Thank you! :D I'm glad you're enjoying my story so far! Here's:

Chapter Two

The wind blew cold and the moon hung high as Drake Mallard rode his bike up to the corner fire hydrant that marked the end of his familiar neighborhood.

He stopped there and swallowed hard, warily watching a group of costumed older kids pass by, their pillowcases bulging with candy.

This was the latest Drake had ever been out, and the farthest he'd ever gone on his own. Beyond that red hydrant, the city stretched out as uncharted territory.

He didn't have to do this, of course. If he turned back now, he could sneak back to his room and no one would ever know he'd been gone.

But, that would be the coward's way out.

And, Drake Mallard was no coward.

Drake straightened his shoulders and resumed peddling, drawing strength from his blue Super Pig mask as he passed the hydrant and turned the corner toward the big, busy, two-lane road he'd been warned repeatedly never to cross without a grown-up.

Well, he crossed at the light and sailed on down the hill, his Official Fan Club approved Super Pig cape flapping heroically behind him. He flew past the pizza place, past the deli and the corner market, the bakery and the bank, all the way to the new, tree-lined neighborhood behind the bowling alley. There, not far from a small power substation, he found Elmo Sputterspark's address.

"This is it," Drake said as he dismounted and balanced his bike on its kickstand. "No going back…"

Elmo's front door loomed in front of him, the frosted glass shimmering orangey-gold in the light from the streetlamps lining the street.

Drake glanced around at the unfamiliar houses and trees all around him, a fresh thrill of fear making his tail feathers quiver. Despite the moon and the streetlamps, the whole street seemed dark and eerily deserted. Even the groups of teenagers he'd passed on his way there seemed to have called it a night.

The young duck swallowed hard, then climbed the stairs and raised a trembling fist to the door.

…knock—

The door swung open before he could rap a second time.

"Ha!" Elmo cried, wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume Drake had to grudgingly admit rather suited his long nose and lanky figure. "So, you decided to turn up after all! But, what are you doing in that garish get up? I thought you were coming as Dr. Watson!"

"No way!" Drake said, drawing himself up. "Super Pig is nobody's side kick!"

"Hey, suit yourself. At least you got here on time. Come on, I'll take you to meet my mother."

He grabbed Drake by the arm, pulling him through a rather cluttered living room and kitchen up a flight of stairs to what the designers of the house had probably intended to be a master bedroom.

Elmo's mother had removed the walls to the neighboring bedrooms on either side, expanding the already large room into a truly impressive home laboratory that took up most of the second floor. The lab was stuffed to the brim with complicated, and expensive, looking equipment. There was so much going on in there, Drake's eyes weren't sure what to look at first.

"See, Ma?" Elmo said, pushing Drake ahead of him toward a tall, skinny figure in a white lab coat. "This is Drake Mallard. I told you he was real."

The figure turned to look at them. Her features were mostly obscured by a pair of tinted lab goggles, but Drake noticed she had a long nose, like her son, and she'd clipped her hair back in a rather messy bun.

"Why, so he is!" she exclaimed merrily, taking Drake by the shoulders and setting him down on a nearby lab stool. "Hello Drake, dear! I'm Elmo's mother, Dr. Anita Sputterspark."

"She's the chair of the electrical engineering department over at the University of Calisota, St. Canard," Elmo said. "She and her team were just awarded this big grant to start researching potential alternative energy sources. That's why all the stuff…"

"That's…pretty amazing," Drake managed through his disorientation, staring at a bubbling vial of oily something that smelled like a fast food deep fryer.

"Oh,"Anita sighed happily, "I thought this day would never come! My Elmo has finally found a best friend!"

She beamed so hard, Drake didn't dare correct her.

"I'm sure you'll be wanting a sleep over," she said. "There are so many 'party-sized' snack recipes I've been dying to try! Oh, and movies - you're going to want movies. The scarier the better on Halloween night, right boys?"

"Actually," Elmo said, "Drake's really been wanting to observe a unique weather phenomenon down by the waterfront. If you drive us there, I'm sure Drake would love to stay and watch scary movies afterwards. Isn't that right, Drake?"

