Chapter Eleven: Night in the Le Ficent Castle

Chapter Eleven: Night in the Le Ficent Castle

October 1999

The airport in Paris, France bustled with activity, as many people from overseas arrived from a wonderful flight. Three of these people were students from Columbia University, a New York college; two of them sat down near the large window that had a view of the plane they came in outside. J.G. Stantz read a traveler’s guide on the wonderful sites to see in Paris. Of all the spots that he found out about, a place known as “Maurice’s Shop of Inventory” intrigued him the most. He wondered why most Columbia U. students didn’t embrace extracurricular activities like this all the time; then again, most students weren’t attending college at fifteen years of age like him. It was just one of those special gifts to being a “super-genius” by the age of twelve.

            The 17-year-old Sean Spengler, who just started his first semester at Columbia U. that season, already proving he to be as equal a genius as J.G., sat to the left of the teenager. Unlike J.G., however, he was more indulged in his laptop, looking up information on some of the most “haunting” sites of Paris—a habit he was known for having back in the States. He came across one site that looked very familiar to him, mostly because it was the spot where they were staying during their time there.

            “Jay, listen to this,” Sean said. “The Le Ficent castle was once the site for practices of dark magic. Several of the residents were subjected to methods of torture and experimentation that would kill even the most average human being. And it’s believed that some of these practices still exist there today.”

            J.G. looked at him in shock. “Really?” Then a smile grew on his face as he excitedly added, “That’s so awesome! I can’t wait ‘til we get there!”

            Sean shook his head and chuckled while the third member of their small group approached after coming out of the bathroom. It was Natalie Venkman, the college sophomore and best friend of J.G. and Sean. Even though she had been attending Columbia U. since she was Sean’s age, she hadn’t quite contributed to her academic duties as most students, mostly depending on her two pals to help get her through getting a degree in psychology.

            At the moment, she looked a little pale, holding her stomach and even sweating a little. “Oh, man,” she uttered, “I feel terrible.”

            “Maybe you’ll think twice before eating airplane food, Nat,” Sean advised. “You had almost twelve servings of that se dégonfler sur un baton.”

“Can I help it if that chicken was so good?” Natalie said just before muffling a belch that made J.G. and Sean shake their heads. She then directed her focus elsewhere as a young, handsome Frenchman wearing a black suit and tie passed their way. “Bonjour, magnifique! I think I’m ready for seconds!”

J.G. and Sean glanced at the man she was gawking over and noticed that he was holding a sign in front of him. When the man stopped and faced in their direction, the three got a better look at what was on his sign: all three of their last names (Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler) written in big, black letters that were readable from a distance.

“That’s our limo driver, Nat,” J.G. indicated. “He’s here to pick us up.”

Natalie seemed very surprised by this. “I never knew we ordered a limo driver to take us to Le Ficent.”

“As a matter of fact,” J.G. said upon realization, “Neither did I.”

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An hour later, the three youths arrived at Le Ficent Castle. It rested high on top of an enormous hill in the forest with the tallest tower reaching above the clouds. On that particular night, there was a fierce thunderstorm. There were moments when the castle would be struck by certain bolts. Between the night atmosphere and the lack of lighting within it, the castle gave a heavy, ominous appearance on the hill (if its bizarre history wasn’t already enough to terrify everyone).

Natalie, Sean, and J.G. showed themselves in after getting out of the limo and into the rain. Natalie made sure she gave her number to the limo driver before he headed back to civilization. If she had noticed the disinterested look on his face as he drove away, she would’ve figured as much (French guys dig those tanned, tall model gals…go figure). As they approached the large front door, J.G. was just about to knock on it, until the door suddenly opened on its own; it creaked in a way that seemed cliché and yet eerie to them. Of course, what more could they’ve expected from a haunted castle?

