Well, things are not going that great for the protagonists at the moment. But they have a plan. I'm sure that everyone is anxious for the situation to come to an end. How will this chaos be handled? With lots and lots of overlapping scenes, that's how. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Well, this week was boring beyond belief. The only thing remotely interesting was when we got back our creative writing piece on Wednesday. Apparently Mrs. Newberry found it to be "interesting, creative, and charming in a dark way that I've grown to expect from you." The ironic thing is that, while I changed enough details to keep it a work of fiction, the short story was based on my life. But who would believe the idea of a powerful ghost haunting a young woman because he can only be free if he was married? I changed the ages, some of the events leading up to it, and the ending to make it less creepy and weird, but it was about time that near-marriage did something positive. Getting an A minus in English almost makes the whole thing worth it.
But other than getting a good grade, there's not much to talk about this week. This weekend, however, I have plans. Dad and Delia are heading back to New York this weekend for some kind of art show or something. Otho and her new agent will both be there. I know she's missed Otho since he won't even come near our house anymore. But the point is that the two of them will be gone while I'll be here with Adam and Barbara.
So far our plans include a movie marathon of some classic horror films, the ones with the simplest special effects and sometimes cheesy acting. They aren't the scariest or goriest, but they can build suspense sometimes and that's almost as good. Later on, I might head out for some nighttime photos at the cemetery. I'll bring Beej along for that. From there, we'll just see what the two of us can come up with. I'm sure he can spice up my weekend.
Sure thing, Babes. I'm sure I can find something for us to do that'll have you screaming for more. We haven't watched "The Exorcist" recently, right? Watching it with a dead guy makes it a real riot. We'll definitely have fun while Chuck and the Missus are gone.
…
Oh, Lyds…They weren't "gone" gone when I wrote that. This isn't what I meant.
-Excerpt from "Lydia Deetz' Journal"
There were plenty of challenges when it came to her job as a caseworker. And most of them weren't covered in her introductory pamphlets when she was handed the job. The paperwork involved, while occasionally excessive, was actually the easiest part. A large number of the ghosts she took on as cases were stressed, too lazy to read the Handbook, confused, scared, angry, useless at handling problems on their own, argumentative, uncooperative, in denial, depressed, or some random combination of those traits. And Juno was forced to work around their various issues before she could even address their particular cases. She was always overworked with far too many cases to juggle and so many of them just didn't understand the concept of making an appointment. And that was merely her regular work helping other ghosts handle being dead. Juno also ended up being the one who dealt with Betelgeuse whenever he caused problems and filing the occasional report of possible supernatural threats to the dead.
But this was completely outside her job description. There was nothing about being a caseworker that said she needed to go to the world of the living in order to pass on information to a group of teenagers about what might be going on with the current chaos. Even with her decades as a caseworker, she was not experienced enough to deal with a reality-warping poltergeist getting a hold of the Gem of Osiris and going out of his mind with the power. She should have known Betelgeuse would be the source of her biggest headache yet. But when her superiors in the bureaucracy told her to do something, Juno didn't have much choice.
Blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke, she watched the red-haired teenager frown at what she was hearing over her strange phone and let her thoughts briefly drift back to that meeting. Honestly, Juno never expected to meet someone that high in the bureaucracy. They weren't the ultimate boss at the top, but she could tell they were close. Her guess would be that they were practically second-in-command or something. Refusing wasn't an option.
"Do you really have to smoke in here?"
Leveling a dry look at the woman, Juno said, "Mrs. Fenton, even if we did not have far greater concerns such as what is happening outside, the smoke won't hurt the living. And you really don't want to deny me my nicotine right now."
She'd seen the files on the Fenton parents right before arriving. She wasn't a fan. They might limit their hunting to the inhabitants of the Ghost Zone, but it didn't mean she liked their profession. There was a reason why she said never trust the living. Ghost hunters and crazy people like that Melinda Livingston woman made being dead so much more difficult.
"Okay," said Jazz with a nod before turning towards the ghost. "Juno? They have a plan of how to get the necklace away from him. It sounds like it could work, but…" She trailed off as she looked towards her parents, appearing even more uneasy. "I think it could work, but it also sounds very dangerous."
"They're dealing with a crazier than normal version of that poltergeist. Of course it'll be dangerous," Juno said. "What's their idea?"
