When she woke up, she felt different. Her stomach felt like a pit. It was currently two in the morning, and she couldn't sleep. She was just so hungry. She wanted something burnt, something tart.

With a sigh, Rylie got out of bed. If she wasn't going to sleep, then she should figure out what to eat. She was wearing her footie pajamas with little green ghosts on it that Grandpa Jack had ordered for the whole family. She never really wore them before, because the texture wasn't right then. But now, it was perfect. It felt just right on her skin.

She quietly made her way down the stairs, in case her parents were sleeping. Opening the kitchen door, she looked for the refrigerator. Everything that was dark was now… Was now easier to see. Her ghost powers, perhaps?

She opened it, looking for something to eat. There was nothing tart in the fridge, not even a pink grapefruit.

Shaking her head, she went to the pantry once she closed the doors. There, she grabbed some bread. Something burnt would taste good now, right?

Putting a slice of bread in the toaster, she turned the heat on high and waited. As the bread burnt, it started to smell so good. Once it popped up, she grabbed it, looking at the blackened square.

"Is… Is this even edible?" She asked herself with a frown. Oh well, only one way to find out.

She took a bite.

Instantly, she ran to the sink to spit it out, brushing her tongue off with her hands. That was not something she wanted to repeat.

With her enhanced senses, she smelled something delicious. It was… Coming from the lab? "What could be in the lab that smells so good?" She asked herself, leaving the burnt toast near the sink. She'd get it later.

She made her way down the cold metal stairs, coming to a stop at the bottom to find a few blob ghosts in captivity. They were harmless, but the good smell was coming from their direction. Why?

In a haze of ghostly instinct, she walked over to the ghosts, her eyes glowing silver with a green tint. One of them floated closer, making adorable burbling sounds. Instead of petting the ghost, however, she grabbed it in a vice-like grip.

The blob squealed in pain and fear as she brought it to her face. This ghost smelled so good. Her jaw was wide-open, mouth salivating. Licking her lips, she was about to put it in her mouth when the lab door slammed open.

"Rylie?!" Her father's panicked voice called down the stairs. He couldn't see her yet, however. Couldn't see what she had almost done.

The green tint to her eyes faded, leaving them a glowing silver, and she looked at the blob ghost in her hands, horror twisting her face. She let go, backing up to the opposite counter. Her breathing was hitched as she scrambled past a chair, knocking over some experiment in the process. She got up on top of the counter, curling into a ball and rocking. "No no no no no," she mumbled to herself, in shock.

"Rylie? Is that you? What's wrong, sweetie?" Danny asked, his tone filled with worry. He reached the bottom of the stairs, seeing Rylie curled up on the counter, eyes glowing a brilliant silver; he saw the blob ghost zipped into the opposite corner of the lab, dark green welts where it had been grabbed; he heard both of their distressed sounds and managed to put two and two together.

"Oh, Rylie…" He said softly, scooping her up. The girl instantly latched on and cried in his arms, going on and on about how she was so hungry but she didn't want to eat ghosts.

"I- I can't, daddy. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't can't can't…" The girl mumbled, crying harder. "Didn't want to hurt him. He was trying to be nice. He wanted to be pet. But I hurt him. I almost ate him."

"Shhhh, sweetie," he said, smoothing her hair down. "It'll be okay…" He brought her to the fridge down in the lab and sat down in a chair, letting her sit on his lap and rocking her slightly. She felt something different coming from him and heard… Was her father purring? He was — a soft, soothing vibration coming from his chest, from his core. A sensation she could burrow into and cling to as she sobbed.

After a few minutes, her sobs turned to hiccups and he opened the fridge door with telekinesis, bringing out a green smoothie. "Drink this," he said softly, handing it to her. "It'll help make that hunger go away. No ghosts went into making this, I swear."

It smelled so good, like the blobs. Not quite as good, but good enough.

She took a small sip at first, before realizing this was what she was looking for all along. She ended up drinking about three before she was full.

"D- Do you think he'll forgive me, daddy?" She asked, looking up with amethyst eyes. They had finally stopped glowing.

"Who?" He replied, before realizing. "Oh, the ghost! Well… You can try apologizing, if you want…" He said, letting her get off his lap.

The girl stood on the lab tiles, looking at the terrified blob ghost. "I- I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

The blob looked confused for a moment before apprehensively floating towards her. She kept her hand outstretched, like you would for a new dog. It seemed to realize that she wasn't going to hurt it and bumped its head up against her hand, burbling softly.

