Chapter 4
In placing her paw upon the mirror, the wolfdog slowly began to close her eyes as she leaned her head down slightly, flicking her ears and looking to be in great concentration. If one were to look closely at her in this moment, then what would be seen is the little jewel upon her collar, glowing brightly. The light soon began to grow brighter and brighter as it coated the canine's collar and slowly worked its way to engulf her entire canid body. The wolfdog's eyes opened once again as she lifted her head to look directly into the mirror and said the simple phrase. "Deliver me to this world I call upon." With this spoken, Katie soon vanished into an aura that entered through the glass and eventually would reappear in the Neitherworld or more specifically, Beetlejuice's bedroom in the Roadhouse. Once the wolfdog had reformed, she had now taken on the form that was of the anthropomorphic kind. She stood at five feet and five inches with a casual sort of outfit on, mainly a shirt and jeans, and her collar still upon her neck. Her body shape was pudgy to say the least, she wasn't any kind of supermodel and that of which she could really care less to be. The canine looked at her reflection in the now tall standing mirror in front of her, puffing up a large tuft of hair in a curl that sat upon her head. A soft sigh escaped her as she thought to herself. 'Well, I'm surprised that the trick worked to get me here. The agency that put on this job sure knows how to amplify extra powers onto an item.'
Once finished with her thought, Katie looked to all sides of the room, well, the little bits she could see amongst the piles of filth that is. Her expression was less than impressed, but more along the lines of a bit disturbed with disgust as she shivered briefly. "What a mess." She mumbled to herself in a whisper. In her searching about, she finally managed to spot a coffin shaped bed and unfortunately, it had been empty. "Hmm, I wonder where that ghost could be?" She asked aloud, mostly to herself. However, before she could continue in her train of thought, a maniacal sounding cackle interrupted her. She held somewhat of a flat look as she seemed to look as if she were staring at an invisible audience. "You know, funny how things can instantly be found once you mention them." She said with a slightly raised brow as she began to move to the window beside the bed, looking out. Just as she had thought, there was Beetlejuice outside and across the street, cackling at a neighbor of his who had the misfortune to fall for another one of the ghost's pranks. Through her observation of what was lying around, the prank had to deal with a creature that appeared to be dog like with bull horns and a tail that resembled a cattle brand, being tormented first by the poltergeist and now hidden in its little house, which lead to the big fur covered neighbor to be so enraged that he had fallen from his ladder and cartoonishly landed in a bucket below, leaving him to get stuck and now to be hopping around in said bucket while letting out muffled curses.
The wolfdog gave another sigh and said. "I can't help, but feel sorry for the guy and his dog, but I also can't help not giggling at this too." She chuckled lowly as she then made her way to leave the bedroom, moving down the stairs cautiously in case other creatures were in the residence. "Ello mademoiselle, but who might you be?" Came a new voice with a distinguished French accent as Katie reached the bottom of the stairs. She was a tad startled as a yelp escaped her instinctively, turning around to find the owner of the voice. There before her stood quite a tall skeleton with a beret upon his head and a curly mustashe upon what was mainly his skull. The canid hesitated a moment before answering the tall skeleton. "Oh, I'm someone who is here to see Beetlejuice." She laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head before continuing. "I'm of the living world and I was sent by a rather exclusive agency to be made of an assistance to the 'ghost with the most' and his friend, Lydia. The name's Katie and it's a pleasure to meet you, mister?" She gave a courteous bow to him and gave a look of curiosity, awaiting his introduction. "Oh, oui, I am Jacques LaLean, I am Bea-eetlejuice's neighbour and 'ousemate. It is a pleasure to meet you, madame." The skeleton said, taking a gentle hold of the canine's pawhand and giving the same courteous bow in return to her.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, monsieur Jacques." She replied with a polite chuckle. "You speak French, madame?" Jacques asked in intrigue at the canid's use of a French term. Katie simply laughed softly and answered honestly with. "I only know very little French unfortunately, but at least that's better than not knowing anything out of the language at all." The skeleton laughed with her as he gave the only smile he could and said. "I guess zat tis true, ma chère." The wolfdog just smiled in return and gave another bow before moving toward the door. "Sorry, to cut this meeting short, but as I had said, I must speak with the ghost with the most." She gave a friendly wave to Jacques. "Catch you another time, sir." With that last bit said, she moved out the door quite quickly to head to where she had saw the aforementioned ghost. Speaking of Beetlejuice, he was still cackling on the ground while the monster he had pranked had made his own way out of the bucket trap with intent to give a brash pounding upon the poltergeist. "Urrrrrgh, Beetlejuice! Ya'll are gunna be a-payin' fer what you've a-done to my poor little Poopsie and I!" The monster had hollered in his rather deep southern accent as he jerked the ghost up by the front of his striped suit. Beetlejuice seemed to be sweating a bit in nervousness as a reaction to the monster doing this and gave a little 'eep' as well. The now anthropomorphic canine had made a rushed dash across the street as she raised her pawhands up in attempt to stop the monster.
