Wow, another update. I have written so much this summer, it isn't even funny. I just can never find time to during the school year.

Review Praises:

Chaos-CAT1: I am sooooooooo glad that you finally reviewed! Still upset that your computer isn't working, but I thank you for deciding to review again.

way2beme: Yeah, I've been trying to write cliffies, but you are the only one to actually say that it was. Thank you!

Disclaimer: I only own Rayna and the ghosts I make up. Nothing else. Well, maybe some other stuff, but I'm too lazy to find all of them. -laughs-

That's it for now. Enjoy the chapter. Is this chapter six now? I can't keep track anymore. Oh, well.

Chapter Six.


I reached the burger joint about twenty minutes before it was supposed to close. Danny, Tucker and Sam were still there, the only people besides the employees. I sat down beside them.

"Rayna! You made it!" Sam greeted me. "Yeah," I said, sliding into the booth. "I got mad at my parents, so I left before my powers got out of hand."

They all nodded like we were discussing something normal. What was normal here? We were all in the presence of a psychic girl and a ghost boy. Yeah. Real normal.

"Mindy, another shake," Sam said casually to a waitress. I saw Sam slip her a bill. The waitress —Mindy— appeared in less than a minute with a giant vanilla shake in a glass cup.

"That's all they have here," Sam said. Who cares? A shake is a shake, and this one was better because it didn't cost me a thing! I smiled as I took the first bite.

"Hey, Danny?" I asked. He turned towards me. "Have you ever seen a ghost like that one?" I asked. His eyes grew a bit wide, surprised that I had asked the question in public. No one was listening, though.

He shook his head. "Nope. Never."

"It said that it didn't come from Earth. Is that common?"

"I dunno. I never really talk to them. They cause trouble, and I take them back to the Ghost Zone."

I nodded. "Oh, I was just curious."

A clock rang seven o'clock and we were shooed out. The lights turned off about a minute later. A car took off. "So... you do you wanna do now?" Tucker asked. "Go home!" Danny said. He sounded really tired. "We've got school tomorrow, and I'm beat. And there'll most likely be more ghosts out later."

We all took off in different directions. Danny flew off, Tucker and Sam went in opposite directions, and I was left standing outside of Nasty Burger. Stupid me.

I began to take off, and got about four feet off the ground when someone grabbed me around the ankle. "Going somewhere, Rayna?" a familiar voice asked me. "Vlad," I grumbled. I knew it without even looking at him.

"Of course! Do you think that I would let someone as powerful as you get away from me that easily?" He smirked. I felt like punching him. "Go away. Leave me alone," I said. No such luck. I tried flying away, but his grip was strong. I didn't wanna carry him, either; the idea was to get away.

"Silly child. That may work on half-wit ghosts, but I am so much more than that." He yanked my leg and I fell. I looked around. What could I use? The drive-thru sign. I envisioned it, but was (literally) shaken out of my thoughts. "You're too slow, Rayna. But I could teach you. Make you stronger. Make you powerful." Venom oozed off every word.

It's a lie, I thought. Don't fall for it! But that was easier said than done. I wanted to believe him. What was happening? "No!" I shrieked, and the drive-thru sign crashed onto his head. He let go. I flew away.

What was that? I had not been too angry. Not enough to lose control, anyway. And I had not envisioned the sign well enough to make it move. Was this a new ability, or was someone else there? I shivered.

I could see my house. Mom and Dad were waiting outside. Lovely. I'd get it now. This time, they'd see me if I tried to sneak in through the window. Might as well accept the punishment. I floated down in front of them and decided to pretend to be casual.

"Hey, Mom. What's up?" I asked. She ran to me and gripped me in a hug that I couldn't squirm out of. "Rayna, I'm sorry. So, so sorry," she sobbed. I pushed myself out. "What?" I asked.

I saw her wipe away a tear. "We were irrational. It's just that I don't want what happened in the city to happen here. We shouldn't choose your friends for you."

I smiled. "Mom, that isn't gonna happen again. I promise. I was dumb then. But I try to learn from my mistakes," I assured them. They both ran up to me this time and hugged me tightly. This time, I didn't mind. So there we all were, embracing each other on the sidewalk for everyone to see. Oh, well.


(NOT IN RAYNA'S P.O.V.!)

Rayna had gotten away again. Vlad cautiously got up after his blow to the head with a drive-thru sign. The girl is powerful, he thought, rubbing a sore spot on his shoulder.

He changed out of his ghost form and walked briskly to a large black Camaro. It was his, obviously. Inside was the family of four that had pretended to almost be killed by the centaur ghost.

"No need to disguise yourself here," he told them in a harsh voice. All four of the family members began to glow a sickly green and fused together into a being with four heads, all misplaced on its green, glowing, gelatinous body. Vlad had dubbed it The Shifter. It could turn into any four things, one for each head.

"What do you need?" one of the heads asked. Vlad held up a photo of Rayna. One that must've been just taken, because it showed her and Danny, along with Sam and Tucker, outside of the Nasty Burger. Vlad pointed to Danny and Rayna. "Find these two. And bring them to me," he commanded.

The Shifter nodded all of its heads and dissolved out of the car. And into the night it flew.


(IN RAYNA'S P.O.V. AGAIN!)

Mom and Dad apologized over and over, relentless even after I had asked them to stop. They even offered to say sorry to Sam, but there was no reason; she hadn't been there when it had happened.

Finally, and about half past seven, someone knocked on the door. I answered it and immediately recognized the people. It was the family that Danny and I had saved. "Who is it, honey?" Mom asked me. She, during the time it had taken me to open the door, had appeared at my side.

