Foster's

Teddy .3

When Angelica woke up she was still on the floor of the foyer, except now she was surrounded by boxes and her furniture. It was almost like they had made a protective wall around her with her own stuff.

She groaned and in response she heard a soft chirp. Looking down she found that Babs was sitting on her chest like a little guard-boogie.

And she could feel, just by the pressure alone that something had a hold of her ankle. But she also figured it was Chad.

His little suction cups would leaving marks on her when he held her a little too tightly and for a little too long, so she was probably going to have those hickey like marks

"Ugh! How long have I been out?" she asked as she sat up. Judging by the shadows painting the hallway she was guessing most of the day. "Has the sun set?"

"It has," Kevin said. When she turned she could him sitting on her arm chair.

"You moved the couch in here, but couldn't put me on it? Really?"

"He thought this safer."

She looked around at the circle barricade made entirely of her own stuff. From under the couch that was making up the whole left wall, she could see Chad. Now that she was sitting up, she had Babs on her shoulder. They had obviously all stayed with her to make sure she was okay, to protect her from whatever it was that was in her house.

The only one missing was Kyle, but she figured he was somewhere else, looking after things or tracking down the monster in her house.

She'd find him later, at that moment her focus was on Kevin, her answer monster. And, oh boy, did he have some explaining to do.

"That thing wasn't a boogie, was it?" she asked Kevin. "It couldn't have been because Kyle could see it. And he wouldn't have if the boogie was making me hallucinate. So it's not a boogie."

The little Krampus was just sitting on the couch swinging his hooved feet much like a child would. , he cocked his head to the side at the question and then said: "No, it's probably not."

"Right... so what is it?"

He seemed to think about it a moment, stroking the little tuft of a beard jutting out from his chin. "Probably a ghost."

Angelica frowned. "A ghost? Really? But... okay. Hold on. When we were looking at this house, and I said it was haunted, you said that it was highly unlikely that it was a ghosts, that they're rare. You said that it was probably more liked that it was a boogie, or a bunch of them, that were just particularly violent."

"Yes, I said it was probably a boogie."

He said it like that absolved him of everything, as if he didn't know that she had been on the fence about this house and it's history before he assured her, thoroughly I might add, that the chance of it actually being a ghost was so slim that it would be stupid to pass up such a deal.

"Are you telling me we bought the only house in the state with a goddamn ghost in it?"

"Well there's probably other houses in the state with ghosts in them..."

"KEVIN!"

"This isn't my fault," he cried and then tilted his head at her. "Can we have Kraft Dinner tonight?"

Was that really all he cared about right now? Really? Food?

Her stomach chose that moment to growl. Alright, well, she hadn't eaten at all today, too busy being passed out, so maybe he kind of had a point.

"Fine," she grumbled moving to stand up. "Kyle? Are you there?"

His head appeared from behind the antique cabinet she had brought with her, only because she couldn't bear to part with it. She wondered if he had been there the whole time.

"Can you get me out of here?"

He nodded to her but then disappeared. When he appeared again he was behind the couch and offering an arm out to her. Angelica merely had to put a hand in his and he lifted her right up out of the circle and over the back of the couch like it was nothing.

He put her down carefully as she looked around waiting to see if something would jump out at her.

"Do you know where it is? The ghost?"

"Ghosts are hard to sense, even for other supernatural creatures," Kevin said clamouring out from under the sofa he had crawled under with Chad following. "Can we have the Kraft Dinner now?"

Angelica resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Yes, gotta give me a chance to make it," she said with a sigh. "So you don't know where it is? The ghost? Or... if it's gonna try and scare me again?"

Kyle shook his head and Angelica frowned.

"Ghosts exist in a field. Since this is it's domain, it no doubt feels like it is all around us," Kevin added.

Great, just great.

She turned her face up to Kyle pleadingly. "Do you think you could be on ghost watch until we figure out how to find it and talk to it?"

Kyle nodded but it was Kevin who said: "If you want to talk to it you'll have to find it's Soul Piece."

Angelica blinked her eyes and then turned down to the little goat creature standing by her leg. Chad was on the other side of her, a tentacle wrapped around her ankle again.

"A what?"

"It's like a totem, except this is an object of emotional significance to the spirit that has an imprint of the soul stuck in it. It's how ghosts remain attached to this realm after they've passed. Chained to their piece."

Angelica nodded already a plan forming in her mind. "Right, here's what happening today. I'm going to make Kraft Dinner for everyone. Then we're going to move all of my stuff, except for the boxes, cause I have to figure out what room I'm unpacking into. And I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. All of you will be on ghost watch, make sure it doesn't scare the shit out of me while I'm trying to sleep."

She got a noise of agreement from all her monsters, except Kyle who just nodded because she didn't have any electronics set up so he could talk through.

She couldn't let this ghost terrify her in her own house, not when she couldn't afford to sell it and move somewhere else. If she had befriended a Shadow Monster, she could befriend a ghost.

Really, how hard could it be?