I don't need to stay in a place like this.
Footsteps echoed, reverberating against the shiny metal of the lab. Cords and wires were scattered across the floor. Tables were covered in various instruments of varying cleanliness.
At the far end was a large hole in the wall. Yellow and black metal, a warning to stay away, hung loosely to expose the dark expanse within.
Teeth flashed in a grin. Fingertips found a button, cold and round.
If you stay in a place like this, you might not be able to connect.
A horrible scream pierced through the air.
Dash looked up. Paulina was still talking to him, but his attention was focused on the redhead slowly walking down the hall. She was dressed in a long black dress, even having exchanged her teal headband for a black one, with her head bowed and books held close to her chest.
"What's up with Jasmine?" he asked, ignoring Paulina's glare. She never liked it when Dash went to the Fentons' for tutoring. "She turnin' Goth or somethin'?"
Kwan frowned and punched him on the shoulder. "She just got back from her brother's funeral, you jerk."
"That was today?" Dash wondered why none of them had gone. Sure, Danny had been an annoyance – an irritating fly to be squashed – but surely even the A-listers should have gone to pay their respects. "What's she doin' back, then? If I had an excuse to stay home, I woulda taken it."
"She probably could have gotten the rest of the week off, if she wanted to," Paulina agreed. Any excuse to stay home would have been more than welcome. Especially with mid-terms coming up.
Kwan scowled. "You guys are talking about a dead kid! Show some respect for once."
Dash turned away from his friends, waving over his shoulder. "I'm gonna go see if she needs a shoulder to lean on."
Jazz sat in her classroom. Her book was open and she was taking notes. But she didn't know what class she was in. She didn't know what she was writing.
Her mind was filled with that awful scream.
Her vision was filled with her brother's charred body.
Her nose was filled with the stench of smoke and burnt flesh.
All she wanted to know was why.
Why had he been in the lab that day?
Why had he wandered into the unfinished portal?
Why had he been all alone?
Jazz was aware of the bell ringing. She grabbed her papers and stuffed them into her backpack. She trusted her feet to bring her to the next class.
Her body stopped before she realized there was a person in her way.
"Hey, Jazz," Dash said, voice hitched. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and he could only glance at her, unable to maintain eye contact. "How... How you holdin' up?"
"I'm fine," Jazz said, automatically. Everyone was asking her the same question. She had no answer, so she simply responded with those same two words. How was she supposed to answer?
Her brother was dead.
Electrocuted by one of her parents inventions.
What did people want her to say?
"Well, look..." Dash chewed his lower lip. For a moment, he let his true emotions out. "If you ever wanna talk to anyone, I'll be there. I might not know all that psycho stuff you do, but I got a coupla ears and nothing better to do..."
Jazz gave a tiny, shaky smile. "That sounds nice. Thank you Dash."
And then she walked around him.
"What did you say to that girl?" Paulina asked at lunch. She had an apple in front of her that she rolled between her palms. She would poke at it and press on it and throw the bruised thing away when the bell rang.
Dash laughed with a mouthful of sandwich. "I told her if she ever wanted to forget about that loser for a coupla nights, she could always jump on my dick!"
Jazz set her backpack down on the couch in the living room. "Mom? Dad? I'm home!"
There was a pause.
"We're in the lab, sweetie!" came Maddie's voice, drifting out of the basement.
For a moment, all Jazz could hear was her brother screaming. See his corpse twitching, even after death.
Why did they want to back in there so soon?
"Your vitamins are on the table, Jazzerincess," Jack yelled up the stairs. "Make sure you take them before you eat!"
Jazz knew. She'd been taking vitamins since she could remember. Something her body couldn't produce on its own, or absorb correctly from what she ate.
She took the little green pills and swallowed them dry as she walked up the stairs to her room.
She shut the door behind her, looking around her room. Everything looked different, but nothing had changed. Her textbooks were still on her desk. He pencil still needed sharpening. Her CD player was still paused.
The only thing was...
She walked to her bed and sat down heavily, picking up Bearbert.
The last thing her brother had done... Danny's last living act...