The father grasped my hand and said, "Hi. We're the Jones'. And we just wanted to thank your daughter Rayna for saving our lives," he said happily. Mom blushed. "W—what did Rayna do?" she asked. I could tell she didn't believe them.

"She saved our lives! For a terrifying ghost! Her and one of her friends," the father explained. Mom looked even more shocked. "Really, Rayna! Did you save these peoples' lives?" she asked.

"Of course she did!" the mother exclaimed. "Yes, and we were wondering if we'd be able to take her out for a shake or something as a reward," the older child concluded. She looked my age. Mom blushed again. "I see no problem. Where?"

"There's a burger joint down by the park that we were gonna take her to," the mother said. I thought for a moment. The only burger joint I knew was the Nasty Burger, which was by the park. But that was closed and had been for about a half-hour. There must be another one I don't know about. I am new, after all.

Mom waved as I left. She had already given me a ten, but the Jones' must've seen her, because they insisted on paying. We walked all of twenty feet when we stopped in front of Danny's house. Mr Jones knocked and Jazz opened the door.

"Hello. Is Danny here?" Mr Jones asked her. She nodded and shouted "Danny!" He immediately raced down the stairs, almost tripping in the process. "These people wanted you," she said. Then Jazz walked away. I waved. "Hi, Danny!" I shouted.

"Hi. Who are these people?" Before I could answer, Mr Jones got really excited. "Hello, Danny. We all wanted to thank you for saving us tonight. To say thank you, we're taking you and Rayna out for shakes."

I nodded and Danny said okay. We left soon after. The Jones' began gawking all over us, saying thank you and how they were in debt to us, and if we ever needed anything, ask them. Really annoying. Danny didn't seem to mind, though. He didn't seem to be thinking anything.

A wisp of blue smoke-like vapour escaped from Danny's mouth. He quietly gasped and clamped his mouth closed. What happened? I thought, sending the thought to him. Ghost sense. A ghost's nearby. He thought back. I looked for one, but couldn't see it. I don't think Danny saw it, either.

Our little group kept walking and walking till we got to the park. We kept going past it until we came onto the Nasty Burger again. "Huh?" I asked dumbly. "This place is closed."

I turned round to see not the happy Jones family, but Vlad... again. He was in his ghost form. It always chilled me how much Vlad looked like a vampire. But beside him was one of the most grotesque things I have ever seen: a giant gelatinous ghost with four heads. I felt like spewing. But I had to be strong.

"What do you want, Vlad?" I asked, trying to sound bored. "You, of course. Don't you realize that by now? You and Danny." A hideous smile stretched itself across Vlad's face. The ghost thing beside him laughed.

A head morphed and I recognized it as Mr Jones. "Thank you, Rayna for saving us!" I said in a mocking tone. I am so dumb. If I had thought to read its mind beforehand, I could've foiled its trick. Or at least have saved Danny from falling for it, too. The thing formed into four large police-looking ghosts. Each had a gun that looked like a taser, and I got scared. Danny hadn't transformed into a ghost yet.

I saw a car. A nice, old, black car. I envisioned it and opened my eyes to see it floating. Now to just slowly shift it over Vlad's head, and Danny and I can get outta here! I tried not to make my gaze so obvious, but Vlad noticed. He pointed at me and yelled, "Shoot her!" I closed my eyes.

What felt like a shock from an outlet hit me square in the stomach. Then, the sensation grew throughout my whole body. I opened my eyes and saw I was surrounded by a glowing net, sending out short volts of electricity every time I moved.

"Rayna!" Danny shouted. I looked at him and saw that he was finally in ghost-form. Vlad laughed, obviously amused. "Danny, Danny, Danny. You of all people should know that these nets were made for ghosts. I just installed the shock for our good friend," he pointed at me. "These will still work on you, foolish boy." His eyes grew wide as I heard another net being shot.

I saw—okay, not literally—him go intangible, but the net still snagged something. A shock worked its way through it, and I saw Danny again. He was writhing, apparently more affected by the net than I had been. Soon the writhing stopped and Danny laid motionless. I screamed. But another shock blasted me till I felt dead tired.

I saw two of the four police ghosts walking over to me, and the other two walking toward Danny. They gathered us up, apparently unaffected by the shocks. I noticed that Danny was no longer in ghost-form. I felt sick.

Vlad leaned over and laughed at the unconscious Danny. "Silly boy. I have won. And you didn't put up so much as a fight." He laughed again. "Shifter!" he bellowed. All four of the police-ghosts turned toward Vlad. "Put them in the car! We need to get out of—" he stopped.

I saw what he was looking at. For interrupting me, it had caused me to drop the car. It was standing vertically, its engine popping out from under the hood. Ha! I had done some good. Vlad growled an unearthly growl, and shouted noises. Not words, just illiterate noises. He stopped and paused for a moment.

"Shifter?" He still had the beast's attention. "Take them to Mr Rhodes. I'm sure Rayna would like that." He smiles again. The Shifter began to laugh, too, then fused to each other and carried Danny and me away.

Mr Rhodes? I gasped. My therapist! I must've moved when I gasped because all of a sudden, I was shocked again, and everything went black.


Ooh! Exciting! I had great fun writing this chapter! You know who Vlad reminds me of? Slade from Teen Titans. For those of you who watch the show, do you think so, too? Especially in this chapter?

See? See! I told you that the family was gonna have something else to do with this! Was it surprising enough?

Am I doing a good job of being original? Tell me. And I am always open to suggestions. It helps prevent writer's block. And gives me a lot of new ideas. One small idea could change the whole direction of the story. Possibly for the better.

Okay, nothing else to say. Bye for now.
-DaydreamingTurtle-