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Sam - Saturday

Sam dragged Danny and Tucker to the zoo after lunch on Saturday. They watched from a observation tower over the domed cage of Sampson the gorilla. Sam had the binoculars.

“So gifted, so… majestic,” she said.

Danny said, “Sam, we’ve been watching the gorilla scratch his butt for, um, how long?”

Tucker yawned. “Six hours.”

Danny yawned also. “Time flies when you’re majestically scratching your butt.”

“It’s only a matter of time,” Sam said, “before you find out something about Sampson nobody’s ever learned! You should go and try to communicate with him.” She turned around to see Danny asleep on the floor. “Ugh, great. Tucker, you’re his manager. Can you—” Tucker was asleep on the floor next to Danny! He rolled over and wound up cuddling Danny.

Sam sighed. “I’ll do it. But first…” She pulled out her insta-print camera and snapped a picture of the boys. Laughing, she left the observation room, pocketing the picture and the camera.

When Sam got to Sampson’s habitat, the gorilla was grunting and hopping around. Sam rushed to get a closer look.

“What is it, you wondrous being?” she asked.

Sampson hurried over to Sam and pointed at something, still grunting.

“Is something wrong?” Sam asked, following his point.

Sampson went to the cage door of his habitat, and Sam followed.

Excitedly, she asked, “You want out?”

The control panel was right there! She hit the “open” button, and the door opened. Sampson ran out of the cage toward the tiger habitat. To Sam’s surprise, the tiger hung in a net inside its habitat. A ghost phased through the habitat’s wall, looking through binoculars.

“What? Gorilla attacking?” the ghost said.

Sampson jumped onto the ghost, knocking him down.

Sam didn’t waste time watching the fight. She ran back to the observation tower, taking the stairs two at a time. It was a good thing she was physically fit! She made it to the top of the tower in time to see Danny shiver. The ghost was already there.

“Oh my gosh!” Sam said breathlessly, but the ghost shot ectoplasm over her mouth.

“Now for the ghost child,” the ghost said. He was after Danny!

Sampson flew in through the broken window, and knocked the ghost in the chest. The ghost was pushed into the desk. He shoved Sampson off of him and phased through the wall. Sampson pounded the wall, finally waking Danny and Tucker.

The boys screamed, noticed they were holding each other, and screamed again. Then they noticed Sampson.

“Gorilla! Loose!” Tucker said.

“I got him!” Danny said, going into his stance. “I’m going ghost!”

While Danny carried Sampson to his cage, the ectoplasm over Sam’s mouth vanished.

“C’mon!” she said to Tucker.

They rushed down the stairs to meet up with Danny at the control panel.

“Danny, there was a gho—” Sam started, but Danny rounded on her.

“I wonder who let the gorilla go… Sam?” Danny said.

“Yeah,” Tucker said. “Wait ‘til we tell everybody at school you let out a four-hundred-pound gorilla.”

Unamused, Sam held up the picture of the two cuddling.

“Or we just keep it our little secret,” Danny said.

Tucker said, “Yeah, we really have no proof she did it, you know.”

Sam smirked as Danny agreed.

“Now,” she said, “about the ghost…”

“What ghost?” Danny asked. “All I saw was a gorilla. My ghost sense didn’t even go off.”

“But I swear there was one,” Sam said. “Maybe your ghost sense went off when you were asleep. Anyway—”

“Are you sure you’re not trying to distract from the fact that you let out the gorilla?” Danny asked with a cheeky smile.

“This isn’t about the gorilla!” Sam said. “The ghost was after you, Danny! You need to be careful.”

Danny waved her off. “Eh, I’ll just fight it off like any other ghost.”

Sam smacked her forehead.



Jazz - Sunday Morning

Jazz didn’t like the way the interview was going. Mom kept talking about ghosts, and Dad kept interrupting. It was a wonder Connie kept asking questions.

“Can you tell our readers what you’re working on now?” Connie asked.

Before Mom could answer, Dad held out their stupid invention. “Well, it’s called the Ghost Gabber, and—”

“Dad, put that thing away!” Jazz said. To Connie, she said, “She’s actually working on a new form of self-generating energy. She’s an amazing, intelligent woman who’s about to change the world.”

“Connie,” Mom said, “my primary focus these days is ghost hunting.”

Connie frowned, and Jazz sighed.

The door opened, and Danny, Tucker, and Sam came in. They appeared exhausted.

“Danny, look at you!” Mom said. “I’m not sure I like this overnight zoo research.”

“Mom, come on,” Danny said. “We’re just a bunch of kids. In the zoo. At night. Alone.” Everyone stared at him. “We’ll be in my room.” He and his friends went upstairs.

“We’ll be in my room,” the Ghost Gabber Said. “Fear me.”

“Give me that!” Jazz said and snatched the device from her father. She stuffed it under a pillow in irritation… and a little bit of fear. She had to do something about that Gabber before anyone figured out it actually worked.

“Now, where were we?” Jazz asked cheerfully to get the interview going again.



Danny

Danny, Sam, and Tucker trudged up the stairs to Danny’s room.

“Here we go, Danny,” Tucker said. “Home in time for some well-deserved rest.” His PDA beeped, and he looked at it. “But keep it quick, you’ve got thirteen minutes.”

Danny just touched his door-handle when his ghost sense went off. He opened the door, and a ghost in gray and green armor stood there.

“Hello, Ghost Child,” the ghost said with a sadistic grin. He shot out a net form his wrist ray, which captured Danny.

