I think I did quite well with this re-write, I hope you all think so as well.

Same warnings as first chapter still apply.

I do not own anything except a few of the words, probably.

ENJOY!

"WORD" - Normal speech.

:WORD: - Mind-Speak between Danni and Phantom


Consider it Unexpected


"Now, Daniella," Vlad said, "Would you mind if I came in?"

I was petrified of saying yes. Even more so of saying no.

-~DP~-

78.

That is the number of how many days had passed since Phantom and I had landed in that park, decided upon our next move, and danced. Two months, two weeks, and five days. At least, that was what I calculated it at.

I'd been sharing my soul, body, and mind with Phantom for a little over three months. By a little over, I, of course, meant that it was almost four. In the next few days it certainly would be.

Many things had happened in this time.

Tucker had finally gotten up the courage, after I had pushed him enough, to ask Sam on a date. His meat-loving ways and her vegan-attitude, somehow worked. They'd kissed the day after, right in front of me. The cute pussy-footing around had been adorable for the first week, and then the making out had started. I had never been so put-off and jealous at the same time in all of my life.

Phantom had just smugly said, :Just deserts.:

Which was deserved, of course, because it had been me who had pushed them together. And I wouldn't have changed it for the world. The two of them... they were comfortable together. In a way I had never known with another, physical, person. Cuddled together with their polar-opposite ways but completely respect each other. In this instant, perhaps, just perhaps, two wrongs did make a right.

The completely opposite of me and all my problems.

While my two best friends were in la la-land, I was in purgatory.

The week after the whole park deal, I started following Phantom's awkward and against the grain advice that he had been offering up for the past month. Which was plainly – Rebel. Be you, instead of what you think your parents want from you. He had said.

At first, I wasn't sure how to.

My whole life I had lived with one simple thing in mind: Get the attention of my parents. And I had tried it the goody-two-shoes way. Change my behavior only in the way that would get their attention. In a positive way, at least. Since it had failed so often, I had just kind given up hope and accepted they must have hated me or something.

But, disobeying orders, shirking chores and food schedules, along with skipping school and suddenly I was all they talked about. Danni didn't do this. Did Danni do this? Where on earth is Danni? Their theories, because I wasn't talking to them about it, was that I had found some kind of boy outside the house who was a bad influence on me.

As amusing as that was, the boy had actually come from inside the house, inside the portal to be exact. And was now inside my head.

I took their stupidity and ran with it, though. Not every day something like that happened. Making Phantom's sudo identity named Daniel Forman. Whom I would spend hours outside the house, on rooftops or in trees or even around school, simply talking. And, the longer I was gone from the house, the more pissed my parents would be when I returned.

Why hadn't I done that earlier? It would have saved me a lot of trouble. Fake boyfriend and all.

Maddie and Jack both had pulled me aside at least two different times per week to try and get me to 'open' up about my problems. And then they would both sit me down on Sunday and try and crack me. They still barely saw or talked to me, but now when they did see me, instead of running their mouths about their inventions they tried to talk to me. Grill me for all I was worth.

While they waited to interrogate me - Phantom and I were out dissecting the world and my own frustrations. If it hadn't been for Phantom, I probably would never have realized just how cynical of a side I could show.

Phantom liked to claim it was because I could finally 'breath' but well… I just liked to think I put my sassy-pants on.

All while my parents raged on why I wasn't home.

The little pit in my stomach had warmed over the first few times that had actually directed their attention towards me. Warmed over like a pot of boiling oil.

Too fucking bad it was too little, too late.

Since a month gone, too.

Since Jack had dared to raise an ecto-weapon against me, while I was still in the form of his daughter. When I had been too shocked and hurt to do anything but stare at him with wide eyes as he brushed off the pain I was feeling as – impossible. Telling me to tough it out. The gun wasn't meant to hurt humans, therefore it didn't. I was being a baby.

My blood boiled as I thought over the past and tried to force myself to the now.

Jack was the reason we were now, for sure, running away, after all. Something Phantom was excited about, but was also incredibly put off with because we were not doing that at this very second.

We were roped into something much worse.

:I still can't believe we are doing this.: Phantom said, more than aware that I was struggling to hold back my anger at the dinner table.

:Let it go, Phantom. We've lasted almost two weeks already.:

:Why did I agree to this... this madness?:

:Because then we can plead torture if we are ever caught after we run?:

:Hardy, har, har.: He said dryly.

I smiled into my palm that was fisted against my face. Trying not to call attention to myself at the table I was currently seated at with one of the most wealthy people in the world. And my family. One the most wealthy people, who made my best friend Sam Manson's family look like they were still begging for table-scraps - and we were at his house. A mansion no less, that may actually take up the same amount of space as the state of Maine.

The host was sitting at the head of the table, with Jack to his right and Maddie to his left. Jazz was sitting next to me, smiling politely at the conversations of the adults when she wasn't reading. It was cute look my sister had on her face whenever she showed it, a few parts intellect but almost too many parts curious as well and I had to stifle a proud albeit small smile.

My parents were another matter entirely. The host, too. All of them chatting while I tried to get a good look at the billionaire without arising the suspicion of my parents.