Lydia was relieved when they ran into Tucker and Sam before they did Betelgeuse. Danny's dangerous plan worked better with all of them. It made them slightly safer. And made it more likely she wouldn't have to depend on her backup plan.
Spotting the other two translucent figures, she instantly started noticing some similarities. The child that led Lydia around had a similar smile and facial features to the man, who she instantly hurried to join. The expressions on their faces confirmed her theory that the two figures were father and daughter. And both shared some similarities to Lydia, which she really couldn't explain. A bit more surprising was what she'd been ignoring since she'd run into Danny. The blond woman possessed the exact same eyes as her best friend. She couldn't deny it. The only one who didn't seem to be related to anyone else was the pretty young woman with the red ribbon in her hair.
Lydia eventually turned her attention away from the translucent figures and back towards her friends. A bright ring of light moved over Danny, changing him from a black-haired human to a white-haired ghost. Sam straightened the weapon strapped to her wrist. Hopefully she wouldn't need to fire it, but it might be able to keep her alive if she ended up in trouble. The blast might be enough to distract him.
And that was the biggest part of the plan. Distraction. He wasn't the most focused now based upon Danny's description. Anytime that he focused on someone too much, someone else would distract him. Never give him a chance to attack them. Just keep him too busy and unfocused. If they kept him from going directly after anyone in particular, keeping him off-balanced, one of them might be able to get close enough to grab the necklace. And they certainly had a reliable way to hold his attention.
There was a ray of hope and she clung to it desperately. But she still needed to be ready in case things went wrong. Things could easily go wrong even with their distractions keeping his attention shifting. Even crazier and more powerful than ever, Betelgeuse wouldn't be easy to handle. It made him more dangerous and unpredictable.
She didn't want anyone else to get hurt. She wouldn't let him kill someone in that state. But she also wouldn't let someone hurt him before they ran out of options. Lydia wouldn't use desperate measures if she didn't have to, but she had to make sure no one else tried it.
Stepping over to where Tucker stood uneasily, Lydia said, "Give me the knife."
"What?" he asked, blinking in surprise.
"My aunt's knife. Give it to me, please."
He stared at her in shock and confusion as she held out her hand expectantly. Tucker clearly didn't know what to make of the request. But she couldn't let her resolve waver. She didn't want him to use it if he got scared. She didn't want to use it either, but she was the better choice to hold on to it.
"He's my best friend. He's my responsibility. If we run out of time or things go wrong, I'll take care of him. I won't make anyone else do it."
"You don't have to do that," said Danny, clearly overhearing the quiet conversation. "We don't have to kill him or whatever. We don't want to do that."
"Of course I don't want to do that," she said. Shoving her emotions to the back of her mind to deal with later, she continued, "I hope it won't come to that. I'm just preparing for the worst. Life doesn't always go the way we want and is rarely fair. Something could go wrong and we won't have any other choice. But I won't force anyone else to make that decision. All of this is my fault anyway. Or at least my stupid family's fault."
"How is this your fault?" asked Sam.
"None of you would be here and involved in this mess if it wasn't for me, my aunt, and our general drama. I shouldn't have dragged you into this, but I did. I can at least take responsibility for some of what is going on."
Tucker chuckled briefly and said, "If you remember right, we kind of chased after you. And once we figured out how much you're tangled up with ghosts, there's no way we wouldn't get involved. You wouldn't be able to stop us. It's what we do."
She wasn't sure if that made her feel much better. It might lessen the guilt in regard to getting the three of them involved in a dangerous situation, but that was only a fraction of the tangled knot of unpleasant emotions Lydia wanted to ignore. Her desperate hope that everything would work out and her best friend would be all right wasn't enough to out-weigh her fear of failure, fear of further loss, guilt for what she was prepared to do if necessary, sorrow at the idea of losing someone else, and her sad resignation to do whatever she needed to do. But she shoved that tangle aside. She could handle it later. She knew such attitudes weren't healthy for her mentally, but it was the best she could do for now. There were more immediate concerns.
"Please give me the knife, Tucker," she repeated softly. "I just…"
Danny nodded and said, "Okay. Give her the knife. She'll need something anyway to protect herself in case things go wrong."
"And how about protecting me?" complained Tucker. He glanced towards Sam and asked, "Do you have anything in your backpack of supplies? Something other than duct tape I can use?"
