While Taylor and Colby were having the time of their lives in Hawaii, Harper and Charlie remained back in Proxley. Taylor had offered for Harper to stay with Charlie at her apartment for the time being so they at least had each other and wouldn't be so lonely. Harper gratefully accepted the offer. However, neither of them had yet found their new life purpose.

After the creepy encounter at the beach, Harper was determined to learn self-defense, but that didn't go well either. She had signed up for a self-defense class here in Proxley, but it was put on indefinite hold after the instructor punched a cop and ended up in jail. So much for self-defense. Since then, she had absolutely no idea what she could do.

Charlie, on the other hand, was a step ahead and had now decided he loved sports, but jogging was getting boring in the long run. Plus, being a ghost with endless free time, he couldn't just jog all day long. He needed something that wouldn't get boring so quickly.

Today, Harper attempted cooking. She had never really cooked much before, but she was determined to learn. Starting with a simple recipe for pancakes. The recipe seemed straightforward, but soon she noticed that Taylor's kitchen looked like a battlefield from her pitiful attempts at cooking. Flour dust covered the countertop, eggs spilled over the edge of the bowl, and the batter somehow turned lumpy.

"This can't be that hard," she muttered to herself, stirring vigorously, causing the contents of the bowl to splatter across the apartment.

Eventually, she managed to produce a decent amount of batter and started cooking the pancakes in the pan. And just when she thought she had it figured out, the first pancake actually started burning.

"Damn it!" Panicked, Harper scraped the burnt pancake out of the pan and tossed it in the trash. Okay, she hated cooking. There was a reason she only survived on instant noodles.

Meanwhile, Charlie wasn't having an easier time in the living room, as he was trying out Colby's workout equipment. Since the first dumbbells, Taylor's apartment had undergone significant changes. Over time, more and more exercise gear had been added. More dumbbells, a punching bag, a huge weight station, and even a massive weight bench. Taylor's apartment had truly transformed into Colby's home gym. Previously buried under Harper's Colby stuff, now that was gone, everything was finally free and ready for use.

With a determined look, he approached the first dumbbell and attempted to lift it. Yet, on his first try, he realized it was much heavier than he had expected.

"How does Colby manage this?" he wondered, trying again. He flexed his muscles and slowly lifted the dumbbell off the ground. But after lifting it a few inches, he had to set it down again. "This can't be. He lifts them as if they're feathers."

He moved on to the next dumbbell, which looked somewhat lighter. But even this one proved to be a challenge. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he tried again to lift the dumbbell. After several attempts, he finally managed to hold it up, but his arms trembled with effort.

Charlie couldn't believe it. How could Colby be so strong? Every time Colby bragged about his strength, Charlie had dismissed it as exaggeration. But now, faced with the evidence, he had to admit that Colby was indeed as strong as he claimed.

He eyed the huge weight station in the corner of the living room and decided to give it a try. The weights were already set to an impressive amount, but Charlie wanted to try anyway. He sat on the bench, grabbed the handles, and began to press. The bar barely moved, and after a few seconds, he let it drop with a loud clatter.

"Damn it, Colby," he cursed softly. "You can't imagine how much I hate you and your ego right now."

Determined to at least have some fun with one thing, he turned to the punching bag. He put on a pair of boxing gloves that Colby had apparently left behind for this purpose and tried to throw a few punches. The bag swung lazily back and forth, and Charlie quickly realized that his punches didn't pack nearly the same punch as Colby's.

"At least I can't fail here," he muttered, starting to rhythmically punch the bag. But even here, reality soon caught up with him. After a few minutes, his arms were tired, and he let the gloves drop.

Frustrated, he sat down on the floor and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for bodybuilding."

Now he was getting angry. He was a ghost, damn it. A supernatural being. It would be a shame if he couldn't outdo a punching bag.

He stood up again and punched the bag with all his might, causing it to move a bit more. Ha!

Meanwhile, Harper had embarked on another round of pancakes in the kitchen. Despite her initial failures, she was determined to at least make one decent pancake. She reduced the heat of the pan slightly and mixed the batter more carefully. This time, the pancake actually looked usable.

With a triumphant smile, she flipped the pancake and was pleased that it didn't burn.

"Ha, I did it!" she exclaimed happily and carefully placed the finished pancake on a plate.

She made a few more, all of which turned out well, and prepared a small meal.

Just as she was setting the table, Charlie emerged from the living room, exhausted but with a proud smile. "Hey, I worked on the punching bag. At least a bit."

Harper laughed and handed him a plate of pancakes. "And I managed to make pancakes that for once don't taste like charcoal. A small victory for both of us."

Charlie took the plate and sat down. "We'll find our niche eventually."

"Have you tried cooking yet?" she countered expectantly.

"Yeah. Didn't know I could burn my fingers, but I managed it. How about you and sports?"

Harper shook her head. "Forget it. I tried lifting one of his damn dumbbells once, and I think I pulled something. Never touching that stuff again."

