Keeping Watch
Chapter one:Sufferin Spooks
Maddie Fenton sat at the kitchen table, flipping through the daily mail. She scoffed, tossing it haphazardly onto the table in front of her.
"Junk. Junk. Junk." she frowned, her lips pursing together. A thick white envelope with her address scrawled on it caught her attention.
"What could this be?" She flipped the envelope over and examined it closely. There was a thick wax seal on the back of it. She tore it open. The wax seal popped off the paper, bits of red clattering to the table. She ignored the mess and pulled at the envelope's contents. She read quickly eyebrows raising in surprise as she went.
"Sufferin spooks." She slapped the paper down onto the table and called out for her husband.
"Jack!" Her husband's name hadn't finished leaving her mouth before he suddenly appeared next to her in a rush of loud noise and shouting,
"Where's the ghost!" He cried, cocking the gun in his hand. The weapon whined quietly, charging up.
"In Washington!" She grabbed the piece of paper and shoved it in her husband's face. He went cross-eyed as he grabbed the letter and started reading. By the end of it, his eyes were wide and his excitement matched his wife's.
"Suffern spooks!" Jack laughed and slammed the paper down on the table. The little red wax bits rattled, some falling onto the floor.
"Wait till we tell the kids!" Maddie leafed through the other papers that had been stuffed into the small envelope.
"Tell the kids what?" Maddie glanced up from the paper, as her daughter walked in. She held up the letter and smiled.
"We're invited." She paused and waited for jazz to scan the letter.
"Dear Family of Fenton's." Jazz glanced up at her mother, an incredulous look on her face. Maddie's smile never waived. She just nodded her head, waiting for her daughter to continue. Jazz sighed and grabbed the letter out of her mother's hands.
"Dear family of Fenton's. It is with great honor and desperation that I call upon thee in my hour of greatest need. My name is Stella Stewart of the Stewart family fortune and Mansion in Snoqualmie city." Jazz took a deep breath,
"-Mom, this is ridiculous. This person can not be serious. Who writes like this?" Maddie continued to smile excitedly, her daughter's negative comments having no effect on her at all.
"Keep reading sweetie!" Maddie gestured with her hands and waited patiently. Jazz rolled her eyes but kept going.
"I implore, nay, beg of you to heed my request. I am a person of considerable wealth and resource and have found myself in a bit of a supernatural bind. You see, my incredible mansion has been overrun with ghosts and so I am calling out in desperation to find the best ghost hunters of the country to aid me in my extermination procedures. If you would be so kind as to lend me your time, You would be greatly compensated and-" Jazz stopped reading and lowered the piece of paper.
"You're being hired to hunt a ghost?" She asked. Maddie snatched the paper out of her hand and shoved a new one in its place.
"That's not all! This person says that we can bring along any technology we need, our airfare will be paid for, housing is taken care of and we can bring anyone we like. Including you kids." Maddie showed Jazz all the paperwork.
"That sounds a little suspicious." Jazz scanned all of the papers, worry creasing her brows. "Actually a LOT susspicious."
"Yes. I plan on doing some research into it before we make any decisions. But how exciting would it be! A family vacation!"
"With ghosts!" Jack added, wrapping an arm around Maddie. She clasped her hands together and stared at Jazz expectantly. This was her element. Getting paid to hunt ghosts? To help people? To learn more about ghosts outside of Amity? It all sounded too perfect to be true. It was at that moment that the front door slammed open violently. Maddie jumped, startled again and peered around the wall and into the living room. Danny strode in through the door arguing loudly with his friend Tucker. Sam trailed after them, an indifferent glare on her face.
"I'm not saying we lost the match because of you Tuck. I'm just saying that if you had followed my game plan we would have finally beat that level." Danny shrugged his shoulders and Tucker spluttered angrily.
"Your game plan!?" The two boys stormed up the stairs towards Danny's room, Sam closed the door gently as they raced upwards. The gothic teen noticed them in the kitchen and waved.
"Hey." She turned and hurried up the stairs after her friends. Maddie smiled fondly at the three and returned to the letter on the kitchen table.
