#NO COMMENTS NO CHAPTER
(*)
The sound of the keyboard under Julia's fingers kept her awake.
She really should be in bed, but the thought wouldn't leave her mind: the amulet that had turned both Paulina and Sam into Ghost-Dragons.
She had researched everything she could find about it, but unfortunately, she hadn't uncovered much new information—only a collection of legends surrounding its creation, each one crazier than the last.
This wasn't helping her with her own Necklace, which turned her into a ghost.
Frustrated, she rubbed her face and thought,
No, there has to be a connection.
There has to be!
In a fit of frustration, she slammed her fist onto the keyboard, and out of nowhere, a new website opened up.
Julia didn't notice the white, ghostly hand that had opened the site—or that her Necklace hadn't reacted at all.
"Huh?" she mumbled, reading the title. "The Goddess Nyx?"
Frowning, the red-haired girl clicked on the description of Nyx.
In Greek mythology, Nyx (pronounced "nicks") is the goddess and personification of night.
According to Hesiod's *Theogony, she is a descendant of Chaos and the mother of Aether (light) and Hemera (day) with Erebus (darkness).
Nyx has also produced several offspring, each representing various negative forces.
Nyx is featured in several early cosmogonies, where she is depicted as one of the first deities to exist.
In the works of poets and playwrights, she is often described as a black-robed goddess who travels through the sky in a chariot pulled by horses. In Homer's *Iliad, it is noted that "she is greater than all the gods together," and even Zeus fears to offend her.
"She sounds interesting, but what does this have to do with my research?" Julia wonders.
She clicks around the screen and learns a lot about this goddess, but none of it helps her with the mystery of the necklace.
"Still..." Julia says quietly to herself. "It says here that she was also the mother of the stars... and my necklace is a star... ugh, I'm too tired to think."
Feeling frustrated that she hasn't made any progress, she goes to bed, hoping that tomorrow will bring new insights.
(*)
In a part of the Ghost Zone that resembles Ancient Greece, the ghosts bow before the imposing figure of Nyx. She has white skin and long, curly black hair that seems to twinkle with stars. Her grey eyes shine brightly. Nyx wears a black toga adorned with tiny silver sparkles that mimic the night sky, along with large, star-shaped earrings.
Tattooed on her forehead is her symbol: two half moons flanking a full moon.
"I know you are here," she says, not pausing in her stride.
Two Observers step forward.
"You visited the ghost girl," says one.
"You tampered with her computer to get her on your track," adds the other.
"That's cheating!", they chorus together.
Regally, she turns to them.
"I know the rules; my brethren and I made them. But the girl is mine, so I can do with her as I please."
Her eyes turn a maniacal red.
"Or do you want to openly question one of the Ancients?"
The two Observers tremble in fear and shake their heads.
"Good. If you'll excuse me, I have to visit an old friend."
With that, she climbs into her chariot and flies away.
(*)
Julia woke up the next day feeling miserable.
Yep, she definitely had a cold.
When she got sick, she really felt it.
She leaned over the toilet, emptying her stomach.
"You are not going to school like this," her Papa said as he knelt beside her, rubbing her back.
All she could manage were sick sounds.
So, she lay in bed with a bucket beside her and messaged her friends in their group chat, letting them know she wouldn't be coming to school.
They reassured her, telling her not to worry and to get well soon.
Sam said she could handle her presentation on stopping the desiccation of frogs alone, and Danny promised he could deal with any ghosts that might appear that day without her.
Feeling reassured, Julia fell asleep again.
(*)
After school, Sam and the boys came to visit Julia to tell her what she had missed.
She barely grasped the details, but the story about Danny fighting a ghost from the '50s and somehow ending up in the Ghost Zone through a mirror caught her attention.
"The mirror was like a portal?", she asked for clarification while wiping her nose.
Danny confirmed it again.
"That's the second ghostly item with powers we've encountered, besides my necklace. I wonder who created them all."