He'd taken her precious bear and ripped off the right eye.
Jazz held the bear close and lay on her bed, curled up around it tightly.
The sky was green outside her window. She wondered if there was a tornado warning.
Jazz held Bearbert loosely in her arms as she descended the stairs. She'd forgotten her books downstairs.
Jack was in the kitchen as she passed by, rummaging in the fridge. He looked up at the sound of her footsteps and grinned widely.
His eyes weren't even bloodshot.
"How you feeling, Jasmine?"
"I'm fine." Jazz looked around. "Where's mom?"
"Down in the lab. I said I was going to bring dinner down. Did you take your pills?"
Jazz motioned to the empty table. Jack nodded. "We're expecting guests tomorrow. So get your homework done and come home as soon as you can, ok?"
Jazz watched as her father filled a single plate and brought it down into the lab.
That night, Jazz had a dream. A voice filled her mind, smooth and rich like imported cream.
"I wasn't needed in the real world. It didn't make a difference whether I was there or not. When I realized that, I wasn't afraid to abandon the flesh."
It didn't sound like Danny at all.
Jazz put Bearbert in her backpack, its single eye glinting in the light as she zipped it up. Maddie called up the stairs from the basement, "Come home as soon as you can, sweetie! We're having guests!"
School passed in a haze. Dash tried to talk to her again, shy smiles and soft words. Paulina glared every time they passed each other in the hallway. Teachers commended her for continuing to come in, and she got an A on a pop quiz she'd deliberately bombed.
She sat in English, her final class for the day. She sat next to the window, eyes watching as purple clouds drifted across the green sky. The teacher was talking, words a swarm of bees buzzing in her ears. But that was ok. It drowned out the eternal screaming.
Eyes, impossibly bright and green flashed outside the window, pearly teeth grinning.
Jazz stood, knocking over her chair. She grabbed her backpack and ran from the room, ignoring the teacher whose pleasant buzz had become an angry shouting.
She burst out of the doors and stood in the courtyard. "Where are you?!"
Jazz set her backpack down on the couch in the living room. "Mom? Dad? I'm home!"
There was a pause.
"We're in the kitchen, sweetie!" came Maddie's voice, drifting down the hall.
Jazz rummaged in her backpack, grabbing Bearbert. She held it close as she followed the sounds of conversation. Her mother and father were sitting at the dining table. Two other men were with them, tall and muscled and dressed in perfect white suits with sharp sunglasses.
"Jazzerincess!" Jack greeted with a wild grin. His eyes were bright, almost glowing. "Come on in and meet Agent O and Agent K."
Agent O was black and Agent K was white. Other than that, they could have been the same person.
"What are they doing here?" Jazz asked.
"They're here to investigate Danny," Maddie said. She motioned for Jazz to sit.
"But Danny's dead," Jazz said simply.
"Then this shouldn't take too long," Agent O said.
Jazz wondered if that was supposed to be a joke.
"What happened to your toy?" asked Agent K.
Jazz pulled Bearbert close. "Danny ripped his eye out."
Agent K stood. He reached over and grabbed the toy from Jazz's hands. He held it up and inspected it closely, a strange green light flickering behind one lens.
"Give it back!" Jazz screamed. She ran at the agent and pounded her fists on his chest.
It was like the beating of a moth's wings.
She screamed and cried and threw a fit, even as Jack stood and grabbed her shoulders. He hugged her tightly as she flung obscenities at the agent as children might throw pebbles into a pond.
"It happened before the accident," Maddie clarified, sipping at her coffee. After spending so long in the basement, her hair should have been frazzled and her clothing should have been rumpled.
"I can see that," Agent K growled as he dropped the toy to the table. Jazz broke free from her father's grasp to clutch it to her heaving chest. "We'll be back."
And with that Agents O and K left, slamming the front door behind them.
"You should go to bed, Jasmine," Maddie said. She finished her coffee and headed to the basement. "You look like you've had a long day. Come along, Jack, we have work to do."
"Coming, Mads!"