"Anyway. What do you think Jazz? Would you be interested in a little family bonding time in Washington?" Maddie asked. Jazz sighed.
"Sorry, but no. You know I have a lot of studying I need to get done before school starts. I need to be at the top of my game." She explained looking down at the strange letter. Maddie felt a stab of pride at her daughter's diligence.
"Why don't you think about it, In the meantime, I'm going to look into this and see if it's actually real. Just think! A family vacation, with ghosts, that we're getting paid for!" Maddie gleefully scooped up the papers and headed for the basement, Jack trailing after her. She turned just before shutting the door and called to her daughters retreating form.
"Oh and Jazz! Ask your brother if he would like to come with us!" Maddie shut the door, not waiting for her eldest child's response.
Jazz groaned and ran a hand through her long red hair. That letter had anxiety curling in her stomach. Suspicious trips across the country that sounded too good to be true? Why in the world would her mother think that something like that would be legit? Or safe? Shaking her head the teen headed towards the stairs. She could just pick out the sound of Sam yelling something at Danny and Tucker.
As she neared the room she began to pick out the boys' voice.
"Geeze sam." That was Danny, he sounded slightly awed.
"It's not like you-" whatever Tucker was going to say was cut off by Sam as she began to rant and rave about the game that the three of them had been arguing about. Apparently, she had some pretty strong feelings about what both of her friends had done that had caused their game to fail. Jazz smiled to herself as she stood outside of her little brothers' door. It was so, so nice to hear her brother and his friends arguing over something as normal as a video game. Any chance her brother got to be a normal kid was something she relished in. She worried about the fighting, danger, and responsibility that he shouldered daily. The room fell silent and there was a brief beat before,
"I can hear you breathing Jazz." Danny's voice drifted from behind the closed door and Jazz smiled, pushing open the door as she cursed her little brothers super hearing.
"I didn't want to interrupt such an important discussion." Jazz explained, a smug smile on her face. Sam rolled her eyes and flopped down onto Danny's bed.
"Please. Don't get them started again." She groaned. Tucker was sitting at Danny's computer, twirling in the computer chair that sat there and Danny was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Jazz examined them all, once again pleased at the normalcy of the scene in front of her.
"Whats up?" Danny asked from his spot on the floor. Jazz looked down at him and realized he was putting together a little model rocket. A crumpled instruction sheet spread out next to him.
"Mom and Dad got hired to exterminate some ghosts in Washington."
"D.C.?" Tucker asked, his face in his PDA as he twirled absent-mindedly in his chair.
"No. Washington State. Apparently, some really rich people want Mom and Dads expertise. They offered to buy the plane tickets and put them up in their mansion until the ghost is gone." Jazz explained the situation. Watching as her brother delicately added something to his rocketship.
"Huh." Was the only response she got from her little brother. Sam and Tucker didn't look particularly interested either. Sam was staring at the ceiling a, sleepy look on her face while Tucker continued to tap away at his PDA.
"That's it? A mysterious letter from some rich person shows up and they offer to fly mom and dad down to Washington and pay for everything and you don't find that even a little suspicious?" Jazz asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Danny turned his baby blue eyes up to his sister.
"Of course it sounds suspicious." Danny scoffed, he fumbled with a little paintbrush for his model rocket and looked over at Sam, who had propped herself up on the bed with her elbows.
"That whole scenario reeks of something Vlad would do." Sam interjected. Danny just nodded his head in agreement. Jazz looked between the two of them.
"And what? You couldn't be bothered to care about that or what? What's going on here?" She asked. The three exchanged a glance.
"Well." Danny put the little paintbrush down and looked up at his sister, giving her his full attention.
"Vlad had a little meltdown." he started. A strange look passed over his face. Weariness, discomfort... fear.
"What happened?" Jazz asked. She hadn't heard anything about Vlad.
"He finally lost his shit!" Sam took up the explanation when Danny appeared too uncomfortable to continue it. "He came at Danny with everything he had. Screaming about owning Danny, Owning his mom, owning everything." Tucker nodded,
"It was wild."
