imagination || julie and the phantoms

nineteen

❉ ╧╧╧╧ ✿ ╧╧╧╧ ❉

WILLIE EXPLAINED EVERYTHING.

Caleb Covington, the rich magician, was the mastermind of it all. He branded Charlotte and the boys. He caused electric jolts to shock their hearts. On the night they came to the Hollywood Ghost Club, he twisted time so the band would miss their gig.

Because he didn't want the phantoms messing with his game. He tricked people. He stole souls with the sweet promise of an eternity living the extravagant club life. The band acted as a threat. They didn't need his help as others did. Therefore, they needed to be taken out of the equation.

Charlotte walked down the streets of Hollywood seething. Her hands shoved themselves into the pockets of one of Luke's old flannels. It clashed with her dress but she didn't care. Her feet fell in step between Reggie and Willie, Alex and Luke on the skater's other side.

None of them wanted to believe it. All of their pain since they became ghosts, their hurt came from Caleb.

"And you let him do this to us?" Alex couldn't help but question Willie more harshly. Here, for weeks, he believed Willie was worth putting himself out there for. He risked his anxiety, he risked getting hurt because he trusted Willie. But now...Alex doubted everything.

Willie faced Alex, his brown eyes glazed with tears. "I can't stop him!" he exclaimed. "He owns my soul. All right? He owns everybody's soul at that club. If he even knew I was here talking to you, he..."

The words caught in his throat. He would destroy me.

"And how do we know he doesn't realize you're here?" Charlotte spoke for the first time, raising her head to glare at Willie. "He's a magician capable of a lot of things, as you so clearly have told us tonight."

"I-I got someone to cover me."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "So we're supposed to trust you and a random stranger?" She scoffed. "Great."

Reggie placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. Then he asked Willie, "So if we don't join his club the weird power outage thing...it continues until there's no power left at all?"

Willie sighed. "Yes."

Reggie glanced at the boys, tightening his hold on Charlotte. "And what exactly happens when the power goes out?"

"That's," Willie swallowed hard and lowered his gaze to the ground. "That's it. You're done."

Charlotte and Alex closed their eyes. Luke clenched his jaw. Yet Reggie refused to believe it. "What exactly do you mean by we're done?" he asked.

Willie struggled to explain. "You just...you don't exist anymore. Not anywhere."

"So we have no choice?" Luke stepped forward, eyes narrowed on the skater. The more he spoke, the angrier he got. "We have to say goodbye to Julie, give up everything that we've built together and the second chances we've gotten, and work for Caleb?"

Willie stayed silent, but it gave Luke the answer.

Luke scoffed. "That's some club you guys got going on."

"But there is another option!" Willie insisted. "That's why I'm here."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure."

"Just please hear me out," he begged. The members of Sunset Curve looked at each other but didn't say anything. Willie went on. "If you guys could just figure out what your unfinished business is, you do it time, you could cross over and be free from all of this."