A Batch of Cookies

Maddie Fenton smiled as she pulled her latest batch of cookies out of the oven. This was her newest recipe, a combination of her two greatest talents. The idea had come from the fact that every time they were out Ghost Hunting she could always distract her husband with a sugary treat. That had prompted her to think; perhaps ghosts could be distracted with them too.

While it was well known that ghosts did not need to eat, there was great speculation into the concept that perhaps they could if the food was made in the ectoplasmic spectrum. This was the real reason behind so many meals accidentally coming to life in their house – much to the children's growing distress. However that would not halt her pursuit, she wanted a reliable way to bait ghosts into cooperation.

While it was always enjoyable to blast the ghosts into submission that hardly left them in ideal condition for study. Thus Maddie wanted to take advantage of the lure of food. It seemed finally she had gotten it right. The cookies came out of the oven, having a slight white glow as they came out. They looked indistinguishable from normal chocolate chip cookies. Even the white glow disappeared as they cooled.

Maddie was no fool though; she knew that in her house cookies lasted less than five minutes. Jack had a startling addiction to anything with a high sugar content. So she had made a deterrent, a faint scent that humans could detect but a ghost could not. The cookies were made entirely out of ectoplasm, and everyone knew that ectoplasm reacted terribly with humans. So the deterrent was entirely necessary.

She smiled as she set the tray out on the kitchen table. It wouldn't be too long before the children were home, just long enough for her to whip up a batch of real cookies. She didn't want a disappointed Jack on her hands, nor a disappointed Danny, he inhaled sugary treats almost as fast as his father did. Maddie smiled as she poured the chocolate chips into the bowl. It wasn't too long before this batch – which was safe for human consumption – was happily in the oven.

Maddie heard the front door open just as she was pulling the second batch out of the oven. Her daughter Jazz came in, happily making her way to the kitchen to have a chat with her Mom, as was her habit after school.

"Hi sweetie" Maddie said as she flicked the kettle on, ready to make a nice herbal tea for the both of them.

"Gone a bit overboard with the baking there Mom" Jazz commented motioning toward the fifty odd cookies that graced the table.

"Of course not, here, take a cookie" Maddie suggested, indicating the right baking tray of still warm human cookies.

"See" Maddie explained as soon as Jazz had taken a cookie "the other batch is pure ectoplasm. I don't think you'd like to try that, they're entirely unappetising except to a ghost." By now Maddie was pouring the tea, so had her back to her daughter. She missed the worried glance Jazz gave the second tray.

It was then Jack Fenton bounded up the stairs having finished whatever invention he had been working on all day.

"It's finished, finally the Fenton Ecto... are those cookies!" he exclaimed, his demeanour shifting to that of an excited puppy. Eagerly he leapt over to the table, dropping the device he had been working on in front of the door to the Lab. Maddie smiled, shaking her head at her husband's antics.

He picked a cookie up, but as soon as it got near his nose it wrinkled in disgust. "Honey, I think you used some bad eggs in this" he commented, dropping it back to the tray.

"No Jack, those are the Ghost Cookies, the other tray is for you." He picked one up off of the other tray and cautiously bit into it. A wave of pure bliss washed over his face and he picked up three more.

"Great idea Maddikins, with those cookies those nasty ghosts won't know what hit them." Jack commented as he shoved his fourth cookie into his mouth. "And we can use my new Fenton Ecto Dismogufier to finish them off!"

"Dad!" Jazz interrupted "Don't you think you should give the ghost a chance, not all of them are bad."

"Of course they are" Maddie said, slightly exasperated "All ghosts are evil manifestations of post-human consciousness, sweetheart. That's why we want to study them"

Jazz huffed "If you just let one talk you'd think differently" before she grabbed her teacup and marched off to her room. Jack went back down to the lab, taking most of the remaining human cookies with him. Maddie sighed; they never lasted long in this household. Slowly she began the arduous task of washing up.

