Part 18

"And this is Beth," Zach gestured towards the older woman in the bikini, open shirt, sunglasses and sandals holding a beach umbrella over one shoulder and a large bag under the other. Instead of looking at the other teenagers Zach was introducing her to, she was staring out over the ocean with a single tear going down her eye. "She's my coworker from that part time job I told you about Tyler. She's been helping me out with a big project, so I kind of owed her. I hope you guys don't mind too much."

"It's so beautiful…" she whispered while managing enough volume for all there to hear her. Zach sighed and glanced back over to her.

"The beach, the lack of work in sight, or that group of shirtless guys over there?" He asked as he followed her gaze.

"Yes," was her simple response, "Zach, I owe you more than I can ever imagine. You ever run into any trouble, I have your back."

"Your gratitude is welcome, but feels strangely unneeded." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Still going to hold you to that just in case though."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to remind you in case you forget." Blue grumbled as she floated over Zach's shoulder with a scowl etched into her face. The human partner rolled his eyes at his ghostly counterpart's antics.

The source of the ghost's foul mood was as clear to see as it was silly, at least in Zach opinion. Here Blue was, under the hot sun and in front of a sparkling ocean, wearing her plain white robe which fused into her tail.

She'd attempted to transform it into something a bit more fitting over the course of the last few days, but all attempts had ended in failure. Zach thought she was just being dumb, it wasn't like anyone could see her besides him and Beth. No one would notice her floating around the beach wearing white robes.

For some reason, his opinion hadn't put Blue in a better mood when he'd told her so the night before. Instead she'd just huffed at him before floating up into the ceiling.

Zach wondered if anyone lived upstairs before deciding that Blue knew what she was doing. He still decided to keep his ears open for the next few days.

"Wait, when did you get a job?" One of his other friends cut in, reminding Zach that they were still there. What was his name again?

"Oh like, the day I came back from my trip out west." He said hoping that the boy's name either came up naturally in the conversation or he wouldn't need it.

"Wait, is it the same job I invited you here to get away from?" Sam cut in as she flexed her arm around while eyeing the water in slight desperation. The formally active girl was clearly split between wanting to make sure her friend was okay, and going back to her old life style.

"Yeah it's the same one. Thanks by the way. I ended up needing the break, just… not for the reasons you were guessing." He grimaced as he remembered the massive pile of files they had finally worked through. They had it down to only a handful of candidates now.

"So much paper, I never want to see that much paper again," Beth shivered despite the warm temperature, "you mind if I leave my stuff with everyone else's?"

"Go ahead, just don't get lost on the beach again," Zach rolled his eyes as Beth tried to hide her face.

"Oh come on, that only happened twice," she muttered as she set her stuff down near the stuff everyone else brought.

"So what is your job anyway Zach," the unnamed boy from before asked with a smirk, "I would have guessed you'd be working at a morgue of a graveyard, but with that girl with you…" he starred over at Beth as she dove into the water while yelling something which vaguely sounded like 'freedom'.

"You're closer than you think," Zach looked over at Blue as the ghost quickly flew to his side and got ready to elbow him in the ribs if he got something wrong. They'd spent way too much time on this cover story to have it fail here, "I work as an assistant to this guy who researches hauntings and ghost stories. Beth works for one his colleagues and they have us going over a bunch of old ghost stories."

"And you're sure you're not being too affected by it right?" Tyler cut in, her eyes now constantly darting between Zach and the water. "I know some of those things can be pretty dark, you're not overwhelmed right."

"Okay Tyler two things," he clapped in front of her, getting the girl's attention as Blue snickered. "First off, the only 'overwhelming' thing about this job is the amount of paper I need to go through. Second of all, you can just go swimming if you want. You don't have to wait for the rest of us."

Plus the sooner this conversation ended, the sooner he could stop talking about his cover story. It was close enough to the truth to not feel like lying, but it was still exhausting. And he still hadn't gone over it with his parents.

Now there was one conversation he was not looking forward to.

"That's true…" Tyler trailed off before making a sudden run for the water. Most of the other teens quickly followed after her, leaving Zach alone with Ashly, the unnamed boy and Blue still floating by his side. They all looked back as Tyler shouted as she led everyone into the water. "Last one in is a…"

The rest was drowned out by the sounds of splashing.

"It's good to see her like this again," Zach said, before the silence could descend upon them. "Seeing her at the hospital, just sitting still there for weeks, didn't feel right."

"Are you two still coming to her birthday party?" Ashley asked as she glanced between the two. "Brian, I know you have some sports thing at the end of the summer. And Zach, what about your job?"

Brian, so that was what his name was.

"Well if you're talking about the last match of the summer tennis tournament, then I'm good." Brian explained as he took a step back and pretended to swing a tennis racquet. "The last game is a week before Tyler's birthday. Hopefully, I'll have a whole week between getting my trophy and coming over."

