Kelly Zuko lies on his back underneath his car, a wrench in hand, repairing the damaged mechanical parts. He's been at work for 24 straight hours, not even taking a break to sleep, repairing the damage done when Camellia Floyd dropped a literal ton of bricks on his baby. He tries to loosen a bolt, but it's too tight, so he zaps it with his Stand, Greased Lightning. The bolt falls from the bottom of the car, landing in Kelly's open palm. He smiles. Then a liter of oil pours down on his face.

"I swear to God, the universe hates me," he mumbles as he slides out from underneath the car. He grabs a rag sitting in his toolbox and wipes off his face.

As he sets the rag down, he glances up to see Camellia sitting on the hood of his car, staring up at the sky, kicking her legs back and forth. Kelly groans and Camellia looks down, staring at him with her big pink eyes. "Hello, Mr. Kelly," Camellia says in a sing-songy voice.

"Hello, spooky ghost child who tried to murder me. Have you come to finish shuffling off my mortal coil?" Kelly says.

"I don't know what that means."

"Of course you don't."

"I'm eight. And don't go to school."

"Whatever."

Camellia jumps off the hood and stares at Kelly's pile of tools. "What'cha doing?" she asks.

"I'm repairing the damage you did to my baby yesterday," Kelly says, sliding back. "You've had a bad few days, haven't you, honey? First you bend your fender in that awful hit and run, then you get stolen by that psycho woman, then you bend your fender again in a second hit and run, then an evil little girl drops a literal ton of bricks on you, then the psycho woman steals you again before I'm done fixing you and just leaves you at a museum-"

"Oh, I get it! You're talking to your car because don't have any friends, just like me!" Camellia says.

"I have friends. I have loads of friends!" Kelly shouts as he slides back out from under the car.

"Oh, right, you're friends with Kan."

"Well, not really. I kinda tried to kill her and now feel really bad about it so I'm helping her out."

"Johana?"

"Also not a friend. I tried to kill her and now I'm completely terrified of her and am helping her out so she doesn't murder me?"

"Nero?"

"Look, I have friends that aren't part of our little Stand User happy fun team. I have loads of friends!" Nero says.

"Like your car?"

"Shut it. Shouldn't you be bugging Kan or something?"

Camellia leans her head back and groans. "I was going to ask her to play tag with me but she's busy having a boring long phone call about Nazis and vampires. Nero and Johana too," Camellia says.

"Well, go play by yourself. You should be used to it by now," Nero says.

"Okay!" Camellia says. She raises her arm and a dozen bricks float out the side of her house. She reaches down, picking up and a handful of screws from Kelly's toolbox. She flicks her wrist, throwing the bricks high into the sky. She bends down and begins grabbing screws.

Moments before the bricks strike the ground, she stops them. Or, more accurately, she stops all of them but the one stopped by the hood of Kelly's car.

"What the fuck!" Kelly shouts as he slides out from under his car. He looks up at the hood of his car, dented by a falling brick.

"I was playing Jacks," Camellia says.

"With bricks?"

"I didn't have a ball."

Kelly sighs, turns around, steps into the backseat of his car, places his face in the center of the cushion, and screams. After a solid minute of screaming, he stops, steps out of his car, and leans down to look Camellia in the eye. "Camellia?" he says. "Please leave."

"But the house is boring," Camellia says.

"Then go to a park or something."

"Woodstock says I'm not allowed to leave the house," Camellia says with a pout.

"Yes, but here's the cool thing about Woodstock: Woodstock is an evil bad guy who tried to kill me and the others."

"Didn't you try to kill the others too?"

"That was two days ago, it doesn't count anymore. The point is, Woodstock is evil, which means you don't have to do what he says."

A metaphorical lightbulb appears over Camellia's head. "Does that mean I can eat ice cream for breakfast and go to bed without brushing my teeth?" Camellia says, eyes wide.

"Sure, whatever. The point is, you don't have to do what Woodstock says anymore. Which means you can go to the park and leave me alone."

"Awesome! Let me go grab my backpack!" Camellia says. She runs into her house. A few moments later she reemerges carrying a large hiking pack. Despite the bag's massive size, she has no trouble carrying it.

Camellia runs to the sidewalk before stopping dead in her tracks. She takes a step back and looks back at Kelly. "What's wrong, kid?" Kelly asks.

"It's just, I haven't left my house since my dad died," Camellia says quietly. "And I'm..."

"Scared?"

"Uh-huh."

Kelly walks over and pats her on the head. "Don't worry, I'm scared all the time," he says. "Want to know how I overcome my fear?"

"Yes please."

"By running away from it," Kelly says as he shoves Camellia back onto the sidewalk.

Camellia reaches back and grabs his wrist. "Can you come with me?" she asks.

"Can I? Absolutely. Will I? No."

"Well, then I'm not going. The outside world is scary," Camellia says, shoving her way back towards the house.

"Wait, I just thought of something," Kelly says. "If you go to the park, then you aren't near your spooky demon house. And if you aren't near your spooky demon house, you aren't near my baby. And if you aren't near my baby, you can't destroy the only thing I love."

"So, are we going to the park?" Camellia asks.

"Sure, why not? Come on, let's get out of here before you destroy anything else!"

Kelly grabs Camellia by the hand and drags her down the sidewalk. "Your house won't collapse if you leave, right?" he asks. Camellia shrugs. "Oh well. I'm not in the house so it isn't really my problem."

Camellia's eyes dart from building to building as Kelly leads her down the sidewalk. A man walking his dog passes by Kelly and Camellia hides behind him, holding on to his hand for dear life. "Stop it, you're going to break my knuckles," Kelly says before sliding his hand out with his Stand.

