A Ghost of a Chance

That's The Spirit

"Hey, cutie. Psst. Cupcake."

Laura groans and rolls over, hearing a chuckle as the voice transfers from one side of the bed to her bedside.

"Laura."

She groans and cracks one eye open, glaring at Carmilla through it.

"What?" Laura grumbles sleepily.

"Yikes, we might be spending too much time together, shortcake. My grumpiness is starting to rub off on you." Laura lets out a huff, which elicits another chuckle from Carmilla. "Anyway, your phone's been ringing, sugar. Caller ID says it's Gumby."

Laura rolls her eyes at Carmilla's new label for Danny and grabs her phone off the nightstand.

Six missed calls. She dials her back and it picks up after a couple rings.

"Hey, Hollis. Where ya been?"

Laura runs a hand through her hair. "Sorry. Had problems falling asleep last night." She rolls her shoulders and cracks her neck. "Anyway, what's up?"

"Ah, well, Will— J.P. hasn't had any luck finding Mattie so far," Danny says, as Carmilla makes gagging noises on the side. "But that wasn't why I called. I was talking to Mel and she feels pretty horrible about almost banishing Casper the Snarky Ghost to Hell." Carmilla pretends to hang herself, sticking out her tongue. "And I was talking about how we were hoping to use a witch named Mattie to turn her into a vampire so she wouldn't be stuck haunting the house as per her agreement, and we couldn't find Mattie. But guess what?"

"What?" Laura asks, amused while watching Carmilla continue to sit there mocking Danny.

"Mel says she knows Mattie!"

Laura's eyes widen. "What?"

"Well, not know her- know her. But her ghost-hunting grandma knows her. So Mel is working on finding Mattie ASAP."

"That's great news, Danny! Thanks!" Laura squeals. She hangs up the call and beams at Carmilla. "We'll have you back in the land of the visible and corporeal in no time!"

~*~

"Okay, viewers, so it's been a few days. Carmilla went back to being grumpy because she's impatient and... Well, she sorta went invisible on me while sulking last night. Can't really blame her. I'm getting restless, too. But the plan remains the same—wait for Mel or Will to find Mattie, turn Carmilla into a vampire, and get the heck out of this house."

Laura nods and stops the recording, leaning back to stretch. She turns on some America's Top 40-type music on Spotify and bops her head along.

It's always a slippery slope and she falls down it immediately, as the bopping turns into some nice cheesy upper-body 70s dance moves. Within a couple songs, she's shamelessly belting out some Taylor Swift and popping-and-locking as if her life depended on it.

"I don't know, shortcake, are we out of the woods, yet?"

Laura lets out a yelp and trips on her own feet, stumbling before catching herself and glaring at the now-visible Carmilla, who lets out a snort.

"Smooth, sundance."

Laura rolls her eyes. "You suck."

Carmilla chuckles.

"How long were you watching?" Laura asks, pouting.

Carmilla exaggerates looking pensive. "Some line about moving furniture and dancing."