Elizabeth's POV:
Elizabeth still couldn't believe it. Her father believed her lie. At first, she thought he was fishing for the actual truth with all of the constant questions he asked her, but she discovered that he was genuinely serious about the topic. She couldn't believe the information she fed him seemed rational to him. But why? He was a businessman, not a ghost hunter. Why in the world did he believe such a ridiculous story?
Not to mention, she noticed he kept paying close attention to her words as if he was memorizing them. He kept asking her to restate some of the details of the ghost's appearance, their powers, or any other distinguishing feature that her fictional paranormal creature had during their conversation. It was a little odd; she had never seen him so eager to hear her side of a story, even if it was a lie.
"Hello? Lizz? You still with us, spacey?"
Elizabeth blinked rapidly then glanced over at Susan, who was sitting across from her at the lunch table. "What?" she asked and tried to remember what they were previously talking about before her brief detachment from reality.
"This is the third time this week you've spaced out." Susan crossed her arms as she eyed her best friend skeptically. "You sure Doctor Evan didn't find anything wrong with your brain scans?"
"I'm positive." She sighed and took a bite out of her ham sandwich. "I'm sorry, I'm just-"
"Completely out of it," Thomas interjected, setting his coke down. "What's going on, Elizabeth? You're not yourself lately."
No kidding. She didn't feel like her usual self, especially now that she knew about her strange abilities. How was someone supposed to feel normal when controlling wind or completely changing appearance without an intention too? It seemed as if she was fighting a battle to control herself and failing continuously.
It had only been three weeks since the incident, and, fortunately, no one caught her using her powers unintentionally. The only one who knew what she was capable of was Matt, and he proved to keep her secret from everyone, even his closest friends. It was just between them. Hopefully, it would stay that way for a while.
"Elizabeth?" Thomas asked as an attempt to regain her attention. "You there?"
"Uh, yes." Elizabeth set her sandwich down and sighed again. "I'm fine. Really I am. I've just been distracted lately."
"With what?" Susan inquired and leaned closer. "What's distracting you?"
Before Lizz could answer, she gasped in alarm when someone touched her shoulder and glanced up to see Matt shadowing over her. He lifted a confused brow and took his hand back, and she sighed in dejection before patting the seat next to her for him to sit down. "Sorry, Lizz," he apologized and sat down. "I didn't think I would scare you."
"Yeah, neither did I."
"See?" Susan's eyes widened as she gestured to her best friend. "Something's off!"
"I'm fine-"
"No, you're not." Thomas crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes slightly. "You're not 'fine.' Something is wrong, and I think you need to see Doctor Evan again."
"Agreed," Susan stated and took out her cellphone. "Or maybe she should see another doctor, like Doctor Richardson. He would be able to figure out what was wrong quick."
Lizz's eyes widened, and she reached over to Susan to stop her from calling any Doctor to help her. "But-"
"You two aren't making any sense." Matt narrowed his eyes at them. "So what she got startled when I touched her? It's not like you would have heard me walk up to you if you were in the middle of a conversation."
"It's not just that, and you know it." Thomas gestured to Lizz as he rose a questioning brow. "Haven't you noticed that she's been acting strange? Or the fact that she can't even stay in reality for five minutes?"
"Well, she was in an accident." Matt propped his elbow up on the table with his fist on his cheek, leaned forward, then shrugged casually. "Accidents as scary as falling through a mountain and surviving probably shock survivors for a while. For all we know, she could be replaying the event in her mind." He let out a tired sigh. "By going back into her mind, she may just be fighting off any anxiety that came to from the traumatizing memory."
Whoa. Elizabeth had no idea where that explanation came from, but she was grateful for it. It sounded logical and comprehensive to an after-effect of the incident, and he didn't hint that anything other than a psychological issue was going on. Now she knew she underestimated his capabilities of getting out of tight situations after claiming a ghost broke her hospital window three weeks ago.
When she looked to see Susan's and Thomas' reactions, she could tell right away that they bought his lie. With their mouths agape and postures seemingly frozen in place, she was rather confident that they wouldn't question her strange behavior any longer.
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Elizabeth's POV:
"Well, that was entertaining," Lizz stated, setting her book bag down on one of the dirt-covered benches at the abandoned football field. "I mean, where did you even come up with that story, Matt? You made my situation sound as if it was no big deal and that it was temporary."
The boy shrugged and dropped a duffel bag on the muddy ground, seemingly not caring for the condition of it. "Don't know. I just came up with it, I guess," he replied casually and let out a long sigh as he stared at the unkempt grass and weeds spreading across the spacious stadium. "So, this is the place, huh? No unwanted visitors or prying eyes? Just us?"
"Just us." She smiled at him before stepping more toward the middle of the field. "It's been abandoned for years. It's perfect for privacy."
"Silence."
"And training." Two faint blue rings encircled her waist and separated, altering her appearance into her 'other half' so to speak. "Exactly what we needed." She glanced over her shoulder at him to spot the mischievous smirk on his face as his bat rested on his shoulder. "Ready?"
He tossed a single baseball up a few inches in the air before catching it. "Whenever you are, Princess."
She smirked and stretched her arms out as she used whatever strength she could to summon the winds to encircle her. Her hair whipped in every direction as her eyes narrowed and glowed a menacing icy blue. "Let's do this."
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Vlad's POV:
Ten o'clock, Elizabeth's set curfew. Where was she? Why wasn't she home yet? Didn't she know how serious he was when he wanted her home at precisely ten?
