▌Chapter 9 ─ Class Day 1999 ▌
▌Part 2 ─ Season 1 ─ Episode 5 ─ The Case of the Wayward Spirit ▌

━━━━━ THEY HAD MADE it to the country club. Alora was in a nice uniform and held onto some food, carrying it into the kitchen with the others.

"How you feeling?" Nick asked George, starting a conversation.

George sighed, placing the food on the table. "Like I'm gonna be peeing herbal tea for a week." George answered.

Alora walked over to Ace and started to help him with the food. Nick placed the metal containers down on the table, both Ace and Alora turned around to look at the other's. Ace held the knife in the air.

"Sorry. Last one." Ace turned back around as did Alora.

"What was that?" Alora asked him with a playful smile on her face.

"Uh, nothing." He replied, soon smiling back at her. He loved seeing that smile on her face, it made him happy when she was happy. Alora walked away from him and grabbed a tray placing food on it. Then she walked out of the kitchen with George and Nancy.

"You two keep staring at me like that, you're gonna have to buy me dinner." George told the twins.

"Haha." Alora said, soon walking over to a few people who took some food off the tray.

"Nancy. Alora." The orange haired woman turned when she heard her name. "We can't pass appetizers in the same place." George proceeded to tell them. "That's not how this works, okay? You appetize in here. I will take the lawn. I'm fine." George then walked away from the Drew siblings.

"Or we'll keep an eye on you out here while we maintain the pretense of normalcy."

Nancy and Alora moved down the steps and outside following George but from a distance. The two eventually came to a stop, Alora heard an eerie noise. She started to look around, eventually her eyes landed on a grave. Alora walked forward with Nancy soon following behind her. The two placed their trays down on separate tables. Then they walked closer to the grave, a piece of light pink fabric rested at the top of the grave.

The two kneeled down, looking at each other. Soon they grabbed onto the fabric and started to pull it out of the dirt. Two arms reached out of the ground, one grabbed onto Nancy's arms and the other grabbed onto Alora's. The two struggled to break free of the grip of the entity, the hand around Alora's seemed to tighten its grip causing pain to her arm. The two were able to break free and moved backwards. Karen caught a hold of both of them.

"Whoa." Karen said. The twins turned around to look at her.

"Karen." The two said, panting heavily. Then they looked back at the ground to see the grave was no longer there. Nancy turned back to look at Karen first, then Alora looked at her.

"Uh, we didn't know you'd be here." Nancy said, for both her and her sister.

"I'm on the board of charity. Community liaison. Wait, is something wrong?" Karen asked them.

"You keep ignoring my calls." Nancy said, changing the subject.

"Mine too." Alora mentioned.

"Yeah, I've been a little busy." Nancy pulled out her phone and pulled up the picture soon showing it to Karen.

"You said you didn't know Lucy Sable." Nancy told her.

"You lied to us. Why?" Alora proceeded to ask.

"Guilt. Lucy and I were best friends all the way through junior year in high school until we weren't." Karen informed them.

"Well, what happened?"

"I-I don't know. She just started pulling away. It was after this party one night in early fall. A year later, someone killed her."

"W-Wait, what kind of party?" Alora looked at Karen, tilting her head slightly after she had asked the question.

"All I know is it was some exclusive underground thing. Lucy's why I became a cop. But by the time I left the academy and moved back to Horseshoe Bay, this town turned my best friend into an urban legend. Wait, why are you two so fixated on her?"

"It's a long story, but I think we have a new angle on the Tiffany Hudson case." Nancy said.

"And next week you'll both be arraigned on felony charges for breaking into the morgue to gain access to Tiffany's body. Nancy, Alora, lay low."

"That's not really our strong suit." Alora told her.

"I think this belongs to you." A voice said, the twins looked over to see Owen holding both their trays. Alora took hers first while Nancy took hers soon after.

"Owen, right?" Karen asked. He only nodded his head. "I heard your company donated a building site for the outreach center. The town appreciates it."

"Think globally, develop locally." He replied.

"Hmm." Karen walked away and soon Alora left Nancy to talk to Owen alone. Karen eventually separated from her. Alora looked around for George and saw no sign of her. Alora walked with her sister, Nick had joined their side.

"George is definitely MIA. I called Bess. She's coming with Victoria. This is all our fault. We left her alone for one minute..."

