A/N: And now chapter four, with a serious cliffy!

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The evening shift was the one to have found the cloth, hair, and note left behind. The Amity Park Police Department (plus two tag-alongs) was quick to arrive. After all, it wasn't everyday one of them was kidnapped for no ransom.

The note simply said that they had three days to find Danny before they killed him. There were no clues, no codes that they could see to hint at where Danny had bee hidden.

"Who could have taken him?" Valerie asked.

"Whoever it was didn't care if they were messy," Dash called back. "I've got a blood trail over here!"

The others ran over, Sam getting a Q-tip full of the blood and securing it inside a bag. "I'll go have them run this," she said, going back inside the building.

"Baxter, follow the trail to see where it leads," Lancer commanded.

"Yes, sir."

"Sir… will we find him in time?" Tucker asked cautiously.

"I sure hope so…."

-!))3\ )347-

His head hurt. That was the first thing Danny noticed when he woke up. It throbbed as he made his second brilliant observation. His eyes were practically glued shut. When he finally did blink them open, he squinted around at the room he was in.

It was simple, having just the small cot he was on and a mirror. The door was nearly impossible to find, and would be if not for the minute, almost non-existent peek hole. Danny jumped when an eye peered in at him.

"Ah, you're awake," that calm whisper came to him. Jazz pushed open the door and walked in, closing it tightly behind her.

"What did you do to me?" he croaked.

"A simple spell to keep you in place. Though the ropes helped, too."

"Wh—Why?"

"Why do you think? You and Clockwork, always in my way!"

"C—Clockwork…?"

She sneered. "Yes, Clockwork. Hn, and he calls you his 'protégé'. You don't even know who I am, do you?"

"Y—You're my sister, though you're not acting like her!"

"Oh, I am your sister, but there's something you don't know about me. While Mom and Dad were fawning over you for all those years, I was planning. The perfect little boy. That's what everyone called you. I was 'the perfect little boy's sister'. Do you know how annoying that is?"

"W—"

"No, of course you don't. You were the perfect one. The only thing that annoyed you was getting sick 'cause then you couldn't go to school!"

"Jazz, what's—"

"There you go again! Just assuming you know who I am! All because you know everything!"

"If you're not Jazz, who are you?"

"Who do you think, perfect little boy? Or have your memories not come back yet?"

"What?"

"Clockwork hid all your memories from you. He said he'd give them back 'when the time is right'. Well, it better be right in two days, or you're dead."

"Jazz, why would—"

She screamed. "Why do you call me that? Don't you get it yet? I'm not Jazz! I'm Joaquima! I'm the Reaper!"

Danny's eyes widened. "You're… what?"

"The Reaper, you dolt! God, you'd think my own brother would know that!"

"If you're the Reaper, how am I your brother? You're over 8,000 years old!"

"Oh, ha, ha, ha! Shows how much you know! I'm 9,010! And you're my brother, Demogorgon. Don't try to fool your own sister! Besides, I'd recognize your Reaping hide anywhere!"

"What? But you just said you're the Reaper!"

"Maybe you aren't my brother, you're too stupid to be him! Why do you think the Reaper can be reincarnated as a boy or girl, huh? And I guess dear old Clocky didn't tell you about the fact that we're always born into girls whose names start with J's and boys whose start with D's."

"Wait, so you two are reincarnated after they've been born?"

"Of course! We even choose who the lucky child is!"

"…Why my sister?"

"Because she was always a very competitive and obstinate girl. She was the perfect host for me."

"Why… why me?"

"Because, dear boy, you—my brother—wanted to be as close to me as possible. We had a fight in a past life, and neither of us forgave the other. I want my revenge on him, and I'll get it through you!"

"How?" Danny said stubbornly. "He'll just be reborn into someone else!"

"There's a way to completely kill a Reaper, you know."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Oh, you know it. You just need to remember."

-!))3\ )347-

"Sir, we've got the results on the blood," Sam declared.

"And?"

"It's Danny's…."

"So, dead end?"

"Not quite. Seems his DNA is twice as thick as a normal person's. Some of the blood had a green tint. Sir, something's genetically off about him."

