Chapter 6

Gestalt grinned as they jumped off a tree, flipped forward and then landed on their feet. This was the last day before they left Green Creek behind them and went back to Zach's hometown, and they were going to make it count. Even if they had wanted to get up before dawn to do so.

They looked up at a sturdy looking branch and knelt down. A small blue circle appeared at their feet as their eyes narrowed. They jumped, a small blast of blue mist appearing at their feet as they launched into the air. They grabbed onto the branch and swung forward, sailing through the air as they spotted another branch.

They reached another branch and swung again, going through the woods in a now familiar circuit. After a few swings, they came across a small gap over a stream they'd normally have no chance of making. Gestalt smirked as they neared the gap.

They swung off the branch and angled themselves so that their feet would be behind them. The misty blue circle appeared at their feet and exploded into a small cloud as they were launched forward. The trick had taken a while to get down, but with enough practice, anything was possible.

Gestalt landed right past the stream and looked back, whistling as they looked how far they'd managed to get.

"We're getting better at that," Gestalt's strange double voice said as they saw the Marble and Blue Flame Heart floating in the void. They carefully allowed the chains to fall and fade away before they could break. It had only taken a few 'chain breaks' as they started calling them, to realize how awful they felt compared to just letting the chains fade.

Blue floated out of Zach as his eyes lost their blue glow to reveal his normal green shade. He glanced down at his chest to see the blue line starting to fade. It was a minor detail they hadn't noticed during that first night, but for some reason Gestalt had a line on their chest. It started near the right shoulder, and then went down diagonally until it ended on their left hip.

That wasn't the only thing the pair had learned over the course of the last week. Blue had learned a lot about the modern world, mostly the little things. Things like the soft crinkle of paper as you turn it or the gentle smoothness of an apple. Zach had also learned a few things, mostly about Blue. Such as that the ghost liked to read the book about ghost stories he had brought with him to read, or how quickly she could devour an apple after finding out what a sense of taste was.

And once the book was done, they had moved on to the few other books his grandparents had laying around. Most of them had been pretty dry, but one of the dictionaries had been useful. They had randomly flipped through it when they had come across the word 'gestalt', something more than the sum of its parts. It was a good a name to use for themselves.

But training was over now, and soon they'd be getting out of the middle of nowhere and into the big city. Blue couldn't wait, especially since Zach's summer vacation meant the two would have a long time to explore the city and see everything it had to offer.

"You ready for this?" He asked Blue as they neared the house and Blue kept floating. Zach was soon in sight of his parents. Despite having Blue right next to him, there was no panic. During their stay at Green Creek, they'd quickly learned one little fact. Most people seemed unable to see, hear or detect Blue in any way.

"I have no clue," Blue admitted as she spotted the car getting filled up with suitcases. "I went from having one cabin and clearing to explore, to one town, and now a whole city. It's like the world just keeps getting bigger and bigger."

"You'll get used to it," he reassured her as he got close enough to the car for his parents to hear him.

"Hey Zach, you done with your walk?" his father asked as he grabbed the trunk and slammed it closed. "You get your fill of trees?"

"Enough to last me a lifetime," he replied as his mother managed to get out of the house, her own mother hot on her heels.

"Mom I love you but we have to get going if we want to beat traffic," she explained as she waved to the house and then quickly turned to her husband. "Is Zach back and is the car packed?"

"Yes to both," Zach's father pointed to him as his mother turned around to see him. He ran to the car and got into the back, he could already tell where this was going.

"Good, let's get out of here," his mother growled as the two joined Zach in the car. While the two of them had enjoyed the vacation and the chance to see their childhood home at first, over the course of the week they'd remembered why they had left Green Brook in the first place. They were just as ready to leave and go to their real home as their son was.

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The car started up and started driving down the roads as Zach glanced up at the roof. The day before, they'd found out that Blue could stick herself to moving objects to hitch a ride. If all went to plan, she should have been on the roof, ready to finally leave Green Brook.

They had agreed that she'd give him a sign once they left town and got onto the main road. As the turn approached he kept his eyes on the roof. Once they past it by, he saw a hand come through the ceiling and give him a thumbs up. With Blue's presence confirmed Zach sat back and let himself relax for the length of the trip.

Meanwhile, on top of the car, Blue kept her grip on the roof as it raced down the road towards her new home. After about half an hour on the bumpy dusty road, the car finally reached a proper paved highway. They spent the rest of the trip mostly going north and east. After a while, they left the woods behind them and started moving into suburbs and spread out small towns. It reminded Blue of Green Brook if it just kept going instead of stopping at the edge of the woods.

There wasn't much to see from her position. She couldn't take in the scenery when they were passing by it so quickly, so she had to think of other things to do. She mostly spent her time watching the other drivers and making up simple games like counting every blue car she saw.

In all honesty, the only thing keeping her from going crazy was a promise she had made to Zach. As soon as they passed through this area, they were going to get on a bridge, drive to an island, go through it, and then leave through a bridge on the other side. And the second they left the island behind, she was supposed to keep her eyes glued to the west. He hadn't said why, but he was sure Blue would appreciate it.

Blue let out a sigh of relief as she looked up and saw the first of the bridges. The car got on as Blue looked to the side and let out a gasp.

In front of her was an endless expanse of dark blue water and orange skies. She knew about the ocean, but until that moment she hadn't realized she'd never really seen it before. Or at least, any memories of doing so were gone.

She had to make sure to keep her grip on the car's hood tight as she watched the ocean right after day break. It was just so big, the longer she watched it, the more she felt like she was about to get sucked right in.

She took a deep breath as they finally neared the island and the ocean left her sight. The ocean might have been nice, but it was a little overwhelming to stare at from atop a car like this. Now she could just settle in and relax…

At least that what she had thought. As soon as they crossed into the island, Blue could feel some sort of intense pressure beating down on her. There was something here on this island, something strong, much stronger than her. All she could do was huddle herself to the top of the car and make herself as small as possible so whatever it was wouldn't notice her. She didn't move an inch until the car had made it through the island and came out the other side. She was almost happy to see the ocean again.

It might have been huge and overwhelming, but at least it wasn't actually trying to swallow her up. She has no such guarantees for whatever had been on that island.

She let out a sigh of relief as she remembered what Zach had told her. She looked up and over to the west and had to grip the car in order to make sure she didn't fall off again.

Right in front of her was a sight that was sure to get burned into her head for the rest of her left. In front of her was a wall of glass and steal. It was everything she could see for the first few seconds. Once they passed, she realized that the wall was a series of towers reaching into the sky, all of them reflecting the light of the dawning sun. At their base she could make out a thin strip of white sand in front of a small forest of trees. Even from this far, she could just make out a couple of people swimming around in the dawn hours.

It was a beautiful sight to see… and also… weirdly enough… familiar? Her eyes glazed over as an image appeared in her head. She was in a car, on this very road. She looked out the window and saw the exact same sight, but at dusk instead of dawn. She felt afraid, but wasn't sure why. She felt a hand grip her shoulder and started to turn around just as the vision faded.

She blinked and once again, she was a ghost on top of a car. She tried to catch her breath for a few seconds before she remembered that she didn't need air. This… this was big. If just seeing the city from this angle was enough to remember something, who knew what else she could remember if she looked around town for long enough?

She was going to have to tell Zach about this as soon as she could. The quicker they could start organizing a search for her memories, the better.