Crystal the Half-Ghost Witch

Chapter 2

It had been several weeks since the portal accident and since the Dursleys had dragged Crystal back with them to Privet Drive. During the last three days she spent in Amity Park, Crystal had worked hard to make sure she wouldn't accidentally transform in front of the Dursleys. She also did her best to control the powers she gained from becoming a half-ghost.

Sam had somehow managed to get Crystal a small cellphone, which she was able to hide from the Dursleys. Crystal focused all her efforts on turning it invisible when the Dursleys searched her and her bag after they returned to the house.

Vernon threw her back into the cupboard with her bags, then slammed the door closed and locked it, telling her that since she had gotten plenty of food while in Amity Park, she wouldn't be getting any more for a week.

Crystal glared at the locked cupboard door before realizing something: she now had ghost powers. If she could utilize them, she could steal food and water without the Dursleys knowing. She would still have to be careful; she couldn't risk letting the Dursleys discover her powers.

She had no doubt that they would turn her over to ghost hunters or scientists to dissect her. The thought made her shudder, and she refused to let that happen.

Three weeks had passed since she got her ghost powers, and she was beginning to wonder just how oblivious the Dursleys were for not noticing something was off. She didn't have complete control over her powers yet, so sometimes she would turn invisible for a second or start sinking through the ground before noticing and frantically pulling herself back up. Fortunately, she hadn't dropped anything breakable yet because she was always extra careful to focus on staying tangible whenever handling fragile objects.

She had heard from Sam that Danny kept breaking several school beakers to the point that he wasn't allowed to handle them in science class anymore. This made her wonder how bad their school was if they didn't question why someone good at science suddenly started breaking so many beakers.

Sam passed on Crystal's advice to focus hard on staying tangible whenever holding something fragile, and she received a thank-you from Danny. After that, Sam sent her both Danny's and Tucker's numbers so she could message them if she needed to talk—for ghost-related matters with Danny, and for technical help with Tucker.

Crystal made sure to use her phone only in the cupboard late at night when everyone else was asleep, and she hid it behind a loose brick during the day. She didn't want to risk the Dursleys finding it and punishing her for having it.

Whenever Crystal had free time over the next year, she snuck away to the woods near Privet Drive to practice her powers. After a while, she no longer turned invisible or intangible unintentionally, and she could transform on command. She even managed to convince Danny over a phone call—made in the woods—that yelling "Going Ghost" before transforming was a stupid idea.

As she asked him during the call, was he trying to get caught? Luckily, he wasn't completely clueless and told her he would stop doing it. He also taught her about ecto-blasts and a few other powers he had learned while fighting the ghosts that came through the portal.

Crystal then spent some time trying to learn about these ecto-blasts when she discovered something that Danny, Sam, and Tucker must have forgotten to mention.

She was strong—like super strong.

Crystal had tried to move a log out of the way so she could practice, but she accidentally shoved it, sending it flying. She tried doing it in her human form but found that she wasn't nearly as strong as a human as she was as a ghost.

She grabbed a notebook and pen she had managed to sneakily swipe from Dudley without him noticing and started to write down all the powers she and Danny had figured out so far.