The next morning, Kim ate breakfast, and called Ron…not for a ride to the mall or the movie… but to the park. For some odd reason, Kim needed to be around people, outside, in the warm sun today. In fact, she'd used some of her money, along with Ron's to actually buy a packaged picnic lunch—not Beuno Nacho, but still, Ron admitted grudgingly, good.

"This is a really weird sitch." Kim said, nibbling on a drumstick. Ron, looking around at the cheery park, nodded.

"Yeah… KP…"

"Yes?"

"Why don't we tell someone?"

"That we're all seeing ghosts in the museum?" Kim said, dryly. "That would work so well."

"And what about mystical monkey power, pan-dimensional vortex thing-a-majigs and Bebes?" Ron asked.

"They're….normal." Kim said, and then blushed. "Well, kinda normal….but if…" She blinked and suddenly got a thought. "Hang on." Kim said, pulling out her kimmunicator.

"Wade." Kim said when the technogenius came up on the screen. "Could you do a favor?"

"Anything you want." Wade said, grinning.

"I need a person search."

"Who and where?"

"More like When…. One name, Elsbeth, no other name. Maybe four or five. Died on the Titanic."

"You're….joking, right?"

"No…and oh, she had a nice night dress on—maybe she's second or first class."

"Um…this is going to take some time." Wade said. "I'll have to run a search for all permutations of the name, and maybe even call in some favors to get people to look at…" The genius had a hard time forcing the evil words out, "at…print only archives."

"Please and thank you!"

"Elsbeth?"

"She's a little girl—I keep running into her." Kim said. "She's looking for her mom, and says she can't find her—that she's…. not here."

"KP…" Ron said, "We're in ove-" He paused, "That's not funny, we're really kinda out of our league here."

"Ron…" Kim said, "We were hired to protect the exhibit, and nothing is going to keep us from doing that."

"Kim…."

"End of convo, Ron…."

Great. A museum full of fairly annoyed ghosts and Kim's channeling her 'I can do anything' attitude. Ron groaned, and then looked up as Kim's head whipped around.

"What is it, KP?"

"Do you hear it?"

"Hear what…" Ron's voice trailed off. Across the park, over the sounds of laughing kids and parents…. He heard it.

"Ring-a-ring of roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo, a-tishoo!
We all fall down."

The light voice of one child was joined by some others, and Ron turned to Kim to see the teen turn so pale he thought she'd faint.

"That's her…."

"Her?"

"Elsbeth…." Kim said, and was suddenly running, Ron hurrying to keep up.

The voices remained maddeningly just out of reach, as they came to the basketball courts, and the voices suddenly trailed off. Kim leaped around the side, of the fence that surrounded them. Ready for action, and then came to a sudden stop, her hands falling by her sides.

"KP?" Ron said, panting as he came around the corner… but there was nothing. The courts were empty, except for a spreading puddle of water. Ron blinked and touched it, jerking his hand back.

"What is it?" Kim asked.

"It's freezing…" Ron looked up at the bright sun and tasted the water. "And it's salt water… and…." Kim followed his gaze, looking at the trail of small footprints that ran up to the fence…. And stopped. Kim looked around, feeling her body start to shiver.

A dark museum or night was one thing…but this was the daytime.

Her kimmunicator beeped.

"Go Wade." Kim said.

"Kim, Shego got out…"

"Mom?" Wade shook his head.

"She's fine…but Shego…. She's…not really there." Wade paused, "in fact, according to the cops, she's heading back to the museum." Kim blinked at that. Why would Shego head back there?

"We're on the way, Wade." Kim said. "C'mon Ron!"

When they got to the museum, there was chaos. Shego had started by destroying the exhibits in front, and was blindly flailing out, green fire going everywhere.

"Burn…" Shego was talking to herself. "Burn it all down…"

"Shego…what have we said about fire safety?" Kim said as she flipped into the lobby. Then she ducked a bolt of energy, and readied herself for an attack. Shego turned around, ignoring her, gathering her power to burn a scale model to ashes. No banter, no quips.

"Kimmie!" Kim turned around.

"Mom?" Her mother had come up in an ambulance and tossed a syringe to her daughter.

"Here, use this—Shego's not well, I don't want you beating her up, and that should bring her down." Kim nodded. Shego wasn't paying any attention to her, so Kim leaped on Shego….

And was tossed back like a rag doll. Kim blinked. How had she ever gotten so strong? Then Kim looked and saw that the fingers on Shego's left hand were bent—she'd broken at least two of them…but she didn't seem to notice.

