What is Anais up to? Where is she taking Penny and Carrie? OC's are not mine, Gumball is not mine. Only the plot is mine, and any coincidence with future or current shows is unintentional. Okay. Finally, after an incredibly long hiatus, I am back. Here is a tweak of my last chapter and I probably will end up tweaking chaps 8 and up too. But the grand news is that within a week you can expect me to hit you guys with at least a chapter or two. Moving on then.

Anais stood on her tip toes and struggled to keep her eye open as the retinal scanner did its job. Tears welled up as the blue light validated her identity. She blew a raspberry and stuck her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, sparing a backward glance at the wide-eyed girls following her. "Never can get used to that blasted thing. Always makes my eyes water." She pulled a tissue from her pocket and scrubbed at her eyes.

For their part, her brother's friends / love interests were simply staring at her. She smirked and beckoned to them. "Come on ladies. It gets better further in," she said, leading them through the grey door and into the well-furnished interior.

Penny was the first to speak up, unsurprisingly. "What exactly is all this?" Anais wondered briefly if she meant the tasteful living space she's insisted on, or the whole special access secure facility thing. She bet on the latter. "A few years back, I filled out an aptitude test and sent it in with Darwin's name on it. I got a perfect score."

Anais rolled her eyes before she continued. "Principal Brown reported it and… well long story short, eventually they did find out it was me. At first, they tried to take me away but I was still only 4." Anais shook her head. The stupidity of her part time employers amazed her sometimes.

"So, I suggested this as a compromise. When the government has something they can't figure out, they bring it to me. In exchange I get complete autonomy and basically anything I want, as well as a tidy annual salary," Anais finished her explanation as she led the girls into her personal space. She smiled fondly at the posters of Daisy the Donkey on the wall but it was basically a copy of the room she had once shared with Gumball at her house.

Carrie looked around and immediately spoke up. "Why does it look like Gumball's room?"

Anais smiled. "We used to share that room. It helps me think to be somewhere that felt familiar."

Carrie wasn't satisfied yet. "Does your family know about this place? How did you know how to find us? And how did you know about Gumball?"

Anais sighed. She knew this was coming. She walked over to the desk and pressed a key sequence on the keyboard. Several monitors appeared out of the desk, many of them showing live feeds of various places around town. Among them were Carrie, Penny and Gumball's houses as well as most of their favorite hangouts.

Anais watched the girls faces darken while they processed the implications. They turned accusatory glares on her. "Yes, I have been spying on you. It has been a little pet research project of mine."

"What!?" Penny exclaimed with the expected outrage. "How long has this been going on?"

Anais looked at the ground embarrassed. "A little over 3 months now. Ever since I caught on that Carrie was hiding romantic feelings for Gumball, actually."

Now it was Carrie's turn to be embarrassed. "How did you know?"

Anais raised one eyebrow skeptically. "The better question is how does Gumball not know? You have a decent poker face, but the second you thought he wasn't looking, you'd go all doe eyed," Anais said dryly.

Carrie turned a deeper shade of pink. "But why start recording us?"

Anais shrugged. "Curiosity mostly. I wondered how things would play out. Penny had dropped off the world as far as Gumball knew." She fixed Penny with a questioning expression, but the fairy girl just blushed a reddish orange and looked away.

Anais went on. "Then there was Carrie," she said turning her gaze to the other girl. "Despite knowing Gumball's feelings for Penny, you still chose to stay friends with him." Anais rolled her eyes. "And then you never made a move. You had me baffled. I thought you had some sort of angle so I kept watching, but to no avail." She grinned mischievously. "But then! Then Gumball got hurt and suddenly you were both in the picture at the same time."

Penny crossed her arms. "So? What did you think we would do? Fight to the death?"

Anais just looked at her until she started to fidget. "Nope. I was expecting you to start sharing him," she finally said sarcastically. When Penny averted her gaze, she smirked. "Speaking of which, do you two have even the slightest clue as to the ramifications of the course you've committed to? In what circles do you believe such a thing would be accepted? How are you going to manage intimacy and children?"

