Thank you to my reviewers

Sukira-chan: I know, just wait 'till later, even more guests should be popping up.

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet: Thank you, of course there is more, it's too much of a distraction from what I'm meant to be doing for me to stop now.

cakreut12: Howz the bunny? Thank you for reviewing and I hope your stories are coming along.

It's always an honour to open your mailbox to find a new review waiting for you, but 4 in the one day! Thank you so much.

And on we go…

Chapter 5 – Re-introductions and Acceptance

"Wait!" the young rock star called to the gigantic bee's retreating back.

"What" the bee asked irritably as he looked over his shoulder at the girl who hadn't moved a muscle

"I can't go that fast on foot"

The bee flew back to her, looked into her eyes with his pitch black ones and spoke in a tone that suggested she was five years old and unable to grasp the simple concept he was about to explain to her. "So fly then"

"I can't"

"Why not"

"I don't know how to fly"

The bee looked at her incredulously for a few seconds before it changed back into a green blob and landed in front of her.

"What do you mean you can't, every ghost can fly"

"Look, I woke up in this whacked out place about an hour ago. Since then I have been terrified, chased, screamed at, and treated like a child while trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Flying, is not something I have been too concerned with"

They fell silent for a few minutes while the blob considered their options. Ember shifted from foot to foot, getting more and more nervous about what the creature might say. For the first time since she woke up she let her mind wonder back to what was her life. She remembered being happy once. Before she had become famous she had had friends and a loving family. She had had Ash. His memory hurt the worst. How he had said he loved, tricked her into bed and then disappeared. Never phoning, never acknowledging that she was alive. Ha, the irony of that last thought did bring a mirthless snort from her. According to these people she wasn't alive anymore. She had died that night in the hotel room, and it was partially his fault. She found that the sadness and misery she had felt because of him had transformed themselves into anger and something that bordered on hatred. She had begun to hate him for what he had put her through.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the blob, he was waving his hand in front of her face as if he had been trying to get her attention for a while. 'Old habits die hard' she had a habit of spacing out when she was deep in thought and it usually took a lot to get her out of her self induced trance. She mentally shock herself and focused her attention on the shape before her

"Okay. I don't have the time or the patience to try to teach a newbie how to fly. So I'll take you to Spectra and she can do that"

"And how are you going to take me when I can't fly"

"I'll have to carry you" He shifted into the bee again, picked her up by the arms and flew off with her.

Initially she screamed and struggled and demanded to be put down but after being threatened to be let down from their present height she stopped and just let the ghost bug take her where it was going. Not as if it could do much to her anyway, she was already dead apparently.

Half an hour later she felt and saw that they were descending, into what she couldn't decide and didn't have time to think about because she was hitting the ground before she knew what was going on. She stood up from the crumpled heap she had landed in and found herself facing of these mysterious floating doors. When she looked around for the bee that had brought her here, she found that the old man was back.

"Um…What are we doing here?" she asked him as she stared at the door.

She didn't get a reply; the little man just reached up and knocked on the door that was levitating in front of them. As she opened her mouth to speak to him again the door opened a crack, and then promptly slammed shut. The teen barley had time to blink before the door was thrown wide and the smiling face of Spectra appeared in the doorway.

"Ember, so good to see you again. Come in." she stepped aside and allowed her two guests entry. Whatever Ember was expecting when she walked through the door, it wasn't what she found. She walked into what appeared to be a normal sitting room. The walls were painted red, and the carpet, and the curtains. There was a three-seater sofa, a two-seater and a single chair, all facing what appeared to be a T.V. and arranged around a coffee table. It looked nothing like what she imagined the lair of the thing she had encountered not long after arriving would look like. Their host invited them to sit so the girl took a seat on the two-seater while the shape shifter sat in the armchair.

Spectra took the seat next to Ember and smiled at her before she spoke "I'm sorry I scared you so much the last time we met but you really needed to know and that as the only way I could think of to prove it to you. You're okay with that aren't you sweetie?"

"Not really. I had no idea where I was or what had happened to me and you just appeared out of no-where, insisted I was dead, then scared the crap out of me and left me to fend for myself in a crazy bizarro-land full of what I assume are other ghosts, and not all of them are Casper like. And I don't like being called sweetie. I was 18 when I died"

"So you accept it then?" Spectra tactfully dodged the angry teen's comments and cut to the heart of the admission she was sure even the girl herself had missed.

"Accept what?" Ember looked puzzled for a minute while she tried to recall what she had just said

"You accept that you're dead"

"I have no choice do I? That's all that's been rammed down my throat since I woke up." The teen shot back. She was tired of running and denying. When she thought about it, it made perfect sense. Her last memories before she woke up were not pleasant ones, and she could remember considering the course of action she evidently took in the end.

"That's not what I asked…"

"But that's my answer" Ember smiled at the irony of the last two sentences. Two hours ago those two statements had been delivered the other way round. When she was the one looking for the answers and Spectra was the one brushing her off with half answers.

The irony was not lost on the older woman either. She smiled and reached over to the young girl. Taking her hand she stood up and gently pulled the rock star to her feet.

"Come on. You're going to be here for a long time so we may as well show you around make some introductions and find you somewhere to live. Oh, before I forget, this is Bertrand, but you've already met him" she finished as she indicated the old man who was now standing as if to follow them out.

Before she could open her mouth Spectra had pulled her out of the comfortable living room and back out into the ever-changing black/green vortex that is the ghost zone.

End of chapter

A/N: not sure if that's how you spell Bertrand, but you know who I mean, I hope. This is going to be one hell of a fic by the time I finish it, I have too many ideas. Must lay better traps for those friggen' bunnies. Once again thank you for the reviews and I'll speak to you again in the next chapter.

May the Angels bless you and keep you safe.