"Kimberly…use the syringe." Her mother ordered, and Kim needed no second order. This time she landed on Shego and just tried to hang on, while finding a place to use the syringe. For a moment, Shego tried to throw her off, but then Kim managed to inject her. Shegos' movements became less and less coordinated, until she fell over, looking up, blinking stupidly at Kim.

"They're going to be very angry at you." Shego said in a clear voice, before her head lolled back and she passed out. Moments later, Kim's mom and a group of paramedics were loading her into the ambulance.

"I'm sorry, Kimmy." Her mother said, "We decided to let her walk outside, with an escort…and well she went completely berserk the moment she saw the sky…we'll keep her sedated or secured."

"No big mom…" Kim said.

"What did she say to you? I couldn't hear it."

"No-nothing." Kim replied.

"Oh dear!" Dr. Wilson was wailing. "Some of the original items have been destroyed!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Kim said.

"It wasn't your fault, my dear…however…" He said, glaring at her mother, "Perhaps if the hospital was more concerned in safeguarding life and property..." Kim's mother frowned, and returned in a frosty voice.

"We are. However, pardon me if I'm not overly broken up over damage to a ghoulish example of bad taste." Terminating the conversation, she walked back to where the paramedics were securing Shego to the stretcher. Kim shook her head.

"Mom… doesn't like this."

"So she's demonstrated." He said, "But I feel I must ask you to guard the exhibit again tonight…"

"I have cheerleading practice that goes until 8…"

"As long as you're here before it's completely dark, the regular security staff will remain on site."

"Ok!" Kim said, and turned to leave.

"Don't…" A voice spoke. "We won't let you…" Another voice said. Kim turned around to Wilson.

"Did you say something?"

"No…why?"

"No-nothing." Kim said. Then she frowned, Ghosts or mad scientists, she wasn't about to let them beat her.

At the cheerleading practice, Kim was in her usual form…but not Ron. He missed every cue, and seemed to be distracted.

"Ron, head in the game!" Kim said, in exasperation, as Bonnie impartially glared at them both.

"Sorry KP." Ron said. "I'm just a little…" He shrugged. "Bugged."

"Oh?" Kim said.

"Yeah. I don't know… this whole thing…feels…wrong." Ron said. The other cheerleaders gathered around.

"What feels wrong?" Tara asked.

"The museum gig." Kim said, ruthlessly stamping out a sense of agreement. "Ron's getting all ghost freaked about it."

"Maybe you should listen to him." Tara responded. "He was right about Wannaweep." Ron glared at Kim.

"Kim, we both had…experiences. We hear a girl who according to you was on the Titanic singing a song in the park today. Something scared Shego so badly that she went back to destroy the museum…." Ron sighed, "Kim, look, this isn't some Hollywood horror flick. Something is seriously, badly weird."

"And you're the mast-" Kim broke off. Nobody was supposed to know about Mystical Monkey Power. Ron didn't hesitate.

"Yeah…and trust me—every one of my hairs is standing straight up—Rufus' would be too if he had any hair." Ron looked at Kim and saw the anger in her eyes—the anger that rose whenever she felt she was losing.

But there was fear in them as well…and Kim only knew one way to deal with fear—power through it.

"Kim… let's give this one a rain check…" Ron said, "We could even ask Global Justice to find something for us to do—that'd be more important than guarding a museum."

"NO!" Kim's shout surprised even her. The feel of a cold hand on her wrist. She shook off the tremor and glared at Ron.

"IF you don't want to do it, fine! But I'm going to protect that exhibit, and nothing, not a ghost, not Shego, not anything is going to get past me." Kim furiously spun on her heel. Ron quietly spoke behind her.

"I've always been with you Kim…you know that." He shook his head. "But…" Kim was already out of the gym, heading into the ladies dressing room.

"Wow… never expected you to be scared, Stoppable." Bonnie said, then paused, "Not like this, at least."

"Not like this?" Ron asked.

"Yeah—you run around and scream…but this is a… I don't know, calm kind of scared."

"Yeah…as in 'out of my wits'" Ron said.

Kim threw on her missions clothes in the locker room. Glaring at the kimmunicator, she tried to calm herself down with some breathing exercises. So things were weird….so Ron had a point.

But she didn't quit. She could do anything, and that included protecting some old pieces of junk. Kim shivered in the night air…which seemed to be getting colder.

"Wow…" Brick said. "You guys see the outside? Freaky." Bonnie's ride was at the door, and Tara and the others looked out to see it. Ron walked up, a prickling feeling at the back of his neck.

The sky, the early night sky…was an odd greenish color. Not normal, and they started to get chilled at the entrance.

"Geez." Brick said, "It was 90 degrees today…." Bonnie took his arm and huddled into him.

"No kidding." The brown haired cheerleader said, teeth beginning to chatter, "I didn't bring my jacket." Tara looked out and suddenly turned pale.