Surprisingly, Carrie was the one who fielded her questions, her eyes flashing in anger at Anais's pointed questions. "First of all, we don't even know if this is something Gumball would be willing to be a party to, so commitment isn't even in it yet. Second, as I've said before, I don't care in the slightest what other's think. If it works for us, others don't even really need to know. As for sex or kids," Carrie blushed, "we are only 15. We have a few years to figure this stuff out – if Gumball is amenable."

Anais shook her head. "I don't mean to nay say. I just wanted to make sure you were walking into this with your eyes wide open." She paused. "The reality is this. At best, one of you will seem to be a hanger on to outsiders. At worst, a live-in mistress. It isn't an enviable position to be in."

Carrie squared her shoulders. "I can live with that."

Anais lifted an eyebrow quizzically. "And your children?"

Carrie looked like she'd been hit in the stomach. Obviously she hadn't considered that option. Even Penny looked disturbed. Anais felt for them, but she had decided that they need to confront these issues, and the sooner, the better.

Now Penny took up the fight, looking determined. "Our children would grow up as though they simply had two mothers. They would be our children, not mine or hers."

Anais wasn't convinced but she let it drop. At least they seemed to be considering some of the problems with their proposition. Instead, she focused on the real reason she brought them here.

"Sounds like you have it mostly figured out," she said trying to sound impressed. "But this isn't why I brought you here," the pink bunny said briskly. "Now tell me what's going on with my brother."

Carrie was in the woods, her face in the dirt, the grit digging into her skin and her hands tied behind her. She knew without looking she was completely naked. Fear coursed through her and she panted, terrified. Blue feet walked pasted her face and tickled her memory, but try as she might, she couldn't remember this person. The figure was familiar, but alien, like seeing someone she knew through blurry windowpane. She struggled frantically to catch a glimpse of her attacker's face to no avail.

The footsteps moved behind her and large hands grabbed her hips. Terror pulsed in her head and she couldn't get enough air. Suddenly, a face filled her vision, glowing green eyes set in a pale face with a malicious sneer. "Take her!" the face shrieked. Time seemed to slow and Carrie felt her hips tugged backwards as the hands at her waist pulled their bodies together.

Carrie woke up screaming. She immediately reached between her legs, her hand becoming a barrier between her and the violation that was coming. When nothing happened and her mind took stock of her surroundings, she realized that it was all a dream. Shame and fear coursed through her. She put her head in her shaking hands and cried softly.

Before she realized it, Penny had surrounded her in a comforting embrace. Carrie pushed the other girl away gently and focused on concealing her feelings. "I'm fine." Penny just looked at her. The other girl's raised eyebrow twitched slightly and her gazed drilled into Carrie. The ghost girl sighed heavily and finally spoke, "I had a nightmare. I was tied up, naked, and alone with Gumball." The identity of the blurry figure was so simple now. "Then my mother's face appeared and…" Tears rolled down her face as she trailed off, unable to continue.

Penny's mouth tightened and the link between them burned with her anger. "I should have taken her out the second she tied you up."

Carrie shook her head and swiped at her eyes. "It mightn't have made a difference. I think you made the right decision to wait. It you hadn't, she might have taken us both down. She might have even done the same to you…" Carrie wrapped her shaking arms around her knees and wished for all the world that she could erase the helpless, powerless feelings threatening to swallow her. She had thought she was fine, but now she wasn't so sure. She couldn't stop shaking and the earlier and her nightmare played endlessly through her mind accompanied by the sickening question; could she have done something different?

The door to the room opened and Anais poked her head in. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Penny told her and Anais shook her head, a sad look in her eyes. She had been outraged and intrigued in turns while they'd told their tale, and Carrie had a feeling she hadn't heard the last of the little girl's piercing questions about Gumball's powers or she and Penny's new mental connection. Anais's curiosity was insatiable at times but her insight was keen, a fact that had Carrie fidgeting when the young rabbit finally spoke. "You've experienced an incredible trauma and are displaying classic symptoms of shock. Despite sustaining no physical harm, the damage to your psyche is evident. This may lead to the development of PTSD. I think the best thing you can do it talk about it."

