September Wind
Disclaimer: This is the official disclaimer for the rest of the story. I do not own any of the characters in this story.
The first thing the teenage girl recognized when she opened her eyes was the chill of the September wind that eloped her. She was staring up at a dark blue sky empty of every star. A broken streetlight peeked in her peripheral vision and the feeling of lightheadedness overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes for one minute more running her fingertips along her forehead as if to brush off the feeling.
"Where am I?" Her words came out breathy and soft all the while amazing her how weak she had sounded. The girl reached under her to help herself up only touching the rough ground before losing feeling of it. She glanced down amazed to see it vanishing below her as she was propelled upward feeling as weightless as she ever did.
Her eyes darted around for a second and she hesitantly brought out her hands in front of her eyes. Her skin was flawless and smooth but a blue color tinted it. She found herself breathless and her hands shot to her chest when she found she didn't need to breath. The girl glanced below her at the sleepy city picking out every detail from the darkness. The words went unspoken but she now knew them to be true.
She was a ghost, she—whoever she was—was dead.
Chapter 1: Her first conscious moment
"Wow, I'd heard the rumors but I didn't actually think they were true. Look who it is, officially dead now." The newly dead girl heard someone say from behind her and she'd wished she could say the voice was vaguely familiar—but it wasn't, she could testify of never having heard that before.
She'd turned in the air finally getting used to this maneuvering deal and looked at the figure behind her. Another ghost…the though struck her instantaneously. The figure was one of a female, appearing not to be older than eighteen. She had white skin with flaming blue hair. She wore a skin revealing outfit with boots and had a instrument strapped across her back.
"Do I know you?" The girl asked floating back enough to catch a glimpse of her own hair float into her sight.
Her hair was caught between a white and blue, simply much lighter than the color of her skin. She continued talking while looking at a few strands and then tucking them behind her ear.
"Do you know me?"
The ghost in front of her paused looking fairly thoughtful before she shrugged. "Yeah, I'd forgotten about that. You lose all your memory after you die."
The girl cocked her head to the side and watched intently. "Why?" She asked. Why couldn't she remember who she was or how she ended up here?
The ghost chuckled for a second before adjusting her guitar. "Safety reasons dipstick. If you remembered who you were or how you died you'd go out for revenge on whoever killed ya? Get it?"
The newly dead girl nodded slowly and the ghost continued, "We've meet. You were the halfa's old friend, Sam or something."
Sam, Sam, Sam—it didn't sound familiar but maybe it would do.
"And you would be?" Sam asked ignoring what the ghost said about a 'halfa'.
The ghost looked hesitant on revealing her name but then she apparently had a sudden thought.
"The names Ember" She held out a hand and Sam shook it cautiously. "I never liked you when you were alive but that doesn't matter now Besides, you'll need a lot of help figuring out which way is up anyway."
Her voice carried the message of a hidden agenda and Sam had picked up on it. Whatever Ember was planning still did not sound like a particularly dangerous one so Sam agreed. The sky was just beginning to change as the warnings of the sun coming were spreading out across the sky. Ember jerked her head toward the air in front of them, "Come on, if we stick around here too long something will get us."
Sam nodded finding her will and floating reasonably effortless next to Ember. A few questions were popping up in her mind but she picked out one above the rest.
"If we can't remember who we are when we die, then how do you know your name?" Ember didn't even look at Sam when she answered.
"There are ways of getting around that kid. Trust me though, when I remembered I did go out for revenge until your boyfriend ruined it for me." She muttered the last part under her breath but Sam caught it regardless.
Ember knew more than she let on and suddenly Sam stopped flying and stayed in one place floating in the air. Ember stopped a second later and glared daggers at her."
"What? Are your non-existent wings broken? If we don't beat it out of here those ghost hunters will be back and then you'll really be on your own." Ember urged still floating slowly back even as she spoke.
"Wait up! If you said I could still remember my past shouldn't I before we go zipping off into some ghost zone or something!" Sam wasn't sure what she was arguing and Ember sent her a glare.