"It was scary," Danny added still looking at his sister. Jazz stepped forward and sat down on the ground next to Danny. She had been so pleased just moments ago about the amount of normalcy and now...
"Did he hurt you?" She asked, her voice cracking at the thought. She regretted the question as soon as she asked it. She knew her little brother was always getting hurt, but Vlad was different. She had seen them fight once or twice. Vlad was incredibly powerful. Much more powerful than Danny. Her brother shrugged again.
"Yeah. He beat the crap out of me. We finally got him sucked into the thermos, though." Danny sighed and picked up his little brush and just like that the tense moment between the three of them dissolved. Sam flopped back down onto the bed, Tucker reinserted his face into his PDA and Jazz fell silent.
"So where is he now?" she asked.
"He's in my backpack. We don't know what to do with him. I didn't want to release him back into the ghost zone. Not with the way he was acting. He would just come back and then who knows what he would do." Danny blew out a puff of air. And Jazz blinked in surprise.
"He's in your backpack?" She snickered at the thought. Her little brother's arch nemesis was in his backpack. She felt some of the tension leaving her shoulders.
"Yup." Danny didn't ask her why she had laughed. He understood why. His life was just weird like that.
"So, yeah. It can't be Vlad." Sam concluded from the bed. Jazz looked over at her and the room fell back into silence. The psychologist to be pushed herself up from the floor.
"Right then. Well, Mom told me to ask you if you wanted to go with them to Washington." Jazz finally delivered the message her mom had given her. Danny scoffed from his spot on the floor.
"I can't just leave Amity. Who would defended it from ghosts." He asked. Jazz had figured her brother would feel that way.
"I'm just warning you that mom was really excited. She said it would be a... Good Family Vacation." Jazz shared a look with her brother.
"Oh man..." Danny groaned and flopped backward onto the floor. He knew what that meant just the same as she did.
"Moms not going to let us stay here. She's going to force us all to bond." Jazz sighed. Danny glared up the ceiling.
"Suffering Spooks." He groaned. Jazz laughed.
Danny woke up the next morning to the sound of his parent's loud voices echoing up from the kitchen. He could make out his dad yelling something about ghosts. His mom's voice was much quieter, but he could still hear her excitement. Danny pulled the blankets over his head. He had only been woken up once in the night, by some random weasel ghost that was flying aimlessly, destroying things as it went through the city. The encounter had left him with a couple bruises, but other than that he was relatively unscathed. He was, however, exhausted. The voices died down somewhat and Danny felt himself drifting off, back to sleep. He wasn't aware of just how long he remained in that half awake, half asleep state before his door was slammed open. Danny yelped and flung himself off his bed, just managing to stop the intangibility that he was reflexively calling up when he spotted his father.
"Dad!" Danny shrieked and pulled the blanket that had fallen off the bed with him around himself, "Can I get a little privacy?" Danny tugged the blanket tightly around himself and shuffled back towards his bed.
"Sorry Dan-o," Jack yelled, his voice anything but sorry. "Your mom and I have something we wanted to talk to you and your sister about! Downstairs!" Jack stood and stared expectantly as Danny crawled back into his bed and flopped down sideways onto it.
"Daaad..." Danny groaned and curled up under his blanket, eyes closed tightly. "If it's about that ghost hunting thing in Washington then I don't want to go." Danny groused.
"Aw, come one son. Your mom's been really excited about it! It's going to be really fun. All of us, in a faraway state, hunting ghosts together!" Jack reached for Danny's blanket and tugged it off him. Danny gave a yelp as he was suddenly exposed to the cold air and looked blearily up at his father who was still talking animatedly.
"-Not to mention how much we can learn about ecto-entities untainted by Amity parks natural-" Danny rolled out of bed, ignoring the rest of his father's sentence.