Carrie shook her head too quickly; this wasn't something she was prepared to do just yet. She could feel Penny's disapproval and worry, but just then, she didn't care. "Nothing to actually talk about. I just wish I knew why this is happening. My father is no help at the moment," she grumped, gesturing at the urn on the nightstand. The girls silently regarded the mute urn.

After explaining the situation to Anais earlier, they had tried and failed to awaken her father. It wasn't uncommon that a ghost would sleep for several weeks, but nothing they'd done had woken the old man out of the urn.

The sound of someone clearing their throat cut through the silence. Her nerves frayed, Carrie could not help but scream at the sudden sound. Anais threw open the door and switched on the light. Carrie searched the room for the source of the voice and relief hit her like a ton of bricks.

There, reclining comfortably in midair and wearing the same crimson red shirt, tattered Greek fisherman's cap, and fur-lined seaman's coat he'd been wearing when he died was her father, Vladus Lovus Lokowitchki. He was the absolute picture of a salty seadog, but just then, Carrie thought he was the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen.

Tears filled her eyes and she flew across the room, throwing herself into his arms. She felt his arms encircle her, arms only she could feel, and she immediately felt safe and warm. She dried her tears as his gloved hands stroked her hair and his gruff voice soothed her. "Now, now. What's caused all this?" The old ghost asked with a smile in his voice.

Carrie sniffed, "I just met my mother, but she's awful! She wants to make me… conceive a child so she could-could eat it!" She couldn't restrain herself. She grabbed her father by the jacket. "What's the matter with her? Why is she doing this?!" Carrie was angry now. She wanted to know why any mother would try to do this to their child.

A shadow crossed her father's ghostly face. He slowly reached up and trailed his fingers across Carrie's cheek. Emotion filled his eyes as he dragged her into a fierce embrace. "I sorry!" he croaked, his voice cracking. "We just wanted to be able to have a child. So I used the spellbook to be able to touch a ghost."

Carrie pushed her father back at arm's length confused. "I already know this. I freed you from the cursed price you had to pay three years ago, with Gumball."

Anais gasped. "I'd forgotten that."

Vladus stroked his flowing white beard. "There's more to the story. Why don't you girls sit down and I'll fill you in."

Carrie floated backward and sat on the bed her attention transfixed on her father's face as Vladus began his tale, with much beard stroking and grand gestures.

T'was 20 years ago I met her. I'd been traveling abroad, seeking my fortune for years. One night, my ship, The Fair Wind, ran aground on the rocks of a small island shrouded in thick fog. Now, mind you, uncharted islands were right up my alley, and after I made sure the boat was still seaworthy, I decided to explore the place. While I was trying to make fast, I spied a lighthouse on the hill, its light out.

Naturally, I was angry. If the lighthouse had been properly managed, this wouldn't have happened. After I had secured my ship, I marched myself up there and gave that door a pounding. No one answered, and when I finally pried the door open, I found it abandoned.

The place was covered in cobwebs and dust. As I peeked about, I heard a noise what sounded like a soft, sad sigh. SO, figuring there must be someone around the place, I began to search. I looked all over that light house but ne'er found a soul. HA. Good joke that, for t'was a soul I sought. Anyhow, the whole time I'm looking, the air seemed to get heavier and I felt unwelcome somehow.

Now I'm not oft given to flights of fancy, but I tell ya, I was starting to feel like I was being watched. I decided I'd had enough of the place and headed back for my boat. Just as I was about to shove off, lighting split the sky. Mind you, a ship is not the most comfortable place to be in the middle of a storm, and the nearest port I knew of was a day's sailin'. I had no option, it was the lighthouse or stormy seas. And the lighthouse didn't seem all that capable of killing me, but I've been wrong before.

