Back in the resort, the boys were lounging in the hotel room while a couple of staff placed another bed inside, "You guys okay, that her stepbrother will be sleeping here?" Gussie asked.

"Yeah, Holden is cool," March answered. "Oh, by the way, no mentioning of ghosts when he and their parents are around."

"Oh, right," Vance recalled. "Almost forgot about that."

Gussie was surprised to hear that. "They don't know?"

March nodded. "Yup."

"Okay, why is it again?" Vance questioned.

Leyo climbed on the tall guy's shoulder, "Because they don't believe in it," he said.

"I kinda get that, but still... they're her family. Her grandfather and her little brother can see ghosts. Plus, she has a ghost twin for crying out loud."

"She has a ghost twin!?" Gussie shocked. "She forgot to mention that part."

"Yeah, her name is Perdita," Vance replied.

"Okay, maybe it is hard to believe, but wouldn't they want to know that her twin sister's spirit lingering around?"

"That's kinda the problem..." March cringed.

"What do you mean?" Gussie asked.

"Perdita doesn't like them."

The two boys were stumped. "She doesn't like her parents?" Vance quipped.

"Not her mother. Just Cdr. Rudero and Holden," March answered.

"Why?"

"Dr. Sweeney... Rudero." The old friend kept getting confuse which of Perfida's mother's last name should be called. "She sort of walked away from the twins when they were five."

"Wow, that's rough," Gussie expressed his pity towards the girls.

"Until... three years later, the crash happened."

"I feel bad for her. Her mother and her stepfather are jerks."

"I... don't know about that." March shrugged. "But it is complicated."

"Perdita died very young," Vance sighed. "Now I understand why she wants to stay instead of crossing over to the light."

"I may not know a lot of ghosts more than you guys, but personally, I don't think it's a good idea for her to stay long," The rich boy said. "It's kinda... sad."

"What about Holden? What's he like? Do they get along?"

"He's cool, and yeah, they're close. He's also like big brother to Bryce," March said.

"What about her and her stepfather?" Gussie added.

"Cdr. Rudero sees her like his own. Even to Bryce. The fact is, they're just your happy blended family. Problem is that Perdita is still... resentful about it."

"Can you blame her? Dr. Rudero... Sweeney left her daughters for another family," Leyo said.

"I suppose you're right," Vance agreed reluctantly.

"Hold on, wouldn't Perdita can hear us talking about her and Perfida?" Gussie asked, and he became anxious as well that the ghost twin could linger around them without them knowing.

"No, I wouldn't worry about that. We'll know. I grew up with them. Perdita only clings to Perfida," March assured him.

"Okay... And I thought I have issues. But I don't understand, if they are such a happy blended family, why can't Perfida open up about her 'abilities' to them?"

March looked at him in a strange way. "Do you not listen to everything I just told you?"

"Yeah, I did. But still..."

"I agree with Gussie," Vance said. "Why can't they just put their heads together to just tell their family that one can see ghost and the other is ghost? Regardless, that they don't believe it and that Perdita doesn't like her stepfather, and stepbrother."

March just shook his head and shrugged his shoulder. "I just never bothered asking. But if telling your family is so easy then my ass wouldn't be here right now. I might be on the streets covered in bruises and being shunned by every member of my family that I'm gay."

"Besides, we can't do anything about it anyway," the little Livo interjected. "Perdita wants to stay, and Perfida wants her to stay."

Vance and Gussie looked at each other then to March. "Speaking of Perfida, let's go check on her," Gussie suggested.

"I hope she's okay."

----

Later, in the Sweeney's hotel room, the guys checked on Perfida. "Ugh... I'm still not okay," the poor girl moaned from the inside of the bathroom.

The boys had this look of disgust as they stood outside the door. "MMmmkay..." March muttered. "I can see that."

Torrey came in abruptly with a glass of green juice in her hand. "Stand back, Gentlemen. The cure is here," she told them, then knocked on the bathroom door. "Perfida, Honey, are you still in having stomach problems?"

A sound of gas and water splashing could be heard through the door. "Does that answer your question, Mom?" Gussie asked her.

"I have celery juice, and imodium to help with that." She placed the drink and the medicine on a table.

"Thank you, Mrs. French," Perfida squirmed.

Ram appeared standing by the doorway. "They're here."

The ghost twin put on a pouty face. "Ugh... here we go."

"You boys, go. I'll keep an eye on her," Torrey said.

"Okay, Mom," her son replied. After that, Leyo jumped on March's back, and then they left the room.

----

In the lobby, the Sweeneys and Ruderos exited the vehicle while the bellboy took their luggage. "Wow." Holden looked amazed.

"Hmm... not bad," Ophelia commented at how beautiful the hotel looked.

"Welcome." Ram walked down the steps to greet them.

"This is an on friend of mine, Ramford French," Archie introduced then he turned to the owner.

"You can call me Ram."

"You remember Ophelia, and this Cdr. Hector Rudero and his son, Holden."

"Nice to finally meet you all."

"Likewise," Hector replied.

"Come. You all must be hungry from the long flight."

"By the way, how's my daughter?" Ophelia asked the owner.

"She's still in the bathroom... you know. Although, my wife is in there, giving her something to help that."

"That's good."

They entered the premise, and the guys went up to them. "Hey, Holden," March called up to him.