"Hey, no, no, no. It's okay. We'll find her." Nick told Nancy and Alora, but his statement had mostly been directed at Nancy. "Now, I'll-I'll take outside, and you take the upstairs. Alora will look down here."

"You guys think Tiffany's back?" Ace asked, as he joined the three.

"I think we need to find George, no matter what." Nick said, looking back at Ace.

"I'll help."

Alora, Nancy, and Nick split up. Alora looked around and eventually she came to a brief stop. She placed her eyes on Ace who was dancing with Laura, seconds later she watched the two kiss. Alora wanted to say she felt hurt but at that moment she couldn't worry about it. She continued what she was doing trying to find George. Alora and Nancy rushed into the kitchen to see Bess without George's mother.

"Where's Victoria?" Nancy asked her.

"Um, she's right behind me. She's coming. We came separately. But I saw George. And judging by the stunning cocktail dress she has on, Tiffany is walking the runway. She has amazing taste even in death." Bess explained.

"I'll text Ace and let him know. Um, we have to hurry if Lor and I are gonna get the answers to our questions." Nancy and Alora started to walk away from Bess but were still looking at her.

"Uh, you-you mean if we're gonna save George's qi."

"Of course."

The two made it out of the kitchen and walked outback again, looking to see George who was in fact Tiffany.

"Hi. Mr. Hudson?" Alora questioned, causing him to look back at the two as they walked down the steps.

"Hey." He replied.

"They are asking for you inside. Something about a photo op." Nancy said, as the two came to a stop.

"Thank you. Go. home." He then walked past the three heading up the steps.

"They're asking about you, too." Nancy told Tiffany. "This way." The two got her into the kitchen and away from the other guest that had been there. "I don't mean to scare you or freak you out, but we do not have a lot of time to talk. So I'm gonna have to be very blunt. I need you to tell us about the night that you died."

"I'm... not... dead." She told them.

"Tiffany!" Victoria shouted, causing her to turn and look back at the women. "You cannot stay in my daughter's body. It's time for you to leave." Victoria and Bess got what they needed ready while Nancy and Alora stood in front of George, Tiffany was still in her body.

"Tiffany, please try and remember the last moments of your life. Otherwise, your murder could go unsolved. A-And my sister and I are just trying to help you." Nancy said, shortly after she had spoken those words Nick walked out.

"Do you know me?" Nick asked her. They watched as she placed the knife down on the metal table. Then Alora watched her mess around with the ring pulling it off her finger and sliding it back on. "Tiffany used to do that while we talked."

"Yeah. It's about time you got on board. In her defense, Victoria said that there's a lot of new ghosts out there that don't know they're dead yet." Bess explained.

"Dead?" Tiffany asked, turning to look back at Bess.

"That's not your body."

"Your body is in the ground. W-We buried you yesterday." Alora told her.

"Tiffany, I am so sorry. We think you were murdered." Nick went on to tell Tiffany.

"We're trying to figure out who wanted you dead."

"No." She then picked up the knife. "No!"

"Hey, hey. Wait." Victoria said.

"Is this the girl you told me about?" Laura asked, running into the kitchen with Ace following behind her.

"Sorry, guys. She knows everything." Ace said. Alora watched her place the knife down and walk towards Laura.

"Laura."

"Is it you?" She nodded her head.

"Oh, my God, Tiff. Tiff, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna... We're gonna help you."

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Bess said. "She is kind of killing our friend right now. So she has to go."

"What are you doing?"

"The incense will break the bond between Tiffany's spirit and George's body, and then we will banish her forever."

"Banish? No, no, no. I have to talk to my sister."

"There's no time for that!" Victoria shouted. She started to speak to Tiffany.

"Listen, listen, that waitress slept with your husband, okay?"

"Hey! Wait."

"You don't have to go. Fight, okay?"

"Hey! No!" Laura grabbed the incense and pulled it out, throwing it to the floor. Tiffany grabbed the knife from the table.

"Run, Tiffany!" Ace leaped over the table trying to grab a hold of Laura. Nancy, and Alora ran behind Victoria, finding George with Ryan.

"Hey!" Victoria called out pushing the door open.

"Go away!" She said, her voice distorted.

"No. She's my daughter. Leave her!"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm happy to." Ryan said, he then walked out of the room and Nancy closed it behind him.

"Easy."

"I know you're scared. And you didn't deserve to die. But neither does George. And right now, her life is in your hands. And I know she disrespected you. And George knows that, too." Nancy explained as Nick and Bess walked into the room, closing the door behind them. "But she was young and she was lost and Ryan saw an opportunity with her. And I'm asking you to forgive her."