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"And I doubt my job will mind if I go to a birthday party. As long as I do a bunch of stuff beforehand to make sure I'm free, I should be good to go." He explained before a sudden idea came to him. "Well, I guess if a sudden emergency hits, I won't make it, but I'm not missing this party even if the sky is falling, so I should be good."

Ashly nodded and started walking towards the beach, Brian quickly following after him. Zach was about to do the same when Blue floated up to whisper in his ear.

"You go on ahead, I'll be trying to change again," he gave a silent nod as Blue floated back towards the small crowd of adults who had volunteered to chaperone. He made sure she was among them before heading out into the water.

Despite his best attempts, Zach did find himself having fun for the next hour or so. He played some volleyball, had some hotdogs, watched as Beth struck out with the one older sibling who'd shown up to chaperone, and even managed to have a conversation with Ashly where he didn't mention ghosts or monsters even once.

As Ashly walked away, Zach found himself wondering if he was slowly drifting away from the image he'd crafted over the course of the last few years. Who was he if he wasn't Sam's weird goth friend?

Then he looked down at the skeleton on his swimming trunks and figured he was fine. He was still on brand with them alone.

He sat back down at the large public beach cabana just past the line of seagrasses which divided the sand and concrete. He relaxed under the shade of the palm tree roof for a before reaching over to get a can of soda out from the cooler. He clicked it open and took a long sip just as he hear someone sit down next to him.

"So is this the most sun you've taken in a while or what?" Tyler asked as Zach finished his sip. He put the soda back down and quickly glanced around. Aside from Tyler's mom who was watching her from the other side of the cabana, no one was paying attention to them.

"Not really," he admitted as he tried to not pay too much attention to the nub that used to be Sam's shoulder. Thinking back, choosing the beach was a genius move on Ashly's part. Everyone was getting plenty of time to get used to the new normal. "To tell you the truth I got way more sun in Green Brook while I was practicing being Gestalt."

He said it so calmly it took Tyler a second to realize what he'd just whispered. Her eyes bugged out before quickly scanning around and catching her mom's eye.

"Calm down," Zach whispered as Tyler looked back over to her. Her mom didn't move to get a better listen, so she figured they were still in the clear. "I made sure no one was listening in before I started talking about that. Plus, I figure anyone who does listen in is going to figure I'm talking about a video game or something."

"Oh, I guess you're right," Tyler calmed down and looked over at Zach's hand. "So uh… mind handing me a soda before talking about it? I'm kind of thirsty."

"You know these things don't actually refresh you," he lectured despite reaching into the cooler and handing her a Sprint.

"Oh a Sprint. Good enough, now how do I do this again?" He placed her hand over the top of the can. Zach was almost tempted to help her out, but figured the independent girl would want to get this down herself.

"Yeah I figured you would want one since you don't tend to walk anywhere." He joked as Tyler flicked the tap open with a triumphant grin.

"So tell me more about the thing." She demanded before taking a quick sip from the can.

"Well…" He told her about their training. Their days of running around the woods, jumping from tree to tree. Tyler paid special attention when he talked about their 'double jump'.

"So is she here?" She asked while looking around despite not being able to see the girl in question, "I mean, she was pretty excited about coming. I figured she was around here somewhere."

"Well she is here but…" he glanced over at the bathroom a short walk away from the cabana and made sure Blue wasn't suddenly coming over, "Okay so listen to this…"

A few minutes later, Tyler was not laughing.

"That was pretty mean of you Zach." She poked him in the chest before taking another sip from her soda.

"See everyone keeps saying that, and then they don't say why." Zach grumbled before feeling two cold spots on his shoulder. "Speaking of Blue…"

"Hey check it out. I figured out how to do it. It took a while but I managed to turn my robe into a swimsuit!" She screamed in delight.

Zach turned to Tyler and shrugged his shoulders.

"Looked like she managed to figure it out after all." He told him right before starting to turn around. "Well, let's see this swim…"

What followed was a rush of events at all the same time. Zach froze in place, his words dying on his tongue. His soda can fell from his hand, his grip too weak to catch it. Beth, who'd been sulking at the other table, jumped in fright. Her darting elbow tipped a cup over, sending someone's drink over the table.

The two of them apologized before rushing the cleanup. Blue floated over the two wondering just what had caused that sort of reaction. It was a pretty simple swimsuit, just a two piece with ruffled fabric. She had no idea why the design came to her so easily, but she wasn't going to question it.

Zach and Beth on the other hand, had to be careful to not just stare at Blue. Specifically, the space between the two pieces of cloth. Beth had to work even harder to ignore it, considering she had seen enough of Gestalt to notice the link.

Because starting from Blue's shoulder, and going down diagonally across her chest and stomach to her waist, was a wound.

A wide, gaping wound, like someone had cut her open to see inside. A wound which had no doubt killed the girl in question.