Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Busters either for the brief mention of it in this chapter. This is a buildup chapter so keep waiting till the REAL action starts! Reviews are appreciated no flames please!
Hay Lin raced back into the Silver Dragon. It had been a month since the accident in Metamoor, but Hay Lin still hadn't gathered up enough nerve to tell her friends about it. And to make thinks worse, Taranee was onto her secret! She raced up the stairs toward her room and yanked at the door handle. Locked. "Open up!" she called angrily. There was no answer. "This isn't funny!" Hay Lin snapped. Sill the room remained silent. Hay Lin grumbled under her breath. "I'm coming in whether you like it or not!" She concentrated, maybe these new powers could come in handy after all, she thought as she closed her eyes. She felt the strange sensation of going intangible, her entire body began to vibrate she smiled at the tickling sensation. Once the feeling had spread throughout her entire body, she stepped through the solid door. She opened her eyes returning to normal, her long silky black hair had been pulled into a single ponytail to make this trick a bit easier, that way she wouldn't get her hair stuck. She looked around her room, Elyon was sitting on Hay Lin's bed, she was reading the latest magazine. Hay Lin wasn't the least bit surprised to see her either; after the battle between Elyon and Phobos, everyone had considered it too dangerous to allow her to remain in Metamoor. Hay Lin had agreed that Elyon could come live with her, after all it wasn't hard to convince her parents to allow Elyon to stay. She was posing as Hay Lin's pin pal Elizabeth. Elyon had used her magic to create a disguise; she was a redheaded girl who wore her hair in two long braids. But Elyon often slipped back into her regular form after making sure the door was securely locked.
Hay Lin's dark eyes continued scanning the room until they fell upon something that made her heart stop. There, tied up in the corner, an old sock stuffed into her mouth, was Taranee! "Elyon! What are you doing!?" Hay Lin cried angrily. Taranee looked like she was about to burst into flames, and everyone knew that was entirely possible for her. Her hazel eyes were narrowed in the most intense glare Hay Lin had ever seen. "Taranee are you ok?" Hay Lin asked kneeling next to her. She carefully removed the old sock allowing her old friend to breath again.
"You TRAITOR!" Taranee screamed enraged. "I THOUGH TOU WERE ON OUR SIDE! BUT ALL THIS TIME YOU'VE BEEN WORKING WITH HER! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US LIKE THAT HAY LIN!? HOW COULD YOU!?" Though Taranee had indeed witnessed Elyon's self doubt, she had always had a strong dislike for Elyon, ever since Elyon held her prisoner in Metamoor. Hay Lin stood there stunned for a bit before the exact meaning of her friend's words sunk in.
"Taranee, look you've got it all wrong!" Hay Lin stuttered. "Elyon.... She.... She... she saved my life." Taranee didn't look convinced at all. She had been watching Elyon carefully the entire time, which explained why she hadn't seen Hay Lin walk through a solid door.
"Well I only half saved it," Elyon said not looking up. "Right Hay Lin?" At these words, Taranee slowly went pale, her eyes widened slowly. She turned her head slowly, her eyes were as wide as plates as they fell upon Hay Lin. Hay Lin looked Taranee straight in the eyes, she felt Taranee's hope, that what Elyon had said was wrong. Hay Lin felt awkward under Taranee's gaze, she couldn't manage any words all she did was nod.
"Hay Lin!" Taranee cried after a long, horrible silence. "Please tell me it isn't true! Please!" But Hay Lin could not hide the truth from Taranee any longer and she knew it. She nodded again. "What do you mean, only half saved her life?" Taranee asked watching Elyon carefully.
"I died, but only half way, you see I'm technically still alive, but I have new powers." Hay Lin said. It was hard to explain when even she didn't know all the facts. Taranee was silent, she didn't like the idea of facing more magic, and Hay Lin knew she didn't.
"Maybe..." she said trying to come up with an explanation, that had nothing to do with dieing. "Maybe... this is just a new power that your supposed to get!" Hay Lin shook her head. She had also considered this possibility.
"No, I went to the portal on my own. Cedric captured me, Phobos threatened to kill me, Elyon came in, they fought, I got hit, end of story." Hay Lin said. "Ever since that day I've been developing new powers..." she trailed off hating to pile more magic on Taranee. "Ghost Powers." Taranee closed her eyes as if trying to shut out everything.
