imagination || julie and the phantoms

twenty-three

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IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR ALEX AND REGGIE TO REJOIN THE COUPLE IN THE GARAGE.

They all stood around the piano, Luke's songbook open to the set list. Of course, Charlotte helped him finally finish it but he still wanted to run it by the other boys.

"We decided Stand Tall should be first," Luke said as he circled the song with a black marker. "Vocally, it's our strongest because we all get to sing."

Charlotte nodded. "Right, because then whomever is in the audience can get a sense of who we are. Then we can run Finally Free and do that transition we talked about the other day into Bright. Julie will speak, then we'll close with Great."

"Perfect," Alex agreed.

Reggie flashed his twin a thumbs up. "Sounds good."

"Sounds good?" Luke echoed, his nose scrunching. "Dude, wake up! I wanna hear, it sounds awesome!"

Reggie pursed his lips.

Charlotte placed her hand on Luke's shoulder, turning his head toward her.

Luke sighed from the look she shot his way. "Okay, I know this isn't how we wanted things to turn out," he admitted, "but we gotta be all in tonight. This is our second chance at playing the Orpheum!"

"I get it, I get it," Reggie acknowledged, but seriously glanced around his best friends. "But it's hard. Do we even know what's on the other side when we cross over? Do we all still get to hang together?"

His gaze met Charlotte's and she frowned at the pain clouding his usually joyful brown eyes. He then swallowed hard, made himself turn away, and forced out a whisper. "You guys are the only family I have."

Luke and Alex exchanged sad, but understanding, glances.

Charlotte placed her hand on her brother's, noticing only then how his fingers trembled. Never in her life had she seen him so terrified. He returned her small smile, but gripped her hand so tight she could see her knuckles turning white. But she refused to let go.

Alex let out a heavy breath. "Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's going to happen either, but...it's not like we have a choice."

A jolt struck.

The twins fell into each other, yelping. The other two shouted and gripped their shirts from the pain ripping across their torsos. All of their wrists burned. The only sound in the studio was them trying to catch their breaths.

Charlotte wondered if Caleb decided when to have the jolts attack them, or if it acted like a timer— set for certain times. Either way, it reminded her that technically, Alex was wrong. They had a another choice, one where all four of them would be together.

Reggie voiced her thoughts. "I'm pretty sure there is another option and it rhymes with the Hollywood Ghost Club."

No one responded as the main doors flung open. "Are you ready?" Julie waltzed in, clearly excited, with a bagged dress in hand. Her smile quickly faded when she saw the ghosts' shifting eyes and lack of response. "What's wrong?" she asked.