"Oh my god." Julie ran to the couch before she'd finished speaking. She had no idea where the boys had come from. Her first thought was they were Gifted, which was the best reason she could think of for why they'd just appeared in the studio. She knelt down on the floor, hands going to the unconscious boy's throat, looking for a pulse like she'd learned in health class. "Flynn, call an ambulance!"
"An ambulance?" Flynn pulled out her phone. "Why? What happened?"
"Wait!" Willie said, "Julie, I don't think an ambulance will help."
"What?" Julie looked at Willie's expression, then down at her hand. Her fingertips had gone right through the boy's neck. She hurled herself backwards, heart seizing. "What's going on?"
"They're ghosts, like me!" Willie said.
"Ghosts?" Julie repeated, "They're ghosts?" Her heart slammed against her ribs. Willie was the only ghost she'd ever seen. Why could she see these boys, too?
"Wait, what?" Flynn asked, voice pitched high. "There're more ghosts? You can see more of them?"
"What?" The conscious brown-haired boy said. He looked terribly pale.
"Ghosts?" The blond boy whispered. "We're ghosts?" His eyes grew impossibly wider. "No. No. Nononononono—"
"Hey, hey, it's okay!" Willie sat down beside him and pulled him into his arms, holding him tightly as he shook. He shot Julie a helpless look.
Flynn moved closer to the couch. She was looking around, clearly trying to see what Julie was staring at. "Julie, what's happening?"
"There are three more ghosts in here, but I don't know how," Julie said tersely. She was still on her knees, unable to tear her eyes away from the ghost boys who'd manifested themselves in her studio. She'd kind of thought her Gift was so specific Willie was the only ghost she could see. But now there were three of them. And one of them was hurt. How was that possible, if ghosts were already dead?
"Hey," the brown-haired boy said. "I'm Reggie, that's Alex." He gestured towards the blond boy still wrapped up in Willie's arms. "And this is Luke. I don't know how we got here, but Luke's hurt. And..." Luke's form sputtered like a lightbulb with a dying filament. Reggie's expression morphed to one of horror. "What's happening to him?"
"He's flickering out, Julie!" Willie said. "You need to do something!"
"What does that mean?" Julie turned to Willie. "And why me? I don't know anything!"
"Use your Gift!" Willie ordered. "Channel your Lifeforce!"
"What?" Julie and Reggie said at the same time.
"Are you a Healer?" Reggie asked desperately. "Because if you're a Healer—"
"I'm not a Healer!" Julie interrupted him. She turned to Willie. "I have no idea what you want me to do!"
"Concentrate!" Willie snapped. "You've done it before. You do it all the time!"
"What's going on?" Flynn said, eyes moving around the room. "Should I get your dad?"
"No!" Both Julie and Willie said at once. She and Willie were on the same page with this: Ray would totally lose his mind if he saw Julie panicking over people he couldn't see. He'd send her back to talk with awful Dr. Turner for sure.
"Willie says I can use my Gift to save one of the ghosts," Julie said to Flynn. "But I have no idea what he's talking about."
"Like the plants! You use your Gift to make the plants grow! Don't you know that?" Willie said.
"He says I make plants grow? Can I do that?" Julie asked Flynn.
"He must know. He's known you forever." But then Flynn's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Wait. A ghost needs saving? From what?"
"He's injured," Julie said. As if on cue Luke flickered again. He groaned, eyelids fluttering. It looked like whatever was happening to him hurt.
"Injured?" Flynn looked around again as if she could see them. "How?"
"A burning catwalk almost fell on us," Reggie said. There were tears on his cheeks. He rubbed at his face to remove them, smearing the soot down to his chin. "Please help him," he said, soft and desperate.
Julie nodded and bit her lip, wondering what the hell she was meant to do. She put her hands just above Luke's chest and closed her eyes, imagining moving her Gift from her body into Luke's. She tried to feel something—anything—that would mean her Gift was working in the way Willie thought. Mom, she prayed, help me.
Nothing happened. And then there was a strange tingling along her spine, like she was lying in a bath of seltzer water. It moved up to her shoulders and down her arms, until by the time it reached her hands it felt like her skin was rippling. She bit her lip harder, using the small pain to centre herself as the strange sensation grew. She grunted and squeezed her eyes more tightly shut. It felt like something was building, like getting to the top of a giant roller coaster and waiting for the sudden drop. Sweat beaded at her temples and her hands began to shake.