"No.... it can't be true....it can't.....you can't be dead...." Taranee muttered to herself. Hay Lin saw tears run down her cheeks. Elyon got up and untied Taranee, as soon as she did so, Taranee brought her hands to her face and began sobbing.
"Taranee, I'm not dead." Hay Lin said comfortingly. "I'm only half dead, at a kind of Limbo, you know, not entirely dead but not fully alive either, I'm half... er... half...." Hay Lin stammered looking for the right words.
"Half Ghost?" Elyon suggested. She was now sitting next to Taranee and listening in intently on their conversation. Taranee looked at her, but for once she wasn't angry. In fact, Hay Lin though, she looked relieved.
"Yeah!" Hay Lin called cheerfully. "Half Ghost! I like the sound of that!" Taranee grinned obviously cheered. "So now we're like a super powered version of the Ghost Busters!" Hay Lin said laughing. She began humming the Ghost Busters theme and dancing wildly around the room. Elyon and Taranee laughed at first but actually joined in toward the end. "Who you gonna call?" Hay Lin asked loudly.
"GHOST BUSTERS!" They all cried in unison. They sat down all out of breath from their little ghost busters dance. Taranee had cheered up dramatically, she was smiling and laughing with the others. Hay Lin stood up, she really hated to ruin the mood, but she had to get an important issue across to Taranee before she left.
"Taranee, I would really like you to keep my Ghost Powers a secret..." Hay Lin said slowly. Taranee looked at her as if she were insane. "I mean, a BIG secret, you can't tell ANYONE! Not Will, Irma, not Cornelia, not ANYONE!" Hay Lin said. Taranee looked at her confused. "Look I know it sounds weird, but Will has enough to worry about after all she's the leader, Irma couldn't keep her mouth shut about this for the life of her, and Cornelia really doesn't want to put up with anymore magic." Hay Lin explained. Taranee nodded she saw the method behind her friend's madness. "Oh yeah," Hay Lin said after a long, uneasy, silence. "This," she pointed to the glowing green orb which was now swirling in all the different shades of green. "It's called the Heart of Chaos, I dunno what id does exactly, but I like having it around. So what do you say Taranee, are you in?" Hay Lin asked extending her hand.
"Well... you guys need to understand how utterly freaky this is for me. So I think you can see the reason behind my response when I say: I am so in!" Taranee said shaking Hay Lin's hand. Hay Lin grinned, somehow she knew she could trust Taranee.
"Hay Lin!" Hay Lin's mom called from outside the door. "Are Taranee and Elizabeth in there? I need to speak with you three!" Hay Lin moved slowly toward the door. She checked over her shoulder to make sure Elyon had changed into Elizabeth, she had. Hay Lin unlocked the door and allowed her mother to step inside. "I've got two things to talk with you three about, first of all, Taranee, your parents are going on a college tour with you brother and they won't be back until Monday, so you'll be staying with us until then. That brings me to my second point, one of my old college classmates is throwing a reunion party. You see we had to miss the last one, which I hear was a blast, because Hay Lin got sick at the last moment. But this year we plan on going and you two will be going with Hay Lin, her father, and I." Mrs. Lin explained.
"Sounds like fun!" Taranee said cheerfully. Elyon nodded in agreement. "Just out of curiosity, who's big reunion are you going to? I mean, who's holding it?" Taranee asked, though she knew she wouldn't know them.
"Vlad Masters," Mrs. Lin said walking out of the room. "Now you guys go to bed early, we'll be up late closing the restaurant, and we don't want you guys to be tired. We need to drive to Minnesota tomorrow!" she called behind her. Hay Lin rolled her eyes, she knew the car ride was going to be a long one, especially if Elyon and Taranee fought the entire time. She grinned at her friends, at least her mother had the two people who knew her secret tagging along.
"This part is going to be so dull, it'll just be a bunch of old people trying their best to dance to new wave music." Elyon complained. "I hope something exiting happens, otherwise I might just have to stir up some of my own excitement." She grinned evilly.
"Let's not cause any panic," Hay Lin laughed. "After all what can happen and some stupid reunion?"