"I see…." Lancer turned swiftly to Dash. "Where did the trail lead?"

"Sir, it didn't," Dash replied. "It disappeared in a hallway on the top floor."

"And the cloth?"

"From his shirt, sir," Valerie stated. "That was easy enough."

"The hair, dare I ask?"

"Only one strand had DNA on it. Also Danny's weird double-double helix," Tucker said, showing the picture of it on his PDA to Lancer.

"It—Doesn't it seem it would be harder to repair than normal DNA?"

"Or easier. Because of the extra parts, the DNA caused extra antibodies and such to enter into his blood stream. He'd probably be immune to the common cold after having it once."

"Tucker, how would something like this happen?"

"I don't know, sir. His parents were scientists, maybe it was an experiment gone wrong."

"They were ectoplasm enthusiasts." At their blank looks, Lancer continued. "They studied ghosts."

"That would account for the green tint in his blood. Ectoplasm."

Sam went on as Dash and Kwan left, unnoticed. "But, how could he be a ghost? He's alive! We even felt his pulse back when he hit his head!"

"We'll just have to ask him that, when we find him."

-!))3\ )347-

"Kwan, they're getting too close to the truth!" Dash exclaimed.

"Well, what are we supposed to do about it? We can't stop them from finding out on their own."

"I don't know! But he trusted us to keep everyone else in the dark!"

"Yeah, but there's no real way we can stop this."

"We need to find some way before he dies!"

"What if… what if telling them helps them find him?"

"…Then we just say a ghost has him."

-!))3\ )347-

"So, do you remember anything yet?" Joaquima asked. Danny had quickly learned to call her by her Reaper name instead of his sister's.

"What do you think?" he spat.

"It would seem not. Pity. I guess I can basically forget any hope I had that you'd remember before I kill you tomorrow."

"Then don't kill me. Simple enough, ne?"

"Hn. Nice try. No matter what happens, you're dead tomorrow." She left again, and Danny was left there to try to plan.

Good thing he had some help.

"Okay, Clockwork, she's gone," he called out.

Clockwork rematerialized next to him, sighing. "I am sorry, Daniel. I cannot force your memories to return."

"That's okay. Can you get a message to someone, though?"

-!))3\ )347-

"Sir, we—we think we know who—what—kidnapped Danny," Dash stated.

Lancer blinked. "Really? Who?"

"Well, we know it had to have been a ghost for the trail to just… disappear like that."

"Okay, which ghost?"

"The Reaper," a new voice whispered. Lancer and the others jumped, turning to face Clockwork.

"The… who?" Val asked, confused.

"The Reaper. It is a ghost that, like myself, knows when a person's death time is coming. The Reaper's favorite pastime is viciously killing those whose death-time is soon."

"I—Is Danny's death-time—?"

"No, but the Reaper is hoping to make it be tomorrow."

"So, we still need to find him."

"Yes, you do."

"So, where is he?"

"Guys!" Dash said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him. He was smiling broadly, looking down at a newspaper article. "I—I think I know where he is!"

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A/N: Hehehe, so, this chapter brings Clockwork back as a good guy. Yes, he may have killed Danny's parents, but all for good reason.

Now, this also marks the point at which, while writing, I finally figured out the title for this book. Joy for me! Anywayz, Jazz and Danny are the two Reapers, Joaquima and Demogorgon. Yes, those are real names, I checked. Now, there's also the fact that, while Jazz completely blanks out every time Jo takes over, Danny and Dem can actually communicate. That is something totally unheard of in a Reaper's reincarnation, thus Danny's line in book five about Jo wanting to kill him only because he happened to be Demo's host. (Spoiler!)

A little history on Dem and Jo: Jo is older (9,010) and Dem is 9,008. This story is taking place in 2006, making their birthdays be back in BC 7000. Yeah, that's pretty durn old. Anywayz, Demo is not exactly up-to-date on stuff like technology and fashion, but Jo is. Then again, Dem's also very very shy whereas Jo's outgoing. Bad, psychopathic outgoing. Funny side note: Demo's name is from a Greek mythical god of the underworld, maybe even another name for Satan. Jo's name means "established by God". Just kinda funny that the good guy has an evil name and vice versa.