The City Lake

XI

Lucas charged ahead with his best approximation of a battle cry, and Noah didn't sound far behind. Anna was silent, so Caleb had no clue where she was in this as he groaned once more and tried to figure out how to stop this.

"DIE GHOSTIE!" Lucas called at them as he continued to run forward.

Caleb raised his hand in the air and spoke, slowly opening his eyes as he did so. "Please, stop. She's innocent."

"But you're kidnapped! We're saving you!" Despite her words, Noah paused and held Lucas back. "It's a ghost. Ghosts can't be innocent."

"Anna is. I can explain," Caleb said. He stood and walked towards his old coworkers. "She made a bad first impression, but if you put that behind you, she's great. I almost don't want her to leave."

"I must," said Anna from behind him. "I will leave soon. No need to try to destroy me. It won't work anyway."

"But you're dangerous!" Lucas declared, menacingly waving the torch around. The motion made the fire blow out and he frowned at the stick before tossing it to the side.

Caleb shook his head. "Not now. She was, but not all ghosts are, and sometimes they are dangerous only part of the time. Why don't you get to know her a little and then cast your judgement?"

"I'm not sure I like this," Noah said, though she walked forward anyway. "We're a ghost hunting club, not a ghost friendship club."

"Oh, have you seen other ghosts around? It's a little lonely at the bottom of the lake," Anna said. "I could have used a club to get to know others."

"You are our first official mission," Lucas proudly said.

Anna clapped. "How nice! We can chat and get to know each other, and I can tell you how not to approach a ghost! Such professionals like yourselves wouldn't turn down a few tips from a ghost herself, would you?"

Lucas narrowed his eyes and pointed the torch at her. "You could be lying!"

"She won't," Caleb promised. He returned to his dirty towel and sat down. "Have a seat."

"Where?" Noah scrunched up her nose and looked at the decomposition everywhere around them. "Can we sit on the end of your towel?"

"No," said Caleb.

"Aren't we friends?" Lucas asked, trying out some ineffective puppy eyes.

"No. You aggravated Jeremy. He's been subdued. We aren't friends." Caleb crossed his arms and stared the pair down. The pair stared back, chastised.

Anna sighed. "This is awkward. Should I give you people a minute to talk it out?"

"I'm sorry, Jeremy," Noah said in a genuine apology. She dipped her head in respect to the situation. "I didn't think it'd get that bad."

"Well," Caleb said, drawing out the word, "it did."

"We're really sorry," Lucas added. He shuffled his feet in the muck, and then noticed the gunk he was collecting on his boots. He was fast to try to shove it off with the toe of his opposite boot.

Caleb shrugged. "He'll be fine. But you were just pressing so hard, and you ran away when you knew it was getting bad! What was I supposed to think besides, 'maybe these people weren't the best friends to have'?"

"Anyway," Anna jumped in. "I'd appreciate it if you could help me destroy the statue, now that you're all here."

Now that the lake had risen a bit, it would be a disgusting walk to the statue the ghost hunting club had noticed on their previous trip down here together. All three humans grimaced at the thought of that journey.