Hiya, sorry this one has taken so long but I had another story I wanted to finish first and this one kinda fell by the wayside for a time. Then my internet crapped out, and then the computer died, so I have to use the internet in the library whenever my home computer decides to let me use it to write anything. But my concentration is back on this story as the end is in sight (don't worry, it won't be for a few more chapters yet but I have planned this out (shock horror, this is planned!) and I can see the progression to the end)

I would like to thank my only reviewer for the last three chapters

Robert Teague: Thank you very much, I am loving your Ember stories I've read them both, I hope you update soon, I'm sorry I can't review personally but my comp has crapped out on me and this is it, I can't open pop up windows at the moment.

And now, I invite you (if you're still there) to delve once more into this fic.

Chapter 14 - Experiments

The next day (if you could call it that, what with the no visible passage of time and all) Ember awoke and smiled as the first thing her groggy eyes focused on was the newly restored guitar and sheets of paper cluttered near it. With the prospect of being able o try out the new buttons propelling her she leapt out of bed, into the shower and then got changed again before she was fully aware that she had woken.

After a breakfast of cold cereal and milk, she practically skipped into her bedroom, retrieved her precious guitar and literally flew through the door. As usual she landed safely in the park, guitar and brand new songs at the ready. Upon spotting a suitable group of targets, she flipped the switch to the purple ripples and brushed the plectrum across the strings. Purple ripples emanated from the guitar, the force pushed her back a few steps and her eyes automatically closed. When she opened them again she found all five of the ghosts staring blankly at her, their eyes faintly glowing red.

'Did it work? How do I tell?'

"Umm…Sing 'Old McDonald'" she commanded her zombies. As one, all five of the victims lifted their heads and sang

"OLD MCDONALD HAD A FARM EI…I…EI…I…OHHHH…"

Ember didn't hear any more as she had collapsed on the ground, holding her stomach with tears running down her face as the laughter rolled out of her. Eventually she managed to compose herself and stand up to discover that the five ghosts had stopped singing and were now arguing about what animal made what noise and which one they were going to imitate next. Felling another wave of laughter about to engulf her, Ember waved her arm and told them that the spell was broken (completely guessing as to how to reverse the effects as Skulker had never thought to tell her exactly how to do it). To her surprise it worked and her first 'victims' blinked, looked at each other in confusion and then dispersed mumbling something about mushrooms and to never trust anyone who sold things from baskets again.

With the success of one of the symbols, the teen felt emboldened and strode off to find some more victims. After not much searching, she found a couple she thought would be good to test another button on. They were stood ten feet apart screaming at each other about what, only they knew. The girl seemed to get the last word as she abruptly turned away from the boy and strode off away from Ember while the boy turned and began to walk toward her. This was her chance, she turned the button to the heart symbol and sent the plectrum flying across the strings, just as the boy noticed her. The spell shot out and hit him before he could utter a word of protest. The male's eyes glowed a funny shade of pink for a few seconds before he turned away from Ember and ran after the girl he had been arguing with.

Ember watched and then laughed as he begged her for another shot while she ignored him, then pushed him away so hard that he fell to the ground. She allowed herself a daydream of the person she wished she could do exactly that to before turning to find someone to try the last safe symbol on…and ran strait into a mountain.

She disentangled herself and found that it wasn't exactly a mountain she had run into, though a lump of stone may have had a better personality and more brains than what she had found herself in front of. It was a huge male ghost, his arms were three times thicker than the entire width of the teen and he possessed a chest Arnold Schwarzenegger would have been proud of.

"Watch where you're goin'," he rumbled in a thick accent, though Ember couldn't place it, he certainly sounded like he had grown up in some back water town where they still looked up in puzzlement at the moon. Then a thought struck her, 'what a perfect opportunity to try out that last safe button'

"Well if you had enough brain cells to mange to look where you were going and walk at the same time it wouldn't have happened." The teen called boldly to the retreating back of the ghost. The large form turned back toward her, a look of growing hatred on his face.

"Were you talking to me?"

"Well I don't see anyone else here with the mental capacity of a cactus, do you?" her statements grew bolder as she sought a physical reaction, while simultaneously reaching down and spinning the button to the little blue fist, preparing to take off incase it wasn't as powerful as she hoped.

With barley any warning, the mountainous ghost turned fully toward her and charged, obviously forgetting that he could fly. She let him close the gap between them, some sort of confidence filled her, despite the fact she had never used this command before and had no idea what effect it would have on this guy, if any at all. When he was only six feet away from her, she stuck the chords. A large green fist emerged from the strings and knocked the ghost flying. He went so far Ember couldn't even see where he landed, the fact that she had been flying backward through the air at the time having more than a little to do with that.