"Sorry. You'll be fine. We have more ghost fighting experience," Sam said. "Just talk fast and dodge."
Movement caught Lydia's attention abruptly. The four translucent figures who'd previously been silently waiting for them, were now gesturing frantically for them to hurry while their expression looked grave. They also seemed to be fading out of sight, growing fuzzy and indistinct even as they tried to get the group's attention.
And now that she thought about it, the chaos seemed worse. Streaks of color and shadows swirled around, the air above them a whirling storm of insanity. And the eye of the storm was close.
Grabbing the knife from Tucker's grip, Lydia slipped her hand and the blade under her poncho. Then she broke into a run, the others following close. Time was up, so they headed straight into the eye of the storm.
Burning agony. Blinding bright. Unrelenting surging power. Raging fury.
Then movement of vague figures. Blurry sounds that captured attention and fanned his anger. Exhaustion banished by the arrival of targets. Tapping into intense burning power, he summoned the energy to act.
Destroy. Fury and aggression. Destroy. Chaotic power against them. Destroy.
Burning. Bright. Rage. Pain.
Destruction.
It looked like a forest or a swamp. Or at least, it once. And it still looked like one around the edges. Closer to the center was a completely different story. There were blackened, shriveled, twisted patches where things were destroyed at some point. The wind, or whatever chaotic force that felt like the wind, whirled around them. Areas of muck and murky water were dried or crumbling apart like ancient pottery. The ground cracked into fragments beneath Danny's feet. Everything in the chaotic landscape was strange, but this particular section was showing clear signs of destruction.
And standing in the middle of it, streaks of especially-extreme destructive damage radiating out from him, was Betelgeuse. His hands were by his sides, palms toward the ground. The rest of his body declared exhaustion and maybe even pain. His head bowed, shoulders slumped, and an occasional shudder wracked his body, it was clear Betelgeuse wasn't doing that great. But even if he looked out of it, Danny was certain he would react the second someone went for the necklace.
Silently, Danny gestured for the others to spread out. Quickly and quietly, everyone scrambled across the breaking and blackening remnants of a swamp. Only Lydia hesitated slightly. Within a few seconds, the four teenagers surrounded the poltergeist. He met everyone's gazes, ensuring that they were ready. They nodded to him and Danny took the first step in their insane plan.
Clearly and deliberately, he said, "Betelgeuse."
Though they knew it wouldn't banish him, the name did what they'd expected and hoped. It captured his attention. The poltergeist's head snapped up, his posture instantly shifting towards enraged. And Danny bit back a sharp curse as he finally saw his face clearly.
The glowing green of his eyes was far brighter than before, but that wasn't what worried Danny. There were cracks in Betelgeuse's face, jagged lines radiating out from his eyes. Down his cheeks and up his forehead were deep breaks in his skin. It looked like cracking porcelain. And through the radiating and deep cracks in his face, Danny could see the same bright unnatural light shining through.
"Betelgeuse?" he repeated, a little less certain.
He barely saw the poltergeist move, but Betelgeuse was suddenly in front of Danny. The teenager managed to duck under the grasping hand while taking a chance to grab at the necklace. Danny barely missed the Gem of Osiris, his hand brushing briefly against Betelgeuse's necktie. Unfortunately, the poltergeist didn't miss the teenager the second time.
A hand gripped his collar, leaving Danny choking and struggling against a burning sensation near his neck. His skin felt like it was crawling, maybe even literally.
"Betelgeuse," shouted Sam.
The poltergeist jerked at the name, his grip loosening as his head turned towards the running girl. Danny took advantage of the distraction to reach towards the necklace again. Unfortunately, even distracted, Betelgeuse wasn't making it easy. He off-handedly flung Danny straight into the ground, his face hitting hard. Ouch…
Scrambling out of the crater, Danny noticed that a section of his jumpsuit was gone. The material around edges seemed burnt and melted from the contact. Like it was scorched or vaporized.
The sounds of blasts demonstrated that Sam was trying to hold off the poltergeist and propelled Danny into flight. She fired fast and accurately, hitting the racing figure hard. It didn't even slow Betelgeuse down. Even when Danny rammed into the poltergeist right before he could touch Sam, it barely even caught his attention. He simply back-handed Danny away.
"Betelgeuse," Tucker shouted.