"Sorry. I just got scared," Camellia mumbles.

"Listen, there are a lot of people in the world and most of them have no desire to kill you. And the ones that want to kill you will kill even if you hide behind my leg. So stop worrying so much."

"He had a cute dog. I wish I'd pet it."

"There will probably be dogs at the park," Kelly says, rolling his eyes.

"Really? I haven't petted a dog in like forever!"

Camellia runs ahead, practically dragging Kelly, until she reaches a nearby park she played at when she was a child. Or, more accurately, when she was a smaller child. When she reaches the edge of the park, she stares in at green fields covered in benches, trees, and people.

Kelly leans down and points at a playground area with swings, jungle bars, and a slide. "Look, other children. Small humans who won't be annoyed by every single thing you do," he says. "Run along, horrible ghost child."

"And you're sure everything will be okay?"

"Everything will be fine."

Camellia takes a big breath before running into the park and joining the other children. Kelly smiles and turns to walk away, finally free from the nightmare that is babysitting. He walks ten steps away from the park before stopping, sighing, and turning back. He walks into the park and sits down on a bench by the swings.

He watches as Camellia swings up and down on a swing set, laughing. At first, her oversized backpack weighs her down and keeps her from swinging. But, after a few moments of struggling, she figures it out and swings back and forth with incredible speed, her heavy backpack actually giving more weight to her downward swings.

"So, which baby is yours?" a woman sitting next to Kelly on the park bench asks. She has brown hair and sips on a tall cup of coffee.

"My car isn't here right now," Kelly says nonchalantly.

"I don't know why you thought I was talking about a car...which kid is yours?"

"I don't have kids. I'm like, twenty-two. Do I really look that bad?"

"You don't have kids?"

"No."

"You don't have kids and your sitting next to a playground, staring at children?"

Kelly laughs nervously. "Okay, I just realized how this sounds. Don't worry, I don't kill children," he says. "I'm, uh, babysitting. See that weird girl with the victorian dress and the cartoonishly oversized backpack? I'm keeping an eye on her."

Camellia swings so high that goes turns upside down and falls from the swing. Instead of falling, she hangs midair, floating. "Oh look, something requiring my attention," Kelly says with a sigh.

Camellia slowly floats down to the ground as a dozen kids run up to her. "Wow, that was super cool!" one of them says. "You were flying!"

"Was I?" Camellia asks.

"You were totally flying! How did you do that? Can you teach us how to fly?"

"No, that is not a thing I can do," Camellia says before hopping back on the swing.

"Why not? Do you think you're better than uth?" a boy missing his front teeth says while crossing his arms.

"Kinda?" Camellia says.

The boy pushes shoves her out of the swing and laughs. Suddenly, a brick flies out of Camellia's pack and strikes the boy in the stomach. He falls down, clutching his stomach, and throws up.

"Ah, shit," Kelly mumbles as he runs over. "Camellia! No! Bad ghost girl!"

"What on earth is going on here!" the woman with the coffee says as she storms over.

"Mommy! The weird girl threw a brick at me!" the hunched over kid shouts.

"She did WHAT?" coffee woman shouts as she turns to face Kelly, eyes daggers. "What is wrong with your child?"

"Again, not my child," Kelly says.

"Who throws a brick at another kid?" coffee woman asks, furious.

"It was an accident," Camellia mumbles.

"How do you accidentally throw a brick at someone?" coffee woman asks. "That's it, I'm calling the police."

"Hey now, there's no need to get the police involved in this," Kelly says, putting his hand on coffee woman's shoulder.

"I am going to sue you and that creepy gremlin for every dollar you have," coffee woman says, shoving Kelly's arm away.

"Okay, counter offer: eat shit and die," Kelly says before kneeing the woman in the stomach. "Camellia! Run!"

Camellia and Kelly run away, chased by a swarm of angry parents and children. Kelly glances back at Camellia just in time to see her float off the ground and fly past him. "Seriously how are you flying?" Kelly shouts.

"I filled my backpack with bricks in case anything bad happened!" Camellia shouts back.

"That is...surprisingly smart," Kelly says. He snaps his fingers and a bolt of lightning shoots from his fingers, turning the park path as slippery as ice. He skates away from the crowd as they all slip and fall on their faces.

Kelly spots a pond in the distance and tries to change course, but his momentum prevents him from turning away from the pool of water. Moments before he reaches the water, a swarm of white bricks fly into place, creating platforms over the pond for Kelly to jump between. Kelly jumps from platform to platform over the pond. He trips right before reaching the shore and lands in the water.

Kelly crawls out of the pond, soaking wet, to find Camellia sitting on a bench made of white bricks. He takes off his jacket, wringing it out, and sits down next to her. "Sorry I got you in trouble," Camellia says.

"Don't worry about it," Kelly says with a sigh.

"I can't control my Stand very well and sometimes it hurts people to try and protect me."

"Relax, that snot-nosed brat will be fine."

"Do we have to go home now?"

Kelly leans back and places his hands behind his head. "Nah. The others are probably still talking to that old guy about werewolves or whatever," he says. "Tell you what, you tell me where you want to go, and I'll take you there."

"Can it be anywhere?"

"Sure, why not."

"Well, my mom and dad used to take me to the zoo a lot when I was little before my dad-"

"Okay, let's go to the zoo," Kelly says before Camellia can finish that thought.

To Be Continued In

Chapter 39: Kelly and Camellia go to the Zoo, Part 2