Vlad Masters. Vladdie, as my father had called him. A cheese-head. A man in the two percent of the world who owned a multimillion dollar corporations and ran it with all the power of a dictator. The man who had an almost British accent that came more from his wealth than any actual country of origin. Former-college-friends with my parents. Best friends.

Who would have thought? Even though my parents had never once mentioned they had known Mister Masters, it was clear that they did. By the way that Masters was looking at my mother, I would say intimately. Which had a squich-factor of at least eleven, but I could forgive because they hadn't seen each other in years... Perhaps she had changed enough that Mister Masters wouldn't see anything worth while in her?

:The way he's drooling,: Phantom said, disgust seeping through. :I think not.:

:A girl could dream.:

My parents knew people with money mostly because they had money. Usually my parents 'friends' (who had money) were complete ass-holes, hoity-toity and all that because they had the money to fund my parents crazy experiments- that weren't quite so crazy anymore. I had first assumed the same of Masters, until my father had foolishly exclaimed: "VLADDIE!"

I couldn't tell if the shudder was from the break-spine hug or the nick-name.

:Watch.: Phantom whispered, interrupting the reminiscing of the ball-room greeting my Father had given that might have also cracked one of Masters ribs. :Between the oaf and Mister Masters.:

Following Phantom's instructions I zoned into Jack and Master's interactions. And was promptly puzzled as Jack laughed boisterously, and Mister . Masters only gave him a tight smile in return. Maddie fakely laughing along, with stress lines around her brow. Narrowing my eyes I watched further and was further amused to see Masters only barely restrained himself from smacking Jack's hands as they patted his shoulder.

:They are supposed to be friends.:

:Perhaps not as friendly as we thought, Danni.:

Watching closely, I could confirm that he was right. Vlad outright glared, before remembering himself and biting out a bitter smile.

:Oh dear, he really dislikes him.:

Phantom laughed.

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, though. Just general dislike. :What do you mean?:

:Come along, Danni, use what I taught you,: He said, instead of helping me. :Watch their actions. Not their words.:

So I did. I watched the little things. Masters's clenching fist. The way his eyebrow twitched along with his eye when Jack said something exceedingly stupid and ignorant. The heavy breathing as he glared when no one was looking at my father but smiled dotingly at my mother. The tight smile that came about when my parents did something gross and lovey-dovey.

I felt my spoon drop as I interpreted all the signs just as Phantom had taught me.

Vlad Masters was no friend of Jack.

I didn't know what else he could be at the moment, but it was clear the feelings that were there did not wish the man of my household a good tomorrow. Nor a good year.

Everyone's conversations stopped as my cutlery fell on to my plate with a patter-clatter. Everyone also turned to look at me, necks snapping in some cases, as if I had called their attention with a cow-bell or a knife to the cups to signal my want of silence.

I had only a second to react correctly. Getting into my newest state of mind, that seemed to piss my family off like no-other, I smirked.

"Oops."

:You're awful, Danni.: Phantom snorted, watching the procession with something akin to blood lust. Just wanting someone to throw the first punch.

As he had all week.

"Did you need something, Miss Daniella?" Mister Masters asked.

:Manners,: Phantom warned me before I could follow along my own and his trains of thought. :He dislikes your father, remember? That makes him a... friend.:

Enemy of my enemy and all that.

Grudgingly, I gave him my respect. Phantom knew more about word play then I did, after all.

"No, sir. Simple slip of the hand." I threw in a dazzling smile to sweeten the pot.

Maddie and Jack both jumped my skin together as one. "Danni!" and "Ella!" rang clearly. Loudly.

"Yes?" I asked, wincing at the volume of their voices.

"Why on earth did you do that?" Both parents yelled.

"I heard the first time." I said, rubbing my ears in mock pain from the din. "It was an accident."

"Don't give me that young lady," Jack said, his eyes wide and huge as he glanced between everyone at the table. "You've been nothing but sour this entire trip!"

"Considering I've dropped a spoon and you think I've started the apocalypse?" I replied. "Yeah, I might be a tad sour. So sue me."

Maddie's forehead vein bulged and Jack gaped. Both of them angry that I would dare do this to them at the dinner table of their oh-so-important friend.

As if I hadn't done this before.

After almost two weeks on the road, a family-imposed torture, it was a surprise nobody had murdered anyone. Specifically me and my parents. Jazz simply sat out of all our spats and read her book or studied us. Never talking until all the 'bad' words were spat out and soot on the wind. Or she would snap at me if I asked a question while she was in the middle of a good paragraph (mostly because she was driven just as insane as I was from the stupid ghostly-camp-fire songs). She always apologized after, but I was petty and refused to talk to her half the time.

Maddie and Jack had started this road-trip with the hope that I would learn how to live in the 'real' world, after all. Jazz was just dragged along for the hell of it. Their mad-minds ready to torture us both through our imposed family-time.

The only thing I had learned from this torturous road-trip was that Beavers could climb trees if a giant RV was coming at them at over fifty miles an hour.

Also, that I was very lucky I hadn't half-died a second time.

Jack was a horrid driver.

But he had been paying a lot of attention to Jazz and I, which left a pleasant little pit in my stomach that I stomped on with Phantom's help. I didn't need some kind of pity forming for the half-wit.

