return • theo raeken [2]

six. ghosted

Hayden and Liam shake their heads at Luna's mumbles with a smile playing on their lips.

Hayden continues, "We need to break into the faculty storage room."

"To save the whole school from Ghost Riders?  No problem," Liam says and turns to Luna.  "Do you want to help after school?"

"Can't," she replies, making the two stop.  "Charlie told me this morning he wanted to talk to me."

"About what?" Hayden inquires.

Luna shrugs and says, "I don't know.  It must be serious though if he pre-planned it."

"Tell me later?" Liam asks.

Luna nods, "Yeah.  And, hey, don't hesitate to text me if you really need help, okay?  Either of you."

They both nod and all of them go their own way.

At the end of the day, Luna climbs into the passenger seat of her truck.  Charlie forces a smile towards his little sister, not wholeheartedly ready for what he was going to tell her tonight.  As he pulls out of the parking lot, Luna turns the dial to volumize the song playing on the radio.  Coincidentally, the sibling's favorite song had just started a few seconds before Luna had gotten in.  The pair look to each other before belting out the lyrics at the top of their lungs.  Being too focused on the song, Charlie didn't notice he was veering off the road until the tires skimmed the gravel.  Quickly, he pulls the truck back to center all the while the two of them laughing loudly.

They carried on like this the entire ride home, singing and laughing.  Just all the way around getting along.  Charlie was glad they were having such a great time.  Maybe it would soften the blow for what was to come.  He only has time to switch the truck into park before Luna's opening the door and running inside the house.  Charlie chuckles to himself and follows her inside.

"Is your favorite ice cream still triple chocolate with brownie bits?  That's all I get nowadays.  Do you want a cone or a bowl?  I'm getting a bowl, I get more."

Luna keeps rambling on about how much better ice cream is in a bowl and Charlie tries to get her attention multiple times.

"Luna!" he finally shouts, ending it with a laugh when she jumps.  "Are you sure it's a good idea to be eating ice cream?  You're acting like you've had a bowl of sugar already."

Luna gives him a look, "Ice cream's always a good idea."

Charlie sits down at the island as Luna works on getting the ice cream ready.

"Luna, I need to tell you something," Charlie says through a sigh.  Luna nods distractedly as she continues getting bowls out of the cupboard and spoons out of the drawers.  "And I think you should be sitting when I tell you."

"Can't this wait until after ice cream?" Luna asks stubbornly.  Tara had shown up in the short moment she had her back turned to get the bowls and it was dragging her mood down tremendously.

"Yeah," Charlie smiles.  "Yeah, of course."

Liam and Hayden find themselves in the sewers once again.  They'd spent most of the school day speaking to Mr. Douglas about building a lightning rod after finding him in the basement faculty room trying to build a taser to use against the Ghost Riders.  After explaining to him about wanting to catch one, they made their way up to his classroom to discuss the physics of it.  By the end of the meeting, they figure out they need something to absorb a lightning bolt.  This lead to Liam thinking of the worst idea to ever pop in his brain.

"Almost there," Hayden says.  "Last chance to bail."

Liam sighs, "If we're gonna stand a chance, we have to do something drastic."