A few hours later, I was sitting comfortably in front of a fire, enjoying a bowl of soup while the storm hammered the island. I was still uneasy in the lighthouse, but I barricaded the doors and set up a simple camp in the kitchen on the bottom floor. Before long, I drifted off. Sometime in the night, I was awoken by a hushed and fearful voice.

"Sir! Please you have to leave," the voice had an edge of fear to it and I was immediately awake. I sat up and just stared. A mirror hanging on the wall shone with an eerie light. Floating in that glowin' rectangle was just about the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Now, I'd like to tell you we fell in love then and there, but that weren't the case. After I had gotten over the shock of seeing a ghost and one so pleasing to my eyes at that, I demanded to know where she expected me to go.

The storm outside was in full swing and the wind howled mercilessly as the rain hammered against the lighthouse in thick sheets. But when I showed her the howler banging at her door, she only looked more frightened. She was insistent that I leave, but when I refused, she told me her story, hoping, I think, to get me to go.

Her name was Aretha and she had been the wife of the lighthouse caretaker 'bout a century ago. She and her husband had been tending the lighthouse for the summer, and were getting' ready to leave for the winter but the old winter caretaker hadn't arrived. After a couple of weeks without the man appearing, she and her husband had simply assumed that the old man had met with trouble and continued to take care of the tower.

Now tending a lighthouse is a lonely affair, but Aretha had been happy, enjoying the extra time with her husband, as he spent the winter months manning a small fishing boat keeping him gone for weeks at a time. Yet, something was off about her husband. He started keeping the cellar locked and forbade her from entering. He would disappear for hours at a time, and he had turned angry, distant and .

Alarmed at this change in her husband, Aretha hatched a plan to find out what was in the cellar. Somehow, she was sure that it was the key to everything. Due to the winter caretaker's absence, they were in need of supplies, and her husband made plans to travel across the bay to a nearby port town as soon as the ice froze. She made a copy of the key he wore round his neck while he slept and bided her time.

Finally, the freeze came and her husband left, assuring her he would be carful on the ice and telling her he should be back by noon the next day. She waited until nightfall to be sure he was long gone.

Aretha crept to the door and silently unlocked it, unsure what dangers she might find, but determined to uncover the source of all this. Opening the door, she was greeted with a blast of frigid air and a cloying metallic odor. She descended the stairs to the cellar and finally discovered the truth. Her husband's body lay on an altar, surrounded by strange symbols. The symbols were the source of the freezing temperature, and the man's body was perfectly preserved, save for several strips of flesh missing from his body, the coppery smell of his blood pervading the room, despite the cold.

Now as you might imagine, she grieved for her husband, but she also was painfully aware that her time was limited. Whoever was posing as her husband would be back. She looked around the chilly room and quickly noticed a strange book on a podium in the center of the room. Strange symbols adorned the spine and both covers. The book lay open to a page about changing one appearance to look like another.

She was disgusted to read the spell that allowed the imposter to assume her husband's appearance. A strip of the intended form's flesh, and he could look like the victim for a day. Flipping through the book, she found several other spells as terrible as the first. Determined to destroy the book, she headed for the stairs only to find the old winter caretaker sitting on them, gazing thoughtfully at her.

He'd used some spell or other to alarm the door and another to return the moment the door was tampered with. He explained that he had never wished her to find out like this. But now everything would be fine. She would obviously be with him now, and forget her husband. She realized he was insane, and told him so, adding that she would rather die than ever be with him. Next thing she knew, she was dead. The old man had killed her with magic. But that wasn't the worst of it.

After killing her, he cursed her to unrest ad bound her soul to him. She could not rest in her grave as other ghosts are allowed. Instead she was to live among mortals, and could not go further than a mile from him. Even after he'd died, she was trapped here, where he'd last drawn breath.

