wondered aloud.
"Well, this is Zim…" Dib chuckled in victory.
I rolled my eyed and yawned, I looked at my watch and saw that it was getting late, "I'd better go, mum's probably wondering where I am. Hey, where's my bag?"
"Oh, here."
He reached under his bed and held out my bad for me to grab. As I took it, his hand lost some grip and his fingers brushed against mine. His face reddened and he quickly pulled away, I smiled a little and waved goodbye as I left the room. I didn't know what it was about Dib, but one minute he was his usual eccentric confident self and the next, he was like a shy little puppy. Then again, Zim was the same, one minute he was loud and a little self-centred, but the he could change and be very co-operative, but that was mostly when Gaz was around. I smirked, it was so obvious that Zim liked Gaz a little, I even managed to get a sort of confession from Gaz once, but I was sworn to secrecy. So what was up with Dib?
The next morning I followed through my usual routine before going next door to call for Zim. This time he answered the door and I jumped back in shock at the large green burn mark that covered the right side of his forehead.
"Why didn't you use the umbrella?" I cried, grabbing his head to get a closer look.
He swatted me away, "Insolent human! It's not from the sky water! It's from…"
He peered over his shoulder at GIR who had it hands on a cheese grater. A shudder passed over me, that was disgustingly unsettling. I had an idea. To his surprise, I placed my bag in his hands for him to hold while I fished out a few bits and pieces. I often little emergency supplies in my bad, with Dib and Zim around, it paid to be prepared. I pulled out a green felt-tip pen and a large plaster, or as the Americans call it, a band-aid. I coloured over the fleshy pink until it was all green around the same colour as Zim and then patched it over the wound. It looked a little better, at least now it wasn't raw and throbbing. I took my bag back and let Zim examine himself in a mirror, he nodded in satisfaction, the corner of his mouth twitched as he walked past me into the street without a think you. I didn't mind, I was used to it, that little hint of a smile was his version of appreciation and that was good enough for me.
Skool was so slow that day. Lydia came to sit with me, Dib and Gaz again, this time Zim even joined us, well, I say that, he actually used his spy camera with a long tube as a lens to snake over to our table and listen in on us. I had to kick Dib under the table three times to stop him staring at Lydia with his arched brow suspicion look. Lydia was either very naïve and honestly didn't notice any of our strange behaviour, or she was very polite and pretended not to notice. Once again, there was the little glances over her shoulder, twice she deliberately dropped something under the table to mutter something in secret. Although, the strangest thing was when Zim's camera tried to snake under the table with her. For a split second, black and white stripes slithered along the metal and was followed by Zim crying out in horror from the other side of the cafeteria and falling onto his back. It was only for a split second, but the colour change in the device was distinctive. Lydia blushed and made an excuse to leave after that.
After skool, Lydia rushed from the classroom and vanished around the corner, instantly, me and Dib rushed over to Zim's desk.
"What happened at lunch, what happened to your camera?" Dib demanded.
Zim shuddered, but didn't answer, so I added, "The camera turned black and white for a moment, what did you see on your end?"
"Such… horrible things…" he muttered through gritted teeth.
Me and Dib exchanged a glance, "We're doing it now then, Amy, come on, we're doing this at my house."
Zim jumped up, "No way Dib-filth! The procedure shall be carried out in my base. The defences are better and… no one makes a fool out of ZIM!"
"Wait… you're inviting us to your base?" Dib asked, arching a brow.
"Only because I want to teach that thing that when you humiliate Zim, you're signing your own death wish." He paused and smirked at Dib, "You might want to remember that."
Dib swallowed hard, "Whatever space-boy."
We met up with Gaz and made our way to Zims base. We shut all of the curtains and lit candles everywhere. GIR, now tired of the cheese grater, was no having fun seeing how long he could hold his hand in the flames, shrieking with pain and laughter every time.
"Yay! It burns!" he yelled, blowing on his hand.
"GIR, if you stop that I'll get you a toy!" I coaxed.
His eyes widened and he rushed over to wrap his arms around my legs, his metal hands still scolding hot and bringing silent tears to my eyes. He finally let me go and I was left with little robot fist burns on my calves.
Gaz rolled her eyes, "I can't see my game properly in here." She announced, leaving and making her way to the better lit kitchen. Finally, everything was set. We all looked at each other nervously.
"Ready, Amy?" Dib asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm not sure if I remember the chant she used. Just the last bit…" the low light hid my blush.
"And what was that?" Zim snapped.
I thought for a moment, "She just said that name three times. Beetlejuice."
Dib and Zim exchanged glances, "Beetlejuice?" they asked in unison.
"BEETLEJUICE!" GIR cackled manically.