Wolves, Witches and Ghosts

Chapter 1: A World Unseen

The odd trio of Danny, Sam and Tucker sat in the Nasty Burger, sipping at their smoothies. This on its own was normal, what was less normal was the topic of discussion.

"Wait, you're telling us your folks made a portal to the Ghost Zone in your basement?" Tucker asked, mouth half full of burger, ignoring the glare Sam sent his way.

"Yeah, but it didn't work. They've been kinda depressed since the morning," Danny responded, and stirred his milkshake with the straw.

"Can we see it?" Sam sounded enthusiastic, and Tucker coughed quietly, a reminder to her that it was a full moon that night and he needed to get home on time.

"I guess, but it's just a hole with circuitry anyway," Danny replied, shrugging.

"Hole with circuitry or not, it's still pretty cool," Sam pressed.

Tucker sighed in defeat at the spark of interest in Danny's eyes. Ah, the things teenage boys would do for their crushes - of course Tucker would never do such a thing.

Finishing off their meals, the trio set out from the fast food establishment, the warm breeze of early autumn carrying the scent of decaying flora through the air. The trees that lined the road had gained an orange hue, and rustled gently. Tucker enjoyed his time at the back of the group, taking in the smells and feeling of the air. The time before the full moon always heightened his senses beyond their usual superhuman levels, and he was going to enjoy it.

Suburban houses passed by until they reached the Fenton household, which stuck out like a sore thumb with its great big neon sign. Quite how it hadn't been removed as a public eyesore, Tucker couldn't be sure - perhaps because it was on private property. He was getting sidetracked. Noticing that his friends had now entered the house, he jogged after them.

The group made a beeline for the basement, Sam leading the trio. A circle drilled into the wall went along for an indistinguishable length, becoming submerged in shadows towards the end, with metal plating and wires along the interior walls. LED lights blinked in little gaps in the plating, and it looked like some sort of sci-fi prop.

"Woah," both Sam and Tucker breathed.

Sam brought out her camera, snapping a polaroid photo of the wall. "Hey, Danny, can you stand in front of the portal? Wait, is that a jumpsuit?" A black and white jumpsuit was hung on the right hand wall, next to a bunch of dials and gauges.

Danny sighed, picking it up off the hook. "Yeah, my parents made me a jumpsuit - in case I ever wanted to get into the ghost hunting business with them. Jazz already hid hers so they can't make her wear it."

Sam snapped yet another photo. "Want to check it out in that portal?"

Danny was reluctant. "I showed you the portal. Can we please get out of here?"

"Come on, Danny. A Ghost Zone? Aren't you curious? You gotta check it out," Sam chided.

Tucker gave a weak argument against Sam's points, "I don't know about this. It seems like a bad idea. You don't even know if it's safe."

"It seems safe, my parents are pretty careful about their designs. You should have seen the amount of calculations and work that went into this," Danny said after some deliberation. "Besides, who knows what kind of awesome, super-cool things exist on the other side of that portal?"

He pulled on the jumpsuit over his casual wear. A block colour design of Jack Fenton's face was plastered on the front of the jumpsuit, and Sam ripped it off. "You can't go walking around with that on your chest," she said.

Danny's face gained a pink tinge, and he turned to face the mouth of the portal. He took a step into the tunnel cautiously. His eyes were focused on the path ahead of him, and his gloved hand trailed along the wall, feeling every nook and bump on its welded surface. His hand seemed to tingle with energy as it passed over one of the lights, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.