"Tiffany, let my daughter live." She gasped. "We have to move quick. East. West." Victoria started to speak in Mandarin and when she did it became windy in the room that they had been in.

"Awesome." Bess said.

"Nick, Alora. North!" She said the two did as told and moved to the spot they had been directed to.

"Alora and I will solve your murder." Nancy said.

"They won't give up on finding out what happened. And neither will I. Look, I don't want to ask you to go, but I can't let George die. I'll-I'll stay with you. I'll stay with you to the end." She walked closer to Nick.

"Keep... Laura... safe." She told him.

"I promise you, I will."

"Dantès." Paper flew around the other's as they watched Tiffany say her goodbye to Nick. "Remember me." She gasped and the window stopped, it got dark and George soon fell to the floor. Both Alora and Nancy leaned down to look at George.

"George?" The twins called out.

"Hey, hey, George, is it you?" Nancy asked.

"Hey, careful. Not too fast."

"Wait, where's Ryan? I remember he..."

"He took off. He's probably headed somewhere in his limo by now."

"Are you okay?" Bess asked.

"She'll make a full recovery. We've banished Tiffany from the earthly realm, and now I'll go summon an Uber." Victoria proceeded to walk out of the room.

"Hey, I'm... I'm glad you're all right." Nick said.

"Are you okay?" Nancy asked, turning to look back at him.

"Yeah. And, um, I... I think I understand what Tiffany was trying to tell me."

"Go. I get it." The two kissed and Nick soon picked himself up and left the room.

"Did you get what you wanted?"

"Yeah. You didn't die."

"Nancy and I will figure out another way to solve Tiffany's murder." Alora told her.

"So, what was it like being possessed by Tiffany? Was it all, 'Boo...'?"

"No. It wasn't all like, 'Boo...' It was like a radio tuned to pure emotions. I hated it. I don't want to talk about it." Nancy placed her hand on George's knee. "Okay, Drew." She then pushed her hand off.

"Okay."

Nancy and Alora walked outside, Nancy pulled her hair down while grabbing her phone. "Pure emotion. So that's how ghosts work. Then what was Lucy emotionally attached to? Maybe... something she wanted us to unearth." Alora separated from Nancy and waited by the car. She rolled her sleeves up and looked down at her arm, a bruise print of a hand had been left on her arm. She looked up as her sister and Owen got closer. Quickly she rolled the sleeves back down.

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Alora stood next to her sister as Owen talked to some of the construction men. He then walked back over to them. "You think this'll do the trick?" Owen asked the twins.

"I... I mean, I thought you would have an electric shovel or something." Nancy said.

"You mean an earth auger?" Nancy crossed her arms over her chest. "What? That's the name for it."

"I just mean this seems extreme."

"Well... I'm an extremely useful guy. Where are we headed again?"

"The lawn of our old high school." Alora said, while Nancy pulled out her phone to show him a picture.

"Plaque marks the spot." He waved his hand to the men.

"Okay. Mission Excavate Time Capsule." Nancy proceeded to laugh, Alora could tell that the two were flirting with each other. "I can't remember the last time I had this much fun."

"Mm. That's depressing, Owen."

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The twins made it back to the house and had gotten the time capsule, they were in Nancy's room on the floor. Nancy opened up the time capsule, the two looking inside it.

"Sorry, Class Day 1999. I know you wanted this bad boy cracked open a hundred years from now. And I'm sure the denizens of the future would have been fascinated by this enormous cell phone. Or a packet of poetry from The Alliterators. Or that... toothbrush? Seriously? But I think Lucy wants us to find something else. That's a little on the nose, but sure."

Nancy proceeded to grab her laptop while Alora opened the CD and pulled the disk out. She handed it to her sister who placed it in. They watched the video pop up on the screen.

"Well, hello there. Greetings from 1999. How cool is this! Our very own time capsule video in honor of Class Day." Nancy proceeded to fast forward through the video until she stopped it.

"Is that Lucy?"

"I'm trying to imagine what senior year will look like, and I think..." The video then glitched. Both Alora and Nancy titled their heads. Nancy pressed play on the video but it continued to glitch. The video kept repeating one singular word from it.

"Ryan? Ryan?"

"Are you saying...? Ryan." The video paused as the boy in the video turned slightly. "Ryan Hudson?"