Chapter 2
They had been there barely half an hour before Danny's ghost sense went off.
He sat back on his heels, letting the mallet he'd been using on the tent stakes hang from his hand, and glanced around. It wasn't so much a campsite as a space with less trees. They were a dozen yards from the very end of the dirt road, on a mossy patch that grew over a rocky area and next to a cluster of pines. The GAV perched bright and out of place on a slab of granite like some ungainly alien beast.
The afternoon sun warmed Danny's shoulders despite the chill he felt trickling through him. Birds chirped. A beetle scuttled through the orange pine needles at his feet. Trees creaked and rustled in the wind. Nothing weird; nothing glowing or moving where it shouldn't or suddenly sprouting teeth. No sign of the ghost.
What kind of ghost would even be in these woods? There wasn't so much as a way station for miles. The only people that died out here would be stray hikers, maybe hunters or trappers from way back when, or even further back than that, Native Americans.
An image flashed into his mind's eye, straight out of the movies- a shirtless warrior with long, draggled black hair, ghostly green tomahawk gripped in his bony fingers, war paint bright with an undead glow as he stalked silently on moccasined feet...
The ghostly chill pricked across his skin again and Danny shivered. Maybe not. Maybe it was nothing.
"Danny, do you need a sweater?" Maddie appeared from around the GAV, the cooler and a couple of camp chairs stacked in her arms.
"I'm fine, Mom." Danny gave the final tent peg one last whack, then stood up and dusted off his knees. "Done with the tent!"
It wasn't his problem, anyway; this weekend he was determined to be nobody but plain old ordinary Danny Fenton. Mom, backed by all the ghost equipment in the GAV, was more than enough to handle whatever random spook might crop up. He just had to stick close, and he'd be fine.
Mom had set down the chairs and was rummaging through the cooler. "Nice job, honey! Now why don't you get us some firewood? You should explore while the sun's still up."
Danny sighed. Jinxed.
He strolled into the tree line, picking up stray branches here and there, until the GAV was well and truly out of sight. Then Danny glanced around; he dropped the branches.
A cool, tingling well of energy nestled deep in his chest, close to his heart. Danny reached for it with his mind, nudging it into life like you'd blow on the ember of a fire. It expanded and grew until it enveloped him in a wash of icy light. Ordinary human vanished, fading to a little warm spot where his heart should have been, and left in its place a not-so-ordinary ghost.
Danny blinked at the forest that had become subtly greener through glowing, ectoplasmic eyes. It looked so different from home; there was so much life in everything, The trees and earth nearly crackled with untouched energy.
"Cool," he said. Then he shivered and blue-white vapor escaped his lips. "Right. Back to work."
His ghost sense was stronger in this form, more precise-like an icy breeze from a distinct direction rather than a general feeling of cold. He turned into the feeling and glided deeper into the woods.
The trees thinned, and he found himself on the edge of a ravine. The forest gathered thickly on his right, and to the left a grassy bank ended sharply with a steep, rocky dropoff. Danny glanced at the whitewater rushing by fifty feet below, wondering if it was the same river they'd crossed on a bridge just an hour before.
Something snarled just off to his right. Danny jumped. He turned and just caught a glimpse of something darting into the underbrush. He went after it and, after a second's thought, touched the shrub it had gone under and, with a little effort, turned it invisible.
It crouched there, red eyes bright with inhuman malice. It wasn't quite a mountain lion, but couldn't be called a boar, either. Huge clawed paws punctured the earth; bristly black-green fur made a patchwork over its bony ribs like grass struggling for survival on a ridgy cliff. The face ended in a snout and tusks, but with way too many teeth. Rounded cat ears flicked forward and hair prickled down its bony spine. Its dusky green aura swirled. It snarled again, a deep, guttural growl with an unearthly echo to it.
"Woah," Danny muttered, pulling back. "Wildlife without the life part."
Another pair of eyes, then a third flashed in the underbrush, glittering like enchanted jewels. Clouded, wispy auras flickered around the beasts, imperfect and tainted.
He could only spot snatches of the other two- here a yellow fang, there a flash of ragged, dark green fur, but it was enough. Several large, undead predators surrounded him. They circled, growling menacingly, but none of them attacked. As if they were waiting for something… or someone.
This was starting to look familiar. Danny crossed his arms, hovering above the grass, and scowled. Way too familiar.
"Huh." He raised his voice. "Who do I know who likes to do gross experiments on animals, has no life, and stalks people?"
"At last," a voice behind him drawled, dripping with refinement and sarcasm. "You've put two and two together. That makes four, by the way. Or have you improved in math since our last little encounter?"
Danny turned to find Vlad standing midair above the gorge, red-lined cloak fluttering like some gaudy moth. "At least I've learned something, Vlad. Are you seriously trying for my mom again? With the same undead monsters in the woods thing? What, did your evil-plot-of-the month membership run out?"
"Ah, but this time, my boy, it will be different."
"What makes you think that?"
Wordlessly, but with a smug little smile, Vlad produced a compact silver device from under his cloak.