Jazz continued to shake, even as she slept. She clutched Bearbert so tightly, its seams threatened to rip.
Bright green eyes watched her, pearly hair flowing in a nonexistent wind.
Why won't you come here?
Jazz waited in the pantry. She could hear her parents footsteps in the basement. Her father's heavy footfalls and her mother's dainty tiptoeing. Bearbert was in her hands, and she played with its fur while she waited. She didn't know what time it was, only that the sun hadn't yet risen.
The sky still looked green, even with it lit up only by stars.
Jazz was almost asleep when her parents emerged from the lab. She held her breath and hid in Bearbert's side as they passed her by. Silence filled the kitchen for a long time before she crawled out of her hovel. Her socks made no noise on the linoleum and she descended into the basement, one stair at a time.
There was no door to the lab. Just a long hall of darkness and then a sudden blinding whiteness.
Cords and wires were scattered across the floor. Tables were covered in various instruments of varying cleanliness.
"The other side is overcrowded. The dead will have nowhere to go."
Jazz jumped at the voice that had no echo. She whirled around and held Bearbert tightly, horror filling her at the sight.
A man stood there – he floated there – dressed all in white with a red cape billowing behind him. His hair was black and pointed up into horns, and his flesh was blue. Eyes glowed a solid red and fangs glittered as he grinned. A flaming crown floated atop his head and as he reached out with one black gloved hand, a large ring pulsed with the same green fire.
"My dear, Jasmine," sad the man, voice smooth and rich. His glove touched her cheek, simultaneously death cold and fire hot. "You've finally arrived."
"Who are you?" Jazz asked. She didn't turn her head away, allowing the glove to caress her skin. "What's happening?"
"The portal is active," he told her. "But it is tainted."
"Who are you?" She glared as his glowing eyes looked up and down her body.
"You were always the curious one, but your brother was far more adventurous."
"Who are you?!" Jazz reached out, slapping the man across the cheek. She immediately recoiled as her hand froze and burned.
But the slap didn't faze the man. He grinned widely, fangs glowing in the green light of the portal.
"I am Plasmius. King of Ghosts."
Jazz lay in her bed. Her hand was bandaged, but there was no wound. She had skipped school that day, and she could hear her father shuffling about in the kitchen. Her stomach growled and she sat Bearbert on her chest, looking into its one eye.
"Jazz?"
Jazz was out of her room before she could think. Only one person called her Jazz.
Dust was gathering on the knob, but she flung the door open. Stale air assaulted her, and she looked around the room. NASA posters, Humpty Dumpty CDs were still scattered on the bed. Homework was half finished on the desk.
"Danny?!"
He stood there, blue eyes soft, black hair spiked like he'd just woken up. He looked at her and smiled.
"Jazz, you came..."
Jazz ran into the room. Her arms were out to catch him in a hug.
The light came in from the window, and it glinted off his eyes.
Jazz froze in place.
"You're not him."
The boy in the room pouted. His hair was white and his eyes were impossibly bright and green.
"But you heard me call you."
"Where is my brother?!" Jazz screamed.
From downstairs, Jack called, "Jazzerincess? You're home? Did you take your pills this morning?"
The boy in the room was gone.
The sky outside was green.
Jazz sat at the dinner table. Her parents were in the lab. Her brother's room was empty.
She'd taken her pills and flushed them.
There was movement outside the window. She stood and moved the curtain aside.
Agents O and K were standing across the street. She could see that green light from behind Agent K's sunglasses from where she was.
Jazz closed the curtain and went up to her brother's room.
"What are you doing down there?" Jazz asked her father. He was making dinner.
"We're working on trying to go to the Ghost Zone again," he said, stirring the pot. It was beginning to smoke a little.
"Have you been there before?" Jazz asked. Bearbert was in her lap, under the table. She fiddled with its one eye.
"Not really." Jack grabbed a bowl from the cabinet. He filled it with dark stew that smelled like smoke. "We worked on a portal in college with our old buddy, Vlad Masters."
Jack wandered down the basement stairs with a single bowl of burnt stew.