"Whoa, hang on a second there, mister. I'm afraid I can't let you do that to the ghost." She stated rather boldly while trying not to be harsh. The monster turned his attention to the canid as he then dropped BJ from his hold, leading to the ghost landing on the ground with a thud and rubbing his backside. "And why might that a-be dear, little lady?" He asked with what could be assumed to be a raised brow, if a brow was visible that is. The monster's dog even seemed to give a bark or two as the strange canine known as Poopsie approached Katie, sniffing at her. The wolfdog simply gave a slight smile as she leaned down for a moment to give the other dog a gentle and soothing rub atop his head, causing his tail to wag quickly from left to right while she turned her gaze back to the monster to reply. "Well, let's just say I am scheduled to have a one on one discussion with the ghost here and I have initially been made another babysitter for him." She whispered the babysitter part to where only the big, hairy monster could hear her. The monster himself, soon removed his hat to regain his composure and speak more politely to the canid before him. "I see, well, uh, I do apologize fer the way I acted toward ya, miss? I'm sorry, but what might yer name a-be, little lady?" He said with a big smile to her. She simply giggled as she gave a more country styled bow to him and said. "The name's Katie, sir and I take that you would be known as the Monster Across the Street, correct?" This was just more of a guess at his name or even more of an observation to the obvious.
He nodded with a little hop of delight, causing the spurs to clink and click as he did so. "Yes, mam, that would a-be my name and that there would be my little Poopsie." He motioned toward the dog as he introduced him. Poopsie gave a happy and more greeting bark as he moved to sit at his master's side. Katie only laughed as she stood back on her, well, feetpaws and slowly moved over to Beeltejuice, helping him up from his place on the ground. "Well, it was nice to meet you both, but now, I shall be going with Beetlejuice for our little one on one time. Catch you later!" She shoved the poltergeist along a bit roughly as she gave a wave back to the monster and his dog. Once she and BJ were a good enough distance away, Katie turned to give a slightly annoyed look with a flat stare. The ghost simply gave her the same look as he asked in his gruff voice and somewhat whiney tone. "What, what, whaaaaaat?" The wolfdog sighed and briefly rubbed her forhead and replied with. "Let's just get this done with before I have to head back and get Lydia since that's the story her parents are led to believe." A thought added itself in her head. 'Yeah, such a normal sounding thing these days. A dog taking and picking your child to and up from school. I have to question her parents' intelligence a tad in that.'
She was soon snapped out of her thought as Beetlejuice retorted in unenthusiasm while asking. "Fiiine, let's get all this said and done then, mutt. So, what do ya wanna know about me?" Katie rolled her eyes to the side a little at the small insult as she replied. "Well, let's start off with what do you do when Lydia doesn't call you? I mean, I already noticed one thing you do and that being pulling pranks or causing trouble, but is that all you do when Lydia can't be around?" The poltergeist began floating along as he pondered the questions given, the canine following alongside him as she walked. "Hmm, well, I can't really say there's much else I do really, except maybe laze about and be bored when not pranking or causing chaos for the Neitherworldians." He answered bluntly as he held a dulled expression on his ghostly face. The wolfdog flicked an ear as she seemed to not be too impressed with his answer, but shrugged her shoulders as she said. "I see, well, how about this, what do you see Lydia as? I mean, as in what does she mean to you?" These questions seemed to make the poltergeist halt his hovering and give a look that clearly read, 'You're really asking me that?' The canid simply said in response to his look. "Yes, I'm asking you this sort of thing."