"The Plasmius Maximus?" Danny eyed the weapon. He remembered vividly his last encounter with that thing; no way was he going to let Vlad zap him. "What, de-powering me again? How is that different? Mom's got a whole RV full of ghost weaponry to protect us, Vlad. You and your creepy fur collection don't have a chance. "
"Did it never occur to your admittedly limited teenage brain that the term Maximus was a more apt name for something that increased ghostly power?" Vlad flicked something on the side, and the device powered up with an ominous crackle of electricity. "The purpose of this device, its true purpose, is to lock a hybrid into ghost form, no matter what damage it takes. It was only by happy accident that I discovered one could reverse the effects."
Danny frowned. "And that's going to help you how?"
Vlad's smirk widened, baring not-quite-human fangs. "It will, shall we say, remove the competition."
Danny drifted back, the hairs prickling on his neck. Vlad wasn't making sense, but one thing was for sure: He was up to something. The beasts had stopped circling and now crouched behind Vlad, barely visible in the bushes, their red eyes fixed on Danny.
"You see Daniel," Vlad continued, examining his nails with a half-lidded gaze, "unlike you, I always learn from my mistakes. I studied the incident in Colorado, and do you know what conclusion I came to?"
"Let me guess: You prefer persians over siamese?"
"I had calculated to create the perfect scenario for Maddie's personality. Adventure, excitement, a lush setting, romance…"
Danny held up a hand. "Um, first, ew. Second, if you thought that was romantic, boy have you got my mom wrong."
Vlad ignored him. "There was only one factor I failed to properly compute: Her relationship to you. You were the flaw in my plan, Daniel. You, and her maternal fixation on protecting you at all costs. I intend to rectify that."
Vlad had that crazed glint in his eye, the one that said he was all in on this idea, no matter how stupid. Danny swallowed hard. "If I go missing, Mom will be crazy worried. She won't give you the time of day."
Vlad produced a second device, one that looked exactly like a two-way radio.
Something that sounded like Danny's voice crackled out of the speaker. "Hey Mom, I…I got lost." Fake him sounded just the right shade of embarrassed. "The rangers picked me up, so don't worry! I'm just fine." Pause. "Don't worry about me, you have fun with Mr. Masters."
Danny stared at Vlad slack-jawed. "If you think that's gonna work, you're even loopier than usual."
"Oh, I beg to differ. Who do you think Maddie will believe? The old college friend who recently saved her son's life, or public enemy number one?" His eyes narrowed to red slits. "And that, my dear boy, is exactly who you'll be."
Cold metal jabbed between his shoulderblades without warning. Danny barely had time to flinch-arcs of lightning lashed like fire over his body, stabbing through every nerve with blue-white fire.
Vlad, still standing in front of him, smiled. How?
Danny hit the dirt hard. He groaned and rolled over, blinking up at twin smirks. At first he thought he was seeing double, but then one Plasmius dissolved away in a glimmer of ectoplasm. A copy. He'd been tricked. Nice going, Fenton.
"You dirty-" Danny growled out, struggling to his feet. Every nerve still tingled from the eletrical shock, fingers twitching as he tried to clench them into fists. He lunged at the half ghost.
Vlad sighed and sidestepped, then backhanded Danny sharply in the side of the head.
Danny saw stars. He reeled, only keeping his balance by the fact that he was standing on air. There was a rustle of cape, and then a thick, strong hand wrapped around the back of his neck.
"Another perk of knowing you can't revert to weaker form." Vlad chuckled darkly. "No need to hold back."
Maddie hummed tunelessly to herself as she stepped into the RV in search of the cooking gear. She'd have to see if there was access to that river they'd crossed earlier; they had plenty of drinking water, but if they wanted to bathe or get the dishes washed, they'd want to have more.
With any luck, that ravine they'd crossed opened out lower down, or maybe it had a smaller tributary. That might make for a fun hike tomorrow... if she could convince Danny.
One of the downsides of raising children in the city was that they didn't have the same experience she and Jack had grown up with, living close to nature. There were things only the wild could teach you about survival, being independent, learning to adapt. Maddie smiled wryly. Her son was many things, but an outdoorsman wasn't one of them. He was taking forever with that firewood.
Something on the console started beeping. Maddie glanced at it, curiosity tugging at her despite herself. The ghost detector? In the middle of the wilderness?
To her surprise, there were a handful of little blips, including two strong ectosignatures that stood out like hot, bright little stars on the dark green display. What were ghosts-especially powerful ones-doing all the way out here?
She stuck her head out the door and glanced around the campsite. Danny still wasn't back. Maddie bit her lip; she'd said no ghost hunting on this trip. But she couldn't leave such a mystery uninvestigated... and it wouldn't hurt to just go look. Right?
Before she could change her mind, she opened up the glove compartment and grabbed the ectogun stashed there. A Fenton Thermos had been crammed in beside it-probably by Jack; he was never convinced the GAV had enough weaponry. She shrugged and clipped it to her belt. If she could snag one of the ghosts, she'd have plenty of time to study it… well, after the camping trip..