Walking into what they assumed was the foyer, they could barely see much in the dimly lit place. Then there was a small, lime-green light that shined straight ahead, coming towards them. The light grew brighter and larger as it neared, illuminating Natalie, Sean, J.G., and everything around them. The three suddenly realized that the light was being emitted from a lantern carried by a very slim-looking woman with pale skin and long, flowing black hair; she wore a long black dress that hid much of her slim figure and, perched on her shoulder, was an orange-beaked raven.

Natalie couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but there was something very familiar about this woman. “Uh...hi there,” she managed to say aloud. “You must be the caretaker of this ‘little’ place.”

“I am Madison Le Ficent,” the woman said with a voice that sounded creepy and somewhat sultry at the same time. “This castle has been passed down through generations of my family. I was born here...and shall die here.”

The three college students stared at her blankly after that last declaration. “Well, uh...that’s good to know...I guess,” remarked J.G. “Uh, Miss Le Ficent? Was it you who ordered the limousine that brought us here?”

“Why, of course,” she replied. “I couldn’t let such fine young future scientists arrive here in some primitive vehicle like a taxi.”

“Ya live in New York long enough, ya get used to it, girlfriend,” Natalie joked, even though Le Ficent wasn’t laughing all that much. She kept that eerie frown on her face the whole time they stood there, facing her. Her pet raven was just the same, looking very serious. It seemed to mimic just about every emotion she had (if she had much more than the one she was displaying then).

Le Ficent turned and faced the stairway that she descended from. “Come. I shall take you to your rooms,” she offered. “You must be very uncomfortable with those wet clothes on.”

“That’s not the only thing,” murmured Natalie as they followed her upstairs.

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Moments later, the three students changed out of their wet clothes and into their individual nightwear. J.G. and Sean had on black undershirts and boxers, whereas Natalie wore a cropped blue t-shirt and gray sweatpants. While J.G. was already resting in one of three beds in the bedroom they shared, Sean sat on his and fiddled with a small, rectangular-shaped handheld device that displayed graphs and numbers on an LED display. Coming out from the bathroom across the hall, Natalie brushed her teeth as she walked into the bedroom; she noticed what Sean was doing and asked (through a mouth full of toothpaste), “What’s this?”

“I’m detecting the P.K.E. levels in this building,” he remarked. “And from what I’m getting here, they’re way off the charts.”

After brushing for what felt like minutes, Natalie spat out the toothpaste in her mouth into the nearest spittoon she could find; there were several all over the castle, located in the corner of each room, usually right beside the door. Just after doing so, she told Spengler, “Can’t you relax long enough to enjoy yourself? You’re always so focused on playing ‘ghost catcher.’”

“This is research, Venkman,” Sean contradicted. “It’s not meant to be fun.”

Natalie chuckled. “No kidding.” She passed by J.G.’s bed and noticed how peaceful he looked as he slept with a copy of Tobin’s Spirit Guide sitting on his chest. “Awww! Look at the little tyke,” she mockingly said. “At least one of you geeks knows when to take a load off.”

As she made her way into her bed, Sean got off of his and started making his way towards the door. The device in his hands beeped so loud that it woke up J.G. and began to drive Natalie crazy. Sean’s eyes widened as he glanced at the measurements displayed on the device. “I’m getting very intense readings.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me with this!” Natalie yelled. “It’s two o’clock in the flippin’ morning, man!”

J.G. wiped his eyes and glanced over at Sean. “What is it?”

“A Class 5 Vapor,” he answered. “And it’s somewhere in the highest level of this castle.”

J.G. nearly tumbled over himself as he dashed over to Spengler. “Whoa! A Class 5? That’s huge.”

“Yeah, Sean. That’s hardcore.” Natalie dispassionately commented. “And you know what’d be even cooler?” She then planted her head on the pillow and pretended to fall asleep, even mimicking a snore.

“This is serious, Nat,” Sean stated. “All the research we’ve been dedicating ourselves to has led up to this moment. We’ve longed to search for a real apparition, and we’ve got it.”