"From what I hear, you'd be happier not knowing." Ember bit off and watched Sam stay still there remaining persistent. The ghost-musician struck the air with a fist and muttered something incoherent.
"Look, if I take you to your stupid home will you give it up and quick bugging about it?"
Sam smiled triumphantly and nodded. Ember looked below them mapping out the city in her mind and finding the location she wanted. Without even a words warning to Sam she jet off in the desired direction leaving Sam to struggle to keep up.
When they'd arrived at ground level Ember barked at Sam to go invisible. In a few attempts Sam did manage to get it.
"It won't do much good anyway. They probably have ghost sensors all over the place, but why make it easy."
Sam didn't listen to her much staring at the oddly shaped building in front of her. It didn't seem familiar but it was the closest link she had right now. While exaiming the building a thought struck her.
"Did I live with the ghost hunters?"
Ember stood on the ground next to her and shrugged even though she was still invisible. "Well, this is your boyfriends house. I don't know where you actually lived. He was a half ghost- half kid and lived here with a family of ghost hunters. Once your done reminiscing I'd say we leave—we are walking into a friggin' trap."
The disgruntled ghost went on to complain. Half-human half-ghost. That struck a chord. Sam hesitated kicking off the ground a few feet and floating closer despite Ember's warnings. She reached out to touch the side of the brick building just to see if she could feel it under her fingertips. There was a flash and Sam was suddenly thrown back putting her arms in front of her face just before she was hit by it. Her world turned and the next thing she knew she was on her back covered in a glowing green net and staring up at the sky.
"Dangit kid!" Sam heard Ember call out and saw her fly up into the air.
"You're not getting away!" Called another voice—the owner of it on the tip of Sam's tongue.
A bright blast shot over Sam's head and Ember barely dodged it pulling forth her guitar.
The ghost hunter who had caught Sam shot once more throwing Ember off balance. Sam closed her eyes and racked her brain. That voice, that voice belonged to someone she knew.
Jazz! A bell rang and Sam shot up into a sitting position in record speed. "Jazz stop it!"
The orange haired teen clad in a blue jumpsuit glanced toward her, their eyes meeting and holding there for a second. Jazz's mouth fell open and the gun lowered down to the ground.
"Sam?" She said slowly but shot to her feet just in time to avoid a devastating blow.
Ember adjusted her guitar again focusing on the now weaponless ghost hunter. Sam panicked looking between the two. She unconsciously gripped the dirt floor under her and willed Ember to stop before she did some serious damage. The grass and dirt she clung onto suddenly felt hot and before Sam could acknowledge what had happened a bolt of purplish lightening shot up from the ground and struck Ember enough to shock her.
Sam released the ground as if it had burnt her and stared up at her ghost companion who looked just as confused as she did.
"Just let me figure this out." She pleaded and turned back to Jazz who leaned back against the wall almost trying to back away further.
Ember landed on the ground next to Sam still stinging from that blow. She probably should have suspected it before, most ghosts had extra powers after they died—her own being her guitar. A moment of silence fell over them and then the young ghost hunter came up and pulled the net off of Sam to get a clear look at her.
"It really is you." Jazz said softly examining the girl in front of her. "We'd figured—" Jazz swallowed suddenly finding it very hard to speak, "You wouldn't have come back as a ghost since you died so long ago."
"How long ago?" Sam knew she didn't see a body when she woke up but she had never guessed she'd been dead for awhile. Her first conscious moment as a ghost was just a few hours ago.
Jazz folded up the net slowly, and occasionally glancing at Ember.
"We should…talk about this inside. What about her?" Jazz jerked her head toward Ember just as Sam stood up.
"If I go she comes. I trust her enough." Sam said realizing to the full extent she did trust Ember. She knew Ember had something up her sleeve but she didn't expect a knife in her back if she turned around. There was just something about her—maybe ghost intuition.
Jazz nodded leading the two in, Ember reluctantly trailing behind Sam.
a/n: I hope that wasn't confusing in the beginning and if anyone can think of a better summary for this story tell me. And review- those are always nice.