I'll tell you, my heart went out to her, but it's what she told me next what froze my bones. The old sorcerer had a spell to return himself to life and had been waiting for some unsuspecting traveler to stay there. Wouldn't you know it? No sooner had she finished telling me than he showed up.

It seemed pretty hopeless seeing on how I couldn't touch the bugger, but your mom, she helped me. She went inside me and solved that problem. We tussled for a bit, then he started firing off magic. Aretha borrowed some of my energy and started casting spells, too. I guess you can't spend that long around a mage without picking up a spell or two. After a little while, though, he was just gone, disappeared.

I still don't quite understand how we beat him, your mom said it had to do with limited energy and it being dangerous to cast spells as a ghost, 'cause they could completely consume you. In the end it was me, her and the sorcerer's book. Now, I wanted to destroy it, but Aretha, she said it was just a tool, that spells were neither good nor bad, only the folks what used 'em.

We left that island behind, and sailed about for a while. We were a good team and amassed a fair fortune, what with your mother's spells and my swashbuckling. Before we even knew it, we grew to love one another which as you may have already guessed, presented a problem. We started looking for a way to consummate our love and found it in that book.

Originally, it would have been OK, I think. I would have to spend the rest of eternity in a mirror dimension, but Aretha could go there so that was fine and I was in love. We went for it, and soon we began our lives as man and wife. But we yearned for still more. We wanted a child, and, again, the book held an answer.

A spell with the power to allow your mother to conceive and birth a living child, and the price was a mere eternity of gluttonous hunger. I was hesitant on this one. Now don't get me wrong, I wanted a child as much as she, but the price was on her alone to bear. I didn't think it was right that she face the cost alone. In the end, the book again held the answer and we contrived a way to share the cost, and while it saved us for a time, the price eventually caught up with us.

The spell made her like you are now, a spiritborn. She could eat and reproduce. Her part of the price for her was an insatiable appetite. For me, I took on the greed of the curse. This was when I started snatching things, partially to help feed her appetite, partially to satisfy my own greed. It wasn't ideal, but it was a price we were willing to pay for the child we wished for – I wouldn't take it back for the world, you mark me on that, lass.

I'll spare you the details, but eventually, Carrie was born, and we couldn't have been happier. Our joy was short lived, though. Aretha's hunger was driving her insane, and I had begun to be known as The Snatcher. One day, she took you and was gone, and all I had was a note that said she had to go or risk devouring my and our daughter's soul. I found out later that she had gotten ahold of your grandmother and used some of our fortune to buy the house you lived in then fled.

As for me, well you know the rest. The greed consumed me and degenerated into that loathsome creature. But as for Aretha? I never saw her again.

Carrie couldn't believe it. Here, for the first time was her origin story and the explanation of her existence and it was an utter tragedy! She struggled with the knowledge that her very existence was the cause of all her parents' misery. Next to her, Penny grabbed her hand and she felt a wave of comfort wash over her from their bond.

"I can't help but wish I'd never been born, with this on top of everything else." Carrie breathed softly.

Her father's response was immediate and harsh. "Now, you listen here lass. Your mother and I made our own choices. That their conclusion lead to your birth is about the only really positive thing that came out of our selfish desires." The old sailor was incensed. "Don't ever blame yourself for the consequences of our actions."

Carrie was warmed by his words and Penny's constant comforting influence. He was right. This wasn't her fault, but she still had to deal with it. She considered the implications. "If mom is like me now, then what has she been doing all this time? Why come back now?"

Vladus looked troubled. "There have been rumors around the underworld of a huntress that devours the souls of unwary ghosts. Until now, I hadn't thought to make the connection, but it might be her. If that's the case, she is beyond hope."

Carrie was starting to put a picture together. She grabbed her backpack and pulled out one of her books. She opened the decrepit tome to a bookmarked page and read. "Reaper – these dangerous spiritborn feed directly from living beings. This feeding method is accomplished via possession where upon the spiritborn feed directly on the host's living soul." Carrie pause to look at the faces surrounding her. Gumball, she thought, please be OK. She continued, "… comes with a price as the soul fragments they consume merge with their own consciousness, causing torment, pain, and eventual madness."