Beetlejuice exhaled out a sigh as he turned his head forward and his gaze downward, twiddling his red-tipped thumbs nervously. He held an expression that seemed to be of not feeling too comfortable on the subject presented. Afterall, from what Katie could read off him in meeting him, he didn't seem like the kind of touchy-feely guy or at least not the kind of open to speaking on certain feelings guy anyway. A couple minutes went by before he appeared to come to an answer in his mind as he answered. "Guess, Lydia means a great deal to me. I mean, hell, she's my best friend and we've been friends since she was a kid. Basically, she's just a great friend to me is all I can really say about her." The canine simply nodded to his answer in understanding much like she did with Lydia in the one on one with her. However, she could tell that there was something more than just the answer he gave, but the canid didn't bother pressing on it. Besides, she already sensed quite a lot about Beetlejuice and Lydia. So, why ruin things by pressing on the matter. "You know, I can tell that you and Lydia seem to see each other as the same. You both really seem to do good for each other." A slight smirk came across her face as she took a moment to tease the poltergeist a bit. "If I didn't know better, I'd think that you may even love that girl." This made the ghost fume a bit in annoyance as he looked back to her.
"I do not! Don't even say that word. Eeeeyuck!" He said in obvious denial as he stuck out his striped tongue in what he was surely hoping to be true disgust. Katie just laughed at him in response as she placed a pawhand on her forehead and over her eyes for a moment. "Whatever you say, Beetlejuice." She finally retorted after her laughter as she tauntingly stuck her tongue out at him. This only caused the ghost to hold an irritated grimace as he crossed his arms and turned his head away from her in a snobby sort of manner, making a 'hmph' sound. All this only made the wolfdog laugh all the more as she held her abdomen and tried to regain her breathing pattern. "Aww, such a touchy ghost you are." She taunted again at the poltergeist as she snickered. "Shaddup." Is what he gave to her in response as he and the canine made their way back toward the Roadhouse, considering they had walked a good distance away with their one on one session. The session itself took amazingly a good amount of time, along with the fact of the run ins with the ghost's neighbors being added in. As soon as they had returned, the canid looked to Beetlejuice and said. "Well, I think I shall head back. Have to be playing the dog who picks up their owner." She laughed briefly at the thought.
The ghost with the most simply rolled his eyes and said. "Yeah, yeah, go on and play fetch like a good mutt." To add emphasis on fetch he turned himself into a huge tennis ball with his face on it, but it lasted for a mere second or so before he reverted back to his usual self. Katie just sighed and replied with. "Catch you on the other side whenever you either pop up on an object or get called over." She stuck out her tongue at him again as she made a dash for the mirror in his bedroom again. Once there, she simply repeated the process of what she did prior to get into the Neitherworld. She set her pawhand upon the glass as an aura appeared and she said the short phrase once more while opening her eyes. "Deliver me to this world I call upon." Within seconds, she disappeared as an aura into the mirror and only to reappear as her feral form in Lydia's bedroom. She moved to stand on all fours as she shook herself off of anything that may have got onto her while in the land of the dead and then looked to the alarm clock, noting the time to be around a quarter after two in the afternoon. Her eyes went a little wide as she perked her ears up and stated the obvious. "I better get going and I mean, I got to high tail it out of this house."