"Can you hear that?" She asked.

"What?" Marcella asked. Tara hushed them with a gesture. The teens listened, and then they heard it, coming dimly as if from a great distance.

Screams. Pleas….the sounds of thousands of people begging and crying out. Suddenly, the little group had moved back, closing the doors.

"We…we…should go home." Tara said.

"It's probably nothing." Bonnie said "…some geeks are having a joke on us."

"So you're going to go home with Brick?" Tara asked.

"Um…maybe we could wait here…and then all go to a movie…together." Bonnie replied, unsuccessfully trying to keep a tremor out of her voice.

Moments later, the cheerleaders and others had somehow found themselves in a tight little knot, at the far end of the chamber from the doors to the outside. A wind had picked up outside as well, and several of the girls were huddling together. Tara and Marcella had huddled close to Ron, his arms around them.

"I…I don't like this." Tara said. Bonnie didn't snark at all… in fact, Ron noticed that Bonnie was huddling close to Brick.

Then the lights went out. There were several screams.

"It's okay." Brick said, "probably just a little problem with the lights…" and then light started to rise, of a sort.

"Ron…" Tara quavered and held onto Ron with a death grip, as did Marcella. Normally Ron would be happy at this…but then he saw what the light was revealing.

The floor of the gym seemed to be crowded…men and women standing, in old fashioned dresses and suits…looked up at the teens. Glaring, disapproval on their faces. Then the light started to go down, but the last light showed those glaring angry faces, and those strangely dead eyes….looking at them. Tara and Marcella weren't saying anything, and Ron could hear choked whimpers from the girls and some of the guys…Brick was saying a Hail Mary…but quiet, oh so quietly. Nobody wanted to attract their individual attention… The weight of anger in the room wasn't aimed directly at any one of them…but he could feel it. Oh yes.

And then the dark was complete, and moments later the lights came on again. A soft exhalation came from all the teens.

"Wha…." Bonnie shut up, tried again, but her voice was just as quavery the second time. "What was that, Stoppable…." Ron thought about lying…or whether Bonnie would laugh at him.

"You know that exhibit…. I don't think artifacts are the only thing they dredged up." Bonnie didn't laugh. Then, Brick looked around.

"Shouldn't Kim be back by now?"

"You shouldn't have done that." Kim spun around at the voice.

"Elsbeth…" She asked. The girl was standing right in front of her…but she looked different. Her dress was soaked and her body was an odd pale color…with gems in her hair, Kim realized, catching the light.

"Done what?"

"Said what you did…they're angry. They're very angry."

"About the museum?" Kim asked, "I have to…that's what they hired me to do."

"It's not right." The girl said, stamping her foot. "I want to find mommy!"

"I'll help you…" Kim said, suddenly realizing her breath was condensing in the suddenly cold air. It was very cold…and she could smell salt water on the air.

"You can't help me!" The girl said. "I can't find mommy here!" Kim reached out to touch the girl…and suddenly recoiled.

Her skin was icy—literally, icy, and Kim realized that the "gems" were crystals of ice in her hair, her dress rigid with frozen water. The child raised a hand and pointed at Kim, the crackling sound coming from the fabric as little dustings of frozen water were released. Kim suddenly realized that her eyes were dead…like a mannequin's.

"They say it's your fault!"

"My fault…I'm just doing my job-"

"You said the same thing they said, when we left." Kim was backing off now, her cheerleading uniform giving no protection from that cold, that somehow had become utterly bonechilling. Then, the lights started to go down.

"I'm…I'll be back." Kim said, backing away, falling over a bench and suddenly getting back to her feet. The lights were almost completely out, and she could hear…screams. Moans. Pleas.

She got to the door…but it wasn't locked, but it wouldn't open.

"Ron? Ron!" Kim shouted, feeling her self control begin to fray. "Get me out of here!" Kim looked down at another sound…and saw running water, an inch deep, a layer of fog just above it.

Where's it coming from, it can't be coming from the sh-shower.

"Ron!" This time she screamed, self control be damned. "Ron, HELP!" She went back to fumble for the kimmunicator, or the laser…. And fell down on a trunk that bobbed and floated madly. Kim's legs were chilled to the bone before she could pull them up, as she looked around.

"For God's sakes! Someone help us!"

"God save me!"

"My baby, someone help my baby!" There was an unholy chorus of shrieks and cries, from all around her.

"Where am I…where's the locker room!" She shouted out, looking up at a clear sky, hundreds of stars looking down in lordly indifference to man and his works. Then she looked down….

There were people around her, for as far as she could see, all crying out, all screaming for help.

"Return the lifeboats!"