“Yeah, c’mon, Nat,” J.G. added. “Ya wouldn’t want to miss out on this, would ya?”

Natalie’s closed eyes scrunched up in immense frustration; she then began to remove the covers off her body and angrily get out of bed. “I can’t believe it takes some dumb ghost to get my butt out of bed this early in the morning!”

Before they all had stepped out of the bedroom, Natalie grabbed a flashlight to help guide them through the dark hallway; but it was really Sean’s ghost-detecting device that guided them through every nook and cranny of the Le Ficent castle. They wandered for an hour, searching for the source of the strong levels of ghostly energy. Soon Natalie’s complaining began to resurface. “Alright, enough of this! Sean, is your ‘Ghost Boy’ busted or what?”

Spengler scratched his head while gazing upon the readings. “I don’t understand. According to the graph, this very spot we’re standing upon is where our ghost should precisely be.”

“Well, unless he’s Claude Rains, I don’t see a darn thing around here,” said Natalie as she gazed around at the hallway filled with tapestries and other valuable antiques, including rows of knight armors that stood at opposite sides of the hall.

J.G. rubbed his chin, also looking upon the tapestries; they all seemed to be hung within seven feet from each other, except for two particular ones that hung within two feet. These particular tapestries were right near the spot they stood – where Spengler’s readings went into overdrive. “I think I might have an idea of where our ghost could be.” J.G. approached one of the two tapestries near them and grabbed onto it. As he had done so, something bizarre occurred that none of the three youths even noticed: the “heads” of the knight armors began to turn and look in the direction that they were standing. The armors “watched” J.G. tear down the tapestry, letting it hit the floor with a soft thud; revealed beneath it was a wooden door.

Venkman’s curiosity suddenly replaced her agitation upon seeing the unusual secret. “Hmm...Now why would Miss Le Ficent hide something like this?”

“How ‘bout we go in and check out?” J.G. suggested, and he opened the door outward, allowing Natalie and Sean to walk in before he did. As soon as they were gone from the hallway, the knight armors move their helmets back into their original position, facing each other.

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The wooden door led to a spiral stairway that seemed to take forever to reach the very top of; by the time they had, they were totally out of breath (Natalie most of all), coughing and hacking while collapsing onto the cold, stoned floor. “I really need to start my diet plan soon,” she sputtered.

“You’re not the only one,” J.G. acknowledged.

“Judging from the length of the stairs and minutes that it had taken for us to get up them, I’d say we had, in the least, lost twenty-five percent of our body fat,” Sean said, wiping some sweat from his brow. “Or thirty-five, depending on the amount of perspiration.”

Natalie rolled her eyes, as she desperately picked herself up off the floor. “Gee, thanks, Spengler. You totally took my mind off the fact that I’m close to having a heart attack.”

Just as the boys got to their feet as well, they all gazed around the room, which had a sort of dome-shaped quality to it; circular, with five windows that overlooked the entire forest that surrounded the castle. A bed was at the center, which was currently occupied by a young woman (close to J.G.’s age) with blonde hair, lips that were as red as a rose, and wearing both a golden tiara and a dress that magically changed from pink to blue at the most random times.

“Is it just me or is there something oddly familiar about this?” Natalie inquired.

J.G. slowly walked up to the girl and approached the bed, looking down upon her with a sense of familiarity that matched Venkman’s. It was then that it suddenly dawned upon him. “Oh, wow! This is Princess Aurora!”

“You mean from Sleeping Beauty?!” a befuddled Natalie exclaimed.

“Jay, do you realize how improbable that sounds?” Sean asked.

“I know, but...” He looked closely at the “sleeping beauty” in front of him with the actual scent of roses seeping into his nostrils and instantly captivating him, “...it’s really her! Even smells like her!”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “Smells? She was a cartoon character when you last saw her. How the heck can you go on a smell?”

“I can’t explain it, Venkman. I just know that...” J.G. never once took his eyes off of Aurora; he even sat down beside her sleeping form, getting ever so close to her inert face. “Man, is she gorgeous!”