I caught Masters as I tuned out my mother's rage. She was going quite strong. He was looking thoughtful as he glanced me over. I caught him at the end of it. There was nothing malicious about it, I could tell he was just curious about me. Daughter to the great and powerful Fentons who was neither smart nor a looker. I wondered what he was thinking. His eyebrows were quirked but his mouth was pursed. A thoughtful look to his face the entire time.

"You're not even listening, are you Daniella?" Maddie steamed.

"Haven't been for a while." I said, honestly.

That caught my parents off guard, which I reveled in momentarily.

"Then you can go to your room and think about your attitude young lady!"

We caught eyes, Mister Masters and myself, as I was sent away from the table by my irate mother, and I smirked at him.

I didn't believe it when he returned the gesture.


There was a final crack as the door shut.

The door to the large dinning room closed behind me as a maid pointed me in the direction of where I had placed my suitcase. The giant room that had been painted cream, lavender, and orange - somehow making it still look grand and amazing. With a king size bed that I was dying for right about now.

:Why do I get the feeling we've entered into a new game?: Phantom asked.

:I don't know,: I said exhausted, as I started the long trek to the wing where the rooms were. :I didn't expect that...:

:He's like a tiger in sheep's clothing.:

:Yeah right, if anyone's the tiger in sheep's clothing,: I said decisively, :It would be us.:

:Of course. You are right, as always, Danni,: Phantom said. :But this is different.:

:He's a human: The thought of any human being dangerous to us was laughable. I dismissed him as just that. Phantom was not going to let me do that.

:And are you not just as dangerous as him?:

I stopped just outside the door that was to be my room for the last few days of our journey before we returned home.

:What do you mean?: I asked, shivering at the amount of spectral energy in this house.

It was a wonder Masters hadn't had had it fumigated. Or whatever it is that humans did to get rid of low-level spirits... Which was weird, because that meant there was a higher-powered ghost around.

But I had not felt anything over a level three. Phantom hadn't given any indication of a higher powered ghost around either. Then again, we were kind of a kill-joy in that department and few Ghosts even tried to come near us with our power level seeping through our pores.

:I'm not ignorant, anymore,: Phantom said. :I've been watching humanity and it is clear that humans are dangerous in their own ways. To other humans at least.:

I opened the door and turned on the light. :Explain.:

:Danni, Mister Masters has a lot of money. From what I know - just hearing things about him throughout the grapevine, he is also a powerful man.: Phantom explained as I sat on the edge of the enormous bed, settling down for a long rant and after-discussion. :People fear him enough to call him powerful. And so, to other humans, he is powerful.:

:Your word play is too much sometimes, Phantom.: I said. I was still just a kid really, street-smart now more than ever but still pretty dense. :But I get it. He's powerful because he has money and others believe he can use that to their gain?:

:You're listening better.: Phantom praised. :What else did you observe of him?:

:Must we do this now?: I groaned, not in the mood for twenty questions.

Phantom didn't answer, but I got the distinct impression he was unimpressed with me.

:Fine, fine.: I said, rubbing my eyes.

I recalled Masters eyes :Anger.:

:Very old anger.: Phantom confirmed.

I tried to think of more, but I hadn't gotten much more than a look in. Phantom would have had more time to concentrate. I had been busy at the time we had crossed stares.

:I didn't get that good of a look at them.:

:Understandable, but I did, Danni.:

I smiled. A perk of having two minds in one body. One of the few perks.

:Can I see it?:

:You may.:

Phantom allowed me to see the memory through himself. How he had interpreted the eye contact and what he had gotten out of it.

I was... a bit shocked.

Ok. No. That's not the right way to put it. My brain was now kind of spluttering in the aftermath, failing at putting itself back together. The second of eye contact that I had held was nothing compared to what Phantom had managed in the same time limit.

Masters eyes were so deep and vast. It made me shiver. The insurmountable amounts of pain, bitterness so cold, betrayal so deep, and love so forgotten by everyone and anyone else... the same part that was in my own eyes when I looked in the mirror instead of just relying on Phantom to back me.

Loneliness. Wanting. The wanting to belong. An orphans wanting, or a family revoked kind of thing. A lonely wanting. A longing so deep that even if I starred for hours, I would never reach the bottom of it.

And it was mirrored in my eyes.

The longing was in both of us. Something deep and something profound. It made the pit in my stomach form in favor of running and protecting myself – rather than sit and try and muddle through what on earth anything his eyes were telling me, screaming at me.

"What the hell." I said, with my fingers clenched in the bed spread. Tightened like a noose in the poor fabric.

:That's what I saw.:

Phantom was more observant than I could ever hope to be.

"What the hell does that to a person?"

How on earth had it been replicated? How on earth were some of the same things that I apparently struggled with... staring back at me, like that?

:He has perhaps lived a long life.:

"Bullshit. So have many people." I said, not really defending the older man, but knowing that he was the same age as my parents made it eerie to know there was something very, very different about them all. He was not like my parents, but he was also not totally like me. There was no way he was, anyway.

I would have felt it.