Jazz sat in the back of the cab. She'd been at the library until it closed and then she'd spent the night walking around the park. A few creeps had looked her way, but a cold chill had protected her and they had moved on.
She signed the hospital log, Jasmine Baxter, and walked into the Hartman Ward. A nurse asked where she was going, but Jazz walked past without a word.
Room 413 was louder than she thought it would be. The beeping of the heart monitor, the hissing of the ventilator, the steady drip of an IV.
Vlad Masters was stretched out on the hospital bed, wrists and ankles strapped down to keep him from curling in on himself. His eyes were taped shut to keep them from opening and drying out. There were bandages on his fingertips and toes, covering the wounds from the nurses' pinpricks. Testing to see if he still responded to pain.
"How can you be King of Ghosts if you're still alive?" Jazz asked.
The man was floating next to her, scowling down at his pathetic body.
"You call that alive?" Plasmius motioned to the machines, ring on his hand glowing. "With all those wires and tubes – I'm as good as dead. Why not have all the power that comes with it?"
"You were with him yesterday?"
Jazz sat at the table. Jack had taken dinner down to the lab already. She'd flushed her pills again. The white haired boy was sitting, floating above the chair next to her.
"I had to see."
"He's really strong." The boy watched as she ate a TV dinner. Jack had burnt a meatloaf, but had brought it to Maddie anyway. "A lot of people are scared of him."
"Why?" Jazz moved a rubbery slice of turkey around the water thin gravy. "Ghosts can't interact with the human world."
"Most of us can't." The boy shrugged. "But he's found a way."
"What about you?" Jazz tossed her trash, listening to the sound of metal clanging in the basement. "Can you interact with the human world?"
The boy put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.
"Have you been taking your pills?"
Jazz ignored the Agents as she she walked to school.
How had they known she took vitamins?
Dash was waiting at her locker. He asked if she was ok and why she hadn't been at school. She told him she was fine and she'd like to get to class now.
Paulina called her a whore during lunch.
Jazz skipped her last period English and sat in a bathroom stall, Bearbert in her lap.
Jazz looked out the window. Agent O and Agent K were still outside, the sky making their white uniforms green.
Her pills were on the table.
"You should take them," Plasmius told her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and even through his glove, she could feel the burning of his flesh.
Jazz put the pills in her mouth and held them under her tongue.
Plasmius grinned, the burning of his crown increasing.
"Good girl."
Jazz felt dizzy that night. She'd spat out her pills as soon as Plasmius was gone, but she could still taste the bitterness of them. She'd brushed her teeth until her gums had bled, but she could still feel them in her mouth.
The boy floated above her bed and, once she'd passed out, he'd reached for her comforter.
He pulled it up around her shoulders.
The sky had a green tint. Washed out, like an old, comfortable shirt. Jazz sat at the kitchen table. Jack had come up from the basement and started breakfast. He hadn't even noticed her as he cracked eggs into a pan. Jazz sat Bearbert next to her, moving it to watch her father's movements with its single eye.
Jack moved mechanically, forgetting about the eggs while he made toast. Then he put the dark eggs onto a plate while the toast became cold. Butter was spread thickly on browned bread, and he gabbed the plate.
"Dad?" Jazz said softly.
The large man turned, eyes lighting up. "Oh, hey, Jazzerincess! I didn't see you there!"
Jack sat at the table. He ignored Bearbert, ginning at his daughter.
"I saw Vlad the other day," Jazz said.
"Oh? How was the V-man?"
"He's in a coma."
"At least he's getting plenty of rest." And Jack laughed.
Jazz frowned. "If he's in a coma, how can he also be a ghost?"
Jack paused. He frowned in thought. His eyes weren't glowing anymore. "Well, about that... Ja... Ja... Ja..."
Jazz watched as her father hunched over the table, dark hair slipping. Dripping like drool, wires hung from his lips. A tendril of smoke escaped his nostrils. His jaw was jerking, trying to move.
"Ja... Ja... Ja..."
Jazz grabbed Bearbert and stood. She grabbed her backpack and called out as she left.
