Ghost Squad

Babette looks at one of Syd’s ghost-catchers and pronounces it “nothing but a mason jar painted black” (160). She takes them to the secret room behind the bookshelves and retrieves a large book with a set of lighted buttons on it. They return to the library, where she explains the book is a device she built, “the Spectral Master 4000” (161). Babette gave it a catchy name in case she decided to sell them on eBay. It catches ghosts, up to 100 before it must be purged. Using it takes practice.

Lucely calls her a Ghostbuster, but Babette insists she’s a witch. The ghost-catcher must be made from something of great value to the user. Syd says the only things she values are Lucely and Chunk. Babette points to the amulet around the cat’s neck and says that will do. Lucely, though, must bring her own item.

Lucely realizes that when Chunk disappeared, she must have run off to inform Babette that the girls were in danger. She asks if the cat is “special,” and Babette says all the cats are.

Babette explains that many ghosts aren’t evil, just lost. She adds that the way to catch ghosts is with light. She waves her hand, and a blue streak of light appears, dancing above her fingers. Lucely likes the idea of belonging to a gang of ghost catchers. Syd prefers “squad,” so they settle on “Ghost Squad.” Syd asks if Babette can teach her to be a witch. Babette says she’ll do so only if Syd produces magic power on her own.

They’ll explore the cemeteries, using crystals to create large safe areas. Should ghosts appear, the girls are to switch on their ghost catchers and run away. Lucely and Syd don’t want to abandon Babette during a fight; Babette suggests Lucely bring some of the fireflies as backup and to enhance Lucely’s ability to see ghosts. Lucely makes a list of 15 Luna spirits whom she’ll ask.

Babette says the spell the girls cast was corrupted. Lucely mentions the initials EB on the spell’s page; Babette recalls Eliza Braggs, the woman who drove the Purple Coven from town, but she’s been dead for centuries. Lucely describes the girls’ encounters with Mayor Anderson. They play the tape of the mayor’s conspiracy meeting. Babette says that if, somehow, the mayor and Braggs are connected, their plans have been carefully thought out.

Babette and Lucely retrieve Mamá Teresa’s mason jar. At Babette’s, the girls receive matching black-denim jackets with “Ghost Squad” embroidered on them in purple thread. As Syd’s ghost catcher, Chunk wears an upgraded amulet; Mamá’s jar is reconfigured to be Lucely’s catcher. Babette also gave amulets to Simon for his tour passengers, which might protect them somewhat from the coming evil-spirit attack.

After dark, they drive to St. Augustine Memorial Cemetery. Fog clings to the ground. Babette touches the gate’s chain padlock: A purple light glows, the lock opens, and the chain slithers away. They go to the first mausoleum, and Babette unlocks it. Inside the room sits a gold-hinged wooden casket. It has no dust on it. Babette senses something off about the casket and room.

Suddenly, a roar frightens the girls. Babette instructs them to go to one side, make a salt circle, and stay in it. The angry spirit demands to know why Babette has awakened it. Babette explains that they’re searching for a spell to return spirits to their home. The voice laughs: “Why would I help you send us back there when we’re having such a grand old time here?” (180).

A cold breeze knocks down the two girls, who can’t move, and a ghost with red eyes and a gaping maw floats before them. A purple light flash hurls the ghost away, and Lucely gets up, but Syd is too dazed to move. Lucely redraws their salt circle. Babette orders her to stay within it, but, on instinct, Lucely disobeys, opens up her ghost catcher, and plunges into the midst of a mass of ghostly smoke. She hears a tremendous sucking sound, and suddenly the ghost is gone.

Babette hugs her, then scolds her for disobeying. The witch sprinkles water on Syd’s face, and she awakens. They open the casket and find a skeleton clutching a roll of parchment.

The girls enjoy cocoa and cookies in their loft room while Babette unfurls the parchment. It’s a spirit map of the local cemeteries. A dot at the St. Augustine graveyard has faded to brown, while another dot on the Tolomato Cemetery shines bright red. As Babette rolls the map up, Lucely notices a flash of red near the lighthouse.

Syd suggests that Babette show them some basic ghost-fighting moves so they’ll have better odds of not getting killed. Babette takes them to the backyard and shows them special flashlights that she calls “Razzle-Dazzlers”—they emit beams that stun spirits. They also can harm living beings, so the girls must handle them with care.