Watching the unusual attitude that Stantz was displaying in front of them, Natalie and Sean exchanged awkward glances. Sean’s ghost-detecting device then began beeping wilder than ever. It was pointed directly on Princess Aurora and J.G., and there was only one deduction that Spengler could make from this: “JAY! SHE’S THE GHOST! GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Suddenly, there was a chilling tight grasp over J.G.’s left arm, as he watched the eyes of Princess Aurora snap open. Instead of the lovely shade of blue that he remembered them from the 1959 Disney classic, they were a frightening shade of yellow, similar to the eyes of the story’s villain, Maleficent. A wicked cackle emerged from within “Princess Aurora” as J.G. tried to fight off the tight grasp she had over his arm; once he was able to, he backed away from her and regrouped with Venkman and Spengler. The three watched in shock as “Aurora” got up from the bed while slowly morphing into the form of Maleficent, still letting out that eerie cackle.

“I knew there was something that freaked me out about this chick,” shouted Natalie.

Maleficent sneered at J.G. “Still believing in pointless fairy tales, Mister Stantz? Always the hopeless romantic? You’ll soon learn the hard way that no one ever gets a happy ending in the real world!”

“You’re one to talk, considering that you’re right out of a fairy tale yourself,” Natalie clarified. “One with a happy ending, I might add, with you getting a sword lunged into your heart.”

“Silence, you pathetic, little wench!” Maleficent bellowed.

Natalie frowned, her eyes suddenly filled with rage. “Oh, no she did not just call me a wench!”

She was about to advance on her until Sean held out an arm in front of her to hold her back. “You cannot possibly be the real Maleficent,” he said. “You must be a shape-shifter of some kind or a specter that can manifest itself into different images that it observes.”

“You are wrong, Mr. Spengler,” Maleficent retorted. “For I am the Maleficent that you know from your feeble retelling of Princess Aurora’s story…only I am much more dangerous than the way Walt Disney interpreted me.”

Venkman scoffed. “Oh, really? Well, from where I’m standing, girlfriend, you’re the same stupid witch that I remember being scared of when I was three.”

Maleficent glared at Natalie. “Heed my warning, children! You shall witness the true nature of my powers when your world comes to an unforeseen end. And you shall know the real difference between fairy tales and reality when you fall victim to death itself!”

There came another wicked cackle from Maleficent, and then the light from the top of her staff detached itself and hovered in the air; it suddenly sucked her entire form up into it and afterwards imploded into nothingness. A squawking noise echoed through the room, and the three youths spotted Maleficent’s pet raven, Diablo, flying around the room and then out through one of the windows.

Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler all exchanged precautious glances after the bizarre encounter. And, out of all that had happened in the short span of time, all Natalie had to say for it was, “I wonder how we’re gonna get back to town.”

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Present Day

Mickey and the others sat down at the desks inside of Sean Spengler’s classroom, listening closely to him as he told the whole story of his encounter with the “real” Maleficent. “So...you think that she’s staying true to her word now?” asked the mouse.

Sean gazed at the spinning wheel that was brought into the room (via forklift) for study. “If she is, then she’s not proving herself to be more dangerous than she was in the fairy tale.” He gestured to the object itself. “This is the same trick she used on Aurora, only I’m not hypnotized from its power like she was.”

“For a while, we thought you were,” said Christina, “When you were gawkin’ at it for so long.”

“It just brought back a lot of memories.” Spengler stated. “Maleficent was the first ghost we had ever encountered. And now she’s back.”

“How do you know it’s her?” Genevieve asked. “It could be some prankster. Someone who knew about your history with her and thought it’d make some nice and yet stupid joke to pull off on you.”

