"For the fortieth or fiftieth time now." Vlad Masters spoke with an air of deadly finality, hoping to diffuse the situation before his son became even more insistent than he already was. "No, Daniel, you may not go to a public school this year." Vlad shook his head, his expression a mask of disappointment. "You ask repeatedly every single year, and every single year I find myself having to reiterate my stance on the matter." The older man leveled an arctic glare at Danny while settling down into his plush armchair and his tone was as chilly. "I'm growing exceedingly weary of having this particular conversation, as you very well know. Especially because we both know what my answer will be before you even ask the question, correct?"
I should have known it'd be the same as always. Why do I even bother trying to ask anymore? thought Daniel (Danny to most everyone else but his dad) Masters as he suppressed a disgusted, frustrated huff while he adjusted the cuff of his dark blue suit jacket, trying to avoid eye contact with his father. I don't see why he thinks personal tutors are so much better. Plenty of kids go through public schools and turn out just fine, don't they? I'd just like to actually interact with other kids my age for once; I know he's overly paranoid about me being kidnapped after what happened to Mom, but it's starting to get a little on the ridiculous side. I'm almost fifteen years old now- I think I can more than handle taking care of myself, at least as far as school and actually going places by myself once in a while goes.
Vlad cocked an eyebrow and leaned forward in his chair, his half-crossed arms coming to rest on his antique, very ornate cherrywood desk. He assumed a much warmer tone of voice as he began speaking again, and his whole body seemed to relax and become more open, trying to invite conversation. "Come now, Daniel; be honest with me- it's just the two of us at the moment. Are you dissatisfied with your current set of tutors or something like that?" Vlad smiled. "I can very quickly and easily replace one or even all of them if needed- just tell me what you'd like and it'll be done before the end of the day today."
"No, no, it's nothing like that, Dad. They're all great, seriously." Danny waved his hand and head in protest as he sat down in a large brown plush armchair across from his father's desk. "It's just...kind of boring out here by myself with no one else my age." He grimaced. "My tutors really try their best, but it's just not quite the same as having someone my age to talk to."
"Aha. Getting restless and feeling cooped up staying here at the manor, are you?" Vlad nodded and rose out of his chair, indicating for Danny to follow him. "I suppose that's to be expected since we haven't been able to travel anywhere in a while thanks to how busy I've been with my business as of late." Vlad looked upwards in thought as he walked, rubbing his chin with his index finger as he strolled. "Perhaps a weekend by yourself out at the lakefront cabin would suffice for a little fresh air and relaxation, hmm?" he continued airily as Danny trailed a few steps behind him. "I realize it's not the same as the interaction that you desire with your peer group, of course, but perhaps it will still help somewhat to get away for a week or so."
Danny thought about the offer as they walked. "Uh, with the bodyguards tagging along?"
"Do you even have to ask that question, Daniel?" asked Vlad in a lighthearted tone as he looked back at Danny over his shoulder. "The bodyguards are a non-negotiable condition of this little jaunt, naturally. They'll be ordered to strictly keep on the periphery of the property, however."
Danny sighed internally. He'd known the answer before he'd even asked, much like he'd known what the answer about public school would be. Of course, with the bodyguards. But maybe while I'm there I'll have a chance to run into someone my age... "Actually, that sounds like a good idea. Maybe I could use a change of scenery."
"Well I suggest that you get to packing then, Little Badger," laughed Vlad as he stopped walking and cuffed Danny on the shoulder playfully after Danny finished approaching him. "I'll call and arrange to have you taken to the plane while you do that." After he watched Danny's retreating back disappear down the hallway and heard his son's feet clattering up the staircase Vlad took out his cellphone and pushed the button he'd assigned to speed-dial his security team. "Prepare a team for the plane and lakefront cabin- I want you to rent out all of the other cabins surrounding the cabin for the weekend as well. If anyone is in one of them already, offer them enough cash so that they'll leave immediately and take however much it is out of the petty cash fund. Am I clear?" A smug, dark grin spread across his face as Vlad listened to the affirmative reply. "Very good; I knew you wouldn't let me down. Thank you."