They drive to Tolomato Cemetery, where the air is even colder than at the previous graveyards. Together they focus on good thoughts until they create a warmly glowing protection spell that spreads out across the place. They enter an underground catacomb. Babette stored something here long ago; she extends her hand, focuses, and something bursts from the dirt floor. It’s a “Finder-Keeper,” an arrow-shaped object that points toward whatever the holder thinks about.

As they leave the catacomb, Chunk, suddenly as big as they are, bounds up behind them and says, “Run.” Babette grabs the girls, and they run across the graveyard as shrieking sounds hurtle at them like hurricane winds. They stop under a tree; the winds disappear. They pull out their Razzle-Dazzlers. A mist monster appears and heads toward them. They fire the special flashlights at the creature, which disappears. Suddenly it attacks again and captures Babette.

Lucely has Syd hold her fire until she can get close to the mist monster with her ghost-catcher. She opens the jar; the fireflies emerge and surround her with light. She calls to the monster, which turns, drops Babette, and charges at Lucely. Syd fires a blast from her Razzle-Dazzler, and the monster disappears.

Babette is breathing but unresponsive. Lucely calls to Macarena, who appears and agrees to drive them home. Macarena uses her magic to float Babette, and they head for the gate. Babette suddenly speaks: She tells Lucely to return to the catacomb: The Finder-Keeper is pointing that way.

Lucely returns to the catacomb. The Finder-Keeper rises above her hand, spins, and points upward. The ceiling is covered with skulls. One has glittery eyes; Lucely knocks it from the ceiling. Inside, it is a small paper scroll. She manages to get it free just as cold air pours into the catacomb. She runs outside.

At Babette’s house, Lucely and Syd search through books, trying to decipher the cryptic message on the tiny scroll:

A light to guide you through the night,

Confront your fate before it’s too late (200)

Babette, recovering from her encounter with the mist monster, tries to help but can’t figure it out either. The scroll has more:

A sprinkle of sun,

A shimmer of light,

Turn back the darkness,

Turn back the fright… (201)

Babette sends the exhausted girls off to bed.

That evening, as they leave for the Halloween festival, a storm strikes the city, its winds tearing at the decorations. City Hall is decked out like a haunted mansion. For costumes, the girls wear their Ghost Squad jackets. The main level is jammed with revelers; Syd’s parents, dressed up as mummies, perform music with a band. Lucely finds her dad in his traditional Tin Man suit. He warns her not to go on any adventures. Lucely thinks, “If only he knew it was too late for warnings about adventures” (203).

Mayor Anderson welcomes everyone. Near the ceiling, mist forms; at a signal from the mayor, the mist unleashes spirits, which attack the guests like a swarm of bees. Screaming people run for the exits. Lucely and Syd zap the ghosts, but there are too many of them. Lucely finds her father and has him open up her ghost catcher jar. The fireflies pour out and begin to battle the evil spirits. A group of ghosts pins Lucely to the floor until Babette blasts them away.

Mayor Anderson shouts, “You witches are all the same! You just want to take what isn’t yours and hurt the good people of this town” (208). Babette replies that the fight is between him and her, but she calls him “Eliza.” The mayor’s form changes to Eliza Braggs, who declares that this time she’ll finish the job she started when she banished the Purple Coven.

Eliza transforms into a huge beast that drips green ooze. It’s surrounded by a group of protecting ghosts. Babette fires rays at the beast, weakening it; then, she emits a huge burst of energy that freezes the evil ghosts and then collapses them. Debris flies about, but Simon protects the girls. The ghosts and Eliza are hurled out a window.

Lucely realizes that the guiding light in the cryptic scroll message refers to the lighthouse, which stands on the spot of a coven meeting place that Eliza had ordered burned down. The girls must go there before midnight and extract what magic they can from the place.

Everyone, including Simon, piles into Babette’s car. They drive through the pouring rain and cross the Bridge of Lions, where a deep fog settles around them. Babette explains that the Purple Coven reformed in recent years, and Eliza must have been drawn back to town to eke out her vengeance. Babette says she’s a member of the Purple Coven.