"Don't leave us!"

Kim tried to back away, but she couldn't, she was in the middle of them, and any motion caused the trunk to move alarmingly. Then she looked around, and realized that most of the people around her had already died, faces coated in frost, lips skinned back in a rictus of horror, or despair…or even resignation on a few. Then Kim saw her.

Elsbeth. Dead. Bobbing along, another man with her who had apparently held her up until he had expired. Her doll bobbed next to her. The child's eyes were open, rimmed with ice.

"But I…" Then, before Kim could finish her statement, Elsbeth turned and looked at her.

This can't be happening. This is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream! Kim frantically thought.

"I told you they would be angry." She said, and then suddenly the cries were back, louder, but now full of anger.

"Drag her down!"

"If she likes it so much, let her join us!" The man with Elsbeth suddenly lashed out and gripped Kim's leg with a ice cold hand.

"Always more room in first class, mum." He said, and pulled.

Kim went mad. Her skills, her black belts, her jokes, abandoned her, and she screamed, her voice high and shrill, cutting into her vocal chords, as she flopped onto her inadequate refuge.

"Ron…RON…. OH GOD, RON, HELP ME!"

"God's on vacation, dear." A matron said, her gray hair a single mass of ice crystals, her eyes fixed on Kim. "He can't be bothered with us." Her thin arms reached out, and with irresistible force started to pry Kim's fingers loose. The cheerleader frantically started kicking, all martial arts forgotten, desperately trying to stay put. She looked up and suddenly there was another man in front of her, a man with sooty face and terrible burns from steam, he laughed, and grabbed her other hand.

"Not as fun being here is it?"

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Kim babbled, tears rolling down her face.

"Oh, you had time enough for that before…too late now." Another man said, his voice slurred from whatever impact had destroyed half his face and sheared one arm off. His other arm finished prying her loose and now Kim was being pulled into the water.

"Isn't she such a pretty thing?" A maid cooed to the dead child in her arms, as she bobbed close to Kim. "She has eyes just like yours…." And then there were more and more and more, and Kim couldn't fight them as she was pulled under, not even remembering to hold her breath as she screamed and screamed and screamed.

"Kim?" Ron asked, coming to the door to the girls locker room. The others had followed him…nobody wanted to be alone. In fact, some of the girls who had arrived in their own cars had already decided to drive out together…and get their cars tomorrow.

In the daylight.

"KP!" Ron called. Tara suddenly looked down.

"What's that?" She asked. Ron looked down and saw water coming from under the door…cold water, with a fog condensing just above it. Suddenly Ron got a horrible feeling, remembering the anger he'd felt.

What if what we saw….

"KP! I'm coming in!" Ron said, then touched the door and gasped pulling his hands back involuntarily…there was a ripping sound and part of his skin was pulled off, even as condensation froze on the outside of the door.

"KIM!" Ron screamed and pulling his shirt off used it to shield his hands as he pulled again.

No go. The doors were immovable, but now more water was coming out from under the door. The other Cheerleaders were looking in horror, and suddenly Bonnie was next to him, using her top to shield her hands. Normally, being next to bonnie when she was in naught by a bra and bottoms would be, well, thrilling, but Ron only had eyes for that door.

"Here!" Brick said, coming up with the fire axe. He didn't bother to try and chop down the door, but wedge the thick wooden haft of the axe and started to try and lever the door open. Ron joined him and threw his weight into it, as the girls pulled.

"It's starting to come…" Brick grunted, "Bonnie, get back!"

Then the door started to slowly open, as a gusher of icy cold, oily water came flooding out across the floor. The cheerleaders jumped back and Bonnie clasped her arms around her as a deadly cold gush of foggy air followed the water…and then the door was open and a wave of water broke across the floor of the gym, causing some teens to leap up onto chairs, shuddering at the look and the feel of the water and air. Then the flood was gone and Ron and Brick charged into the dark room, followed with Bonnie with her penlight.

"Why no emergency lights?" Brick muttered.

"I don't know." Ron said, banishing the thought of what would happen if the soaked lights decided to come back on and ground out through anyone standing in the water.

"She's not in the showers." He said, looking in.

"Not over-" Brick started, when a scream came behind them.

"KIM!" Bonnie screamed, and Ron had never heard her so terrified. He must have teleported to where the standing, paralyzed, hands jammed into her mouth. Kim was on the floor, in her cheerleading uniform….socked, hair a mass of ice, her face pulled back in a nearly inhuman rictus of terror and despair. Her mouth was open, and a trickle of water (salt water, Ron thought), dribbled down the side of her face to join the pools in the room.

And she wasn't breathing.

In fact...she looked dead.

TBC.