Penny and Anais wouldn't meet her gaze and she knew they were thinking the same thing she was. How were they supposed to beat her? Anais finally spoke up. "Why is she so fixated on Gumball though?"

Carrie gasped. That was it. Gumball was the key to all this. Funny how often that happened. "Its because of his power."

Anais blinked. "What good is super speed that makes you really hungry? Won't that make things worse?"

"No I mean the energy pool inside him. It's like an ocean of energy. And it's ectoplasmic based. That means it's something she could eat… If she could eat a soul with that much power she might actually be able to counter the curse!" Carrie declared triumphantly.

Anais cut the theory down though. "If that was all it took, she would just eat Gumball's soul. Obviously, I don't think she has or this whole scenario wouldn't even be necessary, but the question remains why not? All that power just within reach and she doesn't take it to end her suffering?"

Penny had her own question. "How would that end her suffering? Doesn't the book say that would cause pain and madness to eat the soul of a living being?"

Anais's eyes grew wide as she regarded the orange fairy. "Guys, what would happen if she ate the soul of an infant spiritborn that housed an energy pool as large as Gumball's?" She went on, not bothering to let anyone get a word in. "Without any memories or a developed consciousness, there would be minimal effect. That's why she hasn't eaten Gumball! She is trying to avoid the torment such a meal would entail."

Carrie's relief and happiness at Gumball's safety mingled with the pity and horror she felt at her mother's fate, as well as the disgust that filled her when she considered Aretha's plan for an end to her curse. She wished she had the book so she could find a way to reverse this like she did for her father…

"What the what?!" Carrie quoted her favorite blue cat unconsciously as a surprising thought hit her. "When I freed you from your curse, Gumball and Darwin had cast several spells. When the book was destroyed, the prices they'd paid were reversed just like yours. Why didn't that happen to Mom?"

Her father stared at her, dumbfounded. Anais and Penny were staring too. She wondered vaguely if they were thinking the same things she was. If her mother's curse was lifted, why was she still hungry? Why had she attacked Carrie? Carrie put her head in her hands and sighed. She thought she had gotten an answer only to find a bigger mystery.

Well almost, she thought, making up her mind. She didn't know what was going on with her mom, but she had learned one thing – her mother had loved her and done everything she could to ensure Carrie was in a safe and happy place when she was a baby.

"Listen guys," She said, turning to the girls. "I intend to get to the bottom of this. Gumball comes first, but if possible, I want to save my mom. Maybe it's possible, maybe not, but I have to try."

Anais shrugged. "It's not really like you have a choice. She is just going to keep coming after you until you defeat her or…" The blunt young bunny trailed off and looked away when Carrie turned to glare at her.

"Well, I'm with you," Penny rose to her feet. "I can't leave you now, can I? Besides, mom or not, Aretha has things to answer for." the girl said quietly in a way that made Carrie very glad Penny wasn't her enemy. Carrie was grateful.

"Well if you two are going to be taking on some centuries old magic ghost, you better have a good plan," Anais said with a roll of her eyes. "Give me that book. And get some sleep. I need to find out as much as I can about what you are if we are going to stand a chance and that will take time." The little bunny girl spun and left.

Carrie watched her go as Penny suited actions to words and climbed back into bed. Carrie turned back to her father to thank him for sharing the story, but he was nowhere to be seen. She leaned in close to the urn and could hear his groggy murmurs. She smiled and climbed into bed. "Goodnight Penny."

"Goodnight Carrie." Came the answer. Then the girls fell into a deep dreamless sleep. Carrie's final thought before she was enveloped in warm darkness was of Gumball and how far she would go to retrieve him.

I am sorry for my long absence. If you've checked my profile, you may know that I've spent the last year basically homeless. I am trying to support my family, but keep losing jobs I need. And the hours have been murder.