:I've never been so... intrigued by a human...: Phantom admitted, before covering his own ass. :Other than yourself, of course, Danni.:

"Don't worry, Phantom. The feeling, for once is... completely mutual."

I puzzled over the newest mystery that had sat its pretty little self right in front of us, just out of reach like a chew toy on a higher piece of furniture.

Was it because people with money just... were different? There had to be a lot of betrayal and heart break for one who was loaded... right? Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I didn't remember seeing any kind of photos of family, friends, or 'people'. There was memorabilia of the Packers, and also tons of things about his company but nothing... personal.

"Do you think it is rude to ask?" I finally muttered, fed up with trying to scratch Masters secrets to the forefront without some kind of actual proof from himself.

:Danni. Don't be stupid.: He playfully sent a wind puff to blow my hair. :Of course its rude to ask.:

And for a moment I smiled, stupidly. My mind doing a one-eighty, as it was sure to do on occasion, on everything Masters and focusing solely on Phantom. A switch flipped as something new and shiny rolled into view.

"Do that again,"

I egged him on. Playfully.

With all the huff and grumble of an old man putting on a show of great pain to himself, Phantom did just that. The wind around my hair tossing it every which way for a mere second, before Phantom lost it and it fell flat. The giggle that escaped him was boyish in all its charm, and I allowed a grin to reach my own face.

We'd been learning, over the months of our self-imposed outcastment from society in general, that we can do many things neither of had thought possible.

Well, with one body anyway.

Phantom was king of the wind, and now, for the most part, I was queen. Because of that, the air around us acted differently than anywhere else in the world. It was kind of like a pet, but with far less sentience and much more brutal element. The excitement of a new puppy was there, but the surety was lacking.

Therefore, it was awesome good at following simple commands from Phantom, even though he was not actually on the plane of existence it thought he was. Well, awesome good was a lie. It only worked half the time and Phantom had to concentrate ever-so hard to get it to do anything – which was all worth it in their down time.

"Are you trying to remind me who's actually the dangerous one?" I asked.

Phantom was easily indifferent about it, but was glowing with pride that he had managed that one small thing. The wind settled around me into a light breeze before fluttering out like a candle.

"Because I heard loud and clear 'lion in sheep's clothing.'"

:Do stop Danni, I might get a big head,: He said, but I could tell he was triumphantly happy by my sincere praise.

His hand, a ghost of it, dropped on my shoulder, patted once and then disappeared like we did when turning invisible. Except it was all in my head. And I appreciated that, even though Phantom and I would never meet face to face (that we knew of), we could give each other the physical support we might need throughout the years.

It was nice to know we were more than just a freak. More than just souls lost and found.

The very word that Phantom would growl at but I would shove insistently in his face, because we were a freak. Of nature. Scientifically, we were two beings that had no right to continue to exist. It was a complicated thing to begin even processing. An abomination to some in the Ghost Zone, and if the humans ever find out what we were... Well Salem, with the whole Witchcraft thing, will look like child's play.

Since we were freakish, and we met every so often with a few ghosts from the Ghost Zone that had not had their minds torn to ribbons by my parents. Clockwork, the protector of all of Time and Space, had tried to give us advice on meeting inside our own head. For both of our sanity. When we slept or when we found the time and the place to meditate.

Sleep was way easier and way harder to manage.

Clockwork had said picture a blank room. It could be black, white, gray, or even floral if we so wanted. But it had to have two doors. One for me and one for Phantom. It had to be a place of neutral meeting. It had to be open, but small. So we would interact with each other.

He'd told us this almost three weeks ago, the fourth time we had met with him. And since he was the ghost who knew all about time and space – well, you kind of don't disobey or argue with that. So we tried.

We slept and tried to find each other only ever to greet ourselves in the morning with a put-off-sigh..

Meditation was harder because there was no good place to go. My room was invaded now and then by my parents who were now all aboard team 'care about Danni', the usual rooftops didn't have their usual luster and for the most part Phantom and I had needed those places to breath before we destroyed the city.

And the ghosts of the city helped with none of it.

Phantom and I tried to reason with them. Those of them that could be reasoned with. There were not many. And those that could think usually ran before my parents caught onto the scent of a new ghost. The other ghosts... well, they were all just figments of their-selves really.

The Ecto-Splicer, Fenton-Thermos, and Fenton-bazooka kind of did that to one who was stupid enough to get caught in the cross-hairs..

:Please stop thinking of that. You're making me ill.: Phantom interrupted my mind, that had gone on a long tangent.

It amused me often to think that Phantom grew ill of that, but could watch a slaughter go down without blinking an eye. Just went to show the priorities some people had.

"Sorry." I said, a whisper because I was also feeling ill now.

"You know what will help with this?" I asked Phantom with a smile, and he groaned out a 'please no'. "A shower!"

:Can we not?:

"Hey, you haven't been stuck all day in the same car and the same air as Jack Fenton." I said, shivering as I realized I might actually be able to see the germs if I looked hard enough.

:Be my guest then.: Phantom said, still not all that happy about water. :Just remember, you can wash all you like but blood is under the skin.:

"Piss off." I muttered the words over to myself before ultimately yawning and stretching. It had been a long day in the car. A shower was just what I needed. Especially as I was still feeling ill at the image Phantom had painted. Jack Fenton's blood ran through my veins. Gross.