The others update Simon on recent events. He doesn’t understand how they’ll stop the army of evil spirits; Babette says the girls must go to the lighthouse and recite the spell that breaks the curse. Syd says they don’t have the entire incantation. Babette says the rest of it will come to them.

Near the lighthouse, the road is blocked by fallen trees, so they walk the rest of the way. Babette gives Simon a spare Razzle-Dazzler. They break into the lighthouse tower and climb the spiral staircase, which seems to go on forever, much like the church that kept receding from the girls two nights earlier. Finally they arrive at the top. Babette warns Lucely that spells often require sacrifices, and this spell may cause the fireflies to disappear.

Upset, Lucely walks away to think, but a dark fog surrounds her, and suddenly she’s standing alone in the Huguenot Cemetery in the pouring rain, surrounded by ghosts. She tries to trap them or shoot them, but they overwhelm her. A gap opens in the cloud of ghosts, and witches pour through, along with Judge John Stickney, and they use wands to blast an opening through the ghosts for Lucely to get through. There are so many ghosts that they can’t succeed.

Desperate, Lucely opens her ghost-catcher jar, and the fireflies pour out. They form a tunnel of light through the ghosts, and Lucely runs through it. She must hurry back to her family: She knows the ending of the spell.

Lucely wakes up in the lighthouse, surrounded by Babette, Simon, Syd, and Chunk. Syd hugs her. Lucely reports on her experience at the cemetery. Babette has her write down the rest of the spell, then requests the toughest firefly spirit. The others agree it’s Tía Milagros; Lucely calls for her, and she emerges from the jar. Babette gives final instructions, then she and Tía Milagros go up to the roof to face the approaching storm of ghosts.

The lighthouse beacon shines on the storm. Babette calls out to her sister brujas, and a shower of purple stars lands on the lighthouse and transforms into witches who add their energy to Babette’s. At her signal, Lucely and Syd hold hands and intone the curative spell, including the words newly discovered by Lucely. Some ghosts try to attack them, but Simon and Chunk fight them off.

Lucely completes the spell:

I call on the power

Of my ancestor’s ghosts

And speak three names,

I love most…

Simon Luna, Teresa Luna, and Syd Faires! (226).

Light courses out from the girls’ hands toward the witches. It combines with their energy to flare out from the lighthouse lens toward the ghost storm. The sky opens up, and with a roar, the ghosts fly into the gap and disappear. The gap closes; the evil ghosts are gone.

Lucely awakens at home. It’s been two days since the great ghost battle. Her father greets her with cold farina, a dish she loves that her mother used to make. His sadness and resentment are gone.

Lucely asks if the spell worked. Simon says he thinks so, but he still can’t see their ghostly relatives except as fireflies, so Lucely will have to check on them herself. Simon adds that the kids saved the town, and they’re being treated as heroes in the media—at least, in the Babette Gazette, where an interview with Syd explains that she noticed the lighthouse lamp was off and turned it back on to help guide people at sea. It’s completely made up, but it explains the supernatural events as ordinary ones.

Babette, Syd, and Chunk enter Lucely’s room. She sits up in bed and learns that Babette’s shock-wave defeat of the ghost army also wiped the city’s memory of them. Syd tells her that Mayor Anderson was found locked in a basement, mumbling about how “Eliza Braggs had ghost-napped him” (232). Babette gave him a memory wipe, and he’s alright now.

Syd also explains why she didn’t get knocked out from reading the incantation: “I’m a witch!” (233). Babette will train her. Lucely hugs Syd, delighted that her best friend is a witch. Given all the attention about Lucely and Syd, Simon says that the Luna Ghost Tour is booked solid through next year. Simon can pay all his bills; the house is saved.

Syd asks Lucely why her version of the curative spell didn’t mention her mother. Lucely admits that, though she still misses her mom, it’s the fireflies, Babette, and Syd who have given her a new family that means the world to her. Invoking that fact fulfilled the spell.

Lucely’s spirit family arrives in a glow of light and stands around her bed. Macarena hugs her tightly, and Tía Milagros takes her hand. The spirits step aside, and Mamá Teresa appears. She sits on Lucely’s bed. Mamá is completely well again. She and Lucely hug, and, as before, Mamá sings to her. Lucely smiles and says, “Everything is okay” (237).