Ghostly reveals

"Um, Julie, what are you doing?"

Julie lowered her arms and turned to see Carlos on the porch, a confused frown on his face as he crossed the backyard to her.

"What's up, little man?" Reggie immediately called.

"Reggie says hi. Probably the others too," Julie said, getting confirming nods and little waves from Luke and Alex. Carlos waved back in completely the wrong direction. "We were just practicing some ghost stuff." Seeing her brother's interest, she continued, "We think I might be able to poof the guys to me? I mean, we know I can 'cause I did twice before, but now it's not working and we're trying to figure out why. So far, not going great."

"Wait, maybe he can help us?" Luke suggested as he and the boys walked over.

Alex gave him a look. "Help us with what? Keep failing?"

"Hey, don't underestimate the Ghost Master," Reggie said. "My man's got skills."

"Ghost Master?"

"Yeah, like Jedi Master, but we're ghosts, so-"

Unaware of their conversation, Carlos grinned at Julie and said, "You have ghost telekinesis? That is awesome." The look he gave her afterwards however was enough to light a spark of worry in her stomach. "What's not awesome however is that dad and tía have seen all your weird," he waved his arms mystically in front of him, "from the kitchen window… and tía thinks you're summoning a demon."

Oh crap.

Julie's eyes immediately snapped to said window, and sure enough, there they both were. Dad looked mostly confused, but tía… tía looked frantic.

Dios, how the heck was she going to explain this?

Hoping her smile didn't betray the panic she felt, she awkwardly raised a hand and waved. After a moment's hesitation, they waved back.

"We're so screwed," Luke mumbled.

"We?" Julie hissed under her breath, still facing the window. The last thing she needed right now was for her family to see her talking to the air. "They can't even see you guys - if anyone's screwed, it's me!"

Carlos crossed his arms, looking way too amused about the whole thing. "Uh huh. So unless you wanna start talking to Doctor Turner again, I think you know what you have to do."

"What?"

"Tell them, obviously!"

:::

"I can't believe we're doing this."

Julie and the ghosts had been prepping in the studio for about an hour now, going over the song and tweaking the last few details to make it pop just a little more. Not enough to overdo it (and risk it sounding too polished), but still more than they usually would. Because this performance was important - one of the most, if not the most important performance of Julie's life.

Because this was the song they were using to show her dad the truth. To show him her band was actually made up of three teenage ghosts (musician spirits, an imaginary Alex corrected in her mind).

She must've looked as worried as she felt as Luke only took one glance at her before calling out, "Alright, band circle everyone!"

They gathered around - Luke on her left, Reggie on her right, Alex in front of her - arms around each other's shoulders.

"Okay, so we don't know how Mr. Molina's gonna react - I don't have a clue how I would in his place." Luke's hand drummed comfortingly against Julie's back. "But what I do know is that we have an amazing song, a killer singer," heat rose on Julie's cheeks as Alex and Reggie nodded in agreement, "and if anything can make the whole ghosts-are-real thing easier to accept, it's music! So let's rock this show!"

As they all cheered, Julie felt some of the tension melt away and she grinned, pulling her bandmates closer. They weren't late to return the embrace.

The sensation of Luke's arm around her shoulders, Reggie's hair tickling her face, Alex's chin resting against her head, just the simple fact that they could touch… Julie didn't think she'd ever get enough of it.

"Let's do this!" she shouted as Luke got them all to jump around in a circle.

:::

As the band launched into an instrumental interlude, Ray simply sat there, brain going into overdrive to process what was happening.

The three boys had appeared out of thin air.

Along with their instruments.

Without a projector.

And Julie had just phased through one of them.

This… this was a lot to take in.

A hundred questions burned on his tongue, a hundred thoughts whirled in his mind, but the only thing he managed to get out was, "So you guys are… not from Sweden?"

The bassist - Reggie, he reminded himself - shook his head, smile excited and nervous all at once. "Nope. I haven't even seen the Alps in pictures."

"That's not…" The drummer - Alex, right? - must've caught something in his bandmate's face, as his expression softened and he trailed off with a quiet, "Okay."

"I've got pictures from our 2017 ski trip there I could show you," Ray responded before he could think about it. Trust photography to break through the ghost panic.

Dios mio, his Julie was in a ghost band. A ghost band!

Ducking his head, Reggie busied himself with his bass. "I'd like that."

"But… how can you…? How can I…?"

"Oh, Julie makes us visible through the power of love and music," the guitarist - Luke, his brain supplied. The guy Julie often shared a mic with - said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, strumming out a few power chords, "It connects our souls somehow."

Souls, love, music, ghosts... The words bounced around in his head like ping-pong balls. Dios, this was crazy. Absolutely, utterly, completely crazy.

"Papi?" Julie's voice broke through the haze, her hands fiddling with the microphone as he met her gaze.

In that moment, Ray decided he could freak out more about this later. About what it meant for Julie, about how having three ghosts living (existing?) in his garage would be, about what the heck they'd tell Victoria. All that could be saved for later when he was in the confinements of his bedroom.

For now he'd focus on the four teenagers in front of him, the awesome song they were playing… and the relief that Julie wasn't actually summoning demons.

And so he smiled and said, "Well, I'm pleased to finally meet you boys."

Ray is the best dad and I will die (and become a ghost) on that hill.

Also, thank you so much Wildcat stuck as a human for reviewing last chapter! :D

(Completely unrelated note: My hair's currently looking like a curlier, messier version of Luke's hair during Perfect Harmony and it makes me snort every time I walk past our hall mirror lol)