As Danny walked down the third-floor hallway to his room, he let his glance briefly pass over the various pictures on the roughly textured cream-colored walls. He then found that he was yet again mulling over something he'd first noticed when he was about ten years old, something that still bugged him periodically for some reason ever since the day he'd first realized it- the strange lack of anyone on the walls besides his father and himself. Of course, the one time that Danny had summoned up the nerve to ask about it a couple of years ago his father had insisted that it was too painful to ever look at any photos of his mother, so he'd had them all taken down quite a long time ago- and had then indicated very, very strongly that it wasn't something to be brought up again. Even though his father hadn't used what Danny termed his 'talk's over' tone and Vlad had actually been fairly lighthearted during the brief conversation, the billionaire's body language told a very different story and Danny had immediately known to not broach the subject again. I mean, I can understand it being a painful thing to talk about and everything, but why won't he ever answer any questions about her?
Danny pulled open the white door to his incredibly lavish, spacious walk-in closet and began pulling out a few jeans and T-shirts; his dad would have his head (and then some) if he went out hiking on the trails around the cabin in one of his three-piece suits. Come to think of it, he's never talked too much about her kidnapping either- just that she vanished one night when I was really little without so much as a goodbye. He'd never really drilled his father too deeply about his mother and the events surrounding her disappearance because it was obvious that it was still highly sensitive terrain to step across even after so many years, but Danny had really found himself beginning to wonder more and more lately about her- or rather the lack of her anywhere, he supposed. Is it really the best thing for Dad's mental health to avoid talking about what happened so much?
And then there was his dad's incredibly ingrained paranoia to deal with- the elephant in the room that Vlad seemed to resolutely refuse to ever acknowledge even though it had been taking up room in the manor for far too long. Constant checks on where Danny was, a regular barrage of calls to 'check up' on him, bodyguards that followed him wherever he went...I know that because of what happened to Mom he's a little more paranoid than he probably should be, but it really, really gets out of hand sometimes. The teenager paused and rethought that over for a few moments. OK, make that a lot of the time.
"Daniel, the car will be here in fifteen minutes and they're preparing the plane as well," came Vlad's voice up the stairs. "Call me once you get there and let me know if they've failed to stock the food and drink by the time you arrive."
"Okay, thanks Dad. I'll be done in a few minutes," Danny called in reply before searching around for his hiking boots. You know, our pilot's been working for Dad for a long time...I wonder if he'd know anything about my mother. It was then something new dawned on him for the very first time, something that he hadn't even realized for some reason until that exact moment:
He not only had no clue how his mom looked, he didn't even know his mother's name.
That was something he was going to find out one way or the other, elephants be damned.
"You ever heard of the legends about Lake Eerie, Sam?" laughed Tucker Foley as he poked his friend lightly in her upper arm while they walked down Casper High's front steps at the end of the school day. "I think everyone from around here knows at least one of the stories about that place."
"I've read every book on the lake three times," replied Samantha Manson evenly as she offered Tucker a raised-eyebrow 'are you serious right now?' look. "You do know that it's me you're talking to about this, right Tucker?"
Tucker snickered, knowing he shouldn't have bothered to even ask- if it was spooky or weird or ultrarecylovegetarian, Samantha Manson was interested. "OK. Then you've heard about the vanishing cabin renters, I'm sure?"
"Again for emphasis. Me, Tuck." Sam nodded in the affirmative and offered a half-grin before she spoke in a serious tone. "Always seems to happen randomly- like the whole lake just shuts down, even if it's right in the middle of summer. Super quiet and weird- I've actually been out there a time or two when it happens. The only indication that any of the renters are still even alive is that you'll sometimes catch all their cars suddenly heading out of town like their pants were all on fire." Her mouth set into a grim line before she leaned in and whispered to her friend. "Ol' Spooky's got something to do with it, I'm telling you." The pair wandered over to a secluded bench to keep talking, knowing that if anyone overheard them they'd probably wind up with weird stares at best and in an insane asylum at worst.
Tucker quirked an eyebrow before realizing who- or rather, what- Sam had been speaking of. "Uh, Old- Oh, you mean the ghost we saw out at the lake with the crazy black and white hair?" He wiggled his fingers up above his head to try and imitate the ghost's crazy hairdo.
"Yeah, that's the one. I bet he keeps scaring everyone off. Can't blame people- he really is creepy looking." Sam glanced around furtively before chomping on one of her sandwiches that she extracted out of her backpack. "I wish we could talk one of those rich people out there on the lake into letting us camp out in their yard overnight or something. Maybe we could finally get definitive proof about ghosts!" Just then a very expensive looking black stretch limo rounded the corner, pitch black windows completely obscuring the driver and any and all passengers as it slowly rolled down the street in front of Casper High before hanging a left.
"Ooh, fancy," Tucker muttered aloud as the sleek limo vanished down a side street.
