Above the audience, the ghost continued circling like a vulture.
“Let’s do this. Everybody ready?” Erin raised her wand.
“Yeah,” Abby and Holtzmann said together.
“Um, sure,” Patty said.
The Ghostbusters fired their beams, but they missed the ghost, hitting the elaborate ceiling instead. Plaster exploded and rained down on the audience, who applauded, loving every moment of this.
The ghost swiped Adam off the stage and carried him over the crowd.
“Help!” Adam shouted from high above the theater floor. “I think this thing is real! Help me!” He looked down to see the head of the record company watching, impressed. Adam regrouped. “I mean, help me keep. . . rocking you world! AAAAUGH!” The ghost dropped Adam.
The audience tried to catch the falling singer, but he hit them hard. A large group of rockers were knocked to the ground.
“It’s gonna take a lot of fire power to pull that thing down,” Holtzmann said.
“Circumvallate!” Erin suggested. “We need to surround it.”
“Patty!” Abby barked orders. “Let’s each take an aisle. Holtz, set the trap and let’s reel that thing in.”
Abby and Patty rushed to the aisles as Erin and Holtzmann took up positions on the stage.
Patty shouted at everyone. “Get out of the way! We need to get down those aisles.”
Abby took a microphone. “Guess what, people. You are now part of this operation. Patty, let’s hit it.” Like a rock star, Abby dove into the audience. They caught her and she body-surfed across the top of them.
“Left,” Abby shouted. “Move me to the left. Now back. Keep going! Excellent!”
Patty was into it. “All right, you freaks. Time to catch a ghost. Let’s do this!” Like Abby, she dove into the crowd, but everyone moved out of the way. She crashed onto the floor.
“How dare you let a lady hit the floor? Pick me up now!” Patty screeched. No one moved to help her. Patty didn’t know that no one was getting close to her because there was a ghost standing on her shoulders.
“Just stay still,” Abby told her.
“Patty, I—” Whatever Erin was going to say, Patty stopped her.
“No need to say anything.”
“You—” Erin tried again.
“No,” Patty protested. “I don’t want to hear what you are about to say.”
“But—” Holtzmann cut in.
“I’m pretty tired. I am actually just gonna take off,” said Patty.
“I really don’t think that’s a good—” Erin said.
“Nope.” Patty started up the aisle. “I’m out.”
“Patty.” Erin was firm. “Stay still!”
When Patty refused to stop, Abby said, “All right, ladies. Let’s light it up. Fire. Just don’t hit Patty!”
That made Patty stop. “What?” she cried.
As the other three Ghostbusters fired, the ghost jumped off Patty’s shoulders. Patty realized what going on and drew her own wand. The ghost was struggling to escape the power of their beams. The band stopped playing. They had finally realized that this wasn’t fake.
“Oh, I forgot to mention! Don’t let your beam get entangled with my beam!” Holtzmann warned.
“What? Why?” Erin asked.
“It’s too much power,” Holtzmann explained. “It would cause a counter reaction. The beam will shoot back into your body and each atom will implode.”
“WHAT?” Erin freaked out.
Holtzmann ignored her. “Okay, I’m gonna open the trap on three, everyone else hold steady.” She flipped open the trap with her foot, then kicked it toward the foot of the stage. The inside of the trap lit up into a wide glowing tractor beam.
“Okay! Bring it down!” Holtzmann said.
They slowly lowered the ghost ensnared in their streams.
“Turn off your streams as soon as I close the trap. Ready? Okay . . . off!” Holtzmann stomped her foot on the trigger, the ghost was sucked inside, and the lid slammed shut. Steam rose from the trap.
The Ghostbusters all lowered their beams while Holtzmann lifted the box by the cord. They stared at her.
“Are you waiting for me to say something?” she asked them.
“Did we catch a ghost or not?” Erin asked.
“Oh, we caught a ghost.” Holtzmann grinned.
The Ghostbusters jumped around the stage shouting, “Yes!” and “We did it!”
Erin and Abby hugged. The crowd went wild and the band started playing again.
