The Shade Riders and the Dreadful Ghosts by Bxerk

and
antennae. Nova picked up one.
    “That one’s a pocket voltmeter,” Benny said.
Nova twisted it around in her hand, set it down, and looked at the
next one.
    “What’s this? Oh, it’s a small laser.”
    She pointed a circular red light around near
the floor.
    Nova picked up another one. “So then what’s
this?”
    “It’s an ammeter for measuring electric
currents,” Benny said. “You can clamp it on to things, see?” He
pinched the trigger part of the long triangle and opened the red
clamp at the top. It had a dial on it and a reading display window
near the bottom.
    “That wouldn’t work with ghosts. There is
nothing to clamp onto.” Nova put it down with a thump.
    “Shhhh! Nova.” They both turned to watch the
substitute teacher. He continued to read his newspaper.
    Nova picked up the final gadget.
    “Oh, wow. What’s this?”
    It was a rectangular box that had a digital
display window and two wires at the top. It had buttons in the
center.
    “It’s a moisture meter,” Benny said, reaching
for another small cookie.
    “Let me have one… please?”
    Benny rolled his eyes as he slipped her
one.
    She took it and pointed to the moisture
meter.“Hmm… out of all of them, this one looks the most
interesting. I’ll try it, thanks,” Nova said, munching.
    “Here, I’ll show you how to work it.” Benny
showed her how to turn it on and set the dial to zero. Then all
Nova had to do was point it at a few ghosts. Nova picked it up and
put it into her hip pack.
    “I want it back when you are done.” Benny
looked deep into her eyes.
    Nova swallowed her cookie and nodded.
    “Do me a favor and let Takeesha have the next
pick. She hasn’t been herself lately, and if she is stuck with the
last one she might get really mad.”
    “I’m not afraid of her.” Benny shoved the
blond hair out of his eyes. “Besides, first come, first served.
That’s how I did it with you.”
    “Oh, okay.” Nova shrugged. Her stomach felt
much better now. The ghost effect had worn off. She turned around
and started going over her notes.
     
    At lunchtime, Nova and her friends came
together at their favorite cafeteria table. They all handed back
the instruments they’d used on ghosts – Takeesha did get second
pick - and talked about what they found out.
    “Max Kim, you look all excited.” Benny opened
up a bag that had a pickle loaf sandwich in it. “What did the
ammeter tell you?”
    “Well, I was only able to try it out three
times.” Max Kim grinned as he fiddled with a milk box and straw.
“But it jumped whenever I got near a ghost.”
    “Okay, so they do give off an electrical
field. Takeesha, did you have any luck with the laser?”
    “No, I even tried to see if reflected light
off a mirror in the girl’s bathroom would do something, but it
didn’t. I also held the laser up inside the ghost, and it didn’t do
anything. I was only able to try my tests on one ghost.”
    “I tried the voltmeter on two ghosts, but it
didn’t do anything to either one of them,” Benny said. ”How about
your test with the moisture meter, Nova?”
    Nova wasn’t able to eat her lunch. “The meter
didn’t do anything and did you notice that the ghosts being killed
all look like me?”
    “What?” Benny said. “The ones I saw didn’t.
That’s just your imagination going overboard.”
    “I don’t think so. Look at that one right
there.” Nova pointed to a ghost getting her hair pulled as she
tried to get away. She was screaming as the two ghosts dragged her
in opposite directions.
    “See what I mean? The victim looks like me
even though she has long hair.”
    Benny studied the ghosts. “Yeah… maybe she
does. So What does that mean if Nova is being depicted in these…
what?... tortuous skits?”
    Max Kim and Takeesha shrugged. They packed up
their uneaten
    lunch in silence – apparently none of them
felt like eating now.
    Outside the doorway of the auditorium, Brenda
and Amanda waited as The Shade Riders