Sam's eyes widened with realization. "TUCK! They were heading towards the lake! Let's go after them!" Sam half-charged after the limo, grabbing the sleeve of Tucker's long shirt and dragging him along. "We may have just found our ticket to an overnight campout at the lake!"
"Um, may I point out that we have absolutely zero clue who the person or people in the limo are?" Tucker let out a put-upon sigh after he pointed this out, though he allowed himself to be dragged along by his friend in the direction of the lake.
"Uh, wow." Tucker let out a whistle as they studied the massive wrought iron gates that the limo had turned into after trailing it for about two miles. A large cursive 'M' was boldly emblazoned on either side of the well-maintained, pointy steel barrier. The scent of the nearby lake filled the brilliant afternoon air, the sounds of nature surrounding the hidden estate they were stealthily visiting and scouting out- or rather, trying to check out, considering how concealed it was. "Okay, I officially upgrade my assessment of whoever this is from 'rich' to 'Scrooge McDuck swimming in his vault rich'."
Sam nodded, her eyes still a little wide as she took in the gate and the fence that subtly secured whatever massive kind of home had to be concealed behind the wrought iron and lush greenery. "Yeah. I thought my parents had a nice place- man, this property's gotta be huge. This fence looks like it goes forever." She then slowly stepped forward and started inspecting the gate, trying to see if she could find a call button or a call phone to try and get a hold of whoever the passenger heading to the house had been. "Huh...dang it. No kind of buzzer or anything, and I don't see a guard gate either. That's weird. Maybe there's another entrance somewhere that we're missing."
"Can we, ahem, help you two with something?" A very authoritative, stern-sounding older male voice issued suddenly from up and left of the pair, causing them to both let out a yelp of surprise before turning their glances up to the direction that the voice had come from, which seemed to be issuing from some kind of hidden speaker somewhere at the top of the gate. And judging by what they'd said, there was probably some kind of concealed camera nearby as well. "Or will we need to call the police and report loitering and attempted trespassing?"
Tucker swallowed nervously before he spoke. "Uh...we were...actually hoping to talk to whoever lives here, about maybe camping out in the back yard by the lake this weekend? We wanted to try and get some readings and pictures-"
A slight static hissed from the disguised speaker before the voice spoke again, interrupting Tucker. "I am afraid that that won't be possible. The owner would never permit such a thing. Now please do kindly remove yourselves from the premises before we're forced to remove you with the aid of the police. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. This conversation is now over." As the intercom crackled again, the sound drifted off into the air.
"Dang it. There goes that plan, I guess." Sam scowled a bit, kicking at the dirt and dejection in her voice as the pair of friends started to head away from the building.
Tucker tried to give his friend a conciliatory smile as he shrugged his shoulders while they began to head back towards town. "Well, I guess that is kinda what we get for randomly chasing that limo. As I tried to point out before we began our little jaunt, we had no idea who they were or if they'd let us stay. No harm, no foul, and at least they didn't try and get us arrested immediately, right?" He plucked one of his multiple Blackberries from his backpack and unlocked it, nodding as he glanced at the screen and tapped buttons. "According to my GPS we'll both be back to our houses in about an hour, if we keep up our current pace."
"Psst." A young-sounding male voice issued from a bush to Sam and Tucker's left after they'd been walking for a bit, causing them both to jump again. "In the bush over here. You're trying to get into that big property down the road with the M on the gate, right? I heard and saw you two talking to the guards earlier."
"Yeah, actually." Sam stared at the bush, trying to figure out if it was another speaker before she saw a vaguely human, hunched over outline in the bush and took a few steps back, Tucker quirking an eyebrow at his friend's reaction before he also spied the person lurking in the shrubbery and also backed up. When Sam continued, her ton was surprised. "Whoa, who are you and, uh, why are you hiding in that bush?"
"I, er, live there, or I guess I'm staying there right now technically." A blue-eyed, black-haired boy slightly poked his head out of the top of the hedge and offered a tight smile to Tucker and Sam, the boy wearing a simple white T-shirt and blue jogging shorts and tennis shoes. "But I kinda snuck out for a walk and now I'm trying to get back in without them noticing I'm gone. 'Cause if they notice I got out without them noticing, they'll only tighten security up and then I won't be able to shake them when I want to." He glanced around warily before ducking back into the bush. "I'm Danny Masters by the way. Well, Daniel, but please just call me Danny."
Tucker snickered and nodded towards the other, hidden teen. "Alright then, Danny, but why are you talking to us instead of just sneaking back in the way you went out? And I'm Tucker Foley. Nice to meet you, even if this meeting is a little weird."
