[1] Blank Slate || Julie and the Phantoms ✔

CHAPTER 23: My History ✔️

THE CELEBRATORY ATMOSPHERE has grown somber after what Willie revealed. I should have known that nothing good lasts forever, or even a few months.

"All these jolts that we're feeling is because Caleb put a stamp on us?" Luke asks to clarify.

"He's threatened by you!" Willie blurts. "He wants you under his control. You're the only ghosts that can be visible to lifers without his help. She managed to escape his grip, but then he found out that you're in a band together. It's also his way of controlling her."

They all stare at me.

"I'm confuzzled," is all I can say.

I like to use made up words. Sue me.

"Look, you're smart. You always have been good at piecing things together," Willie tells me, grabbing my upper arms. "Think!"

"You let him do this to us?" Alex butts in, pulling Willie away from me.

For some reason Luke and Reggie must be feeling protective of me because they flank me on both sides. I won't lie, I'm terrified. Not of Willie, but of what he has to say. I didn't realize that I was involved in all of this. I didn't realize that the boys were close to dying again.

My heart thumps in my chest.

"I can't stop him! He owns my soul!" Willie reveals. We take a step back in horror. "All right? He owns the soul of everyone at that club! He owns her soul. If he knew I was here talking to you he...he would destroy me."

"He owns my soul?" I gasp. "What do you mean?"

"You're a club member," Willie responds. "A Hollywood Club member."

I don't remember signing up. The fee is way to expensive.

"So if we don't join his club, the weird power outage thing happens until there's no power left at all?" Reggie asks, crossing his arms.

"Yes." Willie's eyes are concentrated on the floor.

"What exactly happens when the power goes out?" Reggie questions.

"That's...that's it," Willie says solemnly. "You're done."

"Uh-huh. And what exactly do you mean by 'we're done'?" Reggie continues in disbelief.

"You just...you don't exist anymore...not here, not anywhere," Willie says.

"What?" Alex asks.

"So we have no choice?" Luke asks simultaneously. I unconsciously slip my hand into his for comfort. "We have to say goodbye to Lila, Julie, give up everything that we've built together and work for Caleb's club? That's some club you guys got going on."

"But there is hope," Willie says, "that's why I'm here. Ade-Lila Mae, I know you've been thinking hard. You wanna know about your past?"

"Duh!" I exclaim. "You told me some weird magician dude owns my soul, of course I want to know!"

"What do you remember?" he asks urgently.

"I remember a tall, thin man approaching me at a graveyard," I say, "he wanted me to sing, but I said no. Someone I cared about died at a concert. I never wanted to sing again."

"But who?" Willie asks. "Do you remember details?"

"Not exactly," I confess, "but I think our names were Lila and Adelaide, in that order, yes?"

"Yes!" His hand pulls into his fist and he pumps it in the air. "I knew you wouldn't have forgotten everything."

"That's all I remember."