Drake felt too overwhelmed to think straight.

"Uh…yeah…I guess..."

"Oh? What weather phenomenon?" she asked curiously, staring straight at the flustered young duck.

"Well, um, it's..." Drake stammered.

"It's a recurring instance of St. Elmo's Fire," Elmo told her. "It's said to happen only once a year, around midnight on Halloween night. That's why we've gotta go check it out! Well, that, and it has my name."

He grinned.

"Actually, honey, that's just a coincidence," Anita said, "St. Elmo's Fire was named after St. Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors. St. Elmo and St. Erasmo are two Italian versions of that name."

"Yeah, well, it's still cool. Huh, Drake," Elmo said, and gave Drake a sharp jab with his elbow.

"Ow! I...uh, I mean yeah!" Drake said. "It's, uh... It's pretty cool. Uh, ma'am."

Elmo frowned at his apparent lack of enthusiasm, but his mother didn't seem to notice.

"You're right, Drake," she said happily. "It does sound quite 'cool'. Of course I'll drive you there. Elmo, honey, do you still have that weather and wind speed meter you got for your sixth birthday? Oh - and your waterproof laser rangefinder and inclinometer for accurate distance measurements?"

"Right here, Ma," he said, holding up a cell-phone-sized device, then a blocky object Drake thought looked kind of like binoculars before stuffing them both into his backpack. "I've also got my lightning detector and a few uninflated weather balloons."

"Notebooks?" she asked. "You'll each need one to jot down your data and observations. Oh, and where's that all-weather pen with the LED light…"

"It's pretty clear tonight," Elmo said. "I think we'll be good with pencils."

"Never take chances with the weather, sweetie," she said. "Especially down by the water! A stray wave or sudden rain shower and: poof! All your data's smudged and drippy! Ah, here they are!"

She triumphantly held out two pens, one of which Elmo obligingly handed to Drake.

Drake stared at it.

Until that moment, very little about Elmo's strange, nocturnal expedition had actually seemed, well, real to him. To be honest, he'd half-expected Elmo's mother to put an immediate kibosh on the idea of two nine-year-old boys heading down to the docks of St. Canard on Halloween night. Any normal parent would probably have dashed for the phone by now, if only to confirm Drake really did have permission to stay the night.

Yet, here she was, not only encouraging her son's batty idea, but offering scary movies and party snacks afterwards. On a school night, no less!

"I don't believe it..." he muttered to himself. "It's Halloween night, and I'm sitting in this crazy lab with a real mad scientist...!"

"Elmo, why don't you show your friend down to the garage," Dr. Sputterspark said, swapping her tinted goggles for a pair of thick glasses and re-twisting her hair into a quick, efficient spiral. "I'll turn off a few things here and be right with you."

"Yes! Thanks, Ma!" Elmo cheered, cackling gleefully as he led Drake back down the stairs.

"You see, you see!" he said, literally bouncing up and down with excitement. "I told you it would work! She's so glad I brought you here, she'll let us do whatever we want! So, you ready chase down that ghoulish ghost cat?"

"Well, I... That is..." Drake winced. "Your mom seems really nice, you know? Maybe we should stay here and watch those movies..."

Elmo frowned.

"Aw, what's this?" he said. "Is Drakey scared? Is that it? Does little Drakey want to go back home?"

"What! No!" Drake exclaimed, flushing beet red behind his feathers. "I can go anywhere you can go!"

"Even if it might be dangerous?"

"If it is, then let's get dangerous!" Drake declared, mimicking Super Pig's most heroic pose. "I ain't afraid of no ghost!"

"You're sure you won't flake?" Elmo pressed, crossing his arms over his Sherlock Holmes outfit.

"I'm sure," Drake told him.

"You're really, really sure?"

"Yes! I'm really, really sure!"

"Then follow me," the costumed rat said, grabbing a bag of cookies as they strode through the kitchen. "The car's this way."

To Be Continued…

Until next time, thanks so much for reading! Your reviews are always welcome! :D