"You're glowing," Flynn said, awed.
Julie let go.
There was a spasm of white light, like one of her father's camera flashbulbs, and then...nothing.
Julie opened her eyes.
Luke was awake and staring at her. His eyes were a beautiful mixture of green and brown, like the secret depths of a forest.
Reggie was looking at her, face split in a huge grin. Willie and Alex were still holding each other, but Alex was no longer panicking. Instead, he was staring at her in wonder.
"Julie," Flynn choked out. "There are four boys in your studio. Why can I see four boys in your studio?"
"Because I fixed them," Julie said. She swayed sideways.
Someone caught her before she hit the ground and everything went black.
"Ugh." Julie made a face. "I'm not drinking any more of this."
Flynn's awe at her best friend glowing had turned to shock, then horror, as suddenly four teenage boys had appeared, and then Julie's eyes rolled back and she'd fainted.
Luckily, the boy with the leather jacket had caught her, and then he and the boy without sleeves had moved her onto the couch, gentle like she was the most precious thing in the world.
"What's going on?" Flynn had demanded. She had no idea where the boys had come from, or who they were, or how Julie's Gift had made them appear.
"Julie's fainted. She needs sugar," the long-haired boy with the blond one said. "Get her some juice!"
That was definitely something Flynn could do. She'd sprinted to the Molina's house and grabbed a handful of the first juice-box thing she'd found in the fridge. It was apple juice, Carlos' favourite and the kind Julie hated the most. Which was why she was now refusing to drink it.
Flynn may have passed by Ray, Julie's father, as she ran out, but she couldn't remember.
"Julie!" Flynn admonished, tone harsh because of her fear, "you fainted for a whole minute! You need to drink all of it!"
"Yeah, you totally should," leather-jacket boy said. He was sitting on the arm of the couch by her feet, forearms on his knees. "Hypoglycemia is no laughing matter."
"I have glucose tablets, if you want?" no-sleeves said, looking at her through his eyelashes. He reached for his chest and then seemed to realize he was barely wearing a shirt and grimaced. "They're in my jacket, sorry."
"Luke's Gifted," leather-jacket announced proudly.
No-sleeves—real name Luke—rolled his eyes. "Thanks Reggie, but no one cares."
"You must have used a lot of power, before," the blond boy said. He looked really shaken, like he was barely hanging on. He'd stood up from the floor but he was still hugging himself around the waist, and his eyes were wide and frightened. The long-haired boy was hovering by him. Flynn wondered if they knew each other.
She still had no clue what was going on.
"I still don't really know what I did," Julie said to Reggie, the leather jacket boy. She sat up and Flynn moved closer just in case she fainted again. Julie narrowed her eyes and Flynn stepped back, hands up.
"You saved my life." Luke sat down on the couch where Julie's feet used to be. "I don't know what you did, but..." he shook his head before meeting Julie's gaze. "Thank you."
Julie's smile turned goofy, and Flynn winced. She knew that look. It meant Julie thought a boy was cute. Not that Flynn could blame her. The four boys were all cute. Like, really cute. Like Seventeen Magazine cover cute. Not that she read those type of mags, but still.
But Julie had said they were ghosts. Like, dead ghosts. Which meant they really weren't boyfriend material. It so wasn't a good idea for Julie to start crushing on a boy who was dead.
And that was honestly not a sentence Flynn would've thought she'd ever think to herself. Like, ever.
"Finish your juice," Flynn said to Julie after she and Luke had been staring at each other long enough for it to go full PDA. "I don't want you to faint again. And shouldn't you be in a hospital?" she added, suddenly realizing that her friend had fainted after using her Gift. "I probably should've asked that earlier, but things have been a bit distracting."
"I'm fine," Julie said with her most charming smile. "I don't need a hospital."
"But maybe we do?" the blond boy said. "I mean, maybe we inhaled smoke or something? And Luke was unconscious, which is not a good thing. And—"
"This is our studio," Luke said, finally tearing his eyes away from Julie and looking around the space. "I mean, it looks a bit different, but I'd know it anywhere."
