Page 10 of Daddy’s Protection (The Daddy Guard #3)

“That’s so cool that you’re an artist,” Iris said as the three Littles began working on the Halloween decorations.

“Thank you,” Cami replied.

Before her, paints, paper, scissors, and other crafting items were spread out. She was sitting on the playroom floor, with Iris and Lana near her. Below was an old sheet Jack had spread out just in case the girls made a mess.

Cami looked around for a moment before turning her attention back to the project at hand. “This room is so cool. The entire mansion is!”

“It’s wonderful. And kind of spooky. The perfect place for a Halloween party,” Iris responded with a giggle.

“It isn’t spooky compared to my house,” Cami noted. “You should see where I live. Maybe you two can come over sometime.”

“We’d love that,” Lana said. “I’m sorry things are crazy over there right now. So, you really think you saw a ghost, huh?”

Cami shivered just remembering that harrowing experience. It didn’t bother her to talk about it necessarily, but it sure had been scary!

“Yeah. It was crazy. I mean, they were as plain as day. Like I’m seeing you two. It was like… something from a movie.”

Lana gasped and stood up quickly.

“What’s wrong?” Iris asked, clearly alarmed.

“Like a movie,” Lana repeated as she began pacing.

“What’s going on?” Iris probed again.

“Sorry,” Lana said, finally stopping and looking at them.

By now, Cami had stood, along with Iris, and began walking toward Lana.

“What she said,” Lana went on, “made me think.” She looked from Iris to Cami. “How close were you to the ghosts?”

“Uh, I dunno. Six or eight feet, maybe.”

Cami nodded. “Did you reach for them?”

“No. I just ran!”

“ Away from the ghosts, right? Not toward them?”

“Away. As fast as I could,” Cami confirmed. She wasn’t sure where Lana was going with this, but she was intrigued.

“I think we need to talk to our Daddies,” Lana said.

Came giggled. “Isaiah isn’t my Daddy!”

The other girls didn’t look so convinced. They didn’t press her on it, though. Instead, they all hurried down the stairs and to the den.

Cami couldn’t wait to hear what Lana had to say.

She also couldn’t wait to see Isaiah, her non-Daddy, again.

Cami sat on the couch next to Isaiah. It felt wonderful just to be close to him. Anytime she was in his proximity she felt safe and peaceful.

On the other side of the couch was Ace. Jack sat in a chair with Iris on his lap. Lana stood before them all, ready to give her presentation.

“I think I know how Cami saw the ghosts.”

“Let’s hear it, cute stuff,” Ace encouraged.

“First of all, Cami, do you mind telling the story? If it isn’t too hard for you. I don’t want to bring up bad memories or anything.”

Cami waved off her concern. “I’m all good.”

She spent the next three or so minutes recounting the events that had led her to call the Daddy Guard and eventually flee to their mansion. Once she was finished, she shook her head and said, “I don’t ever want to see something like that again.”

Lana stood and took Cami’s hand in hers. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, friend. I bet it was very scary. The good news is, though, if I’m right… you didn’t see a ghost and your house isn’t haunted.”

Cami felt a glimmer of hope. She’d already trusted that Isaiah and the Guard would figure out what was going on. But part of her feared it was a supernatural threat and there wasn’t much they could do about it. Hearing Lana speak, though, made her feel a bit better.

If whatever theory she was about to share panned out.

Only time would tell.

Cami listened as Lana let go of her hand and stood before the group again, saying, “It’s an old trick called Pepper’s Ghost. It’s been around since the late 1800s. Have you ever ridden the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland?”

Iris clapped. “I love that one! We rode it so many times last month when we went. Remember, Daddy?”

“I sure do, sweetpea,” Jack told her as he kissed the top of her head.

“It’s the same principle,” Lana continued. "Or remember when Tupac appeared on stage at Coachella a few years back, despite having died over a decade before?”

Isaiah nodded. “I was there. That was awesome. He was up there with Snoop.”

“Right,” Lana said. “The news reported it was a hologram. But that wasn’t actually true.

So, check this out… the trick used to be done for stage productions.

The crew would have angled glass set up.

An actor would be hidden somewhere—in a chamber beneath the stage, usually—and when a spotlight hit them just right, their image was reflected onto that glass.

To the audience, it looked like a ghost. By turning the spotlight off and on, the ghost could disappear and reappear. ”

Cami listened with interest. She’d forgotten her friend worked in the special effects department of a movie studio. No wonder she knew all these tricks!

Lana kept explaining. “We still use this trick in the movies. Same with Tupac at Coachella or all the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. It’s no longer done with spotlights and actors.

It’s often projectors. But the idea is still the same.

You need something to project the image onto.

Something clear that can’t be seen by the audience.

Technology has come a long way, but we’re still not able to make true 3D holographic images like you see in Star Wars and stuff.

They only look three dimensional. But again… you gotta have a screen.”

“Wow!” Ace said. “That’s impressive, babygirl!”

Lana smiled proudly and gave a little curtsey. She then said, “If I’m right.”

Isaiah stood. “Let me get this straight—someone could have been projecting this… Pepper’s Ghost thing… in Cami’s house.”

Lana nodded. “Correct. But to do so, they would have had some sort of translucent film set up. That’s easy enough. It’s thin. Not discernable to the naked eye, especially if the lighting is just right. But they’d need a projector somewhere to shine the images onto it.”

Cami stood, too. “That’s why you asked if I ran toward the ghost or away from it.”

“Uh-huh.” Lana smiled. “Because if you ran toward it, you would have run into the film and messed up the illusion. But whoever did this was probably betting you’d run away, like any normal person would upon seeing something so scary!”

Isaiah scratched his jaw. “But I went in the parlor. There wasn’t any kind of film or glass or anything blocking the way.”

“How long were you hiding out in your room before Isaiah got there?” Lana asked Cami.

After thinking about it, Cami said, “Not sure. But it was a while. At least thirty minutes.”

Lana nodded. “Plenty of time to move the film.”

“Which would explain why I thought someone was there that night,” Isaiah said.

“Someone was in my house?” Cami asked with a gasp.

She remembered Isaiah playing it off as if he wasn’t alarmed, but she’d been able to tell he was worried about something that night. He’d searched the place too thoroughly not to be.

“Just a hunch,” Isaiah admitted. “But I didn’t want to scare you.”

Cami understood and didn’t blame him. She’d already been amped up enough that night. Something extra to worry about hadn’t been needed.

“So what do we do now?” she asked.

“Tomorrow morning, we go search your house again,” Isaiah said. “And we bring some help along this time.” He looked at Lana. “Are you free?”

“It’s Saturday. I’m off from the studio.”

He looked at her Daddy next. “You mind?”

“You kidding?” Ace said proudly. “I think my cutie just cracked this thing wide open. I want to see what else she can do.”

Lana blushed but shook her head. “I didn’t figure it all out. This is just a hypothesis. We still have to prove it. Besides, that doesn’t answer the burning question.”

Camie was thinking the same thing.

“Yeah,” she said. “Who in the heck is in my house?”