Paranormal parolee

Ch 12~ An evil plan in motion, Part Two

"W-what in God's name was all that!?" The fervent whisper had come from Micheal, a shaking hand pushing back the brown and red hair that had fallen in his face.

Beetlejuice sat chuckling to himself, an arm around the shoulders of the only person in the room who could see him.

Steve spoke, forcing the shakiness out of his voice as best he could, "We need to figure out how to handle this, figure out what it wants."

Tom glared at him, "You want us to keep going?"

"I know everyone's a little freaked out-"

"A LITTLE freaked out!?"

"-BUT, moving forward is our best shot! I think that-"

"OH GOD!" Cassandra cried out as if suddenly realizing something, interrupting Steve for a second time.

"What is it Cassy? I'm trying to make a plan here!"

"Hey man, don't be so hard on her. Now is not the time for that!" Micheal shot back.

Tom spoke up over the others, "Both of you need to be quiet, we need to think practically."

"Oh ya!? What do you know about this Tom!"

The three men's bickering continued to escalate, each of them trying to dominate with their ideas and thoughts on how to handle the crisis.

Grace turned her head to see Beetlejuice holding a tub of popcorn in his lap and a pair of old school 3D glasses on his face. Shoveling handfuls of popcorn into his mouth with the hand not currently around her shoulders, watching everything like it was a new episode of his favorite soap opera.

She thought of shoving his arm off, but decided to leave it. The situation she sat in wasn't a fun one. In on the plan or not, the fear of the others was infectious and maintaining the subterfuge in the middle of it all... she was starting to feel the anxiety creep its fingers into her skull.

So she welcomed the friendly contact. It was a solid weight across her shoulders and made her feel better, as opposed to the death grip Cassandra still had on her arm.

The arguing was reaching a fever pitch and Beetlejuice smiled, fingers dancing with excitement.

Then, Cassandra, who was still glued to Grace, shocked everyone in the room by yelling over the three fighting.

"BE QUITE!!!"

All eyes, dead or alive, looked at her.

"Does anyone know if Brian is okay!?" Her voice cracked in worry.

Her words caused all their eyes to widen in mounting panic, remembering the crew member they had left all alone. Micheal pulled out one of the walkie talkies from the bag. It's small screen and plastic casing were cracked from Cassy throwing all the equipment in the bag earlier. He clicked it a few times experimentally. Nothing.

"Steve, do you still have yours?"

"Uh... Y-ya." Fumbling through his pockets he pulls out his own, still unbroken. He switches it on with a satisfying *click*. It's small screen glowed yellow as it beeped to life. The Ghoul Chasers let out a breath of relief.

We can't have that, now can we? Beetlejuice, while trying not to laugh, snapped his fingers.

The walkie talkie sparked suddenly in Steve's hand. The screen flickered out, and a decidedly not good *POP* noise came from inside.

"No, no! Nonononononono!"

The color drained from their faces.

"T-try the cell phones."