The youngest Fenton smiled slightly. It seemed that she was forgiven. Even though the thought of eating ghosts scared her, she knew her dad had a solution, so it made her feel better about this whole situation.

"I'm going to name you… Aoi," she said, petting the blob. "You can sleep in my room, okay?" With a smile, she brought him to the stairs. "Are you coming, daddy?" She asked, looking back at her father.

"Yeah, I just gotta clean this up, alright? You should go back to sleep and we'll talk in the morning."

"Okay, daddy. C'mon, Aoi!"

With that, they both made their way to Rylie's room. "Uh… Do full ghosts need to sleep?" She asked the blob, cocking her head in confusion.

All she got was a burble in response.

"Uh… Okay, so… I'm gonna lay down and you can do what you want, okay?" She said, crawling into bed. She was surprised that her new friend decided to 'lay' down next to her, purring softly.

She found herself instinctively purring back as she slowly fell asleep.

It was past noon when Rylie woke up again. With a large yawn, she sat up. Suddenly, Aoi was in her face, burbling happily at her.

"Hi, Aoi!" She said with a smile, petting the burbling blob. She noticed the welts, but they didn't seem to be hurting her new friend. "What time is it?"

She got a burble as a response.

"Some… Sometime in the afternoon?" She replied, having barely understood the blob.

Wait.

She understood Aoi. Barely, but she did.

"I… I can kinda understand you, buddy," she whispered, eyes wide. "That is so cool," she grinned and giggled, Aoi burbling along, seeming happy. Then, she noticed something stuck to her door. A note?

Getting out of bed, she walked towards her door, taking the note. It was in her mother's handwriting, she could tell that much.

Rylie

Your father and I have to go out and deal with some ghosts. No cooking, we're not having a repeat of the Mac and Cheese incident. If we're not back before dinner, there's money on the table for pizza.

Love,

Mom

Well, that explained that.

"C'mon, Aoi, I gotta go practice my powers," Rylie said, opening the door. She ran down the stairs, her new blob friend following her.

When she got down into the lab, she took a deep breath. "What first?" She asked the blob, who turned invisible.

"Invisibility, huh?" She smiled, watching her friend turn visible again. "Alright, let's do this." Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus on the feeling of not being there. It helped a lot that most kids in her class ignored the 'weird Fenton kid.'

Something went up her nose. Dust, perhaps? Either way, she quickly sneezed, losing any grasp on invisibility she had and freezing the lab in a thick layer of ice.

"Oops," she mumbled, rubbing her nose since she froze the box of tissues. Her little blob friend phased themselves out of the ice they were encased in and gave an annoyed burble. "Sorry, Aoi," she mumbled.

"Rylie, we're home!" She heard her mother call from upstairs.

"How do I explain this to mom and dad?" She looked to her friend, worried. "I mean, I just froze the lab." The girl paced, her hands in her hair.

Her friend burbled in response.

"... I mean, yeah. It was an accident. But still, Aoi!"

"Rylie?" Her mother called down the stairs. "Are you down there?" She heard footsteps as well. Was it her mother or father?

"Yeah…" She replied. "I kinda… Froze the lab…"

"I can see that," Danny said as he reached the final step. "How?"

"I don't really know," she whimpered softly with a frown. "I was trying to become invisible, then I sneezed and everything froze!"

"It's okay, sweetie. Accidents happen," he said, trying to calm her. "How about you go upstairs and talk to your mom? I'll clean up down here."

"Are… Are you sure?" She asked.

"Positive," he smiled, transforming. Ecto-energy was a good way to get rid of ghostly ice.

The girl went up the stairs, followed by her blob-friend, and entered the kitchen. "Mom… Did dad have these kinds of problems with his powers?" She asked, looking at her feet.

"He did," Sam replied. "Would you like to hear a small story about it?" She put some celery sticks on the kitchen table for the two to share.

Rylie sat down, looking up. "I… I guess so," she said, taking a piece as Aoi floated near her head.

"Well, for the whole month after he got his powers, he would randomly transform, or go invisible or intangible," she started. "And he almost sank through the floors at school, walked through a vending machine, and he even told your Uncle Tucker and I that he had woken up under his bed."

"He woke up under it?" She asked with a giggle.

"Mhm," Sam said with a nod, looking at her daughter.

"What else happened?" She asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"Well, there was the time when…"