Sean walked over to his desk at the front of the room, reached inside one of the drawers, and pulled out his P.K.E. meter. “I’m certain it’s her, because I’m getting the exact same readings I had the last time we crossed paths.” He pointed the device to the spinning wheel, and it made loud and rapid beeping noises while its winged arms on top had risen in response to the psycho-kinetic energy that the object gave off. “This wheel has practically got her fingerprints all over it.”

“You think she could try and get herself involved in all that Hades got going on right now?” Christina inquired.

Spengler adjusted his glasses as he responded, “If her motive is to assure the end of the world, then yes. My theory is that her power grows stronger the closer we get to possible Armageddon.”

Genevieve let out a deep sigh as the weight of the situation seemed to have increased upon her shoulders. She got up from the desk she sat in and walked up to Sean. “Dr. Spengler, we know there’s not much you can do technical-wise for this situation,” she indicated, “but your expertise in this field could still be of great help to us.”

Sean looked up and down at Genevieve, noting the tattered jumpsuit that once belonged to Natalie Venkman on her. For someone who had only begun her time of ghost-busting a couple of days ago, she already had the look of a professional. And, as odd as it sounded to him, seeing her this way gave him a sense of hope for this seemingly hopeless situation. “Alright,” he said. “But we must try to get Jay involved. It’s of the upmost importance that we get him to come back to the team. Without him, I don’t know if there’s a chance we could stand against Hades, Jafar, or Maleficent altogether.”

Genevieve grinned upon saying, “Maybe with two more Ghostbusters, the odds won’t seem so overwhelming.”

Spengler raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Who will be approaching next for this mission?”

            In response to his question, Genevieve looked down upon the jumpsuit she was wearing with a big smile on her face. She then looked back at Spengler, who rolled his eyes and shook his head in exasperation. She could possibly be the hardest one to convince in coming back, he thought to himself.

Chapter Ten: Dr. Spengler, I Presume

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Chapter Ten: Dr. Spengler, I Presume

The subway station was a lot more crowded the following morning than it was in the previous evening, just after Christina, Genevieve, Cody, Alex, and the Ajax Exterminators departed from Jay’s ravaged bookstore. They were still distraught and even confused over J.G.’s sudden actions last night as his “date” arrived; it even caught Alex by surprise, working with “Dr. S” for so long.

“He never told me anything about having a girlfriend,” she said, waiting with her new friends for the subway train to arrive. “I’ve never seen him go out with her until last night.”

Meanwhile, Christina was in the process of trying to reach J.G. through her cell phone; but she still got the same voicemail message, telling to leave a message and how he’ll get right back as soon as he can. “That’s the fifteenth time I’ve tried to call him…and I’ve already left ten messages.”

“He must really be in love with this girl,” Cody assessed.

Genevieve shook her head negatively. “What good is love when the world’s coming close to its end?”

“Don’t worry, Genevieve,” Mickey said. “We’re not done for yet.”

“That’s right,” Goofy added. “We’ve still got three more Ghostbusters to look for, including your Aunt Natalie.”

Genevieve rubbed her eyes in frustration over this apparent running joke; but it was not just him; it was the thought of what would happen if they did not succeed in their mission. Hades could take over everything in the blink of an eye. And where would they be when it happened? Either dead or left alive as slaves were her two best guesses for the worst case scenario. Suddenly, she was snapped out of her moment of thought when the overhead intercom made an announcement. “Ladies and gentlemen, the ten o’clock train from Waverly Place to Morningside Heights will currently be delayed, due to a blockage in the tunnel. We assure you that the situation will be handled as quickly as possible, but please bear with us.”

Alex frowned. “Blockage in the tunnel? What is it? A huge pile of…?”

“Dang,” Christina moaned in frustration. “We’ve got to get to Columbia U. before noon. Sean’s classes end after then.”

“Are you absolutely certain that Dr. Spengler will be easy to convince?” Genevieve asked, as they made their way out of the station.

Christina smiled. “When it comes to that brainy hunk, I’m definitely certain.”

