I haven't been writing much. Mainly because of school and the fact that my room is FRICKING FREEZING. It is that period of California weather where my dad thinks its too cold for AC but not cold enough for heaters. I can't do anything about it. You know how dads get with the thermostat. My computer is a desktop pc so I can't write under my heat blanket in bed, especially because my laptop is unusably slow :( I have blankets but sometimes its just not enough because I'm just a cold human (or maybe I'm slowly getting ghostly ice powers)
Edit to the above a month later: My dad has started turning the thermostat up. Thank goodness. But school is still horrible and I really just need like a year of free time. I wish I can freeze time :/
Chapter 27: Questions
The kids had to use their acting skills to make it seem like they hadn't seen the secret lab in Heather's basement before. Either because of Karma or just out of luck, Valerie didn't get suspicious. Out of the ghost zone now, Heather was having trouble keeping the Soma Zeto invisible without the Ghost Zone's energy helping out. She had to pretend to take a look around, then hide it behind a few boxes of stuff when Valerie wasn't looking.
Speaking of suspicious, the kids were suspicious of Valerie's ghost-hunting suit and knowledge of the ghost zone. Luckily, Valerie decided to explain things.
"Kids, I think we need to talk."
The kids stood around her.
"That place is the ghost zone. If they taught you well in school, you should know it's another dimension. But what I didn't tell you is that I'm a ghost hunter. Me, and Tucker, and Danny..." she trailed off with a sigh. "The point is, we kept a lot from you to protect you. We stopped the Disasteroid. All the ghost stuff from twenty years ago is now a footnote in school textbooks. We stopped it to make people forget. And they have. We originally did it to protect the people, but we took our names out of most of the history books when Heather was born to protect our secrets... Well, former secrets, but..." She paused. "Alex, your parents were never involved in any of this. Heather and Raymond always knew each other because of us. You met Heather in fifth grade. I expected Heather and Raymond to someday get involved, but I don't want to get you involved."
The kids looked at each other, not sure what to think. Alex was curious about the whole thing.
"So, Mrs. Foley, why did you think they'd get involved in all this stuff?" Alex asked. "And how did you and Heather's parents get involved in the first place?"
Valerie thought for a few seconds. She didn't want to say too much, in case Danny didn't want any secrets out. "Well, its complicated. It starts with Heather's grandparents on her dad's side, and... well, when the Fentons get back from Greenland tonight I'm sure they'll answer your questions."
"Wait a minute... GREENLAND?" Heather yelled.
"The anti-portal facility in Greenland went down, and they had to fix it because the technicians couldn't. I guess it didn't matter much, that mole ghost dragged you in there anyways. They'll be back in a few hours."
Heather was genuinely surprised. She ran upstairs, and on the kitchen table, was a note. A note saying there was an emergency at work. No specifics. Of course.
The others came after her. "Heather, they'll tell you more when they get back. I have to go take Alex home. His mom is probably worried," Valerie said. "Ray, you stay here."
Valerie and Alex left. The empty house was silent.
"They're getting too close. I don't want them to find out," Heather said.
"Everything's going right for us. I knew Karma would help us, but I didn't think he'd go this far," Ray said.
"The question is, what's the catch?"
"That's what we'll need to find out. Also, where'd you hide the staff?"
"I hid it in the lab. Let's go get it."
They went and got the staff and brought it upstairs. Heather hid it in her closet. Valerie came back in twenty minutes, and they waited out the last few hours watching a few movies.
When Danny, Sam, and Tucker got back, there was silence. Heather stared at Danny with a gaze similar to a mom about to scold her kid for getting in detention. Danny sighed. He got Valerie's text on the situation, but still didn't know how to explain things.
"Everyone, to the living room. Let's sit down and talk things out." Danny went to the center of the couch, and the adults sat to his sides. Heather and Tucker sat on the coffee table across from them.
And Danny explained everything.
He explained the story of his powers. He explained his ghost hunting past, and why he hid it. All he wanted to do was give his daughter a safe and normal life.
Heather almost told him about her powers, but didn't. She still was convinced her dad would make her train in all her free time, or something like that. Plus, she was enjoying her powers.
She didn't say a word, and kept her face emotionless. She went to her room and brought Ray with her.
"Is that it? Buenos Aires?" a soldier asked the Ant General.
The General looked to the Commander. The Commander took out her map of Argentina- a lucky find in one of the smaller cities they stopped at, because real maps are rare and the ghosts didn't know enough about technology to steal a phone for a map.
"That's it," the General said. They were looking at the city of Buenos Aires, after a day of travel. The whole squadron flew to it, hoping to find a place to rest, or at least to get a better map. Argentina didn't go on forever, and neither did their map.
Thunk! A sound similar to a bird hitting a window warned the rest of the squadron not to continue; the Commander slammed right into a ghost shield. One of the fancy new invisible ones. It blocked their path.
All ghosts knew it was impossible to pass through a ghost shield. No ghost, no matter how strong, could break through. Only stopping it at the transmitter could open it, and of course the transmitter was inside the shield.
"The city must be contained in the shield," the Commander said. "I would advise we continue our journey. We can follow the river north of the city. It might lead us somewhere important."
The General nodded. "Let's do it."