"Mom! Dad's broken..."
The hospital was quiet. She sat next to Vlad's body, textbook spread across her lap. Bearbert was next to her.
"I've never had so many visitors," Plasmius told her, a laugh in his voice.
Jazz's pencil scratched on her notebook. She'd taken the pills and given them to Agent O and Agent K without a word.
Fire cold fingers ran through her hair. "Such a sweet daughter to visit every day."
"She doesn't love you," Jazz said.
The fingers stopped.
"Did you think she'd look at you differently if you became a ghost? That she could like you even if you became the ghost king?"
Jazz didn't flinch as Plasmius grabbed her hair with a low growl. She continued to copy her phych notes.
"She didn't love Dad, either. I'm not sure where his body is. She's gotten better at hiding things like that."
Plasmius floated before her. His hands were glowing with the same ferocity as his ring and crown. "You dare speak of your mother like that?!"
"She's barely my mother." Jazz looked into those glowing eyes. "Why was she making me take ectoplasm every day? Was I supposed to be the one to enter the portal? Become an experiment like you?"
Pink flames danced at Plasmius' fingertips.
Jazz' eyes watered.
"Why did Danny have to be the one it called when I was the one who was being experimented on?"
Green eyes blazed. The boy stood before her, screaming as he shielded Jazz from Plasmius' attack.
A scream Jazz would never forget.
Jazz flung herself to the ground as Plasmius swung a fist, the ring powering him enough that the chair she'd been in exploded into wooden shards.
"Jazz! Get out of here!" Danny cried. The ghost king grabbed Danny around the throat and hurled him against the floor. The tile cracked around Danny's body.
"I'm not leaving you alone again!" Jazz grabbed Bearbert and swung it into Plasmius' face. It did little to hurt, but it distracted the ghost away from her brother. A scream was cut off as he wrapped his hands around her throat.
Jazz kicked at the air, clawing at his gloves. Stars danced in her vision, and her lungs burned. Soon, Danny wouldn't be alone.
"It's a shame," Plasmius snarled. "If you'd been the one to go into the portal, it would have reacted with the ectoplasm in your system. You would have become a ghost strong enough to interact with both worlds – with enough power to not have to leave behind a living body." He leaned in close and his lips burned her ear as he whispered. "But I guess your mother will just have to continue to spend all her time with me..."
Jazz's eyes rolled back. Her tongue felt like it was swelling. Her lips were almost as blue as his monstrous flesh.
"Let go of her!"
Plasmius dropped Jazz.
No.
Jazz fell though his grasp.
The woman hit the ground hard, coughing and gagging as she greedily swallowed air.
Plasmius turned, eyes bulging.
Danny stood next to Vlad's bed, a cord in his hand.
The cord to Vlad's life support system.
The EKG machine screamed a single shrill note.
"No! No!"
Plasmius reached to grab at Jazz, but his hands went right though her with just the barest hint of a chill. His connection to the human world was severed as his body died. Slowly, the ghost began to face from view.
"How could you? You little brat, how could you touch that?!"
He was now nothing more than a simple shade, a shadow talked about on full moons and Halloween night.
Danny hovered over his sister as she massaged her throat, bruises already blossoming under her skin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black button.
Bearbert's eye.
It was his only connection to life, the only thing that kept him close to his sister. He placed it gently into Jazz's hand and smiled.
"Goodbye, Jazz."
Jazz sat in the back of the diner. A muted television in the corner was playing the news.
Maddie was on screen, handcuffed and trying to block her eyes from the flashing lights of the news crews surrounding Fenton Works. The subtitles rolled, five seconds after every image.
Maddie Fenton was arrested today, accused of murdering her husband, Jack Fenton, her son, Daniel Fenton, and of the assault that led to the coma and ultimate death of Vlad Masters.
Her daughter, Jasmine Fenton, hasn't been seen since last Monday.
Jazz ducked her head as a waitress passed by. She acted like she was still inspecting the menu, looking for the perfect dish.
Beside her, on the table, Bearbert sat. Two button eyes looking out at the blue sky.