Again, the poltergeist turned at his name. Sam and Danny both dove for the Gem of Osiris desperately. Maintaining the same insane speed as before, he hit Danny hard enough to knock him into Sam and send them tumbling to the ground.
"Gah!" yelped Danny, his arm exploding in pain.
Rolling away from Sam, he tried to ignore how much it hurt. He'd taken the brunt of the impact, which was lucky since Danny was more durable than Sam at the moment and he managed to avoid a broken bone. It just hurt a lot. So battered and bruised, he took to the air again as the poltergeist neared the terrified Tucker.
"Betelgeuse," yelled Danny, making him turn just in time for ecto-blasts to hit the poltergeist in the face.
Continuing the trend so far, Betelgeuse didn't even flinch. He instead threw up a hand and Danny dropped like a stone, gravity instantly increasing to a level that it felt like his skull was collapsing under its own weight and breathing was impossible. Then he was grabbed and ripped from the ground, pure destructive power dissolving the material further on contact and the bordering skin feel like it was burning.
"Betelgeuse," Tucker yelled as he tried to tackle the poltergeist from behind, prompting him to fling Danny straight into his friend.
Both boys yelped, the wind thoroughly knocked out of them on impact. Struggling to recover, Danny couldn't make himself move immediately. Sam dove for Betelgeuse while he was still focused on Tucker. Not even looking, the poltergeist shrugged her off casually. Even without much power behind the gesture, he still sent her flying a dangerous distance.
Fear and frustration in equal measure gripped Danny as he threw up an ecto-shield between the aggressive poltergeist and the battered teenagers. This wasn't working. They couldn't get the necklace. Betelgeuse couldn't be stopped.
The shield melted away as the poltergeist lunged towards them. Before he could reach Tucker, Danny saw a blur of red and black that inserted itself in the path.
Lydia wanted to do what was right. The fate of the world was at stake, after all. She wanted to have the strength to do whatever was necessary to fix things, regardless of whether that meant facing a crazy Betelgeuse to get the necklace or stopping him permanently. She was stubbornly determined to take responsibility. When action and hard decisions were necessary, she made them. It was why she agreed years ago to marry him to save the Maitlands. Needs of the many outweighing the needs of a single person and all that. She was certain she could make the hard choice again and deal with the emotional fallout later.
But when she saw Betelgeuse's face, Lydia froze. Even with fury twisting his features into something as frightening as the snake she first met years ago, she felt a sharp pang of horror, worry, and heartache. His face was cracking like porcelain, the effect of the Gem of Osiris literally breaking him apart. Her friend was being destroyed right in front of her eyes. It was destroying him and she was thinking of how to speed it up…
In that instant, Lydia knew the plan wasn't going to work. She saw the others go after him, calling his name and trying to grab then necklace. She saw them surround him even as Betelgeuse moved like lightning, zeroing in on whoever said his name most recently. And he shrugged off anything they tried. The plan was doomed from the start. She should have known there was no real hope.
She should act. Lydia could see they were out of options. She knew there was no other choice, that there never was another choice. An exorcism would be dangerous, giving him a chance to break free. She would need to use the knife if she wanted to stop him, if she wanted to save the world from her insane friend's power. Just run up behind him while he was distracted and strike. It would be over quickly. There were no other options available and no time left.
The knife dropped to the ground with a dull thump. Faced with the moment of truth, she couldn't do it. She wasn't ruthless enough to literally stab her best friend in the back, even to prevent further destruction. Even though she couldn't see a hint of her friend in his wild expression, she couldn't hurt him. Her tangled emotions threatened to choke her at the very idea. Her willpower simply crumbled to dust.
She didn't know what else to do. She couldn't fix this. There was nothing else she could try.
No, that's not true.
Impulse and instinct combined with pure desperation and prompted her to run, finally shrugging off the paralysis. Lydia ran the short distance to the struggling figures. And then she did the stupidest thing she'd done in her entire life. Lydia flung herself in front of the furious and crazy poltergeist like a human shield, ensuring that she caught his attention and became his new target. She didn't move even as he swung at her.
"Beej, stop!"
So many blurry figures. So much noise. Can't focus.
He lashed out at them, fury burning and power glowing. Destroy. Must destroy them. He needed to destroy the figures.
Pain. Burning. Rage.
