𝘌𝘋𝘎𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘎𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘛

𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧

"What do you mean, what he's planning for them? They can't die a second time, right?" Julie asked with a shaky voice. Willie shook his head. "I don't know. I just know what Caleb did before to make sure someone couldn't hurt him. It's how he became the one in charge of... this whole place."

"You mean, this place existed before Caleb?" Julie asked. Willie nodded. "Yeah. The guy before him is the reason he died. The guy who ran this place before him... was a ghost, and he didn't know that. His name was Ferdinand."

{Reference picture}

"Ferdinand? As in the bull?" Julie had to laugh a little. Willie merely shrugged. "Yeah, but this guy existed before the bull. Anyways, Ferdinand was an advisor to Caleb. They met through Caleb's dad's boss. I guess he was rich since that's the only way people find out about this place."

Julie nodded, still trying to grasp the bigger picture about how this related to the situation with the guys. "Okay... so, how did Caleb die?"

Willie sighed before revealing the truth. "Caleb was a magician, and he performed for huge shows. One night when he was talking to Ferdinand, Ferdinand advised him to do a really dangerous trick called the Bullet Catch."

Julie rolled her eyes at the stupidity of Caleb. How could someone be so stupid as to do a trick with the name Bullet Catch? Just the name in and out of itself was asking for disaster and harm. "So, I'm assuming he died from the trick or..."

Willie nodded. "Yeah, but that's the part that actually matters. When Caleb came back as a ghost, he saw Ferdinand walking down the streets of LA one day and followed him home... only he didn't go home. He came back here, to the Hollywood Ghost Club. It didn't take him long after to realize what Ferdinand was doing, so he decided to figure out a way to end it once and for all."

"So, he... killed a ghost? That doesn't make any sense. How would he even know how those jolt things worked back then? Is that how he figured it out, because Ferdinand was doing it first?" Julie asked, extremely confused in the moment.

"That's my point. He didn't kill Ferdinand. He just sent him away. I'm not really sure how it works, but it does, and I know the steps to it. He's got it written in his old journal. It took a lot of digging, but it was worth it. We have to stop him before he can send Alex and your friends away for good," Willie warned.

Julie frowned deeply. "And Ferdinand still exists out there today?" Willie nodded. "Yeah, and we have to be really, really careful to not let him free. I don't know who's going to be the next leader of the Hollywood Ghost Club if we succeed with this... but we have to be smart about it so that Ferdinand doesn't escape."

Julie groaned, extremely annoyed with the present situation. "Why does it always have to be so much more complicated with ghosts?" Willie shook his head, at a loss for words. "I wish I knew."

"So... where exactly are the guys? How do we help them?" Julie asked. Willie looked at the ground with a far away sadness in his eyes. "Well, that's the thing. I can't exactly find them. I know they're here. Caleb had to have brought them here. It's the first step to his master plan. When Caleb found me with them and sent me back here, I think he made sure that I couldn't find them... or more specifically Alex. He wants to make sure I pay for helping them."

Julie heaved out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I can't believe I fell for his stupid trick. I should've listened to Luke when he told me Nick could be the possessed one."

Willie shook his head, looking back up at her. "Hey, don't pin that all on yourself. Caleb's the one to blame here. Not you or anyone else. He's trying to make you feel guilty so that you forget what you're really after."

"You're right," Julie said with a firm nod. "Let's go find the guys."

Alex frowned deeply at the sight of Luke's eyes filling with tears. "Luke, I'm sure we'll find a way to work this out. We'll make sure we see Julie again and get her out of here safe. I know it feels like we're in a pretty sticky situation, but we were in one before, and--"

"Julie saved us," Luke finished his sentence. "The last time we were in trouble, Julie was the one who saved us, not the other way around. We're the weak ones in this relationship, Alex. We should've done what we could've to protect Julie from Caleb. She's god knows where because of us."

Alex raised an eyebrow at the word relationship. It almost sounded like Luke was talking about just him and Julie for a second, like he felt guilty for not keeping Julie safe. "Julie's tough, Luke, but I know that we need to help her. All we have to do is just find a way out of this... freaky house of horrors."

"House of horrors?!" Reggie exclaimed frightfully. "You know I hate clowns! Why would you bring up a house of horrors?!" Luke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Shut up, Reg. Julie is a lot more important than your fear of clowns. It's time to man up and grow some chicken nuggets."

Reggie smiled warmly at the thought. "Ah, I would do anything for a box of warm chicken nuggets right now. When we save Julie and get out of here, can we head to McDonald's to get some?" 

"Sure, Reg. But that might take a hot second. We still have to get out of here and find Julie," Alex replied with kindness. Luke frowned at Alex's weird word choice. "Did you just say 'hot second'? What the heck's that supposed to mean?"

Alex smiled dismally thinking of Willie and the gen-z lingo he'd been taught by him. "I'm sure you can ask Julie as soon as we find her."

Julie and Willie roamed through the back halls, doing whatever they could to find the guys. They opened several doors to back rooms, walking in on many different performers preparing for their acts on stage. 

Finally, Julie spotted a door with a very strange symbol that seemed to call out to her. The symbol was three little hotdog ghosts who seemed to be playing instruments. There was no doubt in the boys were behind that door, so she quickly tapped Willie's shoulder and pointed to it.

His eyes widened and his smile got bigger as he realized what it meant. "You're a genius, Julie! I'm sure Alex and Luke and Reggie are there!"

The two immediately busted open the door to find the boys sitting on the ground having what looked like a very deep gossip session. If Julie and Willie weren't so emotional in the moment, they would have burst out laughing.

"Julie," Luke let out a whisper as he immediately got up and ran to hug her.

"Willie!" Alex exclaimed as his eyes widened in disbelief his favorite person was once again standing before him.

"Kayla!" Reggie exclaimed hopefully. After a few seconds, he looked around and then frowned, realizing Kayla was most definitely not in the Hollywood Ghost Club.

"I can't believe you're actually here," Alex said as he cupped Willie's face in his hands. Willie's face immediately broke into a smile. "You can't get rid of me that easy, hotdog. And I had help."

Julie felt her heart beating out of her chest behind held so tightly in Luke's strong arms. "I'm so glad you're okay," She whispered. Luke felt a chuckle erupt from his stomach at that comment. "Me? I thought I'd lost you for good, Jules."

Julie pulled back just a little so she could look into his eyes when she began saying, "Luke, I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you about Nick. You were right the entire time, and I put my feelings above my trust for you, and I'm so sorry I didn't listen to what you had to say."

Luke shook his head as he looked deeply into her eyes. "Julie, you have no reason to apologize. I should've trusted you more too. It was really, really bad communication on both of our parts. All that matters is that you're safe."

"Oh, how sweet, the lovebirds reunited just in time to say their final goodbyes," Caleb interrupted with clasped hands and a face that was dripping with sweat from his last performance.

It was beginning to look like the boys might not get their happily ever after with their true lovers after all...