Holtzmann picked up a guitar and smashed it. She apologized to the guitar player, “Sorry, got caught up in the moment.”
Erin kissed the ghost trap.
“Erin, that’s radioactive,” Abby warned.
Erin looked worried.
Holtzmann said, “It’s okay, you’ll just take some potassium iodine for the next ten years. It’s fine.” She gave a look to Abby, like in the subway tunnel and mouthed, “It’s not good.”
From backstage, the famous rock star Ozzy Osborne watched the action. He packed up his gear to leave, saying, “I can’t follow that.”
The Ghostbusters were heroes. As they left the theater, a massive crowd cheered for them. The NY News vans were there to capture the moment. Erin couldn’t stop smiling. It was the best day of her life.
CHAPTER 10
It was time to celebrate. At the Ghostbusters’ headquarters, the stereo was blaring and Erin and Patty danced.
Erin danced over to Kevin. “C’mon, Kevin! Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Give us something!” Patty circled around him.
Kevin joined in the fun and the three of them danced over to where Abby and Holtzmann were at a workbench, taking apart the strange sparking device they’d found in the theater.
Erin tried to get them to dance. “Guys. It’s time to celebrate. This is what ‘legit’ feels like.” She grabbed the trap and gave it another kiss.
“Okay, you gotta stop kissing the trap,” Abby warned.
“I know. But it’s like, the more you guys say ‘Don’t kiss the trap,’ the more I want to kiss the trap.” Erin raised the trap to Holtzmann. “Get in on this!”
Holtzmann had moved to her workbench. “Rain check. Exciting things happening over here. Newly printed circuit boards, superconducting magnets rebuilt, beam accuracy improved and extended by producing a controlled plasma inside a new RF discharge chamber in the redesigned wand, a cryocooler to reduce helium boil-off. And—wait for it—a Faraday cage to attenuate RF noise and provide physical protection to avoid quenches. Can I get a ‘woot woot’?”
“Woot woot!” Abby and Erin cheered.
Kevin interrupted the celebration. “Ummmm. There’s someone here to see you. Some debunker or something.”
“Someone?” Erin thought about it for a second, then said, “You mean Martin Heiss? The famed scientist? The paranormal debunker? Here? Inside this building?”
The Ghostbusters followed Kevin to where Heiss was standing, looking at all the maps and notes filled with scientific notations, equations, and crazy squiggles tacked on the wall.
“Mr. Heiss, welcome to our laboratory,” Erin greeted.
Heiss turned toward them. “Is now a bad time?”
“Actually, it is—” Abby started.
“Not at all. Please, have a seat.” Erin cut in. She called across the office space, “Kevin, could you please get Mr. Heiss some water?”
Heiss sat down in a chair. The Ghostbusters joined him.
“I sure hope you don’t mind being recorded,” he said, holding a camera.
Erin was uncomfortable. “Well, I actually would prefer—” He hit record and she gave in. “Oh, okay.”
Kevin handed Heiss a glass of water that was only one-eighth full. It was an odd choice. Heiss took a long look at the glass, then turned his attention to the Ghostbusters. “Let’s start light and easy. Ever hear of the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge? James Randi offered to pay one mil
lion dollars to anyone who can prove paranormal claims under scientific testing criteria. No one has. Why are you pretending to catch ghosts?”
Abby was outraged. “We only know what four percent of the universe—”
“Breathe,” Erin told Abby. Then to Heiss she said, “Sir, we believe in the scientific method. I’ve dedicated my life to it. We have been working on bringing the paranormal into a controlled environment so we can supply that proof. This has been very difficult to do. But we have now done just that.” She gestured to the ghost trap. “At four thirty-two p.m. today we successfully trapped a class three vapor.”
“You’re saying there’s a ghost in that box?” Heiss asked pointedly.
“Yes, I am,” Erin told him.
“Well, I would just love to see it. Wouldn’t that be a treat?” His tone was mocking.
“You can’t,” Abby said. “We still have to establish the best method of testing that can contain it in the lab.”
“What a shame.” Heiss wrote something on a notepad.