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            “You’ve got to be kidding me with this!” The foreman bellowed as he stood with several other maintenance crewmen in the pitch-black subway tunnel, their flashlights shined straight ahead.

Wide-eyed and baffled, they stared at the massive green steel set of double doors with the face of a raven imprinted on the center of it. It came as quite a frightening display to the subway maintenance crew, who hoped that it could’ve been at least a brick wall that wasn’t torn down before operations began or even equipment left over from recent construction; but definitely not something like this.

One puzzled worker asked, “So whaddya think we should do with it?”

“Beats the heck outta me,” said the foreman. “I’ve been in construction and maintenance for thirty years and never seen anything like this.” He approached the surrealistic door and gave it a knock. A creepy, hallowed version of the knock echoed throughout its massive structure. The foreman placed his ear against it but quickly bounced back, as soon as he realized how incredibly cold it was.

“There’s a lotta people who need this tunnel available by this afternoon, boss,” another worker clarified. “Maybe we should just blow it open.”

“I’m afraid if we did, we might bother what’s on the other side.” The foreman said and quickly began to have second thoughts. “Ah, it’s probably just some old, forgotten relic…or some moron’s idea of a practical joke.” He turned to the workers and gave an order. “Get Nicky over here with the dynamite - Pronto!”

Within minutes, the hardhat worker named Nicky placed seventeen different explosives around the massive door. Just as soon after he placed the last one at the foot of the center, an ominously dark voice spoke to him in a whisper. “Do not interfere, mortal.” He looked behind him at the maintenance crew, who stood far enough to make it impossible to even hear what any of them were saying.

“You fellas say something?” Nicky asked.

“Yeah,” said the foreman. “We said, ‘Get that dynamite set up and get your butt back here - Pronto!’”

Nicky chuckled, directing his attention back to the last explosive he was setting up; but, then again, he heard the chilling voice whisper to him, “Leave now, mortal. You do not know the horrors that lie behind here.” He looked upward, seeing the face of the raven, and he wondered for a moment if it had just spoken to him. Was it possible? Or was he just spooked because of the dark atmosphere that was barely lit by the flashlights the foreman and the crew were carrying?

Either way, Nicky was getting away from the door; his job was finished, and it was time to regroup with the others. The worker dashed back over to the group, standing right behind them all and holding a medium-sized detonator in his hands. “Youse guys cover yer ears. This is gonna make a huge pop,” he instructed.

The team did as Nicky said, and Nicky himself stuffed earplugs in to protect his own hearing; he then pressed the button that set off the explosion, creating a tremor small enough to avoid causing any disturbance above the street. It was a sure bet that some pedestrians and passing vehicles probably felt it and wondered if there was an earthquake in Manhattan.

The tunnel quickly filled up with smoke and debris, causing the crewmembers to cough uncontrollably. They shined their flashlights through the smoke, attempting to see if their attempt had worked; but they were unable to make out anything right away. Stepping through it all, they started to see chunks of broken metal lying in certain areas; even Nicky spotted pieces of the bronze raven insignia in one place. The foreman was quick to express his delight. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Let’s clear out this stuff and get that train through here. Pron…”

Before the foreman could even finish saying that word again, he suddenly felt something grab him by the ankle and pull him down; he was yanked across the ground, screaming while being hauled into the pathway of the tunnel that was once blocked by the strange door. The other workers watched in horror as he vanished into the smoke, crying out his name several times before the screaming suddenly stopped.

Then there came a loud, inhuman roar that echoed throughout the tunnel, scaring the life out of the workers. A pair of glowing red eyes emerged through the smoke from the direction that the foreman disappeared in. Seeing the eerie eyes made the workers run in the opposite direction. Nicky was the only one who hadn’t, keeping his gaze focused straight ahead. There was an expression on his face that was enthralled as he started to walk towards the pair of glowing red eyes that seemed to be directed solely on him.