"Okay, okay dad. I'm coming..." Danny sighed and headed for his door, noticing the slight dent in the wall from his father's exuberant entrance. Jack smiled widely and smacked Danny on the back, nearly sending him falling to the floor. Stumbling Danny grumbled his complaints as he sleepily made his way downstairs. Jazz was sitting at the kitchen table in her Pjs, her long red hair in a messy bun.
"Oh good!" Maddie clapped her hands together and gestured at a chair. Danny slipped into his seat and glanced over at the clock on the stove. It was 8am. Not an ungodly hour to be awake, but no teenager wanted to be awake at 8am on a Saturday morning. Especially when the reason for that was something as lame as a family vacation.
"Now kids, I'm sure you both know about the letter." Maddie held up the letter that had come in the mail, and Danny couldn't help but glare at it.
"Well, I made some phone calls and looked into this place and it looks like a really ritzy place!"
"I thought it was someone's house?" Danny asked.
"It's a mansion." Jazz clarified.
"Its a hotel," Maddie explained smiling. "A refurbished hotel, that this Mrs. Stewart has made into her home. She's a very well-known figure in Washington state. And she seems to be experiencing some ghost trouble. Your father and I figured we can go, eliminate the ghosts and then spend some time bonding!" Maddie set down some pictures of the hotel. Danny scanned them quickly. They did look pretty fancy.
"There's a swimming pool, a gym, an amusement park, and separate rooms for all of us! Not to mention free breakfasts, lunches, and dinners." Maddie ruffled Danny's hair and gestured towards the floor. Danny looked down and noticed four different duffle bags full of equipment.
"What's all that..." Danny asked scanning the bags.
"Ghost weapons and equipment. We don't know what were getting into just yet so we thought we would bring a wide variety of things."
"Well." Danny smiled thinly at his parents "I hope you guys have a blast down in Washington. I'm going to go back to bed now." Danny moved to get up but his father prevented him with a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Not so fast son! This is a family vacation!"
"Our plane tickets are for Sunday. At 5am." Maddie explained
"But that's tomorrow!" Danny couldn't just up and leave, he needed to make preparations! He needed to tell Sam and Tucker.
"That's why we woke you up so early! So you can get ready!" Jack said as if it was obvious.
"Now is a perfect time. School is starting up in a couple weeks and we haven't had any family outings all summer!" Maddie explained. Jazz and Danny looked between one another. The halfa felt a swirl of cold burst in his chest and float out of his mouth. With a quiet gasp, Danny pushed himself from his seat and headed for the stairs.
"Great. Just great." He grumbled, ignoring Jazz's concerned stare.
Line break.
Danny sat on the airplane to Washington state. His father was crammed into the seat next to him, his mother and his sister across the isle. Squished against the wall Danny attempted to get comfortable.
"You would think this rich lady could afford first class," Danny grumbled twisting to look out the window. He had left Tucker and Sam with instructions to watch over the town. He had flown them each specter deflectors and weapons and thermoses and had spent the entire night hunting down every single stray ghost in the city, trapping them in a thermos and dumping them into the ghost zone. They only had three thermoses and his own thermos was currently crammed into his parent's bags. The ghost weapons and gear had to have special permissions to be brought on board, but apparently, his parents had been working for the government long enough to of already obtained those special permits. Danny sighed again and leaned his head on the window. The cool glass felt nice. He thought about the town, about leaving it unprotected allowing all the other ghost free reign through his space. The thought made his chest clench uneasily. He wished he could go back. Closing his eyes he tried to stop thinking about Amity. He fell into a restless sleep, the town and its ghosts plaguing his dreams.
Hello fellow Fanfic Fanatics! Thank you for reading this first chapter. It has been a super suuper long time since I last wrote anything and I have to say, im pretty rusty. This was just a quick warmup. I actually have a lot more written for this story, but when i dont feel like writing, I edit! So ta-daaa! Story!
I don't have much to say on this, since its only the first chapter! but if anyone want to chat with me or talk about this fanfiction or your fanfictions, or annnything at all! Then send me a message! dont be shy! I dont have very many friends who like fanfictions or well, anything fandom or art related so I would love to hear from you! Once again thanks for reaading! !