With that said, the canine made an abnormally speedy dash out the door, which was luckily opened by Delia as her doggy woggy zipped past her in a furry blur and caused a cartoony gust effect that ruffled the woman's clothes for a brief moment. The red headed woman simply chuckled as she said with her usual cheesy grin. "Must be excited to exercise while going to get Lydia from school." Katie was panting heavily as she ran down the pathway from the house, heading for the town. 'I am so out of shape for my age.' She thought to herself as she began to slow her pace a bit in reaching the town's sidewalk. The wolfdog shook herself again as she tried to catch her breath after running, walking slowly in an easy trot as her tag and jewel jingled on her collar slightly. It took a good few minutes, but Katie had finally made it to the school's front, noticing Lydia waving goodbye to her two friends, Bertha and Prudence. The young girl, herself, could hear the claws of the familiar canine clacking against the concrete as she turned to greet her newly made companion, petting her atop the head as she smiled. "Ah, there you are, girl." She said, playing the role of the caring dog owner. In which, Katie played the happy dog in return, barking in greeting as her tail wagged to and fro.
"Like, what is that disgusting beast? Figures, that you'd have such a thing, Lydia." Another voice chimed in with an annoyingly preppy, as well as, disgusted tone. Lydia scowled and grumbled under her breath to herself for the most part, but Katie acknowledged it as she too lowered her ears in irritation to the new voice. "Hello, Claire." Lydia said in an annoyed tone as she forced on a slight smile and turned to face a blonde haired girl with blue eyes and plump lips. 'Oh no, it's a living Barbie doll.' Was the thought that came to the canine's mind as her eyes widened a bit. "So, like, what is that?" Claire asked again as she pointed to the wolfdog. "This is my new dog or wolfdog rather, Katie." Lydia answered, not very pleased with Claire's attitude. The canid, herself, was the same as she began to growl lowly and give a glare at the living Barbie doll slut, baring her fangs into a snarl as she slowly stalked toward the other girl too. This caused Claire to feel a tad frightened as she backed away a couple steps. "Like, call her off, freak." She demanded with fear being made known in her tone. The insult only made the canine growl and snarl even louder at her. Claire squealed in terror and this only gave the wolfdog an idea as she mentally smirked to herself.
Katie took this exact moment to mess with the blonde head a bit as she then spoke. "You know, Barbie dolls like you really give a bad name to other blondes. Preppy sluts like you can't even do the simplest of tasks. You want to know something, kid? I'm a blonde too, but I at least have the intelligence to know that it's not wise to pick on people or animals especially and you know why that is? Hm, do you?" She bore her fangs as much as she could and continued. "Because with fangs like this, a little thing like you could be easily ripped apart if you provoke at an animal enough." She held a rather dark grin on her muzzle as she got eye to eye with Claire. "Now, I think you may want to run along and never mess with my master again." The blonde prep was now frozen in horror as she trembled with absolute fear. The canid smirked and gave a loud and fierce bark in the girl's face, which made her jump up to her feet and flee within a millisecond. Snickers soon escaped the wolfdog as they grew into laughter, causing Lydia to join in and even bring about another laugh or cackle specifically from the all too familiar poltergeist who had made himself as the hedge beside the two. "Babes, that was a riot. I never thought I'd ever see Claire be more terrified of something that isn't even, well, me. Ah, hahahaha, oh, hohoho." Beetlejuice cackled as he held an impressed smirk toward the canid. "Beej, I have to agree with you there." Lydia replied through her own laughter.
A smile came upon the wolfdog's muzzle as she swayed her tail about and gave a bow of her head, lifting her right, front paw. "Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week." She chimed, laughing a bit more before ceasing. Lydia only giggled as she rubbed her companion between the ears. BJ then put his gaze back on his best friend as he said. "Lyds, how about layin' those B words on me?" He wiggled his brows slightly as he held his signature grin. The young girl merely laughed at him and nodded. "Alright. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" As that was said, the ghost with the most had joined the two and decided to make himself small, taking a seat atop the wolfdog's head. Katie raised her teal eyes in his direction as he did so and simply panted a bit, smiling as her tail wagged about. "Onward home, Jeeves." Beetlejuice said in his mock British accent as he pointed ahead. This made both Lydia and Katie snicker a little as they all started to make their way back to the Deetz's home.