Then I realized it was not myself and my thoughts that were making me ill.

I blinked as I felt the room around me with hesitant hands. It was swarming with low-level ghost energy. Which was nothing new. Ghosts flocked to more powerful ghosts. It was a part of life as a Halfa.

The fact, there were many more ghosts around me than I had ever attracted by myself, was what alerted me that something was wrong. The pure power of the low-level spirits in such a great quantity was making me put-off my lunch. Only because none of them had a form, and simply were just... there. Kind of just... haunting me.

Which led me to believe there was some kind of natural portal around. Or another ghost portal that allowed ghosts to come through… Or perhaps there was another ghost hanging around, that was as powerful, if not more so than me.

I shivered as my built in warning system, a puff of blue ice-cold chill, came out of my mouth. It wouldn't do that for merely a spectral mass of energy. Only ghosts.

:That is quite... potent.: Phantom said, immediately on the offensive.

"Tell me about it." I said, but it came out very small and strangled. Another puff exiting my mouth that left frost-burn in its wake.

:Damn it. I really wanted that shower.:

Phantom said nothing and we both waited for the inevitable show-down.

Instead of a ghost coming through from the ceiling, floors, windows, walls, or doors - Phantom and I were blown half-way backwards in our own mind as memories flushed us:

-My own father was drowning in his sorrows, drinking bottle after bottle of Vodka, straight, until his liver just gave out. Sick and tired of keeping his menial existence from being dead. My mother, on my arm, as I finally managed to get what I wanted in life. Happiness. Revenge, best served cold. Seeing the oaf who had ruined my college experience, lower than dirt in the eyes of the world was the best feeling in the whole-

I staggered under the weight of the emotions and memory - no not memories. Hopes. Dreams. Steeped in anger and horrifying power. The feelings of power and greed and insurmountable relief flowed through me

I'd never met a ghost who actually Projected. It was said to be a very, very rare ability. Only blessed to the most powerful of the powerful. To actually force emotions, memories, or dreams onto the host of someone who was not only unwilling but unaware – was something akin to a god-like power.

It wasn't just that either. The images I had seen were immortalized against my eyelids. Much more – I actually felt the want, an almost need, to help whoever this was achieve his goal. Murdering my father had always kind of appealed to me after the ghostly-blood-lust and want to see of violence came through from Phantom's side of the bond. The only baggage he had brought along with him when he had been smashed into my own soul.

I could feel my own anger bubbling up towards the surface. Wanting to agree that seeing Jack, despairing on the ground while I stood tall, was exactly what I wanted.

My mother though. Ew.

A shiver traveled its way up my spine like a fire. I had never actually seen such gruesome thoughts that were not my own. Directed towards my father, anyway. It made the pit in my stomach grow colder. Phantom grew warmer at the violence in those memory-wants.

:Snap out of it, Danni!: Phantom snarled at me, getting me away from my inward thoughts and back to real-life.

:Holy shit.: I said, so eloquently. Eyes wide as I shook my head, to get it clear again. I realized, with a shake of my head, a moment after that particularly gruesome scene that that was not, in fact, my own memories or my own projected thoughts.

Someone else was thinking of my parents.

It was someone else.

:He's powerful.: Phantom said.

:I repeat: Holy shit.: I said.

We were then hit with another wave of memories, dreams. This one... a bit more powerful. My eyes snapped opened as I felt Phantom bubbling up, ready to tag-team me out of this existence so we had a better chance to fight. His mind was sharp as we both shot a look towards the door of the room, sitting up sharply :

-I was sneering down at my own father, who was sobbing into his alcoholic beverage, bemoaning how he would do anything to have 'Maddie' back. Anything to be forgiven. Anything to have my love again, as well. Acknowledging how much he had fucked up. I, this person who I was, would not forgive. Ever. The person that I was, laughed in my father's face as he tried to plead with him for his life back. As it had been. Before I had showed up.-

I was left in the after math wondering how the hell I wasn't out murdering someone. It was a disorienting feeling, as I tried to separate myself from the other ghost. Confusing in a way that was more than... confusing - because the only thing I was absolutely sure of was the part about Maddie.

I didn't want it.

But Jack was another matter. I could feel my own anger sparking, and snarling at the singular thought that someone else hated Jack as much as me. For a different reason. It was almost like it justified my anger. Justified that I wanted to see Jack on his last leg, and me being the one to kick it down. See him, as he fell and looked towards me. Attentive for once. Fully on me. Perhaps not as dead as the ghost wanted him, but down on his luck all the same. Perhaps finally loving me – or in Jail. Maybe both.

I was zinged with energy at that particular image.

Phantom didn't even try and say something about it. Instead, he pointed out something a little more important.

:They have to be close.:

I responded, dazed. :No other way could they project through walls if they weren't.:

Whoever it was, he was also powerful.

Phantom and I took a moment to debate over whether we should start our running away early or stay and wait out this very unusual storm. The ghost, if anything, didn't seem to want to harm us. More like it wanted to... test us. And it knew where to test.

I wanted to stay, and Phantom cursed my curious nature. But I reminded him of something he always liked to remind me: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And Jack may not be even on the radar of an enemy, but I had been harmed by him. He was no friend.