"Your studio?" Julie said. "I don't think so. My family's had this house since before I was born."
"How could our studio have changed so much since we were last here?" Reggie said. "I know we didn't have chairs attached to the ceiling."
"They're on pullies," the long-haired boy said.
Reggie looked at him. "Why?"
"Wait," Flynn cut in before a discussion started about the utility of suspending extra furniture above the floor. "Who are you guys?" She thought she'd figured out two of the four boys' names, but knowing for sure would be great.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," Luke said with a charming smile. He rubbed the back of his neck, which did great things for his biceps. Flynn tried not to stare. "I'm Luke Paterson, this is Alex Mercer—"
"Hi," the blond boy said with a small wave of his hand.
"And that's Reggie Peters," Luke finished, pointing at the boy in the leather jacket.
"Hey." Reggie beamed at her. "I introduced us before, but I think that was before Julie zapped us all into existence so you probably couldn't see or hear us." He waved his hands to illustrate.
"I'm Flynn." Flynn smiled into Reggie's eyes. Reggie was definitely cute and she suddenly wished he was the one without sleeves. Dead, remember? She tore her gaze away.
The fourth boy moved closer, hands jammed in his pockets and a shy smile on his face. "I'm Willie."
Flynn's eyes widened. "You're Willie?" Her voice squeaked with her surprise and she threw her arms around him. He was solid under her hands and felt real. "I can't believe I can actually see you!" Never in a million years had she thought Willie really existed.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Julie grinned at her. "My two best friends have finally met."
Flynn let go of Willie and stood back, looking at the four boys again. "So," she said after a moment. "While it's really cool that I can see y'all, I need to understand. What the hell just happened?"
"And I still think we should see a doctor," Alex said, clearly on edge. "I mean, we were just in a fire and—"
"What fire?" Julie asked.
"At the Orpheum," Luke said. "The stage caught fire. It can't have been that long ago. You must have heard about it on the news."
"Wait," Willie said. "Do you mean the old concert hall in Hollywood?"
"What other Orpheum is there?" Luke asked.
Flynn pulled out her phone and Googled "Orpheum Hollywood Fire". The first link looked promising and she opened it. Her jaw dropped. "Holy shit."
Julie turned to her. "What did you find?"
"What's that?" Reggie asked. "It looks like it's out of Star Trek!"
"It's a smart phone," Willie said. "Everyone has them now."
"Smart phone?" Reggie repeated. "Were they dumb before?"
"Now?" Alex said, voice tight. "What do you mean by 'now'?"
"The Orpheum burned down from a bad mistake with some pyrotechnics during a sound check for a band called Sunset Curve," Flynn read. Her eyes widened. "Like the CD we played!"
"That's our band," Luke said, "Sunset Curve."
"Yeah, it was our first show at the Orpheum. Well, going to be," Reggie said sadly.
"What happened?" Alex asked. It sounded like he was about to lose it.
"The band was killed," Flynn said. She lowered her phone. "You guys were killed in the fire. I'm sorry."
"Killed?" Reggie asked. "Are you sure?"
"No, no," Luke said. "That couldn't have happened. I'd remember if I died!"
"You were unconscious!" Alex snapped at him. "You didn't see the way the stage was burning—" His voice broke on a sob and he sagged back to the floor, head in his hands. Willie immediately sat down beside him and pulled him into his arms again. Alex went willingly, clearly finding solace in Julie's ghost-friend.
"Damn," Reggie said softly. "I thought we'd made it."
"You didn't." It broke Flynn's heart to see their faces, but the bitter truth was always better than a sweet lie. "The fire happened in 1995. It's 2020 now. You've been dead for twenty-five years. I'm sorry."
"That can't be true." Luke stood up. He had a half-smile on his face like he was expecting the punchline of a joke. "I mean, I feel fine. How could I feel fine if I were dead?"
"Because Julie zapped you with her Lifeforce," Willie said, arms still around Alex.
"Wait, what?" Flynn turned to him. "Okay, I mean I saw her flashy-thingy and then the boys appeared, but she's never done that before!"