“Otherwise, we would show you,” Erin assured him.
Heiss said, “Hey. You gotta keep it contained. What can you do?”
“Listen, I know this sounds like we’re making it up.” Erin gestured at their jumpsuits and packs in a corner. “Obviously, we look a little ridiculous right now.”
“You look like the Orkin of fake,” Heiss said, referencing the famous exterminator company.
Patty stood. “Well, it was real nice of you to stop by.”
Erin was angry. “You wanna see it?” she asked. Maybe it was time to let the ghost out of the bag—or trap, as it were.
“I would love to see it,” Heiss told her.
“Too bad. He can’t,” Abby told Erin.
“I think he should see it,” Erin insisted.
“This jerk’s approval doesn’t matter. There are more important things at play,” Abby whispered to her.
“I bet,” Heiss said under his breath.
Erin reached out to the trap. “We’re showing him.”
Holtzmann and Patty put on their proton packs, ready to recapture the ghost.
Erin told Heiss, “I would stand over here behind us.”
“I weirdly think I’ll be just fine here.” He stayed put.
Abby blocked Erin’s hand. “Erin, no. We finally caught this entity. I’m not letting you do this.”
“Okay. Fine, fine. I get it,” Erin said as Abby said, “Good.”
Then in a flash, Erin hit the button on the trap. Everyone gasped.
Nothing happened. No ghost.
“Oh, come on.” Erin tapped the box with her foot. Still nothing. She was confused.
Martin turned off his camera. “Well, it was lovely meeting y—”
Suddenly, the ghost flew out of the box. It lifted Martin Heiss in the air and threw him out the window. The ghost then left through the opening, zooming off into the night.
The Ghostbusters ran to the window.
“Oh no!” Patty gasped. This was not good.
It didn’t take long for the police to arrive. An ambulance took Martin Heiss away.
“I’m going to ask you one more time,” Officer Stevenson interrogated the Ghostbusters. “And if you tell me a ghost threw him out the window again, you will be answering this behind bars. So, here we go. What happened?”
“Ghost did it,” Holtzmann mumbled.
“Say that louder please?” the officer said. “I just want to be sure I’m hearing you right.”
Just as he was ready to arrest them, several black SUVs pulled up. Two men in suits flashed badges to the cops.
Agent Frank Hawkins spoke first. “Official business. We’ve got this.”
“You need to come with us,” Agent Rorke told the Ghostbusters.
“Why? Who are you guys?” Erin asked.
“The mayor would like a word,” Hawkins replied.
Thirty minutes later, the Ghostbusters were standing in the mayor’s office. Mayor Bradley was sitting at his desk. His spokeswoman, Jennifer Lynch, stood nearby.
The mayor welcomed them. “There they are. Sorry for all this drama. Please, have a seat.”
“Listen, something big is happening. We’re not frauds. We are scientists,” Erin assured him.
“We know you’re not frauds, because we’ve been monitoring the situation as well,” the mayor said.
Ms. Lynch explained, “Agents Hawkins and Rorke are with Homeland Security. We’ve been investigating this extremely quietly.”
“So, what do you know?” the mayor asked them.
“Um, just that we believe someone is creating devices to attract and amplify paranormal activity,” Erin told him.
“And this activity could be escalating toward a larger-scale event,” Abby added.
“Well, that sounds terrible. I certainly don’t like the sound of that,” the mayor said. “Okay. Well, listen. Thank you. Great work. Really. But it’s time to knock it off.”
“Excuse me?” Abby rubbed her ears.
“These gentlemen are on it.” The mayor nodded toward the agents. “Let the government do its work.”
“The mayor’s concern is that you’re drawing too much attention to yourselves,” Ms. Lynch said.
“I think we keep a pretty low profile,” Erin assured him.
Agent Hawkins narrowed his eyes. “You drive a hearse with a ghost on it. You use an unauthorized siren. Do you know how many federal regulations you are breaking on a daily basis?”
“We’re going to have to make the public believe you’re frauds,” the mayor told them.