:He's outside the door, somewhere.: So not outside the house. He was an inhabitant.

My hands shook as the dream-projections came faster, without any rhyme or reason:

-A knife had entered my father's sternum and he was looking at me with this face that scream betrayal and hurt and it was... lovely-

Somehow I found myself walking towards the door, drawn to the unknown ghost's presence.

:This is not a good idea.: Phantom said, failing to get control of the body because it wasn't just I who was piloting. A need to see whoever this was had risen as my common sense fled. :Danni, this is not a good idea!:

:I'm not running away until I have to, Phantom. This time, we stay. A little while longer.:

And in this, for once, I was stronger than Phantom. Phantom's first nature was always going to be running away and mine was always going to be to stand and fight, hold my ground. Sway with the punches instead of flee from them.

Perhaps that would be our downfall.

I opened the door, the huge thing that was at least my height in width and twice my self in height. I creaked as it opened to the muted darkness outside the door. Taking a deep breath I stepped outside, expecting to be immediately involved with the newest ghost to catch our attention since Skulker.

Instead, I was met with silence. To our right, I craned my head. I saw nothing. Puzzled, I curiously pondered if the Ghost was invisible. Or not there.

Then the blue-puff of cold air burned the top of my mouth and I had to open it to allow it exit, before it damaged my mouth.

They were here.

"Why. Hello, Daniella." The voice was soft spoken and had an air as though it had made this greeting so many times. It was also familiar.

I whipped my head around to see Vlad Masters, standing outside my door, directly where I would have been looking had I looked straight forward. Two feet in front of me, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back in a very relaxed but... powerful position. Regal.

He had not been there before.

There was nothing about this man, now, that didn't scream out a warning to my mind. Nothing that was harmless like he had been only a few minutes before. Perhaps not even half an hour if my inner-clock had anything to say about it.

"What brings you outside your room this evening?" Mister Masters asked, his voice somehow managing to slope and smooth and dip like he was visually conscious of every word coming out of his mouth. As though the action was staged many times and rehearsed and repeated until perfected.

:Did you feel him?: I asked Phantom.

:He was not there... Not before we looked.:

A projection came towards me out of the dark and pushed right past any kind of defenses I had:

-The knife slashed outwards, taking the skin of my father, where I couldn't tell, and pulling and pushing until it all snapped open. Blood everywhere. The voice of Phantom inside my skull was mesmerized.-

I shivered. The blue breath burning me again as it exited my mouth. This time in full view of Mister Masters. The billionaire merely smirked, as if it was a normal occurrence. There was a certain smugness about his reaction and my legs weakened as I realized, a second behind Phantom, that Vlad Masters, knew.

It didn't even matter what exactly he knew. Just that he did.

I felt a dark sense of foreboding. Phantom urged me to allow him the body. Make room so he could ready us for flight and running. Like he was used to. The need to sprint and run was strong, but I held it's reigns tightly. Not allowing anything to show. Showing weakness now would not help either of us.

:We have no clue whats going on.: I said to Phantom.

:All the more reason to not stick around.: He bit back, true terror biting back at me.

Perhaps I was mistaken about Mister Masters, because he didn't look like he was even fazed by me.

When Master's had been at the dinner table, a time away from now, he had been laughing at my mothers jokes, glaring not-so-openly at my father, and all together ignoring Jazz and myself unless we spoke to him. Something had changed though. But was it enough to react at?

:Don't be a fool, Danni.: Phantom snarled, this time allowing me to feel how much he feared for us. He did not like the danger we were currently in, even if he didn't know how exactly we had come to be in danger.

"I was just..." I started to say, before cutting myself off when I saw Vlad Masters' look of clear amusement that I was about to lie my way out of something. Out of something he already knew.

Adults being smug and so sure was a point of tension for me.

I made a sharp movement towards the clearer side of Mister Masters and an arm came up to stop me. Jolted the frame of the door as I was almost close-lined by it. The arm was an inch in front of my face and I stopped breathing as the very air around us stilled. Trapped by social norms and being rude if I dared to duck under it and run. Trapped also by the oppressive force of whatever Ghost had been projecting, as well.

It was clear he hadn't meant to do that, but he refused to move his arm from blocking my path. My breathing kicked up a notch and I glared at him, hiding my true fear behind a wall of anger. From what I had seen, Masters was a very kind host. Not one to hold his guests hostage, even if it was only a simple arm that caged me.

"Come now, dear, we've hardly finished talking." As if that was an excuse for his trapping of me.

I backed off, knowing somewhere deep inside I shouldn't push it.

Phantom agreed, even as he coiled and hissed in my mind.

"What do you know?" I asked before Phantom could protest.

"Well, Daniella, I know a great many things about a great many subjects. What did you have in mind?" Masters said, with a twinkle in his eye. His voice holding, and not letting go, of that quality that made it seem like every word he said had purpose. To either cut or to mold.

I cut him off from going forward.

"Funny, but I'd appreciate if you cut the bullshit, Mister Masters." I said with more strength in my knees that I was feeling at the moment. "What do you want?"

