When Andor left to build his house I decided to see if I could get Jordan alone to talk to him. Unfortunately, he was with Tom. As always. They had started building the foundation for a house together at the end of a crude, and I'm assuming temporary, dirt pathway leading from the town square.

Desperate to have someone to talk to other than Orchid, I waited around until Tom finally left to join Mot and Dianite for a meeting about scouting out the rest of the island.

"Tom," Jordan said as he was getting ready to walk out of what had been built of their front door. "I'm really not comfortable with you exploring the rest of the island like this. We don't know what's out there, and it's much bigger than Trinity Island was."

"Relax Sparklez," Tom said nonchalantly. "You know as well as I do that I can hold my own. And besides, I'll be with a god the whole time."

"Yeah, until he and Mot go off on their own little adventure and leave you all alone in an unfamiliar territory," Jordan said suggestively under his breath.

"I don't know whether to laugh at that or roll my eyes," Tom said as he finished pulling on his coat. "Just relax; if anything dangerous happens I'll come right back. I might not even go at all. They just want to plan Sparklez."

Jordan sighed and glanced in my direction. I had been sitting perched on the back of the couch while I waited for them to finish their conversation. Perhaps it was a little insensitive of me to watch their private life like this, but Orchid said she did it all the time. This was just what ghosts did, or at least, this was what I had been taught they did.

Looking back to Tom he said, "fine. But you're coming right back here at the first sign of danger, whether you go on the trip or not."

"That's what I said you sausage," Tom laughed. "Goodbye sparklez. See you at dinner."

He leaned forward and kissed Jordan on the cheek before heading out the door. Jordan sighed as the door latched into place behind him, hesitating before turning to face me.

"What do you want?" He asked, rather grumpily.

"I just... I just wanted to talk," I said, somewhat taken aback at his aggressive tone. Jordan sighed again and seemed to calm down. He sat down on the couch so that he was facing me.

"So," Jordan began hesitantly. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I hadn't planned that far ahead," I said. "I was just getting lonely."

"Do you think it's possible that you could be Alva?"

"I... I honestly have no idea." I was surprised at his question, but it seemed to be something that had been weighing on his mind.

"You don't remember anything from when you were alive?" He asked.

"It's very difficult for me to even remember what's happened to me since I died," I said, "let alone what happened when I was alive."

"How do you feel about Declan?" He asked after some thought.

"I feel bad for him," I said. "He seems so sad, even around Ianita and Andor."

"Andor?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, Andor went over to talk to him after you all left. He's Alva's brother?" I asked. Jordan nodded. "Andor said that because Dec was supposed to marry her, that Dec could always think of him as a brother."

Jordan looked somewhat surprised, but also pleased by this news. "Well that's nice. And what about Andor? How do you feel about him?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I feel like I can't quite get a handle on him, but judging by the way he's been treating Dec I don't know why I have any reservations about him."

"Are you sure you're not Alva?" Jordan asked suddenly. "I mean I know you can't know for sure, but it sounds like your reservations about him could be based on how Mianite changed your, er, Alva's opinions on Ianite and her followers. It seems too good to be a coincidence."

"And you don't think it would be too much of a coincidence that the one ghost who followed you all through the portal was her?" I asked, starting to feel a little defensive over my memory loss.

"Well I just..." Jordan stammered. "I mean if she died right there, right before we went through the portal... It's not that unlikely."

"I'm sorry, okay?!" I shouted, starting both Jordan and myself. "I'm sorry I'm not good enough to remember anything. I'm sorry if I'm not your friend and I'm sorry that if I am I don't know how to remember myself." I didn't think it was possible for ghosts to shed tears, but I could feel the heat trickling down my face as I covered my eyes with my hand.

"No," Jordan said quickly, "don't be upset. It was foolish of me to think there was a chance that out of all the ghosts in the world you were hers."

"I really am sorry," I said, sniffling slightly as I wiped my eyes. I hadn't expected myself to have such a strong reaction to the topic. I rested a hand on his shoulder. He shivered and I flinched away, upset that I had made him uncomfortable. "Sorry, didn't realize that would happen. I don't generally have any contact with humans."

"No, it was a dumb idea. You don't even talk like her, let alone act like her. How long have you been..." He turned to look at me, unsure of how to continue.

"Dead?" I asked. He nodded and I sighed. "I genuinely don't know. Time seems to pass differently for ghosts. I mean, Orchid's been following you for ages now, and she says it's only felt like a few days."

"Orchid?" Jordan asked. I frowned.

"The other ghost? She said she spoke with you and everyone called you crazy."

"Oh," Jordan said. "I didn't know her name was Orchid. She said she didn't remember it."

"Ghosts give each other names; that's hers. She named me Iris."

"That's a pretty name," Jordan said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," I said, "she said the blue bits of me reminded her of a pair of eyes from when she was alive; they're one of the only things she remembers."

Jordan looked up at me and regarded the cloud of blue that happened to be floating through me at the time. "I've never met a ghost with more than one color before," he said thoughtfully. "You said they... reminded her of a pair of eyes?"

I nodded before realizing he might not recognize the gesture. "Yes."

Jordan seemed somewhat distressed at this new information, but he shook it off. "No," he said to himself, "it can't be that. It's not rational; I'm leaping to conclusions again."

"What do you mean?" I asked, causing him to jump slightly, almost as if he had forgotten I was there.

"Oh, uh..." He began nervously. "I just mean that... How many people could there be with blue eyes, huh? Lots I'd imagine, especially if she wasn't even from our realm. Who knows how many people could..."

"Jordan," I said worriedly.

"Huh?"

"You're shaking."

"Oh. I think... I think I'll go find Tom now," he said, standing up to leave.

"Thanks for talking to me," I said.

"Oh," he seemed surprised, "of course. Any time. Well, when I'm alone that is..."

"Don't worry," I said, "I won't give them another reason to worry about you."

He smiled at me before ducking out of the room to find Tom.

[Author's Note]

Oh my god guys, guess who finally managed to squeeze a chapter out! I've had half of this written for at least a week, I just couldn't for the life of me string the parts together.

AP physics has been absolutely kicking my ass lately, but I finally put it aside for a moment to try to clear my head. TA DA!

*mumbles* writing dialogue is so awkward...