"Hey, Dude." Holden was happy to see him, and gave the little Livo a fist-bumped. "Leyo, what's up?"

"Dr. Sweeney... erhm... Rudero, Hello. Cdr. Rudero." March respectfully saluted his school principal.

"At ease, Marcus. We are on vacation anyway," Hector told him.

"By the way, this is Vance," March introduced. "He is Capt. Howes' son, and he lives across the street."

"Ah yes, I met your father before we left. Nice to finally meet you."

"You too, Commander," Vance replied politely and nervously, since this was the first time he met them. Afterwards, he turned to Holden who was already giving him the most friendliest smile at him then took out his hand for a shake. "Hey."

"Hey, I'm Holden." Perfida's stepbrother took his hand and shook it.

"Vance."

"And this is Gussie, he is Mr. French's son," March introduced, then Holden shook the hotel owner's hand too.

"So how's my sister? Is she still... you know?"

"I'M OKAY!" Perfida exclaimed, came running to her parents and hugged them then her stepbrother while her sister stood aside not looking very thrilled to see the step-family. "Oh, I missed you guys."

"We missed you too, Peach," Ophelia said to her.

"Yup." Hector pulled in for an embrace.

Bryce glanced towards Perdita who was making this mocking face of her stepfather which made the little boy laughed. "Both of you, stop that," Archie mumbled to them.

Holden lifted Perfida up when he hugged her tightly. "Glad to see you, not via video call this time. There's so much I want to tell you about camp."

"I want to hear them all." The girl pulled away from him and hissed in pain as she touched her tummy. "Oow."

"You okay?"

"Yup. Sort of. Mrs. French gave me medicines to stop the aching." However, her stomach was growling. "Temporarily. But I am feeling a bit better than an hour ago."

"That's good... to know. I guess."

"You all must be hungry," Torrey said. "Come on, the food is ready."

Once they head to the poolside, the boys were walking behind them. "I must say, Holden has that Zac Efron smile going on over there," Vance whispered.

"The problem is that he's straight," March whispered back.

"And you have a boyfriend," Leyo added.

"Pfft... Just saying," Vance scoffed.

Moments later, they were all by the poolside again with the news guests as they began eating. The Soulpadre Boys, and Gussie were playing Aeroball by the field with Bryce and Harrison since Perfida was still not in condition to join in with them. So instead, she sat by the dining table with her family and drank some tea to help with her stomach problem.

"The food is delicious," Hector complimented.

"Yeah, there's no chopped tentacle back in Ares City," Holden added though he did not find some of them delectable.

"I hope you choke on them and die," the ghost twin groaned since she knew that she could not be heard.

"They are Thoto specialty," Ram said proudly. "We wanted to prepare the best ones for you."

"Oh, you shouldn't have." Even Ophelia, she had a hard time finishing the food just staring at an unfamiliar mean that was on her fork.

"So I heard from Archie that you are here to meet the new cosmic citizens?" Torrey asked.

"That's right, we want to see how well the Akuatos will be adjusted here in the island."

"I watched them in the news, they are like space mermaids," Perfida said. "I can't wait to see them in person."

"They will be arriving the day after tomorrow, and it's important that me and our colleagues want to meet them."

"Hale will be coming too to check them out," Holden told his stepsister.

"Stellar!" Perfida beamed. "When?"

"I think tomorrow night. By the way, Papoli said that you learned how to skir?"

"Yup."

"Is it hard?"

"At first," the girl answered. "But it gets easier. Why?"

"I'm thinking of attending a class," Holden replied.

"Their in-house instructor is a good teacher." Then she glanced at some of his uneaten food in his plate. "Can I have some of that? I'm actually starting to feel hungry again."

Obviously, her stepbrother did not mind because he did not like any of them. "Sure, go ahead."

Perfida grabbed a fork, and picked a food from Holden's plate. "So what's it like in base camp?"

"It's stellar, we did some training. I get to practice to shoot a laser gun, I learned some new fighting moves, and drove a space rover by the rocky mountains," the guy explained.

"Sounds fun."

"Although, food is not as edible as I'd hope for. Bug stew and beet juice." Holden looked at the Thoto dish on the table and watched Perfida weirdly enjoying it. "But now, I don't think it look so bad."

Meanwhile, the boys stopped playing the sport, and began resting. They sat on the grass and a waiter served them water. All of a sudden, Bryce was laughing which the older kids find it weird because they gazed around to see what was so humorous.

Apparently, the ghost girl was punching her stepfather's head, even though it would not hurt him. She just wanted to blew of some steam and taking it out on him. She also made faces like mocking how the man talked while he was speaking to Ram and Archie, who was trying very hard not to seem distracted.

"Look at Bryce." Leyo nudged the guy next to him and then pointed towards the eight-year-old to see what the hell was he doing.

"Buddy, what's so funny?" March asked him.

"It's Perdita," Bryce said. "She's making funny faces at Hector."

Gussie was finding this very strange, and tried to see the direction where the child was looking. "Uhm... okay..."

"Now she's pretending to play bongos on his head," the boy giggled. "And now she's just being his shadow."

"Real mature, Perdita," Vance exasperated bluntly.

"You guys are right, she really doesn't like her stepfather and Holden," Gussie replied. "Good thing she can't hurt them."

"I know," March responded.