Hopefully to anyone watching, I was pulling off a rather awesome rebel teenager - when in reality I was pissing my pants.

:You have no subtly, Danni. You will be the death of us, if you continue this way.: Phantom said, resigned to our fate, even if I was the worst to be trading words with this man. Phantom had been training me.

It just might not be... clicking, all that well. Being a fast-study was not one of my strong points.

Masters looked me over, curiously, before smiling brightly. If I was willing to show any kind of weakness, I might have even back-stepped into my room to escape it. He looked like a man who had won the lottery. Practically beaming.

"Please," Mister Masters said. Looking all harmless and frail for a second as he raised a hand in protest, before it was placed against his own chest. The slightest of pressure folding the fabric under his digits. "Call me, Vlad. Mister Masters sounds so... old."

I was hit by unfiltered and undiluted power, the exact moment after Vlad said his name. As if the naming-power that all names held could be spoken into existence that easily. It was in the air around us, sizzling near my ears in a way that reminded me of fireworks.

He also smelled like a person of authority. Like those from the far-frozen had. The brand of musk fit for a king.

:Shit.: I said.

:How is that possible?: Phantom said, recognizing just what Vlad had done. :The only ghost we've ever felt compulsion to follow has been...:

Pariah Dark.

Phantom realized just how in over our head we were. Just as I did.

"Vlad," I repeated in a whisper that sounded more like an acknowledgment of the power his name held. I hadn't meant for it to come out that way. It just happened. Like many things tonight that I was losing control of.

I gulped, as the realization that even if we had run, those precious seconds ago, we would surely have been caught. Like a bird in a net. There could even be a shield over the house at this very moment. He had gone to school with my parents after all. He wasn't an idiot.

:Doomed the moment we stepped over the threshold.: Phantom said, the doom and gloom getting to us both.

"Now, Daniella," Vlad said, "Would you mind if I came in?"

I was petrified of saying yes. Even more so of saying no.

"You said you wanted answers? Well." Vlad stated with a raised brow. "I don't believe anything we have to... discuss should be said in such an... open environment. Do you?"

:Was that some kind of veiled threat?:

:Let's hope not.:

I mutely nodded before stepping out of the way for him to enter, slowly as if I was unsure of my own actions. I hoped the shaking of my hands wasn't as apparent to him as they were to me. It was all I could do not to allow Phantom to take over. Allow us to run. Because surely Vlad must know of us. What we are.

What he must be. Or perhaps what he controls.

I'd never met a human who could control ghosts, but I had heard that it was possible. There were bounties on their heads, though, and I did not remember Vlad Masters being one of them.

Lower spirits usually didn't stick around those who could control them... Then again, they were lower spirits. Bright? Not so much.

He stepped into the room and removed his hand from where it had been blocking my path, Vlad's smirked face was unchanged, until he was behind the door. His smile widened, imperceptibly, as if this had been his plan for the whole night. As I closed it, because whatever was going to happen – it was happening behind closed doors, Vlad turned to me and looked me over with a pensive look. A fist under his chin as he observed me, from not even three feet away.

A dismissive sound and he was soon turning.

Phantom's mind was an emotional support beam for me as Vlad walked towards the corner of the room. Where there were two wing-backed chairs in front of a fireplace. (Yes, I am more than aware of how big the guest bed room was.) I had lost what little stability I had thought I had found in my legs and they turned to Jello after the complete look over at I had been given.

"Come. Sit." Vlad ordered as he took his place, crossing his legs, much faster than I would have, in the lighter chair, closer to the window. "I don't bite. I promise."

There was a moment of indecision, before I followed.

:Let's not piss him off until we know what... is going on.: Phantom said.

:I don't know if I can do that.:

:For once?: He said. :Lets try.:

:This coming from you, Phantom?:

:You taught me how to piss people off.:

:It's a special talent, I thought you of all people would appreciate. And who knows when to use and when not to.:

The whole conversation that seemed longer in our head, only lasted a few seconds. Mostly because our inside voices spoke pretty fast.

I sat down, legs crossed indian-style as I tried to look childish, with a scoffed laugh inside my head and once again noticed that Vlad was looking me over as if I was a piece of meat. Which allowed me to look him over, too. Vlad was... or rather, looked incredibly dangerous. His nose was pointed and had a vicious angle to it. His eyes like the gaze of a vampire, cruel and sharp. I shivered in my short-sleeved shirt, wishing I had thrown on something warmer. I wasn't used to this Wisconsin weather after all.

Vlad noticed my reaction.

"Cold?"

It sounded like a challenge. One I was more than up for, but through Phantom's warning, I didn't push it.

"Maybe a little. It's colder here, after all. I didn't bring enough sweat-shirts."

He did nothing else, just continued staring after nodding once, sharply. His gaze was like a hawk.

I wasn't sure if I had actually seen him blink during our entire exchange.

The silence stretched for a few more moments and I was getting sick and tired of it. Tired of Vlad ignoring what I had requested in the hallway. Answers.

:Danni,: Phantom warned, just as I completely disregarded his warning. :Don't-:

"What is going on?" I asked, throwing whatever subtly I was going for out the window.

"Now, Daniella," Vlad said, in a patronizing tone, which interrupted Phantom as he stormed at me for being hasty.