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            Columbia University was busier than usual that afternoon with several students rushing between department buildings, trying to get to class; Genevieve, Christina, Alex, Cody, and the Ajax Exterminators walked among them. Alex and Cody felt a little taken aback by the busy scene, both of them getting a preview of the future to come; it was horrifying to Alex, while absolutely thrilling to Cody.

Goofy, in the meantime, was feeling a sense of nostalgia. “Being here sorta takes me back to my old college,” he said.

“You went to college, Goofy?” Donald inquired, seeming almost surprised.

“Sure did,” Goofy proudly remarked. “Got my degree in Chemistry.”

“C-Chemistry?” Mickey stammered, equally as surprised as Donald.

“Yep. My professor said I had such good ones with the folks on campus.”

Mickey and Donald shook their heads as the group approached the science building. Walking in, the first thing the group smelled was some kind of unusual aroma that was a cross between strawberries and dirty sweat socks. It seemed to have gotten stronger when they headed upstairs to the fourth floor where Dr. Sean Spengler’s office was.

“Man! What is that?” Alex asked, holding her nose.

“I don’t know, but I just want to find Dr. Spengler and get out of here,” Genevieve uttered. “The more time we waste, the closer Hades gets to ending the world.”

Christina noticed a couple of professors pass by and give them awkward stares as Genevieve mentioned that. “Uh, Gennie? How ‘bout we ixnay on the end-of-the-world-nay in public? At least ‘til we get the team back together.”

Genevieve nodded in understanding, just as they came near an office door that had Sean Spengler’s name printed on it. The weird smell reached its peak as they opened the door. It was by then that they realized the source of the smell was Spengler’s office. This made it really hard for some of them to walk in, because it was so foul and close to rotten; but they simply held their breath and stuffed their noses underneath their shirts to fight it long enough to give Spengler the message.

The group found him standing near a table and wearing a lab coat with several beakers, measuring cups, and other scientific utensils in front of him. He had a mask over his face to protect his own senses from the bad smell, and there were gloves over his hands as he poured some red liquid (which looked like “Kool Aid” to the common observer) out from one beaker and into another that was filled with an acidic liquid. The combination of the two created a billow of purple smoke that filled the entire room in less than a minute.

“This is the brainy hunk you were referring to?” Genevieve asked Christina.

“He sure is,” she remarked in a very sultry manner.

Spengler heard the voices in the room and directed his attention away from his chemistry set and towards his visitors; he recognized Mickey, Donald, and Goofy almost immediately; but it was Christina who he took notice of the most. “I don’t believe it,” he said as he set down the beakers and approached her, giving him a nice, warm hug. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

Christina nearly melted in his arms when they hugged; the last time they did was before he left to fight Gozer with the other three Ghostbusters; at the time, she was afraid she would never see him again because of the whole “fighting a Sumerian God” thing. Of course, at that particular moment, it was out of sheer bliss. “Oh, Sean…I missed you so much,” she told him.

The others looked on with a bit of uneasiness, seeing two people hug each other in a foul-smelling room with a shirt and mask covering their faces. “Uh,” Genevieve began, “Could we skip the formalities, please? Because I think we all would like to escape the funkiness of this room.”

Sean and Christina let go of each other and looked to the group. Spengler was quick to change to his usual formal attitude, sounding almost deadpan as he said, “Certainly. Let’s talk downstairs in my classroom.”

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            A few moments later and a few floors down, the group met in the fresh-smelling classroom where Sean Spengler taught every Monday and Friday morning. The smell still plagued their senses, but not so much that it kept them from telling all that had happened to them in recent days to Spengler. Not a single thing was forgotten, from the incident on the rooftop of the Tipton Hotel to the attack at J.G.’s bookstore. It all sounded very intriguing to Spengler as he munched down on three Nestle Crunch bars, just halfway into his fourth. “It appears the doors of Gozer’s Temple weren’t strong enough to contain even Hades,” he said. “Not that it should, considering the fact that he’s a god himself.”