"For now, you shouldn't worry about anything, Julie," Sam said, gently patting her shoulder. "Just get well soon, and we can research later."
"Yeah, doesn't your brain feel like mush?" Tucker wondered.
Julia let out sounds that made her friends think she was on the verge of death.
"Wow, when you're sick, you really are sick," Danny pointed out.
"It's always been like this... my immune system sucks," Julia replied.
Soon, her friends left, but not because they wanted to.
Julia insisted she didn't want them to catch her cold.
Unfortunately, it seemed Sam caught it anyway, leaving with a runny nose.
Great.
Now two members of Team Phantom-Cosmos are down.
(*)
Indeed both girls were now sick.
So why and how did Tucker manage to get them two out of the house?
It was Saturday night, which was football game night at Casper High.
Sam was under a blanket, while Julia looked like a bear with her fake pelt cloak with a hood.
"We're sick as a dog.", sniffed Sam.
"And we hate football.", coughed Julia.
"So why are we here?", they groaned together.
"Because Danny's here and he's got the best seat in the house!", reminded Tucker.
That's when the mascot of Casper High, the Raven, runs on the football field and cheerfully flaps his "wings."
Oh yeah...Danny was inside the costume if the girls remember right.
"And now, everybody, here they are, your very own Casper High Ravens!", cheered the Announcer.
Not a second later the football team runs onto the field, trampling the mascot and causing the costume's beak to fall off, revealing Danny was indeed inside.
If any of the girls weren't so sick, they would feel bad for him, but Sam and Julia have trouble even staying awake.
"This is pathetic.", Tucker's voice wakes them up from their half-slumber. "Our team's fading fast."
Oh yeah, Casper High did bad.
Whatever.
"Me, too.", sniffs Sam and climbs down the bleacher. "I'm outta here. Later."
"Wait, Sam, I wanna go home too.", croaks Julia, following as fast as she can after her friend.
Sam's father is so nice to pick them up and drive Julia home, where her dads and her grandma take care of her.
"Grandma.", coughs Julia, as the older lady shovels soup down your throat. "You are sick too, you should rest."
"Child I have cancer and my treatment is going good, I can take care of my granddaughter."
"Ma, maybe it's better I or Karl take care of Julia."
"Oliver, don't come between me and me caring for my grandchild!"
"Sorry, Ma."
(*)
The next day, Julia is feeling so unwell that she messages the group chat: "Don't disturb me if you want to live."
Her friends respect her wishes.
Throughout the day, Julia only gets up to use the bathroom or to eat some soup.
Her dreams are wild and nonsensical, yet the moon is always present in them.
It feels so strange.
(*)
The moon shines down on Julia as she races up the stairs of a tall tower. Part of her is unsure why she is doing this, but another part knows she must reach the top at any cost.
But why isn't she transformed?
Can't she transform?
Where are her Ghost Powers?
She runs for what feels like an eternity until she finally reaches the top. There, a black-haired woman stands with her back turned, holding the hand of a little red-haired girl.
Julia reaches out a hand to them, but they split like a broken mirror.
Why?
"You are not ready my dear child, you aren't ready.", whispers a woman's voice in her ear.
Darkness fills her vision and Julia forgets.
(*)
When Sam and she are finally well again, now Tucker and Danny are sick.
The four are together at Tucker's house, Julia a good distance away from the two sick boys, while Sam brings them two soup bowls.
"Jeez, do you guys have to share everything?", asks Sam.
"You don't know the half of it.", answers Danny with a cough.
Danny and Tucker look and smile at each other.
Amused Julia shakes her head.
"This must be true bromance!"
(*)
#NO COMMENTS NO CHAPTER
There is a reason why Julia Necklace didn't react to Nyx, but we will find out later.
And yeah, I put two EPs together and made the shortest chapter in the history of this little FF, it's just I want to go to the good stuff and it was important to set some plot points for future arcs.
So I just wrote what was important and where we are in the timeline.
Feel free to go crazy with theories!