In answer to that, I finally allowed Phantom to get ready to shift. To be battle ready. He curled in my Core and I felt very chilled but safe. Then, Vlad did the weirdest thing, as if he sensed the shift happening within my body.

He sniffed. Once. Twice. Deeply.

Vlad's eyes sparkled as he took a long draw of air, as if he was some kind of dog, sniffing out its prey. It was so absolutely mind-boggling I sat in the chair stunned, instead of continue to prepare myself for the run of a lifetime as Phantom was urging me.

"Finally. I thought it might have been a fluke." Vlad said, chuckling. He leaned farther into the chair as he relaxed.

"What?" I demanded.

"How long have you been a Halfa?" Vlad questioned, in a much darker whisper, losing almost all pretenses he had adopted. As if we were on the playground, under the slide, telling horror stories and he was setting the mood. Setting it really well.

If the shock of him knowing the term was huge, it was much more bizarre when I realized what it meant for me. Subsequently, him as well. The walls of society and propriety all dropped around me as I realized he wasn't a human who controlled ghosts. Couldn't be, because those people didn't know of Halfas.

He was something much worse.

:Double shit.: Phantom said.

Words had power. Just as names did, but I had been so very clueless until he had said that word, that it was like a light was being shone directly in my face, blinding me.

:Don't you dare push him-:

"How long have you?"

:Danni, why can't you just listen?:

Because it was clear. As I looked closer now. Why his eyes had spoken what Phantom had read. It clicked like a piece of a puzzle I didn't even realize needed to be done. Shoved itself in my face.

I could see it. Like me. It all clicked. I relaxed marginally into the wing-backed chair and tried to calm myself. It was like watching a movie about being sick and then realizing that you have all the symptoms. That your sickness is the same.

When I had been told, along with Phantom, that there was another Halfa… we hadn't exactly imagined this. Him. And yet. Here he was.

:It wasn't loneliness.: I said to Phantom. :It's difference. A similar loneliness but one that is really... not.:

He was a freak like we were.

Maybe it was all the revelation changing my thoughts, but I was all of the sudden very thankful he wasn't some human who controlled ghosts. That would have involved a fight. But another ghost? Another Halfa... And he was older. So why had no one told me about him? Surely he was known to the Ghost Zone...

:There is something missing from our knowledge.: Phantom said, this time his voice softer.

:The ghosts have been keeping something from us?:

:It would not be the first time.:

:Really?:

:Ghosts are notorious for... being sneaky, Danni.:

"Daniella," Vlad said, unimpressed with my new found knowledge. He tutted condescendingly. "I do believe I asked you first."

There was no point denying what we both knew.

"Three months and almost three weeks." I answered, because I had nothing to hide at this point about this subject. To ghosts this was not a secret. "End of next week will be the fourth."

He raised a eyebrow and almost allowed his mouth to drop open. Sitting up straighter, he looked me over as if he had a new found respect or was just plain shocked.

"A mere three months?"

Disbelief was clear on his face.

"And you've no Mark?"

It was my turn to be shocked.

"No..."

Halfas didn't get... Marked. The Ghost King himself had told me such. We were a rare commodity, not unlike gold. We were not above the laws, per se, but... well there just were not many laws written about us.

Not to mention, the ghost doing the Marking had to be at least, if not more, powerful than the Halfa in question. Which was why Pariah had told us we to answer to him. Him alone. And he had said we did not need to be tattooed with his particular brand of ownership.

Not yet, at least.

:Fucking Walker's Law.: Phantom said.

:Fucking Walker's Law, is right.: I responded.

:Could the King be lying to us?:

:It is possible... but God, I hope not.:

Walker Law was the very first Law that put the caste system of the Ghost Zone into power. The Historians are a little hazy on the facts, but everyone agreed after the overthrow of the Observers and the Clones, the peace had not lasted long enough. And the Ghost King and Walker, the ghost of Prison and Law, came together to put the caste system of the Mark together.

And ever since, any new ghost is given six months to the date they are born to run from getting the Mark. The more powerful you are – the longer you run, and the more powerful people come after you.

Through a tattooed Mark, a ghost could form a Master-Slave bond with another ghost. And in this way, the power system was established. Those of the highest power controlled ghosts of lesser power, until it was down to the lowest-of-the-low level ghosts, those who could actually keep a stable form anyway. Which basically meant, if you were powerful, you were only a few ghosts down from Pariah Dark himself.

Those ghosts were known as Knights. Anyone lower than ten ghosts down on the totem pole from either the King, Lords, or the Ladies of the Court - were simply Peasants. The weakest were Slaves.

The King, Lords, and Ladies were in a league all to their own. Outclassing even us Halfas.

"Pariah Dark said I did not need it." I said, with eyes narrowed, knowing that I had gotten off track.

:Is he Marked?: Knowing that was just a plain rude question to ask, Phantom refrained from forcing himself to the forefront.

Vlad looked me over, again, this time finding something new on my blank limbs that were poking through my shirt-sleeve holes.

"Perhaps I was merely mistaken..." He said, before grinning and getting back on subject.

"Three months without me knowing about you, child? That is a feat I had thought none capable."