"And I got my Gift when I was five." Julie stood up from the couch and sat beside Willie on the floor, taking the hand that wasn't wrapped around Alex. "That's when I saw you for the first time. I've never done anything like that."
He grinned happily at their linked hands before answering her. "I've seen you do it with the plants. Especially when you played the piano. I figured you be able to use it to help them."
"That's not helpful!" Alex pushed away from Willie and got to his feet. "You keep saying we're dead. But I don't feel dead, and"—he made an expansive gesture towards Luke and Reggie—"they don't look dead, so are we, or aren't we?"
"You are," Willie said, standing as well. "I'm really sorry."
Julie stood up too, and looped her arms around Willie's waist. It was obvious that they were loving being able to touch each other after so many years.
"No," Alex said. "No. I don't believe it. This is...this is just some stupid trick. Like Candid Camera or something. And it's not funny. It's not funny!" He started pacing, his long legs moving him from one end of the garage to the other.
"Hey, hey!" Reggie went over to him. "Alex, it's okay, we're going to be okay."
"We're dead! And it's twenty-five years in the future!" How is that going to be okay?"
"Because we're together," Reggie said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Yeah," Luke said. "We still have each other. And our music!" He moved to join Alex and Reggie. "As long as we have that, we'll be fine."
"And you have us now, too," Julie said. She glanced at Willie and Flynn. "Right?"
"Oh, yeah, absolutely." Flynn nodded her head vigorously. She had no idea how two living girls and another ghost could do anything to help three boys from a ghost band, but then again, less than an hour ago she'd thought Willie wasn't real, either. Not that she'd ever tell Julie that.
"I'll definitely help," Willie said looking right at Alex. "Anything you need." Alex caught Willie's eye, and blushed. It was adorable, but also really confusing. Ghosts can blush? Flynn had so many questions.
"You okay?" Reggie asked Alex softly.
"Yeah." Alex nodded. He ran his hand through his hair, the blond strands immediately fell back across his forehead and a small amount of ash floated to the floor. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"Great!" Luke grinned broadly. He turned back to Flynn and Julie. "So, we kind of used to live here when this was our studio. Do you think we could crash here again?"
"Do ghosts need to crash?" Flynn asked before she could stop herself.
"We do need some sleep." Willie chuckled. "And we can use anything we had before we died. Like clothes."
"And soap?" Reggie asked excitedly, "because I left some great smelling body wash in the shower and I'd love to get this layer of soot off."
"There is definitely not twenty-five-year-old body wash in the studio's bathroom," Julie said, nose wrinkling.
"Can you even shower?" Flynn looked at Willie. "Doesn't water go right through you?" She remembered how solid he'd felt when she hugged him, like he wasn't actually a ghost at all. "Or did? Did water go through you?"
"No," Willie said. "And before you ask, no, I don't know why it doesn't. But anything natural, like water, sun or wind, we can feel. It's other human's stuff that we have problems with."
"This is so strange," Alex whispered.
"You'll get used to it," Willie said. "And there are some advantages too, I promise."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Luke was grinning again, eagerness radiating off him. He was clearly the most adaptable of the boys.
"Well," Willie started, "you can teleport."
"Teleport?" Luke repeated while Alex and Reggie gaped at him. "Like Nightcrawler in the X-Men?"
"Yeah." Willie nodded. "You just think of where you want to be, and poof, you'll be there."
"Poof?" Alex made a face. "You seriously make that noise?"
"Kind of—"
"Wait," Flynn interrupted Willie as her Gift prickled in her brain, vague as usual. "A thing's going to happen."
"What thing?" Reggie asked.
"It's her Gift," Julie explained. "She can sense stuff, but not in a way that's actually useful."
"Sad, but true," Flynn was forced to agree. "But something's going to happen."
Ray appeared, back to one of the studio's doors as he pushed it open.
"It's your dad!" Flynn said, belatedly realizing what her Gift was trying to tell her. Julie only stared at her, wide eyed.
"Hey Julie," Ray said as he entered backwards. He was holding a tray with a plate of cookies and a pitcher of juice with two cups. "I saw Flynn grab some juice and run back here so I thought I'd bring you guys a snack—" He turned around and stopped talking, taking in the studio and the four boys he didn't know. "Who are they?"