Luke's POV

I don't know how long the three of us were sitting on the ground, tears dripping down our faces as the reality came crashing down on us.

Nick took Julie.

How could I let this happen? I thought as my whole body shook. How could I let him take her like that? I should have been quicker. I should have insisted on walking her to the house, no matter how annoyed she got with me.

And now she was gone.

The guys and I sat on the pavement, silently crying as we embraced each other. The gravel was digging into my knees through my pants, but I didn't care. All I could think about was the fact that Julie was gone, and who knows what Nick will do to her? Who knows why he wants her?

"Luke? Alex? Reggie? What's wrong?"

My head shot up and I saw Ray, standing a little ways away. He was obviously on his way to the studio. Alex, Reggie and I helped each other up and quickly wiped our tears. I took in a long, shaky breath and did my best to smile.

"We're f-fine," I said, cringing at the way my voice cracked. Ray walked over to us, his eyes narrowed. 

"No, you're not. All three of you are crying. What's wrong?" He asked. "And don't even think about lying. I'm a dad, I'm like a human lie detector."

"No, really, we're-"

"Alex," Ray interrupted. "The truth. Now."

The guys and I looked at each other and sighed collectively. There was no way around it.

"All right," Alex said quietly. "But you may need to sit down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reggie's POV

I watched as Ray slowly sat down on the couch, his expression unreadable.

"You three are-are ghosts?" He asked quietly. Alex and I exchanged looks. I looked back at Ray and slowly nodded. Ray looked like he was about to pass out at any second. 

"How is that possible?" He said.

"Apparently, when people die, they sometimes come back as ghosts because they have unfinished business," Alex explained. "Once we've completed our unfinished business, we can finally cross over." Ray rubbed his temples with his fingers, obviously overwhelmed by the information.

"So, do you three know what your unfinished business is?" He asked. I shook my head.

"No, and we don't want to." Ray looked at me quizzically.

"Why?" He asked.

"We don't want to cross over," Alex said. "We want to stay here, and keep making music with Julie."

Ray nodded, staring at the wall. "That's... nice," he said finally, still in shock. "So, what's the deal with the whole holograms thing?" 

"That's just a story," Alex said. "The projector is fake. People can only see us when we play with Julie, but she can see us all the time."

"So how can I see you now?" Ray asked.

"It seems our powers have... evolved," Alex replied. Ray squinted.

"Wait. So all the times I heard music and Julie claimed to be on FaceTime- you guys were really there?" Alex and I looked at each other sheepishly.

"Um, surprise!" I said, giving Ray my best jazz hands. "We've been staying in the studio this whole time." Ray blinked. 

"You were in the studio? This whole time?"

"Yup!" I said cheerily. "You walked right through me once."

"Wait," Ray said, standing up and shaking his head. "Those orbs in the photos- those were you?" Alex and I nodded simultaneously. Ray shook his head again.

"This is insane," he mumbled to himself. He then looked up and smiled at us. "Even though I'm not entirely happy with you three living- er..." he looked at me apologetically, "staying in my garage, I'm glad you've been there to keep Julie company." At the mention of Julie's name, I felt my heart clench. I heard Alex suck in a sharp breath as Ray looked between us in confusion.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked quickly. I blinked back tears as Alex said,

"Do you want to know the reason we were crying?" Ray looked at him with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Yes, of course."

I looked down and tried to hold back my tears, but I couldn't stop them and they came pouring down my face and dripping onto the carpet. I saw Ray's feet step closer to me anD I quickly wiped my face and looked up at my him. I took a deep breath. It would be better to just tell him now...

"Julie's been kidnapped."

The words flew out of my mouth before I could even comprehend what I was saying. I watched Ray's eyes go wide as he stumbled back a few paces.

"W-what?"

I looked at Alex and shook my head, signaling that he was going to have to take it from here.

"You remember Julie's friend, Nick?" Alex asked in a small voice, his own eyes welling up with tears. Ray nodded.