“Danny?!” Tucker and Sam cried out.

“The human ghost child,” the ghost said, “in its natural habitat.”

“Who are you?” Danny asked.

“I am Skulker!” the ghost said. He held up a cage filled with ghosts. “A collector of things rare and unique. And you, Ghost Child, are that and more.” He laughed and stomped on a model rocket.

“Hey, my rocket!” Danny said. “I built that!”

Skulker ignored him. “Pity, though. I’d hoped you would put up more of a fight.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Danny said. He turned into a ghost and phased out of the net. “I will!” He punched Skulker into the wall, surprised at the weight behind the ghost.

“That’s the ghost from the zoo!” Sam said.

“Danny?” Tucker asked.

“No, the other guy,” Sam said.



Jazz

“Hello?” Jazz called up the stairs. “What’s going on up there?” When no answer came, she smiled at Connie and said, “You know, ghost hunting isn’t the only thing my parents do, Connie. It’s really a side interest. What they’re really into is—”

Another loud crash sounded from upstairs.

Dad stood up and shouted, “Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!”

Tucker and Sam came down the stairs, as casual as could be.

“Kids,” Mom said, “get down! There’s a ghost in the house.”

Tucker said, “Actually, there’s two—” Sam elbowed him, “—much homework to be done for there to be a ghost here.” He walked to the kitchen. “I’ll get some snacks.”

“Yeah,” Sam said. “Danny’s upstairs.” There was another crash. “Uh, lifting weights?”

“He doesn’t have exercise equipment up there,” Mom said.

They heard Danny shout, “My computer!”

“That’s why he’s using his computer,” Sam said.

The next crash came from the kitchen. Everyone rushed over there to see what was going on. Tucker stood alone next to a broken table.

“Uh,” Tucker said. He struck a karate pose. “Hi-ya!”

“What’s going on?” Connie asked.

Yet another crash, this one in the lab.

“Sounds like rats in the lab,” Tucker said.

“Ghost rats,” Dad said. “I knew it.”

“Don’t worry,” Sam said as she and Tucker ran out of the kitchen, “we’ll get rid of them.”

“I’d like to learn a little more about this Danny,” Connie said, walking toward the stairs.

Jazz had to stop this! “Uh, that’s probably not such a good idea!” she said.

“I’d like to see what he’s doing up there, anyway,” Mom said, also walking to the stairs.

“Wait!” Jazz said hopelessly.



Danny

In the lab, Danny dangled as Skulker had him by the throat. Skulker’s powers wouldn’t let Danny turn intangible.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked desperately.

“Bringing you back to my world,” Skulker said, “where I can put you on display.” He showed off his cage of ghosts again.

“What?!” Danny cried out.

Skulker pressed a button his his wrist, and the ghost portal opened up. Questions about that button would have to wait until later. Right now, Danny had to escape.

“Ha!” Skulker said. “At last. Time to put you in your cage.”

“Noooo!” Danny yelled. Anger surged in him, and he struggled to break free. He shot an ectoblast at Skulker’s head, but a small mechanical arm popped out and created a shield. Skulker just had too many gadgets!

Sam showed up between Skulker and the portal, her arms wide to block him from entering.

“No is right, Danny,” she said firmly. “Cages are wrong. How do you think Sampson feels being in a cage?”

“But—” Skulker said.

“He’s a beautiful animal and deserves to roam free!” Sam said.

“I—” Skulker tried.

“Should be ashamed,” Sam said.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Danny kicked Skulker across the room. Tucker yelled and ran out of the way, dropping his PDA. Skulker saw the PDA and picked it up.

“That technology,” Skulker said in awe, “So sleek, so… advanced.” He looked at his broken control panel on his arm and back at the PDA. “Hmm, I wonder…” He yanked the control panel out, dropped it on the floor, and replaced it with Tucker’s PDA. Sparks flew, and the wiring wiggled.

“Hey,” Tucker said. “I got three more payments on that!”

Skulker backhanded Tucker but otherwise ignored him. “Marvelous,” he said.

The wires connected, and Skulker glowed. Danny went in for a punch, but Skulker shot ectoblasts at him, binding his arms and legs.

“Way to go, Tucker,” Sam said. “You just made the bad guy more bad!”

“How was I supposed to know my PDA was ghost compatible?” Tucker asked.

“Say goodbye to this world, child,” Skulker said. He pointed his wrist ray at Danny, but it beeped. “What? ‘Fly to library? Get a book on eating habits of purple-back gorilla?’”

Jet-pack wings sprung out of Skulker’s back and propelled him toward the ceiling.

“No, stop,” he said. “The hunt is not over!” And he phased through the ceiling.

The ectoplasm binding Danny disappeared, and Sam helped him off the floor.

“What happened?” she wondered.

“Who cares?” Danny said. “At least I get a minute to relax and figure this out.”

Mom’s voice came from upstairs. “Danny, where are you? Somebody here wants to meet you.”

“Oh! My room!” Danny said.

He flew invisibly to his room. Luckily, the door was closed, so he transformed into his human self. Just in time. Mom opened the door.

“Danny, this is Connie, from Genius Magazine,” she said.

“Don’t you people knock?” Danny asked and slammed his door. “Jazz is going to kill me for that.”



Jazz

“I’m going to kill him for that,” Jazz said under her breath, but really, she was glad to see him as a human.

Connie said, “Brooding? Messy? Reclusive? Now those are the signs of a true genius. Oh! If only he were a woman.”