When she had recovered herself, Ember stood back up and attempted to look for her last victim. Failing to do so prompted her to yell "That is SO cool" loud enough for some of the older residents of the park to look at her and mutter obscenities about the youth of today. While she was busy dancing over her success a presence, undetected, crept up behind her.

"Having fun?"

Ember almost jumped right out of her skin, then whirled on the intruder, her plectrum ready to knock them back as well. She relaxed as she recognized the red suit and matching hair.

"You know, there's only so many times someone can sneak up on a girl before she reacts violently." She quipped.

Spectra smiled "I see that Skulker found you then?" she said as she indicated the guitar hung around Ember's neck.

"Yea, he snuck up on me too"

Spectra smiled again "So, are you ready for your next lesson?" a look of puzzlement crossed the features of the teen momentarily, to be replaced with one of realization as in all her excitement over her precious returned guitar, she had forgotten that she was still in training. Reluctantly she pulled the guitar over her head and sat in down, propped up against a tree where she could keep her eye on it while she trained. Satisfied that it wouldn't disappear (though in this realm that was a very real possibility) she turned back to her mentor and said

"Okay, I'm ready"

Two and a half hours later, pupil and teacher found themselves back under the very tree Ember had left her guitar. The teen was absentmindedly playing one of her new songs while Spectra sat with her eyes closed and her face toward the sky, listening to the melody that was dancing from the guitar. As she listened, she became more and more relaxed and more and more of her inhibitions fell away. Finally, when Spectra had been lulled into a half sleeping state of consciousness, she uttered the words that were to change Ember's destiny again.

"You know, if you ever went back, you could probably go far with those songs."

Abruptly, the music stopped and Spectra woke up again. She looked around to the teen to inquire as to why she had stopped when she found the pair of luminous green eyes were focused on her.

"What do you mean if I go back?" she asked slowly. She was met with a look of puzzlement so decided to elaborate "There's a way to go back?"

Realizing what she had done, Spectra replied, deciding that honesty would be the best policy in this scenario "Yes, there's a way back"

Shocked, Ember stood and raised her voice at the woman who remained sitting at the foot of the tree. "Why didn't you tell me before now!"

"I didn't think you were ready"

"NOT READY!" Ember replied incredulously "not ready for what? Not ready to see my friends, my family my…" she trailed off as the next word didn't really apply to her anymore and brought more pain than happiness.

"I didn't think you would be ready to face them, remember I have been doing this a long time, I know how painful it is for a ghost to go back and see their family, with no way to interact with them. And the way you died would make it much worse. You're not ready"

"The hell I'm not! Come on, your going to show me where to get back and how to do it" Ember insisted and she grabbed Spectra's arm and proceeded to haul her to her feet. Once upright Spectra grabbed her arm back from the teen and stood her ground.

"Why do you want to go back, there's nothing for you there anymore, if there was, you wouldn't have committed suicide would you!"

Stinging from the verbal blow she had just received, Ember lowered her eyes and spoke to the grass "I want to try to find love" Spectra was shocked into silence, never once realizing what could possibly be at the root of all of the morbid songs Ember continued to write, even after she was dead. Ember raised her eyes back to the woman sharing the space with her when she sensed that she wasn't about to be verbally punished again and continued. "I left that world unloved, I was adored by my fans yes, but I wasn't loved. I want to go back, I want to find out if it's my fame that attracts people, or if it's me"

Though she was trying her best to hide the tears, Spectra saw them and her long dead heart melted for the teen. "Come on Ember, I'll show you where to get through" Spectra said as she rose into the air.

Stunned, Ember hastily wiped her eyes and followed, not wanting to waste this chance by saying anything. A short while later they landed before a swirling black and green vortex, almost indistinguishable from the sky around it. When they were both safely back on the ground, Spectra turned to the teen next to her "There it is, all you have to do is walk through it and your there."

"Where's there?"

"It comes out in some obscure place called Amity Park, don't ask me why, it just does" Spectra replied and just as she began to turn away to leave, Ember launched herself into the older woman's arms and hugged her.

"Thank you" Ember whispered into the red shoulder pad of her mentor, then she extracted herself, wiped away her tears and confidently strode through the portal.

End of Chapter

Once again, I feel I must apologize for taking so long to write this. I just couldn't make myself write, I was concentrating on my drawings but I felt I owed my loyal fans another chapter.

Thanks for reading this and I should be updating more regularly until the end. Not long to go now.

May the Angles bless you and keep you safe

Anawiel