"Over the last couple of weeks, he's been terrorizing her. He's been following her around, chasing her at school, and showing up here at random times during the day and night. We started following her around, in case we needed to protect her, but-" Alex's voice broke and he took a deep breath to compose himself.

"But about twenty minutes ago, she left the studio without us, and Luke-" Alex looked back at Luke, who was sitting on a nearby chair, staring at the wall. I had almost forgotten he was there, with how silent he had become.

"Luke saw Nick grab her and disappear," Alex finished, his voice cracking. I watched as Ray slowly brought his hand up to his mouth, his own eyes collecting tears.

"What? B-but I know Nick. He's a good kid," Ray practically whispered. Alex shook his head.

"That's why we were confused," he replied, tears running down his face.

"But why would he take Julie?" Ray asked in a broken voice. "They were becoming good friends..." I bit my lip band tried to pull myself together, but it didn't work. How could I be calm, when Julie was gone? How could I just pretend everything was normal when the girl who helped us feel alive again was gone?

"I... I don't know."

Ray sat back down on the couch, silently crying as Alex and I watched, our hearts breaking.

"It's my fault."

Alex, Ray and I turned around to see tears running down Luke's face as he looked between the three of us. I started to step forward.

"Luke..."

"No, Reggie," he said, stopping me in my tracks. "It's all my fault. If I had just- if I had just walked with her back to the house, I could've stopped-" Luke took in a shaky breath.

"I lost her."

I looked at the heartbroken look on Luke's face and I felt a fresh wave of tears coming in. 

"She was..." Luke started, before cutting himself off again. 

"She was everything to me. And I lost her."

I turned back to Ray, who was still crying. 

"We're going to get her back, Luke," I said in a stronger, more confident voice. I heard Luke get off the chair behind me.

"We're going to look for her, and we're going to get her back." This time I spoke to Ray. "I promise."

"But we don't even know where to look!" Alex cried. "They could be anywhere!" As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right. They could be anywhere in the world by now. I stepped forward to address Ray.

"Look, I love Julie. I really do," I said quietly. "She's like the sister I never had."

"Yeah, same here," Alex piped in. 

"She is so, so important to us," I continued. "So please, trust us. We will bring her back." Ray looked at us hesitantly as Luke fell into place between me and Alex, tears still trickling down his cheeks. Ray nodded and gave us a small smile.

"I trust you," he said. I gave him a small smile before turning back to the guys.

"Okay, let's think. Is there any clue as to where Nick might have taken her?" Luke shook his head. 

"I don't think so," he said. "He didn't say anything, he just grabbed Julie and ran." All of a sudden, Alex gasped.

"Wait, he knew we were ghosts, right?" He said. Luke and I looked at each other in confusion and slowly nodded.

"Willie mentioned that Caleb hadn't been seen since the Orpheum, which is around the same time Nick started acting weird." I gasped.

"You don't think Nick's working for Caleb, do you?" Alex shrugged.

"Who knows, man? It's definitely a possibility."

"Okay, and what did Caleb want from us last time?" Luke asked.

"To join his band," Alex and I said simultaneously. My eyes widened as we immediately looked at each other.

"The Hollywood Ghost Club! He took her to the Hollywood Ghost Club!" I exclaimed. 

"Then that's where we're headed," Luke said confidently. We were about to poof out when Ray stopped us.

"Wait," he said, still teary-eyed. "I need to know that you'll keep my daughter safe."

I nodded and gave Ray a small smile.

"Don't worry," Alex said. "We will bring Julie home."

Ray nodded more confidently and smiled.

"Good luck."

We nodded at him before looking at each other and joining hands.

"Ready?"

Luke looked at me, determination gleaming in his eyes.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Hey y'all! So this chapter was a little shorter than the other ones, and yes, I know- the ending was a tad on the dramatic side. I guess my friends are rubbing off on me.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! See you next time!