Almost as an afterthought, she opened up one of the cabinets and grabbed the Specter Deflector Jack had stashed there, buckling it on and locking it with a click. Madie set the key on the dash on her way out; she'd only be a minute, anyway. Danny wouldn't even notice she had gone.
Maddie crept through the thinning underbrush at the edge of the tree line. There was a dropoff to her right, and the sound of rushing water in the ravine belon. By degrees, she could hear something up ahead, even over the noise of the river. Two things, actually: the familiar whining hiss of ectoblasts firing, and something else, a strange sound, like meat slapping against stone, heavy and wet. It took her a moment to place it-a groan pulled the picture into place. Someone was fighting. Or rather, being beaten.
Maddie pulled the safety off her ectogun and crept through the bushes, unclipping the thermos from her belt and holding it at the ready in her other hand. Something metallic caught her eye in the green grass, right at her feet.
It looked like a high-tech taser, with two wickedly pointed prongs and a large activation button above a few much smaller controls. Had one of the ghosts brought it? Or was it what they were fighting over? She shrugged and slipped it into one of her larger belt compartments. That was a mystery to mull over later.
She pushed aside a tall fern, revealing an otherwordly scene, lit by glaring flashes of green and magenta, a bizarre contrast to the lush natural setting. Two ghosts, arms locked together as they struggled against each other, one in white, the other black.
Maddie stared, stunned. Why were the Wisconsin Ghost and the Ghost Boy, of all things, fighting out here in the middle of nowhere?
Surprise gave way to a thrill of excitement; these were both powerful, unique ecto-entities. If she could only capture them, it would advance her research by leaps and bounds. Maddie crouched, looking for an opening.
She raised the thermos, then hesitated; they were both powerful ghosts in their own right. Maddie wasn't positive that it could create enough electromagnetic pull to capture both of them simultaneously. As long as they were grappling together, there was no way to isolate the effect of the beam. She waited, finger tracing the outline of the activation button.
Phantom was losing. Their brief grapple ended with the bigger ghost holding Phantom's wrist's in a one-handed grip, dragging him close to deliver a vicious strike to his gut. Phantom doubled over and groaned. He tried to turn the movement into a kick, but the Wisconsin Ghost flung him into the nearest tree. Maddie winced at the heavy crunch of the ghost hitting the trunk. Ghosts might be powerful and inhuman, but that sounded like it hurt.
The Wisconsin Ghost flung his head back and laughed. "Ha! This feels marvelous. I should have thought of this years ago, my dear boy. All that misplaced frustration I could have been channeling toward such an easy target." He dove gracefully toward the ghost boy, who was hovering, dazed, near the roots of the tree, giving him no chance to dodge the oncoming strike.
"Shut up-cheese for brains." The insult was gritted out between blows. The ghost boy managed to land a punch, only to have his hand twisted into an armlock that had even a blackbelt like Maddie mildly impressed. Phantom twisted his head around and glared. "Only a loser creep would have this much fun beating up a kid."
"You'll find yourself less mouthy once I'm through with you," the WIsconsin Ghost hissed. He flung his captive onto the ground, cuffing the back of the ghost boy's neck as he fell. "You'll eat dirt, and your own words, boy, if it's the last thing I squeeze out of your throat."
"You want to play dirty?" Phantom rolled onto his back and kicked hard at the other ghost's crotch. The Wisconsin Ghost blocked it with his shin, hand whipping out and closing around Phantom's ankle.
"Nice try my boy, but never quite good enough."
Maddie winced as Phantom flew across the clearing and struck a second tree, splintering branches as he fell to the ground. The Wisconsin Ghost stalked after him, cracking his knuckles. The fight, if it had ever been one, was brutally one-sided. If there had been any purpose to this, it was long lost in the undead creature's wrath.
Neither of them were looking her way. Phantom was on his hands and knees, his opponent wholly focused on crushing him.
Maddie saw her chance and seized it. She jumped up from her crouch and aimed the thermos's mouth squarely between the Wisconsin Ghost's cloaked shoulderblades. She pressed the button, and concentric rings shot out of the device. It had caught the ecto-entity in its irresistible electro-magnetic pull.
The Wisconsin Ghost uttered an undignified squawk, half turning. "Impossible! Who-"
She caught a glance of ruby-red eyes, wide with astonishment, and then the ghost's body twisted and shrank, vanishing inside her thermos.
Maddie found herself face to face with the green-eyed ghost boy, who was still sprawled out on the grass, ectoplasm running down his chin from a split lip.
They stared at each other in silence.
Phantom pushed himself to his feet, spitting out a mouthful of green liquid and wiping an arm across his lip. One eye was puffy with darker shades of green, and his jumpsuit had a number of rips and tears in it. "Uh, thanks."
Maddie raised the thermos and pointed it at him. "You're welcome."
tbc...
A/N:
Now things start moving in earnest! I'm not sure this is as good as it could be, but it's at least been edited to the point of diminishing returns. I need to get moving on this fic, not to mention that other little ongoing project I have...
Many thanks to MarshmallowGoop for betaing this chapter!
And thank you, my dearest reviewers! This fic is gonna be fun, and it's awesome to know you're onboard with it. :)
-Hj