He's...kinda cute. Sam had let her thoughts drift a bit upon first seeing Danny, but she immediately refocused on the present. Hey, if we play this right he could be our ticket in to finally getting some readings and data on Old Spooky! Not to mention the weirdness with the vanishing cabin renters. "I'm Samantha Manson, but please just call me Sam. And I do have to echo Tuck's question."
"They re-shut the back garden gate on me after I left- usually I just leave it a tiny bit ajar and get back in that way, and there's no way to open the gate from the outside." Danny sighed, the bushes quivering a bit as he exhaled. "I know another way in, but I need the guards distracted long enough so that I can use it. How about we make a deal? You guys help me get back in by distracting the guards, and I'll see if I can persuade Dad to let you camp out in the backyard by the lake. I mean, he's not here with me, but I'd still have to run it by him because if I don't, I know the guards will and that won't end nearly as well."
"Uh, let us confer on that for a moment and get back to you." Tucker inclined his head to a spot on the other side of the road before giving Sam a 'We're going over there' look. "I'd say to hang out there, but I'm pretty sure you will, especially if your clothes get snagged." He laughed loudly at his own joke before heading across the street and waiting for Sam.
Sam nodded at Tucker and immediately began with "I think we should help him out" as soon as she arrived. "Think about it, Tuck. This could be our ticket in to unlimited access to the lake and the cabins, and maybe some funding too if we manage to really get in good with Danny! Did you catch his last name?"
"Yeah? He said Masters, right?" Tucker's eyes suddenly went wide as dinner plates as he mentally added two and two and the large M on the gate of the massive property. "Oh man you don't think he's the son of-"
"Our local billionaire Vlad Masters? Probably, considering that he owns property here in Amity Park of all places and the size of the property and the security. No real reason to own anything around here unless you're from here or are into the paranormal, right?" She glanced back over towards the bush Danny was hiding in and snickered. "Plus I don't think that he's lying to us and really does need help. Hiding in the shrubs and reaching out to total strangers for help is an act of a desperate man- or teenager, in this case." She then frowned. "Kinda strange, though, isn't it? I don't remember ever seeing him around before or hearing that Vlad ever had any kids at all, and Vlad's kind of a big deal around here."
Tucker mulled it over, looking skyward and rubbing his chin. "I guess. Plus that would explain why he wants to shake his security detail now and again- I know I'd go nuts if I had big men in suits watching my every move." He then nodded in agreement with Sam. "I bet Vlad's always had him in private school, so we've probably just never seen him around because of that- probably wants him out of the limelight and stuff. We should probably come to a decision, though. I know my personal vote is 'help, with caution.' Like asking for his ID before we dive headfirst into this, for instance, because I've definitely never heard of Vlad having a soon or seen any pictures of a son."
Sam smiled at Tucker. "We're in agreement then. Operation Help Danny is underway, if he'll show us something with ID on it." The two walked back over to where Danny was waiting. "OK, so. We'll help you, but if we get carted off by the cops, you're paying all our legal fees and bail." She then held out a hand. "And no offense, but could we see some kind of ID? If we help you break in and we find out Vlad doesn't have any kids that'd make us look pretty bad- and probably get us in even worse trouble."
"Oh. Right. Yeah, that's understandable." Danny laughed nervously before scrounging around in his pockets, the bush shaking again. "I don't have a school ID or anything because I don't go to a school that would make me carry one, but would a Vladco access card work? Dad has me carry one around in case he needs me to run an errand there for him." An ID poked out through the bushes bearing the Vladco logo and Danny's smiling face with the words 'SPECIAL GLOBAL ACCESS' emblazoned in bold gold lettering across the bottom of one side of the white card, a silver magnetic stripe and the same 'SPECIAL GLOBAL ACCESS' golden wording on the other side. Tucker took the proffered card and studied it closely before pulling out another of his PDAs and placing the card across it. The screen suddenly lit up bright green, code flying across the handheld's screen.
"Good enough for me- my PDA doesn't lie, that's a legitimate access card," Tucker replied with a smile to Danny before placing it back into the other boy's hand before Danny's hand retreated back into the bushes and giving Sam a nod. "Can't fully test the thing since we're not at my place for the fancier stuff, of course, but the magnetic stripe is definitely real and throwing data out. Plus, that's Danny in the picture for sure."
Sam nodded and smiled at both boys. "Well if it's good enough for Tuck, it's good enough for me too. Time to initiate Operation Help Danny." The pair of friends marched back towards the front gate with a renewed sense of purpose, Danny skulking along in the bushes beside them.