Smash them. Toss them. Slap them aside.
Must destroy. Too much power. Must use the power. Destroy with the power.
Bright, burning, intense power. Loud, distracting, blurry figures.
The same noise, the same word, kept repeating. Rage and aggression burned hotter.
Another figure appeared in the way, right in front of him. He started to back-hand it out of the way, but it made a sound that managed to pierce through the flood of power.
"Beej, stop!"
No. Not her.
Hold back the movement, rage, and unrelenting power. Everything stops.
The pain of impact never came. Lydia opened her eyes nervously to find the poltergeist right in front of her, his hand stopping close enough to almost brush against her cheek. She could also feel heat radiating from him, which surprised and concerned her since he wasn't meant to be warm. His hand was shaking slightly as if restraining himself at the last moment in mid-attack was a huge effort. But he'd stopped.
His face was close enough now that she couldn't ignore the cracks as they visibly widened and spread as she watched. He was growing worse with each passing second. His eyes, though… They still glowed intensely, showing a solid green with no signs of pupils or irises. But the fury and insanity were pushed back. She saw instead confusion, his expression somehow giving the impression of staring from a long distance away. Like he was trying to see through a thick fog or intense glare towards something so far away from him.
"Come on, Beej," she said, renewed hope tinting her voice. "I know you're in there."
Don't go for the necklace. Lydia banished the idea from her mind the instant it appeared. He barely stopped before. They were balanced on a knife's edge. Anything could send the situation tumbling back into violence and chaos. And at this range and with his power, he might inadvertently kill her if that happened.
Lydia briefly wondered if dying in this situation, deliberately placing herself right in front of an unstable and overpowered ghost, would qualify her to work as a caseworker.
She saw Danny and Tucker climbing to their feet out of the corner of her eye. Subtly, she waved them off with one hand while never turning away from the poltergeist. Lydia hoped they wouldn't try for the necklace. She hoped they could trust her. This might be her only chance to save him.
"You're the Ghost With The Most. You're my crazy, possessive, and unpredictable best friend. You don't want to hurt me," she continued. "Fight it. Don't let a cheap piece of jewelry beat you. You know me."
Further away, she caught a glimpse of Sam stumbling upright. That meant everyone was accounted for and alive. Good. Lydia diverted the rest of her attention back to the poltergeist who was slowly lowering his arm.
"Come back to me, Beej," she pleaded. "I lost Dad and Delia. I can't lose you. Please."
Something in his expression shifted slightly. There was still confusion, but now with a hint of hesitant uncertainty. Lydia held her breath, not certain if it was a positive sign or if he was slipping further away.
Quiet and so indistinct she almost missed it, he croaked hesitantly, "Lin?" Then a small spark of distant recognition flickered and with far more confidence, Betelgeuse said, "Lyds."
Fighting back both a laugh and tears of relief, she nodded frantically as she smiled at him. He was in there. His expression still seemed confused, distant, and uncertain for the most part, but she could see a thin thread of awareness that stretched through the power and insanity to where Betelgeuse was buried deep down. The fragile connection could easily snap. He might fall back under the power completely. But for the moment she had him and she had a chance.
The way he looked, trying to focus through the fog of whatever was clouding his mind, made it clear how tenuous his grasp on sanity truly was. It vaguely reminded her of someone who was drunk or drugged into a near stupor. But Lydia dealt with Delia a few times when she was groggy from Valium and needed to be moved towards her bedroom. This was the same concept. Keeping her voice calm and steady, keeping her words simple and clear, and keeping her focus solely on him might just be enough to coax Betelgeuse through this.
"Beej, listen carefully. The necklace is hurting you. It'll destroy you if we don't get it off."
She saw anger flare back up at the idea, but Lydia couldn't let that tiny spark of him slip away again. With her eyes locked on his solid glowing green ones, she grabbed the edges of his striped jacket in the hopes it would help keep him grounded. The heat radiating from Betelgeuse surprised her. She could feel it, like an ill person in the grip of a high fever. Ghosts were normally cooler to the touch compared to the living. Betelgeuse felt far too hot, regardless of whether he was dead or alive. But Lydia pushed that concern away and kept talking, clinging to the weak thread of his awareness.
"You have to get the necklace off. You need to do this for me. Just do what I tell you and everything will be fine."