Vlad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to keep it together. He had to remind himself that she wasn't in danger, and nothing was wrong. Susan's parents probably got caught up in traffic on the way back or something of the sort. Yes, that had to be it. It was only irritating traffic; no doubt she'd complain about it in annoyance as soon as she arrived. But, what if something did happen? What if she was involved in an accident? Or lost? Or that ghost-?
He growled under his breath, interrupting his worried train of thoughts. Ever since the incident, he always thought of her safety and that ghost that attacked her. He wasn't even sure why any spirit would attack his daughter. It wasn't like she would try to start a war with them, he was sure of it. If anything, she might stare in shock and freeze with fear at their ghostly appearance.
Perhaps this ghost discovered that he was Plasmius and wanted revenge for something he possibly did to ruin them? Unfortunately, for the life of him, he couldn't recollect who the ghost was. Elizabeth's description of the ghost wasn't familiar to him at all, and it forced him to hire Skulker in search of the criminal to end the search quicker; if anyone could find the criminal, Skulker could, and he wouldn't rest until he did.
His head snapped up as his hearing picked up the distinct sound of the front door shutting. He stood from his seat as he spotted Elizabeth's small frame from outside the study, and he let out a breath of relief at the sight of her. She was safe now.
Her body turned away from the door, and she froze when their eyes locked. "Uh, Dad?" she called out, her voice a bit distant as they stood a good 10 yards from each other.
"Elizabeth," he called, releasing his worried breaths. "I'm relieved you're home."
He raised an amusing brow as she hurried over to shorten the distance between them. She stood in the doorway, and his amused expression turned to one of concern and confusion. Where in the world did she get all of those dirt patches on her clothes? Was that a scrape on her cheek? Why was a piece of her jacket torn? And, why was her hair disheveled so that it could have been mistaken for an afro?
"Yeah, I'm sorry I'm late, Dad," she started, bringing him out of his questioning thoughts. "Traffic was horrible tonight; you should've heard Mrs. Kool complain the entire drive."
Ah, just as he thought but that didn't explain her appearance. "What happened to your clothes and that wild hair?" He tilted his head to the side as his eyes continued to search her appearance for any other strange alterations. "Did something happen?"
"Oh, well-" He narrowed his eyes skeptically when she licked her lips and hugged herself but tried to make it seem more confident than it was. "-I fell."
"How?"
"Well, I tripped and fell off the sand dune at school."
"The one used for the track-and-field team?" He crossed his arms. "Elizabeth, why in the world would you even consider climbing that ridiculous dune in the first place?"
"Because I can?" She shrugged. "And because no one stopped me from doing so. It was fun."
"Getting hurt was fun?"
"The challenge was fun." She smiled softly then let out a tired sigh. "Anyway, I'm going to shower then head to bed. It's been a long day."
Before he could utter another word, she hastened out of the room and left him in his private study. He sighed in dejection then turned toward the fireplace, watching as the flames danced feverishly across the wooden logs. It seemed that things between them hadn't changed after all. She still kept secrets, stayed out late, and avoided him in their own house. He was hoping that maybe she would let him back in again after the accident, but it seemed that that wasn't the case.
He grabbed and held onto the golden football trinket sitting on his fireplace then pulled it forward. He watched as the fireplace split into two then descended the stairs to his secret lab and changed into Plasmius; there was still work that had to be done, and he had to learn more of the apparent ghost boy sending ghosts back into the Ghost Zone.
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Elizabeth's POV:
Frick, she looked awful; no wonder her Father commented on her appearance. Biting her lip in anxiousness, she tried peeling off her jacket slowly but winced and hissed lightly as pain emitted from the gash on her upper arm. Her eyes watered as the pain increased when the leather slowly peeled off the dry green blood then let out a muffled cry when her wound started to bleed again. "Frick," she muttered then tossed her jacket on the ground, making a note to do the wash later so Molly wouldn't ask any questions of what the green stains were, and pulled out medical supplies from under her cabinet to start cleaning the wound.
She leaned forward and gently rinsed off the wound then poured a bit of hydrogen peroxide on it and winced as it stung a bit. She then grabbed a spare hand towel and waited a few minutes for it to dry before dabbing it to clean off the excess blood gently. Before it could continue to bleed out drastically, she grabbed a large gauze pad and stuck it on. To ensure it would stay on, she wrapped more gauze around it and taped it to secure it in place.
A long dejected sigh escaped her lips as she stared at her attempt to start the healing process. It wasn't good, but it wasn't horrible either. She placed a gentle hand on the covered wound as she stared at all of the other cuts and scrapes on her body. Perhaps Matt was right; she wasn't ready for flying just yet.
Looking toward her shower, she sighed in despair once again as she realized she had to repeat the painful process of peeling off the rest of her clothing, which would ultimately lead to more bandaging. Grabbing her dirt-covered blouse, she looked at her pained expression in the mirror one last time before beginning her long and painful night of tending to her wounded body.
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Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I know it's pretty short, and I apologize for it, but I just wanted to give a brief review of how Elizabeth was dealing with her newfound abilities. Anyway, please feel free to leave constructive criticism! This summer will be all about improving my writing and working on this book (as well as another one), so please let me know if you see something I need to improve on. Thanks! :)
Fun Fact: The abandoned football field Elizabeth is using to train was the first place her father used to train before he started training in the Ghost Zone which was revealed earlier in this novel. ;)