“What?” Erin’s face was flushed. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.
“The human mind can only handle so much,” Ms. Lynch began. “If people knew what was happening right now, there would be a panic. We’ll have to put out information that the concert incident was a hoax. Otherwise, there would be mass hysteria.”
Abby said, “Listen, all we care about is being able to continue to do our work.”
“Now, that’s true,” Erin said. “But it just seems like all those people already saw what happened and what we did. It must be all over the internet by now.”
“You mean a bunch of metal heads who saw a high-tech prop that went out of control? And then their cell phone photos were all erased by a magnetic wave blast? We’ve got it covered,” Agent Rorke said.
“Wow.” Abby couldn’t believe they had such an elaborate plan.
“It’s just . . . if we could just back up one second . . . can’t there be both things? And I’m just spit-balling here—but like, what if we told people what we did, but then said it’s all under control?” Erin was trying to solve the problem.
Abby shook her head. “I think Ms. Lynch here made it very clear we don’t want mass hysteria.”
“Okay, okay. Fair enough,” Erin said. “But what is ‘mass hysteria’? I mean, is it really that bad?”
“Let me show you a clip of it.” Jennifer Lynch hit play on a video on her laptop.
The images of screaming mobs that appeared on her screen were horrible.
“Why would you even have that on your laptop?” Patty asked, covering her eyes.
“Right, right,” Erin said as the video ended. “It’s just, I feel like the cat’s already sort of out of the bag.”
“Are you finished?” Abby asked.
“The cat’s been out of the bag before and yet people always get bored and put it back in.” Agent Rorke gave examples. “A police officer in New Mexico reports a UFO encounter. The crew of the SS Ourang Medan mysteriously dies. The entire town of Langville, Montana goes missing.”
“What? I never heard of that,” Erin said.
The mayor ended the meeting, addressing the Ghostbusters. “Well, on that horrifying note, thank you all so much for what you’ve done. We will always be grateful for your service. Please think of me as a friend.” He quickly added, “A friend who will ignore you on the street, but a friend nonetheless.”
“Exactly. A pen pal. But without letters. Or any kind of contact. Never send me anything in writing,” the mayor said.
Ms. Lynch led them out. “Hawkins and Rorke will escort you home. We’ll speak to you soon.”
CHAPTER 11
Later the Ghostbusters watched Jennifer Lynch being interviewed on TV.
“It’s fraudulent and unsafe. These ‘Ghostbusters’ are just creating an unnecessary panic in a sad grab for fame. We went to their lab—there’s absolutely nothing there. People can rest assured that these women are just bored and sad.”
Abby, Holtzmann, and Patty were somehow able to control their emotions, while Erin fumed. Frustrated, she shoved the equipment worktable. It crashed to the ground.
Kevin asked, “Guys, what was that thing before?”
“It was a ghost,” Holtzmann said. “What do you think goes on here?”
“I didn’t know. I answer the phone in a Chinese restaurant where four women sit around in painters’ outfits. When people ask me what I do, my response is, ‘I have no idea.’ I guess I knew it had something to do with Chinese food and science. I couldn’t put it together.” Kevin scratched his head.
“This is a very serious news report. . . .” Patty pointed at the TV.
“Painting us as delusional frauds,” Erin said sadly.
“So what? We’re not.” Abby was still confident that they could make it all work.
Erin was filled with doubt. “But nobody knows that! In fact, look, it says ‘frauds’ right there on the screen.” The words were right under their picture.
“But that doesn’t make it true,” Abby said. She gave Erin a pep talk.
“Last week we saw a class four malevolent apparition. And then we came back here, and we figured out how to catch one. And it worked. Who cares what anyone else says? We know what we’re doing. There are bigger issues at play here.” She went to the computer. “Look!”
Abby read the report aloud. “A wailing spirit sighted on sixth and twenty-sixth. A spectral polar bear on Park and forty-fifth. Weeping walls at a thrift store in Chelsea. Someone’s clearly trying to break open the barrier and unleash the dead, and we need to—”
Ghostbusters Movie Novelization Page 5