She was just finishing up when the door slammed shut. She smiled; her baby boy was home early for once. Usually he went over to one of his friends' homes after school. She smiled as she watched him tread his way into the kitchen. School had only finished forty minutes ago, so obviously he'd not been called back for detention.

"Hi Danny" Maddie cheerfully said as he took a seat at the table. She blinked as she saw a thin line of red running across his cheek. Was that blood?

"Hey Mom" Danny wearily replied as he sagged back into his chair. He spent a whole minute there, oblivious to the world before a loud bang from the Lab brought him back to the present. Maddie shook her head in silent laughter as he jerked to attention.

"So how was school today?" Maddie asked her son, absently putting the dishes away as he talked about the latest science topic. They'd apparently touched on astrophysics and so Danny was happily chatting about quasars and how they differed from neutron stars.

"These are really good" Danny said and Maddie smiled. It was a pity that Jack had only left three cookies on the tray for Danny. She turned around, smiling, but that quickly vanished when she saw the baking trays on the table.

The three human cookies were left whole, but there were four missing places from the ghost cookie tray.

"Danny" Maddie exclaimed, alarmed and terrified of what had happened. Danny had eaten the ghost cookies; even now the ectoplasm could be working its way through his system, killing him from the inside out. But why had he ignored the deterrent? It should have kept him safe. All she could think about was what that ectoplasm would do to her baby boy. The effects of raw ectoplasm like that on human biology were well known.

Ectoplasm, being a highly intensified form of energy would gradually disintegrate living tissue, much more efficiently than electricity ever could. In the stomach raw ectoplasm acted as an acid, dissolving the stomach lining and destroying the entire digestive system. From there it could get into the bloodstream, attacking and destroying the red blood cells. From there it only got worse; it was truly a horrific way to die.

The reason she'd added the deterrent to the recipe was exactly because of the terrible effects of ectoplasm on human tissue. Only the strongest of immune systems could handle the ectoplasmic assault and that was if it was treated immediately.

And her poor Danny had eaten four pure ectoplasm cookies. Tears sprung to her eyes as she realised this could be the last time she ever got to speak to her son. She had to act fast, to get the vile contaminant out of him. She should have never tried making cookies. She should have made Brussels sprouts, something foul for the foul creatures that were ghosts.

So panicked was Maddie that she failed to notice the flush of warm colour that came onto his son's cheeks. Nor did she see the small hut healing itself in a matter of minutes. In her panic she ignored the signs of her son's improving health; all she could do was panic as he finished off a fifth cookie.

"Danny!" she exclaimed "Stop eating the ghost cookies"

"Ghost Cookies!" Danny jumped; the cookie in his hand dropping to the floor with a thud. His eyes flickered a brighter blue and the temperature in the room dropped a degree.

Maddie went over to her son, giving him a tight hug. "Jack!" she screamed "Get the Fenton Ectoplasm Decontaminator, Danny ate a ghost cookie"

Jack came bounding up the stairs, a strange whirring device in his hands. He ran over to Danny and pointed it at him, but the device blinked and read "No contamination detected." Maddie screamed in panic, her son was going to die from ectoplasm poisoning. She sniffled and hugged her son tighter, kissing his slightly too cool forehead in desperation and telling him it would all be alright.

Ten minutes later and Jack was still running around trying to find anything to save their son. But Maddie noticed something. Danny had showed none of the usual signs of ectoplasm poisoning. He actually looked a lot better than he had when he came in the door. His eyes fell almost lustfully on the tray of cookies on the table, as if they were actually good for him.

"Danny" Maddie began, her scientific mind going into overdrive. He hadn't shown any of the usual signs, he looked better than before. Perhaps another cookie wouldn't hurt him. If worst came to worst they could save him with whatever solution Jack came up with. He was currently going on about modifying the Ecto-Dejecto. Maddie carefully picked one cookie up off the tray, giving it a sniff and wrinkling her nose in disgust. The deterrent was definitely there. Her curiosity had heaved into overdrive.

"Would you like another Ghost Cookie?"