"So, I mean, I've got boxing down now. And you've got cooking. But I guess we both agree that neither of those are things we want to do for the rest of our lives, right?"

"It's harder than expected to find meaning in life," Harper laughed, and Charlie grinned back.

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the food and reflecting on their past attempts. Finally, Charlie looked up and asked, "Have Taylor and Colby checked in from Hawaii yet?"

Harper shook her head. "No, not yet. Well, just once a few days ago after they almost got robbed." She took another bite and glanced at her phone. "Nope, no new message."

"It'll be okay. I mean, even if, Colby could be in this room in a second. Teleportation." He grinned, pantomiming the action with his hands. "One day, I want to learn that too. How cool would that be?" Then Harper briefly widened her eyes as she continued to look at her phone. "Is something wrong?"

"Apparently, there was a huge FBI data leak. Loads of stuff."

"A data leak like Edward Snowden?" Now Harper looked at him surprised. "What?"

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"You know Edward Snowden? Weren't you dead in the '80s and just been in that room since then?" She gestured to the room where he had spent 20 years with Colby.

"There was a TV in there for a long time. What's in that stuff?"

Harper skimmed one of the numerous articles discussing it. "So far, just what everyone already knows. Surveillance. Still, the government won't be happy."

Charlie shrugged, clearly unconcerned about the government. "Could that be something for you? Like tech work? Computer stuff?"

"No. I've always hated that with my Colby obsession. Searching stuff on the internet."

"We'll find something eventually, both of us."

"Yeah, eventually."

The two spent the rest of the day cleaning Taylor's kitchen. Harper took charge of scrubbing the countertops vigorously, removing the flour dust and sticky remnants from their cooking attempts earlier in the day. Charlie handled the dishwasher, thoroughly rinsing the many used pans and bowls that couldn't fit inside.

Hardly had everything been cleaned up when Harper's phone rang. It was Taylor.

"Hey Harper! Say hi to Charlie for me," she said excitedly as Harper answered the call. "Colby is out surfing in the ocean, that little water rat. How's everything going in Proxley?"

Harper chuckled amusedly. "Hey Taylor! We're in the middle of cleaning up your kitchen. You can't imagine what we've been up to here."

Taylor laughed. "Oh no, what have you guys done?"

Harper sighed dramatically. "Just a bit of cooking and bodybuilding. Nothing else."

"Bodybuilding?" Taylor exclaimed amusedly. "I hope Charlie didn't break anything. Colby would kill him."

Charlie, standing next to Harper, grinned sheepishly and shook his head while Harper replied. "Not really, but he's definitely frustrated by how strong Colby is."

Taylor laughed again. "I can imagine. By the way, I have to tell you something! I've been taking surfing lessons these past few days so I can go surfing with Colby, and two days ago was my first time getting in the water with the board. It was incredible! Sage is really proud of me, and of course, Colby too."

"Who's Sage?" Charlie asked, and Harper passed on the question as interestedly as he did to Taylor.

"Sage is my surf instructor. He's like a dark, bad boy version of Colby," she explained, knowing that Harper and Charlie knew Colby's eccentric charm all too well. "He's really good at teaching surfing, even though Colby isn't exactly his biggest fan."

"Oh, that sounds exciting," Harper said, while Charlie raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"The fucker is jealous, huh," Charlie grinned.

"But hey, I've really learned a lot, and it's so much fun!"

"I'm really happy for you," Harper replied. "And how else are things going? Are you guys traveling a lot?"

"We just got back from a trip. We visited the Kilauea volcano on Big Island; the glowing lava lake was pretty intense. Colby wanted to jump in, just to see what happens, I mean, after all, he's a ghost, but I told him don't do it." Charlie and Harper laughed again. "But honestly, I'm calling because ... well, actually we wanted to wait with the question until after we got back, but we just can't wait anymore. Harper, did you know that Colby's crime scene is here in my apartment?"

Harper's eyes widened. "Wait, what?! It was here at your place?!"

"So you didn't know that, okay. Interesting. Not even you, so," Taylor chimed in.

"But you know I spent 20 years in that room with Colby," Charlie interjected. "And you were there when we had the brain bridge. Surely it was mentioned that it was in this apartment."

"Yeah, well ... but I thought when you said this apartment, you meant a very specific, different this one. Not this one!" She glanced at her phone again. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because Charlie is right," Taylor started again. "That's why we're asking. Why isn't my apartment a shrine or a pilgrimage site for other fanatics? Why doesn't anyone know it was here? Where did you think this apartment is?"

"I have no idea, nowhere was the apartment ever mentioned, not that I know of. It was always just said to be near Clinton College."

"What does that mean?" When Taylor asked, Harper looked unknowingly at Charlie, who made a 'what are you looking at me for' face.

"I mean, okay, in a smaller case, the crime scene wouldn't be publicly known, but with Colby? The missing person case of the century? Never has anyone found out? That's almost impossible without magic."

"Or someone intervened from above." Charlie immediately thought of the data leak.

