Day 7

When Jade awoke, it was the next morning. However, the sun wasn't all the way up past the horizon quite yet, so everyone was still sleeping. Jade didn't mind though, she liked the tranquility of the sunrise. There were so many hues and shades to look at, Jade was almost lost in her trance, before a voice snapped her out of it.

"That's the prettiest sunrise I've seen in awhile." Karkat's whisper came from beside her. She turned to face him, just staring for a minute.

"Uh, Harley? Are you o-" but the male was cut off by Jade's embrace. Even though ghosts couldn't really feel any temperature changes, Karkat could've sworn he felt his cheeks get warmer when Jade hugged him.

"I thought you had gotten eaten." Jade said quietly, burrowing her face in Karkat's chest. He only gave a light smile and hugged her.

"I don't plan on re-dying anytime soon. I was just lucky Equius was there to save my ass." he said.

"Who?"

"The other dude." It took Jade awhile, but she soon remembered the other figure beside her helping Kanaya up.

"Wait, that ghost was a dude?" she asked. Karkat gave out a silent chuckle, not wanting to wake the others.

"Yeah, I thought that too. Oh! I almost forgot. Equius is looking for a friend. He thinks that she might have gone more north after they got separated." Karkat said. Jade nodded. That's exactly where they were planning to go next.

After everyone was up and ready, they all prepared to float North, hoping to get near Oregon, but still be in western Idaho. All day they floated, having odd conversations about things that would most likely make them wind up in a mental facility if any other person heard.

"So, how would you dispose of a dead body?" Sollux asked the group.

"A river of course. Nobody would ever know it was you because the evidence would be gone in a matter of days." Karkat said.

"Plus you could burn the body, or hack it to pieces!" Aradia said with the creepiest fucking psychopathic smile anyone has ever seen. The group decided not to talk about killing anymore after that experience.

"Are we there yet?" Jade complained after about an hour of hovering past many towns with farm after farm.

"No. It'll only be another hour." Kanaya said, receiving several groans from the group.

"Oh c'mon guys, it's not that bad."

Three hours later, they had no idea where they were. Usually they knew they had arrived in another state by the highway signs changing, or a sign saying "you are now entering _." But at this point, the signs had looked all the same. Frustrated, the group sat down in a corn field for awhile. The distant buzz of Soul Demons and the cawing of crows were the only things they could hear. They sat there brainstorming ideas, until they thought they spotted some other paranormal beings in the distance.

"Hey! I think those are other ghosts like us! Let's go see if we can get directions!" Jade said, floating over to the two ghosts. Kanaya, Karkat, and Equius all flew after her, in case they turned out to be dangerous.

"Hi!" Jade said, catching their attention. The two turned, and one of them got excited.

"Look Adella! More ghosts like us!" the girl said, bouncing up and down. The long haired one nodded at her, and then addressed Jade in a more calm manner.

"Hey. What can we do ya for?" she asked, smiling.

"We were wondering where Idaho was!" Jade asked.

"You're very close. Just head up north about another hour and you should see a sign. But I seriously suggest you don't go up there. My girlfriend and I just went up, and there's a lot of Soul Demons up there. There's practically a thousand of 'em per block. " she said, looking at her now calm partner, who nodded in agreement.

"We were just going down to California to see if there's a gap somewhere." the other one said. But Jade just shook her head sadly.

"There's no gap the last time we checked." Both girls frowned upon hearing the news.

"Well Linata, I guess we're not going anywhere for awhile now. Unless you'd rather fight another Demon."

"Yeeah, how about no." Linata said, adjusting her beanie. Adella only laughed in an "I'm just kidding" kind of way.

"But hey, we did see another girl up near the Idaho border, didn't we?" Adella asked, causing her partner to nod vigorously.

"She had a beanie like mine, but with cute little neko ears." Linata said, putting her hands up on her head to make fake cat ears and wiggle them around. This caught Equius' attention.

"We have to depart now. That description sounded a lot like Nepeta, and she might be in danger. Thank you girls for your services." he said hastily as he turned back. Jade and Karkat gave quick thank yous and good byes, and rushed off to join the group.

About an hour later, the group had reached Idaho, and frantically searched for Nepeta, while trying to avoid the hordes of the beasts.

"Help me!" Kanaya had heard after awhile of searching. She hovered over the source of noise, only to find a small figure hiding in an abandoned building. She lowered herself to where the figure lay, whimpering. Kanaya shooshed the poor girl, immediately taking note of the cat beanie she was wearing.

"Are you Nepeta?" Kanaya had asked as soon as the girl was calmed down. Nepeta had nodded quietly, still whimpering. Kanaya had noticed that she had a small gash on her cheek, similar to Jade's.

"Do y-you know E-equius?" Nepeta asked, very slowly getting up out of her hiding place. Kanaya nodded.

"He's been looking for you for awhile. Come with me."