Chapter 8

We started on our journey early the next morning. Emily had explained everything to her father, including the fact that she was half ghost, and while he had a little trouble swallowing the fact that there were such things as ghosts and half ghosts, and his daughter and wife were two of them, he believed us. As for Danny, mine, and Tucker's parents, we told them that we were going on a road trip with Emily. Hey, it was partly true, right?

We flew most of the way, with Emily and her new ghost crutches in the lead, and both halfas helped to make the four of us intangible. Once or twice Danny asked Emily where we were going, but she just smiled and said "You'll see."

We landed around dusk in front of an old, falling apart shack painted a peeling shade of purple. Emily heaved a heavy sigh.

"Welcome to home sweet home...or at least, it used to be." Emily explained softly. The three of us looked at each other in disbelief.

"This was your house?" Tucker couldn't help himself. Then he cringed as Emily turned on him and glared, her hands on her hips. One thing I had learned about Emily in the few weeks I had known her is that she could get pretty mad if she had something to be mad about.

"Sorry, Em! I didn't mean it!" Tucker backed off quickly. To our surprise, Emily smiled slightly.

"I know its not much for looks." she said. "But with my mothers' medical bills and the cost of necessities for the three of us, this was all we could afford. I lived here from the time I was born to a few years ago, when my mother died. I figured if we were going to begin at the beginning, we'd have to come here."

It did make sense. Emily phased quietly through the house to make sure that no one else was living in it, and then she motioned to us to come in. Danny made me and Tucker intangible and we phased through the house. Tucker wanted to pick the lock, but we told him no.

Emily stopped, hovering a few inches above the floor, in a room barely the size of a closet.

"Let me guess. Your old room?" I asked. Emily nodded slowly. Then we all noticed an old tattered book on the floor. Danny lowered Tucker and me to sit on the floor, so he could swoop down and get it.

Danny and Emily both changed back into human form and settled down next to me and Tucker. We all crowded around to get a good look at the old book.

"Little Known Ghosts..." Danny read the title slowly. On the cover there was a picture of a long-haired girl ghost with a pretty gold necklace with a blue stone around her neck. We all turned to Emily, but there was nothing but puzzlement written on her face.

"I don't recognize the title...but then again I'm such a bookworm that I may be forgetting it." Emily grinned and shrugged.

There was a light blue Post-It stuck on one of the pages about halfway through the book. Danny turned the page to the marker and we all stared down at the picture in front of us.

"Isabelle...the Healing Ghost." the headline at the top of the page read. Below the headline was a picture of the same ghost that was on the cover of the book.

I took the book from Danny and started to read the paragraph below the illustration softly, as if I was afraid that this...Isabelle could hear us.

"Isabelle is one of the most powerful, yet little known ghosts in the entire Ghost Zone. She is believed to be able to cure any illness or disability. Her source of power comes from the necklace she wears. The beautiful blue stone set inside the necklace is called the Healing Stone, and it is here from which all healing powers are controlled. It is believed that if the healing stone necklace is worn by a possessor of the rare Isabelle Power, a power to heal those on the brink of death and those who are closest to the person, then the wearer will be cured for a few short hours of any illness or disability they may have."

I finished the paragraph and looked over at my friends. They all looked shocked and a little confused, but none more so than Emily. Emily's face looked pale and frightened in the dimly lit room, and it struck me for the first time that Emily was just a little girl. A girl with many unfathomable challenges to face.

"This is it!" Emily whispered. "To defeat Vlad, we have to get that necklace! I don't know how I know, but this is it. We have to visit Isabelle and get that necklace. It's the only way."

And so a clue had been uncovered in the spider web mystery of Emily, her healing powers, and Vlad. I was scared, but I knew we would stick by Emily no matter what. "Emily...lead the way to Isabelle." I said, trembling.

A/N: Oooo...I've got you in suspense! Anyway just to clear up a few things:

In case you've been confused, I've kinda been switching between first and third person. Sorry about that. Sometimes when I'm writing, my mind and my fingers kinda get carried away and lose sight of the grammatical structure of things.

A few chapters back, when Danny and Sam saved Emily from Vlad, a few of you were confused that there wasn't a huge ghost fight b/w Danny and Vlad. If this was a real episode, there would have been a ghost fight. I just don't describe it in the chapter. Got it? I hope so! Please READ AND REVIEW!