"Charlie means, what if it wasn't supernatural, but the government?" Harper translated.

"What would the government have to gain from that?" Taylor asked skeptically.

"No idea, but did you hear about the FBI leak?"

"Yeah, they're apparently finding new shocking things in the data every hour. It's really creepy how much the FBI knows about us. Why, do you think there might be something about our Ghost Boy in there?"

"It would be worth a try, right? Charlie and I could look through the stuff, you guys just enjoy your vacation. And the leak is so huge, they can't cover it up anymore, it's on the internet forever now. So relax, we got this."

"Are you sure?"

Harper looked at Charlie, who nodded decisively. "Sure. Charlie's on board too. Now go make waves with Colby."

Taylor laughed. "Okay. It would be nice, but I'm not as good as Colby yet. But Sage says I'm a natural, so I shouldn't complain. Normally, it takes weeks before he lets students into the water. I got in earlier."

"Don't let Colby hear that. Anyway, have a great vacation, and we'll let you know if we find anything, okay? It might take a while though, there's a lot of stuff."

"Okay, take care. And thanks! I'll bring you postcards and shells, promised!"

"I want a shark tooth necklace!" Charlie exclaimed happily.

"And Charlie wants a shark necklace, if possible."

The grin on Taylor's face could practically be heard. "Promise. I'll bring them. So, bye then!"

Harper said goodbye on behalf of both and then looked at the ghost next to her. "Ready to work?"

"Ready to work," Charlie grinned. "I'll take Taylor's laptop, you use your phone."

Charlie and Harper immersed themselves in the flood of data leaked by the FBI onto the internet for the next few hours. They painstakingly sifted through various forums, chat rooms, and files that could potentially contain information about Colby. Hourly, new disturbing revelations surfaced about the extent of FBI surveillance, but so far they hadn't found anything useful about Colby.

Harper came across files containing detailed lists of missing persons cases, but Colby's name was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Charlie combed through chats and discussions about unexplained phenomena and mysterious events, yet concrete clues about Colby related to the data leak were absent. They felt like they had already encountered everything being discussed.

As they delved deeper into their research, their frustration grew with the seemingly endless amount of information they had to sift through. Charlie sat focused in front of Taylor's laptop, while Harper diligently tapped away on her phone, following links and opening documents. Time passed quickly, and they realized that finding a needle in a haystack was no easy task.

After hours of intense work, they took a short break. Charlie leaned back, rubbing his eyes, while Harper massaged her neck to loosen the stiff muscles.

"Any luck?" she finally asked, glancing at Taylor's laptop.

Charlie sighed and shook his head. "Nothing concrete. Lots about other cases, missing persons, mysterious events. But Colby doesn't seem to have popped up on the FBI's radar."

"That's strange in itself, if we're being honest. Colby's case is huge. It's like they deliberately collected nothing about him," she massaged her forehead. "But why would they do that?"

"Maybe there are political or operational reasons we don't know about. Or maybe they simply left no traces we can find online."

"Or we just don't understand them," she pondered.

"Hm?"

"You're supposed to know, being Colby's sidekick," Harper grinned slightly. "In movies, the FBI always has these different codes and nicknames. You were with him all the time, what could those names be?"

"Who says the nicknames from his college days are the same as the FBI uses for him? And why would he have a special nickname, but none of the other missing persons cases do? What makes him so special?"

"We have to start somewhere. So, what was he called?"

Thoughtfully rubbing his chin, he replied, "Back then, they just called him Colby. Nothing special, no secret nickname or codename. He was just Colby."

"How boring. Party Prince? The Jock? Nothing?"

Charlie's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something. "Try Zeus."

Harper immediately got to work, albeit skeptically. "Like the god? Why?"

"You know Colby. And you probably know a few stories about Zeus. Both nailed everything that didn't get to three on the trees. And both are typical dominant natural born leaders," Charlie crossed his arms. "He wasn't called that often, but I stumbled upon the term every time I came across it. I don't even know who started it."

"Holy shit!" Harper shouted into her phone.

"Did you find something?!" Charlie immediately leaned in beside her to look at her phone too.

"I-I searched for Zeus, along with terms like Clinton. They have a lot on him, but it's all not in the missing persons files. L-look here." Harper pointed to the date of a text transcript that appeared to be from surveillance.

"February 13, 2001?" Charlie read aloud, puzzled. "Huh? But why? That's over two years before he disappeared?"

"Exactly," Harper trembled, opening another transcript. Then another. And another. "1999, 1991, shit, they've had him on their radar for much longer. Not just since he disappeared."

Charlie buried both hands in his hair. "But why? Sure, he's a great guy, but what did or does the FBI want from him? And why is his case treated so differently from the others? Why isn't it in the missing persons files?"

"No idea, but I bet my last shirt they're also responsible for his disappearance. We have to tell them immediately. Remember at the beach the other day, I said I wanted to protect you both too? This is my chance now. Colby and Taylor need to know. Right now."