She heard Jazz's voice over the Fenton Phones, asking what was happening. She caught glimpses of the others, everyone standing around uneasily as they watched and whispered. They were clearly doing their best not to distract either of them. Good. They understood how dangerously stupid she was being. A distraction right now might spark off his insanity and anger again, leaving her unable to escape his reaction. Her focus remained on him, the poltergeist struggling and trying to pay attention and understand through whatever the Gem of Osiris was doing to his mind.
"You can do it, Beej. Just pull the necklace over your head. Nice and easy. You don't even have to let go yet. Just take it off."
With slow, uncertain movements, his arm began to reach for the green gemstone around his neck. Lydia kept her hands tight on his jacket. She couldn't let him think she was trying to take it away. Not yet. That sort of thing had made him react badly before. She couldn't risk it. Especially since the trickiest part was still to come.
The moment the necklace was pulled over his head, she said, "That's perfect, Beej. That's right. Now, you're not going to like this part. But you have to help fix this. You have to put everything back."
He frowned slightly at her words, but he didn't look more confused. Lydia was fairly certain that he understood what she was saying, more or less. She was thankful for small favors. Trying to get a Valium-addled Delia to do something complicated wasn't something that usually worked well. And what could get more complicated than changing reality back to normal?
But he had to do it. And he had to do it while he still had the power boost from the Gem of Osiris. She didn't know how far he'd managed to warp everything. The entire city? The entire state? The entire country? The entire world? Further? She didn't know, but Lydia felt certain it was too much for him to fix normally. She had to talk him into fixing it before he released the necklace and that power. Otherwise they'd be stuck with this chaos forever. They'd be stuck with some strange and insane combination of the world of the living and the Netherworld all tangled together with whatever insanity lurked within her friend's mind. Lydia knew he had to fix things before she could save him.
"All that power you used? You need to pull it back. Pull it back and turn reality back to normal," she said firmly. "You can't leave it like this, Beej. I know it is hard. You've changed a lot of the world. But you have to turn it back. All of it."
At first, she didn't think it was working. He looked like he was losing focus on her, his expression growing more distant. Then he gave the tiniest of nods as he closed his eyes.
Betelgeuse was adrift in a sea of pain, power, brightness, burning, aggressive impulses, and chaotic forces that tore away at his thoughts. But he knew who he was again, at least to an extent. Someone managed to throw his consciousness a rescue line and pulled him towards the surface. It wasn't perfect, his thoughts sluggish and cloudy, but he clung to the familiar outside element. His memories were muddled, but he knew her.
Even when he lost everything else, he couldn't hurt her. And he couldn't ignore her. She managed to break through the disorientation and he latched onto her voice, letting the words flow over him. And whenever he managed to understand, he tried to do what she asked. It was the only guidance he had.
Take back the power. Change everything back.
The power already inside him was too much to contain. He couldn't hold it. But she needed him to do it. He would do anything to help her, even at the risk of oblivion. And part of him knew she was right. He needed to reverse what he'd done and he needed to get rid of the necklace.
He closed his eyes against the bright and blurriness of his surroundings. He ignored the pressure, the burning, and the pain as best he could. It would only get worse. But he didn't think about it. He didn't think much at all. For the moment, he focused solely on her voice and the power he'd poured out into the world.
When it came to warping reality, there was a certain elasticity to it. Part of it wanted to return back to normal and only needed a little push to snap back, no real concentration or focus required. But there was so much to reverse, so much power to pull back…
He pulled back the power from impossible distances, shifting the world back. He untangled and straightened out reality. And he struggled not to lose his fragile grasp on everything.
It hurt. He found a whole new level of agony. More than he could bear. The burning and pressure kept increasing. He couldn't contain the power he already held and now he was reclaiming even more. It was like pouring lava into his veins, white-hot agony and forceful strain that threatened to rip him open. Every instinct warned him to stop, to get rid of the power and pain. He felt it destroying him. But her voice remained constant, so he kept going. He would do anything for her. So he would do this too.
I originally intended for this chapter to be longer, but then I realized that it would end up being really long before I got to the next logical stopping point. So you're left with sort of a cliffhanger on how well Betelgeuse will handle the strain and what effects all of this will have on him. Because all this is bound to cause some damage.
Remember, reviews are nice and I always appreciate them. I love hearing feedback on this and all stories I write. Thanks.