“So what do we do to stop him, Dr. Spengler?” Genevieve asked with great hope.

“Well, it’ll certainly take a lot more than Proton Packs and Ghost Traps to prevent him from altering reality as we know it.” Sean apprised. “A god like Hades cannot be easily defeated.”

Mickey rubbed his chin, thinking. “So…we get Hercules to help us?”

Spengler chuckled. “No, no. We need something much stronger.”

“Gwarsh,” said Goofy. “Ya mean Herc’s not strong enough?”

“If what you told me about Jafar and the copies of the Necronomicon that he sent to Jay’s store is certain, then Hades could be working with our old enemies to destroy us,” Spengler assumed. “In that event, we’ll need more powerful tools to fight such otherworldly forces.”

Genevieve seemed as if she was starting to catch on with what he told them. “You mean you can invent something that’ll help overpower them?”

“If I am, then it’s going to take quite some time,” Sean elucidated. “It took me months to develop the equipment that we used back in the day. It’ll take me that same time frame or maybe even more to invent something twice as good.”

Genevieve shook her head. “With all due respect, Dr. Spengler, we don’t have that kind of time.”

“I understand.” Sean finished off the Crunch bar and tossed the wrappers into the nearest trashcan, dusting his hands off afterwards. “I really want to help you all out. But without the whole team back together, we’re pretty much useless in this situation. I need Jay’s expertise to assist me in the development of the new equipment.”

“And, as we said earlier, he’s off fooling around with some girl named Vanessa,” Alex said.

Spengler pondered over that name, feeling as if he had heard it somewhere before and whether it had to do with his old colleague. A lot of things seemed out of place in the story that Genevieve and the others told him, especially the part involving Jafar. He studied up on Hades enough to know what kind of company he kept; although he and Jafar worked in the past to destroy their respective adversaries (Hercules and Aladdin), there was no possible way he would consider another team-up. What was Jafar’s motivation in this? Revenge? Or just aiming for the same “Ruler of the World” opportunity?

There was a knock near the door and Sean turned to see a young, attractive woman standing there and smiling; her appearance made Christina somewhat unnerving as she wondered if this woman had any romantic involvement in Spengler’s life. It was shocking enough with J.G.; but, with Sean, it would put her in such intense jealous rage. “Dr. Spengler? There’s a package waiting outside for you. It’s from a ‘Madison Le Ficent’.” Sean’s eyes widened in surprise in conjunction with the woman uttering the name. “It sounded like a fake name, so I just told the delivery guy to leave it out…”

“Thank you, Mrs. Mills,” Sean remarked. “I’ll see to it immediately.”

Christina was delighted to know that the woman at the door was married and not in any way involved with Sean; but she started to worry of the woman who sent the package to him. How did she fit into his past? Then again, the name did ring a bell, but not a very good bell.

Sean walked out of the classroom with the others in tow; he stepped outside and spotted, near the foot of the steps, a large package sitting there. It was at least four feet in length and seven in width, and the name of “Madison Le Ficent” was labeled on the side, above an address that came directly from Paris, France.

“I never realized you knew anyone from France,” Christina told Sean.

Spengler shook his head. “I don’t.”

He then cautiously walked over to the package and, with a Swiss Army Knife that he kept in the right pocket of his lab coat, began to tear open the package. When it finally opened, the object in question was revealed: a spinning wheel. It all started to make sense to them—the name, the address, and the object itself; only Genevieve seemed not to have gotten it.

“What is this supposed to mean?” Genevieve asked.

“It’s a threat,” said Spengler. “She knows about Hades’ plan for us and the world…and she wants to take part in it all.”

Mickey scratched his head in confusion. “I just don’t get it. What kind of history did you all have with Maleficent?”

Even though Mickey’s question was directed solely to Spengler, he didn’t answer right away. He just quietly stood and gazed upon the spinning wheel, as an old memory flashed back to him…a moment that had taken place five years prior to the existence of the Ghostbusters.